MICRONESIA 2012 - House of Prayer Beginnings

Had more than twenty come out to the House of Prayer in our apartment tonight. Such a good time in the presence of God. Experiencing an incredible move of the Holy Spirit in Pohnpei, Micronesia.

MICRONESIA 2012 - Ministry at PICS High School

Kolonia, Pohnpei

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

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Ministry at PICS High School

So many doors have opened up to us for ministry here in Pohnpei, Micronesia. We have officially partnered with Every Home for Christ, a radical group of Jesus-lovers that we worked with when we were missionaries here in the past. One of the doors that have opened up to us through this partnership is to be able to go into PICS public high school once or twice a week and minister to the students.

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Once a week I've been ministering to the students that attend HSSC, High School Students for Christ, which is a Christian club. Every other week I will be sharing with students during their English class. For today's English class, I took my guitar and sang, "Your Love Never Fails" by Jesus Culture. Then I had them try to remember some of the lyrics I had sung and wrote them on the chalkboard. After that I talked to them about the love of God and used the story of the prodigal son. I found it amazing that (1) the students were on the edge of their seats listening to every word and (2) that I am allowed to share the gospel freely at a public school.  I am looking forward to more good times with these high school students this school year. If you think about it, please pray for them, that the Holy Spirit would draw them into the arms of Heavenly Father through the love of Jesus Christ.

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2012 - Exposing the Darkness

U, Pohnpei

Sunday, September 23, 2012

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Exposing the Darkness

We’ve had an incredible weekend of exposing the darkness here on the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. On Friday night, Jonas and I decided to go on a treasure hunt, asking the Lord to lead us to His treasures that are hidden in the darkness. On Friday nights Kolonia town is bustling with Pohnpeians gathering at sakau bars where they get intoxicated on the mild narcotic called kava, or in the local language, “sakau en Pohnpei.” On the surface it doesn’t seem entirely bad, but more of a cultural practice. I’m still not certain what to think about it as it is such an integral part of Pohnpeian culture and society. Pohnpeians use sakau en Pohnpei at traditional feasts and gatherings, at times offering the cups of sakau to the spirits before they drink it. So there is a spiritual connection with sakau en Pohnpei that needs to be carefully and delicately looked at. But the modern sakau bars seem to be a place where Pohnpeians drink in order to escape the stresses of life and to help them sleep well as the drug has a calming effect. We hear Pohnpeians say that they drink it so that they can fall asleep, which means it probably has addictive qualities, as other narcotics do. It is also a social practice, where they hang out with old friends and meet new friends at the sakau bars. From what we’ve heard, many Pohnpeians will fall into adulterous relationships at these modern sakau bars. Whatever the case, if Jesus was walking the streets of Kolonia town in Pohnpei, He would more than likely be hanging out with the “least of these” who self-medicate at the sakau bars. So on Friday night, after cruising around Kolonia and praying for God to lead us to the right people, Jonas and I felt led to hang out with some of the youth in our neighborhood near the sakau bar close to our house. We live in a section of Kolonia called, “Chinatown.” We want to prophetically rename the area, “Shekinatown,” as we want to see the Shekinah glory of God inundate this place. We went and bought some sodas at the sakau bar, then sat with the local youth that we always see playing basketball and hanging out every day. They kept their distance at first and didn’t seem so welcoming of us. I think it may have been because they were all underage and drinking alcohol from a bottle. We just sat and spoke with them in English and Pohnpeian. Then one guy named Troy came and hung out. He is older than the rest and is half Yapese, half American. At first he was a bit “stand-offish” as well, but as Jonas and I just sat and listened, he began to ask questions of us. We engaged in some really good conversation with him and the others, didn’t once condemn them for their drinking, but just sat there, loving on them all. They’ve invited Jonas and I to come and hang out with them anytime. Thank you Jesus for leading us to these treasures. It has been said, “it is better to shine the light than to curse the darkness.”

