GOD OPENS NEW ZEALAND
THE VISION OF NEW ZEALAND
When Herman and I were together, I had depended on him to get the leadings of the Spirit and to take the leadership but now God was showing me that I, too, could hear the voice of the Lord and be led by the Spirit. Those led by the Spirit are the Sons of God.
Self-condemnation and fear and shyness began to leave me, and I started to speak in great authority, knowing that I was in the will of God.
Then in 1965 God spoke to me to go to New Zealand. I was in a little church called Faith Chapel, and in one of the meetings, I had a vision in which I saw a hillside in New Zealand clothed in luxurious, green grass that was sprinkled with tiny white flowers. Up on this hill was a long building that resembled a barracks. I saw a group of people sitting in the grass all clothed in different colors, and it looked as if there were Navajo blankets spread around. One lady got up from among the women sitting there and began to walk toward me. She had such a round, radiant, wholesome face that I knew I wanted to go meet that lady.
Well, I didn't have any money, so I didn't know how I could get there. I kept saying, "I can't go. God can't be calling me. I don't have any money to go to New Zealand." But then, miraculously, God provided my ticket. Just one dear saint handed me a check for $513.63, and that was my exact fare on a jet to New Zealand.
OVERCOMING THE OBSTACLES
As I considered my trip, a legion of obstacles began to rise up in my mind and tormented me. The thought of going way across the ocean was really a frightening thing for me; I had never even been on an airplane before. Travel to that sector of the world could possibly be dangerous, because America was already embattled in Viet Nam. Furthermore, I didn't know what conditions I was going to have to face in New Zealand. In addition, I only had a one way ticket; I didn't know how I would get home. But, by far, my worst concern was having to leave my daughter, Tillora, who was ill in Phoenix. I knew it was difficult for family members to visit her, because she was so far away and it troubled me to leaver her without family support. However, Father provided two precious friends, Darryl and Virginia Mac Lamora , who made it their concern to look in on Tillora. I just praise God for those dear friends, they really helped to ease my mind.
Finally, however, I knew I had to go in spite of all my apprehension, because one night I had a vision. I saw my own grave, and there were people I knew standing around the grave, and the Lord spoke to me and said, "If you're in the grave, how are you going to visit your daughter?" The Lord was asking me how I was going to visit Tillora if I am in the ground.
Then I said, "Oh, Lord, keep me on top of the ground. If I'm on top of the ground at least I can write her a letter."
TILLORA'S ENCOURAGEMENT
On the way to Los Angeles, I stopped in Phoenix to see Tillora, and I told her that the Lord was calling me to New Zealand. Then I began to cry.
And she said, "Oh, Mama, I don't want to be a ball and chain on you neck. I want you to go and do God's will. I'll be as happy as I can be here. There are people here to help me and when I'm well enough, I'll try to be a blessing to others. So just go and let me be here, and I will be alright.
She was so much like her daddy; she had such a giving, caring heart. I'll never forget her words, for they are what sustained me the two-and-a-half years I was gone.
Tillora remained true to her word to care for others, for she later told me of an incident of another patient, a sixteen year old girl who seemed beyond medical help. She said, "Mother, I got such a desire to go pray for her, so I waited until everyone left her room and I began to feel my hands tingle. When I looked at my hands, they were covered with oil. I went into that room, and I laid my hands upon this girl and something wonderful happened, because in two weeks time, she was well enough to go home!"
BEGINNING THE NEW ZEALAND MINISTRY
Knowing that Tillora was safe in God's hands encouraged me for the journey to New Zealand. The day arrived when my friend Catherine Gray and I boarded the jet for the trip. We arrived in Palmerston, North, New Zealand to be with Brother and Sister Hunt who were in the process of building a home for Maori girls.
It wasn't long before it was obvious that Catherine had been called to help Brother and Sister Hunt, while I was appointed to work among the Maori people. My experience among the American Indians came in good stead, because it taught me that there is really no difference among people. We are all one, regardless of how we appear outwardly. These people opened their hearts and just received me because they sensed I saw them as equals.
