Participants: Jeff Reich
Series Code: LM
Program Code: LM000144A
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00:10 Lot of times people have this idea
00:12 that international travel is really glamorous. 00:14 I've been doing this for 25 years now. 00:16 Sixteen to seventeen of those years 00:17 making TV programs just like this one 00:20 where I can tell you getting to the places 00:22 is not as glamorous as being there. 00:24 But sometimes you have situation 00:26 where you are stuck in long lines, 00:27 get misinformation or in this situation 00:29 we have all this luggage for our project in Vanuatu. 00:32 And we're told we have to exit the security area 00:35 and stay 18 hours outside before you can check back 00:38 in to get our flight to fly to Vanuatu. 00:40 But the good news is we are headed to Vanuatu 00:43 to check on our project there so come along with us. 00:50 Somewhere across the water 00:53 There are villages and cities 00:57 They're bustling with people 01:01 from the many walks of life 01:04 They never heard of Jesus 01:08 'Cause no one's ever told them 01:11 But they've seen the world's hunger 01:15 Its poverty and strife 01:18 We've got to go into the nation 01:22 With the good news of salvation 01:26 We've got to go and tell the world 01:30 And share the gospel song 01:33 As everyone that's out there 01:36 Is a soul that Jesus died for 01:40 We've got to go and tell the world 01:44 The Lord is soon to come 01:52 Vanuatu is a chain of islands located in the South Pacific. 01:57 The year 2015 marks the ten year anniversary 02:00 of Dr. Trent Boult and his family 02:02 coming to the island of Gaua 02:04 to establish a medical missionary work 02:06 with Laymen Ministries. 02:08 In March 2015, the South Pacific 02:11 was struck by one of the largest cyclones 02:13 in history Cyclone Pam. 02:16 It was regarded as one the worst natural disasters 02:18 in the history of Vanuatu. 02:20 Eleven people lost their lives and many were injured. 02:24 The cyclone built momentum north of the country for days 02:27 before making its way straight for Gaua. 02:29 Miraculously, the storm then shifted 02:32 eastwards sparing Gaua and our project. 02:35 But unfortunately Cyclone Pam been shifted west again 02:38 with winds peaking at 165 miles an hour 02:42 bringing devastation to Port Vila, 02:44 the capital of Vanuatu. 02:47 It was estimated that 90% of the buildings 02:49 in Vanuatu were somehow impacted by the storm 02:52 and 60% of the country's communication was cut off. 03:07 Where we're standing right now 03:08 is called the water front in Port Vila, 03:12 which is capital of Vanuatu. 03:16 This is usually a very shelter little spot 03:18 in the capital here and it's a place 03:23 where lot of yachts come to 'cause it's very protected. 03:26 But during the big cyclone hit Vanuatu, Cyclone Pam 03:31 this became a very dangerous place to be here 03:33 where yachts that were thrown up on here. 03:35 Pieces of yachts still remain here. 03:38 It was completely pounded by the cyclone but this was-- 03:42 They say the worst cyclone has ever hit the Pacific, 03:45 the whole of the South Pacific 03:46 and it caused widespread damaged all over Vanuatu. 03:51 Yeah, it's just amazing right here 03:53 that was like a flee market 03:55 where a lot of women had little stalls 04:01 where they were selling material 04:04 and basket some things like that. 04:07 It's disappeared, everything is gone. 04:09 And in its place is a whole lot of rubble 04:12 which was thrown up here, bits of branches and stuff 04:16 and the remains of those buildings, 04:17 those stalls that they were selling materials and so. 04:21 Yeah, it's quite a sight when we came here 04:23 it was worsen as they've tied this up 04:26 but it's still looking pretty bad. 04:31 Yeah, we see a lot of yachts coming into Vanuatu 04:34 from all over the world. 04:35 Here's one that have got through thrown up 04:36 on the waterfront here. 04:39 And apparently this guy survived, 04:41 the guy that was on this yacht survived 04:42 that there was another yacht over there that got thrown up, 04:45 he wasn't so lucky. 04:46 Apparently, he tried to jump out 04:48 when the water was really rough and he drowned. 05:01 This morning we're heading now to try to beat a cyclone 05:04 that's coming in second one in three weeks. 