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Survival or Salvation? Marquesa Islands

Asia Pacific View, June 2002

The six Marquesas islands are a rugged, beautiful and isolated archipelago. They were relatively unknown until a recent American television show exhibited them to audiences around the world. The Marquesas are the northern most islands of the country of French Polynesia where J. Gary and Lori Ellison have been missionaries since 1998. In 2001 the Assemblies of God of French Polynesia had targeted the Marquesas as their next church-planting outreach. Missionary Lori Ellison was asked to produce a special gospel tract in the Marquesas language for this important event. Thanks to available Light-for-the-Lost funds the project was started immediately. Lori does not speak Marquesan and the Assemblies of God had never produced any literature in this language. But God led her to Michel and Belinda Taata, native Marquesans, living and serving the Lord on the island of Tahiti. With the language skills of Michel and Belinda, the translation of a 24 page illustrated tract, "This Was Your Life" by Chick Publications, was completed. Lori then began to type the manuscript and prepare the text for the printer in California. The tract was needed for the first Marquesas crusade which was to start in July 2001 on Nuku Hiva, and in spite of multiple technical problems with computer and fax machines, the printed tract arrived back from California just in time.

Pastor Eric Barber and a team of 50 Christians from Tahiti flew to Nuku Hiva, Marquesas and spent the months of July and August witnessing and inviting people to come and hear the Gospel at nightly meetings. The tract in Marquesan proved to be very popular and opened many doors and hearts. The inhabitants remained hesitant to attend the nightly meetings but slowly began to come and listen to the music, the testimonies of the team members and the salvation message. Each week more people attended and began to respond for prayer and salvation.

One man testified, "I was in sin and did not know God's will for my life. He sent you to show me the way. I do not want to return to what I was before coming here tonight. Tonight I want Jesus to become my Savior." The next day he pulled out all the marijuana plants in his garden, cut his long hair and began reading his new Bible.

Another young man tearfully explained, "I liked no one. I was a fighter and nothing scared me. I had been placed in several foster homes and was beaten. Since I learned to box, fewer people have picked on me. But tonight, I discovered that Someone loved me more than anything else. I want to become a disciple of Jesus... I do not want to fight and hurt anymore. Thank you for coming to us. I was living in darkness and now I have the light shining in my heart... do not go, but stay with us and teach us!"

In life, it is not enough just to survive. The Bible says, "Today is the day of Salvation." We thank the Lord for what He is doing in the hearts of many people in the Marquesas islands. A Christian couple have remained on Nuku Hiva to disciple the new believers and build a church. In November, the first twelve Marquesans were baptized in water and the church continues to grow.

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