Bula Blog #6

Friday 11th July

Friday began just as many days had begun for our trip in Fiji: many of the guys (including myself) slept in, breakfast just wasn’t the same without real milk, ‘the Gunn’ (Pete Gunning) injured himself (ok that wasn’t a very common occurrence, but unfortunate nonetheless), and God answered prayer.

The Seventh Day Adventist camp we had booked was snatched from under our noses by the travelling band from Hosanna’s old school, but God provided the even nicer location of a backpacker hostel in the tourist centre just across the road. We also learned that early in the morning, around 3am, one of the cabins had burnt down after a pillow fell on a mosquito coil. Thankfully no-one was hurt, but the boys in the cabin lost everything except the clothes on their backs and (fortunately) their passports, which the teachers had. We can never know if the same thing would have happened if we were there, but what we can be sure of is that it was all part of God’s plan, and we continue to pray that he is with everyone from the school at this time.

Most of the day was fairly lax as we settled into our new surroundings and began to prepare for the few small jobs we had whilst the leaders finished preparations for all the sessions. Contrary to expectations of Fiji time, several campers arrived an hour early at 4pm, so the welcoming crew (Hosanna, Jess, Hanna, Jodie, Alison and myself with our pretty banners) rushed out to make sure they went to the right site (much easier to organise when it’s just across the road from where most people turned up), welcomed them and led them to the administration crew consisting of Bec, Stacey, Mim, Kieran and Zoë. The campers were just as happily surprised as us by the presence of hot water, and even air conditioning - a seemingly rare luxury in this hot climate.

That night provided the first opportunities for mixing over dinner (a veritable feast, Indian-wedding style), which proved more difficult than we had anticipated as the Fijians seemed somewhat intimidated, and more than happy to stay in their church groups talking in Fijian or Hindi. Their soft voices could also be hard to hear after our ears had spent the last two days adjusting to what had been described as the noisiest ever Year 13 group, but after an initial awkwardness many of us were blessed with brilliant conversations and an excellent preliminary chance to share various youth ministry stories and tactics.

We also came together to celebrate the birthday of our very own Michael Kinsey, who became somewhat of a mini celebrity amongst the conference goers. I personally was very encouraged and inspired by the testimony of an Indo-Fijian woman by the name of Irene, who had faced many years of intense persecution and isolations from her family and community, before all her family gradually converted to Christianity. How powerful to see a living example of someone prepared to sacrifice everything for the greatest treasure.

Saturday 12th July

Saturday began much earlier than usual for many as the Fijians rose for their regular 5:30am devotion. Although I was thankful at this point to be an incredibly deep sleeper (just ask anyone who has been in my room when I set an alarm), I was assured by those who did rise to the challenge that it was an excellent time to focus on God and share in worshiping him. The self-sacrificial devotion of the Fijians was certainly a lesson for us from the west, who tend to fill our days with so much that time with God can sometimes be delegated to the 10 minutes before we lapse into slumber.

Another blessing from God was that all the kids from the SDA campsite were out all day, so we could use the SDA Hall that we had planned for. The hall provided many contemplative moments for us, with the walls being decorated by sagely phrases such as “Friendship is the sidewalk in the middle of the last lane” and “Life’s too short, eat dessert first” under a poster encouraging abstinence outside of marriage. It was a welcome diversion during breaks as we respectfully observed the SDA Saturday Sabbath by not swimming, running or playing any ball games.

The sessions began with singing, led by the Year 13 Sigatoka crew, and later Aaron from the Dudley Methodist Church in Suva, followed by an inspiring message from God via Shane regarding servant leadership. The focus was on Revelation 2:1-7, as Christ delivers a message to the church in Ephesus praising them for their perseverance and endurance, and rebuking them for forsaking their first love. It was a timely reminder for the churches in Australia and Fiji, which have both been around for many years but need to keep the focus on loving and serving God and his people.

