Volunteers with mission to ‘serve servants’ to begin next year

SERVING the servants is how Gavin and Sue Schwass describe the voluntary work they will be starting next year in Queensland, Australia.
In February, the couple will leave their Blenheim home for a two-year term as assistant managers of the Tree Tops Lodge in Cairns, a place where missionaries at Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and PNG go for rehabilitation, recuperation and relaxation.
The lodge is a base for the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF), a not-for-profit team of aviation professionals delivering medical care, emergency relief, long-term development and Christian teachings to remote areas around the world.
“We’re going to serve the servants,” Gavin said.
The missionary call means quitting their jobs in Blenheim and leaving their children, Brendan, 20, and Amanda, 18, behind in New Zealand. The couple seem unfazed.
“It’s a calling from God on our lives and a sending by our church of St Christopher’s.
“Without the church behind you and prayer behind you, we wouldn’t even dream of doing what we are doing,” Gavin said.
He and Sue said they might extend their missionary work beyond the mandatory two-year term, too, so this week they signed an agreement to sell their house, removing another tie.
The Tree Tops Lodge assignment provides free accommodation, electricity and water, but the couple must buy their own food and cover other living costs.
They hope to raise half of the NZ$30,000 per annum they need through donations from people who support MAF’s work.
Visits to a village in Vanuatu, where an evangelical programme their church supports is based, showed them missionaries can make a difference.
“It’s an opportunity to interact and meet a new culture,” Gavin said.
“Until you see how many people are out there who have so many needs, you don’t realise how blessed we are living in New Zealand.” – The Marlbo­rough Express