Solomon Islands

Ian and Grant have recently returned from a trip to the beautiful nation of the Solomon Islands. They were delighted to find that since their visit in 2018 the Board had arranged for further work to be done towards completion of our Honiara studios for Laef FM. They mucked in and with help from their Kiwi buddy, Owen, made more good progress.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing as the Honiara transmitter decided to ‘throw its toys out of the cot’ and stop working – for some unexplained reason. They were able to install in its place a new 25w unit they’d taken along. Coverage is OK but we’re in the process of getting quotes for a brand new 300w BW unit. The plan is to time the installation of that with the installation of a standalone solar solution to free UCB Solomon Islands from the crippling electricity bills.

They went on to Gizo and re-established the station there – it had been packed up when the site owner unfortunately passed away. His family is keen to continue their father’s legacy so welcomed Ian and Grant warmly. A few upgrades and replacement bits and the station was back on air.

Then it was on to Munda – where the (large) outstanding power bill was paid, they updated the broadcast programme, and got the station back on air again. Another solar install is planned.

Dennis arranged for a visit to the Wesleyan Noro Training Centre and they gave permission for the installation of a 15w station on their campus to bless people living in the growing township of Noro. As the campus runs on solar there should be no ongoing costs. Our team were rapt with the extent of the coverage they experienced as they travelled back to Munda.

After checking in their bags for the flight home Grant, Ian and Dennis went to a couple of churches (as you do) where they had the opportunity to share about UCB and our desire to see a vibrant Christian radio ministry established in the Solomons. Then they wandered back to the airport to catch the (rain delayed) plane. That’s how it’s done in the islands.

Nepal

Ian, Steve and Graham also spent some productive time in Nepal in June. They were able to oversee the moving of Radio Hope (online station) to using Station Playlist software. The team are excited about the change and the possibilities it brings. Radio Hope is providing a good training ground and is paving the way for Radio Chhimeki and Grace FM to potentially also move to Station Playlist in the not too distant future. They also were able to hold some important conversations that (we hope) have moved us a lot closer to the reality of bringing Message of Hope together with these two FM community stations as one united ministry.

Timor-Leste

Rudy visited our team in Timor Leste and was able to oversee some tech upgrades/repairs and also visit Giant Communications in Indonesia for the repair of our two broken 1kw transmitters. He then reinstalled one repaired Tx in Dili. The Radio Voz team had held their first ever fundraiser in May and raised over US$2,000 –which to put in context is about one month’s operational budget. Well done team on a great effort!

We have been continuing our work in encouraging all our teams towards self-sufficiency and raising money in their own communities.

We’ve also been working on a few more upgrades to our website, including a link to the Radio Hope Nepal on air stream along with working on a major revamp of UCB PNG’s Laif FM site. http://laiffm.org/

Tip…

If you are a fundraiser, I highly recommend you make time to watch the TED Talk: How to buy happiness: (You can view it here.)
The main takeaway is: “Almost everywhere we look, we see that giving money away makes you happier than keeping it for yourself.“ That lines up with Scripture but there’s more…
While its true many donors know that giving makes you feel good, it is still a useful thing to say in your fundraising: “You know how donating makes your day!”
If you have any worries that you are diminishing the lives of donors by taking their money, you can put that to rest. You are helping them make their lives far better!

To finish here are some testimonies. First from Nepal…

Greetings!
My name is Kripa Shrestha. First of all I would like to thank our Lord! I am from Province 1, Dharan. At present I am living in Dubai, I have come here to work. I hardly get holidays so it is difficult for me to attend church and other fellowships. However, I have been blessed because I have hearing word of God everyday through WhatsApp. Your ministry has blessed me in so many ways. I wish in God’s wisdom and grace may your ministry expand and reach many more people. Amen!

And from our team in Papua New Guinea…

A woman in far Sepik River from a remote part, came in crying, saying that Laif FM is touching her and the family that she was really blessed. Another old man said his family have changed after listening to our preachers sharing God’s Word.
Our team has also done a couple of outreaches to the local prison (taking food and The Word for Today) which have encouraged the prisoners to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the public.
We received call from someone who wants to get baptised so we asked him to go to a church and look for a pastor to lead to the sinners’ prayer and baptised him.