Originally posted Monday, December 7, 2009 on Outreach Blog

Wow, what a busy week!

We did many house visits this week with families that Pastor Paula set us up with. We go out in teams, usually the Oosterhouses and the Munfradas are together, and the Derushas and Bill go out together. We also either have Pastor Paula or Uate with us. Some are believers and need encouragement or prayers for healing. Others need prayers for salvation and discipleship. So far we have seen 8 salvations in our time here. One was little 4 yr old Nathaniel from our team.

Sunday and Monday are our weekend, and our time to go to church, to get laundry done, and relax a little. We are free to do additional ministry in our free time or do tourist activities. Tuesday through Saturday are our days of ministry, these are the days that we do the house visits and other things.

This week in addition to the house visits, The Oosterhouses and Bill went to the YWAM bases at Vunayasi to do their children's program that they do every Friday. They dressed up as clowns and did songs, balloons and a Bible story.

Also on Friday the Derushas went and spent some time with a couple from EWC, Mary and Tameli. Tameli is in the military and is leaving on Monday for a year tour in Iraq. They spent some time with them in prayer and encouraging them and they prepare for this time of separation.

On Thursday and Saturday Chick and Dan went to Lautoka with Pastor Paula to help build a church building for a church plant of his. It was basically a pole barn frame with a big tarp for a roof. They will add to it as they have the funds, but for now this will suit them very well. Pastor Mike (different from the first Pastor Mike we talked to) is the pastor of 15-20 people, both Fijians and Indos.

On Saturday we were honored to be able to attend the first birthday party of an Indo-Fijian child whose family goes to EWC. The first birthday in the Indian culture is a very big deal so to be invited is an incredible honor. Unfortunately some of the men at the party were celebrating out back by drinking kava. Kava is a drink made by crushing a root found in the jungle. It has a narcotic effect and causes intoxication. Drinking kava is one of the strongholds that holds this nation captive.

On Sunday Bill gave the message at church and the Munfradas and the Oosterhouses helped with the Sunday school for the children that was during the service. The Oosterhouses led the kids in a couple of songs, and the Munfradas dressed up as clowns and taught the kids on self control. Bill's message was two fold, the first little bit was on how the people of Fiji have been ministering to us on the importance of not worrying, and taking one day at a time sometimes one hour at a time. The other half was on our class verse 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, and calling the people to step up and become the ambassadors of reconciliation that God has called us to be.

We are praising God because of the variety of things He has opened us up to doing. We are all being stretched physically, emotionally, comfortably, and spiritually. It's amazing the many ways that the Fijian people have been ministering to us. We continue to praise God for bringing us here and letting us be a part of the works He is doing here.

Originally posted Sunday, November 29, 2009 on Outreach Blog

Hello again from Fiji. We are having an amazing time here already. We arrived on Tuesday, and spent Wednesday and Thursday adjusting to the time and to our new surroundings. We had a few meetings scattered about in there, but other than that we pretty much had time to ourselves. We are getting to know the staff at the hotel, and enjoy talking to them. They are very fun loving and really enjoy talking to our children.

Thursday night we joined a cell group from the Emmanuel Worship Center (EWC), one of the churches we will be working with while in Nadi. In was a great time of worshiping with our Fijian brothers and sisters. There was a message given by one of the men in Fijian that they interpreted for us. We met outside one of the cell group member's home. It was a three or four room metal shack with the kitchen in a separate little shed to the side. The poorer people live in the metal shacks, while those a little better off live in concrete block houses.