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On Saturday night we had our usual gathering in our apartment. We believe these gatherings to be the beginning of the House of Prayer that we will start here in Pohnpei. Our friends came in and we had an awesome time of prayer and worship. I had our friends write down on a piece of paper all of their personal prayer requests, then on the other side all of the things they would like to see change in Pohnpei. Then as we worshiped together, we took time to pray through all of the requests. It was an incredible time in the presence of God. Before and after our time of prayer and worship, we always get to have such good conversations with our friends. The more we sit and listen to their stories, the more we realize how dark the darkness really is here in Pohnpei. Of course from living here before we knew about the history of Pohnpei being the center for human sacrificing in the islands. We also had experience tremendous opposition and outright open attacks from the enemy as we saw many youth delivered from evil spirits and cling to Jesus. We also knew of the black magic that is practiced here, but are coming to realize how many Pohnpeians are involved in such practices, even though many of them are professing Christians. This Saturday night, the daughter of one of our friends wanted prayer. A few months ago she had accompanied her parents to pray for a girl who was demon-possessed. Her parents were able to cast out the evil spirits from the girl, but the daughter had an open door in her life due to a pattern of sin, and from that time on the demons began to torment her and her older sister. Because of the demonic oppression, the daughter lost over 50% of her hearing and was even vomiting metal objects that she had never swallowed. So on Saturday night, we had her close the doors to the enemy by repenting of her sin. Then we anointed her ears with oil and prayed for her healing. Within moments, her hearing had been completely restored. When the light of Christ exposes the darkness, evil must flee.

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This morning, some of our other friends who were at our Saturday night fellowship asked if we could anoint the new local house they are building on their land in the “U” municipality, as the wooden beams have already been invaded by bugs . The locals are attributing this to a curse and have been trying to get our friends to use more black magic to combat it. Our friends denied their request and are trusting in Jesus to break this curse. I anointed every wooden post with oil and in the Pohnpeian language wrote Joshua 24:15 on the center post which says, “As for me and my house, we shall serve the LORD.” We all prayed together and dedicated the home to Jesus, breaking off all curses and black magic. These same friends had an amazing encounter with the Holy Spirit at our fellowship last night and said that for the first time, their family didn’t argue at home in Kolonia. They want us to pray over their house in Kolonia as well because black magic was placed in the cement as the front fence was being built. On our way to their home in “U” this morning, Jonas and I saw a half-naked woman who didn’t seem to be in her right mind shouting at our friends in the car ahead of us. Our friends said that they have taken care of her for a long time now, giving her shampoo and helping her to shower. It was the first time she has ever cursed them. It gave our friends the goose bumps. We know that when a line is drawn in the sand, and through faith in Christ we choose to be children of the light, the darkness is exposed as we simply live our lives. For whatever reason, the battle between light and darkness is more “in your face” here in Micronesia and in other foreign nations we have lived in and traveled to. But the truth is, this battle is all around us no matter where we are in the world. The question is: Will we choose to shine the light of Christ?

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Christian Young

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Update on the house that we prayed for...the termites were prematurely eating the wooden posts...so we anointed every post with oil and commanded the termites to leave in Jesus' name, breaking off all black magic that had been placed on the house...and now two weeks later, there are no more termites. Booyah! That's called dominion over creation!

MICRONESIA 2012 - Trip to Liduduniap Falls

Nett, Pohnpei

Saturday, September 22, 2012

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Trip to Liduduniap Falls

Today there was no school, so we decided we would take a little trip to Liduduniap Falls. Before we left I’d heard a story of four guys who died there because a curse was put on them. A huge flood came and drowned them. I was a little scared because dad said it was a dark place. But as we drove there I thought about how God was protecting us and how the angels were surrounding us then and I felt comforted. We got there and we had to walk down some mossy, uneven steps to the falls. Once we got to Liduduniap, I thought about the meaning of the name of the falls. Lih=lady, Duhdu=shower, Ni Yap=from Yap (Yapese). So the person who named it obviously thought it looked like a Yapese woman taking a shower. Didn’t make sense to me. We took some pictures and it started to rain, so we made our way back home.

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Jordan Young

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When we got there…we walked down a narrow trail with lots of flowers. When the trail ended, there was steps that led down to the waterfall. Dad took some pictures of us all sitting on the rocks. I thought it was really fun.

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Justine Young

MICRONESIA 2012 - Re-Learning the Pohnpeian Language

Nett, Pohnpei

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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Re-Learning the Pohnpeian Language

“I anahne pwureng esehla lokaia en Pohnpei,” (I need to re-learn how to speak Pohnpeian) is often said early in conversations that I have with Pohnpeians in their indigenous language. WeI have decided to spend a good portion of our time in these early months back here on the island of Pohnpei re-learning the language. Although I was near fluent in Pohnpeian twelve years ago, learning to speak Polish, Portuguese, Spanish and Yao on our journeys has made me realize that I am getting older, and because of this, am having a more difficult time cataloguing each of these languages in my mind. In saying that it’s only been two weeks back in Pohnpei and it seems to all be coming back to us quickly.

