Janice and I count it a privilege to have led a team to Fiji this past summer. Fiji is an English speaking country, and without the hindrance of a language barrier, we saw deep relationships being formed among team members and Fijians. A highlight was being a part of the group that prayed with Mr. Sharma to receive Jesus as his Lord. SI Fiji staff and Jonathan and Tricia Thompson took part in his baptism a few weeks later.

Please pray for and along with Ray and Laura Pittman as they continue to seek the Lord’s plan for SI ministry in Fiji as it is in its formative stages. See their prayer requests listed below. Once again, thanks so much for all of your support to the ministry of Students International, and please continue to pray for wisdom for us as we grow.

Blessings,
Dave

As we look back over the summer, we are so thankful to see the different ways that God has worked. We have seen six of the Indian villagers in the Momi community come to the Lord and be baptized! We’ve seen personal breakthroughs in the lives of team members, people sharing things they’ve never told anyone before. We’ve seen several of the young people on the teams realize that God is calling them to full-time ministry or overseas missions. And we’ve seen the incredible impact of relationship-centered ministry. . . life on life. . .and how God uses this to change both the Fijians and the North Americans.

Overall, it’s been a great privilege to be involved in what the Lord is doing here through SI Fiji!
–The Pittmans

Each outreach team spent one week working in the west (construction and agriculture at the Momi Bay base, education at the Sigatoka pre-school) and one week at Homes of Hope in Suva.  Here’s some photo highlights:

It was two years ago this past May that Janice and I along with Jonathan Thompson, our Director of Operations, his wife Tricia, and SI Board member Wayne Crabtree, were hosted in Fiji by Ray and Laura Pittman. The purpose of the trip was to see if Fiji might be where we would begin a new ministry base. Ray and Laura came to SI in a remarkable way and they were coming to us with six years of experience in ministry in Fiji. Wayne had actually lived in Fiji for the first 14 years of his life as a son of full-time missionaries. After a busy week of meeting lots of people and dreaming of potential SI sites, we all felt the Lord gave us a “green light” and the process began.

In just two weeks Janice and I will be leading an outreach team to Fiji. The Lord is good and He is faithful.  We look forward to working alongside Ray and Laura as they continue in the “birthing process” of this new ministry. Please pray for them and their team this summer. Jonathan and Tricia along with their three sons will be living in Fiji all summer helping the Pittmans. We value all of your prayers as we trust the Lord to “direct our paths.”
Blessings to all,
Dave

Fiji is a nation of 330 islands nestled in the South Pacific. Fiji is postcard-perfect in many regards, but there is another side to the postcard: people that live in poverty and great spiritual need. There are two main people groups here: the indigenous Fijian, and the Indo-Fijians (Indians brought from India by the British several generations ago in order to work the sugar cane fields). The Fijians converted to Christ en masse 100 years ago, but while religious outwardly some still lack a genuine faith. The Indians are primarily Hindu, with a growing handful of Muslims. Students International Fiji is relatively new: Ray & Laura Pittman (missionaries in Fiji for 8 years now) are working to pioneer SI’s work on the main island of Viti Levu.

We’ve had some good meetings with partner ministries and potential staff/partnerships in Fiji, so please continue to pray for God’s guidance in those areas.  There are so many needs and opportunities for ministry here, sometimes it’s hard to know which ones to focus on.

Also, please pray for customs to find the paperwork on a truck we are purchasing for SI–it’s been held up for nearly two months.  We are happy to have two summer interns in the support-raising process, Tim and Sarah Johnson.  Please pray for God to provide for their needs as they prepare to come to Fiji.

Please pray for God to bring local staff and for guidance concerning future ministry sites and partnerships in Fiji.  Please continue to pray for the nation as it recovers from the flooding. We are working to get the base at Momi Bay ready for summer teams–it is a big job!

The Sigatoka pre-school is going great, the new group of children are learning about the Lord. Teachers Camari and Zereen are doing a wonderful job.  Thanks for praying for Fiji!

On September 13, 2008 around 400 people gathered at the Alipaz home for the 4th annual SI banquet in Visalia, CA. Some of the highlights from the banquet include reports from the field by summer participants who live in the Central Valley. One of several speakers was Ryan McKenzie of Sierra Vista Presbyterian Church, who shared about the growth he saw in his students in Guatemala and the beauty he saw in the lives of the poor they served there.  Another speaker was new staff member Cailah Pritchard. Though she’s headed to Costa Rica, she served this past summer in Fiji and shared about the unexpected lessons God had for her in relational ministry. It was a great night celebrating what God is doing in and through Students International, challenging all of to explore what God would have us do next. See the pictures in this link