I knew that I would have to have transportation, so I began to pray and I wrote to my friends in America saying I would need a Volkswagon, so I could travel among the Maori people. God answered wonderfully by making it possible for my friends to ship my 1962 Volkswagon to me. However, even before my car arrived, the opportunity was opened for me to minister.
One evening there was a gathering of young people where I had been invited to give a flannel board lesson. (that is a visual aid where pictures are put up on a board to illustrate a story) God had gifted me in making my own flannel graph and I would use it while I was preaching. I had done this among the Indians, because they could remember so much more when they could see it.
As I was ministering, I notice a lady in the back in a wine colored sweater. I heard myself saying, "If the lady in the wine colored sweater would come forward, I will pray for her, and she will be healed."
Well, I heard people gasp under their breath, because in New Zealand they had not come into the freedom of having women ministering. I knew that it wasn't me saying it, it was God speaking through me.
Anyway, the lady go up and started to walk toward me, and as she did, I noticed that she had a problem with her feet. She was sort of shuffling along.
I just stood there encouraging myself, and as she came before me, my hand went out toward her, and I said, "Not only will you be healed, but God will fill you with the Holy Ghost."
Then I heard a greater gasp, and all the heads of the Maori people began to bow down as if they were in shock.
I just touched her with two fingers, and the word came out of my mouth, "These signs shall follow those who believe..." And God honored His word.
She began to jump and shout and talk in tongues. Her shoes came off her feet, and she was shaking all over.
Well, the rest of the people started to get up and push forward, and they began to fall over one another because they were pressed so tightly together. And God filled just about all the older ones with the Holy Spirit. Truly God did honor His word.
The woman who was healed was name Nanny Moki. Later, she told us that she had diabetes, and she had come to this town to have her foot amputated. But God healed her! She could walk around and show peoople what God had done for her.
Nanny Moki invited me to come to the Urewera Forest to work among her people. So I promised her I would be there as soon as I got my car.
It took two months for my car to arrive, and of course, I had to learn to drive on the left hand side of the road. Let me tell you, that wasn't easy to do after driving the other way for so long. So after I had my drivers' license, I drove three hundred miles to Nanny Moki's house on the Maori Reservation in the Urewera Forest near a little town called Tuai.
MINISTRY ON THE MAORI RESERVATION
I finally arrived at Nanny Moki's home. There she stood nervously rolling an unrolling her hands in her apron. With here was her twelve year old grandson Sonny and an enormous pet pig. They all ran out to the car to greet me.
Nanny Moki's home was on the side of a hill by Lake Waikaremoana. The name meant 'rippling water', and the color was a beautiful, deep sapphire blue. This wonderful, precious saint opened her home to me and gave me a little room. She had running water and electric lights which was unusual there because we were deep in the forest. It was just marvelous to be received with such love.
At the top of the hill the government had built an electric generating station and had provided a long, wooden barrack there for the workmen to live in. Since the work on the station had been completed that building lay empty. So the Lord wonderfully provided that barrack as a meeting place for us at no cost, because it stood on the Maori Reservation.
The meetings were small at first and consisted largely of women and children. But one day Nanny Moki announced that we were going to have a three day fellowship meeting.
Well, I said, "Honey, how are we going to have a fellowship meeting with the people coming to stay over night? Where are they going to sleep, and what are they going to eat?"
She said, "Oh, we Maori's know how to take care of ourselves. Don't worry, everything will be alright."
When the Maoris arrived they all brought their mattresses with them. There were close to two hundred people, counting all the children, and we had no dishes or pots or pans. I just said, "Lord, You'll have to take care of it."
In the morning, Nanny said that she was going to make breakfast. So I said, "What are you going to have for breakfast?
And she said, "Rangi (her married son) went fishing this morning, and caught three fish, so I'll just start with the fish." Well she just kept frying fish and frying fish. I stood there greeting the people and when I looked around everyone was eating fish. I thought, "Isn't this wonderful." So, I went to talk to Nanny and said, "I guess some others went fishing, too, for you to have all these fish."
She said, "No, Rangi just gave me three fish."
And I said, "Well, how did you get all this fish?"