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Every other day, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, we have been driving to Nan Pohnmal where our friend Joyce lives and re-learning the language from her and her niece, Stephanie, both of whom were in our youth group many years ago. We are having a blast re-learning the Pohnpeian language and get to have fellowship with our dear friends at the same time. We are filling up our notebooks with the notes that we are taking on the language. My thoughts are that we will be speaking near fluently again within the first six months back in Pohnpei.

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We are in turn taking what we are learning from Joyce and Stephanie, and teaching our children how to read, write and speak Pohnpeian as well. Our children have had the wonderful opportunity to learn and speak different languages depending on what countries we have lived in throughout their childhood. They continue to fill up their language learning notebooks and even get to illustrate what they are learning to make it more fun. Almost all of our kid’s classmates are Micronesian, so they get to try out what they are learning here at home with them. It is amazing how quickly our children adjust to new cultures. At least this time, our plans are to stay here indefinitely, which means that our kids will be able to stay the course in learning and using Pohnpeian here in Micronesia. As missionaries, we place a high value on learning to communicate with the indigenous population in their heart language. Soon our whole family will be fluent Pohnpeian speakers.

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2012 - Nahlap Trip

Nahlap, Pohnpei

Friday, September 14, 2012

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Nahlap Trip

As a part of attending Calvary Christian Academy, I was required to take part in a “Junior-Senior Leadership Camp” where the school takes the upper classmen off island for a few days to learn about being spiritual leaders in our school. The school took us to a small island resort on the island of Nahlap, off the southern coast of Pohnpei.

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Our guest speaker for the three days was a Baptist pastor from Guam, who taught on various topics based on questions we all wrote down on note cards. These questions included ones asking about alcohol, drugs, sex, music, etc. To be honest, most of was taught was either review for me, or I just did not agree with what was taught.

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However, I actually did enjoy my time there because it gave me an opportunity to get to know my classmates better. I’ve gotten to know my fellow juniors pretty well, due to being in a small class and having almost all the same classes each day. So I really enjoyed getting to know the seniors better and make friends with them. We all spent lots of time together swimming, eating, playing games and other activities. This brought us all together, and made us even closer friends than before.

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Jonas Young

MICRONESIA 2012 - Prayer Driving Around Pohnpei

Sokehs, Pohnpei

Thursday, September 13, 2012

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Prayer Driving Around Pohnpei

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MICRONESIA 2012 - Pics from Nett Point

 Beautiful panoramic of Sokehs Island and the Pacific from the beach at Nett Point

 

 

Christian doing some spearfishing at Nett Point

Stephanie and Jarleen having some fun at Nett Point

Christian doing a backflip off the old dock at Nett Point

Some beautiful tropical fish taken with our underwater camera

MICRONESIA 2012 - Revival - Our 1999 Totyota Spacio Vehicle

Kolonia, Pohnpei

Monday, September 10, 2012

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Revival - Our 1999 Toyota Spacio Vehicle

We are blessed beyond imagination. We sold our 2002 Honda Civic back in the U.S. to our good friends James and Jody Atchley in hopes to be able to use that money to purchase a used vehicle in Pohnpei. We were originally told before came that we would probably need around $8,000 to buy a good, used vehicle from Japan. We were a little bummed about that since we only had $2,500 saved from the sale of our car. So when the girls and I arrived, we began the search for a used vehicle in our price range. Everything seemed really over-priced to us. I went to the relative of one of our Pohnpeian friends if he knew of any used vehicles for sale. It just so happened that he was wanting to sell one of his vehicles that he used for his business. When we asked him how much, he said $2,500. We checked out the vehicle, drove it around and loved it! Again, we are so blessed!

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The vehicle is a 1999 Toyota Spacio from Japan, so the driver's side is on the right, even though we drive on the right side of the road here in Pohnpei. Makes you kind of feel like a mailman or something. :) It seats seven comfortably, although we've already squeezed more people than that into the car. They don't have seatbelt rules here. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour around the entire island. We have named our new vehicle, "Revival" as we believe it is prophetic of what is going to take place here in Pohnpei, Micronesia, the Pacific islands and beyond! Woohoo!

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2012 - First Day of School at CCA

Jonas, Jordan and Justine on their first day of school together in Pohnpei. Looking pretty good in their school uniforms.

