Friday, June 13, 2008

First day in Fiji!

Hi everyone,
We made it safely to Fiji! It was a very long day of travelling... we left Minneapolis at 1:10, and got to LA at 3:30 (5:30 central time), and then had to wait until 7:30 to check our bags in, and then our flight to Fiji didn't leave until 11:30 (1:30 central)! The flight was delayed one hour, and it was about an 11-hour trip to Fiji. The flight had plenty of movies to watch, and we could also play games on the video screens in front of our seats, so that was fun. We slept as much as we could too, because we got into Fiji around 6am Fiji time, and then tried to stay up for the full day.
Our first day here was very rainy, which made it quite relaxing. We brought Daniel to kindergarten, and then went to the market with Aunty Joy. The open market was fun to see. The rest of the day we mostly rested, visited, and practiced at the house. The rain was really coming down hard, and we weren't sure how it would be today, but when we woke up this morning, the sun was shining in. The sky is a beautiful clear blue with not a cloud in sight! This morning we will go to the "Old Folks Home" which is actually what the name of the place is... to help a lady from their church get fitted for an artificial leg. After that, I think we're going to enjoy this beautiful weather, and go to the beach- I hope so anyway!
Fiji is so beautiful, there are many flowers and flowering trees in the yard here. Daniel loves to go out each morning and get the flowers that have just fallen from the tree, and he likes to give them to me which I love! He's a very cuddly 3-year-old, who loves it when we play with him, listen to him, read to him, or play our music. Caleb and Litia are away this weekend for a single's retreat for the churches around here. And Joshua(12)just got some roller-blades from a friend, and is rolling around the house trying to get used to them. :)
Things are very relaxed here, and everyone is so friendly, but we have to lock things up each night because things get stolen often here, it's just a fact of life. There is a lot of corruption, too. We were hearing about how corrupt the police are, if you don't pay them, they will watch your house be broken into and do nothing about it. Auntie Joy and Uncle Chen might be sued for not paying a sub-contractor who worked on their house renovations, but it was the contractor's responsibility to pay the sub-contractor, it's been 5 years and he still hasn't paid them.
The prayer request that sticks out right now is that a friend from New Zealand's two sons were both arrested for their part in a robbery and murder there, all for some alcohol. Their mother is a Christian, but the boys are not, and she is distraught. So, please pray for their salvation, and for the whole situation.
And pray for us giving a concert tomorrow night at the church here. 4 churches are invited, but there is no way of knowing if there will be lots of people, or only a few because of the holiday weekend. Pray that those who are meant to be there would come, and that the Lord would guide us as we select which songs we will do, and what we will share during that time. Thanks!

1 comment:

online@kolbrek.com said...

A&A - Loved hearing what's going on with you. We are looking forward to seeing photos. It sounds beautiful. We miss you. Love, J&T, Elena, Anders, Keely and Brynn Rose