05:07 We're gonna load up the plane and try to beat the storm, 05:09 fly to Gaua so we can do the repairs up there. 05:42 Mark, I have a question for you. 05:44 You know, that place that you lived in 05:45 when you first came here long time ago. 05:47 Uh-huh. What was it called? 05:48 Kiralu. 05:50 How long it's been since you've been there? 05:51 Long time about three years. 05:53 I was thinking it'd be kind of cool 05:54 for to kind of go down there. 05:55 Is it too far to go to? 05:57 No, we can go there. 05:58 All right. 06:00 We can go on the corner, I think. 06:01 When last time you were there what was it like? 06:04 It looked pretty overgrown 06:05 but I only passed it on the road, 06:07 I didn't go and see it. 06:08 It'd be kind of cool to go check it out. 06:09 Yeah, let's do that. 06:11 You want to grab a couple of bush knives and head up? 06:12 Let's go. Okay. 06:30 That place that we're headed is called Kiralu 06:32 named after a small river that runs through the area. 06:35 It was going to be interesting 06:37 to see the old bungalows that we used some 10 years ago 06:40 when we first started the project. 07:06 So how many years has it been since you've been here? 07:08 Oh, it's about three years I think 07:10 and that is looking very overgrown. 07:14 When we came in here before it seem like 07:16 there was a gate some place. 07:17 There was a gate. Oh, that gate right there. 07:19 Yeah, we came up here. 07:20 All right, and so the bungalow that's the kind of-- 07:22 It's up on the top there. 07:25 Let's go, let's go and see it. 07:26 It looks totally different. 07:27 Get that bush knife out. 07:30 Let's go and see it. 07:34 Believe it or not it is in here somewhere. 07:39 Okay, this must be the house. 07:41 Man, it's so overgrown, wow. 08:04 Well, this is the kitchen area. 08:06 Is this used to be a kitchen? 08:08 Yeah, this is the only part 08:10 that's remaining, all has collapsed. 08:13 Man... 08:14 I remember when we used to have-- 08:15 We had a table right here. 08:17 Yeah. 08:18 And we shot that one segment on the mall, 08:20 was used up against the bamboo thing right here. 08:21 We agree this is-- 08:23 I remember you told me something about 08:24 when you were actually moving from this place, 08:26 you were going to another place and a cyclone hit then. 08:29 Yeah, this house is amazing 08:32 'cause it was built by some people 08:34 who intended it for it to be a tourist place, a bungalow. 08:39 Nobody ever came and there was dispute over 08:42 who owned it and it was standing, 08:44 it was staying there until we came 08:46 and we asked them if we could stay here. 08:48 We stayed here for two years and then when we left, 08:52 we were just about to leave 08:53 'cause that's about time we were donated the aircraft 08:56 and so we wanted to go and live near the airstrip, 08:58 the northern part of the island. 09:00 And just on that very weekend we got hit by a cyclone 09:03 and that's when the roof starting damage of course 09:06 now it's collapsed completely. 09:08 And then at that time there wasn't-- 09:10 Wasn't too bad but we took some stuff 09:13 up to the northern part of the island 09:15 and we stored some stuff at a house up there. 09:19 While we were coming back here 09:21 to get some more gear, the hurricane came, hit us 09:23 and all of our gear in the other house 09:26 got blown out of the house. 09:28 So it was quite an experience-- 09:29 You could say in more ways than one that 09:31 you've had to weather a few storms here in Vanuatu. 09:33 We sure have-- 09:34 Both physically and spiritually. 09:35 Yeah. 09:37 It's amazing how many storms have been associated 09:39 with our lives here and spiritually too 09:41 we've been through a lot of stormy experiences. 09:43 I'm trying to, you know, figure in my mind. 09:46 It seems like I remember that 09:48 it used to be kind of a hill here. 09:50 And then those little bungalows, 09:51 the first little bungalow was your clinic. 09:53 Yeah. Is that right? 09:54 Yeah. So it should be down there. 09:55 Let's go and have a look 09:57 and see if we can see that place. 10:09 Wow, they've gone. 10:13 It got to be somewhere. 10:15 Let's see there. 