Day 16 in Fiji

Day 16 in Fiji!

Woot! Woot! We got to go to the interior today! Our first school was at 11am so we were out the door at 7:45am. After picking up Pastor Rakesh in Navua we headed into the interior! Lolo and I were in the trunk of our SUV and I guess our extra weight was a little to much on those curving mountain roads! We kept scraping bottom! After an hour long crazy ride up the mountain, we finally reached the school! There was about 80 students there, and they responded so well to us coming! I must admit it was a lot more work to get to them, but I think pastor Rakesh said it best when he told them that they are precious and that is why we took the time and effort to bring Gods word to them. When the principal stood to thank us for coming he quoted the very verse from Psalms that has been the theme of this whole project...the entrance of thy word giveth light...he had no idea that was the verse God had given pastor Brooks! So neat!

On the way back, since we were too "heavy" for our SUV, we pleaded with Pastor Brooks to let us ride in the open back of his truck. Woohoo! He said yes! We had an hour long ride of our lives all the way down the mountain!! So much fun! Only one problem...their soil here is red...and when we finally arrived at the next school, I discovered that my face was nicely coated in that very red dirt! Ahhhh, but the ride was worth it!:)

Our second school had about 250 students in it and went great! The students responded very well! They were so excited to receive their very own Bible and we were thrilled to give it to them! We were able to do the primary school there as well, which was about another 200-300 students. They are soooo cute and they sat so well! It was absolutely hilarious to watch Pastor Brooks speak to them and interact with them! You know how a little kids' laugh has a way of making you laugh as well? Well try listening to 200-300 little voices laughing at pastor Brooks' jokes and antics! It had all of us cracking up! These children are so precious! One of the teachers at this school came up and gave me a huge hug...she was overwhelmed with joy to receive her own Bible!

Then off we went for our hour long return ride to Suva with Lolo and I bouncing along in the trunk again!:)

It looks like the schools we did today were our last schools for this trip.  They have 2 more schools in the interior tomorrow, but because of the distance and the fact that these are smaller schools, they have decided not to take us.

When I think of all we have gotten to do and see on this trip I feel so overwhelmingly blessed! I truly have had the experience of a lifetime! Serving God is the best adventure one could ever have...to not serve Him is to miss the thrill of a lifetime!

Day 15 in Fiji

Day 15 in Fiji

So after an extremely long walk last night, we all fell into bed for a fabulous night's sleep! I, in particular, slept like a queen! Since Kelly left, I got to steal her mattress and pillow to add to my bed and I also had the whole room to myself....ahhhhh! Sheer bliss! Doesn't take much to make me a happy girl!:)

This morning our first school was a Hindu school of around 1000 students. Unfortunately, they did not allow us to have an assembly, but rather told the kids that whoever wanted one could come to us and get one. Fiji children are soooo shy though that this generally does not work great to begin with. In total we were able to hand out around 500 bibles so Praise The Lord for that! However it was so sad to see classrooms of 38-40 kids and only 4 or 5 would come to get a bible. Very heartbreaking to see!

We had about 3-4 hours before our next school, so we went shopping for the rest of our "thank you" gifts and had lunch in the mall. While we were at the mall I ran into a girl whose sister received a Bible at her school. I was able to give her a tract and we exchanged contact information...please pray that she would read the tract and that I would have future opportunity to witness to her.

Our second school was so awesome! We arrived there and found out that they had planned for us to do both the primary and secondary schools! ( So far we have only been doing secondary schools which is like our high schools) this is a 7th day Adventist school, so this was a huge blessing as they may not have let us back in to do the primary school after hearing the messages we preached to the secondary school! The primary school was amazing! The children are beyond adorable and completely stole my heart! Obviously their attention span is a lot shorter, but they were all so excited to receive a Bible!

The secondary school there also went very well! The students were very enthusiastic in their response and all wanted to come by and shake hands after! After shaking about 150 boys' hands we unfortunately had to race off to the 3rd school before we could finish shaking the 200 girls' hands! I think my hand was grateful for that but it was awesome to see their enthusiasm over receiving their Bible!

Our third school was another interesting experience...we once again had to go classroom to classroom instead of having a general assembly and we only about 45 minutes to do it! But we did it!:) Pastor Ryan And Bro. Brooks split up and our team split up and we covered it all! The Bibles were very well received, in fact so well received that one of the girls, after just hearing how stealing is breaking one of God's commandments, proceeded to "steal" a second Bible for herself! Oh well, I'd much rather her have the Bible in her possession then some of the other things she could be stealing!

