Saturday, June 11, 2011
Hello Again!
It’s hard to believe, but after this past week we hit the halfway point for our time here in Fiji. It feels like we just got to Fiji, although as I try to remember everything I’ve done since I’ve been here, countless events keep popping into my head!
This past week I split my time between FNU and USP. The first two days of the week I went to FNU. The campus we are at is mostly guys, so when we went sharing we were usually in groups of 2, 1 guy and 1 girl. The first day was really exciting because it was our first day at FNU, so we had good long conversations with just about everybody we met. Our primary goals were to share the Gospel with students we talked to, as well as talk to them about Student Life and gather the contact information of students who were interested in it. Their semester is about to end, so most of the organization will probably not be in place until the next semester starts.
I was fortunate to meet quite a few people interested in Student Life. The first day my friend Chelsey and I talked to a guy and a girl we saw sitting at a table. The guy’s name was Reuben and the girl’s was Gufi. Reuben was a Christian and Gufi came from a Muslim family. After talking with them for a while we found out that Gufi didn’t really practice her Islamic faith and was Muslim only because her family was. She also mentioned that she had a couple siblings who had converted to Christianity. Chelsey and I shared about Christianity with her: How God created us and loves us and has a plan for our lives and how we can experience that plan if we place our faith in Jesus to forgive us of our sins, which is what separates us from eternity with God. After talking with Gufi, she told us that she wanted to place her faith in Jesus and begin a relationship with God, so we prayed with her and she asked Christ into her life! Chelsey then exchanged contact information with her and is hopefully going to keep meeting with her while we are in Fiji, and then hopefully Gufi will continue to grow through involvement with Student Life.
The next day I was on campus initiating conversations with another friend, Bethany. While we were wrapping up a conversation with a couple people, a table of about 5 guys started trying to get our attention. We went over to talk to them and they asked us what we were talking to people about on campus (it was quite obvious that something was going on, because there were random white people dispersed all over the campus). This was quite an easy transition into a spiritual conversation; we talked to them about the Gospel, discipleship and Student Life. All of them told us that they were Christians, but were interested in seeking a way to grow in their faiths, as all of them had experienced backsliding. I got their contact information and am going to try to meet up with them a few times this week talk about our faiths and what it looks like to grow as Christians.
Overall it was an exciting week at FNU, and I am praying that the foundation we put in place last week will lead to a fruitful movement of believers at FNU, and that God will use Student Life to train students in evangelism and discipleship.
Most Fridays we go to campus to keep meeting with students, but this Friday the entire project took the day off and got to spend a few hours in the afternoon on an island about a 30 minute boat ride off of the main island. While we were there we got to enjoy a big lunch, snorkel, and just relax on the beach. It was a nice break from the daily grind of ministry on campus. It has been amazing to me how getting into spiritual conversation after spiritual conversation, I am extremely worn out! I continue to pray that I will be walking in the power of the Holy Spirit and faithfully serve on the days our team does go to campus.
Now I will change the pace of the blog and just tell you about some of the random differences I have noticed between the U.S. and Fiji since I’ve been here:
1. They drive on the left side of the road here. This was the same in Zambia and I am pretty used to it now. In fact, I was watching an American movie the other day it seemed weird to me that the driver sat on the left side and drove on the right side of the road.
2. Rugby is the biggest sport by far in Fiji. It is just as big here as Soccer was in Zambia. It is very common to see pickup games of touch rugby being played as you walk by different parks in the city. The biggest named athletes that are on advertisements around the city are all Fijian Rugby players. I think that I will be fortunate enough to see a match next weekend!
3. McDonald’s. The Big Mac Meal at #7 in Fiji, instead of #1. I finally gave in the other day and had dinner at McDonalds. There is one downtown and one right by USP. Interestingly, McDonald’s is considered a kind of fancy restaurant. You’re typical Fijian college student would feel very uncomfortable in McDonald’s. We were told not to take Fijians we meet on campus out to lunch at McDonald’s, because they would be very uncomfortable that we would spend that much money on them. Another random difference, their cones are made from sweet potatoes.
4. Fijians are all about hospitality, they put Americans to shame. If somebody invites people to lunch in Fiji, it is just understood that that person is responsible for paying. Also, if you say something to the extent of "I like that necklace" to a Fijian, there's a good chance they will take it off and give it to you...so that has led to a few awkward interactions on our team, thankfully I've never accidentally stolen anyone's clothing or jewelry. I can't think of any other concrete examples, but overall Fijians are very concerned with being hospitable towards others.
5. Time Difference. Right now it is 2pm in Fiji on Sunday afternoon, which is 10pm Saturday Evening in the U.S. Fiji is right next to the international dateline so we are way ahead of the U.S...in fact the Fiji times can boast that they are the first newspaper to publish in the world every single day!
I think that is all I have for now, please pray for energy for the last half of the project and that we would all continue to work under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit, as it will become more and more tempting to work under our own strength as we continue to do the same sorts of ministry each day.
0 comments:
Post a Comment