10:17 Let's see it. 10:19 Yeah, Jeff, you might remember 10:20 this was our clinic the first bungalow, 10:22 we had a second one here which was like a store room. 10:25 And then over there under that last bush 10:27 over there was our third one which was like a-- 10:30 That was my guest lodging. 10:31 That was guest lodging and for patients 10:34 when they had to stay with us. 10:36 Yeah, we did-- we did general anesthesia, 10:38 we did our first operations in here. 10:45 Where is the door? 10:58 Incredible. 11:12 It's been a lot of changes on the hangar out 11:14 since the last time we were here. 11:15 Joe Marshal who worked with our ministry 11:17 in the Philippines ended up coming to Vanuatu 11:19 and did a lot of working here. 11:21 He was a teacher and stuff. 11:22 He build down here extra spare room for guests 11:25 which is really nice now because that was a problem 11:27 before when we were here, 11:29 this was this all open and in struts, 11:30 it's all enclosed now 11:32 and then if we come around over here. 11:35 This is something I was asking Mark 11:36 to really push forward to get done to help 11:39 with their living situation 11:40 but they installed two real showers. 11:44 And so you don't have to go over 11:45 to those other showers where the patients were out 11:47 and put cold buckets of water over your head. 11:50 You can actually go in here 11:51 and take a real bona fide shower 11:54 and then they developed 11:56 this washroom like a utility room. 11:58 Washing machine, they got a lot of clothes here soaking. 12:02 And the other I wanted to show you 12:04 was the addition outside here. 12:06 They were working on this last time we're here too. 12:09 In fact when I was here last time 12:11 I was helping Joe put these panels up right here 12:14 and now it's all enclosed, they've got this roof on. 12:17 And this really adds a nice dimension 12:19 to the hangar house. 12:22 And the other thing that I wanted to show you 12:24 maybe if you saw the last video, 12:25 Joe Marshall was a building a brand new custom design 12:28 dirty kitchen for the patients over at the patient house. 12:30 And it's been used out for about a year 12:33 and four months that was the last time we were here. 12:36 I'll take you over and take a look at it 12:37 and see what it looks like today. 12:41 Well, you can definitely tell it's being used 12:42 when we were here last time 12:44 Joe built the very first fire in here 12:46 and he had this custom up graft system 12:48 that he built that goes-- 12:50 It takes all the smoke up that way, 12:52 definitely we can tell it's been used. 12:53 What happens here at the clinic is that 12:56 when people are admitted 12:57 and then they stay over in the patient house, 12:59 the family members provide food for them 13:01 while they're here, so Mark and Naomi 13:02 don't have to cook for the patients. 13:04 So this is where they can cook all the food 13:05 to feed the patients that are the patient house. 13:11 This project was basically 13:13 a medical missionary project from the start. 13:15 We didn't have the plane to begin with. 13:18 It was just simply operating a small clinic in the bush 13:21 and from there it's grown into what it is today. 13:24 Yeah, we deal with a lot of-- 13:26 A lot of people coming through here. 13:28 We've got different types of patients, 13:30 we've got inpatients who are here for special care 13:33 and surgical cases, obstetric cases 13:37 and then we have outpatients who come and visit us here. 13:41 And then when I go and visit other islands, 13:42 I often run into other cases and many people 13:45 who'll need for example teeth to be pulled 13:48 or just to have check ups, 13:49 blood pressure check ups and minor illnesses. 13:52 So we have the full spectrum. 13:54 We have a lot of people coming through 13:55 I think if we were to go through the community, 14:00 I could tell you that-- most of the people 14:03 who've been patients at some time in this whole area 14:06 like everybody has come in here at some point. 14:09 And when I go places I'm constantly interacting 14:12 with former patients. 14:15 A countless times I've just gone to bed-- 14:18 just head just hit the pillow 14:20 and then it's seems only five minutes in 14:23 and the door knocks. 14:24 And somebody is knocking they need help 14:25 because of somebody, so it can be really exhausting. 