new zealand

Testimony – “Down Under”

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September to November is springtime in New Zealand and I had the privilege of visiting there during part of September and October 2019, through an invitation from Brother Evan Sadler.

My flight landed in Auckland that morning and I was picked up at 11:00 AM by Brother Bretton from Hope International. It was very interesting to see the countryside, all those rolling green hills and the wild sheep and goats. Of course, you know New Zealanders drive on the “wrong” side of the road. The driver side is on our passenger side as well. The trip from the airport took four hours to arrive in a little town called Ohura, where Hope International is situated.

I had always thought that New Zealand was one long island, but it is two separate islands: North Island and South Island, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean.

“New Zealand sits on two tectonic plates – the Pacific and the Australian. Fifteen of these gigantic moving chunks of crust make up the Earth’s surface. The North Island and some parts of the South Island sit on the Australian Plate, while the rest of the South Island sits on the Pacific. Because these plates are constantly shifting and grinding into each other, New Zealand gets a lot of geological action.”

www.newzealand.com/us/feature/new-zealand-geography-and-geology/

I learned a little more of its geology while visiting and it amazed me how those islands just sit there above water and are not overrun by the ocean. Then I have to stop, recalling this verse: “And [the Lord] said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11), and realize that God is not only in control of our world, but of the entire universe!

Hope International, New Zealand, now provides health evangelism, not only to the surrounding villagers, but to others outside of that area who want to change their lifestyle and receive help for their medical conditions. While I was visiting, Hope was revising one area of their buildings to accommodate more solid guest rooms and treatment rooms to adequately serve the public. This complex was previously a minimum-security prison and when Ohura’s economy died down and the prison was moved, it was no longer being used for that purpose. By God’s grace, when it became available, Brother Sadler was able to purchase it. The complex is ideally situated where the surrounding hillsides and peaceful neighborhood far from the hustle and bustle of city life, allows patients to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

Along with health lectures, some of the treatments provided by the clinic are massage, sweat baths, detox, and colon cleansing. The faithful staff who provide the lectures are Sala & Akapusi (from Fiji) and Natalie (Great Britain) just to name a few, and there are others who provide meals for the guests, clean the rooms on their departure and look after the comfort of the guests. Just this past week I received a text from Sala who said the team was preparing for about 20 people who were coming to do their program.

Praise God for His faithful workers who are doing their part in the medical missionary field. Let us remember to keep these brothers and sisters in prayer, because the enemy is sure to do his utmost to prevent this health message from being preached even in New Zealand.

Reporting from New Zealand – The Work in the South Pacific

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To the south in the vast rolling Pacific Ocean, there is a work that has blossomed and grown over the last ten years in the spreading of God’s Word in the South Pacific region.
Based in New Zealand, the ministry of Hope International New Zealand is producing material for the souls in our home country, as well as in Australia, the Pacific Islands, and Indonesia and Malaysia, where our work is just beginning.

New Zealand lies to the South East of Australia approximately 3500 km (2300 miles), and is made up of two main islands, North and South island. Each island is about 1600 km (1000 miles) long. The rest of the country consists of a quantity of small islands. New Zealand has a population of 3.4 million.

Our ministry has been functioning for 10 years, having its roots in our home here in Rangiora, South Island. We started when a couple leaving for Australia, gave us about six cartons of books, two cartons contained inexpensive Great Controversy books. Having no idea what to do with them at this stage, we left them in a closet under the stairs. About a year later, Elder Ron Spear came through New Zealand on one of his first preaching tours and stirred us into action, recommending that we get more of these inexpensive books from Vance Ferrel and make them available to our people here in our country. We duly pulled our two cartons out from under the stairs, plus shipped in more sets from overseas and typed out a one page newsletter to let people know that we had these books available. This letter was sent to 47 people that we were sending the Anchor magazine to at that time. From here, the ministry started to grow, now 650 people receive the newsletter in New Zealand and that number swells to 1000 when we send it overseas.

The ministry still functions from our home as a home-base. We now have seven staff working here full-time:

Peter Hitchens and Damon Hurley work on the computers preparing material for printing.

Keith Stirling operates our printing press and other equipment.

Jason Cooper manages the stocking of shelves, and the receiving of stock from overseas. He also prepares catalogues, and manages the production of material from the computers/press.

Madelene Hurley is our receptionist/secretary, her job includes processing incoming and outgoing mail, copying video and audio tapes, taking incoming phone calls, and keeping the accounts current

Peter Henham is out on the doors and on the streets doing medical missionary literature work and open air street preaching. He also gives Bible studies in the evenings and where he can during the day.

