Truth and Dare

If there is anyone still out there reading my blog (I know you're out there Grandma!), I apologize for my absence for the past few months. Blogs are an interesting thing. They're really exciting at first and then they just become a lot of work to maintain and update. I'm continually impressed by my wonderful sister-in-laws (and on a few rare occasions my brother) who are the models of consistency in the blogosphere. I am really thankful for Krista and Michelle's (and sometimes Brady's) blogs because it keeps me up to date on their lives. I love the pictures and reading about all the exciting and not so exciting things that they do.

That being said, I realize that I have been selfish in not letting you all into the happenings of my life. Therefore, I am blogging right now and hopefully will continue to do so on a semi-regular basis for the next few months (no promises once I leave Fiji).

First I need to get you caught up on what's going on in Fiji and this post will be dedicated to our Student Conference which took place roughly one month ago.

If you haven't heard yet, our ministry at the University of the South Pacific was "kicked off" campus at the end of last semester (more on that to come in the future posts). In my mind, this was an extremely unfortunate and momentum-killing event. At the time, we had 30 American college students here to help us with a ministry and seemingly nothing for them to do since they were disallowed onto campus. We were also gearing up for the biggest event of our year: Student Conference.

In the meantime, the hotel that we had made a booking with for the conference informed us of a few problems. The manager of the hotel ran away with our deposit and the owner expected us to repay it in order to have our conference there.

After an emergency trip to the western part of the island, we secured an alternate venue for our conference three days before the conference started.

I was extremely skeptical about what to do and whether it was really worth the time and effort to put the conference on this year. But God showed me just how feeble and incorrect are my plans and the way I think things should happen.

Despite everything going against us, we had 140 local students show up to conference! To give you a reference point, that's nearly double the amount of local students who came to last year's conference.

It was a smashing success. The students had the time of their lives, heard the truth about God and His word and were commissioned to go out and reach their families, friends, campuses and the world with the Gospel. I had extremely low expectations coming into the conference and was absolutely blown away at how things turned out. It's a good thing that I'm not in control.

Anyway, I've used up too many of my words for the day so here are some pictures for your enjoyment. Please pray for these people as they continue to process what they learned at conference. Second semester begins today and I'm so excited to see how they respond to all of the opposition they're receiving at USP.

John Carter

It's a scary sight but these are the men of Student Life. As you can see, they're a lot of fun. We took these  thirty guys to see John Carter the other night. The movie was lame but the company was a lot of fun.

The Pearl

The Pearl is a local resort about an hour outside Suva. Our team took the liberty of crashing the Pearl and using their pool and facilities yesterday. It was very relaxing!

The view from my hammock

Enjoying a good book

Paradise?

I do not have a single creative or artistic bone in my body. Because of that, I haven't been able to do justice to what life in Suva looks like. Thankfully, God did not make everyone like me and there are people out there who can do really creative and artistic things. One of those people is my new teammate, Kyle Post. Kyle is an incredible photographer. He takes pictures like it's his job and they are all amazing. Below is a compilation of time lapses that Kyle took in and around Suva. Hopefully this will give you a better idea of Suva looks and feels like. Enjoy!

Smorgasbord

My life over the past week hasn't really been that exciting. So I thought I'd serve you up a few random details for today's post.

Back to School


Tomorrow marks the beginning of the school year here in Fiji. We'll be at the University of the South Pacific (USP) for Orientation all week and at Fiji National University (FNU) for the first week of lectures. I'm really excited to finally start ministry. The past few weeks have been a little bit slow but life is going to change start tomorrow. Please pray for us as we launch a new school year tomorrow!

Flashback: Last year during Orientation, our picture was taken and put up on the front page of the USP website. I don't think they knew we weren't students.

Personal Development Plan


I am currently in the process of making a Personal Development Plan (PDP) for myself. Our whole team is doing this and the point is to make goals for ourselves (mentally, physically, spiritually and socially) so that we can help measure our growth this year. Here's our motivation:

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.   Luke 2:52

It's natural for people to grow and we want to be more like Jesus. I'm not sure exactly what is going to be on my PDP this year but I'll keep you posted on that. I'm excited to see what areas of my life God will choose to grow me in!

Reading


I have become a reader all of a sudden. I got a Kindle for Christmas and I have been reading non-stop ever since. I think I've read at least twelve books in the last month and a half. Some of them include:

The Biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer (which I recommend for all you nerds out there)
The Hunger Games series
Water for Elephants
Unbroken
A plethora of Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories

I've really enjoyed reading even though I've never been much of a reader in the past. If you have any good books you've read lately, please let me know. I'm always looking for something new!


Video Chat

I got to chat with both the Brady Fausts' and the Matthew Fausts' today. The first one was planned and the second was a pleasant surprise. It was great to talk to everybody and see how their lives are going. It was also a blast to get to see my niece and nephew. They always bring so much joy to my life!  Here's a picture below (the Brady Fausts' video was not working so I wasn't able to take a picture of them).

