Destined to Shine: Woah, I'm an illegal alien, I'm an Australian in Fiji...

Bula Lovely Supporters! A thousand apologies for being so tardy in my updating but I hope you have enjoyed my photos. We lost internet connection briefly this week so I wrote a lengthy blogpost on my iPad at the school, but unfortunately my iPad failed to save the draft, so I lost it! So I will endeavour to update you as well as I can for the last couple of weeks.

School started back this week and the theme for Basden College this year is '"The year of breakthrough". God truly stuck to the theme when finally the two containers arrived on Tuesday for the classrooms and also the goods were released from the shipping containers of supplies for the school. So Lenore & I have had a very hot, sticky week with no air con, unpacking boxes and inventorying all the supplies for the teachers. You'd think after four weeks of being here I would be used to it...but I really do miss the cool change in the evenings. It was 32 today (as it is pretty much everyday...at least it's consistent!) and currently it's 25 and climbing (11pm) & 100% humidity. We're due for some rain tomorrow, so that might make it a bit cooler.

There hasn't been much breakthrough with our visas. We're still illegal immigrants, but at least we only had to make a few trips to immigration this week, and now we have a direct contact person we can call. They currently have our passports, and apparently will stamp them and we will be able to collect them on Monday morning...trusting God with it & refusing to stress about it anymore!

Growing with God:

Well I'm pleased to report that God is definitely here with me in Fiji! Although it hasn't been the healing, delivering, raising the dead trip yet, that I was hoping & dreaming of, he certainly has been doing a lot!
He gave me a double rainbow in the first week I was here, with the promise in my heart;

"Surely I am with you always to the end of the Age."

Then last Sunday (the 19th) I took a day off, even though another team member wanted me to go to the school and clean. I knew I needed a sabbath and to find "My Rock", a special place where I could go meet with Jesus. I knew it would be a huge week with school starting back and I wasn't going to do it with empty batteries or I'd be a total cranky pants! I braved the hot Fiji sun and walked and walked...but I found the water and it was cooler there because of the breeze from the water, and there was a tiny little rock to sit on next to the filth. Fiji beaches are "disgusting"!!! (Teri's favourite word) I sat and rested and left completely recharged! It's taken me 34 years to finally work out how to recharge my batteries, but thank God he does it and it's wonderful!!!

Wednesday (the 15th) we were housebound due to Teri writing her book and us waiting on immigration. So I spent the whole day looking up songs and worshipping God on my ukelele. Since doing that, I noticed that the people who kept partying out the back and drinking grog seem to have stopped dramatically and other houses around the neighbourhood have started worshipping regularly, playing guitars and singing and playing hillsong cds. It only takes a spark to get a fire going!

Now that school is back I have started praying for the students. It is quite strange to me, to see kids come in with economic and spiritual problems and to see the principal so dutifully meet these needs by providing exercise books or praying for the children. He is now able to delegate praying to Lenore and I and use the donated container books, rather than paying from his already depleted pocket.

Since coming to Fiji, God has really awakened my spiritual ability to see. I have been having many dreams at night. God has been showing me many things about what is going on spiritually for Fiji, some of which is very dark, but many of tomorrow's breakthroughs were won during a night's slumber.
We also had a prayer meeting and I saw King Jesus enthroned and he set his footstool upon Fiji and the people worshipped him and served him and washed his feet. When I shared this picture it really encouraged the group, because satanism is so prevalent and apparent here.
Even tonight God gave me a word of knowledge for someone without me knowing it, and the person said; Why? How? What did you see? I told the person I hadn't seen anything, and I didn't know, but God knew and he revealed it.
So all of that is pretty exciting for me and I pray God continues to grow and develop both my giftings and my character that he may continue to use me as his servant!

Prayer Requests:

Health: I'm much, much better than I have been & I am really lucky, no tummy troubles...my only issue is still with my throat, as it gets sore every evening and flares up some mornings - please pray God 100% heals my throat.

Purpose: I am still looking for my life purpose and asking God why he has sent me here and what he wants me to accomplish here - please pray that God will continue to speak to me clearly whatever is in his heart for me at this time.

Team Spirit and Attitude: All the dramas with immigration and containers has tested the team...and in the preparation of this trip, another team member and I, were told many things that weren't true. We have also been verbally bullied into doing things that were perhaps unneccessary and out of our calling, or bullied into not doing things that perhaps God is calling us to. This has caused a fair degree of tension among the team and also a sense of mistrust. - please pray that God will show each one of us our calling or roles, and that we will trust him enough to release one another to confidently and courageously do the things he individually wants us to do. And please pray that we will love one another and grow in ever increasing kindness towards one another.

