Rope Swinging and Trusting God

This past Thursday we had our first Connexion meeting with the students!  This is Student Life's weekly meeting.  It was so fun to see the our team work together with the student leaders to put this night together!  It was full of fun games, worship music, a vision for Student Life being cast by my co-leader, Dave, the Cha-Cha-Slide, me sharing how the Lord called me to Fiji, and 300 chocolate chip cookies (they were gone in 5 minutes...students were stuffing them in their backpacks!)!  There were about 84 students to attended this first meeting and it was a blast!  What a sweet glimpse of what this year is going to hold!

Me sharing my story!

The guys leading the Cha-Cha-Slide!

This past weekend we took a few students and went to the Colo-I-Suva National Park!  It was incredible!  I connect so well with the Lord through nature, so it was such an amazing time to spend a day surrounded by beautiful waterfalls, flowers, trees, birds (I saw a parrot!), and centipedes (well maybe not so much...but the one we saw was pretty impressive...longer than my foot!).  We had the opportunity to rope swing over a natural swimming hole 30ft above the water before letting go!  It was incredible...definitely something I would do everyday if I could! (although I'm still sore, and it was two days ago!).  

I was shaking so much before I made the jump!

Our team a few students who came with us!

God has been so faithful, and as we began another week today on campus, I am even more certain that His plan for the students at USP is incredible, and reaches far beyond anything we have yet imagined!  Today was a little frustrating due to the  fact that all 5 of my appointments with students were either canceled or did not show up, but the Lord still provided opportunities for me to reach out to other students, set up appointments for later this week, and trust that He is sovereign, and knows better than I do!  Please keep praying for us, and let me know how I can pray for you!

New Sisters in Christ!

Student Leaders Calling 1st year students!

The past few days of ministry have been incredible!  Yesterday I had the opportunity to join Nisa, a student leader in Student Life, as she met with a 1st year student, Vani.  Vani had said she was interested in growing in her relationship with Christ on the Student Life survey we passed out last week.  Nisa went through the Knowing God Personally Booklet with Vani (a really great tool we use with campus ministry to clearly explain the gospel).  The booklet ends by asking the student if she has ever asked Christ to come into her life, and if not, if she would like to.  At this point, Vani said yes!  She then prayed with me and Nisa and asked Christ to come into her heart!  What a humbling opportunity to see a student at USP lead another student to Christ!  

This appointment was followed by another one where Jenny and I got to see the Lord use us to lead three other students to Christ!  Then I was able to join Joyce (who just the day before had nervously called up this student!) with her appointment with a 1st year student.  It was so fun to see Joyce light up as she shared what Jesus did on the cross for us, and the opportunity we all have to ask Christ to come into our lives!  She explained it so well, and when she got to the end of the booklet, the student expressed a desire to ask Christ into her heart!  The joy on Joyce's face was so beautiful!  She gave me a huge hug afterwards, telling me how excited she felt that the Lord chose her to help lead someone into a personal relationship with Christ!  This was all only yesterday!  

Today, I met with a student, Zoe in the morning.  She has such a sweet heart and followed along so well as I went through the Knowing God Personally booklet.  When I got to the end she told me that she had not yet opened up her heart to the Lord, but she wanted to do it today!  I got to pray with her as she asked Christ into her life, and I am so excited to begin going through follow up with Zoe and see how she begins to grow in her relationship with God!  After this I had an appointment with Frances (pictured above in the purple shirt), and I was able to share the Gospel with her along with Latu (another student leader who wanted to learn how to share her faith with her friends!).  Frances asked some great questions, and when we got to the end of the booklet, she said she had never put her faith in Christ, but was not ready yet to make that decision.  I was so encouraged by her honesty!  She told me she was afraid that she would mess up and have to commit her life again.  I explained that once Christ enters your life, He will never leave, even when we mess up day after day!  I encouraged her to process it this week, and we set up a time to meet again next week.  Please be praying that God continues working in her heart!  

Finally, I was able to meet with another student today, Shareeza, who used to be a  muslim, but three years ago gave her life to Christ!  She is so excited to grow in her faith and learn how to share her faith with her muslim friends!  She is such a joy to be around, and I'm so excited to get to know her better this year!

Thank you so much for reading through all of this!  I know it's a ton, but it has been so incredible to see the Lord work in such amazing ways in the first 3 days we've been on campus!  Tomorrow night we're having our first Connexion meeting (the student life weekly meeting) from 6-7pm.  Dave, our team leader, is heading it up!  Please be praying for our team as we join together with the student leaders to put on this meeting!  Also, please be praying for students to come!  We're making 300 homemade chocolate chip cookies tonight for the meeting!  Thank you so much for your prayers!!!

