Bula!! (CBW Part 1)

I learned a new word in Fiji: Bula! Everyone says Bula, all the time! Bula!! I guess the equivalent would be something like Aloha. They say it when they greet you and when they leave you. You'll be happy to know, I taught them a word as well ... Howdy! It was so fun hearing the Fijians say something that sounded a little more like "Heidi". Very cute!

My plan with this post is to give you a rundown of our week in Fiji with Come Before Winter. It may take several posts. Hopefully I can get it all done before we leave for Mexico in two weeks (yes, we're driving to Morelia to see Sara). Summer life is crazy at our house and doesn't afford much time at the computer. So please be patient with me.

David & the boys took me to DFW on Thursday the 21st. My plane left at 7:30pm and the odd thing was, I was the only one from my team on the plane. I met up with 5 others in LA and we joined the other 6 in Fiji. The trip from LA to Fiji is only 10 hours and my Dr. had given me samples of Lunesta (I will never fly internationally again without it -- it's fabulous!!) so I slept 8 of those hours. We landed in Fiji at 5am. There is a 17 hour difference b/w Texas and Fiji so that first day was pretty rough. We ate breakfast at our hotel and then went shopping till mid-afternoon. Spent the rest of the day unpacking and then dinner and then promptly to bed (I had the room to myself the first night -- see next paragraph).

My roommate for the week was the Missionary Ambassador. Two weeks prior to our renewal, there was a renewal in Singapore (My Mom went on that trip. You can read about it here). On each renewal, one woman is chosen to be the missionary ambassador at the next renewal. That generally is about 6 months later, but in this case, it was only one week. Suzanna Ang, originally from Singapore, was chosen. She was scheduled to arrive on Sat., but was delayed in Sydney and did not arrive until Sunday afternoon. What a joy to spend the week with this precious sister and servant.Sunday is our team's Sabbath. We delayed our worship time till 5pm in anticipation of Suzanna arriving as the final member of our team. What a blessing it is to worship the Lord with these incredible women. Here's a picture of our team.Monday morning was spent in preparation for the arrival of the women. Registration began at 2:30. All 27 women were at the hotel by 4pm -- that is a first in Come Before Winter history. Our first gathering was not even scheduled until 5pm, so they were all there an hour early. We were pretty excited about this whole "Fiji time" concept. :)

Our first evening together is spent in praise and worship. We also introduce all the team members, read through Philippians as a group and spend about 30 minutes in our Clusters. Clusters consist of one team member and the 2-3 women that she has been assigned to pray for over the past several months. We met with our clusters each night after dinner for a time of discussion about the day and prayer. Here is my cluster, Va and Anna, sisters from Fiji (like actual sisters, their mother and one other sister was there as well).Monday concludes with dinner and bed. Realize that in Fiji, dinner is not something that takes 30-45 minutes as it does in the US. Dinner is something that is not rushed, something that is to be enjoyed. So don't think we were in bed by 8pm or anything. :)

Tuesday and Wednesday look just alike. The morning begins with breakfast, followed by worship at 8:30. My job on this renewal was that of Gift Coordinator and Co-Administrator. That means I was in charge of setting out all the gifts each day and for making the announcements each morning. So before breakfast, I would go to our meeting room and set out gifts on the chairs. Then before our evening worship time, I would do the same.Praise time was followed by an hour of Silence, Solitude and Prayer. As I read the evaluations after the renewal, the most appreciated element of CBW was the hour alone with God each day. Can you imagine? Do you get an hour each day alone with God? I know I don't.At 10, we gather for our first session of equipping. In Fiji, like in Germany, we were in the book of Philippians. They are taught by example, as well as practically, how to use exegesis in their own personal study time. Tuesday morning there is a "lecture" followed by discussion about how the lecturer did what she did. Wednesday morning there is a case study, where they are broken up into small groups to discuss a "story" and applying the text to the case. This is also followed with a discussion about how to use this form of teaching in their churches.After the morning session, we had lunch followed by free time. Open Door Talks are mid-afternoon. These small group discussions are optional, and each centers on a different topic. They are not teaching times, but forums for the women to discuss things like Women's Ministry, How to balance family and ministry, etc. Jana (the praise leader) and I led an Open Door Talk on Wednesday where we taught new songs to anyone who came.

At 5pm, we had another equipping session where the women work on their own personal exegesis of two specific verses from Philippians. From this study time, they prepare to share their main point of these verses, as well as their "Monday Meaning" (how are you going to apply this text to your life when you return home on Monday). Evenings are spent having dinner and meeting with your Cluster.Thursday starts the same as Tuesday & Wednesday (Praise time and Quiet time), but the first session is the women sharing what they have extracted from the text that week. This is usually a fairly stressful, sometimes quite personal and emotional thing for these women. But it is so beautiful to see how 27 women can take the same two verses and apply it in so many different ways to their individual situations. Another first for CBW, we finished all the presentations before lunch (granted, lunch ran about an hour behind schedule, so we had a little extra time). But once lunch was over, we were done for the afternoon.

Thursday evening is party time. We have learned over the years that this is an essential part of our week together. Because Thursday is so stressful, being able to release some of that and just have fun is so important. Our planned theme this year was a 50's beach party, but "Blessed for the flexible...". The hotel had planned a special dinner for our group, complete with a cultural show. So instead of 50's, we went with just the beach theme and then let loose with a little dancing. I must admit, for this American, it got a little crazy, but it was apparently a very accurate depiction of Fijian culture. (If you want more details than that, you'll have to come visit me - yes that's a bribe)We had tons of fun!Part of our supplies for our party was a plethora of American candy (pixie stix, Twizzlers, pop rocks, dubble bubble, and best of all, s'mores). They were all so excited! Especially about the s'mores. The hotel set up a little gas flame for us to roast our marshmallows. What a treat! Yum!!!OK, that's all I have for now. I'll write about Friday, Saturday and Sunday later. Thanks for reading!