Our time in NZ has been a time of spending time together as newly married, building relationships with YWAM bases and old friends, and taking time to seek the Lord and set good routines for ourselves before going back to the heat of the Solomon Islands (both literally and metaphorically!) We have toured New Zealand connecting with new and old friends and driving from North to South visiting YWAM bases and living in our rented van. Our friend Maarten joined us for the last leg of the journey which was great fun! Vanlife seems like luxury compared to living on a sailing canoe for 4 months!
As we have been sharing about Solomon Islands to the people we met, we have been re-confirmed in our passion and heart for the people of the Solomon Islands and are excited to go back!
First, we have two weeks with the YWAM ministry Yachts For Life in Fiji which is the ministry we first met in 2,5 years ago. We will be helping practically with fixing the boats and helping to move them to where they are needed. Fiji and Yachts For Life have a very dear place on our hearts and we have many friends here as well.
Back in the Solomon Islands, we are planning to make the new decks for the Vaka Hope, which has been up on land since Eivind left last year. There will be a process of giving over ownership to our trusted Solomon Islander friends and sailors who have sailed with us on and off for the last couple of years. They plan to use the boat as a vessel to get to the isolated islands to drill water wells. We are hoping to implant BELT (Biblical Education Leadership Training) in the outreaches and hope to use that as a tool to implant God’s truth into the hearts of the people in the villages.
Eivind has been in touch with a guy from Faith Comes By Hearing and has gotten hold of 300 audio Bibles. Our great hope is to have YWAM teams give out these audio Bibles to remote villages around the Roviana Lagoon and do Bible education. We don’t yet know what that will look like, but we are excited to see what God is doing.
Thank you so much for joining us on this journey – whether it’s through prayer, encouragement or financially, we couldn’t do this without you, and we thank you so much for partnering with us and what God is doing in the Pacific Islands. God bless you.