We are now on our way to church for the last service that we will share with these sweet people! It's gonna be hard saying good-bye!

Day 14 in Fiji (girls)

Day 14 in Fiji

So this morning was our earliest morning yet! We were out the door at 6am and off and running for an hour long drive to our first school! We are helping Pastor Rakesh do the schools in his area today.

Our first school this morning had about 1100 students in it! They were only going to allow us to give Bibles out to 100 students, then they upped to 500 students! Then when we arrived they said we could speak to them all, but we had to go classroom by classroom! So 20 classrooms later we finally finished the school! We had a very good reception and only had a couple refusals.

Our 2nd school was actually the school Pastor Rakesh went to when he was a kid! So that definitely helped keep the kids attention! It was also a school of about 500 students and they were very spread out, but it went very well and again only a couple refusals! Both of these schools are Hindu schools and have at times tried to get Pastor Rakesh arrested, but so far they have been unsuccessful and today he got to preach to them instead! God has a sense of humor!:)

We headed to our third school which we thought was scheduled for 1:30pm. This school was located right on the ocean and we were all hoping to stop and take a couple pictures before leaving. Turns out Pastor Brooks got the times mixed up and we weren't supposed to be there until 2:45pm! So we got to spend the next hour walking in the waves and taking pictures!! What a awesome blessing and so much fun! Only God could have planned a mix up like that at that particular school! (It's the only school we've been to that's right on the beach like that!) it was an extra special blessing! Before starting our 3rd school we said goodbye to our "South Carolina" team of Tanner, Kelly and Drew. We had a lot of fun with them this past week! Pray for their safety as they spend the next 25 hours flying home.

The third school which was a Catholic school went very well! There was around 200 students and all listened very intently! There was a man mowing the sports grounds not far from where we were doing the presentation and a couple minutes into it I looked over to see him push the mower aside, lie down on the grass and proceed to listen to the whole gospel presentation! He got a Bible at the end as well.

We had an amazing day and it was extra special for Pastor Rakesh...his wife gave birth to a baby boy late last night and he had not yet seen him! He wanted so desperately to get Bibles into the hands of the young people in his area that he stayed to help distribute them before taking off to go meet his new son! 

I think we are all looking forward to an early bed tonight and another full day tomorrow!

The picture of us with the Pastors are pastor Brooks on the left, Pastor Rakesh in the middle and Pastor Grey on the right. We have been blessed to work with all 3 of these men these last several weeks.

Day 13in Fiji (girls)

Day 13 in Fiji

Brrrrr! I know you all think Fiji is warm and tropical, but when it is winter here, it really is winter! This was the coldest morning so far and man was it cold! Normally I shower, then curl up in the living room with my coffee and my Bible and do my morning devotions! Not so this morning! I showered and then dived back into my bed to do my devotions! It was sooooo cold! As you'll see from our morning group photo, we all left the house bundled up in sweaters!

Our first school this morning was a girl's school of about 350 students! They were a very responsive group and listened very intently to the messages! They are also one of the first schools where some of the students have hung around to talk and take photos! As we left it was a blessing to see many of them walking away reading those first 3 pages in their Bibles which contain the plan of salvation!

While waiting to go to the next school, Pastor Brooks made some phone calls to confirm our other schools. Unfortunately one of the 4 that we were to do today cancelled, but thankfully they rescheduled for Wednesday. Another one of our 4 for today was an LDS (Morman) school that has now refused us! I was especially disappointed about this one as who wouldn't love to give out Bibles in a Morman school?! We were able to reschedule another one for this afternoon though so we have 3 for today. 

The second school was about 200 students  and again a very good response! Many of the students began reading through their Bibles as soon as they received them! One teacher/mother walked up and said how excited she was that we were giving out KJV Bibles! She had been teaching her children for years about the difference between the Bibles and that the KJV is the right one!

We then stopped at Chicken Express for lunch. It still cracks me up when all 23 of us walk into a restaurant and literally take the place over!

