Tony’s story

I am a Ni-Vanuatu, born in 1976 and raised up on the island of Santo. I grew up in a family where my father was a catholic and my mother was part of the AOG denomination. I faced many challenges growing up, including my mother’s death in 2002. The year 2002 was a chaotic, depressing period of time in my life where I had some big decisions to make about my life. Even though I came to know God around the year 1996 and was involved in various short term mission trips around the islands in Vanuatu since that time, it was during 2002 that I laid everything at Jesus’ feet and began serving Him wholeheartedly. From 1997 until 2005, I served God by helping out various missionaries in the ministries that they were doing here in Vanuatu. In 2005 I got to know the Widup family and began helping them out in the ministry work they were doing. I also met Maxine that year, an unexpected encounter resulting in us being married in 2007. This period of 2005-2007 was another learning curve for me as I prepared for married life.