MICRONESIA 1999-2000 - First Long Term Missionary Experience

Pohnpei, Micronesia
August 1999-November 2000

Arrival in Pohnpei

After saying our goodbyes to everyone in Modesto, California (where I had been the worship pastor at The Salvation Army for over a year) and our family members and friends, we got on the airplane which would ultimately take us to the foreign mission field for more than just a couple of months. We first arrived in Hawaii in August 1999. There we were met by Scott and Jeanette Hamel. Scott and Jeanette were seminary students with us in Southern California. Scott was an avid fisherman, as was I. We went fishing together while we were in seminary quite often. We didn't know Jeanette as well. She was pretty quiet. But a couple of years after we left seminary, they were calling us up to see if we wanted to assist them in pastoring a couple of churches in the Micronesian islands. After much prayer, we sensed that God was leading us to Pohnpei. We stayed in Hawaii for about a week and helped out at summer camp. After that week, the Hamels and our family boarded the plane for Pohnpei. The flight was called the island hopper and stopped at Johnson Island, Majuro in the Marshall Islands and Kosrae before we reached Pohnpei. Out of the airplane window, we circled the island that would become our home. There were beautiful coral reefs and gorgeous green, vegetation covered mountains. We landed and were greeted by the local Pohnpeians. As we got off the plane, the peace and joy of the Holy Spirit flooded my soul.

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Island Life in Pohnpei

We got settled in, as much as we could, into our new apartment which was just around the corner from the church in Kolonia. Kolonia is the main town in Pohnpei. Most of the big stores and government offices are in Kolonia. Pohnpei is broken up into five separate municipalities: Madolenihmw, Kitti, U, Nett and Sokehs. Each municipality is ruled by the "nanmwarki" or king. Under the king is the "nankehn" or speaking chief. There are many others under these men with "titles" who perform duties in various local activities such as funerals, birthdays, etc. It's interesting to see these gatherings...You know right away when they are happening as there are lots of vehicles on the two lane road the island, making it hard to drive through. You see lots of pigs, yams and "sakau en Pohnpei" at these gatherings. These three things are vital in Pohnpeian society. Anyway, we didn't have much furniture in our first apartment, but one thing we had in abundance were cockroaches. And these aren't the little American ones...these big suckers fly around. One night I woke up to a huge cockroach crawling up my bare chest. Being bitten by big ants was common at night, as well...which also woke me up. We had geckos everywhere...inside and outside our apartment. They were friendly. One time, a poisonous centipede (the only really dangerous insect on the island) almost made it under our front door. A lot of dogs lived out front. I was almost bit by one of them as I was walking back from church: I shielded myself with my guitar case. This first apartment was temporary. After three or four months we moved into a house that we rented from the Adams (who own ACE Hardware and NAPA Auto Parts) in Nett. In contrast, it was a beautiful 3 bedroom house on a beautiful few acres of land...which by the way, I had to mow every couple of weeks. There, Jonas could run around freely. We obtained some dogs. Jonas named the black dog, "Treelo," and the brown dog, "Ojo." (From Disney's Bear and the Big Blue House) Later our Pohnpeian friends called these dogs "me toanoal" (black) and "me brouno" (brown). Ojo later had puppies which we gave to friends as gifts (or possibly meals as they eat dogs in Pohnpei) before we left Pohnpei.

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Plunged Into Ministry

As soon as we arrived we were plunged right into ministry. My second day in Pohnpei, I gave a devotional at the men's fellowship breakfast that consisted of about 20 pastors and church leaders from around the island. I thought it went well. I spoke on the church being really busy as the body of Christ, yet at times, becoming detached from the Head of the body of Christ. Soon after that I was told to give a devotional at the "kalibus" or prison. I was put in charge of leading worship at all meetings, teaching Sunday School, leading the youth groups and co-leading staff devotions. The Salvation Army had a presence in Kolonia Town and also in a small village in Madolenihmw. We were put in leadership at both places. We had constant interaction with the local Pohnpeian staff at the churches we ministered at. Nemensio and Susan (a Chuukese lady from the island of Chuuk...the next Micronesian island to the West...different language altogether) Sardis were the program assistants. Nemensio helped me a lot in my Pohnpeian language study. The Sardis' had five children, two older boys and three younger girls. Penry Oliver (a Mokilese man from the outer atoll of Mokil...language closly related to Pohnpeian) was in charge of the youth center we ran in Kolonia (he would later become a pastor in the Assemblies of God in Kolonia). Johnny Rudolph (a Nukouran man from the outer atoll of Nukouru...a Polynesian language) was a part-time employee who did janitorial work (he would later plant a Nukouran church in Pohnpei with me and become the pastor of that church). Loverda Rosario (a Kosraen lady from the island of Kosrae...the next Micronesian island to the east...different language altogether) was the receptionist. Joining us later on staff were Senelyn John, Ernet Santos and Angie Santos who were from the village in Madolenihmw. So as you can see, we had quite a multi-ethnic staff. 