What a Way to Start!

We headed onto campus today armed with over 700 1st year surveys (surveys from both men and women who are 1st years here at USP and had indicated that they desired to know more about the Lord)!  We sat down at the white tables (a well known spot where we will often be meeting with students this year) and began calling up the 1st year students!  Student Life students joined us throughout the day to take some surveys themselves to follow up.  I loved being able to witness both D and Joyce (1st year students involved in Student Life) go from being scared to death to make a phone call, to both picking up phones and speaking with different girls to see if they wanted to meet up and talk more about the Lord.  Joyce was able to set up an appointment for tomorrow at 2pm, please be praying!  I was so proud of them!  Joyce told me as she picked up the phone to dial the number of her first contact that she was so nervous, but she really felt God tugging at her heart to make the phone call!  


It was an incredible afternoon of seeing students step up to the plate and set up appointments with other students to prayerfully share the gospel with, but a highlight for me had to be the time I got to spend with Lavonne.  Lavonne is a 1st year students at USP and she was one of the last girls I called this afternoon.  She picked up right away and said she could meet immediately!  Within twenty minutes I saw a girl walking towards me with a huge smile on her face!  We sat down at the table and I began going through the Knowing God Personally Booklet (a booklet Campus Crusade for Christ uses to clearly explain the gospel).  As I went through the booklet, I saw her expression change from one of frustration and defeat (she told me she knew there was a God, but she couldn't keep from messing up) to one of understanding and joy.  When I got to the end she indicated to me that she had never before put her faith in Christ, but wanted to do so today!  I opened us up in prayer and then she quietly but sincerely prayed to receive Christ as her personal Lord and Savior!  There were tears in her eyes as I told her we were now sisters in Christ!  What a joy to be used by the Lord in that way!  I am so excited to see how the Lord grows my relationship with Lavonne as we begin meeting weekly to go through follow-up.  


Please be praying that the Lord continues blessing my team and the students involved in Student Life as we begin contacting these students who filled out surveys!  Pray for energy, strength and courage!

We Hit the Ground Running!

How Many Surveys?!

This past week, my team spent 4 days on the USP campus during orientation/registration!  During that time we saw the Lord bring in over 1700 surveys from students!  These students received a free gift bag from Student Life and were entered in to win one of 20 8GB flash drives, or 1 of 2 personal video players!

Each day we were joined by students who were leaders in the Student Life ministry here at USP.  It was so fun to get to work alongside these students and see their hearts grow for their peers at USP to come to know the Lord personally!  As the days went by, I found myself carrying my phone around with me because I kept running into students who were so excited to get involved in Student Life!  These were not only 1st year students, but many were continuing students who had not heard of Student Life before. I promised them that I will give them a call this week to let them know when our first meeting will be, and where it will be held!  One of the girls I met told me that she had received a bag from us earlier that week and had watched the Jesus Film DVD that was included in the bag multiple times!  She was really impacted by the movie and excited to become involved in Student Life so she can learn more about this Jesus that she saw depicted in the movie.  I am so excited to see how the Lord is going to equip us with the energy, and more people to follow-up with these students!  But what a great challenge to have :)

Students, D and Joyce helping us draw the 22 winners from the 1700 surveys!

This seemed like a good idea last week....

So after four long, yet incredible days meetings students at orientation, we thought it would be a great idea to invite the girls over for a sleepover before classes start Monday.  We definitely made this decision without realizing how exhausted we would all be by the time Friday rolled around.  But with the Lord's strength we found ourselves running into town to get dinner ingredients, throwing pizza bread in the oven, making coffee, setting out some of the valentines candy I received from my boyfriend, putting out the chocolate chip cookies we made the day before, and straightening up the apartment!  By early evening our house was filled with 6 fijian girls, all eating, checking their facebook pages on our laptops, talking to each other, or taking pictures.  We soon headed out to the pool and played some volleyball, then came back in to play a game together, watch the movie, "A walk to Remember," and hit the sack!  Or so I thought...apparently fijians do not eat a lot of sweets very often, and because of my sweet boyfriends generosity, they were all pretty hyped up on sugar!  Jenny, Kori and I crashed fairly early (1ish), but we later found out that the girls didn't fall asleep until nearly 5:30am!  Let's just say it was a stretching experience that was great in regards to getting to know the students, but definitely pushed the three of us to face cultural barriers head-on!  

 Just a glimpse of what this past Friday night was like in our apartment!

