We're Not in Kansas Anymore .....

Happy Valentine's Day!  Since Fiji is eighteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, I have the privilege of experiencing the future!  By the time most of you are waking up on Valentine's morning, I will be fast asleep with the Day of Love in the past.  But today is special for another reason here in Fiji, it's a national holiday.  What's the occasion?  It is none other than the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.  Yes, that 's Muhammad, the famous prophet of the Islamic faith.  Almost everything in Suva was shut down to celebrate the occasion.  We were extremely surprised to find out that this was a national holiday in a largely "Christian" nation.  There is a heavy Indian influence in Fiji which brings about a lot of traditional Hindu, Buddhist and Islamic beliefs to the island, including the celebration of Muhammad's birthday.  We're just glad that starting tomorrow, Jesus' name, not Muhammad's, will be proclaimed on the campus of the University of South Pacific.  Freshman Orientation begins tomorrow which means that our team will be on campus everyday sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ until the end of the semester in June.  We can't wait to see how God reveals himself as unique and true to followers of other faiths this year.

Since we had the day off, we took some time to relax before we start ministry on campus tomorrow.  We went for a dip in the pool when we encountered this:

Apparently, centipedes like this are pretty common in Fiji.  We're told that they can sting you and if they do, it's not pleasant.  Fortunately this one was dead, so we had some fun with it.

This smile is definitely fake, it took a while to get the courage to pick it up

After relaxing by the pool, we thought we would celebrate Valentine's Day in a very special way.  We went to a really classy restaurant for a romantic, candlelight dinner as a team.  Where? you ask.  McDonalds.  That's right, McDonalds.

If any of you are looking for great Valentine's date ideas, I think you know what I'd recommend.  If only you could find something like this in America.

In other news, we had a party on Saturday for the main Student Life leaders at USP.  We had over ten students come to our apartment in preparation for Freshman Orientation week.  It was a great chance to meet the students we'll be working alongside this year.  

A few things you can be praying for this week:

• That we meet as many freshman as possible throughout the course of the week
• That what we give away is appealing and effective
• That we're able to generate 750 contacts that we can follow up for the next few weeks
• That one of our key leaders, Mesa, can get a dorm room on campus to serve as a hub for Student Life

Lastly, we have a huge praise.  The Department of Immigration in Fiji has decided that we can stay!  We received our work permits for the next year here in Fiji.  We never expected any problems but our visas were very timely in coming.  Since we start officially "working" tomorrow on campus, it helps that we can present our visas to the Director of Student Activities and campus security.  Basically, we're legit now and shouldn't have any problems spending lots of time on campus.

Dave and Jenny signing their visas

Thanks for all of your prayers back home.  I hope you'll take some time to praise God for what He's doing as well.  Check back later this week to hear about what God is doing on USP's campus.  Happy Valentine's Day!