Pacific Internship #2

I'm sitting in the Bure with the Fijian girls preparing for dinner, the sun setting slowly behind me, the pigs grunting, and some of my new friends playing volleyball or quietly chatting.  The Training Centre where we live is just the most amazing place to study, talk and learn.  It's been awesome being here, and there's so many stories already, and so many more to come, which I plan to share over the next few weeks.

But firstly, here's what a 'normal' day looks like:

7:00am: wake up

7:30am: breakfast

8:00am: lock down quiet time

8:30am: we study together 'Called and Accountable'

9:00am: we break into prayer triplets

9:15am: morning devotions

10:30am: morning tea

11:00am: we start to study (whatever we're working on that day)

12:30pm: lunch

1:30pm: more study

3:30pm: whatever we have planned for that afternoon

6:00pm: tea

7:30pm: whatever we have planned for the evening/free time

Some of our team in our brand new Sarongs - ready to hit Fiji!

Here's a bunch of things we've done in the initial days:

- Myers Briggs Test (to understand more about our personality and things we should know about ourselves as we apply it to ministry

- XEE (gospel stories to help us to share the doctrines that the gospel involves)

- a little bit about Fijian culture and people (as we went into town yesterday and started meeting and connecting with people in the streets)

- Strengths Training (to define our areas of strengths and think through developing those strengths and using them suitably in ministry)

One Encouragement:

- There's heaps of people here to talk to with lots of different perspectives and ministry experiences.  I'm looking forward to talking more and more over the next few weeks.  It's amazing how many stories people have to share and it's encouraging to hear different thought processes and decisions that different people make in regards to ministry.

This is at our home!  We get to sit out on the deck
and look at this view all the time.  There's some beautiful
mountains and sugar cane fields!

One thing to pray about:

- When it comes to sharing the gospel, today we learnt four things:

1. ASK for God to give you opportunities to share (specific opportunities)

2. BELIEVE that God will show you people in life who you should meet and share with

3. CONNECT with people that you come across - get to know them, learn about them, care for them and love them - this may (or may not) be the person God wants you to share with

4. DARE to share the truth of the gospel with that person if they are willing to listen - there is never anything worth losing

Please pray for these opportunities to share the gospel (especially next week when we go to Vanuatu), and please pray for courage to speak in those times, and for clarity and words to say.  Please pray that God will save people in Fiji and Vanuatu.

This is a funny photo from today when Rod was teaching us,
and then the power went out...classic Fiji!

- Joy