“Before He made the mountains, before He made the seas, before He made the islands or the coconut tree….oh, God loved you and me!” This is the song that the children at the Bulileka VBS are singing! Children from Hindu and Christian homes gathered for this 3-day VBS and by the end of the 3 days, they had listened to our Bible stories, made the crafts (which they love!), played the games (also a favorite), prayed the sinner’s prayer all together, and could sing 6 songs at the top of their lungs! This song, “Before All Time” was their favorite but they also loved “Follow the Way of Love” which is I Corinthians 13:4-8…..Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast……” They can now recite this by heart.

On the other side of Labasa Town, we held another 3-day VBS for four churches which combined together for this event. The first day, Sunday, the pastors and many of the parents stayed all day waiting for us to begin at 3 p.m., watched as we set up and remained throughout the first day of VBS. You should have heard the laughter and shouts of the mothers as they sat on the church porch and watched the games that Stephanie and Leslie played with the children. What an awesome opportunity for the believers of this town to join together in a community event for the children!

God is doing a great thing in this nation in bringing down the walls between the churches, uniting the believers together. Pastor Simeli will soon write a post for this website telling of the “Impact World Tour” that is coming to the islands in September. This tour will be an evangelistic outreach for the whole nation and the pastors and churches are working together to make this happen. We are very excited to be a part of this outreach and to see what happens in Fiji through this ministry.

We appreciate your prayers and the support of our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Please don’t hesitate to post your comments or send us email!

In the village of VoliVoli near Sigatoka, we held our first SonTreasure Island Vacation Bible School. We had over 50 children attend, from pre-school age to jr high. What a wonderful time it was! We sang ‘Action’ Songs, as they call them, held puppet shows, told Bible stories, made crafts and played wild and crazy games with Stephanie. Leslie was our tech person, operating the laptop and projector, re-organizing our disorganized crafts time! Meraya Kenawai and I took turns telling the Bible story. When it rained on the third day, Pastor Ladd paid for a shed to be put up over the heads of the children and we continued rain or shine.

Speaking of rain, it POURED on the last day while we were showing the slide show of all the pictures we had taken. The children cheered and roared with laughter at each of the 50 plus pictures and nobody minded the rain, even though it came down hard and heavy! All of them raised their hands and prayed to accept Christ, although most of them acknowledged doing it before. Everyday as we left, the children would all crowd around the van, waving and saying ‘Moce’ (Mo-thay or Goodbye), then they would line up along the highway and continue waving as we pulled out. God’s love through us made an impact on the children of this village!

It is Wednesday morning here in Sigatoka, Fiji and my daughters Leslie and Stephanie and I have been in country for one week. A lot has happened in that week as we are making preparations for what God has brought us here to do. Mama Opal (my mother), Pastor Simeli, and Pastor Gary Ladd have rented a house here in this city which is about an hour’s drive from Nadi because it was expensive and tiring driving back and forth from Nadi for the school here. We are moved in now, conducting classes each night and preparing for the Vacation Bible School we will have in the village where the school is located on the outskirts of Sigatoka. Tonight, I will start a teacher training class for the students in Shiloh Bible Training Center - Sigatoka and I will recruit helpers for the VBS next week. We expect around 40-50 children at this VBS.

It is our plan to hold at least 5 Vacation Bible Schools around the islands. Three of them are on different islands and because of the travel and lodging expenses, we will reduce the number of days from 5 to 3 days so that we can still touch the hearts and lives of children who live in remote and poor villages. Our theme for the school is SonTreasure Island where we will discover the treasures of God’s love using I Corinthians 13 as our text. We will have DVD skits, puppet skits (we have 10 puppets and a theatre), crafts, games and lot of island songs! Pray for children’s lives to be greatly impacted as they learn that God’s love is giving, caring, kind, forgiving and forever!

Shiloh Worship Center in Nadi is growing! Pastor Ladd is preaching a ‘Break-Through’ message to the church. This is a message that teaches us that God helps us break through upon our enemies of sin, sickness, poverty. Starting with a prophetic word from the Lord, we are learning to not accept the lies of our enemy, to give of our resources to God, and with the power of praise, we can access the power of the Holy Spirit to help us break through the problems in our lives.

We have started a music class on Saturday evenings and currently have 6 students learning “Beginning Worship Keyboard”. The addition of the piano and the bass guitar, and a projector with Power Point Worship songs has greatly added to the worship on Sunday mornings.

We are posting pictures of Pastor Joseph’s sister and Meraia Kenewai beside a tapa (a Fijian fabric made from the bark of a tree that is hand blocked painted) that Pastor Joseph’s sister is preparing.

The other picture is of some dancers presenting a tribal dance at a hotel on the beach which we greatly enjoyed!

Finally, here’s Stephanie learning to climb a coconut tree!

We just completed the first block of schooling at the SBTC- Sigatoka. 80% passed in their final examination. Now this is incredible for students in a rural setting or area or village. The following is a testimony from one of the students at the SBTC in Sigatoka and also the senior pastor of the Christian Life Fellowship -Fiji. His name is Pastor Josefa.

“Gal 6:9 ” Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” Praise the Lord! Firstly, I would like to thank God for all the great things He has done for me, my family & the church I’m pastoring. I also thank God for my beautiful & loving wife, who stands by my side every day and gives her whole support through her wise advice, encouraging words and prayers that lift me up when I’m under pressure or down in the ministry. I also want to thank God for my two beautiful children who love and serve the Lord with reverence. They are currently being very useful in the ministry for the Lord in being part of the worship team in the Church. What a blessing from God!! And to conclude, I also want to thank God for Shiloh Bible Training Center for being the answer to our prayers and a dream come true. I do give many thanks and credit to the SBTC for rescuing our sinking boat [ministry/church] by providing training in Bible & Ministry. There is a breakthrough!! There are awesome changes that have taken place…….such as healing, deliverance, sense of purpose & clarity of vision & mission, restoration, growth, access to depth of the knowledge of God’s Word, etc. All I’m saying is thank you very much, SBTC, for your obedience to the Lord that resulted in all this! Thank you Pastor Gary, Sis.Opal Moore, Pastor Simeli & Sis. Mereiya and all those that are standing with them in this work. Blessings! Blessings from God to all of you. What an answer to our prayers!