Monday morning we went to a small village outside of Lautoka and went door knocking. It was so awesome. I finally felt like I was doing something productive. We went around in pairs and each group got a translator. There were a lot of Indians in the village and most of them were Muslim. But everyone was open to prayer and to talk. The houses were really small, some of them were only one room, but some had more rooms. And no matter how small the house was, they always invited us in for juice or tea or water, whatever they could offer us. We met this really cute old lady. Her name was Jahan and she was 79 but she looked about 105. She just sat outside of the house of her son and his wife, and relaxed in the shade. She had difficulty breathing and had heart problems. The family was Muslim, but they invited us to pray for her. And she got the most beautiful smile on her face. She was my favorite. I don't think she understood a word of English, but she was so sweet and kissed our hands when we left. And her grandson was super cute, he was probably 11. We asked to get a picture with the grandma and the two grandsons, and one of them wasn't wearing a shirt so he said 'Ahhh! I need a shirt!' and ran inside to get one for the photo. It was so hilarious. We also met some really cool Christians in the village. And we prayed for one lady's knee and it got healed!
In the evening, we put on a worship service and prayer time in the village. A lot of the people we talked to earlier in the day came out and it went really well. There were lots of kids so I played games with them. They were so cute.
On Tuesday we did the same thing, and we went back to visit some of the same people as on Monday. We saw the knee lady again, and she was so excited that we were back. She got us to pray for her husbands migraines and her Dad (I think). It was really cool. The husband started manifesting and had to leave the room. I really wished that we could pray more for him, but he wouldn't come back out.
It is really interesting because in the Indian homes, they are generally Muslim or Hindu and they 'believe' in Jesus, so they will accept prayer and ask for prayer from us. But they also believe in other God's. Hindu's easily accept Jesus as another of their many gods, but it is hard to help them understand that Jesus is the ONLY God. Most homes have little shrines set up in their yards for other gods. And it seems like all of these houses are a lot darker than the actual Christian homes, and they have head pains and trouble breathing, but the Christian families don't. It's interesting.
Tuesday night our worship got cancelled because of heavy rain. The only structure that is in that village to have the service under is a structure that the men erected on Monday. It is sort of like a car port. A 'building' with just a roof. So, we had to cancel the worship. It was sad.
But the rain was actually a blessing because the water didn't come on at home that day and we all really needed to shower. So we went out in the rain, and it was heavy enough to shampoo our hair and soap up our clothes. Laundry and shower all in one! It was awesome. That was the first time since I have been here that I actually felt cold. It was amazing.
And yesterday we went to a men's prison. It was SO COOL. It is actually really neat to see a prison in the pacific islands. It is just like you would imagine a prison in the tropics to be like. Laid back and relaxed. It was a medium security prison, but the guards didn't carry guns. There were really tall fences with barbed wire and such though. And when we got there we saw some of the inmates having a water fight with some guards. They were laughing their heads off. Imagine that in North America. Ha!
We had to wait a long time for them to let us in because they had some new convicts that were dropped off and they had to process them. The youngest was 16. How sad. They don't have juvenile stuff here, they are all just put in the same jail. Most of the men in the jail were in there for robbery, which is common in places with lots of poverty, like Fiji. But there is also a lot of rape and murder here too. One of the guys dropped off was coming in for murder and had a life sentence.
It seems like most of the Fijians were the robbers, and the Indians were in for a lot of the rape and murder. And I personally blame their religions. Muslim and Hindu religions give zero rights to women. They are just objects for the men to do what they please with.
Anyways, we had a worship service type thing for the Christian inmates. We were in a small building/room with the inmates. There were no bars or walls or fences between us. It was like we were all just the same, there to worship God. We did a few songs, and the boys did their testimonies and we did our ropes skit. The prisoners were so moved. Some of them were crying. It was so amazing. The Holy Spirit was totally doing something. At the end we had anyone who wanted prayer to come forward for prayer. I think every single one of them, except for maybe 3, came forward. And then, before we left, they sang us a Fijian song and one of the prisoners did such a nice thank-you speach/prayer at the end. It was so beautiful.
To get to the jail we had to take transit. We got this awesome truck with benches in the back and a tarp covering it for shade. It was epic. Like we were Indiana Jones or something super cool. They use those trucks as city transit. BAHAH. Awesome. There are also real buses though, and taxis, but those trucks are too cool.
This morning, Pastor Jare got us hooked up with this lady in the hospital that let us come in and pray during non-visiting hours. And she made us aware of the people who really did need prayer. Leish and I went to pray for this one lady named Mala. She was so funny. We prayed for her stomach because it was having some issues. She totally started manifesting, and then it went away and it was gone. I asked her if she was amazed, and she said "Hallelujah! Praise Jesus!" she was so funny. She had a constant look of disgust on her face, and what normal people would classify as a frown with teeth, was actually her smile. And, in Fiji, the people tend to say 'yes' or 'no' with their eyebrows rather than by nodding or saying something. So when we talked to Mala, her eyebrows just danced on her forehead like crazy. She made my day.
And tonight we are going out on the streets to reach out to the prostitutes. I am so pumped. One night we actually walked past some prostitutes on the street. It broke my heart. I am so excited to just love on them and show them their worth tonight.
Other than that life's pretty good. It is weird seeing Christmas decorations and stuff up in the stores. It feels like summer... because it is. So weird. I don't think I will even feel remotely like I am missing Christmas at home because it just doesn't feel like Christmas. I do sort of long for the smell of the crisp winter air in the mornings, and I really want to toboggan. But I guess I will survive in the tropics. Vicki will be very jealous because I am ridiculously tan.
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