Day 8 - Jungle Expedition (men)

Day 8 - Jungle Expedition
 We left town by 4 am and started out on our long trip. We picked up our guide "Amos" at a school that we had done the day before. First we drove out of town until the road turned into "gravel" of sorts and then it turned into a tail. We continued on this muddy/Rocky trail for three hours driving though some of the most beautiful spots that I have seen yet. It was a one-way road that was rough at best. We were shaken so well that if we were a can of pop we would have exploded. It was great! We were mudding in the middle of the jungle not something that you do everyday. Also there were many mountains that we had to climb. I am glad that we didn't get stuck out there because we were in the middle of no were. Most of this trip was made in the dark. After driving though the jungle for three hour the road stopped on the edge of the sea shore. The terrain was too rough to put a road though to the other side of a big mountain ( Which is saying a lot "that it is too rough"! ) We all got in the boat with all the bibles and then sped across the water to the small village on the other side of the mountains. The boat ride took us 20 min. when we got to the shore we had to then carry the bibles up to the village school.
It was so very much worth it. They were so very receptive and so happy that we came out to give them Bibles. They sang for us and raised the roof. Man, can they sing! The young men sang the bass and it was so powerful that you could feel it . It was Amazing! This was the best school that I have been to yet and that is saying a lot. We then went to the principal's  house for a late breakfast of fish, kasava, and rice. It was very good. Then we started the trip back to Labasa. after we got freshened up Bro. Joe had us over for "Lovo". which is a feast that they cook under the ground. They do it by heating up lava rock until they are blood red, and then put them in a hole which they then the cover with banana leafs. Then they put all the food in there and cover with more banana leafs and then cover with dirt and leave it to cook for an hour or so.The food was so good! They fed us like Kings. And then we had a very good sleep.
God Bless, John Elwood. (Josiah, Matthew)

Day 8 in Fiji (girls)

Day 8 in Fiji!

So last night was a very exciting evening! Pastor Grey's  2 sons (Dalton and Calab) have been very well trained to be the perfect gentlemen....a fact I very much appreciate! They open doors for us, won't allow us to carry anything and also would not allow us to ride in the back of the open truck! Something which some of us very much wanted to do! So we appealed to the higher power, Pastor Brooks, who said we could!:) Wouldn't you know it! We choose the night when it looked like it was about to pour rain! However 3 of us brave, valiant souls and Drew jumped in the back and off we went! So much fun...for the first 3 minutes! Then it began to pour! Here in Fiji when it rains, you can take a full shower in it it rains so hard! So there we are in the back of the truck getting dumped on and Dalton and Caleb are getting the laugh of their lives at the fact that we are getting soaked! But we outsmarted them! We grabbed a tarp  and all burrowed underneath (as you'll see in the picture) all of us laughing so hard our stomaches hurt! Next time I think we'll check the sky before we climb in the back of the truck!:)

This morning we got to sleep in a bit as our school that was scheduled for this morning cancelled on us. Thankfully we were able to reschedule them later in the week! Oh! Another exciting fact last night....some of the Muslim schools have refused to allow us to come and give out Bibles. So while we were at MacDonalds Pastor Brooks ran into the very man, from the minister of education department, who had actually scheduled all the schools! When Pastor Brooks told him about the problems we were having with the Muslims, not only did this man say that they are not allowed to refuse us coming, but he also said that he would go and take care of the problem for us! What an answer to prayer! Please pray for this man that he would be able to get us back into these Muslim schools! This man also told Pastor Brooks that he is praying for us to have success! What a blessing!

This morning we also had another huge answer to prayer! Pastor Brooks stopped off at the police station to get directions to some of the schools. One of the big Fijian detectives said he would go with them! So in they walked with this detective to a Muslim school and the principal said "Sure we would love to have you!" What an answer to prayer! Please pray that they would not change their minds and we Would be able to get into the other Muslim schools as well.