Other sessions for the day were run by Pete, Bec and Trin, and covered topics such as pastoral care and its role in spiritual and numbers growth, Bible-based games and activities, and the essentials for beginning youth ministry. The focus was definitely on audience interaction and group sharing time, and we split into sharing and prayering (not a real word but it rhymes) groups based on playing cards we got at the door, which were mementos for the weekend. There was also a lot of time during food breaks and after the official sessions ended for us to continue those chats, which was quite literally a foreign concept to the Fijians, who were used to jam-packed schedules at conferences such as these.

That night, after waiting about an hour and a half for dinner to arrive and killing our mouths with the chillies provided, we were privileged to meet together again for a time of group worship, that included hearing from God’s word, another message from God via Shane regarding the heart of mission (there is one God; see Deuteronomy 6:4 or anywhere else in the Bible for further information), singing Fijian and Australian songs, prayer, and watching the Year 13 Two Ways to Live drama, which seemed to be very well received. It was an encouraging, wananavu, bojuluum (incorrectly spelt Hindi equivalent to wananavu) time, and as someone shared at the start, a glimpse of Heaven as people from many nations, tribes and tongues came together to worship and praise God. We also witnessed the wonders of God’s creation overseas at the site of a coconut bug, roughly the size of a stallion and probably stronger.

Sunday 13th July

Despite late nights for many, Sunday again began for the Fijians and more Aussies (sadly myself not included among them) at 5.30am. The day never really began for some troopers though, but rather simply continued on from Saturday as Damian, Owen, Clare and Chelle stayed up making roti for breakfast. Indeed, Clare and Chelle literally did not sleep, so seriously had they taken Shane’s call for us to be servants. It must be mentioned though that every Yr 13’r took on at least two jobs that weekend, including all meals, so that the Fijians didn’t have to do anything. This isn’t a call for us to be praised however, but a reminder of the reality Shane preached- that all of God’s people are to be servants. So next time a tea towel needs to be picked up at home, remind any of us of how we served at the Youth Leadership Conference, and hopefully that will prove a strong conviction!

The sessions for that day were also helpful, with another message from Shane, more fun, bible-based games from Pete (including the unveiling of the memory verse for the weekend, 1 John 4:7a), and Bec bravely addressed the taboo issue of child protection. Judged by many responses, including the elder leaders of ministry in the area, it was a message that needed to be addressed and brought out into the open. As Bec pointed out, it is a sad reality that wherever people are, sin is in all its manifestations, and churches are by no means excluded from that. We prayed that by addressing these hard issues, the need to deal with sin will be a reality to all of us, and our churches all over Australia and Fiji.

As the day drew to a close, we were able to spend some more time with the Fijians praying, sharing, singing, playing volleyball and whatnot until it was time for a sad farewell. We left all the conference goers with a packet of Tic-Tacs (accompanied in their memories by Pete’s Tic-Tac gospel) and a 2 Ways to Live gospel tract, helpfully demonstrated by Wayne, which we pray will both be of use in later ministry. Fortunately we were blessed to see some attendees later in mission, such as Oscar and Aaron from Dudley Methodist in Suva, but that’s a story for another blog. One of the great things about a day that was essentially over by 4pm was that we were able to spend some time in reflection and sharing.

We heard stories and exchanged prayer points, as well as shared what we felt were the strengths and weaknesses of the conference overall. One interesting fact was that whilst everyone talks about Fiji time, it’s usually a whole other story when it comes to their packed conferences. Many of the Fijians found our laid back, interaction-focussed style of conference hard to adjust to, but we’ve since received much positive feedback from people who felt that they were able to remember much more of what we shared, and didn’t need another break after the weekend. The response has indeed been overwhelming as it would seem that God has used us to spark a mini revolution of weekend conference proportions, which is so encouraging.

We were also just generally encouraged by the people we interacted with and were privileged to get to know over that short period of time. Master Longa, for example, was a living model of godliness to everyone, as the Sigatoka crew were already telling everyone before the conference. The youth organiser for the Pacific region also shared how she travelled between 5 countries for her job with no travel money allocated in her income, which continues to be a prayer point for us. Overall, it was a great time of learning and sharing, and a conference that we see God blessing with growth in the years to come. And as long as the leaders continue to be as awesome and God-centred as they were over the entirety of the mission trip, that growth will never be a problem!

Praise God!

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