Update

We are beginning our fourth week in Fiji and I can honestly say that it feels like home here. The past three weeks have been a time of adapting, growing, and learning; along with forming some amazing friendships. The best part about being here is definitely the people. What I mean specifically by that is that I have never been to a place that is so marked by joy and a complete sense of family everywhere you go. The relationships being formed here are not one sided and are not only sought out by one party. The people here truly want to know me as much as I want to know them, and I know that I am learning just as much from them as they are learning from me. When you think about friendship evangelism, I believe that we are doing exactly that: making friends, doing life with them, and talking about Jesus together. In my opinion, there's nothing better than that. The testimonies that have come out of this past week are really inspiring to my faith. Last Monday our ministry got canceled due to heavy rain, so our team decided to stay in and do a morning Bible burn (reading a few books in one setting; not actually burning bibles). We prayed and felt that the Lord was leading us to first and second Corinthians. We read both books and then discussed them together. It is so amazing to be able to talk about Scripture with other believers, because you know that there are going to be so many different interpretations and revelations from the same verses. Along with your own revelations, you get other people's as well. First Corinthians is an amazing book; it talks about wisdom and love, spiritual gifts, purity and faith. Since coming to YWAM I have had a new love and desire for reading Scripture and for understanding what God's will is. It is hard for any believer to convince others, let alone themselves, about Jesus' love if they themselves don't know what their faith is based on in the first place. Reading the Bible gives you insight into our God's mind and what His will for us and for His people really is. Last Wednesday our team got the opportunity to go to a remote village about two and a half hours away from where we stay in Savusavu. We went to stay the night and encourage the people of this village in their faith and any other ways needed. When we finally got there after a long truck ride, we were amazed at what we saw. This particular village had about twenty Fijian families living in it. From what people told us, most of them were born in the village and had lived there their entire lives. When we first got there we hung out around the house that we were staying with and had dinner with that family and a few others. Emery (my leader), shared about some of his faith trips in Nepal and what God has been doing there over the past few years. We then later had the chance to go sit in on the village's worship and prayer time, and then after hang out with some of the youth of the village. Only about ten of the youth showed up, but we prayed into what to share with them and I felt strongly about sharing about our original identity in Christ. I told them that it is probably so easy to feel exactly the same as others, especially while living in such a secluded area, but God sees us all as beautifully unique creations. We then specifically gave one young man, Chris, his original identity in God's eyes. What the means is that we prayed for Chris and asked the Holy Spirit to give us words of encouragement for him and to share with us how God really sees him. After praying and giving Chris the words we got for him, he confirmed that a lot of the words were very accurate and that he was very thankful to us for sharing with him. The next day after we left the village we found out from one of our friends here that one of the men that had dinner and went to church with us was the chief of the village. The chiefs in villages are pretty much the ones in charge, and have a lot of authority in their village. Our friend told us that the chief was so impacted by Emery's stories of Nepal that he gave up drinking cava on the spot and went to church and prayed for the first time ever with us that night. It's so amazing that one small time of sharing can lead to someone's life being drastically changed. Something inside of the chief realized the power and love of God that night, and now an entire village of people are going to be changed because of it. That testimony was such an encouragement to my heart and faith. As we continue on in our time here there are some things that we need prayer for! Please continue to pray for each member of our team, (Emery, Alex, Jeremiah and Kevin), for their own personal growth and relationship with God. Also, be praying for the youth group here, Primal, that we are a part of. Pray for each member of it and for a deeper presence of God in all of their hearts; as well as God's will for our times together each week. Also be praying for the Hindu and Muslim people here in Savusavu; for more opportunities to share the gospel and for more eyes to be opened to Christ. Thank you and God bless! -Mackenzie