September 2009
Dear Friends, Brethren and Family
Bula (greetings) from Fiji land.
KNOTES FROM KATHY
Hey guys,
Now I know I'm OLD! All pretense of being still "young" is gone. ;0)
The 4th was my b/d and I completed my 60th year. I'm on this side of the dirt
so I have no complaints. I never thought that I'd be this old. Some many things
that the Lord has brought me through to number. Let's just say I'm very grateful
for His watch care over me.
Tobey and I went to Suva the first weekend in September. He had been asked
to speak at a youth gathering on the subject of dating and a view toward marriage.
It was for the Rawaqa congregation. We really enjoyed the kids. Afterward during
"supper" (tea, coffee, sandwiches and sweets) our Anna here must have
told her sister Nancy there in Suva that it was my b/d. They had a cake for
me, and gifts of necklaces and sang "Happy Birthday" to me. It was
such a great feeling to be remembered my our brothers and sisters here.
We met a retired Major who spoke about how to keep out of prison (he works
with the prisons now). He was very interested in Tobey's BCC's aimed at prisoners.
He will talk to his superiors about getting it going and let Tobey know if they
want him to go and met with them. The Lord works in some strange ways! Please
pray for this effort.
Next day we went to town and bought a new vacuum. Ours had died that week when
Tobey was cleaning out the car before we were to leave. He worked on the old
one for a couple of hours and declared it dead. Hence the new one. We walked
around for a while there and Tobey got a couple of Bula shirts (it was Father's
Day here) and I got a tie-dye top. We went on out to Cost-U-Less (warehouse
store kinda like Wal-mart) and looked at everything. Bought things that never
get over to the westside. We tried to get a new price list so that we could
order on line (they deliver on Wed if you get the order in on Monday). It always
helps to know what they have and the price before you order! There is a McDonald's
next to Cost-U-Less (that's because USP - University of South Pacific is across
the road) so got a sundae and went make to the hotel. Later that afternoon,
between rain squalls, we walked back downtown to Pizza Hut for pizza. Suva has
it all! Actually Nadi, just 15 kms away has both of them as well. We just hardly
ever go in to Nadi since our PO Box is in Lautoka the other way.
Sunday morning it was still raining, we worshipped with the group in Nadera,
suburb of Suva. Ledua and Sera, who we have known since they went to Bible school
in NZ in 1986, worship there. Sera let me help with the children's class and
the brother who was to preach was more than willing to let Tobey take his turn.
Romans 15:1-7 was the subject. All were encouraged to help his brother/sister
in their walk with God.
They had a wonderful meal afterward of Fiji dishes, so we ate and left just
before 2 pm. It rained, sometimes poured, all the way back to Vuda (4 hours).
Over 95% of the cars had no headlights on, none of the buses or trucks had lights
and they wonder how they can cut down on head-on collisions! Duh! We had filled
the car up in Sigatoka (about half way to Suva) on the way over. On our way
back it was raining so hard in Suva that we thought we could fill up at Pacific
Harbor (tourist area with several hotels) about an hour out of Suva. Wrong!
There are two stations there - one had no petrol and the other one only had
diesel. So we pushed on and made it back to Sigatoka with a liter to spare.
Whew!
Anyway that was our weekend. A lot to be thankful for. The dogs were happy
to see us and Malika (down at the general store) was glad we made it home safely.
Love to you all,
Kathy
LIFE IN WARP SPEED
Have you ever had one of those months or years where you wake up or just realize,
"Where has all the time gone?" It was only the other day that I was
40. Then on September 17th I woke up to find out that I am now 61 years young.
I know just a pup to many of you but I have earned every one of these years.
This month did really seem to go by rather quickly like warp speed on Star Wars.
There are many reasons for keeping busy - hang on the surf is up - grab the
train it's a comin' by - wow! When I do slow down for a moment and relax in
my recliner, it's bye bye land in about 5 minutes. I have become the poster
boy for power naps. It has allowed me to be in the condition I am in (save for
lacking the cranium fur). At least I still have my health (cough, cough)!
