New Chapters

"So this is what time travel feels like..." Charlene pondered this afternoon, as we had flown out of Fiji and landed in America at an earlier time than we had left. 
How do I sum up this trip? It has been some of the best days and the worst of my entire life. I built some amazing relationships, and met some of the best, most wonderful, genuine Christian brothers and sisters that challenged me in my walk with God, and set the bar so high! Wow. 

so what will I miss the most about being here? Well, the music is one. There are so many musical people here, Dan, Gideon, Cheryl, Nathan, Sabrina! The list goes on. There was always wonderful music echoing throughout the center. 

Along those same lines, the morning song! The "morning song" is an event, in which around 7:00 every morning, Langdon would find a special song and blast it loudly through the speakers to wake up everyone in the house (and probably all the neighbors!) That were still asleep. It always made me smile!

And what about the weird conversations? We did talk about anything and everything, but there is 2 conversations that we would have repeatedly, a) the conditions of our bowel movements and b) how much Garrett and Neil Patrick Harris look alike. 

We also learned to do the authentic Fijian mecca, which was this super cool island dance. It was so much fun to do!!

Well, weird things do happen here, that we'll probably never forget, or talk about again!

But, in all seriousness. We did get to do amazing things while we were here. We got to run a clinic in Latoka, spend a weekend at a legit Fijian village, spend a week in Vanuatu, visit 3 different beaches, snorkel, swim down a waterfall, (what?) learn the different EE methods, paint a church, run a youth rally, become friends with locals, share the gospel, teach, dance, eat exciting food, go to the Hindi temple, the list goes on. 

It was such a blessing to be able to be exposed to so much of the exciting culture of both Fiji, and Vanuatu, meet and share with so many different type of people, as well as just be able to experience a handful of different types of cultures right inside of our own center.

Seeing people grow right  before our eyes, find out more about themselves and God, and transform was amazing. Seeing God work in tangible ways like through prayer was so incredible and built my faith so much. I was so encouraged by the prayer groups, and devotions and studies led by interns. 

Leaving yesterday was so hard! I will miss all of these amazing men and women so dearly! The group just wouldn't have been the same without each and every one of them contributing their unique personality right where it fitted. I pray that we all meet again very soon. Until then, everyone will be so in my prayers, and I am so excited to see how God will use us all in his kingdom.

What's next? I don't know! I close this chapter of the internship saying that I was so blessed by everyone on this trip, even in the little ways, through their good attitudes, encouragement, quirkiness, zeal for God, exhortation. Some people have clear direction from God on where he is taking them in their lives, and others are just willing to wait on him. I have been so blessed to have had this six weeks of just people pouring into me, our great leaders, Langdon, Sarah and Maba, Nakiti and Ima, John, Rod, and all the rest, and the oppurtunities they put together for us were so amazing! I look forward to soon hearing stories about God's work in and through us because of this short time that we all had here in Fiji together.

In  Him, 

Hannah Eileen Dolence

Portland, Oregon

So blessed.

As I'm sure we all will say in the next few blogs to come, I cant even begin to believe that our time in Fiji is drawing to a close. I just wanted to share a snippet of the exciting week we had last week, and the amazing week it looks like we are going to have this week! Last week, we ran a clinic in the city of Latouka. It was a great experience, since we interns did almost all of the teaching, dramas, demonstrations, and were the leaders of the On the Job Training. It was such a fun, exciting experience to be a part of, and it also was amazing as well to see the other interns teach, lead worship and devotions and sessions. It was also good for all of us to practically put to use the tools that we have been learning these past 5 weeks!
My favorite memory of the week was of a teenage boy that my OJT team had the privilege of leading to Christ on Monday. His name was Sisa, and he came to the training on Tuesday, and on Wednesday went on OJT and led his 4 friends to Christ. It was truly an amazing and encouraging experience to see the spiritual change take place in him, and also be there while he learned EE! I was so blessed to be able to be a part of it.
This upcoming week Nello Barberi has come in to teach us about Bible Overview, Missions Theology, God's Calling, and Church Leadership. Today we hurried through an overview of the whole Bible in about 3 hours! Im so excited to dive more deeply into it,  I think this is going to be a super fascinating, informative and fun last week for us all. 