Our first school of the day was again an Indian school. I mentioned a few days ago about how Bro. Brooks said we must roll with the punches and be fluid! Well this school demonstrates that fact very well! When we arrived we were told we would have to split up and go to each class individually (19in total), have time for a quick, and I mean quick presentation and then hand out the Bibles.  Then we were told that there would be three assemblies and we would no longer have to split up! Still not the best option as we had to shorten the presentation greatly, but Praise The Lord we were still able to get the plan of salvation in there and the students were very attentive!

We then stopped for Pizza, which is surprisingly better then Canadian pizza, and headed onto the next school. 

This second school was a Chinese school where one of the young men in Pastor Grey's church went to school! This young man, Junior, graduated in 2010 and is now going to Bible school about 4 hours away. He came back just for this school and what a difference it made! Some of the kids were fooling around while Pastor Brooks and Pastor Grey were speaking, but as soon as Junior got up and started giving his testimony they all fell silent! 

From there we went to our 3rd school, a Hindu school which had originally refused us coming! This school is built right around a Hindu temple where the "Fire Walking" actually takes place! We really did not know what to expect for a reaction, but were pleasantly surprised! This school listened very intently and were very receptive to the Bibles and messages preached. Pastor Grey in particular was able to give a very strong gospel message, so please pray that God would do a work on these students hearts.

We are now getting ready for church this evening and are looking forward to hearing Pastor Grey preach again and then another full day tomorrow!:)

I know I have said it a lot, but THANK YOU once again for all your prayers! It is so obvious that God's people are praying and it is amazing to see how God is answering those prayers!

Day 7 in Fiji (men)

Day 7 in Fiji
Today we loaded up with Bibles and set out to distribute in three schools today.
When we arrived at the first school they were ready and waiting with a sound system already setup for us.
As our custom is, we meet with the principal of the school first to discuss how we wish to address the students. On this occasion the principal was not in and word arrived that a group of officials would be paying  the school a visit. They told us to come back later in the day and apologized for the inconvenience.
Such is life in Fiji! We rolled on with this change in plans and drove to our next school, Naleba College.
All went smoothly at this school. After sharing the gospel we were able to pass out 467 Bibles to students and teachers. I still have not gotten over the freedom we have to preach to the students and the eagerness of both students and teachers to receive the Bibles. This is truly amazing!
Travelling to our next school took about one and a half hours up and down some of the worst roads we have seen yet. There are numerous bridge crossings where the tires of our vehicle would straddle the railway tracks for the sugar mill. Rather than build two bridges they simply have the road and railway merge to share a bridge. We arrived safely at the school and had good success in passing out 554 Bibles to both students and teachers. Some students and teachers request a second Bible for another family member but as there are not enough Bibles for all these requests we usually have to say no. This is hard to get used to as you would like so much to give out more.
After this school we traveled the one and a half hours back to Batinikama Secondary School where we had been turned away at the start of the day. They told us that the officials had still not yet arrived and it was looking uncertain if they would let us speak to the students. This was a very strong Hindu school and the teachers seemed scared of what might happen should the officials arrive and discover a group of Baptists preaching to the students! They agreed to let us speak, but only to those students who wished to receive a Bible. Rather than calling a general assembly students on the front lawn as is the norm, they invited only those students wanting a Bible to a classroom at the very far back corner of the school.
We were not sure how many students would come at first but it turned out every student in the school wanted a Bible! The classroom was soon packed with some students sitting on chairs outside the window. Praise the Lord! We were able to pass out 233 Bibles to students and teachers.