MICRONESIA 2012 - First Prayer and Worship Meeting at our Apartment

Kolonia, Pohnpei

Sunday, September 9, 2012

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First Prayer and Worship Meeting at our Apartment

So we’ve moved back to Pohnpei with an agenda: To take the hand of Daddy and to take the hand of His Micronesian bride and join the two together. Of course, the vision that God has given us reaches beyond the Pacific islands, but we are coming back to Micronesia “low and slow.” As our family has been praying and dialoguing about how to start out our ministry here, we felt led to just open up our apartment on Saturday evenings for prayer and worship. We invited a handful of our Pohnpeian friends and family yesterday and had an INCREDIBLE first meeting!

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Our friends Johnny, Joyce, Ingrid, Jarleen, Stephanie and Helen, along with some of their little ones came out. We led a time of worship in Pohnpeian and English. The manifest presence of God was so tangible. Then we invited them to come to the middle for prayer one by one. All of them wanted prayer. We prayed for them and for their families. We felt to break off generational curses and magic that had been placed upon them through their family lines. We ministered SOZO and the Father’s heart to them, helping them to break off lies that they have believed about themselves and about God. ONE of them made a first-time decision to receive Christ…we led her through a simple prayer of salvation. THREE of them received a baptism of the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues for the first time. They all said that they felt “lighter” after our time of ministry together. We had such a good time in our little apartment. I can’t wait for next Saturday evening. These are the days of humble beginnings back in Micronesia and we are ecstatic to be back “home” in Pohnpei.

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Christian Young

MICRONESIA 2012 - Arrival in Pohnpei

Kolonia, Pohnpei

Friday, September 7, 2012

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Arrival in Pohnpei

Well the girls and I finally made it to Pohnpei after waiting in Guam for two and a half weeks for their passports to be renewed. We had an amazing time with our new friends and family in Guam, but it has been so nice to be reunited with family at home in Pohnpei. That's what it feels like here, too...that we are finally HOME.

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Getting Settled In

We are renting a two bedroom apartment from Bernard's, which funny enough is the same people we rented our first apartment from when we arrived here in the late '90's. It is a modest apartment, but is inexpensive, which is what we need right now. It has a working stove and refridgerator. For the time being we are all sleeping on the floor using our sleeping mats. We purchased our first pieces of furniture the other day: one platic table and five plastic chairs. We are definitely returning to Pohnpei "low and slow." The view from our apartment is nice. We use fans to try and cool us down during the day and while we sleep at night. The temperature in Pohnpei is around 80 degrees and between 80% and 90% humidity. We will try to write more about the culture and climate in future blog posts.

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We live close enough to the center of town so that we can pretty much walk everywhere that we need to go. We do need a family car, though. We have been praying into it and yesterday, we checked out a used Toyota minivan that some friends were selling for the same price that we sold our Honda Civic for back in the U.S. Jonas has been attending school at Calvary Christian Academy, which is one of two private schools on the island. Jordan and Justine just went to CCA to take their placement tests yesterday. More pics to come of the kids in their school uniforms. :)

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Reconnecting with our Pohnpeian Family

It is amazing how the love of God for one another transcends both time and distance. We have been reconnecting with our Pohnpeian friends and family. It has been so wonderful to see Johnny, Ruth, Cynthia, Jane, Ingrid, Senelyn and Penry. Even after twelve years, our friends are so young and beautiful. We've been offered different pieces of land to both build our house as well as the new Iris base on. I am in the process of getting "Iris Micronesia" registered as a non-profit here. God is giving us incredible favor in Micronesia.

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Jonas has been taking various pics. We love this journey that the Lord has us on and are so thankful to Him that you get to share in this beautiful journey with us.

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Christian Young

Guam 2012 - Repenting of Colonialism

Dededo, Guam

Saturday, September 1, 2012

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Prayer Meetings at Sally's House

Powerful worship and intercession is being lifted heavenward from the Pacific Islands...God is speaking...we are listening...tonight at a prayer meeting westerners washed the feet of the indigenous Chamorro of Guam while repenting of the colonialism that has taken place in the name of missions...in the spirit, an angry sea creature that's been hell-bent and out to destroy the work of God in the Pacific has been killed and it's carcass has been washed ashore in a distant land...cloaks of humility and love are being handed to the saints of God as keys to unlock the doors of His Kingdom coming in power to the Pacific Islands...prophetic words are being spoken over people and nations...the sick are being anointed and prayed for...songs of praise and worship are both bringing deeper intimacy with the Father and breaking chains that have held people captive for centuries...the watchmen and the intercessor are being called to rise up and position themselves for war...get ready all you islands of the Pacific...the Kingdom of God is here...embrace your destiny...you belong to Jesus!

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Christian Young