Nello Barberi on Theology: "We are studying a living, active God. Studying theology should always drive us to missions and to worship."

Hannah Dolence

Your faith is all it takes

This week is our last in Fiji.

When I think back to the beginning, I remember seeing a group of people from 10 different countries coming together, not knowing everyone we were to spend the next 6 weeks with and all asking the same question- ‘What does God want to do in my life.’

The team I look at now, five weeks later is very different. We have grown in so many ways. Grown in God, grown as a group and grown in ourselves. Some have been given their next step, some the end vision and others are still waiting. But even if we can’t see the next thing God is leading us to; we can stand confident in the fact that He has it under control and all we have to do is keep our focus on Him.

‘…Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!’ Matthew 14:29-30

When Peter took his focus off Jesus, he wasn’t doing too well. Distractions come in our lives, and have come while we have been in Fiji, and it is a constant battle I personally find myself in; do I let the distractions take over, or do I keep my eyes firmly fixed on Him? I would love to say I keep my focus.

Today is Sunday, so of course we went to church. The group was split for the service and altogether we visited five different churches. Some familiar and some not so familiar. Dave had the privilege to preach at one church, and from what he and the people who were there to support him say it went well.

In this last week we have a speaker from Australia who has come to share some theological topics with us. I had the privilege to speak and get to know him a little today. I am a person of many questions, and I was so thankful that he was willing to sit and answer some of them. It is always so encouraging to have people who are willing to take time out of their day.

This evening we were able to meet Jing’s parents and hear a little about what they do and what is happening in China. Listening to what they had to say made me so thankful to be living in a country where being a Christian is oppressed but still have free will to their faith. Not persecuted to the point that people want to take their life because it’s an easier way to go than the hurt and humility they face. It made me feel more strongly about the gospel being taken, to not just China, but also every country in the world. People need to know the good news about God, but there has to be someone to tell the world. God has called everyone to do his work, the question is; are we willing to obey him, and go wherever he sends us? Or are we happy to sit back and worry about our own salvation?

Time flies so fast! It's the last day of our clinic in church in Lautoka today. After the devotion together we were ready to go out for out last OJT (On-the-Job Training) here in Lautoka. We were all very excited and anxious to see the Lord working among us in this city. When we came back from the OJT, all the groups shared their stories. We gave glory to God!
After that, we had our last teaching session, discipling, which is taught by Jennifer. We learned the 7 significant aspects in descipling. Jennifer explained every point in detail and was easy to understand and remember.
After lunch was the exam time. All the trainees sat together with their trainer to go through all the points that have been taught during this week. It took quite a while but all of them have done a great job and received a certification. We were all thrilled and took lots of pictures in the end!
On the way back to the center from Lautoka, we got to spend some time in Nadi town to just hang out or buy some stuff. It was a good relaxing time for us after the clinic week.
Today in the evening the girls get together to have a "girl night" while the boys get together to watch a movie. It's the first time we do something like that.
Now we all look forward to the weekend:)!

- Jing Wang

Our day yesterday

I can't believe we only have 10 days left!

5 weeks ago we were all here without knowing each other, 28 people from different corners of the world, all coming together as one, for one purpose, to seek God and with a deep desire and hunger for our limitless Father! 

We built so many friendships and we have learned so many great things about the people around us and also about ourselves- but most importantly about the unparalleled God we serve. 

We also learned a lot about the Gospel and about how to share it better while we had a clinic in Lautoka ! 

For the last 5 weeks we learned so many things about how to share more efficiently and now it is our turn to bear fruit and teach others.

We all expressed our excitement for this experience of helping others learn how to share the Gospel through our dramas and demos.

 We started our day with some great worship lead by Kitione and an inspiring devotional held by Nathan. After our teaching sessions we all went on OJT for around 2 hours! It is so wonderful meeting back up at the church and sharing with each other about our experiences! We all have some great stories to tell.

The God we serve is so wonderful and mighty!

We can see it just by watching the most amazing sunsets every night!

Never the same but always breath-taking...

For dinner, Brian cooked a delicious lasagna for us! We are getting fatter every day! I bet our moms and grandmoms will be thrilled!