14:29 It's taken its toll, I think we've aged 14:32 a lot from being here but it's a blessing too. 14:34 I really believe that God sustains us in our work. 14:38 I've been able to handle illnesses 14:40 and handle difficulties physical exhaustion 14:43 much better than I ever would have anticipated. 14:46 I think God really is sustaining me in my work 14:48 so I'm so thankful for that. 15:24 The clinic isn't the only part of the project that's growing, 15:27 Laymen Ministries' Matafanga school 15:29 is becoming well-known throughout the Island of Gaua. 15:34 Matafanga would not be possible without your support. 15:37 This is a Laymen Ministries project. 15:39 It's always been a Laymen Ministries project. 15:41 One thing it's kind of unusual about 15:43 this project is that Laymen Ministries throw us 15:47 a set of circumstances has ended up 15:50 being requested to establish a church institution school. 15:56 That might be a first, I'm not sure in this division, 16:01 this area of the church, 16:02 but I think it's a blessing to see 16:04 how a lay ministry is able to work hand in hand 16:09 with the denomination in establishing a church that-- 16:12 A church school it's a 100% a church school. 16:14 It really is a denominational school 16:16 and yet Laymen Ministries it's really-- 16:19 Laymen Ministries' baby, so the school side of it 16:22 is really interesting in that respect. 16:24 And without Laymen Ministries we could have never have done 16:26 what we're doing. 16:28 Yes, the reason that we have a school here in-- 16:31 Up here in this northern part of Vanuatu 16:34 is that we could see a great need 16:36 for the children to have better education. 16:39 While there are other schools available, 16:42 we could see that there was definitely a need 16:44 for training future leaders for even just for the country 16:47 and also for furthering God's work here in Vanuatu. 16:51 We see a great need because here in Torba Province 16:54 it's known as the last province in Vanuatu 16:56 that means very few leaders come form Torba. 17:00 And we'd like to change that. 17:01 We'd like to see leaders and kids graduating 17:04 from the school going out and doing something 17:07 that makes a difference in the world around us 17:09 and also in preparing them 17:11 to carry on God's work in the future. 17:25 So this is our current grade 17:27 seven and eight classroom right here 17:29 and as you can see we're in the middle 17:30 of preparing a roof and the structure 17:34 of the building is not real great. 17:36 So we really need a permanent classroom 17:38 for our students to replace this building. 17:42 Over here we have our teacher housing accommodation here. 17:47 Currently we have coconut leaves up on the roof 17:50 that was for the cyclone to prevent 17:52 the roofs getting ripped up, but the roofing is getting old 17:55 and needing repairs. 17:56 And we need to upgrade the teacher housing also. 18:03 So this is our missionary transit house here, 18:07 currently we have Scott and Kathy in here 18:10 and they'll be working on fixing up 18:12 another small staff house at the back. 18:15 So that this will be free for another couple 18:17 that want to come in with their family, 18:19 a bit later in the year. 18:21 So we like to have this as our transit 18:24 so that it helps people during their adjustment period 18:27 while we get accommodation sorted out for them. 18:30 And at the back here, 18:32 we have the very first staff house 18:35 that was built on the campus 18:36 and that's the one that Scott and Kathy 18:38 will be doing some upgrading to make it suitable for them. 18:42 And then we'll be needing another one similar 18:43 to this for another couple that plan to come soon also. 18:50 For this school to be registered, 18:52 the government wanted something different 18:55 because they said the nearest primary school is too close, 18:58 even though it's another decent walk. 19:03 So Naomi and Mark came up with the idea that 19:06 they would cater for special needs in the community. 19:10 And this is one of those classes, 19:12 these three lovely students out all day 19:17 and so I have been teaching them 19:20 different sets of words. 19:22 This last time we just learnt body words 19:25 and that's what we're revising today. 