When you get past the "tourist resort" facade of many of the Pacific islands, you find people struggling to get by in third-world living conditions, often far from any strong gospel influence.  Our team to Fiji will work with Campus Crusade for Christ alongside believers from local churches, distributing evangelistic literature door-to-door in the mornings and showing the Jesus film in the evenings to the minority Indian population who are principally Hindus, but speak English as a second language.  This ministry has seen hundreds of decisions over the last three years, and the team is going in the expectation of a great harvest as people respond to Christ.

FRIDAY, JUNE 27, 2008
Today, Friday, June 27th, we mobilized our outreach at the Nacasi Christian Fellowship. The purpose of today's effort was to get DVDs into the homes of Indian Hindu families. If you are wondering how we know who is a Hindu, they generally have a pole with a red flag in front of the house or in front of the yard.

Once teams were assigned, we sang a praise song, prayed together, and then set out on foot.

As a result of today's outreach, many DVDs are in the homes of Hindu families. These families will all be followed up by the church next Thursday. Numerous people heard the gospel and 20 people prayed one-on-one to receive and trust Jesus Christ "alone" as their Savior and Lord.

Please pray for our brothers and sisters at the Nacasi church. Their follow-up task is considerable, and they are looking forward to it with high expectations for a glorious harvest from the seeds that were planted today.

In an attempt to provide a personal testimonial from every member of our team, the accounts will no longer follow the chronology of our work, as they have up until now.

Simon Ogg: Wednesday. "When our team started out today, many people were not interested in hearing any more about Jesus and we were feeling discouraged. But then we were at one house, and when we asked the woman living there what her favorite part of the movie was, she just put her arms out like she was on the cross. She prayed with us to trust Christ as her Savior."

On Thursday, Debbie and Joanne's group went into a home where a young Muslim wife greeted them. She invited them inside, and Debbie asked if they could share with her about Jesus. She agreed. Debbie looked for a Muslim tract, Joanne handed her one, and they went on. Debbie had never used the Muslim tract, but it flowed, making a clear, compelling argument. The Muslim wife prayed to receive Christ! It turns out that her boys had been attending activities at the church, so some seed may have been planted before the team arrived. Praise God.

Brandon Davis: "On Wednesday our team started down the street we previously visited on Monday when we passed out our DVDs. The second house we stopped at, there were two ladies and a baby. Rudy shared with one, and Josh (CCC Volunteer) shared with another lady who had been sitting in the corner. All were in tears as both ladies prayed to receive Christ."

Rudy Hawkins: "On Thursday our group was visiting homes near Tacarua Christian Fellowship to follow up on the DVDs we handed out on Tuesday. I tried to share with an Indian woman, but she was not understanding my English. I handed the 'Knowing God Personally' tract to Roshni, the local church volunteer in our group, and Roshni lead the woman to Christ. It is amazing how the local volunteers picked it up so quickly and ran with the gospel! Praise God!"

THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008
Today our team returned to Tacarua (Ta-tha-ru-a) Christian Fellowship to follow up with all the families that had received DVDs on Tuesday.

We began the morning according to our regular routine. Breakfast was at 7:30am, followed by worship, a devotion given by an assigned team member, and then we boarded the vans around 8:45am.

This morning Cameron (who is our youngest member, 13 years old) gave the devotional on 1Peter 2:11,12, and 3:14, emphasizing the importance of our conduct.

Once at the church, we organized into ten groups, then those teams of four people each went out into the same homes they had visited on Tuesday.

The following accounts are being told, as much as I can, in each team member's own words.

Shelley Hollinger: "My Fijian brother in Christ and I met with a grandfather, mother, father, and another woman (friend?), and we shared Christ with them all. They all prayed to receive Christ as their Savior and they had not even seen the DVD yet! Four new converts - praise God!"

Kirill Gillis: "My favorite part was when my team member and I walked into a house with a Hindi (Hindu believing Indian who speaks Hindi) woman waiting for us. She watched the Jesus Film and wanted to know more about Christ. I shared my testimony and Sai shared Christ. Said asked the Hindi woman if Christ came into her heart. She paused for a few seconds and then with tears in her eyes said she feels a burning in her heart."