Outreach!

We joined the Yarawa Wesley Church for an outreach they were doing in one of the squatter villages this past Saturday.  It was such a growing experience!  We were split up into groups of 3 or 4.  I was with the student president of Student Life, Mezah, and a secondary school student, John.  We headed out and delivered 8 Jesus Film DVD's to mostly indian families.  To the left is a picture of the street that we walked along.  It was raining and I nearly slipped numerous times as we ventured down steep hills to reach many of the homes.  Wild dogs roamed the streets as we walked up and down the road, occasionally being invited into homes that had next to nothing in them.  Below is a picture of a little girl I had the opportunity to meet.  We were visiting the house next to hers and were about to leave when the little boy whose house we were at told us there is another house on the side of theirs.  I looked over and saw this sweet girl smiling up at us.  I walked over to her, kneeled down to be on her level, and slowly explained who we were, and what the gifts were that we were giving her.  She told me that her parents were not home, but she would tell them about the Jesus Film DVD when they returned.  I asked her if I could have a photo with her and she got a huge smile on her face.  What a sweet experience.  This little girl had hardly anything, and yet she was so happy.  Please pray that she and her parents open up their hearts to Jesus! 

Dirty Feet, but over 500 contacts!

Today we walked onto the campus of USP at 8:30am!  After a bit of confusion over which table/tent was ours, we figured it out and put up the Student Life banner, placed freshmen survival kits on the table, stacked our surveys beside pens, and set out to meet the first year students!  These students are fairly similar to those in the states, i.e. they walk around in large groups, they look nervous, and they want to feel connected with people!  What a perfect time to meet them, introduce them to Student Life, and prayerfully, give them an opportunity to come to know the Lord personally!

It was definitely a long, and hot day; but proved to be such an encouragement as we finally got our feet wet, or in this case, pretty muddy (the grass under our tent was more like 2 inches of mud!) into ministry, and it felt SO GOOD!  My team got to meet tons of students as we initiated conversations and encouraged students to fill out the surveys and come claim their free gifts!  I met one girl in particular, who was a third year at USP.  She told me that she was so excited to hear about Student Life because she has been looking for that type of community for the past 2 years!  I made sure to take down her number personally and I'll definitely be calling her to invite her to Student Life opportunities in the upcoming weeks!

As the afternoon flew by, we found ourselves packing up our materials at about 4pm, and heading back home.  We had to make 2 trips during the day to return to our apartments to get more freshmen survival kits, because we had run out!  Brian counted how many surveys were filled out today, and we found out that we had connected with 511 students!  And this is only day 1!  Orientation, and this student activities tent area, apparently gets extremely more crowded as the week progresses!  God is definitely doing some HUGE things here in Fiji, and it is such a blessing to be witnessing them first hand at USP!  Thank you for joining with me as my team and I trust the Lord to use us here to help students come to the know Him personally, and how to grow in a relationship with Him!

A few new things we learned about the Fijian culture today:

-students don't mind drinking juice that may or may not have little bugs floating in it

-students are also very frugal, so they believe in community juice cups

-Americans are way more bold than Fijians 

-I am very loud compared to the average USP student (not much of a surprise though!)

-students call candy "lollies"

Below are a few snapshots from this past week of ministry!

My team with some of the Student Life Leaders at our party last Saturday!

Me holding a centipede my teammates found...this took a lot of self control to stay this still for the picture!

Students filling out surveys at our table today!

Us girls with some students who were involved in Student Life last year!

My feet are the ones in the bottom center of this picture.  The ground was pretty gross!

Ready, Set, GO!

This week marks the end of life as we have known it thus far in Fiji!  Over a month ago, on January 2nd, our team arrived in Suva, Fiji.  The weeks between then and now were filled with IBS classes, a staff conference in Nadi, Fiji, a week of recouping after we hit this island running, and this past week or so collecting the necessary components for the freshmen survival kits that we are putting together.  From now on, we will be in non-stop ministry mode as USP is finally open!  This coming Tuesday we will make our way to campus to begin a week of meeting the new first year students and working with the student leaders in student life to have these new students fill out comment cards, take a fsk (freshmen survival kit), and within a few days begin following up with the individuals who marked on the comment cards that they want to know more about the Lord!  


So while the future seems hopeful and full of new friendships, prayerfully new relationships being formed with the Lord, and continuous opportunities to put our faith in the Lord, we are currently processing through what God has been teaching us in preparation for this year of ministry!


