On Thru, 1/26/12, Larry Baker This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it wrote:

Dealing with Heartbreak

I was getting ready to leave Vanuatu for the second time. My family and I felt both time that we moved there it was because God had called us there. I will never forget the Sunday afternoon that my wife told me that she just couldn't live there naymore. She had some health issues and had been suffering from depression and she and the kids couldn't handle living in Vanuatu any more. On top of that, our home church was going through a "financial crunch" and couldn't afford to bring the whole family badk to Oregon. I decided to stay an extra couple weeks to sell some personal items and to raise some finances to pay for ticket back to the states. Most of the Ni-Vanuatu friends that I was close to came from a small island up on the northern province called Motalava. I decided to take a week to visit the home island of my close friends.

During that storm I heard a still small voice say, "Right vision, wrong island". I didn't get it. Again I heard, "Right vision, wrong island". I didn't have a clue what the Lord was telling me!

While on the big Island of Santo, I tried to start a school for drop outs. Now a drop out in Vanuatu doesn't actually mean that a student wanted to end their education. They take these "State run tests" in the sixth, eighth, and tenth grades and if the student fails any one of those tests your schooling is essentially over. I felt for these very bright kids who wanted to go to school but couldn't because they failed the test. I was given some land by a chief who saw my vision and I immediately got a chain saw and started cutting timber for the first building. Some other chief claimed I was on his land and put the land in dispute. (This is the same time that my wife informed me that she had to go back to the states.)

Meanwhile in the midst of this building hurricane, one of the chiefs on Motalava came up and introduced himself and said that all the shiefs were meeting over at the village and requieste tha I come and speak with them. Why me? I heard His voiceagain, "Right vision, wrong island". When I got to the council meeting, the chiefs said that they heard I tried to start a school on Santo. I said, "Yes, but there was a land dispute." They said, "W would like you to start a school here and assured me that no Chinese, English, Vietnamese, French, Australian or any other person except Ni-Vanuatu had ever owned any land on Motalava so land disputes would never be an issue. I'm thinking, "Yeah right!" Little did I know that when I left on a plane there was a letter drafted by those chief's asking my Pastor to send me back to start a Christian School. Well, a few months later, I was on my way back to Vanuatu as the Missions Pastor for Table Rock Fellowship. I was going to be done a month.

The day before I left our Pastor got sick and called me to do the Services for him. I was more than happy to, but I asked him if we could take a "special offering" for Vanuatu (after we took our churches tithes and offering). Pastor Tom was more than agreeable and when the offering was taken, over $5,000 came in. This was to be used to help a sister church with a building project. When I arrived on Santo we jumped on the project, completed it in three days and only used halp the money. As I started pondering this I heard, "Right vision, wrong island"

I know Jesus wanted the Christian School in Motalava. Two days later I was in Motalava and we built our first "Kinder Classroom" in 2002. Today, thanks to the faithfulness of Table Rock Fellowship, Clavary Chapel (Nampa, ID), and many individuals and families, Island Rock Christian School is providing Christian Education starting as young as 3 yr. olds and going through sixth grade. We have by faith decided to hire a 7th grade teacher this next month (February 2012). Please pray for our teachers and students as we press on to spread God's Kingdom in the northern province of Vanuatu.

God Bless You Pastor Larry Baker This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it