Sunday, March 13, 2011

Back from Fiji!
Just wanted to give an update on my trip to Fiji, some highlights, some photos.... So, I was in Fiji for two weeks, there is a school being pioneered there with University of the Nations called Bible Core Course, a similar school to the SBS I teach in Kona, and I was teaching the gospel of Mark and introduction to the gospels for their school. Here are some pictures of what I was up to while I was there.

walking onto the base, seeing some of the campus staff and student housing

Beginning classes with a talk on the cost of discipleship

The classroom for the Biblical Core Course


The class was mostly Fijian students, with one student from Papua New Guinea. Several of the staff for the school are staff at the YWAM base in Honolulu, who are spending the quarter down in Fiji. Two of the staff are from Fiji, and it was awesome to spend time with them and hear their dreams of starting new schools in Papua New Gunea, Fiji and other of the Pacific islands.

Staff and students at the Fiji YWAM Base

The welcome sign from the road through town

Beginning a new class

Jump-starting the YWAM vehicle

The bridge to the base in a thunderstorm

English club: a ministry of the Fiji staff to students at a local school

Birthday blessings for one of the BCC students.

My flight from Fiji back to Kona was canceled because of the tsunami, so I spent my bush taxi ride back to the YWAM Fiji base feeling sorry for myself, frustrated and a little resentful towards God for the Tsunami canceling my flight. As I was feeling this, The Lord began to put things in perspective for me in regards to my situation, and the lives of others forever changed by the earthquake and flood in Japan.
So over my next day and a half of travel, heeding the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I used my time to pray for those in Japan living through a terrible natural disaster. I found that as I focused my heart and prayers towards that nation, God was simultaneously taking care of my travel "issues" and providing for me each step of the way, and I arrived in Kona thankful for the lessons He's taught me through this time, as well as the chance for me to be part of His response to the tragedy in Japan through prayer.
Japan's needs are far from over however. Anyone who has seen the news and some of the video of the Tsunami begins to grasp the magnitude of the devastation and I hope you will join me in continuing to pray for the people living through far worse than the inconvenience of a few canceled flights. .