Day 6 Fiji 2010

BULA from hot and humid Fiji! It is amazing to be back at Homes of Hope reconnecting with so many of the moms and children and meeting many new faces. A couple days before our departure I asked the Lord for a vision of the person he wants me to minister. The Lord answered and I saw a medium colored pink with light pink tapestry and knew it was a beautiful Indian girl he wanted me to speak with. Of course at the time I did not know who she was … so I asked Lord, what would you have me say to her? He said tell her about me. So, on Monday I saw the girl, Ashifa, from my vision as she was wearing the exact same colors. I prayed and asked God to confirm and give me the words to speak to her. Yesterday after Uni, a bible study for the moms, I got the opportunity to speak with this beautiful 16 year old girl that last year would use Uni as sleep time. This year she is chasing after her young son, but not missing a word that is spoken with her eyes fixed on us … almost hanging on every word that is spoken through the Holy Spirit. We talked for a little bit about who Jesus is and that he is the one and only God that came to set us free from our pasts. I knew the Lord would use that conversation, but then later that night at Cell, their Wednesday night church service, Ashifa really opened up. She shared some of her story with me … the hurts, abuse, confusion, uncertainty. I told her about the vision the Lord gave me and said; “the Lord has big plans for you, Ashifa. He wants you to know and trust him completely and solely.” After all, out of all the people the Lord could have point out … HE PICKED YOU! The Lord knew not to show me Ashifa’s face in the vision because she was so disengaged last year that I may have been less willing to believe she was the one he had pointed out. (Father, forgive me of my flesh!) But there has been change in Ashifa over the past year, an openness to the Lord that was not there a year ago. She told me she borrows a Bible from other girls to read. Upon the approval of the leaders here on the campus, we will be leaving behind one of the Bibles funded by COC specifically addressed to Ashifa. Please raise her up in prayer that Ashifa would receive the fullness of God’s salvation!

~Courtney~

P.S. Thank you for all your prayers for restored health, yesterday I was back up and at ‘em PRAISE THE LORD! Keep lifting Rob up in prayer, as he trusts the Lord to heal and RESTORE his full health and strength. He feels somewhat better, but needs our prayer warriors to intercede on his behalf, please.

Day 5 Fiji

Hi everyone! Just wanted to post one more update today on the team overall. Thanks to Rob for sharing in the blog below today, check it out. As I type there is a 1 and a half year old on my lap. She's super cute. Today we woke up a little later than normal since Pastor Mat had spent the night in another village to minister to them. ;) We did devotions and got to work. I did a lot of laundry and dishes and kept the guest house tidy. Rob put everyone to work and went to lay down to try to get over the stomach issues going on. Courtney is feeling 100% better today. It just took a lot of rest yesterday and last night. Carrie was feeling a little sick but she's doing pretty well. Ray has spent the day working on the contruction project of the guesthouse with the Fijian guys. Chris, Carrie and Brian are laying tile in the school house. Courtney spent the morning herding the kids and painting their nails. :) Dorothy and Nancy spent the afternoon helping a homeless woman who comes to the campus periodically for showers and clean clothes. Nancy had to cut her skirt off as the zipper was rusted shut. She had probably been in those clothes for 6 months! They helped her shower and pick out some new clothes and they combed her hair and cut her nails. My hear was touched at their servants hearts. Truly living the gospel just like Christ intended. We spent the afternoon in Uni, short for University, which is a Bible study. Courtney led again and the girls seemed to be touched. We are having a wonderful time so far. Please cover us in prayer that there will be NO MORE sickness. God is good.
-Heather Comforty-

Day 5 Fiji

Bula from Fiji! Our fifth day here and we are making progress on the guesthouse! We have been able to connect with some of the moms, for some it is a reunion and there are many new faces. The Lord gave me a word for one of the Moms that turned out to be real blessing to her! On the plane trip from Nada to Suva while I was praying I saw a vision of Salote (One of the girls that came to Homes of Hope just before our last trip/ not the Salote that visited us at COC). I saw her pretty face with a white flower in her hair. At that time I didn’t understand why I saw her while I was praying, but at service on Sunday I saw her and told her I had something to tell her but didn’t know what it was. I told her about the vision and said I would pray to God to show me what he wanted to say to her. She is beautiful and very quiet, she was eager to hear what the LORD had to say! The next morning I had another vision of Salote, so later that night Courtney and I told her I what I saw. I explained that as I was praying I became filled with emotion. The Lord told me she had dedicated herself to God and he was very pleased with her. I won’t share the vision, as it was very personal to her. When I shared the vision she started to cry and said she had become discouraged and sort of dead inside. We prayed for her and the next day at dinner she said she had become very encouraged! She told me God’s presence fell in her morning prayer in a way she hadn’t felt for a while. She said it was like she had been reborn.

Isa. 39:31 “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”

-Rob

P.S. Please pray for our team! Some of our team has been suffering from fevers, night sweats and vomiting. Pastor Mat went to get his arm checked out as he thought it might have been broken, but it was not. I myself am probably suffering from Dehydration.

Day 4 Fiji 2010

Day 4...The men are hard at work laying brick and concrete for the guesthouse. It's 9 am here and they're already hard at it. Pastor Mat fell yesterday and is headed to the hospital for x-rays on his arm. We are all praying it's not broken, please join us in prayer. But he's in good spirits and we know that God is going to use him wherever He needs him this week, as with all of us. Courtney seems to have some sort of stomach bug as well and is resting in faith of her healing. Please pray for her as well and that the rest of the team stays in good health.
Mere and Bre, two of the little girls, just joined me and are going to help me write my blog this morning. :) Courtney and i spent the day yesterday with all the kids as they are on holiday from school and their moms are still working. I can tell all that last night we were more tired than the day before when we were laying brick. Courtney led us all in Uni (short for university, basically a Bible study) yesterday. It was an amazing time with the women here and Court did an awesome job. We spent the evening planting cabbage in the garden here. It was an amazing quite time and one of the mothers actually rededicated her life to Christ right there on the hill!
Fiji is the most beautiful place I've ever seen. It doesn't compare to anything I've seen in any movie. We've been here 3 days and i still catch myself drifting off and starting at the hillside. But there's a darkness here that you can feel...these women and children have been through unbelievable injustices and suffered things we cannot fathom. This campus is a ray of light for these women. They have so little here and are so thankful for the blessings that they have been given. It makes me appreciate my own blessings, but also makes me realize how much of the world is so desperately in need. I'm so thankful that I am able to be a part of this...I only wish I could do more.
-Carrie-

Day 2 Fiji 2010

Happy Mother's Day moms we love you. Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day in Fiji. It was a blessed day. Several of us gave our testimonies at Sunday service It was God moving. Later that evening several of us were honored when a woman here at Homes of Hope, Salote, invited us to go with her to Suva to visit with her mother. That was a huge blessing for me and while I was there I was able to pray for her mother to get a job. Thank you God in advance because if we ask anything in your name we will receive.
-Dorothy-