Natalie Vellacott: Author & Missionary

Natalie Vellacott served as a police officer and detective in the UK for ten years before resigning in 2011 to become a Christian missionary. Her book, Planet Police, contains humorous and revealing stories from the front line. 

Natalie has lived and worked with street people in the Philippines. Her true story They’re Rugby Boys, Don’t You Know? (published in 2014), relates her encounter with a group of street teenage boys abusing a solvent called "rugby" to help them forget the pain of hunger and poverty.

Natalie served on the Logos Hope Christian mission ship for two years. She published her adventures in The Logos Life in 2017.

What was your motivation to become a missionary?

The short answer is that I believe God called me into mission work. I had been involved in street evangelism with my church since I was saved as the urgency of sharing the truth with others became my priority in life. I had begun to find it more difficult to share with people while working as a police officer due to legal and organizational restrictions. I believe all Christians are missionaries in one sense and that if someone isn’t evangelizing at home, they won’t be motivated to do so if they travel abroad.

In your book, you mention becoming ‘definitely converted’ to Christianity when you were 23. Can you share what happened?

If you want to read the full story, my personal testimony is included at the end of all of my books. I was raised in a Christian home but drifted from God just after my baptism when I was seventeen. I spent six years living a worldly life—smoking, drinking, gambling and involved in non-Christian relationships. I was seeking satisfaction and meaning in those things but ended up miserable and empty inside. I knew the truth due to my upbringing--that my sin was an offence to God and that I was separated from Him. I reached a point where I couldn’t continue as I was, mainly due to witnessing changes in my younger sister that I knew could only have come about by God’s intervention. I basically did a 180—I confessed my sin to God asking for His forgiveness through Jesus and resolved to make major changes in my life. My story has similarities to the prodigal son story in the Bible.

What was the hardest part of your initial experience with the ‘rugby boys’?

Definitely seeing them abusing solvents right in front of me and being powerless to stop them. I knew they were potentially doing irreversible damage to their bodies and minds. Even after we had been working with them for some time, they still used this as a way to hurt me when they were angry or upset and it worked every time. I would have done anything at that point to stop them doing it. It was a painful and effective form of emotional manipulation that I had to learn to ignore.

Originally, you started your Filipino missionary work in Olongapo. Would you be able to share how things are in Olongapo now?

I last visited Olongapo in late 2015. The large group of children abusing solvents under the bridge hasn’t returned which is a mixed blessing. Some of the children did leave the streets, returning to their families or back to school, others are living permanently at the youth center. However, the solvent abuse continues with smaller groups of children now operating less visibly in other areas of the city.

I eventually had to leave Olongapo in 2014 because I couldn’t find a church to settle in and I needed more of a support network for the work I was doing. I joined a church in Manila (the capital city) where my new pastor suggested that I should try to focus more on working with girls. This was a low point for me as I had believed God was calling me specifically to work with the “rugby boys.” It wasn’t that I wanted to work with boys as such, but most of those abusing solvents were boys. After prayer and consideration, I realized that I must submit to the authority of my pastor--his point was valid because the boys I had been working with had grown older.

I continued working with several of the original boys after leaving Olongapo and visited some of them in rehab in Taguig and in the youth center in Olongapo. I am still in touch with many of them via social media and as I recently revised They’re Rugby Boys, Don’t You Know? I included the boy’s individual updates in the back of the book.

For those who haven’t read your book, what have you been doing since Dec. 2013?

I have struggled on and off with ill-health due to having an under-active thyroid. This necessitated several trips back to England and affected me in other ways as only those with the same problem will understand. After leaving Olongapo, in April 2014 I joined my church’s program in Manila, working among the street homeless. This included some “rugby boys” and girls. I joined a medical mission to Tacloban (the area that was hit by the devastating typhoon) and just generally took part in help and hope projects in the area. I left the Philippines in February 2016 for a furlough/break and haven’t returned to date.

My writing has become more of a ministry partly due to my health issues although my health seems to be stabilizing and I’m keen to get back to the mission field. I comment on contemporary Christian topics in my blog and write honest Christian-perspective book reviews using Goodreads as my main platform. During my recuperation, I had time to write Planet Police—my auto-biography about being a police officer in England for ten years and also more recently The Logos Life detailing the aspects of life on Logos Hope not covered in the “rugby boys” tales. I’ve tried to include humor and cultural oddities but all of my books have an evangelistic slant. Some readers find that off-putting but as that’s the main purpose in my writing I’m afraid it’s there to stay!

I have also been volunteering for an organization that shares Jesus with enquirers in chat conversations via the internet and I have spent several lengthy periods in South Carolina, America volunteering at the ministry center that supplies the Logos Hope ship with books.

What motivated you to move to the Philippines to do full-time, independent missionary work? How long did you remain in Manila?

