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.

Incredibly Blessed

So as I write this I am fighting off I don't know what but definitely
feeling on the attacked side. We had a good morning hanging out and then went to the beach where something came over me and it felt so overwhelmingly oppressive! I went and sat alone and just poured my heart out to God. I could not control the tears streaming down my face and could not understand where this all was coming from. I would love prayer as we go out to the mission field for this may be the cause of the attack, keeping me ineffective and oppressed. I would also like to share the remaining teaching we have had here I stopped at week 5 so will continue with Week #6 our speaker was Dave Bryant and he spoke on Spiritual Warfare.(how appropriate in my state at this time haha) His wife, her sister and her sisters husband were with us as well. His wife Cheryl and sister Juanita are the granddaughters of A.A.Alan. (an evangelist in the 50's)Dave told of a great book by Merrill Unger called What demos(or fallen angels however you look at them) can do to saints. I am interested in reading this . I liked Dave because he started out with I don't do weird, but when weird is staring you in the face you have to deal with it, so we went to the bible and found out what Jesus did with weird(only it wasn't weird then, they found it quite normal for Jesus and the apostles to cast out demons and heal the sick! what are we missing today?) God has given us the power and authority through Jesus Christ to forcibly eject (ekballo) evil spirits from ourselves and others. John 14:12 Sometimes God must offend the mind to get to the heart! There needs to be a balance between supernatural (which God is and has made us with a spirit as well) and knowledge. We cannot do kingdom life being heavy on either side of this there must be a balance.
Week # 7 was Mark Anderson who talked about the Acts church and where the world is headed. The top down church is not what Jesus had in mind. We run church like a business when it couldn't be further from that. Mark has been teaching on Neighborhood Centers and they are growing up all over the world. People meet together in their homes, places of business or even dorms. Elders are just that, older men of wisdom and integrity for accountability, overseers and deacons are the younger to be servers of the groups. The apostles, teachers etc. are the body of Christ, we have all been gifted to do this and need to step out in faith and take turns preaching
his word." My house shall be a house of prayer" and this is where we should start along with a time of teaching, worship, communion and fellowship over a meal. This is the simple church to come. We must also live from the inside out, letting Holy Spirit (who is the third person of the trinity) lead and guide us. I love this quote from Paul Harvey "We have turned from being fishers of men, to keepers of the aquarium." On friday we heard from Dan & Basil about preparing a sermon and giving our testimony. There is power in our spoken testimony because it is ours and noone can take that away! We are to glorify God through what He has done in our personel lives and help others who can relate to our personal story. Week #8 was Fred Markert.
Fred told us we need to know the times so we know what we should be doing! There is a cycle to our history. We go from a Multi-Polar world to a Bi-Polar World to a Uni-Polar World. We are in a Uni-Polar world now but on the verge of Multi-Polar if things don't change. The Gospel is spread through a Uni-Polar World much easier than any other due to the freedoms of travel and safety for the most part. The traits of these great powers are 1) Economic 2) Military 3) Political 4) Cultural 5) Morality (this is the one they leave out in the universities but is what is missing or starts to fade in a society and bring it down) They must also be effective and effecient. When we are blessed we forget about God, so He shakes us and makes us to have revivalin all the nations. Global harvest is the purpose. C.S. Lewis put it this way : What if what is on Gods agenda is not our happiness but that we grow up!" & core things to be a Christian: 1)Repentance, both individually and corporately 2)Be baptized and live it out 3)Prayer as a lifestyle 4)Love God and your neighbor in a practical way 5)Give generously, without the thought of return 6)Break bread, share a meal, fellowship 7)Be witnesses of Jesus where you live and around the world, help others to do the same. One of Fred's quotes that stuck with me is " Don't imminitize the Eschaton" We cannot have perfection in a fallen world, get over it! We can overtake the darkness withHis light if we so let it shine to all! The bible is a story with a relational God not a systematic study. Focus on what we know, love God love others and go into all nations(people groups, not countries) Only 1% of the Christian body needs to go into full time ministry. Are we being wise stewards? All men are equally lost, but all men are not equally needy. Dr. Ralph Winter Week#9
we had another corporate week with Jaison Ma and Eric Fish, both involved in the student led simple church movement. Jaison spoke on intimacy with Christ and waiting on the Lord as well as how Holy Spirit is a person of the trinity just like Father and Son. Holy Spirit wants to be known and experienced. (I know this was right up there with weird but when you experience it you know it is real and it is of God!) The day God stops using you is the day you stop seeking Him! We must be diligent and consistent in our seeking His face. Are you content with the level of God in you? Then seek Him out daily, we must make room for Him in this busy (Being Under Satans Yoke)life we lead. There is a price to pay but if you seek Him you will find Him. He delights in His children and loves for us to come to Him. Repentance opens the door to intimacy with Christ.How I walk is dependant only on me relinquishing my rights and allowing Holy Spirit to lead and listening to the voice of the Father. Jesus never did anything the Father did not tell Him to do, we are to listen to that same voice. Week # 10 was with Gord Whyte and he spoke more on Holy Spirit and this is where I again received more healing and partook in things I did not believe in. It is very hard for me to believe that someone could be blown on and fall over, however when you are on the receiving end of that and feel Holy Spirits presence and healing deep in your soul it is so undeniable. WOW I pray that all will come to a relationship with and enter into the circle dance of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It has been quite a journey and I will never be the same! We are packing up now and cleaning so we can leave early Tuesday for Fiji.
On another note God has been so faithful and has been my Jehovah Rapha (healer) and Jehovah Jirah (provider) I came her after paying my $1000 deposit and upon arriving paid another $575
of the total owing of $8000. The rest the lord has provided through the body of Christ and I am forever thankful to Him and my loving brothers and sisters. I will be continuing this life of service and would appreciate full time support from any who felt led of God to do so. I would love to share what has happened in my own life and talk with others as well. Feel free to contact me if you are at all interested. May His face shine upon you all and may we all shine in His Glory.

Publish Post

Mahalo (Thank you hawaian style) I will share more from Fiji soon. Love to all.