January Pictures

Our new apartment has a pool!

Living room and Balcony of our new place

Our kitchen, hopefully the girls will cook for us once in a while!

Mesa, Mala and Rupeni (Student leaders at USP)

These are the key volunteers in the movement at USP

Rupeni and I

Mala and I

Eating breakfast with our boss, the National Director of CCC in Fiji

Koli and Joe Fire

Getting our groove on!  Fijians love to dance!

Vonette Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade for Christ

A kava ceremony to welcome Vonette to Fiji

My new haircut!  Saves money on shampoo.

The girls had a lot of fun with it

Rugby is Fiji's most popular sport

We spent a day at National Stadium and got to see five rugby matches!

Things have finally started to slow down a little bit.  We've had the past few days off after spending our first three weeks in classes and at conferences.  We just moved into our apartments a few days ago.  We were incredibly blessed to find two apartments in the same complex within our budget.  The girls are just a few doors up.  We're in a great location too.  Our apartments are halfway between USP's campus and downtown Suva.  

We will start preparation this week for students to come on campus.  The school year starts a lot later than we had anticipated, so we have a few weeks to get ready.  Orientation week starts the 21st of February and classes start the 28th.  The staff in Fiji are spending the next month raising support, so a lot of the preparation for the school year will fall on our team.  Please pray that the national staff here will see funds come in so they can join us on campus for Orientation week.

This is the first week that I've been able to get onto the internet more than once.  Hopefully posts will be coming more frequently from this point on.  I hope all is going well back home.  I'd love to hear from you and know how you're doing and how I can be praying for you.  Feel free to Facebook me or send me an email.  I'm praying for everyone back home.  Much love from Fiji!

The Latest...

I want to express my apologies for not posting for the past two weeks.  This is the first chance that I've had access to the internet and time to put up a post.  So I figured I would make it a good one and include some pictures from the last two weeks.

Our team has been insanely busy ever since we landed in Fiji.  The day after we arrived, we began two weeks of IBS (Institute of Biblical Studies) classes.  This is sort of a traveling seminary that Campus Crusade uses to teach and train their staff all around the world.  We took part in two graduate level courses:  Introduction to Christian Theology and God, the Bible and the Holy Spirit.  These classes were way more intense than we ever imagined. We were in class for about four hours a day in seemed to do homework for an equal amount of time.  The classes were hard but invaluable for our team.  We learned so much and are incredibly thankful for the opportunity to have taken part in these classes.  Here are some pictures from our IBS classes:

 IBS Class at the Salvation Army

 Our team leading a few songs before class starts

 Kori presenting her final project, "The Theological Woman"

 The final day of IBS classes

 Playing with some of the staff and their kids at the pool

Our team outside our new apartments (with the Mosque in the background)

I promise that there is more to come.  I'm currently at an internet cafe where I paid for an hour of internet.  It took about half an hour to load these six pictures.  We're hoping to get the internet at our apartment pretty soon.  Hopefully then I will be able to post more pictures and post more frequently.  

Praise God that we found an apartment to live in this year.  Both the guys and girls are in the same complex and we are very excited about where we're going to live.  It's halfway between downtown and campus and within our budget.  Keep praying for us as we prepare for students to come on campus.  Thanks for all of your support and prayers.  Check back soon for more pictures and posts!

Pictures!

Rob and I at the Indianapolis airport

Kori and I getting ready for some sunshine

Bula! aka Hello in Fijian

On the bus from Nadi to Fiji

Unfortunately there are no beaches in Suva, the city we live in

Tons of small villages line the coast of Fiji

Suva, the city we live in

Our newest and best Fijian friend, Rupeni

Our temporary apartment, small but cozy

The Fijians welcome our team with a song

Shopping for native Fijian garb

Rob and Rupeni in matching shirts

Sulus!

Doing our best to assimilate into the culture

Handsome!

I hope you enjoy the pictures so far.  We currently don't have access to the internet on a consistent basis so I'll do my best to keep posting thoughts and pictures as often as I can.  In the meantime, we have a few things you can be praying for.  We are staying in temporary housing right now and are looking for a more permanent place to live.  Pray that God would provide a safe place for our team to live for the next year.  Also, we are turning in our visa applications very soon.  For now, we are here on a two week visa to attend a staff conference.  We're not expecting any problems with Immigration but no one has ever applied for a worker's permit within our organization before.  We're praying that everything goes smoothly and would appreciate all your prayers.

Fiji is still incredible.  Our team is loving getting to know the culture and the people we'll be working with this year!  Check back soon for more updates!

Bula!

Hello from Fiji!  We made it!  My team and I successfully survived the longest day of our lives.  We left our hotel in Indianapolis on Friday at 6:30 AM.  Three planes and thirty hours later, we arrived in Nadi, Fiji.  Unfortunately, we aren't living in Nadi.  From there, we hopped on a bus and drove five hours across the island to the city of Suva, where we'll be living this year.  All told, we finally settled into our temporary housing about thirty-six hours after we left Indianapolis.

The people in Fiji are incredible!  It has been such an easy transition so far because the people are so friendly.  We are currently attending a conference with all Campus Crusade for Christ staff from the Pacific Islands team.  This includes staff from Fiji, New Zealand, Tonga, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.  We are taking two graduate level classes from IBS (Institute of Biblical Studies).  It's so great to meet some of the people we'll be working with and cast vision for the next year!  It has been incredible to get to know these people and see their love and faith for God.

I knew immediately when we got here that God is moving in Fiji.  It's amazing to see first hand the love that God has for all people and all nations.  The people we will be working with this year, directly and indirectly, have a passion for God and for reaching the lost.  For example, we'll be working with a man they call "Joe Fire".  Joe Fire made it his goal to share the Gospel at least once everyday of the year.  The first year he made his goal, he shared with 448 people, 250 of which received Christ for the first time.  He has recently increased his goal.  He wants to share the Gospel with 3,000 people a year.

I have only been in Fiji for two days but I am already falling in love with the culture and the people!  It's going to be an incredible year.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for us.  Check back soon for more stories and pictures!