Maybe I have covered this already in part. On joining the Logos Hope ship in 2011, I prayed that God would lead me to a country for full-time mission work at the end of my two-year commitment. On becoming involved with the “rugby boys” in the Philippines I started to believe that God was calling me to return to the country. The ship moved on from the Philippines in December 2012 and I prayed that if God wanted me to go back I would get further opportunities to spend time there. I was sent to Manila on a challenge team in April 2013 and when I arrived it felt like I was coming home. The ship then unexpectedly sailed to other ports in the Philippines that had been postponed so I had further opportunities to experience the culture and start learning the language.

Why did I go independently? That could be a long answer! I do believe there is a place for mission organizations in the society that we have created but I also believe that the church could fulfill that role. I prefer to operate by traveling from church to church rather than there being a third party involved. That is the reason I moved from Olongapo to Manila because being in a good Bible-believing church is essential for any missionary and I struggled to find one. I need a place where those who I witness to can be taught and discipled and to grow and be held accountable myself. Christians cannot function in isolation.

I was only in Manila for just under two years in the end. I am praying about whether or not to return to the Philippines at this time.

Would you be able to comment on what it’s like in Manila now, with the recent war on drugs (Giyera Kontra droga se Pilipinas)? Do you see it helping things?

I am only aware of what I see in the media and from occasional updates from Filipino friends. I believe the current leader Duterte is extremely dangerous, more so because the shame and honor culture will result in many Filipinos submitting to him. Although Filipinos are more aware of their human rights due to the invasion of Western culture, they are still a relatively shy people. Most hesitate to share their views or stand up for their rights unless repeatedly prompted. Many also tend to go along with the stronger personalities as they avoid conflict. This creates a power vacuum that Rodrigo Duterte seems to have stepped into.  In terms of the solvent abuse, as far as I’m aware, it isn’t covered under Duterte’s war on drugs—he is dealing with harder drugs. The country needs our prayer.

From your perspective, how widespread is the problem of solvent abuse in Manila? In the Philippines?

Solvent abuse among children and young adults is rampant in the Philippines and other third world countries. It is cheaper than food and stops the hunger pangs that they feel. It also allows them to escape their meaningless lives into a fantasy world where they can fight imaginary beings and feel invincible. They don’t think about anything beyond the twenty-four hours in front of them and most don’t care whether they live or die. Many are also covering the pain and rejection of problem families or other abuses by using this drug.

Can you talk a bit about the sort of projects funded through your Olongapo Christian Help & Hope charity?

My charity was set up with broad scope to share the Gospel and help the poor. We have purchased Christian literature and Bibles for distribution, bought clothes and food, funded medical procedures, helped some apply for jobs, sent others on a youth camp and even replaced a church roof in a slum area.

How has your relationship with God changed since you wrote your first book? Since moving to Manila? Since coming home to England?

I hope I have learned to trust God completely although sometimes I feel like a child learning the same lessons over and over again. Trusting God by Jerry Bridges is a great book for those struggling in this area. I have definitely realized that God’s ways are not my ways and that I cannot see the bigger picture as He can. I have stopped asking “why did this happen to me?” and started saying “okay that’s happened, what next?” I think that is biblical because we are told not to worry and not to be anxious and yet that is what we spend a lot of time doing without achieving anything.

Even now, I’m back in America at Operation Mobilization’s ministry center packing books for Logos Hope for the third time in the last twelve months. I’m here because I’m waiting for God to show me what is next but I don’t feel anxious in the way that I might have done in the past. I know God has a plan and that He will reveal it when the time is right. I just need to be obedient and serve where I am to the best of my ability.

Is there any wisdom you’d like to share with readers who may be considering missionary work?

The most important thing is to keep the Gospel central, it is far too easy to drift into help ministries but I believe that help without hope is the ultimate tragedy. People can be materially comforted, medically improved or successful academically with better career prospects, but if they die without Jesus they will still go to hell.

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” Mark 8 vs 36 (KJV)

I have included all of my spiritual lessons in my two mission related books. The Logos Life has a list of ten lessons towards the end of the book which I hope will help those considering mission work to adequately prepare themselves. I actually wrote the book with potential missionaries in mind believing that they could learn from my mistakes, challenges and experiences.

I also read a book recently which highlights some important areas, Letters Missionaries Never Write by Fred Kosin, I recommend this as a resource for those serious about mission. I met the author recently—he and his wife Jenny are missionaries to missionaries, they travel around the world encouraging and supporting missionaries on the field. They live by faith—praying for their material needs and waiting for God to provide--which is becoming a lost concept in current mission circles. They are well-equipped to offer advice with their wealth of experience.

Is there anything else you’d like to mention?

I just want to encourage those that are considering mission work to pray, take advice from Christians you trust and then go. If God calls you then he will provide for you. I have experienced God clearly opening doors and closing others which is what makes me believe that He will do the same in my current uncertain situation. The missionary life is hard but it is also rewarding and what greater work is there than to be sharing the Gospel--offering hope to those that are perishing?

Natalie served on the Logos Hope Christian mission ship for two years. She published her adventures in The Logos Life in 2017. A Kindle Countdown deal is now on at: 
https://www.amazon.com/Logos-Life-Nat...