Michael Green is doing the Multi-generational Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Kona, Hawaii and is currently on outreach in Samoa. Here is the latest in his series of postcards. You can read more of Michael's experiences by using our search function. - Editor

Our 3-year old son, Elijah, was very very excited this morning. His favourite adopted uncle flew in late last night and so he made a bee-line for his fale at 7.30 this morning. Unfortunately, Uncle Ieru could not be aroused from his slumber (he did arrive in at 2am) and so Elijah had to wait until after Church to great him with hugs and requests that he use his machete to open a coconut for him. Soon the broad shouldered, dark skinned, black haired Samoan matai (chief), could be seen striding off carrying a freshly plucked coconut with a blond curly haired white boy skipping along beside him peppering him with questions as they went.

Ieru is one of the co-leaders of our DTS in Hawaii, and as such, has come out for a couple of weeks to encourage us and make sure that we are all surviving. At a time when the value and role of the matai in Samoa has been diluted, Ieru remains the very essence of what it means to be a Samoan High Chief. He leads by example, so often to be found serving behind the scenes and always looking out for the welfare of others. When it comes to matters of principle, he is as immovable as the rock he resembles and yet he is always the first to laugh – usually at one of his own jokes. He seems to perfectly sum up the Samoan spirit; that of a warrior, but permeated with, and radiating joy.

Having a Samoan High Chief accompany us also has its advantages in a culture still governed by honour and protocol. At the Congregational Church that we visited tonight, he issued a challenge for the church to get back to its missionary sending foundations. The Congregational Church is the largest church in Samoa with over 30,000 attendees and was born out of the London Missionary Society (LMS). I am very proud of my London roots, as it was an “ordinary” blacksmith from London, named John Williams, who introduced the Samoans to the gospel in 1830.

In 1827, as part of LMS, Williams had traveled to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. However, the Society was unable to provide the funds for a ship to serve the Pacific Islands as planned, and so he built an eighty-ton vessel that he called Messenger of Peace. It was built almost entirely of local products and was a remarkable effort of ingenuity. After some cruising to test the vessel’s capabilities, he sailed to Samoa, landing on the big Island of Savaii. Here, aided by a Samoan chief named Fauea, whom he had given a passage, he was warmly received by the Samoans.

Similarly to Hawaii, God had prepared the way with a prophecy by Nafanua, a legendary war goddess, that foreigners would bring word of the one true God that would burst through the spiritual cloud over Samoa.=-09832ouyrewqxzIndeed, palagi, the Samoan term for foreigner, means “cloud burster”. In addition, the Samoan legends mirrored the Genesis creation story. Very quickly two missions were established, with Williams leaving four Tahitian teachers in each to carry on the work in his absence. Two years later he revisited the Samoan island of Manu'a, some two hundred miles east of Savaii, and was astonished to find the Samoans already claiming Christianity and clamouring for a teacher. Samoa had found its natural doctrine of love, turning to Jesus by the thousands.

Last week, as part of our intercession for Samoa and the Congregational Church, we went on a slightly misguided hike to find the final resting point of John Williams. It was a steep and arduous forty-minute climb and amazingly, Elijah (still only three years old) climbed to the top unaided. When we reached the top of the mountain, we discovered instead the grave of Robert Louis Stephenson - author of Treasure Island amongst other things, but definitely not a famous missionary! It turns out John Williams remains are in Savaii (where we are going next week), but only parts of him - having been largely eaten whilst on another missions trip to the New Hebrides. The early missionaries so often paid the ultimate price for the gospel.

However, what I find most remarkable is that in 1839, only nine years after the gospel arrived in Samoa, the first Samoan missionaries left for Vanautu. They sent just twelve missionaries out that first year, but these were no ordinary missionaries. Every man of them was a chief – hand-picked from the hundreds that had volunteered. Over the subsequent years, Samoa continued to send a disproportionate amount of missionaries to the other Pacific Islands, many of them losing their lives in the process. Every time the news came back that anther Samoan missionary had been killed (and often eaten) or died of disease, several more went out to take their place. Samoa gave their best, and kept giving of their best.

As I sat outside of the church this evening, munching my favourite coconut buns and talking with Ieru, I discovered that not only does he comes from a long line of High Chiefs, but also Samoan missionaries. In fact, one of his ancestors was one of the early missionaries to Vanautu. Sadly it has been many years since the Congregational Church last sent out missionaries. Over time, as is so often the case with organizations, they became increasingly conservative and inward looking. However, there is a change in the air. This evening’s meeting and the warm reception that we received, has been typical of their response to us while we’ve been here. The new Directors for YWAM, Fono (another High Chief) and his wife Sose, have a particularly good relationship with some of the pastors and they are again speaking of sending out missionaries, this time with YWAM helping to train and support them.

YWAM is also rediscovering its focus here. This Wednesday seven young men and two women are leaving from the Samoan DTS for outreach. They leave first for American Samoa, and then like those first missionaries, on to Vanautu. Over the last six weeks, we’ve loved having intercession with them, crazy dance worship, ludicrously dangerous games of touch rugby and occasionally even joining them to cut the grass using machetes The vision is that each of them, and one hundred more like them, will go as long term missionaries to central Asia over the next five years – Samoa is still giving its best to missions. We’re also trusting that Vanautu is now relatively safe and that none of them will get eaten on outreach. Having said that, I wouldn’t have thought they’d taste that great – too tough with not nearly enough fat.