Twenty-one students and a teacher were baptised on August 28 following a 10-day evangelistic campaign at Siufaga Adventist Primary School on the Samoan island of Savai‘i.
The school, the only Adventist school on Savai‘i, has almost 200 students and was one of the sites involved in Samoa for Christ. Around half of its students come from non-Adventist backgrounds.
The campaign was led by Papua New Guinean lay preacher Ruth Yank, who travelled to Samoa at her own expense to take part in the wider Trans Pacific for Christ initiative.
Ms Yank said sharing the gospel was her passion and she had felt called to take that passion beyond her own country.
“Soul winning is my business,” she said. “I do it in my own country, so I thought I should go abroad.”
Siufaga chaplain Pastor Api Ah Sam said the campaign attracted strong support from students, teachers and parents, and built on the spiritual emphasis already provided through the school’s regular Bible classes.
“We were so glad to receive and have this program in terms of helping us, especially the students—not only the non-Adventists but the Adventists as well—in terms of nurturing them in their spiritual journey with the Lord,” he said.
He described the baptism as an emotional moment for the school community, particularly after staff had spent time praying for the campaign and those attending.
“We were hugging each other and praying together after the ceremony,” he said. “It was something that we were praying for before the coming of the program, and now at the end we have seen the result, and we can say to ourselves, not to us but the name of the Lord be glorified forever.”
For Ms Yank, seeing 22 people baptised was a highlight of her involvement in the campaign.
“I’m really blessed,” she said. “I’m thanking God that it’s a big harvest for the Lord. I’m really excited. God is glorified.”
Her contribution to Trans Pacific for Christ extended beyond preaching in Samoa. In addition to funding her own travel, Ms Yank sponsored more than 60 PNG pastors so they could travel to their allocated evangelistic sites across the Trans Pacific.
“I felt convicted that if I don’t help them, the message will not go across to these nations of the TPUM,” she said. “I felt that I should and I must help them so that we will go to all the sites that were allocated to us to deliver the message and people must come to know Jesus.
“I felt that I had to play my part.”
