Prayer for Kiribati

[Pastor Gary]

I Oversee the fledgling COGOP in the Republic of Kiribati. My Pastor/District Overseer there contacted me requesting emergency assistance due to food shortages there.

http://www.islandsbusiness.com/news/ind ... e-full.tpl

They subsist on a VERY limited diet already — they eat what they catch from the ocean, eat rice and little else. We have been working on Aquaponics project development because they have almost zero access to fresh vegetables due to salty, sandy soil that won't support much agriculture, and brackish water in the water table. They use rain catchment systems for their only source of fresh water.

Please help me pray for and assist these good folks.

[dolfan]

The assistance that they need --- what form would be best now? Money? Foodstuffs? MREs?

[Pastor Gary]

The assistance that they need --- what form would be best now? Money? Foodstuffs? MREs?

Shipping to Kiribati, even from Hawaii, is uber expensive, slow and difficult. I have requested some emergency assistance (looks like it is in process... waiting for confirmation emails) because we can send funds via electronic transfer directly to their local bank, make the exchange from US$ to AUS$ (their currency) and get them help with no delay.

COGOP International Offices are very helpful in situations like this, facilitating the paperwork and banking transfers. I appreciate your interest and compassion.

[dolfan]

If we could raise $3000 for the kids of Beslan, Ossetia with a yard sale, maybe we can raise some amount for the COGOP church there in Kiribati. How many people are you looking at for aid? Is there a goal of numbers of meals or pounds of rice or something quantifiable to give folks an idea of what their gifts aim to reach? Is this the only pentecostal group on this particular island in Kiribati? More than one congregation? (That shouldn't matter, but things like that seem to for some folks.)

[Pastor Gary]

If we could raise $3000 for the kids of Beslan, Ossetia with a yard sale, maybe we can raise some amount for the COGOP church there in Kiribati.

How many people are you looking at for aid? Is there a goal of numbers of meals or pounds of rice or something quantifiable to give folks an idea of what their gifts aim to reach?

The actual COGOP congregation is only about 40-50 people, but this is village life... very communal. I hope to relieve their initial crisis food shortage for the immediate congregation (and their extended families) but additionally extend some outreach help to their surrounding village(s). There are 19 villages on the island of Tarawa — I have visited them all — and some are quite remote... all are pretty impoverished. If Kiribati COGOP, Bonriki Village Church, can be viewed as the church that looks after their communities it can open doors of evangelism. God never wastes a hurt.

Is this the only pentecostal group on this particular island in Kiribati? More than one congregation? (That shouldn't matter, but things like that seem to for some folks.)

We have at present only the single congregation in Bonriki Village, and we are not the only pentecostals there. There is a presence on the island of Foursquare, Assembly of God, Church of God and maybe others. Our pastor there is a serious go-getter, and very outreach oriented... so I have given him lots of freedom and hope to give as much support as I can.