March 2018, Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia
“And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be a partaker thereof with you.” - I Corinthians 9:23
Some people seem to think that a mission trip is a vacation, especially if the destination is a tropical island in the winter. There are some nice aspects to going to Micronesia during the cold weather months but on every mission trip there are difficulties, and they come in different forms. We are aware that there is a spiritual battle in the heavens and that when we go to a place to share the gospel with needy people where the devil has had free rein, the difficulties will begin to come.
We had traveled to the island of Chuuk in the Federated States of Micronesia in March of 2018. Originally, it was to be just Jack and Jennifer going to have dental ministry there, but the medical director with our mission was visiting his daughter on the island of Guam and he and his wife and daughter wanted to come. It was decided that we would use the students of Harvest Baptist Bible College on Guam to help with evangelism. We enjoyed our time with all of them and two young men, who spoke the island language, were able to bring a gospel message to the waiting crowd each day as we were treating patients. The first day we rode in a small open boat with a 40 horse power engine to make our trip across the lagoon to Fefen Island.
Fefen is one of the larger inhabited islands within the Truk Lagoon. The Truk Lagoon is famous for the Japanese warships that lay at its bottom and the scuba diving that takes place as a result. The Japanese had one of their naval bases within the lagoon during WWII and a command center on Tonowas, another inhabited island there. In 1943, in response to the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Air Force sent 60 Japanese war ships to the bottom of the lagoon. The people of Micronesia suffered badly at the hands of the invading Japanese and have rejected all requests by the Japanese government since WWII to be able to raise these ships and bring them home to Japan. The war ships are a huge draw to scuba divers and many come from all over the world to stay on the island of Chuuk. It is very profitable for Chuuk to keep the ships at the bottom and a bit of a status symbol for those who make these dives to the historic ships.
As we loaded our equipment and supplies and ourselves into the open boats we were anticipating a good day of clinic and medical/dental ministry. Within fifteen minutes we were soaked to the skin from the rough seas and had no dry clothes to change into. Due to the high heat and humidity, we had to work in wet clothes most of the day! Many of our supplies inside our trunks were wet as well. We pulled up to the dock and unloaded and set to work setting up our clinic.
A crowd came to be seen, desiring the medical help we were bringing. Even the short 20-30 minute boat ride from Fefen to the main island of Weno is often too costly for many of the people to make. Gasoline is very expensive in the islands. So even though medical help is available on Weno, it is not easily accessible. So the people were glad to have a medical team come to help them with their needs. Most of the people on the islands are either Catholic or Protestant, having been evangelized by missionaries in the past from either of these two religious groups, both claiming to have the true way to heaven.
We treated patients all day both on the dental and medical sides of the clinic and the two young men from Harvest preached the gospel to those who were waiting. Another young American missionary was there as well sharing one on one with different men. The women students from Harvest gathered groups of young women and girls and went through the evangelistic Bridge tract with them. Because Micronesian culture believes that a younger person should not speak to an older one of something so personal as how to go to heaven, the young men were fearful that no one would listen. Blessedly, the desire to have a visit with the doctor or dentist held the patients there and they listened respectfully as the gospel was presented. One of the students told us that if the medical team wasn’t there, the people wouldn’t have listened to them at all.
This is the beauty of medical missions. The need for medical care is so great around the world that it holds people in place long enough for them to hear a gospel presentation. We know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. It is just getting people to listen! A chance to have a medical need addressed is a pretty compelling reason to sit through a message a person doesn’t care to hear.
We were so pleased that the patients put up with a counter cultural experience of listening to younger people speak to them about Christ. As salvation is such a personal decision, we knew that it would by highly unusual for them to respond in a public way, but we were just thankful that they had heard.
So after working all day in clothes that never did dry we headed back to our hotel on the main island of Weno. The seas were calmer this time and there was no additional soaking that went on, until we got to the dock! Each of us exited the boat with all we had brought out to the island and one of the young Micronesian Harvest students held the boat so we could do that safely, at least until the last person was getting out. Jack had handed his back pack up to be placed on the dock while he came forward in the boat. He placed one foot on the dock and still had one in the boat. The Micronesian student was distracted by finding a place for the backpack and let go of the line holding the boat in place. It immediately began to float away! Poor Jack was caught in between the boat and the dock, doing an ever widening split of his legs until he had no choice but to go into the water. Grasping for something to keep him from falling, he pulled the boat driver in with him! Thankfully the water was warm and clear. Jack had gone in with his glasses on and they were now missing. The young boat driver dove to the bottom and found them but they were missing a lens. Jack stayed in the water trying to find where the lens had floated but they never found it. Then he realized that his phone was in his pocket. He had been taking pictures in the boat and it had gone into the lagoon with him. Although he didn’t lose the phone into the ocean, the phone never survived the swim. It was an expensive trip into the water, not to mention, embarrassing. The rest of the team had a good laugh over it.
The bottom line is that unsaved people who desperately needed salvation and medical/dental treatment heard the gospel and had their long standing physical needs addressed. Micronesian students were strengthened in their faith as they saw God work in islands that have been antagonistic to the gospel message and rejecting of those who have tried to bring it. We believe that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and He is well able to replace the money we unexpectedly needed to pay out. If only one soul understood their need for Christ as a result of our being there, it would have all been well worth it.