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Embracing Pohnpeian Culture

When we first got to Pohnpei we went into observation mode. As foreign missionaries, we have learned that coming into a new culture it is important to observe the life and customs of that culture. This enables us to transition into adapting to that culture and embracing it, rather than looking at another culture as "inferior" and even "backwards" as has been the practice of some missionaries in the past. On the contrary, we believe that other cultures are rich in heritage and that we have much to learn from these cultures. I generally find American culture to be the one that is "inferior" and "backwards." We began to dress like Pohnpeians rather than Americans. I began to wear aloha shirts and both of us abandoned the wearing of shoes and socks altogether...we wore "zorries" or flip-flops. We transitioned from sleeping on beds to sleeping on the floor as the locals did. Our diet changed from American food, to a mix of American and Pohnpeian food, to finally liking Pohnpeian food more than American food. By the way, Pohnpeian food is excellent. We ate pig, fish, chicken, dog, yams, taro, tapioca, breadfruit, bananas, mangos, papaya and other delicious local foods. One of our favorite things was to drink young coconuts called "uhpw" on a hot day. I started out fishing with the western-style fishing poles and then transitioned to hand-lining out of a hand-dug local outrigger canoe or "war," spear-fishing and net-fishing. We started to learn the Pohnpeian language right away. We bought a Pohnpeian dictionary and also wrote conversational phrases in a little notebook. Then we would go to church and into town trying to speak Pohnpeian. The Pohnpeian Bible also helped us in this. The Pohnpeian language has 4 forms of language: low, middle, high and kingly language. You would speak the low form to children, the middle form to peers, the higher form to those older than you and the kingly form to God and to the "nanmwarki." We managed to learn and speak Pohnpeian nearly fluently within one year. By the time we left Pohnpei, I was teaching on Sunday mornings and at Bible studies as well as praying in Pohnpeian. My family was even adopted into a few families on the island and given land. To this day, I still feel as though I am part "Pohnpeian." The people of Pohnpei and the island of Pohnpei are things of beauty. There are so many sights to see. There is Sokehs Rock which is a huge landmark on the north side of the island. There are many waterfalls including Kepirohi Falls and Liduduniap Falls. There are the ancient ruins of Nan Madol that were built with giant basalt logs hundreds of years ago. There are islands within the great barrier reef like Lenger Island and Black Coral Island. Then there are outer atolls like Kapingamarangi, Nukuoro, Ngatik, Pingelap and Mwokil. Pohnpei is a trophy of God's creation.

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Never Would Have Thought

As we embraced the Pohnpeian culture and people, tensions began to rise between my family and the Hamels. What I am about to write is not in the spirit of slander or gossip, but from our perspective is an honest picture of what took place. The Hamels had not embraced the culture and the people to the extent that we did, and jealousies arose as the people embraced us. The Hamels began to mistreat the Pohnpeian people on staff and talk down to them, looking on them as lesser than they. Then the Hamels began to mistreat us as well. All this time we chose to submit to their authority as leaders of the church. After living and ministering in Pohnpei for 4 months, I felt sick to my stomach when I had to go to the church office and be around the Hamels. Jeanette's health began to deteriorate. She had a miscarraige and also appendicitis. The relationship between us and the Hamels got so bad that Jeanette even resorted to lying to me concerning a student in order to gain her favor and to hurt me even more. Shortly after that, the student exposed Jeanete's lie in front of me and the entire youth group. A very awkward moment. She stormed off embarrassed. Two days later, on a Sunday morning, Scott called me from the hospital telling me that Jeanette had experienced a horrible accident as "she had slipped in the closet after coming out of the shower and landed on her head." I quickly left the church to be with Scott and Jeanette. Jeanette was barely coherent and hours later she died on the hospital bed. Lots of questions flooded my mind as I watched her breathe her last breath. After an autopsy, it was discovered that Jeanette had not slipped and fallen but had been struck in the back of the head by a blunt object. Scott was arrested and after a long, drawn out trial that lasted close to a year, Scott was convicted of murder and sentenced to 10 years in prison. To this day I don't know what really happened. The investigation wasn't done very well. There wasn't any evidence other than circumstantial evidence. There was no murder weapon found. I can't believe that Scott would do such a thing. I believe that Scott served some time in prison in Pohnpei but was later extradited back to the United States. I have no idea where Scott is now.

