MORE SUGAR FEST WEEK

After the fun of the carnival my body said it had had enough. With the change of diet and especially lack of my Juice Plus (my next shipment did not make it to me before we left for Fiji ouch!) I had the flu! I have not been sick in over 10 years so this was a difficult thing for me. I slept most of Wednesday and then off and on on Thursday. Friday I couldn't stand being in bed any longer and got up and had a frigid shower which woke me right up, had some toast and was able to go to the college and be in the Cross skit and give my testimony to about 15 mixed Fiji/Christians and Indian/Hindus. What a joy it was! I was able to pray with 3 Hindu girls and plant seeds of Jesus love for them. Back to the base for some rest and dinner. That night we were given 3 days off! wow. Most went out on their own that night, Jan, Kim and I made cookies and popcorn and set up the big screen and projector with Marks help and had our own movie night. Saturday night Christie was invited to an Indian Hindu Wedding and asked Kim,Tres and I along. She met them on house visits down by Nadi. So after we finally found the place in the dark I really enjoyed it. We went in and met the groom and gave a small gift, met the sisters and mom and aunt quite a family thing. This was the 3rd day of the wedding and I am not to sure of the customs but grabbed a quick video for you all to experience.

SUGAR FESTIVAL WEEK

SUGAR FESTIVAL WEEK

This week started off with a day off at the beach. We joined with PTC staff and their DTS and went to a great beach for some relaxing, volleyball, cards and nice walks on the beach.We all slept well that night. I think the highlight or one of them anyway was our bus ride and the guys from the DTS singing I am putting a video clip in to share with you.


Tuesday was time to once again get back to ministry. Jan and Dazza have been doing a great job of leading our team and keeping it all together. While we were in Ba last week another part of the team had been involved in a Crusade and doing home visits down near Nadi. We would continue doing that as well as Kids Club and the teaching at the College. The new addition was a class today by Mark on "friend raising" the class was good and let us know that it is biblical to ask for support as a missionary! We are not beggars but obedient followers of Christ. In the afternoon I went once again with Vicca to pray with a woman she had just met. Vicca has been wanting to start a prayer group of women to pray for their children and families. (reminded me of Moms in touch) WOW! is all I can say we were praying in the Spirit full on for over 2 hours. What a blessing for me. Again I am wondering if missions is for them or us? ( I am going to say for all of us, we just think we are coming to serve and end up doing and receiving..isn't God amazing?)
So home again for dinner and then on to the Sugar Festival Carnival. I went out with Dazza and Uncle John. When we arrived it was a surprise to see our Ba friends running a booth. We mentioned how we missed the tea and Pastor Benny said he would bring some the next day. We said "sota tale" see you later for good-bye won't do, and made our way through the carnival. I forgot my camera that night so went back to take these and a shot video. (you thought it was dangerous in the states?)

BA TOWN, FIJI

So this week 4 of our team John (who we now refer to Uncle John) Mark (who left us early for prep on another teaching) Keisha and I (Sal joined us cause she missed Keisha and I so much hehe) were sent to a town north of Lautoka at a little higher elevation. (they said it never got cold in Fiji, I beg to differ)We would be helping to put up a structure for church services in a squatter neighborhood. When we arrived the house we were going to stay in had been previously occupied by squatters and was in need of some TLC. We were blessed to have along with us some of the staff from PTC and they helped set up house for our short stay.The staff left behind Maryann to help us prepare meals. It felt so much like a camping trip in the high country only with an outdoor toilet and shower! Joining us from Christian Fellowship Revival was Pastor Benny, Bill, Tyto and Pa (a sweet 16 year old girl to help with meals)
Our first night we had some prayer time together and then made a prayer walk through the house, around the house, up on the hill where the building site was and above that the top of the mountain that overlooked the village. We claimed every footstep for the Kingdom of God! That night is when I found out that it does get cold in Fiji! I bet it dropped into the 50's and the next day Keisha and I headed into town and hit the thrift store for a sweatshirt and then found some socks (what sweet sleep it was after that, most of the time anyway)
John and Mark were on construction and Keisha and I were on prayer and hospitality. We climbed the mountain behind the site and had our own little prayer meeting the first 2 days, then we ventured out into the neighborhood and invited people to fellowship with us on Friday nite and also our first service on Sunday morning . The people are so very friendly on this island. Above are pictures of our mealtimes, the worksite and the first communion in their new structure (we had cookies and soda from the little store across the street)
Our mealtimes stand out the most for me. The fellowship was so sweet and I will forever remember the phrase from Pastor Benny, "have one more cup of tea". This was the best lemon leaf tea ever.(picked straight from the tree out back!) So many children came to visit us. (our white skin sort of stands out) You new they where home from school when you heard Auntie, Auntie! They have no boundaries and would run right into our sleeping room so we kept the doors closed after 3pm! The guys moved right along with building even through some cultural and language differences. The biggest challenge was for the right tool or equipment. They had to build an " A" ladder to put the metal roof on. They went to 4 different supply stores for bolts and such and ended up purchasing a new drill for the Lautoka Base. (the one we brought had seen it's better days) In the end, our fellowship night and Sunday service both went very well. The body of Christ in this little village will grow and flourish as well as drawing many from the town of Ba into the presence of God that exists in that quiet and unshakable little mountain top.

BA TOWN, FIJI

Our First Week In Fiji

So we had a wonderful trip to Fiji. We left Kona at 8am on the 29th of June and went to Honolulu to catch the flight out to Fiji. We were able to stop at Christmas Island for refueling and got to look out the door and see the International Airport. Quite a sight it was! We landed in Nadi, Fiji around 7pm on the 1st of July and made our way through Immigration and Customs and the crew meeting us had a van waiting to take us to the base in Lautoka. The rain was coming down and it was quite humid. We have been blessed since with very good weather, somewhat hot and humid but nothing we cannot handle. Above is a picture of the base and my view of the sun rising in the morning during my quiet time. We were given a wonderful welcome banquet and some great entertainment you can see below:




Our first week of ministry has been such a blessing. We have 3 days of Kids Clubs, Hospital visiting, Mens group, a 3 day conference on prayer and we sent one of our men to talk about World View at a mens retreat and 3 others off to the mountains to do Plumbline at a church camp for boys and girls. I was blessed this week to go help with the Kids Clubs and have a video for you to watch below.


On Saturday night I got to celebrate my Birthday with little Jerimiah (Landoa and Vicca,s 1 year old son - the first birthday is a very special one here)We had an incredible dinner, cake and ice cream and some wonderful entertainment. We led this Sundays service at the Assembly of God Church and performed our skit which is quite powerful (no I don't have video for that one sorry!)
So today was our day off and Vicca came to me and asked if I could go pray for a sick woman with her, of course I could that is what I am here for so...was I ever blessed one of the best days I have had yet. I am looking forward to what God has prepared for me in the coming weeks. Again thanks for all the prayers I am feeling much better and have started sleeping better.