Friday morning we split up a little bit and six of our group went to the local hospital to minister to the people there, five were dressed as clowns. Four others went on a prayer walk through the city of Nadi, one went to visit a local orphanage, and 4 stayed back at the hotel due to a little sickness. Chick, Lynda, Robin, Tavita and Caleb O. were dressed up, and Caleb D. decided to go unclowned. We received lots of smiles from the people on the bus, especially from the children. The hospital group was joined by the Youth Pastor from the EWC, Uate (pronounced Watā). While there the group prayed over people that were sick and their families that were visiting. They were well received, and only one Muslim man refused to be prayed over. While there a woman who the team prayed over received healing from the asthma that she was suffering from. After that she received Jesus as her savior. Another woman, Jhatika an Indo-Fijian, that was prayed over was in the hospital for drinking a whole bottle of weed killer trying to commit suicide. She was experiencing a lot of hardship at home with her family, and couldn't take it any more. Uate lead her through renouncing the Hinduism in her life, and lead her to Jesus as her Lord and King. She also forgave her family for what they had done to her. She also forgave her one child who had died.

Dan, Bill, Joshua and Nathaniel went through town on the prayer walk. We had the opportunity to pray over a young Indo brother and sister who were looking for rent money that was due. We also ran into the DTS team, and had a great time ministering to them and lifting their spirits. They were especially excited to see Josh and Nathaniel.

Frank went to visit an orphanage right down the road from the hotel. He spent some time there praying over the staff and talking with the children. He fell in love with about a half dozen of them. From there he visited a local village and talked with the people there. On his way home he had the opportunity to talk with a man for just a few minutes while waiting for the bus. The man told Frank that he must have been “sent” because the man was so lonely.

Denise, Micaiah, Israel and Isaiah stayed behind at the hotel. Israel and Isaiah were not feeling well, hopefully just a little jet lag.

Friday night we surprised the DTS and met them at the airport and said goodbye to them for a while. They are going to Samoa for about three weeks. They were excited again to see us all. We got a chance to pray over them and send them off. Also Friday night Caleb D. had the opportunity to go to Uate's youth group. The theme of that night was that the people are seeking God's hands and not His face, meaning that we are all looking for the things that God provides for us, but not the greater blessing of truly knowing Him.

It has been and amazing time already, and we look forward to more amazing things that God is going to do through us.

Originally posted Thursday, November 26, 2009 on Outreach Blog

Bula, bula, bula! (Hello, hello, hello) We made it to Fiji!! After a pretty uneventful, but long, day of travel we arrived at Nadi (pronounced Nandi) airport. The trip through customs was easy. The people here are so incredibly friendly. They are easy to talk to and eager to hear about you and where you're from. Our CDTS group is made up of 15 people, and at least one gecko, who is living in our room with us. The Derushas are Frank and Denise and their five children Caleb, Tavita, Micaiah, Israel, and Isaiah. They are from Arizona. The Munfradas are Chick and Lynda, they are from Colorado. Bill Cheney is from California. The Oosterhouses are Dan and Robin and their three boys, Caleb, Joshua and Nathaniel. They are from Michigan. We are still in the process of getting settled and accustomed to the time change. One of the Derusha kids was up at 3:30 this morning, he was still on California time. All of the kids are doing great they are loving the pool that is at the hotel. It's a great way for them to expend all the extra energy that has been built up after a 10 1/2 hour flight from L.A. We already had a meeting with Pastor Mike, one of the pastors that we will be working with in Lautoka. He gave us some insight into some specific areas that we can minister too. One of the areas he spoke about was the area of relationships, both in the church and in families. He was glad that our team was composed of couples both with and without kids. He said that we would be examples to the people of good relationships. Pastor Mike also explained to us about how the tourism trade in Fiji has caused the Fijian people to have preconceived notions about western people. They assume that all Americans are Christians. When they see Americans doing wrong things, they see it as Christians doing them,and they have a hard time believing that Christians can do such things. That is also true between the Indo-Fijians and the Fijians. Most of the Indos are Hindu, but they see all of the Fijians as being Christians, even the thieves and such. Why would they want to become a Christian if that is what Christians are doing? One of the most important things that Pastor Mike said, was that the people are sick of hearing about Jesus, they need to see Jesus. We have to give them a positive view of Christianity. One of our speakers, Dean Sherman, said that we need to show people the treasure we are, so that they will want to sell their fields (religion) and buy ours. Matthew 13:44 says: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field" We have to show the people around us that we are not like the world. We have been set apart by God as His treasure. If the world doesn't see us as any different, we have a problem. We hope that we can be a light to the people of Fiji, and that we can show them the treasure that God has made us.

