The Clear Waters

Man what a day! God is so awesome and I absolutely love His creation. This week has been packed full of training and preparing for an upcoming EE clinic so today we were blessed with the opportunity to relax. A cruise was waiting for us early this morning to take us to Mana Island Resort and Spa. We sat on the top of the ship and took in the wind and the waves with lots of picture taking. There were tons of islands on the way to ours and Castaway Island was one of them, which was really cool. Once on Mana, we were given free reign to do whatever we wanted from snorkeling to jet skiing to riding on a glass bottom boat. It just amazes me that 45 minutes away from the city of Nadi is a gorgeous resort with white sand and clear salt water beaches. The whole day I was just thanking God and so in awe that I get to experience such beautiful scenery. It was truly a day full of relaxation and enjoying each others company. We ate well, we talked, laughed, swam a lot and saw tons of fishes. God is so great! I would never have thought in years that I would have been in Fiji on an island with people from all over the world.

I feel like this entry deserves pictures more than words so please enjoy the photos.

-Charlene

 

ooohhhh yeahh!! and Happy Birthday Jen, We love you!!

 

 

“What you did for one of the least of these, you did it for me”

 “What you did for one of the least of these, you did it for me”

Today we went to the village to paint the house of the family that live in very poor conditions. There was only one bed in the whole house and no other furniture. There is no welfare in Fiji for single mothers, so this 34 y/o woman is raising her three children alone.

As soon as we came the work began: some washed the curtains and the walls, some fixed the ceiling, and others painted the walls.

By lunch time the work was done !!!

Before leaving I came to the mother to say good bye and she said how grateful she was that we all came and helped do all the work in her house. She said, she never thought something like that could ever happen. 

That brought a verse to my mind from Math 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

God wants us to express His love through works. “What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17).

When I asked her if there is anything I can pray for her, she asked to pray that she could find a job to provide for her children. It is not easy to find a job in the village especially for people with no university education. But there is nothing impossible with our BIG God who is able to do exceedingly abundantly more that we ask or think (Eph 3:20).

We went to have lunch at the church and then we see this wonderful woman coming with her sister carrying food that they cooked for us to say thank you for what we have done in her house. What a blessing it was and we had  a surprise for her too. We found out that her birthday is coming in 3 days and we had a gift for her and some school supplies for her children. What a day of joy it was!!!

Our next destination was another village where we went to visit families to share the gospel. Many of us ended up visiting Fijian-Indian families who normally believe in Hinduism but many of us returned with wonderful stories of leading them to Christ. However, others had an opportunity to share the gospel without leading them to Christ due to the lack of time or language barrier since not all of them could speak fluent English or Fijian. 

The good news is that the seed was sown and our prayer is that God will send his laborers to continue the work that He has began in their hearts. 

“I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” (1 Cor. 3:6). We did our part and God will be faithful to accomplish His work in His timing.

- Olya Cherevko

                                              Hello everyone!! :)



                  After 3 blessed weeks in this country , Fiji and also in Vanuatu ( Pacific countries ) and many beautiful moments with His children here , I feel like I'm in Paradise , they don't lie when they have on water bottle that Fiji is like " a taste of Paradise"!!!
           Today was a day off .
 Some of us went in capital Suva, in other town Lautoca , a few were to relax at the Hot Springs after hiking a mountain , and 2-3 of us stayed home to rest. Sooo today was a relaxing day , a day which  prepared us for another clinic which is very soon to come.
        In this weekend we were in village where we had a great time with that awesome people from the church. We arrived there Friday mid-day and we had in the evening a meeting with teenagers and all the children of God who came from another village , a haf an hour to came to church . We had a very wonderfull time ,we shared some testimonies, songs, dances , all to worship Him :)!
 I remember when we started but not when we finished :)))... How Pastor Nakiti said : " Fiji time " ! ( i didn't realise how fast time flied because it was an amazing time).

There we met so many nice people and after the service we had time to know each other.
        The next day we woke up early because we went to paint the church ...the first time in my life when I painted ;)) so was cool and after we finished the church, it looked  very colorfull and nice . I will put a photo and you will see if we did a good job ;)).