Las Vegas Sevens


This weekend is the Las Vegas Sevens Rugby tournament. If you've been tuned into NBC at all, you may have seen some of it. Fiji has an incredible sevens rugby team and is currently ranked second in the world. Tomorrow (Sunday) is the semifinals and finals of the tournament. If you're free, you should check out NBC at 2:54 EST for the semifinal matchup between Fiji and Samoa. If Fiji wins that game (which they should), they'll play again in the finals at 5:28 EST. Sevens is a lot of fun to watch and the games only last fifteen minutes. Check it out if you have time and root for Fiji!

Boar Hunting

We didn't catch anything nor did we see a pig. But we did slosh through the jungle for two hours in the rain. We also looked sweet with our spears and knives.

'Nuff said.

How do you worship?

So we made it to Fiji. After spending two days in LA due to unexpected mechanical problems, we finally flew out on Tuesday. We arrived in Nadi, Fiji to discover that it was flooded. Luckily the water went down enough to take the bus to Suva. We've begun settling in (pictures to come) and getting used to Fiji time.

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to write about. Living in Fiji over the past year has taught me that the American way is not always the right way (or the wrong way for that matter). I was sitting in church this morning when a group of students got up to do a dance. This is a relatively frequent practice in Fiji and I've seen it dozens of times. Here's what went through my mind: "Here we go again".

Almost immediately, I felt convicted and heard the Spirit saying, "Whoa Brian. Why don't you come down off your high horse?" Shoot. I realized that I've become so one-dimensional in my own conception of worship. You say worship and I think about the three song set preceding the sermon at church. I don't know for sure but I don't think that's what God had in mind when he created us.

... everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.                                                                                                              Isaiah 43:7

These dancers in church were simply worshipping God a different way and I fell into the trap of dismissing them right off the bat. I love living in a foreign culture because it challenges everything that I do and everything I've been taught. Fijians constantly worship God through song, dance, testimony and drama.

Why do we confine worship within the church walls? Why do we automatically think of singing? I wrote in my journal that I don't want to be one-dimensional in worshipping my Creator. I'm still not sure what that looks like but I've challenged myself to worship in different ways this week.

Where do you most experience God? It's not "unChristian" of you if church doesn't come to your mind. Maybe it's on a walk or a hike. Maybe it's swimming or when you're on a run. Maybe it's when you're alone (like me!) or when you're in a crowded place. I don't know but I challenge you to experience God and worship Him in a new way this week. He's just to great to be confined to a three song set on Sunday!

Oopies!

I know. I know. You're probably upset with me. I realize that I haven't blogged in three months. As my nephew would say, "Oopies". Part of me forgot I had a blog, the other part knew I had a blog but didn't want to do anything about it. Anyway, my apologies for being absent from the blogosphere. I hope you'll forgive me for all the times you've come to this page and been disappointed.

But now I'm back (at least I hope so). Here are a few reasons for my resurgence:

• I've started following a few blogs in the past few weeks. Reading other people's blogs makes me feel bad about not updating mine (particularly my sister in law, Krista, she makes me look really bad). My guilt has finally overwhelmed me to return. That's probably not a reason but it is what it is.
• I've been in America for the past two months and people have actually told me that they read my blog?!?!?!? I was genuinely surprised. I know that I had a few faithful followers (Thanks Grandma!) but it turns out, at least 8ish people read my blog (or at least try to in the past three months). Thanks for your support and I hope you haven't given up on me just yet.
• I also promised Brady and Michelle that I would blog before I left America to go back to Fiji. This would not have been possible had Air Pacific not cancelled our flight from LA to Fiji. So I'm currently sitting in the lobby of the Hilton, with my stomach full, courtesy of Air Pacific and their little blunder. Thank you very much.
• Lastly, I realized that my life is about 30 times more exciting in Fiji than it is in America. So now that I'm heading back, hopefully my life will be a little more adventurous.

This picture has nothing to do with what I'm talking about but I add it because I love my niece. And I'm hoping that you will look at it and admire how cute she/I am. I stole this picture from my sister-in-law's blog. I had to say goodbye to everyone over the past week. I used my last night with Ellie to try to teach her to walk. She had fun but wasn't able to take a step for me. I still love her though.

It was easier to say goodbye this year. Maybe because I'm a seasoned veteran at leaving for long periods of time....probably not though. It could be because I trust God to provide for me and for my family and friends back home this year. It could also be because I know that I'm doing what He's called me to do. In reality, it's probably some combination of the three. I'm excited for this year. I'm excited to have a new team of nine. I'm excited to be challenged. I'm excited to learn. I'm excited to grow.

I'm also excited to go to bed. If you happen to read this in time, please pray for our team as we travel across the South Pacific tomorrow. And check back soon because I'm back babyyyyyy!!!!!

The Heart of a Champion

This past weekend, we held our Men's Retreat at the Natalei Eco Lodge in Tailevu. It was a great location right on the beach. We had thirty-six students come which was way more than we were expecting. It turned out to be a great weekend of fun and fellowship. I also learned a little more about Fijian guys this weekend. They love to sing. They sang nonstop the whole weekend. For future reference, if you want to put on a successful men's retreat in Fiji, you need two things: a rugby ball and a guitar.