19:28 So they're special students but they're very bright. 19:31 They've all passed on their test 19:34 and yeah, they could go 19:38 so it's a pleasure to teach them 19:41 and help them integrate into the school community. 19:44 Hey, Scottie. 19:45 Hey, Jeff. Good to see you. 19:48 What are you working on? 19:49 I'm just making some components 19:51 for some chairs that the boys are making tomorrow. 19:55 How many kids do you have right now with your teaching? 19:58 I've got one sort of apprentice 20:00 and there's a bunch of lower schools boys 20:03 is probably up to 15 to 18 of them, 20:07 then they'd come different times. 20:09 Our objective is to give the boys and girls, 20:14 if girls come in the rest as well. 20:18 The opportunity to get some practical skills 20:20 to use in the field perhaps they want to work for the Lord, 20:26 building on other islands that we can equip them 20:29 with skills to built churches or schools or anything. 20:35 Like many things here in this project, 20:37 the school has come a long way 20:39 since its inception years ago. 20:41 Our Maule M-7 has come a long ways too 20:43 as the heavy usage in the islands has taken 20:46 its toll on the airplane. 20:48 Northern Vanuatu, it's-- it's a remote area. 20:53 The only way you can get between islands 20:55 because it's an island nation 83 different islands. 20:59 The only way you can get between islands 21:00 is by boat or by plane. 21:02 When it comes to emergencies, you really need an aircraft. 21:10 And we have since discovered that it would be really, 21:14 really difficult to find any production aircraft-- 21:17 Foresee the production aircraft that could handle the workload 21:22 that we're doing here flying into small bush airstrips. 21:26 And carrying loads that it's carrying maybe a-- 21:30 or something like that but I think the Lord knew 21:33 that we were-- we need to stay 21:35 within a budget an operating budget 21:37 that were still manageable than that. 21:39 So this really is the most suitable aircraft 21:41 I think for this project. 21:46 It's kind of unthinkable to imagine 21:50 this project operating without this aircraft 21:52 so it worries me a little bit if the plane ever-- 21:56 was not in service. 21:59 Then I think the project would kind of collapse 22:02 because we use it for everything 22:04 and it's so important. 22:06 We need to keep this plane fine, 22:08 we need to keep it flying 'cause it's so essential 22:10 for our work here. 22:12 In terms of fuel and maintenance, 22:14 it cost us a 2-3,000 a month. 22:17 When it comes to aircraft, 22:19 engines need to be changed at the TBR of the engine 22:23 which in our case is 2000 hours 22:26 and we're just coming up to that now. 22:29 We have to change the engine, we have no choice. 22:31 If we're gonna continue flying, we have to have a new engine. 22:34 And we're now looking at a recondition engine 22:38 which is gonna cost over $45,000 US 22:42 a lot of money we put deposit on that. 22:44 We don't have the full amount but we believe that 22:47 God is gonna pay somebody to help us 22:48 because unless we have that engine, 22:51 we have to stop operating that means not only 22:53 the medical aviation aspect of it. 22:56 All the patients are gonna be affected and our school 23:00 and this whole project is gonna be adversely affected. 23:03 So we believe that God will provide the funds 23:08 and that we're just excited to know that we're in-- 23:11 we're in a faith ministry and we know that 23:14 God is gonna work to help us. 23:18 Yeah, another thing it needs to happened 23:20 for this aircraft. 23:22 We get a lot of damage on the tail wing 23:25 because of terns flying up on these bushes. 23:27 So we need to get regularly we're gonna have 23:31 to purchase a new tail wing 23:34 and that should be done sometime this year. 23:38 Tail feathers including the radar need to be replaced. 23:44 This airplane has a really interesting history. 23:46 It was purchased from mall by a man name Gary Smith. 23:49 His friends all called him Bear 23:52 and Bear had kind of a colorful history himself 23:54 because Bear used to fly 23:56 for what was called the Blue Angels. 23:58 It's like a acrobatic team of fighter jets 24:01 and he was involved with the military 24:03 and had a lot of friends. 