Me cecere ka rokovi na Turaga (To God be the glory!)

Me cecere ka rokovi na Turaga (To God be the glory!)

It has almost been a month now since returning to Fiji. Despite being absent during April and May, it feels like I never left. I have such peace and joy in continuing to do the Lord’s work here. I have really enjoyed catching up with my close friends here and people I consider family, and I have settled back into my home here at the EE Training Centre. During this past month I have been co-leading the Fiji Interns Course with Langdon Stewart (EE Vice President for Oceania). We are just now finishing the fourth week of the six-week course.

Overseas Interns:

Megan DeGraaf – Florida

Karen Williams – Florida

Rebecca Carritt – Australia

Lenny Bryant – Australia

Sharon Lee – Korea

Viviene Voon – Malaysia

Local Fijian Interns:

Lavenia Aditora (full-time EE worker & co-leader in last December’s youth course)

Rajani Naickar (full-time EE worker & participant in last December’s youth course)

Wilson Kumar (full-time EE worker & participant in last December’s youth course)

Elenoa Toloi

Vesiruna

Pita Botaloga

The mission team has meshed very well and has grown to be a little family. We have definitely kept the participants busy. These young people are individuals who are trying to identify God’s calling in their lives. They are all interested in one way or another in the field of missions or full-time ministry. Our prayer is that this trip will allow them to really take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus and be in His presence seeking His Will for them. Intentional time with the Lord has been a great focus.

The past four weeks the team has had ample opportunities to reach out to the community and experience Fijian culture. We have hosted a school assembly at a Christian primary school, spent quality time with children in an orphanage & donated supplies, attended a local youth rally, conducted a youth EE clinic, performed a service project in a village, and stayed a few days in a village up in the highlands.

During the Youth EE Clinic we trained 15 youth and went out on several OJTs. One trainee, Kolaia, was so moved by clinic. On his last OJT he was able to share the entire Gospel presentation with a family. He was so encouraged to see how God could use him to draw other people to salvation. When he testified about the OJT to the group, I was brought to tears. As a result of the OJTs 63 contacts and 39 people prayed to receive Jesus.

The village we visited in the highlands was a village I stayed in for over a week last September. It was so wonderful to see the people there again and fellowship with them, especially the youth. They served us in so many ways and the team was greatly blessed. The church service on Sunday was over three hours of hearing God’s Word, special performances, testimonies, and amazing Fijian style praise and worship. In this village were two youth who attended the Youth Course I conducted last December – Aseri and Tevita. I was able to spend some one-on-one time with them. I was so encouraged to hear how God is raising them up as leaders among their youth and congregation. I was able to pray with them along with the interns who were also part of the December youth course. During our prayer session we all began to cry praising God for being able to be together again and continuing to serve in ministry. Tears poured from me as I felt so blessed to be part of their lives and for them to be my family away from home.

I have truly seen these young people on the team grow and transform. They have a passion for the Lord and a heart for the lost. I praise God for being able to serve as a mentor to them in different ways. Plus I have learned so much in leadership and have gained lots of love and insight from each person in the group. I have enjoyed sharing my story with them and being there to answer any questions about ministry and mission work. I’m so excited to see how God uses each one of them in future!

This Saturday our team will be flying to Vanuatu (another island nation in the South Pacific) to join an Australian mission team to conduct another Youth EE Clinic. While the team is running the youth clinic, I will be teaching a separate workshop - Hope for Kids. I am excited to experience another culture in this area of the world and equip more people in witnessing!

Prayer Needs:

Clinic in Vanuatu – team responsibilities

Individual interns – discovering God’s calling on their lives

My leadership role and duties

Upcoming youth ministry events I will be running

Serving wholeheartedly,

Sarah Abadines