Easter in the Islands

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter here in Fiji. The week before Easter, we went door to door in the surrounding neighborhoods to invite people to church and to talk to them about the Lord. People are so friendly and welcoming. Everyone invited us in and gave us juice while we sat and visited for a few hours. That is the island way! Each day we were lucky to get to 2 or 3 houses! It is wonderful how people really put relationships first here.

I was able to help the ladies to decorate the church for Good Friday, and Sierra sewed the hangings for the cross. On Good Friday, our team was able to give some testimonies and I gave the communion mime with Sierra and Mitchell (there were a few hundred people, so we had to modify it a bit, but it went really well). When the people recieved their nail, they were just blown away and most began to bawl. Many could not take communion for many minutes as they stood there, clutching their nail and coming face to face with what Jesus did for them personally. It was really powerful and moving. I was so proud of the kids, who did a great job and did not giggle or laugh at all - we prayed about this and they did so great. Many in the worship team could not continue to worship as they fell to their knees weeping. It was really beautiful and I felt so priveleged to share it!

On Easter we had 4 other churches from other cities join us, and after we all had lunch together. We were able to do one of our songs (Redeemer) along with the youth group, which was great. The worship music here is lively and fun, with a strong reggae/island beat to it - I love it!

This week is getting busy with building on the church, the hospital ministry, an outreach to the local schools teaching on sexual purity, working with the youth group and many other things - we are all glad to be working hard! Today I went to the hospital to pray with people and tonight we are doing a home visit with a family.