I'm back from Fiji after being away...just about one month. We sailed up to Fiji in early April and was onboard the M/V Pacific Link for our first outreach of the season.
As you may know, Fiji had a military coup a few years ago, and is now being run by the head of the Fiji Military...Commodore Bainimarama (CB). There has been great pressure exerted on CB to schedule elections and put Fiji back on the road to democratic rule, however, CB has said no elections would be held until 2014.
In the meantime CB has thrown out the Constitution of Fiji, and fired all the justices. The result is the economy, which was already struggling, has entered a downward trend. Fiji's economy, heavily reliant upon tourism from abroad, has suffered huge losses as a result of the world-wide economic situation as well as tourists having chosen other, less politically troubled, destinations.
The Fiji dollar has dropped in value by around 20% in just a few short weeks.
HOWEVER, the ship has had no troubles at all. In fact getting into Fiji was quite easy for us this year, and we've had no issues with any government agencies we've had to deal with. With us providing free medical services at a time when the Fijian population is really struggling economically, is a major blessing to the people of Fiji...and the government knows this.
On the trip to our first outreach location we had to anchor outside of the reef until high tide the next morning. At 6am we began to pull up the anchor, but found it was stuck at the bottom. The captain drove the ship from port to starboard, forward and aft in an attempt to dislodge the anchor. Finally things freed up, however, we soon discovered that the swivel which connects the chain to the anchor had broken in the dislodging attempts.
Inside the reef, the captain was going to use two anchors due to the sandy bottom; so now we were faced with having to choose another location due to only having one anchor now.
We gathered the team together and spent some time praying. We had a few options, one of which was to travel a few ho
urs further to Kadavu Island...to the region of Vunisea where there was a wharf we could tie up to. We decided upon Vunisea.Upon our arrival we met the local Provencial Administrator. We sat down to explain who we were and why we were there. About thirty seconds into my presentation he stopped me and said, 'I know all about Marine Reach. This very ship came here five years ago and I was one of the patients who received a free cataract surgery. ' He added that he still had great vision in that eye and that whatever we needed while in Vunesia he would provide. He was indeed true to his word as he took us to see the local chief and acted as our protocol presenter of the Sevusevu (arrival gift). He daily provided transportation for our Primary Health Care (PHC) teams to and from the villages in the region. He helped to organize those visits with each village council. Such a God event.
So, despite having no advance notice of our arrival, and having lost one day switching locations due to the lost anchor, we were able to treat over 900 people.
Several people gave their lives to Jesus while we were there, and many responded to a challenge to become great commission christians after viewing "The End of the Spear", a movie re-enacting the story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint and others who died in the jungle of Ecuador in the early 1960's...and the subsequent inroads into a stoneage tribe for the gospel.
The team that joined our crew and medical personnel were from a church in Melbourne, Australia. What a great team onboard for the
outreach which included, doctors, nurses, dentists, Physio Therapists (Physical Therapist), a construction team that did all kinds of repairs at a local medical center and at a primary school. Evangelism and discipleship is always a major part of each outreach.
outreach which included, doctors, nurses, dentists, Physio Therapists (Physical Therapist), a construction team that did all kinds of repairs at a local medical center and at a primary school. Evangelism and discipleship is always a major part of each outreach.More pics later...reaching my GB limit for the month.
Thanks everyone for standing with us in prayer & Finances.
Blessings,
Mike & Jeannie
