Concluding Fiji

I know its been far too long since I have written any sort of update. I am currently at home resting and spending time with my family.

As for Fiji... after we finished up our time in villages of Rakiraki, we headed back to our base in Lautoka. We rested and got ourselves together prepping for the last stretch of outreach. We also celebrated Thanksgiving dinner a bit early and as best as we could since Fiji doesn't have all of the ingredients needed for an all American Holiday.  After our few days of rest, we hopped on a bus early in the morning to catch a boat that would take us to a village in an outer island for 10 days. We knew that this Island was going to be gorgeous... but when we arrived... I thought I was dreaming... IT. WAS. ABSOLUTELY. STUNNING. One of the most beautiful places Ive seen. This island looked nothing like the main island we had been living on. This village seemed much different than all of the others that we had experienced. We had been doing door to door ministry everyday in the previous locations but we wanted to try something different. The island culture is thick with family relationships and honor. So we tried to just build relationships with people. We wanted to live like they did. We wanted to help them with whatever they needed during the day. So some of us help cook meals, work on a boat, played sports with the kids, paint the school bathrooms, performed skits for the kids in school and of course had church services nightly...these people are so amazing. Village after village I couldn't get over the fact how much they live Kingdom principals. They serve and serve others... they give the best of whatever they have... they take you under their wing no matter what. They honor and honor... I learned so much. 

A few stories
One day I was just sitting on the beach thinking about what I wanted to share in the nights service and a somewhat older woman that had a young girl with her came and sat next to me. We had some small talk and she then asked me if I was christian... I kinda laughed inside because that is very reason why I was there. I said yes and explained to her what I was doing there. We then started talking about God and I told her that I could hear Gods voice and that is why I came to Fiji. She responded with " I want to hear Gods voice." My heart melted. That is one of the things that so burns on my heart is that people would know they could have a living and active relationship with God... and how can you have a relationship with someone if you aren't able to talk or communicate? I told her that we all can hear Gods voice... we are all just getting familiar to his sound and his ways... I prayed that she may hear his voice clearly. She thanked me and went on her way.

I made friends with a girl named Pepe, she was about 17 years old. I really wanted to go to her house and meet her family. So one day she took me but before we ended up at her house a group of ladies had me just sit down and asked me to share a story about God. Its often that your put on the spot like that... so I decided to share my testimony of how God placed me in YWAM and how I started staffing with Awaken. It was all God orchestrated. Every time I get a chance to tell that story I feel my heart become undone by God again... because HE did it all... HE gave me my hearts desire when I didn't deserve it at all. He was faithful to me. He provided for me. He gave me HOPE. I knew that these girls had dreams... and probably feel at times that they will never happen because they are poor... thats exactly how I felt. But if God did it for me, he would do that for anyone. In Psalms 37:4 Take delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. He did that for me, I sought the Lord, I aligned myself  with Him and He gave me the desires of my heart. After sharing this with the girls they seemed encouraged and very thankful for what I shared. Praise God. He used me!

Our last night they threw us a huge Fijian Bon fire...and a traditional juice farewell party... they would normally use Kava/Grog for the party we didn't drink that nor did the Christians in village. The next day we left back to our base to get ready  for Suva our last week of ministry. When arriving to Suva we didn't have much ministry set up except to follow where the Lord led. When arrived we got hooked up to be a part of a youth conference called Synergy. We actually met one of the speakers on the bus going to Suva. Another story orchestrated by God! When we weren't attending the conference we walked around to talk to people. A few of the people on our team got to share their testimonies over one of the largest non christian radio stations in Fiji!

The last week we spent in Fiji was debriefing as a team.

Thank you all for your prayers and support. We got to meet and impact so many people. My team and I  were impacted and changed as well.

To watch our team video follow these links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwqoKA-26Wc    part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGfSBNrrR7Y&feature=related  part 2