Gary McMillan: "Unlike yesterday, no one prayed to receive Christ with my team. One Hindu young woman was about to pray, but when I clarified that she would have to turn away from her Hindu gods, she balked. We prayed with several other people for healing and, of course, that Christ would become real in that house. We visited the owner of a neighborhood store who was a Sikh and was very interested in our (gospel) message. So, I believe many seeds were planted today."

John Gillis: " I shared with a Hindu husband and a Hindu wife about Jesus Christ. They both received Christ in their heart. After they received Christ, I prayed for the husband's paralyzed right arm, for Jesus to heal his arm. The man raised his arm over his head, holding his new Bible. Jesus answered my prayer."

Cameron Quon: "After completing all but one house, we tried to find that one remaining house. What we thought was our houses ended up being another group's house, but we shared with them anyway: three young women. After sharing the gospel, praise Jesus, for they all accepted Christ. We also later learned that so did an older lady who listened into our conversation (in the background). In the end, in an unintentional home, four new believers came to Christ."

Linda Fleming: "On Tuesday we went to a house and three ladies who are good friends were at the house together. We gave each lady a DVD and took their address (for follow up). When we arrived today, we expected them to each be at their own home, but they were together again. I shared my testimony and went right into the 'cube' presentation. Two ladies were 'with me' and one seemed to 'wander'. I thought, 'Oh, well. She's not interested.' but when I asked if they wanted to accept Christ, the 'wanderer' was the first to say, 'Yes'! She was anxious to pray. All three accepted Christ and promised to come to church on Sunday."

Scott Gillis: "Today was an amazing day. 71 people prayed one-on-one to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior! While the number of houses walked was less, the fruit was more abundant than even yesterday's. 54 decisions for Christ. And the local church is so radically committed. Some offered to stop by and walk the new believers to church on Sunday! So very many came to Christ, and the local church is rejoicing."

From this point on, our accounts may not be in chronological order as they have been up until now. Our team wants to let our supporter know how much we appreciate all of you keeping up with our updates, and continuing to hold us up in your prayers. Grace to you.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 2008
NASOURI OUTREACH
Wednesday morning our team arrived back at Nasouri Christian Fellowship around 9:30am. We mobilized into the same groups (except for a few changes) as we had on Monday, prayed together and then went out by vans to return to the neighborhoods that we had visited on the first day. The following are some of the accounts of this day's outreach in Nasouri.

Vera and her group returned to the home of a Muslim family who had received the DVD on Monday. This family was made up of a man, his wife and his sister, and he had received the DVD gladly with no sign of antagonism, as Vera might have expected. When they returned, the family had watched the DVD. She asked them what they thought of "Aassa" (Jesus) as the only way to God? They talked about Jesus being the only way to heaven and the only sacrifice for sin. They all prayed to receive Christ, and happily received Vera's gift of a whole Bible. She said, "They hardly needed to be convinced."

Another story Vera shared was about a family they visited on Monday who had been give a book of Mormon. The woman said she told the Mormon missionaries, "If you want to convert me, then don't come back here." Vera and her team were looking forward to sharing with them.

On Wednesday they were about to go to the home of this family when the van from the church pulled up and said it was time to go back. They were out of time. As Vera and her team got into the van to drive away, she saw the people on the porch waiting for their visit. The whole team said, "No, turn the van around, we cannot leave yet."

The team shared the gospel with this family, and they prayed to receive Christ. When the team was finally ready to leave, the family gave Vera their Book of Mormon in trade for a whole new Bible.

Vicki's group visited four homes today. Out of those four homes, two people had prayed to receive Christ while watching the Jesus Film. Two people prayed to receive Christ with Vicki's team, and two people were very interested in follow up and were very close to making a decision for Jesus.

At one of these homes that Vicki's group visited, the Indian wife had dressed up to greet the returning group. She had made juice, had it ready, and was anxiously waiting for their return. She had prayed to receive Christ while watching the DVD, and she was excited to share her good news. (Can you imagine this happening in California?)

One of the teams did not get to revisit all of the homes they had visited on Monday. Toni, who is one of the local church member volunteers, said he will finish visiting those homes! Can you see th discipleship/training process in action here?

