Shoemaker's Sail and Serve South Pacific Sagas

Greetings from Neiafu Tonga,

"I wish I could tell you about the South Pacific. The way it actually was. The endless ocean. The infinite specks of coral we called islands. Coconut palms nodding gracefully toward the ocean. Reefs upon which waves broke into spray, and inner lagoons, lovely beyond description. I wish I could tell you about the sweating jungle, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes, and the waiting. The waiting. The timeless, repetitive waiting."

This first paragraph of Michener's Tales of The South Pacific is more than a little ironic, from our perspective (as you will soon see) and, to some degree, helps to develop my theory that God's sense of humor is quite like that of the British in many regards. First we need to get caught up though, as we've not written since Tahiti and now are in Tonga.

You may remember that in Colombia they sent out a welcoming committee of a respectable young troop of dolphins who performed their duties quite admirably, however, here in Tonga they do things a bit bigger. We'd had a fairly rough passage of roughly 1300 nautical miles from Bora Bora (although we'd stopped briefly on the way) so were delighted just after dawn on our last morning while entering the calm waters of Va’vau, a group of dozens of islands, to be greeted by humpback whales. First they spouted great sprays in the air here and there just to let us know they were in the area. Then, by and by, they timidly started showing off body parts, a fin here, there a back and tail. Finally they started waving enthusiastically and splashing about like children, which some of them were. The mothers come here this time of year to calve, so our timing is good. We should say God's timing is, for had it been up to us we'd have passed through already.

We had quite a pleasant stay in Tahiti accomplishing almost all of the boat repairs and maintenance issues that had piled up on our long passage from Panama. We had a wonderful experience visiting one of the local churches their on Mother's Day and seeing the bright faced young children sing a song to their mothers. It was great fellowship with the body, and in the process we got to know David from Sea Angel... sailseaangel.org (working right now in Tonga for Sea Mercy seamercy.org) who I mentioned in the last newsletter and will again in this. It is truly amazing how God is continuing to knit us together with other believers as we continue on this journey. From Tahiti we went just a few hours sail over to Cook's Bay Moorea where we spent several blissful days enjoying that beautiful place.

From there we sailed overnight to Huahine and after a couple nights there went on to Bora Bora where we'd planned to spend about four days or so. Those four days turned into four weeks, but God's timing is always perfect and though waiting is often frustrating at the time, it becomes clear in retrospect what God had in mind. Although we'd still hoped to visit the YWAM base in the Cook Islands, as days wore into weeks and we learned that they had just dramatically increased fees for visiting yachts and there were no good options for leaving the boat for even a night, we decided we would not try to make it to the Cooks.

Some unruly soul had gotten ahold of the number of one of our credit cards and tried to use it at a hair salon in California, but Chase being the wise bankers that they are, recognized that we could not be in Panama and California simultaneously, so they promptly canceled that card. We'd asked that the new card along with some important papers be sent over from home, and as an afterthought I requested a book which I'd read not long ago which I thought Josh might enjoy since he is interested in all things military: Tales of the South Pacific. Without the book the express mail rate would have been reasonable. With it, it was not. Still, by priority mail the U.S. post office predicted a 6-10 delivery. I went to the post office in Vaitape, the village in Bora Bora on the seventh day and was greeted with something not unlike belly laughter when I explained my package had been sent seven days ago. All the same,  I returned in a couple days and then every day afterward. It became part of my daily routine to take the dingy into the heart of town, walk to the post office, take a number, sit down and wait 10-20 minutes, rise and take my driver’s license (now expired) from my wallet and watch the clerks disappear behind a closed door, where I'm pretty sure they took a coffee break, only to reemerge about five minutes later with the simple word "no."

