It was midnight and pouring rain when our Discipleship Training School (DTS) team arrived from Kona, Hawaii aboard the YWAM Liberty in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
The ship was pitch black and hotter than the inside of a cow.
Earlier that day, the ship’s main generators had packed it in, but tired as we were, we dug out headlamps, rolled up our sleeves and joined the crew to salvage refrigerated food and haul buckets of seawater over the rail for the flushes.
Ben, a volunteer engineer from Netherlands, did some research. A small back-up generator could easily meet shore power needs and pay itself back with fuel savings in 6-months. It was a no-brainer, but limited funds meant a miracle was needed.
In faith, Ben sent off an email to the Sir Brian Bell Foundation – the philanthropic wing of an Australlian-born business mogul – and then went back to work. Days later, he was shocked by the reply.
“We at the SBBF are committed wholeheartedly to bettering the lives of Papua New Guineans and we thank you for sharing this passion. Given this, I am more than happy to provide [the Generator and Compressor] to you as a donation and as a way of saying thank you for the incredible work that the YWAM team do each and every day in Papua New Guinea.”
~ Bronwyn, Sir Brian Bell Foundation
It is as they say so often aboard the ship… God is good (all the time).