Day 4

This is written by Gina DeSon with a little help from Haley and Christina

James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

These last four days have been somewhat of a trial for some of us, but a blessing none the less and all of us have grown in our perseverance. Personally, I walk outside and I feel like I am drinking water when i am in fact breathing the air; I feel like walls are closing in around me, making it hard to concentrate on my mission here. I know that many of us feel the same, but we are trying not to focus on the hardships but instead focus on what we are here to accomplish.
This morning we started out with a quick breakfast so we could get a move on to church. We attended church at the Emmanuel worship Centre, a Pentecostal church lead by Pastor Paula Ragede. For most of us, it was not a traditional church service, the worship was moving, to say the least. It was extremely upbeat and every single person was dancing with the joy of the holy spirit. By the end of the worship time most people were wailing and/or shouting praise. One lady in particular was so moved by the holy spirit that she was laid down on the ground seizing; slain in the spirit. Being the first sunday of the month, we took communion reminding us of Jesus' gift of eternal life. After communion, we were up to sing. We sang "Praise His Holy" ( Karl and Kevin sounded like angels), "Give Me Jesus," and "Revelation 19;" and in the words of Flem "we preached through song." I know that at least one person was touched by our singing which is what makes the heat and the sweat worth it. Soon after church was over, we caravanned over to Pastor Paula Ragede's house for lunch made by his wife. It was a traditional Fijian meal with fish, chicken, corn beef, kasava, bread fruit, pineapple, etc. Most of us quite enjoyed the meal and we are all very grateful to the time that they all spent preparing it for us. After lunch we sat around and talked and sang songs; Pastor Paula and Pastor Dean answered our questions about their pentecostal church traditions. Christina's favorite part was the dog named Troy who ran around trying to eat our food and sniff us (while I found that unimportant, Christina thought it was a moving part of the day). We gave our gifts to Pastor Paula, including 2008-2009 Chamber Chorale CD's, youth ministry books, marriage books/DVD's, and Bill Gaither music. At 5:30 we loaded the bus again for church at Christian Mission Fellowship of Fiji. We expected something much like this morning, but we were pleasantly surprised when the "Youth of Fiji" performed some dances for the congregation. I loved the dancing and I thought it was a wonderful to worship the Lord in a different way other than singing. We sang Praise Holy Name (Tony and Alec rocked their solos), Great Divide ( Gina, Lauren F, Missy and Carly did an awesome job), "Create in Me" (Troy, the human, dominated his solo), and we all owned it in "Give Me Jesus." After church we headed for a healthy dinner at McDonalds and then back to the hotel for some R&R.

We would also like everyone to keep Travis in their prayers, he hasnt been feeling well today. He stayed at the hotel for our second church service with a fever and a stomach ache. He has take antibiotics and we all pray that he gets better for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are heading out for an early morning to an island for a day of fun. We will be snorkeling, kayaking, jet skiing, parasailing, and even sky diving (keep those in your prayers). I know Mrs. Fleming has been looking forward to this day and is definitely in need of some relaxation.

And thats it for now, talk to you all soon. Hope all is well at home :)