After that we had some birthday cake with ice cream as we sang happy  birthday to Lucy who is such a great blessing for us by serving in the kitchen! 

"Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind."

-Philippians 2:2  

 

-Adina

Praise God for Sundays! This morning we all went together to an international church. People from all different nations gathered together in one place to glorify Him…nothing better!

Before the preaching, Cristian and Jing had an opportunity to give a short testimony. This was such an encouragement to everyone! The pastor then spoke on discernment and the importance of fasting. After the service finished we talked with the local church members and ate some Roti together.

After church we all went to get lunch and then came back to the center for quiet time with the Lord. We are all trying to seek God and prepare for the week ahead of us. We are putting on a clinic starting tomorrow so we know that first we must rest in Him and get our hearts in the right place. We did this tonight by team worship and adoration prayer. We also listened to a lesson about taking responsibility for our actions by Andy Stanley.

So today was a day of worship, preparation, and rest.

For me, this internship has clarified my purpose in life: know God and make Him known. Up until now I only really cared about the first part of that. The Lord is showing me how important it is to make Him known to others. I know God. I know the creator of the universe. I have someone who will never leave me or not want me. Share that! On this trip is the first time that I have ever shared the whole gospel with someone and it gave me so much joy. I felt fulfilled. In 1 Peter 2: 18-19 it says:

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”

Before God, I had such an empty way of life. Once God opened my heart to know Him, my way of life changed. God redeemed me from that empty life. By Jesus’s death he saved us from emptiness so we could have life to the full. He knew the value of an abundant life! He filled me with joy, purpose, and peace instead. We all have such a great purpose in God. Come to Him and find out for yourself! 

Alex Geesey with Adina Baciu as co-pilot

U.S.A and Romania

Me, Adina, and Hannah while waiting for our ride back home

 Cristian sharing his testimony

Langdon introducing our team

Fiji's Version of Sledding

After an eventful group excursion to the beautiful island of Mana yesterday, where we were able to engage in all types of exciting activities, we were given today as a free day! We had the option to do whatever we wanted as long as we could come up with a group to venture off with!

My group decided to embark on a trip to the Sigatoka sand dunes a little over an hour away. After a quick breakfast, the ten of us piled in a van and left for the adventure! We arrived in a little less than an hour because of how fast our driver was going. We rented three boogie boards to slide down the dunes on and headed for the sand! We were amazed at how steep and vast the dunes were and even more astounded to discover the majestic ocean just over the top of them. We knew the ocean was nearby but had no idea it was running right up into the dunes. It was definitely a glorious sight. One of the most breathtaking things I've seen... Right up there with Mana Island yesterday and Cascade Falls in Vanuatu. :)

We wandered around a little and found a perfect "slope" to slide down. We spent some time gliding down in all sorts of creative fashions and then darted towards the ocean! None of us really brought swimsuits or came prepared to swim, but we all ended up jumping in. The vertical waves and uniquely crafted scenery were all too enticing for us to take the plunge.

After a little while of swimming, boogie boarding, and shell collecting, we walked back over and down the dunes to return our boards and meet our van. We arrived back in a shocking 40 minutes or so, due to the fact that our driver was going nearly twice the speed limit. We had to ask him to slow down multiple times! Luckily we made it back in one piece though. A couple of us chose to eat a late lunch, shower and relax the rest of the day, but others had the desire to venture into town and visit the Hindu temple. Hinduism is a very prominent religion on the island, and these interns had a heart for these men and women and wanted to find out a little bit more about them and maybe chat with some of them and possibly share the good news. They all seemed to have enjoyed their experience and have seen Hinduism from a new angle. 

Others used this day as a time to stay back and relax. Some went to Lautoka Town which is where we'll be holding our E.E. clinic this week! We ended our day with a delicious lamb dinner cooked by our very own Bryan Deans! It was superb. 

A group also ventured off to a local carnival afterwards  in which they road rides, had cotton candy, had barbecue and bargained with some vendors!

Such a fun and successful day!!

But that's all for today!! Thank you all so much for reading!!

Sincerely, 
Neely Roessler - Tucson, AZ U.S.A.