DON SALTHOUSE
"I was just 21 years old when the Doctor's declared my spine in-operable and told me there was nothing they could do, 'you're stuffed'. Realising I would not be playing sport again, never run again, dive again, never windsurf, or sail again hit me hard, but I was in agony. As a boat broker I could barely walk down the marina pier, let alone climb aboard a boat or take buyers out for sea trials. I would stand on the dock and tell people where the key for the boat was, calling down the hatch giving them instructions where things were located. It was a horrible time in my life and as I knew the Lord, I got on my knees before Him crying out for help. A pamphlet came through our mailbox inviting people to a full gospel healing meeting and I decided to give it a go. I was stunned as the visiting evangelist prayed for people and they were falling down like trees and being healed. I procrastinated till the very end but eventually went up the front and this guy I had never met before puts his hand on my shoulder and started telling me all the medical details about my spine. I looked fine and healthy on the outside, so how did he know? I was sitting on a chair, and he got down on his knees in front of me and put his index fingers under the heel of each shoe and started to pray, very loudly. The whole right side of my body just went nuts. My right knee was jumping around; my right leg was shaking in all directions and people in the audience were astonished as they actually saw my leg grow. He stopped praying and looked at my shoe from either side. I had never felt anything so incredible as my right femur bone felt like it was being stretched, not painfully, but I could feel it growing. I was completely healed! I ran all the way home! That healing encounter transformed my faith forever and set the course for the rest of my journey.
"I had been brought up in a loving Christian home and although I knew Jesus, I did not know this living healing miracle working God. My healing left me with a lifelong hunger to know Him more. I marvel at the way God has used my passion for sailing for His purposes. So much of my journey has been learning to hear His voice and trusting His voice.
"I was on a delivery trip from Picton up the West Coast to Auckland, delivering a big steel boat with my younger brother as crew. As we neared the top of New Zealand we knew we were getting low on diesel and there was nowhere close to refuel. My brother was dipping the measuring stick into the tank every 3 hours and the level steadily decreased. All I could do was pray. Lord multiply the remaining fuel in our tanks. My brother was scratching his head as on the next check the level had not changed. 9 hours later he said, there was something weird happening with the diesel tanks. He knew we were running out of diesel, he himself had checked it. But we never ran out! When we dropped anchor, he rechecked again. I told him I had prayed for this miracle and God had delivered. He was mystified. But the Lord had not finished. We were ready to set off again to complete the delivery trip, but there was a big storm forecast. The Lord told me to continue on as He was going to speak to my brother in the middle of the storm. We got down towards Cape Brett at night, and we were using more or less dead reckoning as there was not GPS in those days. The big Easterly was smacking the boat around and the wind was howling. We had two headsails lashed to the bow and one was coming untied so one of us had to go forward to secure it. My brother offered to go, but I said to him I would go instead 'If you were swept over the side tonight, do you know where you're going? I've got my ticket paid for, so I will go'. I was safe but over the next couple of hours we took a beating. The wind howled and rained cats and dogs. Finally, I got so sick of it and stood up on the stern of the boat and did what Jesus did. I commanded the wind to calm down and the seas to ease. Within half an hour it was a totally different night. The easterly that usually lasts for days abated and we sailed on in calm seas under a beautiful moonlit night. We sat together in the calm and talked about the miracle we had both just seen. He gave His heart to the Lord soon after and now helps run Orama Christian camp at Great Barrier Island. That is what faith is about. Trusting the God who answers prayer.
"Some time later I felt lead to buy a boat and spent time looking around the Mediterranean region for the right vessel. I didn't find anything suitable and after returning to New Zealand I saw a yacht for sale. It was lying in Picton and needed a lot of work, but I knew the Warwick 53 to be a well-built boat out of my Uncle’s boat building yard. I looked online at the photos and that night couldn't sleep. As I prayed the next morning the Lord directed me to make an offer directly to the owner, well under the asking price. I drew up a contract and presented my offer. I was advised there was another offer on the table, but if I came up with $10K they would sell the boat to me. I didn't feel any peace about the increased amount and when I prayed again, the Lord said to me quite clearly, I have already told you the price. I resent my original offer explaining the current owner would be better off not paying brokerage fees. My offer was accepted subject to a sea trial. After I had checked it all out, I felt to pause and ask the Lord if I was doing what He wanted me to do. As an answer, He gave me Philippians 2:13 "for it is God who works in you to will and act in order to fulfil His good purpose". I pondered what that meant and how He would use me for His purpose with this vessel.
"On board with my brother, we set out from Picton up the East coast of New Zealand to take the boat to Auckland. As we sailed around the east cape we got slammed by 40 knot winds and decided to shelter under the cliffs at Hicks Bay. The winds increased over the next few days, and I had time to think about the purchase of the boat and God's purpose. We sat at anchor waiting for the wind to abate and one day, saw an upside-down inflatable in the water. We were able to rescue the guy in the water getting blown out to sea who told us there was another guy diving that would need to be rescued also. I felt strongly God had placed a tool in my hands for reaching people for His purpose’.
