We are now officially ‘YWAM-ers’ :o) The Discipleship Training School has ended and we are settling back to life on the base. We had a fantastic graduation ceremony on Wednesday 12th August. What an adventure these last 5 months have been!
At the end of July the lecture phase ended and the outreach phase began. The requirements for outreach are 30 hours per week of ‘outward’ cross-cultural ministry (this includes serving, evangelism and working with local churches), as well as 15 hours per week of team ministry (such as prayer, worship and encouraging one another).
Bula! We are now 7 weeks into our Discipleship Training School and wanted to give you all an update on how things are going. We hit the ground running after Vanuatu and found ourselves living with 8 fellow students (2 Fijians, 1 Indo-Fijian. 1 Aussie, 1 Brit, 2 Danes and 1 US), 2 of the staff members and 7 of their children. Some have compared it to the Big Brother house without the cameras. Thankfully there haven’t been any evictions so far.
Joining us on our outreach were the National Office Leader of YWAM Fiji and his family. Not long after the news of the Vanuatu cyclone damage he received a phonecall requesting assistance from RescueNet’s National Coordinator, Mark Cockburn. RescueNet is yet another branch of YWAM, existing solely to provide disaster relief in situations such as this. They had decided to lend their efforts towards helping the people of Vanuatu in the immediate aftermath of the category 5 cyclone.
Initially Mark had requested only a place to stay overnight and some assistance acquiring medicines to take to Vanuatu, but when he heard that we had medical personnel available he asked if any would be prepared to join them as they were rather short on doctors for this trip. We met for breakfast the next morning and were briefed on the details. For those not already aware, disaster relief is an area Dani has been interested in for some time, so no prizes for guessing how long it took for her to decide! I was also keen to help wherever possible and another emergency doctor on our outreach, Fen Moy, jumped on board also. Before we knew it we had less than 24 hours to return to Lautoka, pack our bags and medicines, book our tickets and get to the airport… Continue reading A Series of Unexpected Events→
A big thank you to everyone who has supported us this last month, we’ve so very much appreciated all your encouraging thoughts and prayers! It has truly been a bit of a whirlwind 🙂
Barely having surfaced from the daze of jet lag we found ourselves on our second international team outreach. During the briefing we had Mike, an Australian mental health nurse working in Fiji come to talk to us. The statistics for depression and suicide are pretty shocking, with Fiji having the 3rd highest rate of suicide in the world. It is an immense task to change attitudes and provide care when people still see these illnesses as being the result of evil spirits. Continue reading Blown Away!→
So we arrived back in Fiji two days ago. A ‘slight’ adjustment in temperature was in order but it feels good to be back.
We’ve had a blessed couple of months in the UK and were hugely lifted by the support and interest we’ve received for our work in Fiji. So we’d like to take the opportunity to thank everybody who has given us encouragement – emotionally, spiritually and practically.
We’re hitting the ground running: the next international outreach starts tomorrow so apart from getting over jet lag and we’ve been lending a hand to the final preparations. Over the next fortnight we will be heading to two villages: one Fijian village in the interior which is surrounded by other small hill villages accessible only by horseback, and another Indo-Fijian village on the coast.
Due to frustrating ongoing registration issues for Marine Reach’s other dentist Rowena, Ali will be the only dentist during this outreach. We would particularly appreciate prayer for energy as we work as well as love and unity within the team. We are expecting to be able to deliver some exciting/inspiring/moving stories on our return!
Yup, it feels like rainy season is finally here – this week we’ve been in between rain and heavy humidity. It really saps your energy, making it a mystery how Ali has continued to focus on work at the computer while a fan distributes hot air around the room.
Fortunately we spent most of this week out and about. On Monday we travelled to Nadi to meet with a couple from the New Zealand Rotary Club. They have been coming to Fiji for years and run an eye surgery mission in Taveuni, an island to the north-east. They provide free treatment, mainly cataract surgery, which allows hundreds of people each year to see again. Marine Reach has worked with them for many years, providing a referral service for people in remote areas. It was good to connect face-to-face and discuss how we can help one another. Continue reading Humid Beings→
We started with some outreach prep work, staff meetings and for Dani a couple of visits to the hospital (a pastor from a village asked her to visit one of the young men who was in ICU following a serious head injury).
On Wednesday we returned to Nagado for the purpose of following up on some of the patients who had presented with various benign lumps and skin lesions. We set up a mini surgical operating clinic and Dani spent the day wielding a scalpel with the help of Ali, Ane, Ben and Kaba as assistants, light holders, steriliser and translators. It was also Ali’s first time driving the beast that is the medical truck over the hilly dirt roads. We all survived 🙂
Holding the gauze is a very important job, you know.
We were sad to say goodbye to Richard & Thelma Dingle this week, but we had fun at their leaving lovo where we got to eat some very tasty food and see some island dancing.
This week we travelled to Natawa, a village of approximately 70 people located in the Nausori Highands. The team included Bjarte (Marine Reach’s Medical Co-ordinator/nurse/truck-driver and all-round funny guy), Ben (master of Fijian village protocol), Rowena (acting dental assistant/ storyteller/evangelist) and Grace (gap year student/translator).
Well, it’s been nearly three weeks since the outreach team departed and life has gone on. After closing up the clinic on the Wednesday we all visited a local school for some health & dental education, and for once Dani and I got to do this together! We handed out a load of toothbrushes and toothpaste for them to take home and in turn the children treated to us to a selection of songs in Fijian and English. Pretty good lungs for their size!
