My second “last day” at the primary school I ended up doing an impromptu devotional for my Class 7 r/j. This class of 60 teens (7th graders) is so special to me. I have been overwhemly blessed by how they pulled on me to share more and more about Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

I stopped in at 11:00 and since they did not have their morning devotional, they asked me for one more. I stood there smiling. I told them that I needed to pray for a minute as this was not planned but I believed that the Lord had a special message for them….

After praying in the Spirit for a few minutes.. the message came..
Jesus did not say “good-bye” rather, Jesus said “I’ll see You later, I’m coming back!!!”

Oh what a grand message about the promised return of our Lord and Savior was shared with the Children.
My parting words, were, “I’m coming back, so I’ll see you later.” They blessed me beyond measure when they replied. “We’ll see you then.”

Thank You Lord, for giving me the honor and privilege of teaching and imparting into these 60 precious “little” ones. I thank You for continuing to pour out Your precious Holy Spirit upon the children and continue to train them up in the way that they should walk. In Jesus Mighty and Matchless Name. AMEN!!!

A Recipe for Love

87 School Children
Recalling paper cross making
47 Paper Crosses done by groups and individuals
61 Names on Crosses with blessings
2 Notes of Thanks for coming and asking to come back
200+ Hugs
Result: Distribution of Love…..

This was a huge blessing for me… after the ministry program, I told the children that if any of them wanted a hug, to come up and I’d be delighted to give them one. It is an opportunity to lay hands on them and pray over the children. One by one they all came. It was beautiful!

Once the hugging was complete, I visited the class rooms. As I walked in, they said Isu i ne (Jesus loves you in Chinese), which was so wonderful as they remembered what I taught them at Easter. The Holy Spirit recalled it to their remembrance. Praise the Lord….

During lunch, the headmaster told me that the children were also so excited about the paper cross I taught them how to make with one tear. Again, it was something that I had done in the Easter program. Thank you Lord for what you had me do at Easter.

After lunch, Mr. Dass gave me some paper and I went out to the children to make some crosses. Pass the test.. this is a smart group of students, as I did not need to show them how to make the crosses. They all remembered how to do it. So, they first formed groups and made crosses to give to me as groups, then they individually started to make crosses.

After the crosses, they asked if I could give them another hug. Answer was easy, OF COURSE. So they lined up again.
By the time we were done, I think I gave three rounds of hugs. There was one little boy who I know came through the line 4 times. I was the one who was ministered to and it was priceless…

When I was leaving the Nambitu Indian school after doing the Easter presentation, the headmaster Mr. Dass had asked me if I could please come back. I saw him two weeks after Easter and he made the request again. The Lord meets our requests….

As I prayed about going back, the Holy Spirit had me ask the Johnson family go with me and have the children minister. So that is what I did…. God wants each of us to help others accomplish the plan and purpose the Lord has for our lives. He tells us it is about striving together for the faith of the gospel. Each of us has a part to play in getting the plan done.. Individual assignments are not greater than one another… they are just different. But equally important. So for me, having them come and minister was an easy one… I jumped at it! Yippee!!! I get to see the entire family minister!!!

The headmaster, teachers, and especially the school children were extremely blessed by not only having me return, but also me bringing “my friends” along. It is a place where not that many visitors make it to visit. So the program was extra special. I was so blessed to see them perform and minsiter.

Candace, Danielle, Janelle, Daniel, and Olivia all sang, danced and shared from their heart. Thank you Alan, a Fijian who came along to play the guitar. Pastor Lenard shared a message that continued to build on the foundation the Lord laid at Easter. It was wonderful as the school children became engaged and sang along and allowed the Lord to further touch their hearts.

Click on photos to enlarge
Photo 1: L to R: Daniel, Janelle, Danielle, Alan, and Candace singing
Photo 2: L to R: Danielle, Candace and Janelle performing song and dance
Photo 3: Olivia singing Jesus Loves Me
Photo 4 & 5: Children at the School…

I’ve learned a few new kitchen tricks for preparing my Fiji Dinners. So, watch out… You’ll be eating much curry, lolo and roti!

Each time I come and stay with my Fijian family, we exchange cooking recipes and methods. It is much fun!

This time, they taught me how to make Rololo – photo below – which is the coconut milk base used in traditional Fijian cooking. Hand squeezed and quite tasty. Just quite a bit of work to get it to the milk stage.

When we were done “milking” the coconut, I asked what they did with the meat of the coconut? To me the response was quite odd. They said, “throw it out. We only use the lolo.”

Hold on now… that seemed really funny to me, the meat of the coconut is still good and it is “shreaded so fine.”
I offered up a solution rather than throwing out the coconut meat. I taught how to make coconut pancakes….. simple…
Flour, Sugar, Coconut meat, milk and egg…. Fry it up in a pan….

“NICE” was the response I got from teaching the coconut pancakes… They will no longer be throwing out the coconut meat.

After that, they pulled out a bucket of dehydrated apples that someone gave them and asked “What do we do with these????”
I showed them how to make a simple apple compote and “top” the pancakes… Again “NICE” was the response.

Oh what a wonderful time we have in the kitchen…. OK, I’m still in Roti School, they are not quite “round” yet, rather, we joke about my roti looking like islands… All in good humor!

I have been extremely blessed as the Lord gave me an American Family here who has also been assigned to Minister in Fiji at a Church called The Rock. A Virginia Based ministry. Thank you Lord for sending them!

Pastors Lenard and Serena Johnson and 5 of their 7 Children arrived in Fiji a month after I did. We met in the park in Korotogo Village on Good Friday. I attended the church service they were holding with a friend. It was an encounter that I will never forget for a number of reasons.

As opportunities have opened up for me to go places, the Holy Spirit has encouraged me to ask Pastor Lenard and Serena to come along with me (sometimes including the children) and minister. For me, it is a great honor to work along side of them. It is a huge blessing to help one another accomplish all that the Lord has planned for each of us here in Fiji.

The Children, who are with them here, range from 3 1/2 to 17, are all wonderfully gifted individuals. I’m blessed to see them sing, dance and minister. We’ve gone snorkling together, thank you Lord for making the opportunity to just “Hang out” and get to know eachother, and I’ve attended some of the church services at the main Rock Church. Another Blessing as the Services are in English… Easier on me!

The youngest, Olivia, I call my little Miss Mandrin because she loves eating the lovely Fijian mandrins with me… The entire family has opened their arms to me. And for that I’m really thankful to the Lord…. A blessing sent from America not only for Fiji, but for me!

The family: L to R: Janelle, P. Lenard, Daniel, Serena, Candace, Olivia(front), Danielle