Outreach

We are currently in our outreach portion of our training. To follow our team go to our blog - outreachfiji.blogspot.com

Thanks

Week 4

Somewhere along the way I accidentally deleted my week 4 summary that I was working on. So I will try it again.

Week 4 we had Joe Ferrante teaching on The Father Heart of God. Many people have no idea that the God loves us. We have an intellectual knowledge of it, but that's as far as it goes. We tend to believe two lies: 1. God is not good, and 2. I am not good enough for God to love me. Satan uses a pattern to condemn us, but God counter-acts Satan's deception.

Satan uses doubt, confusion, fear, despair, and isolation. God counters with truth, clarity, confidence, hope, and intimacy.

If we are going to have intimacy with God, we have to let go of one question: Why? It's OK to ask the question, but we need to be content about not receiving an answer.

Satan knows how powerful forgiveness is, that's why he works so hard against it. Forgiveness needs to be a lifestyle. We are unable to do it in our own strength.Forgiveness shakes the very foundations of hell.

This is just a brief summary of week 4. Joe was a great speaker and such a gentle and loving person.

Week 5

Week 5 we had Jim May teaching us. The topic of his teaching was "With Him". God wants us to do everything with Him. It's as if God says "Hey, I'm going for a walk, you want to come? It's amazing to me just how many Christian books are man centered. Why isn't God the center? We need to realign our center to match His.

Below are 11 passages on why we are to meditate on The Word. I would like you to comment on the reasons given in the passages.

1. Joshua 1:8
2. Psalm 1:1-3
3. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
4. John 8:31-32
5. John 15:17
6. Psalm 119:11
7. Romans 10:17
8. Matthew 24:35
9. Hebrews 4:12
10. Psalm 119:98-99
11. Psalm 81:13-14

I hope as you read through these passages that you will see the value in diving in and devouring The Word.

What's happening in Chico

Here's a real life update finally. We only have 3 weeks left of our lecture phase of CDTS. I can't believe how incredibly fast it has gone and don't want it to be over yet! The teachers have been fantastic, most have been teaching around the world for decades. We still love being here. It's even more beautiful now, we've had some rain to bring out new grass on the mountains and the trees are gorgeous. The temps are still in the high 60's and 70's during the day so it feels like summer to us but with the shorter days and red trees it looks like fall...how confusing! The kids are still loving school and life here. I think they would be happy to stay here forever.

There's been a change with our outreach due to flight availability. We leave on Sunday, Nov 22 for Fiji and couldn't get a flight back until Tues, Jan 12. Because of this we won't be able to minister to homeless people in San Fransisco. That's disappointing but it gives us more time to work with people in Fiji. We still need $3,800 for our outreach expenses, this includes airfare plus transportation, lodging and most meals in Fiji. We'll be staying at the Sandalwood Inn in a town called Nadi which is near the airport and the coast. We've heard the beach there is muddy but hopefully it's not too gross. Since we'll be there in their summer it'll be 80-90 degrees in Fiji with high humidity. Sound good? Another thing, women AND MEN should wear skirts in some areas (like villages). They are called sulus and we'll have to buy some when we get there.

We still plan to drive to the YWAM base in Creel, Mexico to visit when we are done here. As much as we love this place and the people here, our hearts are still for the people of Mexico. Please keep us in your prayers during these last weeks of teaching and preparation. Please pray that our finances come in (as well as our team's finances) and pray for wisdom and we prepare puppet shows, dramas and songs for outreach. We so appreciate all the prayers, words of encouragement and financial support that you've sent our way. Praise God!