Church on the Move members travel to help Fijians

PLAINS – Keeping to their name, the Church on the Move is once again on the go aiming to help those less fortunate around them.

While the church has been to Mexico and Togo for mission trips before, the group is now embarking on a brand new adventure – something that is unheard of in the world of mission trips.

It all started in the 1940s on a small island just off the mainland of Fiji in an impoverished village with no electricity, no vehicles and very scant living conditions. Someone went in and planted an entire forest of pine trees as a gift to the village. Once the trees reached full maturity, the village was granted permission to cut down the trees to make houses for their people.

The trees are now ready to harvest but the problem is none of the locals know how to harvest the trees.

This is where the Church on the Move comes in. With their extensive history of logging, the group has been put in charge of teaching the villagers how to properly fall and buck timber.

Their firewood ministry program makes members an ideal fit for this type of project. This program helps provide firewood to those in need – whether it is the elderly, single mothers or someone experiencing hardship.

Pastor Jim Sinclair said their job is to give the villagers all the information they need to stay safe while accomplishing the task of producing timber.

The church also plans to bring a band saw lumber mill that the villagers will then be able to keep.

Organizer Ken Saner said the mill is going to be built in Plains but will then be disassembled and shipped ahead of the group.

Saner has hand picked his crew from all over the country. The group consists of experts in the field and includes guys from California, Iowa, Oregon and different areas of Montana.

The crew has enough knowledge to teach the Fijians from start to finish how to cut down the trees and turn the logs into lumber.

Everyone’s tickets are already purchased and the group will be on Moturiki Island from April 24 to May 7.

“We are going to fall some trees but our basic job is to leave there with them having chaps on, knowledge of the chain saw, how to work the chain saw, file the chains and cut with enough experience that they can hopefully not inflict a lot of damage on themselves,” Sinclair said.

Safety is of the utmost importance because the closest hospital is on the main island of Fiji – an hour-long boat ride.

The short-term goal of the project is to build 50 homes in the next five years. The Church on the Move’s part of that project is to get the villagers to a self sustaining point in their logging and milling operations – something that may prove to be challenging.

The villagers have never seen a chain saw, let alone a sawmill. Everything will be a new experience and they will have to work hard to learn all the basics before the experts depart.

Currently living conditions on the island are slim and the homes are made from tin sheet and old discarded roofing tin. The new houses will be small according to America’s standards with dimensions of 10 by 12 feet but they are a huge upgraded to the villagers.

“If you think by U.S. standards 50 homes in five years – that’s a whole lot of building but by their standards, it’s pretty doable number if they have the lumber to do it,” Saner said.

During their trip, the group will be provided with cots and mosquito netting. The plan is to buy sleeping bags once they get to their destination and everyone plans to leave them in the village afterwards.

The climate will be something completely different from that of Montana. The average high is 85 degrees with 90 to 92 percent humidity.

“I can’t imagine that. We wont’ be wearing regular logging clothes with that. I don’t know if we’ll be cutting in Bermuda shorts and tank tops or what,” Sinclair said with a laugh.

Despite the unknown, everything is starting to come together as time quickly winds down but the group is still responsible for coming up with the money to ship the equipment to the island. In all, they need $3,500. According to Saner, the group is already $15,000 into the project after what they spent on airfare, the mill, the saws and other equipment.

Currently the church is accepting donations for the remainder of the money. Without the money, they will be unable to ship the mill – something that could be detrimental to the project as a whole.

Anyone who is interested in helping can bring assistance to the Church on the Move or send it to PO Box 767 in Plains.