My late husband, Alan, and I were missionaries in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands from 1965-68. We moved there with our daughter Joy and our two sons, Samuel and Stephen, were born during our time there. In 1975, we joined YWAM in Kona, Hawaii to help pioneer what is now the University of The Nations (U of N), living there from 1975-78.
In 1979-1988 we helped pioneer another work called Mercy Ships (at that time part of YWAM), serving on two vessels, the M/V Anastasis and the Good Samaritan. During the years on the Anastasis, there were two trips to the Pacific Islands in 1983 where we brought relief supplies from New Zealand to Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. On the Good Samaritan (based in Florida), we also made relief trips, this time to islands in the Caribbean. We travelled to Haiti twice and once to a Honduran island called Roatan. My husband and I led an evangelism team, and shared the gospel at each port we visited.
In March 1988, after 27 years of marriage and during a visit to New Zealand, my husband Alan had a massive heart attack and went home to be with the Lord. Although it was a complete shock to our family and many others, we experienced the complete faithfulness of God through it all. In 1988, I returned to Kona, Hawaii and have served ever since at the University Of The Nations, Youth With A Mission.
When I moved to Hawaii, I had no idea then how my life would once again take me back to other parts of the Pacific. I began travelling back to the Pacific Islands in 1991, first with a teaching trip to the Cook Islands, Western Samoa and Fiji. Then, I felt The Lord telling me to take the SOIWSW to the Pacific islands. During the next few years, I led or staffed the SOIWSW schools in Tonga, New Zealand and Fiji. The focus of the schools was historical research and intercession for the Pacific Islands.
In 1995, I published my first book, The World in Our Hearts, an autobiography about our family’s experience in missions, including the travels to many nations. The book contains the full story of our years in the Cook Island as well as our early ventures in YWAM (available through Williams Publishing, faywilliamshawaii@gmail.com).
In 2016, I published a second book, a memoir called An Unexpected Journey: Finding my God-Given Destiny. One chapter, “Crossing Culture On The Journey,” tells the story of some of my island experiences (Available in paperback and Kindle on Amazon Books).
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