Another church volunteer prayed with a woman to receive Christ. When he learned that she had no ride to church, he said he will send a taxi to come pick her up for church this Sunday!

Gioma (John) and Nathan (from our team) were sharing the gospel with an Indian Hindu man using the Evange-Cube. At the invitation, Gioma told the man, "If you receive Christ, then all of your Hindu gods must go. You must get rid of them all." The man agreed, saying, "All other gods must go"!

Cameron (A GBC team member) shared the gospel with a 78-year-old man, and a woman who was also in her 70s. They prayed with Cameron to receive Christ. Cameron is 13 years old!

Seru is a Fijian man who lives with his son and daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. When one of our groups visited him, they asked if he had watched the Jesus Film. He said yes, and he also said that his grandchildren no longer watch cartoons in the afternoon, they only want to watch the Jesus Film.

Gary and his group had visited a Muslim/Indian man on Monday who had been declared disabled by his doctor due to a severe pain in his groin area. The man even showed Gary and his team the medical paper stating he was disabled. The problem (obviously) was that he was the supporter of his family. Gary and his team prayed with the man for healing. On Wednesday, when they returned, the man was free of pain and was planning to return to work right away. The team shared the gospel, and both he and his wife prayed to receive Christ.

Another incident Gary shared was about a baby at a house they visited on Monday. The baby had a fever and was obviously ill. The team with Gary prayed for the baby's health. When they returned on Wednesday, the child was well. She (the mom) invited Jesus into her life, too.

Today, as a result of the Nasouri outreach, 54 individuals prayed to receive Christ. Along with those 54 new "babies in Christ," a number of homes that received Jesus Film DVDs were not able to be revisited today.

Please pray for the Nasouri church, that they will be able to disciple these new believers and that they will use the training they have received for even more outreach in the near future. To God be the glory. Grace to you.

TUESDAY, JUNE 24
OUTREACH WITH NACUVA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Our team arrived at Nacuva Christian Fellowship around 9:30 a.m. to mobilize and pray. Once groups were formed and neighborhoods were assigned, we set forth to hand out the Jesus Film DVDs and related materials.. The neighborhoods were a little smaller than Monday's routes which allowed extra time to share with the locals as we handed out our materials. The following accounts were the results of the first day of outreach in Nacuva.

To provide the proper setting, consider that this church was only asked the Thursday before our arrival to host this neighborhood outreach, due to a last minute cancelation by another church. Sagram, the pastor said that if this was of God, then He'll provide the volunteers. And He did!

Nathan and Joe (C.C.C.) along with two church volunteers were giving out a DVD to a woman when it began to pour down rain. So they decided to stay and share the gospel. When this woman indicated that she was ready to pray to receive Christ the two volunteers said they also wanted to pray to make sure of their relationship with Christ In the process of sharing, a fourth woman in the house had listened and said she also wanted to pray to receive Christ. So Joe and Nathan prayed with four women to receive Christ. Then the rain let up, so they moved on to the next house.

Linda and her group visited a very poor family. The man had an abscess on his leg which was keeping him from working and the wife had been having some stomach ailment.. Linda and her group prayed for them both. She and her group are very anxious to see how God answered their prayer come Thursday when they return to follow up.

Rudy and Simon along with church volunteers, Roshni, Gaundar and Mr. Elika were giving the DVD to Roshni’s neighbor Satya. Satya had been attending some meetings but had not been ready to make a commitment. Just as their team was ready to leave Satya's house, rain began to pour down. So they stayed and shared the gospel with her and she prayed to receive Christ. To share the gospel they used an Evange-cube which is an illustrated cube in 8 segments which illustrates the gospel message. It was the first time they had used this method to share and it worked very effectively.

Please continue to pray and to keep up with our accounts as we continue to be awed and humbled by the work God is doing here in Suva.

G.T.Y.

MONDAY, JUNE 23, 2008:

OUR FIRST DAY OF WORK AND A CELEBRATION OF GOD'S FAITHFULNESS

This was our first day of work.  We assembled at Nassouri Christian Fellowship.  Gathered together were 17 Grace Baptist Church members and 13 Campus Crusade members and volunteers and 10 Nassouri church members and pastor.  That made 40 of us who divided into 10 teams and went out into the neighborhoods to pass out the Jesus Film DVD and some related materials as well as a comment card.  The comment card is for these locals to fill out once they have watched the DVD film.

