Week .... Wait a minute what week is it?

Sorry this post is a little late this week, we had a small hurricane come close to us on Monday, and the power was still out until late in the afternoon on Tuesday. This is the update for last week. I'll have an update about the hurricane and other news next week.

This week (Monday) started out with our first torrential downpour that we've had while here in Fiji. It rained extremely hard for just a short period on time. That night we met some police officers that were staying at the hotel. They were in Nadi for a spiritual leadership conference for the police force in the area. We were able to pray for them and the conference.

On Tuesday most of the team spent the day near Sigatoka with Pastor Paula's brother Pastor Pisa. He is the pastor of a small church there. We had a pretty good crowd of kids and some adults. Robin dressed up as a clown and lead us all in some songs. Frank did a teaching on Jericho and how the Israelites marched around the wall and then shouted and blew the horns and the walls came tumbling down. We all sang “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” and marched around the bula mat and had a great time. Lynda then did a couple of stories with the kids and some card tricks with a message of how God sees us all the same and He cleanses us from our sins. We ate lunch there and then walked over to the church and prayed with Pastor Pisa while Robin took some of the kids into the jungle.

Wednesday we joined with a number of churches to do an open air service at a park right by the bus station and the large market. There were a number of skits done by the churches, and some worship songs. Some of our team were dressed as clowns, and handed out candy to people walking by to try and draw them into the park for the service.

Thursday we did more family visits. Bill visited a family for a follow-up of a visit last week. The wife had had some severe kidney problems some time ago, but had been prayed over and healed. Her husband says he is a Christian, but his walk doesn't match his statements. Bill encouraged them to come to church, but they said they too busy working to be able to go. He told them about the Indian cell group that meets on Thursday nights and invited them to come there. The person that Frank, Caleb D., Israel, Dan, Robin, Caleb O., Joshua, Nathaniel and Pastor Paula were supposed to visit wasn't there, so we visited another family from EWC. They were and Indian couple, Herman and Suman. They have two grown children. The couple were lead to the Lord through their younger son who had become a believer when he was 18. The older son came along later, and has a great testimony of how God blesses you for following His ways. That night we joined the Indian cell group for their weekly meeting at EWC. Asha, one of the women in the group showed Bill an entry in her journal that had our class verses. Bill had spoken on them on the Sunday before, so she thought she would share it with him. Bill was looking at it and realized that the date of the entry was his birthday during our lecture phase. God is so cool to keep bringing up these confirmations of what we are supposed to be doing here.

Friday we were supposed to hand out things for Samaritan's purse, but we couldn't get the permits required by the government to gather a crowd. So most of the team went to the beach to pick up trash and to enjoy the warm water of the ocean (it feels like bath water). Chick and Dan went to Uma's house to help with the construction of his new house just down the road. There wasn't anything for them to do that day, so they joined the rest of the team at the beach and helped pick up. There were a couple of Sunday school classes there celebrating their break-up, which is the end of classes for the year. They saw us picking up trash and started cleaning up the areas that they were using. Fiji is such a beautiful place, but there is a huge litter problem. People would rather throw it by the roadside than pay the high price for it to be properly taken care of.

Saturday Chick and Dan went back to Uma's for the morning to help level out the ground and prepare it for the floor to be poured on Monday. That afternoon we all went to the break-up for the EWC Sunday school. We had clowns and did some other games and spent some time just having fun with the kids.

Sunday we heard a message from Pastor Solomon. It was the first message he has ever given in English, everything for the past 35 years he's been in ministry was in Fijian. He did a great job. He spoke on John 11:17-44, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead.

God continues to give us all divine appointments wherever we go throughout the week and we are able to freely talk to just about everyone about the love that God has for them. The people here are hungry for the relationship that God wants to have with them. We are grateful for our time here and pray that we are furthering the Kingdom of God with our presence. To God be the glory!

If you would like to see pictures, please go to the Oosterhouse's website. I'm having trouble getting the pictures on the blog mostly due to ify connections. The website is at: www.oilandflour.com , then click on the pictures page.