Susanville Palauan Conference #1

The other main reason for this trip to California was to speak at a Palauan church conference that took place at the 1st Southern Baptist Church of Susanville. The pastor there is John Murdock, who led a mission trip to Palau last summer, and his daughter, Daisy, is a student at PIBC. Palauans from all over the Western US came to the conference. I thought it was odd that so many Palauans live in a cold place (It was 15 degrees outside after the end of the Saturday night session at 12.15 AM, note the snow on the mountains). Many of the Palauans came to Susanville to attend Lassen Community College and many more came there to join family members. Now the Palauans are a significant minority population in the area. I saw several of them working in the hotel where I was staying. They like the rural, friendly atmosphere in the area and the Baptist church has certainly been a good host so that the Palauans have been well-integrated into the congregation.

After driving up from Sacramento, I was met in Susanville by Jacob Ngiraiblosch. Jacob was one of my high school students at Emmaus in Koror back in 1984-5. Now Jacob is the traveling pastor for the Palauan fellowships around the USA. He travels to oversee congregations in Susanville, Sacramento, Stockton, Portland OR, Vancouver WA, Killeen, and Houston TX. It is a huge job and they are looking for some more people who can lead. There is a bit of a revival going on among the Palauans on the US mainland and they are looking for some people who can disciple all the new believers. I am hoping that some of our PIBC grads may be able to help there. Pray for Jake as he leads these groups and as he makes plans to finish his bachelor's degree to get more leadership training. I also met Felix Alib who serves as a pastor to the Palauans in Oklahoma and Texas. He was one of the speakers for the conference and spoke with a great deal of entusism and deep commitment. I was encouraged to hear his stories of Palauans (many of whom I knew) coming to Christ in the US Midwest. Felix also desires more training. The picture here is from our dinner together on Friday night. I will talk about the Saturday events in another post.