Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Ministry In Fiji


Dear Family & Friends,

Warm greetings from Lautoka, Fiji in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ! By God’s grace I arrived here on the 26th of June 2013. Our trip so far has been filled with blessings from above.

Our team has had divine appointments through which we have had the privilege of meeting various people on the streets of Fiji – loving them and sharing Christ with them. 40% of the Fijian population is Indian, so I feel just at home! Both the Indians as well as the Fijians are such warm and welcoming people. We purchased a couple of Fijiansulus[similar to lungis in India] as it is the traditional attire of the land.
 
On our second night, we were invited by the security guard of our hotel, Tuks, to visit his village. We excitedly accepted the invitation.So the next day, we took a half hour ride in the local bus with Tuks to his village Vitogo. We were taken around the village which was so beautiful and nostalgic for me because the village looked so similar to my father’s villageIntur, back in Andhra Pradesh, India! We were introduced to the friendly Fijians of the village and visited the village school, Vitogo District School. We spent time interacting with the kids and loving them. Us visiting this village opened up a door for future ministry. We asked them if we could serve their village in any way, and they said we could at the school. This was so thrilling because back in Kona, when we asked God what kind of work He wanted us to do in Fiji, one of the things He told me was “schools”! And here we were, with an opportunity to work in the Vitogo District School, starting this Wednesday!

This SundayJune 30th, we were invited to a Fijian fellowship called New Life Church. Towards the end, they had a time of ministry where the sick and weary were prayed for. The pastor invited some of us to come up and join him in ministering, and I was one of them. I had never ever done this before. Of course I have prayed for people in the past and seen healing before my eyes, but what I saw and experienced on this morning was something I can barely put into words. There were a few people that came up to me for prayer, but among them was a Fijian lady, Elira, who had a severe pain in her neck and chest. I lay my hands on her shoulder and began praying for her. It was a simple prayer. Basically what I said was, “Father thank you for sending your son Jesus to die for your dear daughter. Holy Spirit, I ask that you breathe over her neck and chest right now and enable her to feel Your love flow through her body.” At that, I felt a strange power and suddenly the lady fell over. It was the first time I saw the Holy Spirit move that way. She was on the floor for a while before she got up and walked away with joy. After the service, she came up to me and blessed me saying “Praise God He healed me from my pains!” After Elira, a few others came up for prayer, and among them was Rohini, an Indian dwarf lady. Rohini was experiencing intense pain in her bones. I prayed pretty much the same prayer, but this time while I was praying I got a word from the Lord for her. He told me that He dearly loved her despite her past and despite the negative she’s heard from numerous ones. So I told her that God was telling me this, and it seemed to have brought so much life to her eyes and reassured her of how much the Father loves her. Then, upon asking the Holy Spirit to fill her heart with His love, she too was overpowered and fell back. I did not get a chance to see Rohini after the service, so I don’t know if she was healed, but I have faith that she is!

God is moving mightily among this land and He is using us, His instruments from Kona to fan the flame of revival that is already so strong here in Fiji. The experience I had on Sunday was neither something that I have ever come across, nor something that I expected. But the Lord just showed me that He is the same God of the Bible – always has been and always will be.

Please continue to pray for our team as we have a huge revival conference coming up next week from July 8th to July 13th here in Lautoka. The conference involves training and teaching for Christians in the morning and revival meetings for the lost and unsaved in the evenings. It will be conducted by Circuit Riders, an evangelism training organization and we will be assisting them in the teaching and meetings. I will be helping the international team in praise and worship. This will be the first time I will be leading thousands of people in praise, adoration and worship of Jesus. Also pray for God to sustain us with perfect health of mind, body and spirit.

I am ever grateful to you for remembering me in your prayers. I love you dearly with the love of Christ. God bless you!

In His service,

Dan Symonds

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