Here I will tell you a story : I was reading out loud something from the Bible , my favorite chapter , 1 Corintens 13  which is about charity and the pastor from that church heard me and called me to say about spiritual sandwhich :)) . When I heard i started to laugh because for me was funny..after 2 minutes when i stopped , the pastor explained to me the story about spiritual sandwich , do you me want to tell you ??
 ...If the answer is yes , i will :p .

He told me : you know that chapter 12 and 14 are about spiritual gifts and are very deep described? he also ask me if i know what is in the middle of this bread ? and the answer is chapter 13 which is about charity, love. My favorite verse : " If  I have  the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge m and if I have a faith that can move mountains , but have not love, I am nothing" and very knowd vers is " And now these three remain : faith , hope  and love. But the greatest of these is love" . So the ideea is if you have all the qualities in this world , all the abilities ,skilles and if you don't have love is in the vane. This is a good though to remain in our minds.
       Sunday we had a service and was also great , were testimony ,songs ,dances and all for Him ! One of us left and we had a metting to pray for her and to say thoughts about her beautiful soul which she has. Was very hard to say good-bye but sometimes life is not so easy ...
    Soo..this is a short rezumat about this weekend , i need to say something about me ...
   I'm from Romania and I'm 18 and God change 360 degrees my life and i just want to say that I encoured you if you have this opportunity to come in one of this intership that it's the best chooise of your life :).
   GOD bless you all ! In chineese : Shandy ciu-fu-ni ( this is how it's sounds :))) ) !  



                                                                                                                          Daragiu Ana
       



               

Being a fisher of men

Hello this is Mesek from Vanuatu! (helping me write my post today is Sarah)

Today we had lots of time in prayer groups. Pastor Nakiti shared the morning devotion, and it encouraged me to take the role seriously of being a fisher of men. Last week the clinic in Pango village opened my spiritual eyes and helped me to share my faith. And today I understood more the importance of witnessing. Maba also shared about village life in Fiji which was interesting, and Sarah taught us a bit of Fijian language such as "vinaka vaka levu" which means thank you very much.

During our reflection of today's Called and Accountable unit, I was challenged by many things. I really like what it said about when God calls us to Himself through salvation He also calls us on a mission to with Him to share the Gospel.

This afternoon the president of EE International spoke to us. He had great stories to share about his testimony of coming to know Jesus through EE and how EE has impacted his life and others. It was surprising and moving to hear his stories of going out on OJT and seeing God move in powerful ways.

I will conclude with this Bible passage 2 Timothy 4:6-8 which we discussed today.
"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to be but also to al who have loved his appearing."

Tank yu tu mas! God i blessem yu! (Thank you and God bless in Bislama)
Mesek

Hooray for Tuesday!

What an awesome day to get back into routine!! We spent the morning in quiet time, Called and Accountable, prayer triplets, and with a devotion from Psalm 40. During the day, we continued on with XEE study, chatting through how we can develop good relationships through connecting well with people.  I was really challenged by how we can really love people well by asking good, helpful questions, but genuinely caring about them and where they are at, and of course, by a willingness to share the good news with them (I say 'of course', but why does it seem so difficult, when truly loving is sharing the hope we have in Christ!!).  We worked through John 10 and had a helpful discussion about what 'life to the full' is and how relationship with God through Jesus is the only thing that brings fulfilment in life.  I really really love and enjoy the time we spent in Scripture over the last two days.  It's such a blessing to sit around our table looking at the passage together and being challenged by the truth in Scripture.

In the afternoon, we hit the town for some OJT.  We went out in twos and threes to go and connect with people in Nadi Town.  Now, imagine how you would feel...perhaps nervous and unsure about what is ahead - will you meet anyone? will you know what to say? will they respond positively? ...now imagine if you've spent time learning how to connect with people, how to ask good questions, to move the conversation into a chance to share the gospel...now imagine that you've spent time praying and praying that God will open up opportunities for you to love people, and that he might save people in Nadi Town.  Now imagine how you would feel?  

This is how we felt on the drive to town:

Excited!?!