Our 3rd school was a boy's school of about 150 students! This would be comparable to a reform school or juvenile detention. We females understandably felt a little out of place with all these guys staring back at us, but they sat completely silent and listened attentively as the gospel was preached! This school was also another answer to prayer as it is a catholic school and many of the catholic schools have been refusing us! Please pray for these boys, that God would touch their hearts ....they were certainly a tougher crowd, but God can soften the toughest hearts!

Once we returned from the school we headed to the store to buy supplies to throw a surprise Birthday party for Filo and get some of life greatest necessities...chocolate and Oreos!:) the rest of the evening was spent sneaking around baking birthday cake and playing Dutch Blitz! It was so much fine surprising Filo...people here don't normally do to much for birthdays so it was fun being able to do something for her that she wouldn't normally get!

It's been an amazing day and we're looking forward to another great day tomorrow!:)

Day 13 - Josiah's Group

Day 13
We arose early and after devotions, prayer and a breakfast of tea and Fijian pancakes our team of 4 headed out. Our first school was probably the most receptive of any we have been to yet. The students were right there with us as we spoke and were very grateful upon receiving their Bibles.  The principal did not want to call a general assembly of all the students but was very open to us visiting each of the forms (grades) one by one. This took a little longer but was also a lot of fun as each of the five forms was given a clear gospel presentation. We arrived in perfect timing to our second school which also went smoothly. The general assembly took place outside with the aide of a megaphone which was a first for us here. It still feels somewhat bizarre preaching the gospel when you think that you are preaching to students who are in school. What an amazing opportunity! The teachers came up after thanking us for what was said.
We arrived at the last school of the day with time to spare. The students were unresponsive at this school but listened intently as each one of us spoke. They sang two songs for us in Fijian with amazing harmony. When we arrived back in Savusavu we laid plans for our next few days here.
John and Matthew arrived safely back from "snake island" so the team is once again back together. We will be heading out early tomorrow by ferry pass out Bible's on another island. We will be spending the next two nights on this island so reports may be delayed due to no electricity.
We are having an incredible time, and this is in no small part due to your prayers.
Please pray that principals would not try to hinder us and that we would all stay unified as we work together.
We feel very privileged to see first hand what God is accomplishing.

 Driving into the Jungle

These students wanted a picture with us holding their Bibles

There are larger spiders here

 Bro. Joe giving his testimony

 Attentive students

Students at the last school today

Day 12 "Team Split" - Josiah's Group

Day 12
Well after two weeks we have now had our first church team split.

Thankfully this was not due to doctrinal differences but for logistical reasons!

In my group there is Bro. Joe (the man we were working with in Lobasa), Bro. Tore, and myself.

I must add it has been very refreshing to have Bro. Joe back in our midst.

Bro. Joe is no-nonsense and well organized. He formerly played rugby for team Fiji so many people recognize him here from this. When he gives his testimony in the schools the kids seem almost spellbound as they listen. His past history playing for team Fiji and ability to speak fluent Fijian are two great inroads he has with the people here.

Our groups left from Suvasuva and split ways at the bottom of Natewa Bay.

We headed into the jungle loaded to the teeth with the Bibles. The overcast skies were making our plans of camping outdoors less likely and our cramped Jeep the more promising option.

We stopped at two of the last schools we would be visiting the next day to unload Bibles and lighten our load. Along our way we picked up Pastor Vili who pastors a Bible Church here on the island. Bible churches would be very similar to a Gospel Hall. After eating wonderful meal at his house we continued on our way up the side of the Bay. By then it had begun to rain steady; so Pastor Vili used his connections and we were able to spend the night in the home of  Filomena, a school teacher. After tea and fellowship we went to bed early so we would be well rested for the next day.

Day 12 "Team Split" (Men)

Day 12
This Morning we woke up to pouring rain. We got up and Josiah made a Canadian breakfast with Pancakes, Bacon, Scrambled eggs and Coffee. It was great to eat food that was familiar to us.
We went to church at brother Jonathan's house (Lighthouse Baptist Church) for church service here in Savusavu. We all had a good time of fellowship with believers. Then We headed into town for supplies that will be needed for our trip.
At 2:00 we started our journey so that we could set up camp at the other side of the Island and then make our way back across doing the schools as we go on Monday.
We split into two separate groups. Bro. Joe,  Bro. Tore, Josiah were in one group
Bro. Jonathan, Alici, Matthew and John were in another group.
From this point on we will call them Josiah's group and John's group.

Lighthouse Baptist Church