24:04 So lot of people in the aviation world knew him. 24:05 He worked at Boeing the last years of his life. 24:08 And he was-- I was told involved 24:10 with designing the ejector seat for the F15 fighter jet. 24:14 Well, when Gary or Bear 24:16 as his friends called him retired, 24:18 he ordered two brand new planes. 24:20 One was a Super Decathlon 24:23 and other one was this Maule M-7 Super Rocket 24:26 and this one came special custom ordered from Maule 24:29 with a sunset orange paint job in sapphire blue trim. 24:34 And fully decked out with search and rescue gear 24:36 'cause he planned on doing volunteer work 24:38 for the search and rescue. 24:40 Right after he purchased this plane, 24:41 he was out in California with his Decathlon teaching a man 24:46 from I think it was Post Falls, Idaho 24:48 and they were doing touch and goes. 24:50 And something went wrong 24:51 and he crashed the Super Decathlon 24:53 and both he and the fellow from Post Falls, Idaho 24:55 were killed unfortunately in that wreck. 24:58 His widow was left with this plane 25:00 and Joel the man who donated this plane to us 25:02 bought this plane from his widow. 25:06 It's an unfortunate situation that Bear lost his life, 25:10 I bet little did he know that the plane 25:12 that he custom ordered was gonna be salvaged 25:15 for doing exactly what he intended 25:17 and that was to search out and save people. 25:20 And that's what this plane is used for today. 25:22 It's a truly a search and rescue plane. 25:28 Yeah, we've-- it's interesting 25:30 being on the receiving end of donations. 25:32 We are a faith ministry, faith based 25:35 and we don't operate with income. 25:39 We have people helping us and we've learned that-- 25:42 That givers have, have characteristics 25:46 and one of those characteristics 25:47 are they're usually people who want to see results. 25:51 And they focus primarily on things that are visible 25:55 and tangible and that gives it, 25:58 that's feeling of satisfaction when they give, which is good 26:01 'cause that's what drives projects like this. 26:05 That's how, how we're funded, how people help us. 26:08 We've discovered that people like buildings, 26:10 they like seeing things going up. 26:11 They like to see that progress which is good 26:14 because in a place like this 26:17 we really need to infrastructure, 26:19 we need help with that so that's being a blessing 26:21 to have so many people help with that. 26:24 One of the weaknesses I think with donors 26:27 in spite of their good intentions sometimes 26:29 they tend to forget the maintenance 26:32 aspect of a project for example, 26:34 if a school is built, in their heart of hearts 26:38 they don't want to see that thing dwindling into nothing 26:41 because they put their money into that. 26:43 But somehow along the-- in the experiences that 26:46 they're going through they tend to have a-- 26:49 They have tendency to forget that maintenance of a project 26:53 is just as important, the upkeep of the project 26:55 is just as important if not more so 26:57 than the actual establishment 26:59 of the project in the first place, 27:00 so I think that's a-- that's just a human thing. 27:03 I don't think anybody intends 27:05 on making a mistake in that area 27:07 but it is a weakness with some donors 27:09 that they overlook at. 27:11 So yeah, it's incredible how-- 27:13 how much you learn about human nature 27:15 and you learn about people 27:17 when you are involved in a project like this. 27:18 And I think it's a-- 27:20 it's a character building experience for us, 27:22 you know, to go through this. 27:35 It's amazing to look back in time 27:37 and to think that just 10 years ago Dr. Mark 27:39 was performing operations in a primitive hut 27:42 and traveling to other islands by a banana boat. 27:45 But now thanks to your support. 27:47 Dr. Mark and his family are able to more effectively 27:50 reach out to the people through medical aviation 27:52 and our clinic on Gaua. 28:08 The people of Vanuatu needs your help. 28:11 If you'd like to help support this project, 28:13 contact our ministry at 414 Zapada Road, 28:16 St. Maries, Idaho 83861 28:19 or call us at 1-800-245-1844. 28:24 You can also reach us at lmn.org. |
Revised 2022-08-29