My OJT team had a chance to connect with an Indian man we met a few weeks ago.  His face just lit up when he saw us approach his shop.  He introduced us to his two daughters and invited us back to talk some more with him another time!  We met an elderly couple outside the supermarket who invited us to visit their shop and meet with them again and talk some more.  We also met two Christian ladies who blessed us and encouraged us and gave us generous gifts.  It was great to connect with them!

And here's how we felt afterwards!

I love the conversations over dinner as we share in the way God was working in our time on OJT.  As always, I'm amazed by how intimately involved our good God is and how we get to witness Him at work in the lives of Fijian people and ourselves.  Keep praying that we might take full confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit as He draws men and women and children to Himself, and how he speaks to us through Scripture!

Sneaky Adventures:

- When Amberly came from America to join our team and help us out!

- When we got to move loads of rubbish to the tip...my biceps were wrecked!

- A sneaky Beiber dance to wake us up in the middle of the afternoon!

So happy to be here,

Love Joy

The day we all needed!

So we finally arrived back in Fiji and it was so amazing to be home!!

We had a quiet morning where we could spend extra time sleeping in, enjoying quiet time, catching up on study and having a slower morning.  After such a busy week, it was so refreshing to catch up on reflection and journaling and enjoy the quietness!

We spent most of the day learning XEE with a particular focus on connecting with people.  We formed new groups to practice facilitating discussion and working in small groups.  It was challenging to think through John 4 and the helpful ways Jesus connected with people.  We enjoyed some good discussion about being intentional about opportunities to share the gospel with people in our lives.  What a challenging thought - that we might actually take the opportunities we are afforded and be intentional about our relationships!!

We spent the evening continuing discussions, relaxing and some of us watched a movie!  We had a sneaky icecream, and many had an early night!  Today was a good day!

Love Dan!

God's plans are better than ours

Another week has passed by, it was such a great week!
As we experienced new things and cultures, met new people, made new friendships and strengthened the ones we already had. 
We are back in Fiji now, and even though we miss the Victory team and the beautiful land of Vanuatu, we couldn't be happier to be here, in our home away from home.
We missed pastor Nakiti, Ima, Nerylee and Brian, who warmly welcomed us at the airport.

The last couple of days were a real adventure.
We learned that we cannot function after our time because here everything works after the island time, and even that can be completely turned around by God's time.
We were supposed to arrive in Fiji yesterday, but as soon as we got to the airport and checked-in, we found out our flight had a 10 hour delay.
We were compensated by having a wonderful time at the Holiday Inn resort in Port Villa.
I believe everything happens for a reason, and this is not just a coincidence.

On this occasion some of us engaged into different conversations with people from the airport and the resort, and even got the opportunity to share the gospel with some of them.
When we returned to the airport at 8 pm we were told that the flight was cancelled. Once again we were sent to a hotel where we were to spend the night.

At first we didn't understand why this happened, and we were anxious to get home, and not that pleased with the fact that we were going to wake up at 7 am for church, but now that I have seen the whole picture, I am actually glad our flight was cancelled.
We had such a wonderful time at church today !!!
We experienced God in a different way, as we got to worship in a vanuatuan church in a different way then some if us were used to.
Unfortunately we got a call from the airport saying that we needn't to head back, so we rushed to the hotel to grab our stuff.
The good part was that we had enough time to remember what God did for us and about His everlasting love, through the Lord's supper.

Once we head back to the airport we had the chance to share the gospel a little more, as we shared our lunch with some of the many people who were also waiting.
In God everything happens for a reason, and though some times we only have some puzzle pieces, once we put them together, and we see the bigger picture, only then our eyes truly open.
If the flight wasn't cancelled all of those people wouldn't have has the chance to repent or be reassured about God's great love for them.

I thank God for everything that happened the last couple of days, and that His plans are so much greater than ours, and His time is much more accurate that our time!
God bless you all!

"People might plan what they want to say, but it is the Lord who gives them the right words.
People think that whatever they do is right, but the Lord judges their reason for doing it.
Turn to the Lord for help in everything you do, and you will be successful." Proverbs 6:1-3

- Adina (Rumania) and Cristian (Mexico)