Vision

It is July 1st here in Suva, Fiji and we are in our last full day of this student conference. Yesterday we went into a village - there are over 500 throughout Fiji and most with a tribal chief - and our students went in groups to 100 homes where extended families all live under the same roof (videos of this will be posted later - the internet here is too slow to get the pictures up now - it poured rain on us all day as we went door to door). Many decisions for Christ were made and a local church will be following up those who responded. Students have two weeks off from classes after this conference and then their next semester starts - it is winter here (but you wouldn't know that with the 80 degree temperatures and the humidity - but today is cool for a change!). Pray for Peter, a student from the Solomon Islands, who will be having surgery next month for a brain tumor. Pray for Dee as she is from Fiji and joining staff with Campus Crusade this year. Pray for the students to catch a vision to reach their peers at the University of the South Pacific. Pray for the coming summer project in Vanuatu. Students will be reaching that area for Christ and praying it leads to students going on a one year short term mission there.

Students Arrived on June 27 - two days ago

It is the 29th of June at 11:45 am! I have already spoken four times since yesterday. I only have one more talk today in about 30 minutes and then one more on our last morning. Pray for the 40 + students here and staff. Several students have talked to me about drinking issues as drunkeness is a problem among some of the guys. There are students here from about 5 of the 22 different nations of the South Pacific Island Region. Students are growing and we will be taking them out in the community to do evangelism tomorrow.

Arrived Safely in Suva

After a long bus ride this morning I arrived in Suva from Nadi. It is the 26th here and that means I have been in the same clothes since the 23rd! I just had a shower and I'm ready to go. I'm sending this from the Campus Crusade office here in Suva as the entire conference will be in a location where I may not have internet access. If so I will still take video and post it later along with the updates of what went on. Hopefully there will still be a way to do it. Pray for us as we talk with students on the theme, "Running the Race."

Challenges Along The Way

The journey has begun! I'm sitting in Los Angeles at the airport at 12:39 am on the 24th. I should be on a flight to Fiji but I missed it. My flight from Ohio hit the first snag coming into Denver when thunderstorms prevented us from landing for over an hour. In fact, we exhausted all the extra fuel and had to land in Pueblo for fuel. Then it was back in the air to Denver. Once there I had missed my connection to Los Angeles. There was another flight at 9:30 pm and I was able to get on that one. However, it too was delayed leaving until 10:30 pm which put me into LAX at the same time my Fiji flight was leaving. So keep praying since spiritual work always involves spiritual conflict.

Spiritual Climate in Fiji

Fijians have been greatly impacted by their legacy of British colonial greed. Although they embraced Christianity a century ago, legalism, nominalism and failure to confront the ongoing worship of ancestral spirit gods continues to be widespread. New churches with a stronger evangelical message are growing but so are Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. The country's population is 905,949 with 52% Christian, 38% Hindu, and 8% Muslim. It is interesting that a new book coming out this summer on Global Christianity shows that 86% of all Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims do not personally know a Christian! Pray for opportunities to meet and relate to the Hindus and Muslims in Fiji. Pray a door will be opened up for sharing Christ with them too. Pray Eph. 6:19 for me and all those we will be training from June 27 - July 3.