God used those many trips to shape me. The time spent provided opportunity to pray. The waiting exercised my patience. The disappointment of hearing "no" again and again resulted in soul searching and evaluation of where I really place my trust. Is God really faithful 100 percent of the time? Does He always really work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes? Mixed into that, rather heavy stuff, was the fact that Beatrice and I were really wrestling with what exactly our purpose out here in the middle of the world's biggest ocean really is in God's grand scheme of things.

This all probably seems a bit like whining. There are worse places to be stuck than Bora Bora afterall. Buford, Wyoming, for instance, may be considered by some as a less desirable spot to be stuck for a full month. Certain unused portions of current day urban Detroit perhaps, although I have not been there so I can't say for sure. The thing of it is, no matter how idyllic one's surroundings, if the heart is not at peace it is virtually impossible to enjoy the place. We feel accountable to God and to those who pray for and support us and we can't abide the sense of feeling we are slack in our duties. God, as He usually does, came with a resounding answer to our many questions and calmed our troubled minds in doing so.

One day at church way back on Marco Island, where this whole adventure began, Beatrice was really struggling and went forward for prayer at the end of the service. Sometimes God delivers to a person's mind an image or word as an encouragement or direction when they are praying for others. The pastor's wife told Beatrice that morning that this rarely happens for her, but while she was praying for Beatrice she had two pictures. The first was our boat with sails full. The message was that God would be the one who filled our sails and ushered us where He willed. The second, a net. The clear message of the net, as she saw us sewing it together, was that we would "network" with others in the Body as we travelled the world and in so doing would edify and mutually encourage one another as well as building connections God will use in the future. God provided dramatic confirmation of that prophetic message to us in Bora Bora and has continued to do so since.

The day our package arrived, a Monday, so did our good Australian friends Phil and Pam aboard Maranatha www.maranatha.id.au.... whom we first met in Panama and had been in touch with ever since. The following day David and Karen from Sea Angel pulled into port. On our first day in Bora Bora we saw a boat with the words "Joyful" and below, Aspen, Co. We thought we should probably knock on their hull and have been good friends with Jeff and Anne mission joyful.wordpress.com, and their crew Bill ever since. Now, by God's grace we would be able to introduce our new Christian friends with our "old" ones and what wonderful fellowship that turned out to be. We all went into the village to experience Heiva (the almost month long festival of Polynesia music and dancing) one night and on our last night in Bora Bora we joined one last time for a potluck aboard Sea Angel, which, being a catamaran is the only of the four boats big enough to comfortably accommodate us all. What sweet fellowship!

During that time Phil blessed all of us with 28 Gigabytes of video of the greatest bible teaching. David Pawson, an English Pastor has taught all the way through the bible chapter by chapter in a way that is engaging, extremely interesting and informative and so helpful in really grasping and understanding the word of God.  The kids like his teaching so much that we've decided it will be one of their courses this year!

Here is a little glimpse into God's humor. The package we'd been waiting for had been, as evidenced by the postmark on it, sitting at the same post office I'd been visiting everyday for the past several weeks, since the previous Wednesday. They had been looking in the wrong place for it.. Had we received it then we likely would have left Bora Bora and not only missed out on what was truly wonderful time spent with dear friends, but also failed to develop what we are now starting to see is a key component, if not the major thrust of God's purpose for this whole mission. Like Monty Python's, God's sense of humor often involves human suffering. In God's version, however, suffering produces endurance, endurance character and character hope which does not disappoint us since His love has been poured out into our hearts.

