Public Holidays and Being Soaked...

Bula!

Today is a public holiday in Fiji, Diwali.  It is a hindu festival in which they are celebrating the return of "one of their gods/king" from banishment to the forest after 12 years.  What does that mean for me here in Fiji?  It means that I got to spend the morning and early afternoon at Esquires (a nearby coffee shop in town) with my teammates, and then with a few different students since USP is closed today (which I didn't know until last week!).  So my usual Wednesday appointments/schedule has been a bit jumbled today!

I met with Lailani (a final year student that I have discipled this year) and we processed her upcoming talk that she will give tomorrow night at the Student Life weekly meeting.  She is sharing with students the truth that we as believers are ambassadors for Christ!  Please be praying for her as she continues to give her nervousness and fears up to the Lord and allows the Holy Spirit to speak through her!

After Lani headed out, I was joined by Shareeza (a 2nd year student that I have had the privilege to disciple this year).  We spent time catching up since it has been a busy past few weeks for her and she hasn't been able to meet up.  She then told me a sweet story of an opportunity she had this past weekend on a field trip to share her faith with a girl from the sanatan faith.  This girl had a lot of questions about who Jesus is and what it meant that He died on the cross for our sins.  Shareeza and one of her friends got to clearly share the Gospel with this girl and the conversation ended with her asking Shareeza if they could meet up again to talk more about Jesus.  I can't tell you how encouraged I was after hearing this story of how the Lord is moving in Shareeza's life!

We decided to brave the rain (it rains all the time here now in Suva, since it is nearing their summer season) and head to pick up some groceries.  Well as we walked down town the rain picked up and before I knew it we were sprinting across streets screaming and laughing.  Of course we ran into people that we knew and we had to explain why were completely soaked (most Fijians don't like getting wet...but Shareeza is a rare exception).  She was such a trooper and we had a great afternoon.  Now we're hanging out in our apartment and she's helping me edit this blog as I write it since she is exceptionally better at editing english than I am...sad, but true!

I know that this last week and a half on campus will be a roller coaster as we meet with students for the last time and gear ourselves up for returning to the States in less than three weeks.  But days like this remind me that God's plan for the day is so much better than my own!  I would never have thought that I could spend a whole day with Shareeza (she's quite the busy girl!) and it has been such a blessing and a ton of fun!

That's all for now!  Shareeza and I are going to begin dinner while we sing along to Christmas music...oh life in Fiji :)

God Bless!
-Mary (and Shareeza!)