God is Merciful

Connexion, our weekly meeting, has been continuing its theme of "God Who?" this semester.  We've been discussing how having a right view of God will affect how we live our lives.  A.W. Tozer once said, "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us."  That's why we're helping students realize who God is by revealing His character.  So far this semester, we've discussing how God is love, sovereign, holy and just.  Last night's theme was "God is Merciful".

It was a special night for me because one of my disciples was giving his testimony and I was giving the message!  Luke, a third year at USP, was one of the first students we met here in Fiji.  He's been hanging out with us ever since and I started to disciple him a few weeks ago.  He became a Christian eight months ago and hasn't looked back since.  He's an incredible young man and although I have nothing to do with where he's at in life, I'm extremely proud of him.  Below is the video of Luke sharing his testimony.  He was pretty nervous but did an incredible job!  Please take a few minutes to listen to Luke's story!

After Luke shared his testimony, it was my turn to share the message for the night.  I've spoken before large groups before but I've never really had the opportunity to "preach", if you will.  I was a little nervous but as I got into my talk, I felt that the Spirit took over. We went through the book of Jonah to see God's mercy toward Jonah and the Ninevites. We talked about how God shows mercy to us by not giving us what we deserve.  We also talked about how God is perfectly merciful and perfectly just at the same time. When all was said and done, I talked for thirty-five minutes!  I hope I wasn't too long winded.  Time really seemed to fly by when I was up there.

Explaining the difference between mercy and grace

Is he wearing a skirt?

Overall, I enjoyed giving the message.  It was definitely a challenge for me.  It was the perfect timing to talk about God's mercy the night before Good Friday.  As I was preparing this week and speaking last night, I felt like God revealed His mercy to me in a whole new way.  I'm incredibly thankful that Jesus bore the full weight of God's wrath for me.  I pray that this wouldn't be just another Easter season for you.  I pray that you would realize what your Creator has done for you and that it would move you toward deep and intimate love with Him.  Thank you God for your mercy!  Happy Easter!

Mt. Korobaba

Today was an epic day in Fiji.  Myself, Dave and Rob along with two Fijian students set out to climb Mt. Korobaba a few kilometers outside of Suva.  We had heard a lot about this mountain and finally decided to take on the challenge.  

The students we took as our guides, Tuma and Biu, brought us to this rock quarry just outside of town.  This was our starting point.  It was a very different experience than hiking a mountain in America.  There is no park or marked trail, we literally just walked into the forest and began to climb.  

The Entrance

We actually chose a really bad day to climb to the top of Mt. Korobaba.  It rained the entire time we were climbing up the mountain which made for a really slippery path. Going up was strenuous.  Coming down was dangerous.

Slip and Slide!

About an hour and a half  and 460 M (about 1,500 ft) later, we were at the top. Unfortunately, this is the view that awaited us:

We waited patiently at the top of Mt. Korobaba.  It rained and rained.  About an hour later, the mist and clouds began to break and we started the see the incredible view we set out to see.

Suva Harbor

Stunned

The Fellowship of the Ring

Victors!

It was a pretty great day.  It was one of the most physically strenuous hikes of my life. The ascent and descent of Mt. Korobaba were pretty miserable but the view from the top was worth it.  We're very thankful that the clouds broke and we were able to see all that Korobaba had to offer!  Just another day of life in Fiji!

What are we all about?

We have now been on campus for seven weeks!  Time doesn't feel like it's gone fast but the fact that I've been in Fiji for three and half months is crazy to me.  Now that we've been here for an extended period of time, we're starting to realize how we fit into the movement here at the University of the South Pacific.

Campus Crusade for Christ is a movement of evangelism and discipleship at its core.  These are skills that are essential for every believer to have if they want to multiply their lives.  Our team is continually evaluating where we're at and where we want to be.  It has become clear to us that our legacy in Fiji is going to be discipleship.  Our key student leaders are able to share their faith but they don't know what discipleship looks like in practice.  We want to continue to refine their skills in evangelism as we teach them the foundations of discipleship.

This week is Midsemester Break at USP.  That means that most students have free time.  On Monday, we put on an Evangelism and Discipleship Training Seminar.  We invited any students involved in our movement to come learn how to multiply their lives.  We had about twenty-five students turn out!

In the morning, Dave and I taught the basics of discipleship:  What?  Why?  Who?  When?  Where?  How?  We got a lot of positive feedback from students.  We weren't very surprised when they told us they had never heard a lot of what we said.  We're praying that these students catch the vision for discipleship and begin to pour their lives into other students!  

The Bible in one hand, Rugby ball in the other

After the Discipleship Seminar and lunch, we broke out into groups for three different sessions:  how to share your faith, how to lead someone through the basics of the Christian faith, and how to lead a Bible Study.  Our team split into three groups to teach students at different levels.  Everything we taught was very practical so that students could easily turn around and apply it to their lives.

We're excited to get to teach and train these students to have a personal ministry of their own.  We're praying that God would give these students a heart for evangelism and discipleship.  We hope that our legacy here in Fiji would be to create multiplying disciples.  Please pray for our movement as we try to establish a mentality of discipleship!

Are you ready to rumble??!?!?!!?!

First I would like to apologize for my lack of blogging for the past few weeks.  A few of my followers have threatened to abandon my blog if I didn't post soon.  So here you have it!  Enjoy!

This weekend marked a special event in the lives of our team.  We held our first annual STINT team Decathlon!  Each member of our team submitted two events into the pool.  We voted out the worst two (Crab Walk and Wheel Barrow Race) and were left with ten events (winners in parentheses):

1.    Trivia Quiz - US Capitals (Brian)

2.    Noodling Around - Minute to Win It Game (Rob)

3.    100M Dash (Rob)

4.    Triple Jump (Dave)

5.    Chubby Bunny - How many marshmallows can you fit in your mouth? (Brian)

6.    Cup Stacking (Dave)

7.    Logic Puzzles (Dave)

8.    Pool Run Around - Racing around the ledge of the pool without falling in (Dave)

9.    Pool Flips (Brian)

10.  Pool Handstands (Brian)

At this point, you might be asking yourself, "Did the girls play?".  The answer:  yes they did.  Unfortunately for them, the men on our team were well prepared for both athletic and useless games!  Here are some pictures of the Opening Ceremonies and the Games!

Paying tribute to the United States of America!

The Decathlon Favorites

No Caption Necessary

The Grand Prize

How many State Capitals can you name?

Noodling Around

100 M Done Right

At least there's one thing I'm good at:  Chubby Bunny

Cup Stacking

Logic Puzzles

Triple Jump

After a long day of sport, one champion stood tall:  David William Haluga!  I took the silver and Kori took the bronze.  We had a lot of fun and hopefully the tradition will live on.

Students are on their Midsemester Break this week which means no classes.  Since we'll have a little bit of free time, that means catching up on my blog!  Check back soon to see what else is going on in Fiji!