Then there is this. Halfway between Bora Bora and Tonga is a tiny atoll, of exquisite beauty called Palmerston Island, which Cook discovered and mapped in the late 1700s. William Marster, an Englishman who'd tried his hand in the California gold rush then, apparently not finding much, set out with a whaling boat into the South Pacific. He liked Palmerston so much that he returned to live there permanently and now, six generations later the island is populated almost exclusively of Marsters and there lives among them a rich and fascinating history, a history of ship wrecks and progress and friendship and fish. Lots of fish, for that's the primary protein source there. Palmerston would have been worth stopping at just for the snorkeling and diving (think aquarium with 200 ft. visibility, grey reef sharks, sea turtles and brilliant reef teeming with all manner of tropical fish) and since the wind died entirely just prior to our arriving and stayed flat for two days it made sense anyway. However, the people there and the way they live and their history is what really made the experience special. Edward Marsters, 5th generation, the island host brought us in through the reef (sail boats are moored outside the reef) passage on his skiff which he'd found washed up on shore one day all the way from Tahiti where it had broken off it's mooring six weeks earlier. He fed us a delicious lunch of barracuda, rice and a boiled root like taro. Afterward, his son, David, took us on a tour of the island. It was on this tour that we met Ros, an Englishwoman who is one of four teachers teaching Christian home schooling curriculum to the five children on the island.

Her father first visited Palmerston over a half century ago by sailboat and one night felt God was saying to him "I want you to teach my people here about me." He said, "But God, how should I do that since I shall set sail tomorrow." That night he was washed up on the reef and he spent the next nine months on Palmerston repairing his boat. Repairing his boat, and, as you've probably guessed by now, teaching the people about God. David told us on the tour, after I'd asked him what one of the majestic trees in the village center was, her father had used Mahogany from the island to replank his boat and when he went to New Zealand to have it inspected they drove a nail into it and could not get it out again. Anyway, Ros heard her father talk so lovingly of Palmerston all her life that when he passed a few years ago she felt compelled to come and see the place. "I was offered a job so I went to New Zealand for a couple months, to get my head right," she said "and then I came back." She has been there four years now and it was a genuine pleasure to have just the few minutes we spent with her, to hear her story and exchange contact information. When we arrived in Tonga there was an email from her expressing how she enjoyed meeting us and was sad that our time was so short, which mirror our sentiments exactly. Here again we see God's hand confirming his purpose for us.

We have now another part of the net. Some more seeds have been planted. The net grows bigger. We want fruit and fish now, but we likely have to wait for both. In the meantime, we will continue to follow God's leading, plant seeds where we can and continue our stitching in this network of believers wherever He places us.

We hope very much to be in Townsville, Australia by the end of August to work as Mission Builders (as we did at YWAM St. Croix) at the Youth With a Mission base there before and during a big conference called YWAM together ywamtogether.org

While we are here we will continue to strengthen those relationships God has blessed us with as Maranatha and Joyful are both here as well. Tomorrow, here in Neiafu, Anne will be doing an art lesson (a part of her ministry) for about fifty to sixty children and young people and teaching them about Jesus. Beatrice and Gabriella will go along to help out. Sunday we'll go back to a beautiful anchorage where Maranatha is and go with Pam and Phil to a Wesleyan Free Church in the small village nearby.

On our long and sometimes quite difficult passage from Bora Bora God began to speak to my heart about another integral part of our ministry, namely prayer. What better thing could we be doing on those long watches, alone at the helm in the middle of the night then pray? I've sent an email out to all the pastors we've been so blessed by and asked for their personal and ministerial prayer needs (and I've not heard back from some of you who will be receiving this., but don't worry we'll pray for you anyway : )  ). It would be our great joy and pleasure to hear back from any of the rest of you as well with your latest news and your prayer requests.

Meanwhile, as we continue to wait on the Lord, abiding in His presence, seeking His purposes and enjoying the fellowship of believers He has placed in our lives, we'll also continue to have hermit crab races on the beach ( draw circle in sand, place crabs in center and voilà: instant fun! ) marvel at the Creator's amazing creativity as we watch humpback whales and fruit bats and sample the juicy mandarin oranges we can pick up off the jungle floor at will and delight in the brilliant colors of the coral reefs teeming with even more colorful tropical fish. What an amazing God we serve. Just imagine, this is but a dim and blurry glimpse of all we will enjoy for eternity!

God Bless You,

Kenny, Beatrice, Joshua and Gabriella Shoemaker