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 1. V a n u a t u :"CARGO CULT" HEARS GOSPEL AFTER 50-YEAR WAIT FOR HELP...A PACIFIC ISLAND cult's bizarre 50-year wait for help is coming to an unexpected end, as they hear the gospel for the first time.
Since American soldiers left the area at the end of World War Two, villagers on Tanna - part of the Vanuatu chain - have been expecting one of the homegoing servicemen to make good on his promise to return with supplies.
The John Frum community - also known as "the cargo cult" - sprung up after the military departed, taking with them the prosperity locals had grown used to.
The villagers built landing strips and docks for the planes and ships they expected to arrive any day with the promised supplies - and clung to their hopes of the American's return "on a white ship" as the years went by.
Resisting outside help for fear of impeding their benefactor's return, the islanders - who got their name from "John From America", on whom they were pinning their hopes - revered military items left behind, and took part in drills with "USA" marked on their chests.
The "cargo cult" spread to other islands in Vanuatu, whose scattered 119,000 population includes more than 100 languages and numerous dialects.
The main, Tanna community's suspicion of outsiders began to lessen after a team from the Pacific Ruby, part of the international Mercy Ships fleet, visited the village while the ship was on a medical outreach to Vanuatu in 1993.
The visitors were asked to send others - an unexpected invitation - after presenting the chief with a Bible. Since then, Mercy Ships workers have returned on two other occasions, to offer medical care and share the gospel.
"They have alway been suspicious, but that gets less each time we go," said Mercy Ships-Pacific director David Cowie. "We have visited three villages in the area so far, and on our most recent visit saw a major breakthrough in one, with over 20 people getting saved."
Despite arriving in their own white ship, the visiting medical missionaries are careful to disassociate themselves from the group's folk-lore. "We have deliberately stayed away from any suggestion that we are the ship they have been waiting for," explained Cowie.
"We minister with our medical teams and then testify that God is our provider - not man, nor ships nor planes. Slowly but surely God is moving through this group. We believe that they opened up to us because we went to serve them, not preach at them."
Since Mercy Ships' first visit, two other missionary groups have established contact with the John Frum people.
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