She said "Oh, I just kept cutting fish."
Here, the Lord had multiplied the fish just as it is written in the Bible. So everyone had fish that morning for breakfast.
At noon, as the people began unloading their cars, there were potatoes and onions and carrots and cabbage and someone brought a pig all ready to be barbequed, and another brought a sheep.
So, they dug a pit and made a fire in the pit. Then they wrapped all the food in chicken wire, put it on the coals, covered it with a cloth, and piled sand over it. We went in and had church, leaving the food to cook
When the meeting was over, they uncovered that food in the pit and made a table from saw horses and boards and topped it with butcher paper. Then they made little piles of food, and we all ate with our hands.
It was the most wonderful three days of fellowship I had ever experienced. The men did all the cooking, and all the women had to do was roll up the paper and put it in the garbage can. It was just glorious!
In addition to the fellowship being so grand, the Spirit of God did a tremendous work in the meeting. Many adults and children alike were filled with the Holy Spirit and blessed by God.
THE VISION FULFILLED
One morning during these three days, I was walking up the hill to go to the meeting, and I encountered a group of ladies sitting on blankets on the hillside. And Nanny Moki got up to meet me. It was the very scene in my vision; the ladies on their blankets, the green grass with all the little flowers, the barrack in the background, and the lady getting up to greet me. God had brought the fulfillment of that vision!
SPEAKING IN FORBIDDEN PLACES
During my stay at Tuai, God opened up the opportunity for me to speak in a Maori religious structure called a "pa" that was built in memory of people who had died. No white person was allowed in these buildings, especially a woman! Women were not even allowed to speak outside on the lawn around the building.
It came about that Nanny Moki's great niece had lost her twin babies. One baby was born dead, and the other baby was about three months old when it died. The service for this baby was at the pa. So, Nanny came to me and said, "I have to go to the pa at Tuai. I can't take you with me, because they don't allow any white people in this building; its sacred to them. So, I'll just walk." It was five miles to this religious service.
I said to her, "I don't want you to walk all that long way. I'll take you in the car."
She answered, "No, I think it is better for you to stay home. I'm not really going to stay, I'm just going to go out of respect."
But I said, "No, I can't have you walking down there when I can give you a ride. I'll just sit in the car and wait for you."
So, she finally agreed.
Well, on the way down, she must have been thinking it over, because when we got there, she said to me, "If you'll do what I do, then you can at least come on the outer property."
When we got to the edge of the lawn, an elderly Maori lady, one of the matriarchs stood up and called, "Heramai, heramai!" which means, "Welcome, welcome."
We walked toward were the people were sitting in a circle near the front of the porch of this building. Of course, I wanted to do what she did, so when we got about half way there, Nanny stopped and another elderly Maori lady said to us, "Heramai, heramai." (Both these ladies had tatoos on their faces which distinguished them as leaders) So, we greeted her also and walked on until we got to the first person in the circle. As a sign of greeting, the Maori people touch noses, so Nanny bent and touched the nose of the first lady. Well, I did the same thing. The next one was also a lady, and we touched noses. However, the third one was a man, and I can still see the expression on his face, because he didn't think I would touch noses with him. But I did! I just bent and put my nose on his nose. Well, I was so absorbed in this activity that I didn't even see the baby in the casket. We just went all the way around the circle.
Then, Nanny began walking toward the car, and the Lord spoke to me and said, "Sit where they sit.!"
I knew the Lord was speaking to me, so I turned around and began to walk back. Then these two ladies stood up and made room for me.
Nanny was following me, and she kept saying, "You can't speak, Sister Van. They won't listen. You can't speak."
I said, "That's all right. That's all right. God said for me to "Sit where they sit." So I sat down between these two ladies and so did Nanny. Then I just waited there because I knew God had spoken.
In a few minutes along came a nice, tall Maori man who spoke perfect English, and he said, "I am the elder of this pa, and we have agreed that because you have come such a long way, you must have come with a message to us from God. We have agreed to open the pa, and we are all going to go inside to have you speak to us."
