Evanelia Mission Letter, October 2019

Dear Friends,

After two weeks in French Polynesia in late June of this year our team left, having experienced frustration because of rivalries: denominational, theological, and personal. The language barriers of French and Tahitian also negatively affected our operations.  At the same time, we gained valuable experience and insight into how to move forward, if we were willing to continue God’s leading and stay in His grace.  Missionaries encounter adversities of every conceivable kind, even from the day they set foot in the field of God’s leading. It is the norm to be shaken, to question, to re-examine.  The biggest question that strikes into the hearts of missionaries is existential: “Did God really call me here?” Tahiti is a graveyard of missionaries who have asked that question and concluded that the answer was “No.”

            I have kept a journal of my thoughts and insights on our French Polynesia mission endeavor.  It has many pages of cultural insights, strategies, names of contacts and potential team members.  On one page, in large letters is the word LEUKEMIA, and on another, a year later, LEUKEMIA AGAIN.  Acute Myeloid Leukemia and its treatment count as an obstacle!  Many times, for various reasons, I have been challenged to discontinue learning French, but always I have resumed.  Through the many adversities, I have continued to say “yes” to the existential missionary question for one key reason, which goes back to the first time I visited Tahiti and Moorea in 2016.  As I drove around the island, I noticed the prevalence of cults and churches that were obviously not grounded in God’s written Word, the Bible.  They were in every town and village on the island, and obviously prospering. Through this observation God formed in me the heart of a good Samaritan, a desire to help the dire spiritual needs of French Polynesia.  I felt like a medic who suddenly encounters broken bodies and vehicles and instinctively leaps to action.  After our first two pioneering trips, the scene only looks worse, the spiritual tragedy far greater than my initial impressions revealed.  This is not a flood; it is a tsunami.  So, in two weeks we go again, asking for your prayers:

1.     Closer relationships and clear communication of our mission with those we currently know, toward formation of partnerships;

2.     Warm initial meetings with new friends, again with clear communication of our mission, and especially close listening to their needs, perceived and real;

3.     Opportunities to partner in active evangelistic and teaching ministries while we are there;

4.     Opportunities to share the Gospel;

5.     Continued insight into the dynamics of denominations, personal relationships, and culture;

6.     Opportunities to heal broken relationships between believers through the power of the cross;

7.     Healthy and safe travel, not only to and from Tahiti, but also while there.

With Thanks for Your Partnership in His Great Commission,

Mark and Rene' Perkins