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Thrust Into Leadership

Because of Jeanette's death and the ensuing trial, The Salvation Army placed us in charge of all the missionary work on the island. Our first act as pastors to two hurting congregations was washing the feet of all the church members and attenders. We wanted them to know that we were going to walk with them through this tough time and serve them. Because we were given free reign to minister as we saw fit, we implemented things that we felt were missing. We constantly prayed for God's guidance as we humbly led both churches. The church consistently grew in health and in size. We saw lives being changed daily. People were being set free from bondage and saved. The Holy Spirit poured into all of our lives as I had never seen before. The youth and young adult population grew the fastest. Our church in Kolonia on Sunday mornings grew from a handful of people to over a hundred, even to the point that we didn't have enough sitting room. We introduced more contemporary worship with a huge tribal drum section. We introduced "devotion in motions". Services were done in English and Pohnpeian. Real discipleship was taking place. Our midweek Bible study grew to more than 50. People became hungry for God's Word. Many people would come forward during the services and completely surrender themselves to Christ. We began to work more with Every Home for Christ, doing evangelical outreaches with them. We began to translate worship songs into the Ponpeian language. Johnny Rudolph and I planted a Nukouran church in Pohnpei where he became the pastor. That church grew and grew. I started to learn the Nukouran language as well. These were days in which a great harvest was reaped in Pohnpei...And we were the blessed ones who happened to be in the right place at the right time for what God wanted to do in Pohnpei.

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Many Miracles Took Place

During this time of harvest and revival, there was such an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that supernatural miracles became a common occurance. One night we held a deliverance service for the youth of the community in Kolonia. We laid hands on many of the youth that came forward for prayer. Youth began to sweat and shake as demons were cast out of them and they were released from various bondages. These demons were angry and followed me to my house as I drove back from that deliverance service. I sat at my computer and huge footsteps began to stomp up and down the tin roof of our house. I thought at first that someone or some animal had climbed up onto our roof, so I took the flashlight out and checked...no one was there. The stomping happened again. I checked outside again. Nothing. As the stomping started up a third time I realized that demons were angry and had followed me back. I shouted out, "In the name of Jesus..." and the stomping suddenly stopped mid-step! Another time, I was leading worship at our youth group in Madolenihmw. We were singing the song, "Spirit of the Living God." We began to experience time of spontaneous worship during the song and I began to sing the words, "Kisinieng en Ngen Sarawi," or wind of the Holy Spirit. Our church in Madolenihmw didn't have walls...only a floor and a roof held up by local wood posts. As I sang those lyrics a wind began to blow violently in and around our church building but nowhere else on the island. I thought it coincidence so I stopped singing those lyrics. The wind stopped. I began to sing those lyrics again and the wind once again began to blow violently! I stopped singing. The wind stopped! Still fighting against my analytical mind, I tried it a third time. Once again the wind blew only when I sang those lyrics! Some youth were excited, some of the newer ones were terrified. Another time I went to my friend David Stephen's house with him to get permission from his mother to stay with me. His step-father hated Christ and hated Christians. Drunk, he came up to me and tried to attack me, throwing blows at my face. I didn't move. An invisible shield stopped every punch that he threw. Miraculously, he couldn't touch me! After that, David's step-father's heart softened to the things of God. On another occasion, during a time of worship at Every Home for Christ, we all fell on our faces for an hour, weeping uncontrollably. Other times we laid hands on people to receive spiritual gifts. Many received gifts of tongues, healings and other gifts. These are just a few of the miracles that took place when we were missionaries in Pohnpei.