As Kathy mentioned I was asked to speak in Suva and that was fun (the drive
back and forth was not). We were also able to see and catch-up with brethren
we have know for many years.
This past month was Ramadhan for the Muslums (fasting during the daylight for
meditation and the hope that Allah might forgive one's sins) and now the Eid
where they reward themselves for the fasting they did and their commitment to
Allah (they feast, exchange gifts, spend time socializing with extended family
and community and visiting the sick and offering prayers for the deceased).
We are now also entering the Hindu holidays of Diwali. Fiji kind of has the
flavor of Athens with all the different religions competing. They celebrate
ALL the different religious holidays here in Fiji so as not to offend anyone.
On Monday on the way back home from Lautoka I was run off the road by a big
SUV that pulled out to pass a bus that was coming out on the highway. He came
out of nowhere and was in my space. Even I know two objects of the same mass
cannot occupy the same space. I had to swerve to the right off the highway (across
the other lane of traffic since we drive on the left side here) on the edge
where there was gravel, grass and raintrees. I managed to drive out, missing
the large raintree and back on the road but left a large cloud of debris. There
was no thought of stopping (would have just slide into the trouble) and I am
thankful for the times I watched NASCAR and was able to gun it through. The
SUV? no problem he just kept on trucking. He didn't think HE had to give way.
After all he was 4 times my size!
HOUSE BUILDING CONTINUES
Last month I showed you pictures of the tile floor. Since then we have been
able to get the kitchen sheet rocked, taped, mudded and painted and the cabinets
installed. Due to the higher cost of sheet rock we went ahead and put masonite
board for the ceiling and walls in the rest of the house. I wanted sheet rock
in the kitchen for the fire resistance.
kitchen
The masonite just needs to be painted, as of today. The electrician never showed
back up to finish the wiring so I did all the wiring back to the meter box and
now it is all covered up with walls and ceiling. Since I am not licensed as
an electrician here in Fiji, Josh will have to get someone else to sign off
on the installation. I grouted the tile in the kitchen and bedrooms (and boy
did I sweat doing that and the knees ain't what they use to be!) but still have
to do the living area which has until now been our work area. Another area of
"lack of" here in Fiji is the "lack of" pre-made trim to
finish off the walls and ceiling corners. So I am in the middle of making all
the corner round and baseboard trimming which will then have to be primered
and then painted. Josh was able to build and complete the shower-toilet block
beside the house also. The septic is two (yes, I said just two) 44 gallon drums
buried next to the shower-toilet block. Josh was digging outside the house yesterday
trying to find the water connection so he could run the water pipe to the house.
It seems that after the last people left (leaving only a partial foundation)
someone stole the water meter and the neighbor crimped off the leaking pipe
because it was flooding his front yard. Josh dug up enough ground to bury a
reasonably large person but found no water connection. He will keep digging!
looking for water 
shower toilet block
WEATHER and THE CONSEQUENCES
This month we have had a couple of days of heavy rain fall but mostly it has
been cool at night and humid in the daytime. When we have heavy rain on Saturday
night and Sunday morning, services sometimes have to be cancelled due to the
conditions because most of the brethren have a hard time getting transport.
This includes Josh and his family having to get to the market in Lautoka and
then get a bus out to Sabeto. So September 13th we had to cancel services. We
are fortunate that we have a number of kids with the Sabeto congregation.
Lex (Bola's son) and Kathy (Josh's daughter) hiding in a bush after services at Bola's house
High humidity (80-90%) also meant that while working at Josh's house I have
sweat on the average several gallons of sweat per day. It is so bad that I have
to change clothes before I come home so I don't soak the cloth car seats. On
the positive side it has allowed me to still wear my 34 inch waisted pants.