We talked a lot about what the heart of a Biblical man looks like. We focused specifically on rejecting passivity, striving for purity, choosing humility over pride and seeking brotherhood. It's been really cool to meet with some of the guys this week and debrief. I've talked with several guys who have already made huge steps toward cutting certain sins out their life and others who have a renewed desire to serve God. It was a really exciting and fun weekend. Here are some pictures, hope you enjoy!

Jeremiah was a Bull Frog

If you're looking for pictures in this post, you're not going to get any. I'm going to try to do something I don't normally do on this blog: let you into my mind! Typically I just write about things that are going on in my life and not things that I'm processing. At least for today, that's going to change.

I am currently reading through the book of Jeremiah. This is a big deal for me because if I'm honest, I'm a little scared of the Old Testament. It's so rich with history and people and stories that I don't know a lot about. And for some reason, it just seems harder to understand. But fear should never be a motivator for not doing something so I picked a book that I thought would be challenging to read. It hasn't disappointed either. It's been tough to really grasp principles that I can apply to my life today. I've been praying that God would reveal his character to me through Jeremiah. I've also been praying for a healthy fear of God in my life as I'm reading through Jeremiah (the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom ya' know!).

Anyway, I came across this scene in Jeremiah 13 that I wanted to share with you. Here's the text in case you don't have a Bible handy. Jeremiah 13: 1-11 says,

Thus says the LORD to me, "Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, and do not dip it in water." So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist. And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, "Take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. Ande after many days the LORD said to me, "Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there." Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. And behold, the loincloth was spoiled: it was good for nothing. Then the word of the LORD came to me: "Thus says the LORD: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.

I think this story is really interesting and challenging for us as believers. It's strange that God would compare us to a loincloth, or a pair of underwear for lack of a better term. The reason why is because it is a close, intimate piece of clothing. It touches the skin in an area that isn't often exposed. In verse 11, God tells us that he created us to cling to him just as a loincloth clings to a man. God should be a priority in our lives, the center of everything. That's what happens when we cling to him.

But this story exposes our fallen condition. God tells Jeremiah to hide his new, perfect loincloth in a cleft of the rock. Jeremiah leaves it behind for a while and when he goes to retrieve it, the loincloth is spoiled, useless. This is what happens when we "have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them". Now I doubt you're worshipping Baal or some other God but we all have idols in our lives. Anything you put before God is an idol. For some, it's success, fame, fortune, for others it family, relationships or even ministry. God demonstrates what happens to us when we tie our loincloth around anything else but Him: it becomes spoiled and worthless. As I read this story, I was challenged to think of what I wrap my loincloth around in this life: comfort, ministry, friendships. What do you wrap your loincloth around?

The beauty of this story is that God tells us we're meant for something more. He tells us in verse 11 that we exist for his glory. The very next book in the Old Testament is Lamentations. Some say it was written by Jeremiah but it depicts someone who is lamenting over the destruction of Jerusalem. It lists the horrors of God's judgment as a result of the people's sin but right in the middle, the author reminds us that God is not finished with his people even when they sin greatly. Lamentations 3: 21-26 says,

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the should who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

That's the Gospel and it's for you and me. We continually turn away from God toward idols but his mercies never come to an end. We've spoiled the loincloth but Jesus has washed it clean with his blood. We were useless but God has sealed us with his Spirit to make use of us.

This is the message of hope for all of us and the message I get to share with students everyday. I want to cling to God like a loincloth clings to man despite how I feel. I challenge you to do the same. Wrapping our loincloths around our idols is never fulfilling but God's mercies are new every morning. I hope that the Gospel continues to transform your life and mine. I serve a mighty God and I exist for his glory. Would you join me?

The Beautiful Land of Tailevu

A quick apology to all of my faithful followers (I hope you're out there). I know I haven't blogged for over a month. My brother reminds me every time I talk to him (thanks Brady). So hopefully I will make up for it this week.

Yesterday, our team had the opportunity to go to a village. Our boss, Koli, took us and a couple of students to the beautiful land of Tailevu (one of the fourteen provinces in Fiji). I like to think that if I was born in Fiji, I would be from Tailevu. So it was a little bit like returning home.

Anyway, village life is totally different from life here in Suva. Think secluded and independent. I'm not sure that every village is self-sufficient but they provide for most of their own needs. Koli's village is about an hour and a half outside of Suva. Half an hour of that time was spent driving on a dirt and gravel road.

Most Fijians come from a village but not many of them live there. It's a great place to go spend time with family around the holidays but most Fijians live a little closer to the towns and cities where they work. This was an especially unique trip because Koli is part of the chiefly family of his village. Koli's brother is the head chief. There is a lot of history behind his family and their ancestors. I wish I knew it well enough to share it with you but unfortunately I don't. I wouldn't even know where to begin. Instead, I hope that a few pictures will do it justice. Enjoy!

We traveled by carrier. Think flat-bed truck with two benches on either side and tarp over top. It made for one great adventure.

Typical home in the village

Random girl on a ladder

Picture in front of the former Chief's tomb
 

The men around the Kava bowl. If you're curious, google kava.

We recently purchased a grill. "American Barbecue" is what the Fijians like to call it.

The Chiefly House

Oh to live in Fiji