The view opposite customs house.

Friday the 10th: Another day of running around from immigration, to customs. I caught a few pretty shots when I could.

Opposite Customs House. A typical Fiji beach...

Completely littered with filth.

The other direction.

Inside Westpac Bank.

They needed Teri to get to the bank on a Friday afternoon to pay the construction workers so they would continue working on the weekend. So Mika and Wade waited inside Westpac so they couldn't close, while we flew in an amazing taxi across town to get there!

Saturday 11th: We washed and anointed the Sunday School Teachers at their annual retreat in preparation for their new year of service.

Foot washing ceremony.

Sunday the 12th: Mika spoke at the church in the poor area of Newtown and invited us to join him. When I saw the church I was overcome with grief from the Holy Spirit as it was half in ruins and held up by sticks. Mika explained that the same corrupt manager who had been the head of Basden (and appropriating funds from there) was also the treasurer for the church and had taken the money the people had raised to restore the church.

Held up by sticks. The verandah at the entrance of the church is blocked off to stop people falling off the unfinished verandah.

The front of the church looks fine. The back has no walls and is in ruins.

The people were lovely and friendly and provided a most amazing supper of fruits and delicious cakes.

The boys serenaded us and played us a farewell song before we could leave.

We rushed home (by this time it was after 9pm) because Mika's family had invited themselves earlier in the week to our house for dinner as a house warming party. It was far too soon and we still had no furniture or utensils, but they brought all the food! Mika's daughter Ruth cooked us an amazing banquet, but I was too full after eating the sweet cakes at supper. We made a fruit salad (which failed to impress) but the 5L carton of Tucker's ice cream brought a smile to everyone and the entire box got demolished!!!

Our house warming party.

Ruth in red.

Dalo (Taro)

I have been cooking some very unusual things here... left over Dalo from the party got chopped up and transformed into chippies! I prefer cassava chips as dalo makes my belly pop out like a pregnant woman! (...weird)

transforms into dalo chips! Although I prefer Cassava chips!

The beautiful Hannah.

The handsome Mikaele.

Lenore's healing hands have been put to good use. The school board meeting at Mika's house turned into a massage session. Many of the Fijians have terrible backs due to rugby, heavy lifting and spiritual causes.

This is definitely not part of Fijian Culture! Men never expose their nakedness to women especially in front of the members of the board.

Our hungry little friend has been making regular visits.

I've named him Vusi (Cat in Fijian).

He makes himself at home...but he's kind of gross. He limps and is covered in fleas.

Saturday 18th: It was Mika's mum's birthday. Grandma is Nau or Bubu (which is pronounced mbumbu, difficult to get my tongue around!) The boys sang to her to honour. See video clips here:

Angels watching over me

I know that God will make a way

Everyone joined in for the typical extended Fijian Happy Birthday

Praying for Bubu

Mika's sister-in-law and Mika's cousin.

The amazing spread!

Sunday 19th: My new sacred place to spend time with God.

The beach...(which is just mudflats when the tide is out)

Tappoo is a large shopping mall, the bag waves in the breeze

Coconuts, fruit and other litter from the drain lay strewn in the mangrove mud.

This boy was wading in the mud, perhaps looking for crabs or cooling off? I love the colourful umbrellas here to protect from heat or sudden downpours.

An old wreck also lies abandoned in the mud.

The initial cutting in for the slab foundation was in the wrong spot, so they had to redo it.

Monday 20th: My first introduction to the Teachers at Basden

Va signs student class enrollment forms.

I finally got to meet and spend time with the beautiful Va. Va is the PEMAC teacher (Personal development, Music and Art). We spent hours chatting. Art isn't appreciated much here and there is no bachelor degree of visual art or equivalent in Fiji. Va would like to come to Australia to study, but she is currently pregnant and her husband said not until her baby is 2. She's a bit disappointed about that...but since she already has 5 other children, I can see his point. Va explained that all her classes are mostly theory due to the lack of facilities and resource. There is no netball or basketball court, so she teaches them the rules of the games, there is no paint or canvasses, so she teaches them colour theory. Boring!!! She took two classes, 95 students by herself, to the Suva Grammar school pool to teach swimming, with children who had never been near the water! She divided them into groups, starfish for frightened kids who only went knee deep, sea horses for more adventurous kids, and stingrays for kids who loved to swim. Va would like me to take over her classes when she has her baby...I don't think so!!!

It is lovely to connect with Va, as we are similar ages, and we spiritually have a lot in common. She sees visions and dreams and too. I think God will bring a lot out of our time together. :)

A worker rests under a tree as he waits for the containers.