USE OF THE UNDERGRADUATE BIBLE COURSES
Jab Mesa and the Melanesian Bible College in Papua New Guinea are looking ways
to use our Undergraduate Courses from the Christian Institute of Biblical Studies
for the English speaker students they have. As of last month we have two people
here in Fiji who have shown an interest in enrolling in the course. We had our
first graduate of the "Studies in the Scriptures" BCC which is 41
lessons. Even living here we are having a time contacting her so we can present
the certificate in person and talk with her. The courses are by mail and finding
where they live is a challenge even when they give a phone number. Many have
phone numbers but due to non payment have been disconnected.
HEALTH CONCERNS
This month has seem a couple of our bestest friends having health situations,
I mentioned that when we visited Vanuatu in June that Morris Felix had to have
part of his foot cut off due to infection. Well, in early September he had to
have his left leg cut off just above the knee due to further infection. His
son Stephen called the other night and said they had finally sewed the amputated
area up(after over 3 weeks in the hospital) as the infection seems to have been
contained. This is going to be very difficult for Morris because he is a village
man and has a cattle farm. Wheelchair accessibility is non-existent in Vanuatu.
Steve said they were getting a wheelchair from New Caledonia for Morris. Pray
for continue healing and stamina for Morris and his family.
The other health situation occurred with Yusi Miopa in PNG. Jab sent out an
email saying that Yusi has been taken to the Lae hospital with a suspected stroke.
He also said that Yusi's village family was after Yusi's wife, Marika, to do
grave injury to her (payback) because they suspected she caused the stroke.
Jab helped Marika get on a bus out of town. Jab then wrote back and said the
doctors finally decided that Yusi probably had a bad case of gastritis. Yusi
has been a tireless worker for the Lord's kingdom since his conversion in 1975.
Yusi was converted during one of our first campaigns into the Chimbu area of
PNG when we started our work in 1975. When we moved to Kundiawa in 1976 it was
Yusi who lived in the room under our house and helped us. He traveled with me
throughout the area visiting the churches as my translator in the local dialects.
He was the one who took Terasa to kindergarten and picked her up and brought
her home most days. When we went back on furlough in 1977 Joe Cannon and the
Lae congregation talked Yusi into moving to Lae to work there. He became a full
time evangelist for them. When we were in Vanuatu in 1998 we had Yusi and his
family come over and work in Vanuatu for a year with the local ni-Van people
and the people there fell in love with him and his family. We thank God for
his watching over Yusi, as he is family to us!
SUNDAY MORNING CLASSES
Recently I have been teaching from the book of Romans on Sunday mornings. This
past week I taught on Romans 15:22-33 which had helped to bring into perspective
our frustrations on the establishment of The Christian Institute of Biblical
Studies here in Fiji as we have envisioned it. Here are some of the thoughts:
"Paul's Personal Goals - Text: Romans 15:22-33
Among God's people are dreamers. They see the challenge of opportunity, not
the dread of problems. They see needs, not threats. They envision the joy of
victory, not the cost of defeat. They are the visionaries who always are moving
toward the distant horizon. No matter what they have done, they are always restless,
always ready to advance toward a new goal. At times these people are not easy
to be with, but they always should be easy to rejoice with.
Paul was such a man. Read 2 Corinthians 11:22-33. "Paul, was not one lashing
from the Jews enough? Or one beating with rods? Was it not enough to be shipwrecked
once? Or to go to prison once? Was it not enough to place yourself in danger
just one time? Or be physically deprived of necessities just once? Was it not
enough to have the care and concern of just two young congregations on you?
Why go and begin additional new congregations who will look to you for guidance
in trying times?"
Wonder how Paul would answer such questions? "It is a part of my commitment.
If the price of others knowing about Christ is my physical discomfort, it is
worth the price. I do not invite trouble or look for trouble. Yet, you need
to realize that when you seek to rob Satan of anyone, you can expect trouble.
Why do you think personal trouble is too big a price to pay to advance God's
kingdom?"
Paul had never been to Rome when he wrote this letter (verse 22). He had intended
to visit, but things kept getting in the way. He planned to visit them, but
not to stay. Why? Was there no spiritual need, no work to do in Rome? Obviously
just from the information contained in this letter spiritual need existed and
there was much work to be done. Then why not go to Rome and work? That work
simply did not fit his personal criteria in his personal ambitions.