My duties involve planning for camp-meetings and outreach meetings, plus the general running of home-base. I also travel throughout New Zealand, visiting homechurch groups, taking a few meetings, arranging speakers for homechurch group meetings, and generally encouraging our brothers and sisters in the faith.

Evan Sadler is part of the team here too, not so much in the physical working aspect here at home-base, but more in the evangelistic side, traveling abroad and throughout our own country.

The main thrust of our ministry is to supply literature both for Seventh-day Adventists and the general public. As well as Bibles, we have literature on many different topics including: health, homeschooling, video and audio tapes, and books by SDA authors.

We also prepare and print tracts and booklets for outreach in New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands. Currently we are producing one sheet tri-fold tracts on many subjects including: health, prophecy, conversion, and Protestant history. We are also printing booklets on various topics. These booklets and tracts are prepared in English and several Pacific Island languages, so that we can reach into the village areas as well as main cities.

The ministry continues to grow. It is hard to keep up with the demand for materials, but the work is rewarding and encouraging as we see souls touched, both inside and outside the church, as a result of our efforts. God has richly blessed the small work here in this country and our prayer is that souls will be saved for His wonderful Kingdom, soon to become a reality.

We encourage all to keep the vision of a finished work. “Be ye also patient, stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:8.

Reporting From New Zealand

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Hope International (NZ) Ltd. Was formed officially back in 1987 after George Burnside, Ron Spear, and others visited New Zealand. Doug Hurley and I were the original founders and a board was formed. The self-supporting work had been going on in New Zealand since the early part of 1980. The work was financed by individuals who worked during the day and witnessed during the night. The formation of this self-supporting ministry was an attempt by dedicated laymen to promulgate the Three Angel’s Message as blended with the Righteousness by Faith message of 1888. It was first financed by the private saving of the founders and several sizable donations from conservative SDAs who believed the church which we all loved was losing the plot.

The ministry has gone from strength to strength and now has eight full-time workers operating computers, printing presses, a book shop, and mail orders for books, tapes, etc. There are several part-time workers and volunteers. It is obvious to those who have watched the spectacular progress of the ministry that a greater Hand than the founders or the board has been over the work.

The ministry’s work has expanded into the Pacific Islands, and at the moment we are actively at work in Fiji, Vanautu, Solomon Islands, and Papua, New Guinea. We support a full-time worker in Fiji who is having wonderful results in his health mission. We also ship tracts and large numbers of tabloid papers there. The Hurley family ran a health mission both in Fiji and Vanuatu. Last year I also ran a workshop in the Pango SDA Church in Vanuatu and an Outreach Mission in the capital, Port Vila. We have just shipped a large screen video projector to the Solomon Islands for the work over there. In Papua, New Guinea, the work is starting to explode as the common people are finding out about the Righteousness by Faith Message. We have just shipped a printing press, plate maker, and a quantity of paper to the brethren in P.N.G. this will allow cheap tracts containing our vital truth to go like the leaves of autumn all over this exciting country. We work in the Islands very closely with various ministries in Australia who are doing a wonderful work all over the Western Pacific. The ministry helped with speakers to P.N.G. Last year and will again send a speaker in July, if our visas get granted. There is a growing opposition to the work by those who are not going in themselves, yet they are trying to hinder those who want to go in.

The ministry runs two or three camps a year in New Zealand. Our big camp is at Easter, which is Autumn. It is held in the country and is very well attended by people from all over New Zealand. We hold an October camp in New Zealand’s capital city, Wellington, which is at the bottom of the North Island. We are holding a camp in late June this year in Auckland which is the largest city in New Zealand. The ministry brings speakers from many parts of the world and they travel the length of New Zealand giving talks to conservative SDAs and holding outreach meetings. The ministry has been supporting street workers for many years. Hundreds of thousands of tracts have been handed out on the streets in just about every city and town in New Zealand.

We have had a booth on health for several years now at the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Show. This has been a great opportunity to share vegetarian cooking and the basic laws of health. Thousands passed through in a matter of days. Two hundred boxes of clothing have just been packed for the Pacific by kind volunteers at the ministry. We also continue to send inexpensive Bibles to every part of the world.

The ministry has made several nationwide drops of newspaper which Australian Carey Rowlandson has pioneered. The mailing list has grown from about 35 in 1987 to approximately 1,000 today, This is a fair indication of the blessing God has given us as He takes the work into His own hands (Testimonies to Ministers, 300) and cuts it short in righteousness with the common people. We are committed to giving to all who wish to listen in the South Pacific area, the opportunity of eternal life through Christ Jesus the Son of David according to the flesh.

The End