"I spent time on my yacht, around the islands of Fiji helping rebuild villages especially after the devastation of cyclone Winston in 2016. On one trip, I was working away in the village and all day I had the same prompting that a sick person needed prayer. At about 3pm I went to see the village chief and asked him if there was someone in the village who was really sick. I was taken to a Bure and was shocked to find this man lying down with two seriously infected knees. They were yellow and blown up like 2 soccer balls. He was in agony, and it seemed obvious he should have been evacuated a week earlier and not waited until the weekly relief ship arrived to take him to hospital. I had seen many people following amputations and could see this as a likely outcome. He was in excruciating pain and I remember thinking; couldn't you give me something smaller Lord? I felt to get him into a chair which took about 10 minutes with help from the other villagers. I told them to put their hands on him, and we would all pray together for healing. As we started praying the swelling started to go down and down and down. After a half hour he was up from his chair and walking around. He was healed! I contacted the village about 2 weeks later and to check on him. I asked what he had done after he was healed and was told he walked up into the hills to tend his garden, something he had been unable to do before. I asked if he had gone to the hospital on the ship, and they replied, 'He went to Suva on the ship because he had already paid for his ticket but didn't need to go to the hospital because he was healed'.
"I marvel at how the Lord guides and directs. I planned to meet crew in Fiji and sail on to Thailand. Fiji had closed its borders due to the pandemic, although I was given an exemption which was later withdrawn. I sailed on to Vanuatu as its borders were open to sailing vessels. In Luganville [on the island of Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu] as I sat waiting for parts to arrive on a carrier, I had this strong sense God was directing me to sail to Port Villa. Once there, I was working on my boat and felt God direct me to go to a catamaran Sonadora anchored in the bay. In obedience I went over and met the owners and Celeste for the first time. (See www.nowwearetalking.nz and Celeste’s Facebook posts) My crew had gone home, so with the man who fixed the electrics on board Sonadora, and Celeste, we set sail for the Philippines. It was a God ordained crew, so I didn't have to sail on alone.
"Days after we left Vanuatu behind, escaped from the menacing locals in the speedboat when we briefly dropped anchor in a bay, and thankfully re-provisioned in Palau, we could see ahead as we entered Filipino waters, pink beaches (pink coralline sand that comes from crushed red corals mixed into the sand). Curious to explore, we carefully made our way in 40 m of water, towards the shore. It was not a sandy bottom and there was a coral reef with a big sea running. I watched the charts carefully as we searched for a sheltered anchorage, acutely aware of the strong tidal current running between the two islands. All of a sudden, I had this strong feeling we were in danger. There was no sign of danger but there was something in my spirit. I immediately took the boat out of gear, and we turned 90 degrees with the current running. As the boat was going through the spin, the bow lifted up as if we had run aground, but how was that possible when we had 40 meters under the keel? We started to go backwards, and the boat spun around. Above us were electrical cables carrying power between the two islands. An electrical current shot down the backstay the moment we touched. By God's mercy I was not holding onto it at that time. I dived for the throttle, spun the wheel and in that second, we were free and clear. Another 30 seconds and the current would have swept us under those power lines and pulled them down on top of us. We sustained some damage but once more, God's hand of protection was on us. There was nothing on the chart, no flags or anything to indicate this danger.
"There's no marina in Sorsogon, so we had to anchor off at 2 kms from the town center in this tidal, flat body of water. We farewelled Celeste and now with just us two men on board, set sail for Puerto Galera [a town on the Philippine island of Mindoro] to find shelter following a typhoon warning. I didn't know anything about this location but as the typhoon was forecast to track over Manilla (which is only 50 miles at the most from Puerto Galero), I prepared to turn the boat around and head away from its path as quickly as possible. I asked the Lord what we should do, and he gave me the scripture Proverbs 27:10 "better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off". I contacted a friend in Manilla and explained our dilemma. He assured us that was the best place to be in a typhoon, and he was taking his boat there for safety. We had to get special clearance ashore and were surprised to see the locals going about their business as normal. Back on board we stripped sails down and battened down everything we could. I got the spare anchor out in readiness, and it did blow 55 - 60 knots but we were quite comfortable. It's interesting how the Lord often tells us where to go, pre-warns us, and if we listen to His voice, we are in exactly the right spot when trouble comes.
"I have found sailing to be a very humbling experience. So many people have told me when they have been in the middle of a storm it's a really good time to talk to the 'man upstairs'. He's never too early and never too late, but I joke that God misses a lot of opportunities to be early!
‘My yacht is named Koro Vita. Koro is a Fijian word for village, and in some contexts, it can refer to the village life, community and values associated with it, like working together and helping each other. Vita in Italian means life. Out on the open sea, when the winds roar and the waves rise high, you soon discover there is no one who can truly still the storm but God Himself. It is there, in the silence between the gusts and the fury of the waves, that you are drawn closest to Him, knowing He alone carries you through. And so it is with Koro Vita, a name that speaks of life together, of community, of lifting one another when the storms threaten to pull us under. In Christ we are never alone, and when we sail with Him, every storm becomes a testimony and every voyage becomes, life or Vita, shared together".