Now Spain, there was the place! It had lots and lots of people who had never
heard of Jesus Christ, and there was not a single congregation of Christians
there. He had exhausted possibilities of virgin territory in Macedonia and Achaia.
His plans were to take a contribution from gentile congregations in those areas
to Jerusalem to aid Jewish Christians in physical need ( 1 Cor 16:1,2), visit
the congregations in Rome, and then begin a new adventure by traveling to virgin
territories in and around Spain. Rome was merely to be a stop on his way to
Spain (verse 28).
Do not get the wrong impression of Paul. He did not work on a "convert
them and leave them" plan. When he began a congregation, evidence indicates
he stayed in contact with them (consider 1 Cor 1:11; Gal 1:6; and 1 Thess 1:6,
7). He stayed knowledgeable of what happened in them. At times he visited them
(consider Phile, verse 22). At times he received a report from someone who knew
them (consider Col 1:7-9). He wrote them and presumably received letters from
them (consider 1 Cor 7:1). He encouraged them to exchange his letters (consider
Colossians 4:15, 16). Evidently Paul did not feel free to go to a territory
that had never heard about Jesus Christ until he stabilized the new congregations
he began.
Years ago I heard Christians say that no one had the right to hear the gospel
twice until the whole world heard it once. That was not Paul's concept. For
example, he taught in the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus for three months until
synagogue attendees became hardened against his teaching (Acts 19:8, 9). Then
he began teaching every day in the school of Tyrannus for a period of two years
(Acts 19:9, 10). The result was that both Jews and non-Jews throughout the area
of Asia heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:10). Paul made certain that the
people he converted had opportunity to understand the significance of what he
taught them. He reminded the Christians at Corinth that some planted and some
watered, but it was God who gave life and growth to the seed (1 Cor 3:6).
Here are some insights. The first:
all our personal plans for God are subject to change. Paul planned to go to
Spain, but he never made it. When the people in Spain heard about Jesus Christ,
they did not hear about our Savior from Paul. The second:
because our intents are godly and will address a genuine spiritual need does
not mean they will happen. Paul was not going to Spain on a pleasure trip to
recover from all his hard work. He was going to Spain to teach about Jesus Christ
to people who had never heard about the Savior. While Paul did not plan to stay
in Rome and teach, Paul stayed in Rome and taught. He taught about Jesus Christ
in circumstances he did not envision for himself. The 'what' he planned to do
[teach about Jesus Christ to people who did not know him] did not change, but
the 'where' surely changed [that occurred in association with a prison and court
experiences, not in Spain]. As Christians, who we are does not change. Where
we are may unexpectedly change. Paul's intent was fine. The need was real. The
plan was need oriented. However, the situation did not go as Paul planned. Never
conclude if your plan for God does not work as you intended that it was wrong
to plan or intend something good. Let God use you regardless of what happens."
Our vision has not changed because we still see the need for a located Bible
School here in Fiji for the Islands. But until that vision expands with proper
funding we will allow the Lord to do the leading......... our dreams and plans
for CIBS can be found on our website.
We had a couple of gracious financial gifts this month which will help us through
the end of the year. One was from Singapore and another from Canada. Thank you
so much brethren!
As we head into the end of this year and the beginning of another we
would like to ask for special prayers for our financial needs. Budgets are being
made there and we are over here. If you, the congregation where you worship
or you personally, know of any source of finance which could help our future
needs we would appreciate it if you would talk to them on our behalf. We need
to secure an additional $1,000 per month to make up for lost support and needed
additional support for next year.
Again we appreciate and thank all of you who make it possible for us to be here and assist in the workings of the Kingdom of God here in the South Pacific. Your prayers and support are a God-send in times we feel we are but spinning our wheels.
Your seed sowing workers in the Kingdom.
.
Tobey & Kathy