Our adventure began at 6 am when we left the PTC Base and headed to the Post Office where we would meet up with the Awsome Adventures Tour Bus. The bus would take us to Denarau Marina where we would be catching a cruise boat to the outer islands.(Yasawa Islands) We made sure all our luggage got from the bus to the boat and some of the girls went and got the last of real food as they know it for 12 days! The cruise boat ride was about 2 hours and very nice from the sundeck. I took many pictures of the individual resort islands we made stops at for the tourists. WOW pristine waters and beautiful white sand beaches great vacation stops for sure. When we made it to Waya Island we all loaded onto a small fishing boat with all our luggage in the bow! The water was right at the edge of the boat and we had a 15 minute ride into the village. (exciting to say the least) There were 2 young Fijian boys (dads boat) riding with us and I think all the white faces scared the youngest because he began to cry (Sciri gave him her Coke and all was well) We arrived at the shore and unloaded into the water it was fantastic! Louisa and Lissi where there to greet us with fresh coconuts to drink and enjoy the fresh meat, so very good. The men of the village unloaded all our baggage and set us up in the Pastors house. (from the Methodist Church, they moved out into a Bure (traditional Fijian house) and let us take over ther home. Pastors wife had a 2 week old baby, incredible hospitality!) We all rested and got settled in for the rest of the day. We slept community style in the living area putting our beds away each day. (Dazza & Jan, Mark & Stephanie+Joshua, Keisha,Grace & Christie all had rooms the rest of us were together, great experience) Sunday morning we all went to church at the Methodist Church. It was "Bula Vou" the begining of a new month when each of the cell groups (similar to our home groups) gets up and sings in front of the congregation and then an offering is taken after each one. (there where 6 different groups) There are many traditions kept in this church, standing to sing(acapela mind you, no instruments)many announcements, the main sermon, communion (come forward to be given)and more that just did not translate for me. The service is from 10 am till 1 pm and in Fijian. I loved the singing but was lost during the rest and just read my bible. Some of us had trouble staying awake the whole time but all was well.When we returned from church for lunch we were told that we would be in charge of the Womens Ministry meeting from 3pm -4pm that afternoon. Semper Gumbie has been a great motto on this trip!(always flexible is translation for those of you that didn't get it)We had an excellent time with the women. Our theme was Proverbs 31:25 "she is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future." I shared times in my life when God clothed me with dignity as a single mom and my journey with Tyson when I trusted in God and did not fear the outcome. Our diet has been a bit over starched! (casava, taro, potatoes, white dough fried,boiled,baked and any other way you can think of) and our guts are screaming! Curry and Dahl(which I actually like) are also staples. Monday we began house visits 2x2. We met many new people and began some great relationships.Tuesday we would be hiking to Natawa, a village on the other side of the mountain from Yalombi where we are staying. (15 minutes Fijian time 1 1/2 hours American time!) We would also be teaching here and so we spent Monday afternoon preparing for that. We were up early and left at about 6:30 am and made it to Natawa at 8 am. What a hike straight up the mountain then along the ridge and back down the other side! When we arrived we had tea and biscuits(cookies to my american friends)on our hosts veranda. At 9am the conch shell was blown calling the village together. The men would be helping with the buiding of a new house for the Pastor and the women would be teaching on a closer relationship with God (Sal did Father Heart and Jan taught on our own quiet times and what they could look like).We had lunch as a community (roti and curry begining to be a staple) and then visited with some of the women. More teaching in the afternoon (I taught the 8R's of freedom and walking them out in our daily lives and Keisha followed with her testimony that completely follows all I just taught, God is so amazing at putting it all together!) We all met back on the veranda for tea before we left for a little rest. Suddenly Landoa is up and telling us "time to go it is going to rain." Now if you had hiked the cliff we hiked there you would understand that rain and the path do not mix. You go from hiking to sliding! So off we went and some went ahead at a little bit faster of a pace (not my option of course, I am slow and steady wins the race! LOL)Well, the rain started and it was beautiful to see when we reached the ridge and looked back at the sky but at the same time dangerous for us hiking in. Jan and I are somewhat in the rear middle (if that makes any sense) and we are praying for John behind us who has some back and knee problems not even thinking of the young ones ahead. As we were desending we all came to a stop when Sal got her foot stuck in a root and then her body slid down the path! (the sound effects were definately not good ones.) Things went both fast and slow from there (I know it sounds odd but thats just how it went!) Dazza splinted Sals leg, Keisha fainted, the rain got heavier, Kim and Grace went ahead for help from the village, the Rugby players came to carry Sal off the mountain, we all followed going ever so carefully and John had a couple Tarzan moments off the side of the trail but we got him back on track and everyone off the mountain as the rain subsided. (doesn't it always work that way?) All the same it was an incredibly adventureous day! When we all got back to the house Sal had the nurse checking her, dinner was being prepared so Ladua, Bill, Dazza, Jan and I all went for an evening swim in the ocean! So relaxing after that day. Jan and I got out and headed to the shower room to help each other wash our hair and have our bucket shower. Joe was an angel that night and gave Jan and I both foot massages. I slept so well that night. Unfortunately Sal was being sent back to Lautoka for x-rays and to see what could be done. Wednesday Sal, Dennison and Sciri left for the mainland. We heard that evening that Sal had a vertical break in the tibia and would be flying back to Australia for surgery, pins and casting.
After they left that morning we continued with visitations and Kids Club in the afternoons. There is so much that happen in our visitations I can't wait to share with you but to much to put down here. Suffice it to say we serve an AWSOME GOD! The plan is to catch a boat this evening for Namara Island and go to the village of Yamata for a crusade. We will be preaching, teaching and praying.Jan is not doing so well and is in bed with fever and diareah.(we are keeping our eye on her and much prayer for her healing) We were all on the beach ready to go and waiting for our boat (and waiting and waiting) a few phone calls later and Ledua informed us that it was cancelled! There are many strange things happening here on the island. Jan is going to have to go back to Lautoka in the morning. She is very dehydrated and still has diaoreah. The enemy has not wanted us to minister in the places we have been going, many other forms of attack have hit our team and the pastors compound is very opressing. There is more here than meets the eye! Later that night we received a call and the schools teachers were all going to Lautoka on Friday for testing and the one teacher that was staying back was not feeling well and was asking if we would be interested in teaching about God to the 1st through 7th grade classes? What an opportunity! Of course we said yes and off we went with skits, the 10 commandments and the wordless book as our tools. What a great day, we spent the morning teaching and singing praises, went home for lunch and returned for an hour in the afternoon. That night fishermen from Nalwaki( a village we will be visiting next week)brought us some octopus and other fresh fish for our dinner. I was surprised how much I enjoyed the octopus(i only ate the inside meat, I could not get the tenticle part to go down hehe!)Saturday we got to have a day off and did some return visits to villagers homes.
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