Please pray for the "200" local Fijian Hindi families who have now received their DVDs.  Pray that they will watch the Jesus film with friends and family and will be ready to hear the gospel and receive Jesus Christ as their "only Lord" and "only Savior".  When we return to visit these people on Wednesday starting at 9:00 am it will be Tuesday, 2:00 pm for you in Southern California.  Please be praying for us all.

Upon arriving back at Nassouri Community Church many shared about their experiences of the day.  The following are some of the wonderful stories shared:

- The pastor of the church mentioned how much his church grew from the follow-up of last year's visit (new believers).

- The assistant pastor went out with a team to hand out DVDs and ended up sharing the gospel with 6 different people who received Christ with him today.

- As we arrived at the church and groups were getting out of the vans, a young woman came up to a team member with a big hug and said "Linda, you shared the gospel with me last year and prayed with me to receive Christ, and I've been part of this church ever since then."

- All teams reported that most of the people they spoke to were open and seemed ready to hear the gospel even without watching the Jesus Film DVD.  In many cases it was difficult to not stay and share the gospel.  But the more DVDs handed out means more seed was sewn for our return visit on Wednesday (Tuesday afternoon your time).

- One group was visiting a Hindu woman and giving her the Jesus Film DVD when a Hindu priest pulled up, got out of his vehicle, and entered the house to pray with the woman.  The team shared their purpose with the priest and gave him a DVD as well.  He received it gladly, said he would watch it, and said he will return on Wednesday to hear more.  This priest shared that his wife was very ill, and the group prayed for his wife to be healed.

- These people are so ready!  Please pray that as many respond on Wednesday, and then another group of people will be visited on Thursday, that the churches will be ready to follow-up with these baby Christians to nurture their faith and bring them into their church family.

- A Muslim family was approached by one team and to their amazement, they received the Jesus DVD gladly and thanked the team for coming and said they will look forward to their return on Wednesday.

Please continue to pray for all of these opportunities.

SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2008:

      On Saturday, June 21, Team Fiji arrived safely in Nadi, Fiji where we spent our first night on land.  The two day journey to Fiji went smoothly with no crises to report; by God's grace and thanks to the prayers of many at home and the good discipline of our team.

     Leaving LAX the evening of Thursday, June 19th at around 9:30 pm, we flew into the night for 13 hours, crossing the international date line and then landing in Auckland, New Zealand around 5:45 am Saturday.

     With a twelve hour layover, we boarded a bus and then enjoyed the sights of Auckland, returning to catch our second flight from New Zealand to Fiji.

      While waiting in line through customs in Auckland one of our team members struck up a conversation with a young lady from England and shared the gospel with her.  This made an important impression on the rest of the team, that witnessing for Jesus needs to be our natural response wherever we are, not just at our "mission destination".

      Sunday, morning, June 22, we traveled by bus from Nadi, Fiji to Suva, Fiji.  While the bus was being loaded fro the trip one of our team members struck up a conversation with the gift shop clerk and shared the gospel with her.  Then while in route, Joe (our Campus Crusade for Christ contact) shared the gospel with the bus driver assistant using the "Evangi-cube".  This was a beautiful real life example to us.

      The bus ride from Nadi to Suva was a 5 1/2 hour ride.  along the way we stopped for lunch at the Outrigger where we met Matt and Tammy Anderson and their family.  We gained many insights and encouragement over lunch.  We also met Pita Nacuva (Na-thu-va) who is part of Campus Crusade as well as being the "Ratu" (chief) of the village which occupies the land on which the Outrigger is located!

      Dinner was provided at Pita Nacuva's house by his family and some Campus Crusade staff members and friends.  It was an island feast.  We then rested to be ready for our first day of work.

SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 2008:

      The fiji team arrived safe and sound in Nadi, Fiji this morning.  They had a 12 hour layover in New Zealand, before flying onto Fiji.  Pray that they get the rest they need as they begin ministry.  Pray for their strength and stamina, as it is rather humid in this tropical location.