Unicorn Fish at the market (we ate this yesterday)

 the local market

Our home in Lombasa

This is our shower and invisible sink (we have no sink here)

Car and Train merged bridge

 Harvesting Sugar Cane

Posing with principal and teachers

Day 6 (men) Awesome day

Day 6
Woke up at 6:30 and hurried to get ready because our first school is was at 7:30. we got to the first school and started unwrapping the bibles from there plastic covers. As soon as the sun came up it was hot instantly. By the time that we started giving out bibles we were all sweating buckets. One of the men from TX had a literal puddle of sweat.
 We were able to give a clear presentation of the gospel to all the students, It was Awesome!! It is such a privilege to give the gospel message to all of these children and then hand them there very own bible. We did three schools and close to 1,000 souls got there very own bible.
A bible like this would cost around 35 to 45 dollars Fijian and that is a lot of money for these people. So many of them will never be able to have there own bible because around here $ 3-5/hr  is considered  really good money. We have it so good in Canada, and the sick part is we think that we are suffering.
Here are some pictures of the children that sat in the sun for one and a half hours to get there bible. ( Think how many students in Canada would do that.)  and the last one is Josiah Peeling some sugar cane for us all to eat.
May God Bless you all.
John. ( Josiah & Matthew)

Day 7 in Fiji (Girls)

Tuesday, Day 7 in Fiji

This morning we left the house at 7am and headed to the church to load up with Bibles! Our first school today was a Indian school (East Indian that is, not American Indian!) of about 800 students! We were very well received and once again there was great liberty, thanks to your prayers! A couple of young people from pastor Grey's church actually attend this school, so it was good see them!

We headed back to the church for "Tea" and lunch and to wait for 1pm and our next school! Unfortunately my two "Beth" friends (Dalton and Caleb) love to prank right back so they handed us chocolate covered frozen bananas and we unsuspectingly ate them, only to discover that they were covered in Vegamite! A very disgusting yeast substance! Prank #1 down...who knows how many to go!! Serving God is the greatest adventure and I love the fact that this trip has been jam-packed with serving God, but also full of lots of fun as well!:)

While waiting to go to the next school we added 3 more members to our team! Kelly and Tanner are from North Carolina and Drew is from Georgia. They all just flew in this morning and will be with us for a week, so we are looking forward to having the extra help!:)

Our second school was at 1pm and was different. The kids were very quiet....normally they are very responsive and laugh at all the jokes...not this school! They were very quiet! However they all listened very intently and once again the gospel was preached! 

We are now done for the day and are back at the church for a game of volleyball and then off to Macdonalds for supper!

(Men) Day 5 - Sunday in fiji.

Day 5
Last night we slept under the stars by the seashore in the Small coastal town of Savusavu, Vanua levu, Fiji, At a house that Bro. Jonathan is taking care of. This morning we saw massive fruit bats that were flying around when we woke up. We then got ready for church service and did our bible time.
 For breakfast we ate coconut and drank coconut milk that I had picked up on an early morning walk by the shore. and we also ate lime that we picked off of the tree in the yard.
Brother Jonathan  came and picked us up and we went to pick up the song books and to invite some people that he had talked to though out the week. Then we went to his place and had Sunday school and church Bro. Jonathan preached Sunday school and the visiting American Bro. Dusty preached  the church service. Brother Jonathan is restarting the church "Lighthouse Baptist Church" in Savusavu.  We then drove back to Labasa through the winding  mountain roads. It is so Beautiful here.



We went to a church in Labasa for the evening service. These are the only two churches on the Islands that I have heard of ( That preach the Gospel). We had a wonderful time at the service. They are such good singers here. We then went to a brothers house for "Tea" which is our supper. We ate unicorn fish that they caught the day before. ( This kind of fish you can't catch with a hook and line like most other fish instead they have to "spear-dive" to catch it. Alot of people around here fish like that, they can hold there breath for up to 5-6 min.) They say that the chief eats the head so they gave it to me. I felt so important I eat every bit but the gills I don't think that you are supposed to eat that, but I didn't ask just in case they said yes. Them we went to bed so we were rested for the next week ahead.

Church in Labasa

We are staying in part of this building (men)

Bro Joe/ Bro. John/ Bro. Lucky. In Lamasa

 (Bro Lucky is trying to reach the hindi people.)

Esau/ Joe/ on left and Bill on the right