Come before Winter, Fiji Islands, June 2006

Here is the general run down of my week in Fiji...

Saturday:
I left Tucson for Fiji on Thursday evening... I arrived in Fiji at 5 am on Saturday morning!
When we got to Anchorage Resort we loaded our luggage into a couple of rooms at the top of the hill, went exploring for a while, and went shopping in Nandi. Later that evening, once other people had checked out of our rooms, we moved all of our luggage down to the bottom of the hill and got situated for the next week! The husbands that had come to visit their wives and my Aunt Suzy were still around for the afternoon so we were able to spend time with them before they left that evening.
This is me and Aunt Suzy!!! She normally attends all of the retreats but had to go back to the states for a conference in Kentucky...

During the shopping trip, we also stopped by the Orchid gardens that are well known in Fiji. Garden of the Sleepting Giant was founded by Raymond Burr (aka: Perry Mason) in 1977. He aquired the land to house his own orchids, which now display Fiji's largest orchild collection. We had dinner with the whole group that evening and relaxed before we prepared for all of the Come before Winter preparations.

Sunday:
The Sabbath... we spent the whole day in relaxation and quiet time. Susanna Ang (our missionary ambassador from Singapore) arrived today after much confusion from the Sydney, Australia airport people giving her the wrong information and having her miss her flight on Saturday! Once Suzanna got here we had worship time in the bure (gazebo), which is actually the wedding chapel of the resort, and a beautiful overlook of the ocean and surrounding islands. The four youngest team members, Brook Hollingsworth, Jana Graves, Shelley Parks, and me (Catherine Goode), washed the feet of the four team members who traveled/hosted the renewal in Singapore and had not been home for 2 weeks at that point (Karen Alexander, Cynthia Agnell, Jeanene Reese and Marianna Long). The breeze began getting stronger as the sun set so we had communion in Jana and my room and also spent more time in worship.

Monday:
Spent the morning in prayer and preparation before the women arrived this afternoon. I was busy with the video camera as team members greeted the women and helped usher them to their rooms and to where the snacks were. For the first time in Come before Winter history, all of the participants arrived on time!!! We then spent the evening with praise, going over the schedule and then ended the evening in our cluster groups... getting to know the women we have been praying for for months and preparing them for the week ahead. The two women in my cluster group were Laisa and Nancy, two of the younger married participants!

Tuesday:
During one of our praise times, the Fijian woman sang a church song in their native tongue and one of the workers of the hotel joined in with them. It has always been such a neat experience for the CbW team watching the hotel staff and their participation with us, whether through song, prayer, worship or questions about what we are doing and who we are!!
Through out the week of a CbW renewal all of the participants have a prayer appointment with the prayer leaders of the team. This renewal they changed it up a bit and gave all of the participants a prayer appointment assigned to them with one of the team members. I was so nervous about being assigned a woman to pray with; not feeling confident in my own abilities and worrying that I may not have the right words to share or the right things to pray. My time with Venina was so wonderful; sharing with her, spending time encouraging her about her ministry work and her support of her husband who preaches for their small congregation! I hope she was blessed by the experience; I definitely was!

Wednesday:
Jana, Brooke and I walked around on the beach during free time after the tide had gone out. We saw a massive jelly fish embedded in the sand.
There were beautiful shells everywhere! Being able to walk out further on the beach gave us a new perspective of all that surrounded us! The island is amazing, the view magnificent. Right down the coast from our hotel is the first village of Fiji. It is a small community and has a church dedicated to John Wesley (?), the first missionary to Fiji.

It seems that every place we travel to we are surrounded by such a neat history!

Thursday:
The day of presentations. All week the participants study the book of Philippians, reading the book in different versions during the Silence and Solitude times. Every woman must get up in front of the group and share what the learned from two specified verses of the book and then share their Monday Meaning (from the exegesis of scripture, how will they incorporate this into their lives once they return home). By the end of the day, everyone is so relieved to be finished and believe that this is pretty much the end of the renewal! That night we host a fun, layed back party for them. This time the theme was suppose to be 1950's beach party but it turned into a wild Polynesian Dance Party with fire dancers and a lot of cultural dances.
It was a great time had by all but a little surprising at times... that is all I can say about this matter! :)


Friday:
The last day of the renewal. I think that Friday is the sweetest day we share with these women. Most of the time, the participants have had a wonderful week in their own spiritual renewal and allowing themselves a week of relaxation with the Lord and in fellowship of other believers. For our last worship time, the women prepare the worship and allow the team to participate whole-heartedly. They then go off for their last Quiet Time before the renewal ends. During this time, the team sets up the chairs in a circle with only enough seats for the participants. As the women walk in they grab their last gift that is sitting on the chairs, (one of the other features of the retreat is honoring the women with gifts. We give them two small gifts a day; a picture frame, pot pourri box, note pad, socks, nail polish, etc. Just another way to thank them for all of the work they are doing for the Lord in their countries/areas of town.) and sit down... all done quietly. Once the women are sitting we explain to them that this is a time of blessing. Each team member blesses the women in their cluster group that they have been praying with all week. It is a sweet time, normally tears and lots of hugs are involved, and we, the team members, spend our own short moment, thanking these women for their work and praying for their strength once they return to the battle field.

At the end of this time, the last blessing that is given is from our Missionary Ambassador (Suzanna) to the woman she is passing the cloak to. Our new missionary ambassador from Fiji to Kenya is Jo Tukana! She is an amazing woman, deeply in love with the Lord, and spends her days as a nanny to a wonderful little boy! Because she nannies a boy who has homes in two different cities, she has been able to develop relationships with many of the churches and women in Fiji. She also attended the South Pacific Bible College in New Zealand, so she had great relationships with the women that were at the renewal representing NZ.
Coming from Fiji, money in this community is not pouring in. The women of this renewal are so excited for this experience for Jo and the representation she is for all the women... they are all wanting to pull together and help her raise the money needed for her to make it to Kenya in March of 2007.

I know that I have not explained this very well but believe we when I tell you that watching the women embrace her and dedicate their help and support in fund raising for her... the Lord is working my friends, and it is always amazing to me to see what He is doing for others... and in my life!!!

Saturday:
We went snorkeling at South Sea, an island about 30 minutes away by boat. We saw the most amazing electric blue star wash covering the ocean floor, a sting ray and fabulous coral all over!! It was such a fun day and a gorgeous end to our time in Fiji! I am glad that I was able to go and see God's creations that just don't exist in Dallas, TX or Tucson, AZ! :)

Sunday:
Time in worship and saying our goodbyes to Suzanna as she headed back to Singapore. We left that evening at 10pm... and with the time change, Brian picked me up in Tucson at 7pm on Sunday!! Crazy huh?!?!?? :)

Well, I love you all and thank you for your prayers and support! I hope that this was enough detail but please feel free to ask for more information that I probably forgot to add during the writing of this entry!!
I leave you with a picture of one of the amazing sunsets that ended most of our evenings in Fiji! The Lord is mighty!!