Bring a Boat

I was starting to wonder if Fiji really was a tropical country! ;) I’ve been here for two weeks tomorrow, and while there were short bursts of hard rain, there was nothing really what I would put into the ‘epic’ category. Have no fear, today fixed that for me! It started raining about 10 AM in the morning, and proceeded to turn on and off like a tap every 30 minutes for the rest of the day. Take into account this is rain like the pictures, with HUGE drops of water. By the night time, you just didn’t wear shoes outside if you were smart, because your feet and probably your ankles were going to be underwater.

This morning I went to the Nadi Airport School to teach scripture. It’s reminiscent of being back in Three Hills, but these kids are even better behaved; and they know very little about the Bible. I took them through the stories of Ehud and Gideon, and they knew neither of them. Both of the stories led into the fact that God has a plan for us regardless of how left out or weird we may be.

They had their prefect ceremony yesterday morning, so Josepha and I were only able to take 3 classes, but the ceremony was interesting. I’ve never seen a school use the prefect/head boy or girl system before, so it was intriguing to sit through it!

During the afternoon, I finished my sermon outline, went to Jong’s flat and relaxed a little. And then I walked back in pouring rain. It was fun trying to time walking past the puddles with the passing of cars. I was splashed good a few times, but I made it to the bus stop and eventually to McDonalds! Youth was starting in about an hour, and so I needed to eat something quickly. Boy, that sounds like I need to justify myself, lol!

While eating, a Fijian man, Jim, struck up a conversation with me. He was there with two young children, and it turns out he’s an associate minister with the Associated Gospel Churches here, full-time. Naturally, the conversation led to ministry, and some of our backgrounds. At the end of it, he gave me a ride back to the BDC and saved me a 10-15 minute walk through the rain and some REALLY large puddles!

That evening, we had youth. To be honest, I wasn’t so sure that we were even going to have youth, because of the rain, but when I got back, Josepha had taken the van and was out picking up the youth. They arrived about 20 minutes late, but we had a fun time regardless. Just a small number around 6 tonight. I spoke on the need to let God’s word work from the inside out, and some of the different responsibilities that we have in that process. I’m not sure why I was told that the youth here don’t really talk, because they were pretty conversational to me. Actually, they talked more than my first month in Sunday School back in Three Hills. There was the awkward looks, the unfamiliarity with someone actually asking their opinion, but eventually they started to engage with what I was saying. Knowing me, you already know this was very informal, and I made a few jokes about the massive pulpit that sat in front of the benches. Perhaps there is some hope for the kids... I wouldn’t have known it from what I was told.