So, they rang a bell, and the ladies all took off their shoes, then they spread their blankets along the side of the building, and we all sat down. Of course, I was curious so I looked around and I saw the Tiiki gods and there were panels decorated with pictures. I relized that is where the families would hang pictures of their loved ones that had gone on to be with God.
When they began to sing I couldn't understand what they were saying but it sounded like the Jewish people chanting the Psalms. And I said to Nanny Moki, "What are these people saying? They sound like they're Jewish.
"Oh, she said, "They believe the Old Bible. They don't believe the New Testament. They just believe the Old Testament. We call them Ringatoos."
I became so engrossed that I forgot I was supposed to speak. Then, suddenly, I heard this elder say, "Now, we have this visitor with us, and we're going to give her time to speak." And he walked over to where I was and helped me to get up.
Then I saw the mother of the babies who had died. She was just a young girl, yet there was such hopelessness on her face, such despair. My heart just went out to her. And I said, "Lord, help me to say something to her that will encourage her and give her hope."
I thanked all the people and the elder of the pa for giving me a chance to speak to them. I told them that I knew God had sent me, and He had given me a word. The first words that I spoke were directed to this grieving mother and I said, "There is absolutely nothing lost in God. After Jesus fed the multitude with the five loaves and two fish, He didn't even want a crumb to be lost. He didn't want one crust of bread thrown away; He didn't want one piece of fish to be trampled on. He wanted everything to be gathered. And there were twelve baskets left over. He always supplies an abundance. And, He is more concerned about the souls of men than He is crumbs of bread."
And looking directly at this mother and father, I said, "God gave you the privilege of being the channel through which two little spirits came into the realm of the soul. I know it seems like everything you went through was in vain. You went through carrying these children and you became heavy and uncomfortable and tired, and then you suffered through the one baby being born dead. That one, perhaps, you could forget more easily, but the second one, the one you had for three months, that you nursed and bathed and cared for and stayed up nights with and held in your arms and walked the floor with, this is the one that you sacrificed for. Love comes by sacrifice. And that is the one who is so hard to give up. You think it was all in vain, but it wasn't.
I'm telling you that these two precious souls are now in that invisible realm and they have taken on their identity and are progressing onward in the Spirit."
I had never said words like this before. It was a pure revelation of God.
And this young mother jumped up and rushed over to me and threw her arms around me and cried, "Oh, thank you, thank you for coming and giving me this message and giving me this hope that they are not lost but are living out their own destiny and plan and purpose of God."
Then all the people stood up and began to rejoice together over this wonderful revelation of God.
Finally, they all settled down, and I ministered God's wonderful Plan of Salvation for more than an hour. I told them that Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and God sent Him because "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.." So He came in the time and will of God to die for all the sins of the world. Past, present, and future sin were all laid upon Him. Praise the Lord! This was accomplished fact for all creation, and it will be made known to all that Jesus had paid the ransom for them.
When I was through ministering, this elder came to me, and he had a New Testament in his hand. He said, "Too long we have been in the Old Covenant - we'be been in the old Bible. Now it is time for us to move on. Will you teach me this new Bible, so I will be able to teach my people?"
So, that's how God opened up the religious houses of the Ringatoos to me. God works in miracles today just as He did in the days of Jesus.
TIME TO MOVE
I lived with Nanny Moki for eighteen months, and during that time, I put 110,000 miles on my Volkswagon. But, finally it came time for me to move, and the Lord directed me to Toakaroa, New Zealand because another work had been started there. In Toakaroa I stayed with Brother and Sister Board and helped in their ministry. They had been Plymouth Brethren until the Lord filled them with His Spirit and gave them a desire to do His work. I'm excited to report that Sister Board became the very first registered woman minister of New Zealand. Wherever I go, it seems, the women are set free to speak for Jesus.
I also spent some time with Ann and John Rafferty. Ann and her husband had come from Scotland, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit in one of my services. One day she said to me, "Sister Van, I'm going to draw you a large chart of your Plan of the Ages. I'm going to take my time to do it, and I'm going to study every one of these scriptures, because I want to know this message.
So I was there to help get these two new ministries under way.