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Lifelong Friendships Made

With all of the cool ministry that took place, I would be remiss if I didn't say that during our stay on the island of Pohnpei the people who we met and became friends with are the most precious to us. I already mentioned earlier the staff members that we worked with. The staff members that I was became closest to were Johnny, Penry and Ernet. Johnny and his family are considered family to us. We would often have fellowship with him and his family. Penry and his family are very dear to us as well. I really became knitted in spirit to Ernet. We spent hours together fishing and talking. He taught me much of what I know of the Pohnpeian language and culture. We saw him and his lovely wife, Angie, get married and establish their family. Angie's sister, Rensleen, became our nanny when Jordan was born. She helped raise Jordan. Their family is our family as well. We love the youth in Kolonia: Cynthia (who became the spiritual leader of all the youth), David (my closest friend of all the youth whom I led to the Lord), Joiceleen (with her fun, youthful spirit), Anterina (with her quiet spirit), Suphy, Erleen, Willy, Wenster, Tannleen, Eloreen and all of the others (there are so many). We love the youth of Nett: D.J. (spent many hours discipling him), Mailer (awesome young man with huge potential) and the others. We love the youth of Madolenihmw: Persihla (our worship leader in training), Joyleen, Junior, Eric, Erica and the others (again, too many to list). There is a special place in our heart for all of the warriors we have fought alongside from Every Home for Christ: Ilaisa (founder of EHC Pohnpei), Jacqueline, Isau (awesome spiritual leader), Berlihno (probably my closest friend from EHC - the most loving, sensitive guy I have ever met), Norleen, Soster and all the others. All of the other lovely people of Pohnpei whose lives we have been blessed to be a part of. Also some special friends of ours who we met in Pohnpei are Wycliffe missionaries Nico and Pam Daams who translated the Bible into the Kapingamarangi language.

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Construction Projects
Pohnpei is yet another place in the world that I have been blessed to use my construction experience. One of my first projects was the roof of a car-port at the pastor's house in Pali Ais. It had fallen down over the years so we needed to connect a half-fallen apart wall to a shipment container by building a new roof. During our stay in Pohnpei a cholera epidemic swept the island. People all over the island were dying from cholera. The services at our church in Madolenihmw were temporarily shut down by the government until we could build some restroom facilities with running water. So we decided to building a men's and women's restoom facility build from cinderblock. It actually turned out pretty sweet. Each restroom had a toilet, sink and a shower. We got water from a river up the mountain by letting gravity feed the water downhill using large to medium to small PVC pipes. We also had a large septic tank built for the restroom facility. After a few months of hard work, the government approved the facilities and let us resume services at our church in Madolenihmw. We also remodeled the church in Kolonia by building a wall between the youth center and the main sanctuary. We also added a new office, classroom and air conditioning. Praise the Lord that all of that construction experience that I had from the United States could be used for God's glory in Pohnpei. 

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Our Departure From Pohnpei

Not all stories have happy endings. You would really think that all missionaries would get along with each other and that confrontations and differences wouldn't occur very often. Sadly, we have found this not to be the case. We were given charge of The Salvation Army missionary work on the entire island for a little less than a year. Great things happened over that time period as you have already read. The problem is, some of the church leaders from the denomination that were directors over our entire area didn't like or agree with our more contemporary approach to ministry on the island. Over the course of that year, they visited the island and saw what they thought to be a consistent departure from the normal Salvation Army style of ministry, in spite of the phenomenal church growth. They chose to send other missionaries to Pohnpei and put them in charge over us. They quickly re-introduced a more traditional style of ministry and slowly phased out what we had worked so hard at building over the previous year. This led us to pray about our next step. As we spent much time in prayer, we felt that God was leading us to build our house in Madolenihmw on land that we were given and minister with our friends at the church on the other side of the island. This notion was shot down after we, on more than one occasion, asked for permission from the denominational leaders. Without the support of the denomination we were working with, we simply didn't have the means to stay on the island. Disillusioned, my family and I decided to leave Pohnpei and head back to the United States, yet we knew that God had still called us to be foreign missionaries. We left encouraging the church people who remained through the transition of new leadership to continue to serve the Lord at the churches both in Kolonia and Madolenihmw. Many tears were shed from both the people of Pohnpei and from us. I know that God used us as we loved and served the people of Pohnpei for almost a year and a half. Since then the Lord has healed the residual hurt that we had felt and we have no hard feelings toward The Salvation Army. We will never forget the people of Pohnpei and hope to someday return to visit them.

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Christian Young