Nauru

 

We spent this last week in the island country of Nauru.  Naauru is not a part of Kiribati, but it is a part of  the Marshall Island/ Kiribati Mission.  The church was just recently registered as an official religion in Nauru which has taken many years of patient persistentce of church leadership especially from Elder Tune our Area Seventy here in Kiribati.  Although they are now registered, they still don't have permission to baptise or marry anyone - baby steps.  

Here is the history of the Nauru Wheelchair project:  In 2023, the assistant director of the Department of People Living with Disabilty (DPLD) in Nauru went to a  conference in Fiji where he mentioned the need of mobility devices for Nauru.  Someone there suggested the Church might be able to help.  They sent a request email to Elder Tune who forward the request to the pacific area wheelchair specialists.  Unfortunately, since the church was not registered then, and there had been some difficulties with allowing church leadership into the country, it was decided that humanitarian aid could not help them.  When we arrived in Kiribati, Elder Tune asked us for some help with this.  We initiated a relationship with the area wheelchair people.  We hit several road blocks: 

1.  We need a site visit.  Since we are traveling with a USA passport, we cannot do it.  Uraia from Fiji can do it, but at that time, there was a travel ban on all humanitarian. So there will be no project. It took some talking but we got the site visit waived. 

2.  The Nauru people don't have professional physical therapists to help fit the wheelchairs, so there will be no project. So Elder Garey suggested we do it the "old fashioned way" where we from the church do the fitting. 

3.  No one in Nauru has been trained to measure people to choose what sizes  of wheelchairs to order.  The Church can fly someone from Nauru to Kiribati in two months when they have their training.  When the time came for the training, it was decided that money from Kiribati could not be used for Nauru.  Can we do the training via zoom?  No  So the project is off.  Can we just do small/medium/large/xlarge?  Possibly.

4.  The director of DPLD passes away.  Keith and I send our condolences but decide to not tell the people in charge because we didn't want to give them a reason to cancel the project again.  They find out anyway and so the project is off.  The Assistant is promoted to Director - project back on 

5.  The people in charge learn of the history of  a mission president spending a night in jail for refusing to take off his name tag. (this was 20 years ago, before the church was registered).  So the project is off.  We asked Elder Tune to email them to tell them that it is now safe to enter Nauru.  I don't know what he said, but suddenly everyone thinks this is the best project ever!!  

Here's the miracle that proves The Lord wants the people of Nauru to have these wheelchairs.  When E/S Garey flew in for training in Kiribati, they just happen to sit on the plane next to the one person who issues all visas to enter Nauru. - coincidence?  She told them that if they could bring wheelchairs into Nauru, she would personally make sure everyone needed would get into the country.  And she did!

It was an amazing experience.  The cherry on top of our mission.  The Nauruan people are devoted christian people with strong faith.   They are humble and live in humble circumstances.  However, they pray and receive miracles. We could learn a lot from them.  

Assembling the wheelchairs - 

Keith, President Tea (branch president) and his councilor

Pius (who will be the one to assemble all the remaining wheelchairs)

 and Keith starting a new wheelchair

Ribbon cutting at the turn over ceremony 

Reanna, our contact for the visit, giving the Ministers 

talk (the Minister lost her voice) at the ceremony. 

Elder Garey and Hutchison doing a fitting. 

Keith and I went to this man's home 

to help fit him into his new wheelchair. 

We take measurement to choose which size wheelchair to build. 

This is me filling out the Rx after taking the measurments. 

Note the reading glasses. :(

Dinner with Reanna, her husband and Autistic son. 

She was trained to do all the measurements. 

A gift from one of our recipients. 

This sign was on the door of the DPLD. 

You will see signs that says "God's Will First" everywhere on the island. 

Sunday School at the branch.

The Nauru branch with humanitarian missionaries. 

The branch president is from Samoa 

and the rest of the branch is from Kiribati.  

There are no Nauruans.  Yes - The field is white

God is in the details of this work.  It is inspiring to watch it happen.  Sometimes I think the more opposition there is, the greater the good that will happen.  It will take some time, but Nauru will someday soon receive the gospel with joy.  It's not the humanitarian aid or the wheelchairs themselves that will make a difference.  But the relationships created because of this opportunity.  

Love and care for each other.  Protect the relationship you have with each other.  

Love you all.