Somewhere along the line in my journey, I was exposed to hepatitis. It is really quite common there, especially among the children. But at my age, I became very, very, ill and I didn't know what I had. It was quite a while before I got to see a doctor because it was about thirty-five miles to where he was located. I was so ill that the doctor later told me he wouldn't have given ten cents that I was going to make it, but God graciously raised me up! Praise His wonderful name!
I knew that God was preparing me to go home on furlough, because the illness had weakened me considerably, but I had no money to make the trip. Then God brought me to Aukland, the capital of New Zealand, where I would be able to get a jet to return to the United States. However, I still didn't know how the Father would provide for my return passage.
Someone had given me the name of Reverend Martin and Myra Rudolf. So I when I got to Aukland, I called him and told him I was an American missionary and would like to visit. At first, he hesitated, but then he said, "Well, we're home, just come. Come today."
So I found his home and while we were there, he said, "I've heard about you. I heard that you had a chart explaining God's Plan of Salvation.
And I said, "Yes, I do."
Then he said, "I'd like to see it."
So, I got my chart and we put it up on the wall in the living room. Then I began to minister from this chart to Brother and Sister Rudolf.
Later that night, I heard crying and when I looked out my door, I could see into the living room and saw them studying the chart, and they were weeping together. So, I quietly closed the door and got on my knees and prayed.
In the morning as were getting ready to go to church, he said, "We'll take the chart down." So he took it off the wall and started rolling it up.
I reached out to take if from him and said, "I'll put it in my room."
He said, "No, I'm going to take it to church. I'm going to preach from it."
I said, "You're going to preach from that?" And I just wondered what he was going to say.
At the church, Brother Rudolf hung up the chart and said, "When Mrs. Van Assen called me and said she wanted to visit, frankly, I was going to say, "No". But something in my heart said, "Listen to her for yourself." So I invited her to come. And yesterday she spoke about two hours on this Plan of the Ages and it began to touch my heart. Well, last night when I thought my wife was sleeping, I quietly got out of bed to go look at it again. I wasn't there long when my wife came in the room too. And this is the first time that we really saw the unending, unfailing love of God."
So, Brother Rudolf began to preach. First he ministered in English, then he spoke in the Maori language. As he was preaching, different ones would get up and stand behind him until practically the entire church was standing there. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but I felt that I should get up, so I walked up and stood with the rest of them. When you get up and stand behind someone that is the Maori way of saying that the person is speaking for you, too. You believe in what he is saying. That whole church just moved right into the revelation of God's great Plan of Salvation for all creation.
GOD PROVIDES AGAIN
I was with the Rudolf's for about four months. Unknown to me, they must have contacted the different groups that I had ministered to and expressed the need I had for fare back home. So these dear people all contributed to my ticket to get back to the United States.
Then, one day Brother Rudolf said, "Let's go to the New Zealand Airlines." It had just been finished, and now jets were coming in to New Zealand. When I had come in 1965, I could only get as far as the Fiji Islands by jet, then I had to get a smaller plane to New Zealand. The airline said they make me an itinerary for the way home. I had a contact on the Fiji Islands, one on the Samoan Islands, and another on the Hawaiian Islands, so we made out a route through those places and back home to San Francisco where my sister, Marie, and her husband Dean lived.
Well, the plan was wonderful, but I didn't have any money, so we walked out of the airlines, and got in the car. Then Brother Rudolf said, "Oh, wait here, I have something more to do." So, he went back into the office of this travel agency, and when he came back he just threw this envelope on my lap and said, "There's your ticket from New Zealand to the Fiji Islands, the Samoan Islands, the Hawaiin Islands, and to San Francisco.
I began to cry and he said, "All the people contributed. We knew that it was time for you to have a rest, and we are giving this to you the grace way. That's what you've been teaching us. When you give by grace, you don't put any strings to it, you don't put any law on it. It's given as a gift. This is a gift. We'd love to have you come back to New Zealand, but if God never leads you back here again, we want you to know that we love you."
So. that was the way that the Lord provided for me to get back to the United States, and it really blessed my heart!
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