I think the biggest thing that I have felt the Lord teach me in these past few weeks of becoming familiar with Suva, preparing for the first-years to arrive, and spending time with my team, has been the simple truth that ministry is not about me.  There is nothing I can do or say to make ministry work here at USP.  There is not a checklist that I can follow to ensure that great things will come from this year...all I can do is daily chose to trust the Lord; daily surrender my own will to His will; daily remind myself that this life on earth is to be lived to bring Glory to God, not myself.  Daily, I strive to drop to my knees and thank the Lord for this opportunity to be on this island for this year to prayerfully introduce and help students grow in a relationship with God!  My team has indeed been stretched already, coming to a point where relying on the Lord is a necessity.  Just today, I heard my teammate Jenny tell me and Kori after we were venting our frustrations with various aspects of Fijian life, "this is God's perfect provision for our lives right now."  I could not have said it better.  No matter where you find yourself, that is God's perfect provision for you.  He desires and longs for His children to draw near to Himself and lean upon Him for the strength that He freely offers those who ask!  


So as we begin to see a glimpse of the ministry we have been looking towards for months now, we will fix our eyes upon the Lord, for in our own power, we will undoubtedly fail.  


Please be praying that...
-we get permission to be on campus as our work visas are still being processed!
-my team continues fostering strong relationships with each other 
-we continue to be constant learners of this new culture, and how best to show Christ's love with these students!


In Christ,
Mary Lin

Us girls enjoying the view of Suva from up top!

Seeing Fiji as God sees it

In the past 3 days we have...

-Peeled coconut shavings
-Shopped in an open air market
-Walked the campus of USP!
-Began the process of decorating and filling 1000 freshmen bags to hand out next week on campus!


Two days ago, my team jumped on a bus and headed into town to grab some chicken pies and cream buns from our new favorite restaurant; Hot Bread Kitchen.  With lunch in hand, we jumped onto another bus and headed down the road, along the coast towards USP (University of the South Pacific).  The Lord truly met me on this bus ride.  The buses here don't have windows, but are open, and each bus driver gets to choose what music he wants playing.  Our bus driver, at the time, was favoring American hip-hop.  With my arm leaning outside the window, my eyes began to take in Suva as a whole.  The people, the buildings, the plants, the feel of the sun, the smell of the breeze, and the bay to my right, I began to truly sense God's love for this island.  Fijians smiled as our bus passed on, and I began to feel so blessed to be here.  

Me and Brian on the bus in Suva!

For a month now our team has been adjusting to this new culture and climate.  We have definitely had our share of ups and downs; whether it was the food, the heat, homesickness, etc...but it all seemed to become clear to me as we neared USP.  The Lord has an incredible purpose for us this year, and I am so excited to be able to have a role in it!  How humbling to think that God has each of us right where He wants us!  Let's surrender to Him, and see how He wants to use us!

USP!

Vilimaina, myself & Jenny in the Market!

A glimpse of the open-air market!

We met up with Vilimaina at the entrance to the USP campus, and immediately pictures that I have been looking at for the past year began to come alive!  We walked past the buildings where students have classes, and then went to see the "White Tables" where students involved in Student Life (the Campus Crusade for Christ ministry of USP) meet up for Bible studies and Discipleship.  Afterward, Kori, Jenny, Vilimaina and myself headed into town to experience the open-air-market!  We were surrounded by long tables filled with all types of vegetables, fruit, and spices!  It was incredible!  Vilimaina helped us learn to tell how the different foods were ripe or not and which vendors had quality products.  We left with bags filled with limes, eggplants, green beans, coconut, pineapple, and spices!  It was definitely an experience we'll be repeating often!  Vilimaina is a student leader in Student Life and we are so excited to see how the Lord continues to grow her this year!


We returned to our apartment, and Vilimaina helped us lean how to use a coconut peeler (aka a large plank with a small spoon like scraper attached at the end with teeth coming out of it) to get the coconut shavings out from a coconut!  We are all pretty much naturals at it :)  Vilimaina told me I was pretty much Fijian now because I have mastered that skill! We made Eggplant parmesan for dinner and Lolo Coconut cake for dessert!


Tomorrow we are hosting another staff meeting with Koli and Jeanette.  Until then, we are going to be finishing decorating and filling 1000 bags that we will hand out to freshmen during orientation/registration in about a week to advertise Student Life and begin forming relationships!


Thank you so much for your prayers!  God is so good.  He is continually stretching us, but as we learn more and more what it looks like to depend upon Him, He is truly blessing us, and bringing us so much closer to Himself!
Please let me know how I can be praying for you!


God Bless!
-Mary Lin