FIJI 2012

Day 5

Today the Living Ministry Media team went to the city central of Suva. We walked around and looked through shops and enjoyed experiencing the ultimate Fiji tourist adventure.We finally made it back to the Vodafone Arena where the Ancient Mysteries programs were being held. Looking back over the past few days, we have noticed that there had been a lot of people who had not only been coming to the programs here live in Suva, but also in other remote areas and different countries through out the world.We would like to thank God for continuous help He has supported us with, and the encouragement of families and friends throughout Australia and Fiji. rg

Day 3
Today the Living Ministry Media team spent most of the night setting up the equipment and cameras–it was a long night! After only a few hours rest, we returned to the Vodafone Arena early in the morning where we finished setting everything up. We prayed that everything was going to work and we would have no technical issues, but with technology, you just never know!
 
Today was the first day of the ‘Ancient Mysteries’ mission program, and as we watched the huge crowds of people come through the doors, we realized that the Vodafone Arena was completely full! We had never seen so many people attend a mission program before and it was such an amazing experience to know that they were all there to hear Pastor Gary’s presentation, along with all the many other listeners watching the program on the internet. Even though we were filming the program, we could feel God’s presence there. We were very relieved that all of the live-streaming worked and there were no technical glitches at all (praise God!).
 
We would like to thank God for allowing all the technical aspects of the program to run so smoothly as well as all the help we received from the local Fijian technical team to make the first night such a success.

Day 2
Today was a long but exciting day for the Living Ministry Media team as we travelled on a bus from Nadi to Suva, the trip took 4 hours. We saw some fantastic views from the bus window but were relieved to finally reach our destination, the capital of Fiji, Suva.
 
As we left the bus with all of our luggage, we were welcomed and picked up by the elders and pastors from the local Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Suva. It was so nice to be greeted by their friendly and smiling faces.
They took us to their church where we listened to Pastor Gary Webster preach the sermon. After the church service finished, we were taken to the house we would be staying in during the mission. We were then served a delicious lunch by some of the local church members (thank you!).
 
Afterwards we unloaded and unpacked some of our luggage, and went outside for an enjoyable walk along the streets of Suva and the beach. When we arrived back at the house, it was time to go to the Vodafone Arena where we started to prepare and set up all of the equipment and cameras for tomorrow night’s first day of the mission. It was going to be an exciting next 24 hours!
 
Day 1
It definitely was a big day for the Living Ministry Media team as we were told that our flight to Nadi, Fiji would be delayed for several hours – due to a faulty temperature sensor. After getting on and getting off the plane, we eventually took off and then spent the next 4 hours stuck inside the plane, tired of all the delays, but we finally made it to Fiji and were welcomed by friendly staff saying repeatedly to us “Bula!”
 
As soon as we touched down we were amazed at how warm the climate was, we then retrieved our luggage and made our way through Customs.
 
As we eagerly went through Customs, one of the Customs staff told us to stop and explain why we had so much luggage. Andrew didn’t understand what the issue was, but they finally told us that we had too much professional equipment and they could not let it into Fiji. They told us that they would have to confiscate all our luggage and on Monday during office hours we would have to come back and apply for a permit and organise a broker to get the equipment back. It all sounded like a lot of complicated issues that could seriously jeopardise the mission. We were all shocked and in disbelief that this could be happening. It took a lot of convincing from Andrew (together with several phone calls from local church authorities) to explain to the Customs staff what all of the camera equipment was for, but finally, through God’s grace, they let us have our equipment and we were free to leave.
 
We would like to thank God for helping us during this amazing experience – without His help and protection, 7 remote sites in Fiji would most likely not have had the opportunity to hear Pastor Gary Webster's mission and ultimately to get to know God.