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Transport arranged for a team in PNG Dusty Smith – YWAM Maui Hawaii USA – Winter 2004 DTS outreach to Papua New Guinea, April 2004 My co-leader and I sent our team to an island caled Siassi about a 10 hour boat ride from the main island, for a week of ministry. When it came time for them to return we hired a truck to pick them up. We went down to the harbor after dark to pick them up. When we got there we found out that the boat would be late. So we began waiting. After 45 minutes the truck driver with us said he could not wait any longer, and then left. Public transportation stops running after dark there so we didn’t know how we could get the team back to the YWAM base. Our contact with us began calling around to look for another vehicle, but was having no success. Then a bus pulled up to where we were. The driver was a pastor from a church we had spoken at 2 weeks before. he said he had been sitting at home and then felt that God was telling him we were at the harbor and needed a ride!
Four hours after the boat trip began, the engine broke down. They tried for hours to fix it but it would not start, and it soon became clear that there was little help available for them. The boat was not equipped with a radio, flares, life-jackets or even oars! There were definitely no mobile phones on this boat! After a while, much to everyone's joy the crew got the engine going again, but after one hour it once again died. The sad thing was that during the one hour that the engine was working they met another boat who offered them help, but the captian refused their help as he thought everything was OK! By this stage the team were getting very concerned, the sun was beating down on them relentlessly and they had only 27 litres of water between them. Hours passed, and then after 2 days they were still adrift. The team prayed for God to save them and deliver them out of the situation. The reactions of the team were all very different - some thought they were going to die, others were excited at where God had brought them and admired the beautiful sea life around them (They saw turtles, schools of dolphins, etc.). In a time of prayer on the third day of being adrift, God told them to make oars out of the deck. So they went to the captain and asked if they could rip up some of the deck and make oars, and he gave them permission. Their water supply by now was virtually gone - and at 6pm on the third day they started to row. By them the water was finished and they prayed for deliverance. The team and the fishermen rowed for six hours and about midnight they approached a lighthouse on a coral reef. They signaled the shore, and the fishermen helped them by getting them fresh water and sending a boat back to Ujung Pandung. When the team got back there, they sent a different boat to come and pick them up to take them to Sanane. So praise God, the boat arrived and their adventure adrift in the Java Sea was over. They then set out for Sanane and arrived on the beach very excited about what God was going to do. Much to their amazement, they were met by a government official who examined their paper work. He immediately asked them all to leave as their paperwork was incorrect - he would not listen and ordered them back to the boat! So they had to take the 18 hour trip back to Ujung Pandang straight away! Throughout the 7 days they spent on the boat, God showed this faithfulness to them all, in His provision and deliverence. On different occasions God reassured them that they would live by giving them pictures of the future and words from the Bible. When they got to Ujung Pandang after 7 days on that 40 foot boat, they realized that some of the crew had stolen their team funds and therefore they did not have enough money to return to Sanane with the correct paperwork. In fact they could not do anything much! They had enough money to get to the YWAM base and leave the country. So they went to the base and sat around discussing what to do next, and as they were preparing to pray, the base leader's wife came to them and said, "I have a lady on the phone who has heard your story and does not want you to leave. She will pay your accommodation and food." So God moved ahead of them and provided for them. The lady was a local Christian hotel owner and she paid for the rest of their outreach to a small community in a rural area, who welcomed their community development ministry. They came back to Perth several weeks later, telling of their adventures with God in Indonesia.
Arriving at the station, we boarded our train and the stretching time began. Our train was filthy....and we were to be on it for the next 75 hours! The mattresses had blood stains everywhere on them, you couldn't see out of the windows because of the dirt in between the glass panes. The bathrooms were unbareable....the smell penetrated our cabin, as we were right next to it! The water didn't work...and the heater in our cabin was broken and shot out heat that caused it to be about 90 degrees and the windows were locked shut! It was definitely a challenging time to have "joy in the midst of the circumstances" and be that example to my team. As we began our trek through Russia and Siberia, we had times of worship and prayer, and the other people on the train began to ask us questions about who we were and what we were doing. We became increasingly aware, though, of the conductor who was beginning to treat us with a coldness and disinterest. On the 3rd day of our journey, as we crossed into Kazakhstan, that same conductor entered our cabin without even knocking. "Where are you from?" he asked sternly in Russian. I calmly explained that there were 7 foreigners and 4 nationals with us. "Where are your passports?", "Who is the leader?" After"introducing" myself, he ushered me and my translator, Sasha, into his cabin and demanded $450.00 for each foreigner travelling with us. Being that we were in the middle of the desert in Kazakhstan far from any American Embassy or any government offical or anything gave us little hope of compromise with this angry man so we began to pray...hard. The conductor continued...." Present this money before we make our next stop or your entire team is to get off the train!" I went back and presented the news to the team. Unknown to them, I had really been filled with tremendous fear and was very unsure of what was going to happen. I knew no one in the middle of Kazakhstan, and being in the middle of the desert in the winter at night was not a very comforting thought considering how to get in touch with anyone. Would there be a phone? Would there be shelter somewhere? I've heard of stories of men freezing to death out there. Lord protect us! I was responsible for these people, Father show me what to do. I told the team to pray as I went back into that cabin with the conductor. He had called the head of the train into the cabin as well, and they informed me that we had illegally purchased our tickets and that the result was this fine. I explained to him that we did not purchase our tickets illegally, we had gone through all the right offices for buying tickets as foreigners and he wouldn't even listen to me. He proceeded to add up how much we were to give him on the spot....$3150.00! Knowing how much I had to last us for the outreach, I told him that we didn't have it. He questioned everything..how much do you have? Why are you here? Why do you bother coming to Russia? We don't need you here. Questioning and badgering went on for 4 hours.....while I tried everything from crying to being stern right back to showing my fear to practically crumbling. After about 2 hours, I left to see my team. They were in the cabin having an awesome time of prayer.....laughing! They said they knew God had everything under control and that it was all gonna turn out okay. Inside, my heart was saying, Yeah, you're not in that room with that awful conductor getting interrogated! But their joy was contagious, and the Lord spoke to me telling me not to be afraid. Immediately the fear was gone. Why couldn't I trust the Lord no matter what? I was going to, I decided and walked back into that room with the Conductor with a new attitude. There was nothing he could do to us because Jesus was on our side. The questioning continued for another 2 hours..finally he asked, " If you give me all the money you have rightnow, what will you live on when you get to Kyrgystan?" I told him that God would have to supply, but we weren't sure of anything at that moment. I saw his attitude begin to change...soon he was asking me how much I could afford. Feeling like I wasn't supposed to give him a number...because the entire amount was going to be pocketed anyway as a bribe for himself and the other conductor, I told him I would have to think it through. He asked me if I could afford the equivalent of $39.95. Inside, I shrieked. $39.95? For all of us? Down from $3150.00? I couldn't believe it, but God had did it. I gave him $40 and told him to keep the change. I walked out of that room hearing God whisper...."Fear not, Rebecca...you see, I will never leave you. There is no reason to fear." Wow, I have looked back on that time when I was terrified so many times and remembered how close God was. That experience has helped me in so many other situations since then. There's nothing impossible with God!
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