Tuesday the 21st: The Containers Arrived!!!

Video with the teachers rejoicing! Containers Arriving

Nope too tight to maneuver this way...

That's better! The little forklift lifts the entire container off the truck.

The truck drives away.

And the forklift lowers the container in place.

Then the forklift gets bogged in the oval...

The crew get onto trying to pull it out. The metal cable snaps. The ropes snap. The truck leaves. Then they call another truck to push it out.

Meanwhile Lenore shares the gospel strings with some local ladies who came to watch the excitement.

Kava drinking around the kava bowl.

Superstition runs rife here. The forklift getting bogged is interpreted as a bad omen because they didn't do the kava ceremony...any excuse to drink kava! We were invited too (which is an honour) but we politely declined. Besides being disgusting, as they use a dirty old rag to filter the kava powder, it has spiritual implications. I had suspected the many back problems here were due to a snake spirit from the kava ceremony (similar to the kundalini snake spirit that wraps onto people's spines when practicing the worship positions in yoga), Va confirmed this and said yes, the multi-headed snake spirit is the spirit primarily worshipped here by the Fijians. It's power is increased here by the Indo-Fijian Hindus, as they also worship a multi-headed snake deity.

Thankfully God's spirit is also here, and I saw another hunting bird fly over the containers as a confirmation of his blessing upon the site.

A tiny van came first...how could it all fit in there?

Then on the same day the donated goods from our container arrived!!!

Then the second truck arrived!!!

Boxes

The gym equipment.

Mika smiles as he finally sees the gym equipment and the two tool boxes for the TVET building classes.

Back at the house, Teri unpacks her boxes.

Our Tapa from the local flea market declares who's the boss here!

First day of school. Mika is finally dressed like a headmaster.

Singing in Assembly

Cutting open the windows.

Va finally catches up with Lenore again.

Progress continues.

Left to Right: Father Makai: the former chaplain who is now the new manager (he is corrupt and was working in conjunction with the previous manager who was transferred by the Archbishop), Peni: Forklift driver and school board member (he has a heart of gold and has been working hard for us), Headmaster Mika, The Treasurer (not sure if he is corrupt, but he is obstructionistic in the progression of the school).

Kids eat lunch on the oval in the heat.

The primary school next door.

Teri & Lenore pray for a student.

Unpacking the boxes.

Sorting the boxes.

Va discovers her art supplies!

The kids discover some of the toys!

Va didn't want to go home, she was so excited.

We were so exhausted we called into KFC. So delicious!!!

This is where I buy the fruit & veg.

Bananas, papaya, eggplant, mangoes, pumpkin & dalo.

Beautiful local produce.

The ship with slippery slides comes into port, Bula! Carnival Spirit!

When a ship arrives at port the whole city changes. Groups of singers ensure everyone is warmly welcomed as is custom. And everyone greets the foreigners with big smiles and "Bula!"...it's lovely...but it can be annoying as a white person to get bula's all day, when yoú're trying to do your grocery shopping. Some of the ships have been absolutely huge and tower over the entire city.

My parents went on this ship last year.

Front cover of the newspaper. They are trying to be anti-corruption here.

The containers classrooms have caused a stir! The very people who have been opposing the work, quickly turned up on site, so as not to lose face, and are now trying to get the glory and present it as their idea. Apparently the papers will want to talk to us and take our photos too...scary!

First container classroom being built in Fiji.

This first article was less than positive, saying that would wait to see... it featured an ugly photo of the container, but nice to have one of the teachers.

The roof structure being built.

The third container arrives.

My take at a hamburger. We haven't found mince at the butchers so the rissole is made from corned beef in a can that smelled and looked exactly like dog food. But with bacon, bok choy, onion, garlic, eggs, flour and grated carrot and some sliced cumcumber, mayo & tom sauce...

...it actually tasted okay!

Friday afternoon...they hope to finish tomorrow.

The Basden teachers gave us an amazing welcome tea. A new initiative to unite Basden College (the high school teachers, yr 9-13) with Bishop Kempthorne School (the primary teachers k-8). They also invited the construction workers and honoured them.

Lenore "cracking" the Librarian.

We had been sorting all the text books under library, for the Librarian to sort, but Va came in and explained that if we did that the Librarian would keep them all and insist they remain under her control in the library. We quickly re-sorted the boxes we had already sorted, so we could distribute to them to the appropriate teachers. Lenore was saying she had to control for a reason but Va said she didn't open up easily. I told Va, don't worry, Lenore and I will crack her! She laughed at that term, thinking I meant like Thor's hammer. I tried to explain, no, more like a chicken on an egg, through love, warmth and acceptance.