Earthquake

Hey all, If you all heard about the earthquake that we had not far from here, we are all safe and didn't feel a thing. We will have a new blog for you in a little while but wanted to get on real quick and let you know that we are all safe and well.

Continued thanks for your concerns and prayers,
Marcus

Monday Day 3

It’s a good morning here in Fiji. After 2 days of getting acclimated and enjoying the fellowship of our group and the folks here at Holmes of Hope, it is now Monday morning in Fiji and we are gearing up for a full work day.

Our main project this week will be to help finish out the S.P.A. (specific, personalized attention) house. This will be a counseling center here at HOH that will allow the ladies to receive help for individualized spiritual healing. We will attempt to finish the roof and paint it inside and out.

Proverbs 18:14 reads (KJV) The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit, who can bear?

I am so grateful that God will be using us this week to work on the S.P.A. where these ladies will be able to find the healing for their wounded spirits. Please pray for these women, their children, the staff and the pastors here at Homes of Hope. Continue to pray for our team and again we thank you for making this possible.

God Bless you

Jason Clark

Sunday Day 2

Hello Mission and COC,

What an amazing journey God has sent our group on. We attended church this morning in the city and were able to worship with the local people here in Fiji. The spirit is so alive and present here. After church we got lunch to go and took it to the sea wall to eat it. While we were there we witnessed pastors from one of the local churches praying with one of their members on the shore, and taking him right into the ocean and baptizing him. What an awesome thing to be able to see. We took a very long hike through the jungle as a group in search of a waterfall. After what seemed like forever, we finally came to this beautiful spring in the middle of the jungle. As we walked underneath the waterfall, the force of the water coming down was so powerful and majestic; I was reminded of how great our God is.

The women of Homes of Hope have been so good to our group. It is such a joy to see the smiles on all of their faces as we get a chance to interact and spend time with them. They are so appreciative of all of us being here and further expanding the campus, but most importantly sharing the love of Christ as members of one body. It is humbling being able to serve the Lord in this capacity. Thanks to everybody who has made this trip possible through your prayers, and support. A very special thanks to all the family members we left behind to take care of our families. We truly could not do it without all of you.

Paul Cicero

Romans 12:9-13

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil: cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Saturday - Day 1

Hello Mission and COC,

Tony Howe here, just an opening letter to let you know we landed and with just a few hiccups, we arrived with everything we packed. A Bible verse was given to me by a friend, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from the darkness for the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1).” This is what we came to do with God’s power and your support we have literally put boots on the ground. We are moving as the body of Christ to support these girls and this ministry.

While we sat at LAX, Pastor Mat asked each of us about our expectations and the overwhelming response was to serve God and these women in whatever way God saw fit. The key is that unanimously we wanted to do this WITHOUT expectations. We, Team Fiji (COC and Mission) have come with a heart to serve. We’ve come to serve the Lord. We’ve come to spread the light. We’ve come to help build his Kingdom. We’ve come because you cared enough to send us. Keep HOH, the leaders, the girls and the teams in your prayers. Thank you for your gifts and prayers, both are necessary to continue the work that we started. What started as a vision has grown into a reality with support spreading like wildfire. God’s will is being done on earth as it is in heaven. We love you all and thank you.

To God be the glory,
Tony

p.s. here is a little something from my first trip journal entries.
Being here I’m unsure of my level of faith. “ I want what they have” is what consumes my thoughts… I am hungry to be fed and I’m finding food. I am searching for my path and I’m being led. I’m looking through the dark and finding the light. I’m looking for redemption and I’m truly finding my redeemer.

Hey all, Tony had several more pictures for me to post for you all but the internet connection is not permitting this to happen right now. I will attemt to post the pictures he had for me in the morning. Sorry about that... Marcus.

Airport Sushi ...

Hey people ... we are having a blast so far. In about an hour we'll board our flight to Fiji from LAX. I'm sitting across from Tony Howe having an all out battle on who can finish their airport sushi first. I'm winning bigtime. We're very excited about the trip!

Please pray for a slight luggage complication. Our shade screen materials didn't make it from Phoenix ... and Air Pacific is enforcing a carry-on bag weight restriction that none of us were aware of so ...

Anyway, at 11:30 we'll take off over the Pacific. It's a 12 hour flight to Nadi Airport where we'll arrive at 5:10 am on Saturday morning. From there we'll take a half-hour bumper flight to Suva where we'll be picked up and brought to Wai Loco.

Anyway, I love and miss Misty, Rylin, Emmy, and Hunter! The Balgaard's are awesome!!!

Thanks for following. We'll post again as soon as we can!

FOR HIM!