Life has been a little crazy lately! We have been hosting lots of teams and projects, seeing some awesome work happening and connecting with some amazing people. Every time I think I might have a moment to catch everyone up on our lives, I remember all the urgent things I need to get done first. But with our last team for the year currently working on a project, the work is starting to slow down.
Bob and Kanta’s reroof
It was a privilege to be able to help a family from our church to reroof their house. Bob has lived in this house his whole life - over 60 years! So fixing it was a huge weight off his shoulders. They have had problems with their roof for a number of years and had tried several things to fix it, but still had constant leaks, especially in heavy rain. Within a week, a couple of guys from New Zealand and an enthusiastic team from Fiji (including a couple of gymnastics coaches in the mornings), were able to give them the security of a safe and dry roof before the next rainy season. They were incredibly grateful for the help and Kanta made some delicious meals for the team.
Sabeto Kids Camp
In September we partnered with Waikanae Anglican, El Rancho and a team of local youth we have met over the last few years to fulfill a long time dream to run a Kids Camp at Sabeto Christian Camp.
There were so many logistics to come together, many that we didn’t quite know how they would happen or what it would all look like. There were funds to raise, communities to meet with and children and youth to invite! We had to organise transport, food, activities, so many things that are so much simpler in New Zealand and so much harder to pull together in Fiji. It was a huge faith building experience but throughout it all I felt pretty strongly that if God was calling us to it, He would provide all we needed to make it happen and He most definitely came through.
By partnering with a team from New Zealand, part of the weight was definitely shared as they brought an experienced team keen and able to lead the children alongside our local team and run the programme while experiencing a new culture.
It was such a highlight to see the joy on the faces of the local campers and youth as they experienced the opportunity to live in a camp community for a week, making new friends, learning new songs, stories and games - something most of them had never been a part of before.
It was great to be able to share this opportunity with a team from New Zealand who may have known what it was to run a camp before, but never in Fiji. Granting them new opportunities to see the world in a different light by leading, serving and loving such precious children.
I have been asked by many of the local children and youth (as well as my own) if I can do it again next year, one asking if I could make it two weeks next time! I assured them I definitely want to see it happen again, however there is no way I could make it two weeks!
I loved meeting elders from the villages we invited, parents and working alongside our dedicated cooks and volunteers to make it happen. Even a local policeman came to thank us for all we were doing to provide a safe option for local kids in the school holidays. There was a lot to learn, but we look forward to doing it again in the future. Please let us know if this is something you want to support to make happen again.
Gabrielle's cabin with all her friends from our church.
In October we had the crazy experience of hosting two different teams and projects at the same time.
WASH, Vakanalawa, Sigatoka.
Many of the people we most want to help unfortunately don’t always have the funds needed to do the work. This project was the perfect opportunity to partner with Anglican Missions who were able to secure a grant for adequate toilet and shower blocks for a community that didn’t already have appropriate facilities.
The community was about 15 minutes inland from Sigatoka and we were blessed with a very hardworking team from St John’s in Rangiora to help make it happen. With two block layers on the team and four other keen helpers we were able to get the bulk of the work done for two toilet and shower blocks. Roy was able to go back with one of our local guys, Josh, the following week to put a roof on one and will continue to work with locals to finish the project.
At the request of Anglican Missions we were able to invite a good friend, Precious, whom we met nearly 20 years ago as a child in Savusavu, now a nurse in Vanua Levu, to present a workshop for the community on hygiene. She did an amazing job and felt blessed by the experience. It is exciting to see the way God weaves the details together to work alongside long time friends in Fiji.
Our two block layers working on one of the toilet blocks in the Vakanalawa settlement.
New home for Aunty Salochna in Sabeto
Aunty Salochna has been the Manager at Sabeto Christian Camp for over 12 years. She will soon be leaving camp and needs a family home. Unfortunately, her late husband Bimal was never able to see a dream they had held together for a long time come together. But we were honoured to help see this reality start.
Over the years she has helped host many MMM teams and been a good friend to MMM FIji. It was great to have a team come to serve and support her.
Our Josh was keen to join this team, even though Roy was in Sigatoka, he spent three days each week with this team, learning from them and getting involved. It is great to see him really getting involved with the mission of why we are here and we are grateful for the guys that invested in him over this project.
We managed to get the foundations down, the block walls laid out and the walls partially built, window frames and trusses made. There are some blocks already onsite waiting for another team to do the next bit. If this is something that interests you or someone you know, please get in touch and we can help make it happen.
We made a good start and there are materials for someone else to carry on with.
Plans not always going to plan
Throughout the last two projects we had our fair share of unplanned things happen. Fiji never ceases to amaze us with the new curve balls it can throw and just how many it can throw at once!
We have had injuries, including a team member spraining their ankle as well as Roy hurting his back badly. There has been sickness with tummy bugs and infections. Our work truck broke down in Sigatoka, which is a long way from home and while we had a team here. This meant we had to rely on unreliable carriers to get around. Then our own truck’s battery died as batteries don’t last long in Fiji for some reason. This wasn’t ideal when the work truck was already at the mechanics waiting to get fixed so we didn’t have a second vehicle to jump start it from. Luckily if you knock on enough doors you find a neighbour with jumper leads and a car that works!
We have had building sites with no power and water after being assured they would be onsite in time, which makes everything so much harder and more complicated. Some building materials took over a week to arrive, which left team members frustrated as they sat around without much work to do. Then, when there were materials, we had torrential rains on days you really don’t want them, stopping us from working. But through it all we are always amazed at the way our God can still work in the details, causing what we might see as a disruption or frustration turned into something beautiful.
Upcoming trip to New Zealand
In mid December we are heading to New Zealand until early March! That’s the longest period of time we have been in New Zealand since we moved to Fiji in 2022. We will be spending a lot of our time in Kapiti, but will also spend time in Christchurch, the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and other places along the way. We would love to catch up with as many people as we can, so please get in touch if you would like to make time to see us.
Our needs you may be able to help with…
On our first four nights in the country we will be in Christchurch (Dec 15 - 19) and in need of a vehicle to drive. If you are in that area and have something that could be available for our family please let us know.
Josh is needing a new chromebook or laptop to do his school work on. He has now had his chromebook for over five years and it is nearing the end of its life. Do you have something lying around unused that might be helpful? If so, please get in touch.
If you have missed hearing from us and want to hear from us more regularly, let us know and we can add you to our weekly prayer and praise emails.
There is a video of the Kids Camp, but my technological advisor is on an outer island and I can't work out how to put it in this email right now. If you want to see it, it's on my (Rachael) Facebook page so ask to be my friend if you are not or let me know and I can send it another way.
Thank you so much to the support of everyone that supports us either financially, prayerfully or practically. We appreciate it so much and hope to see you all soon!
Roy, Rachael, Josh, Gabrielle and Kelepi/Caleb
Some bonus photos...
We had Noah, a gymnastics coach from Denmark (on the left of Josh) stay with us for a couple of months. We took him up the Nausori Highlands. It's a pretty cool spot. I wonder if Kelepi will ever regret pulling such faces.
Roy and Fijian Josh getting thanked at Vakanalawa
Sabeto Kids Camp team 2025
Josh has got into the guitar in a big way this year.
Kelepi's good friend Daniel, Aunty Salochna's Grandson
Josh and Gabrielle at the National Club Competitions in the Gold Coast this year where they both performed for gymnastics.
One of our highlights of Australia was hanging out with the Fijian coaches.
This is our friend Jock with his kids. We first met in 2006 when we stayed with him on our first trip to Fiji. Our kids now get on well together.
Josh has not only managed to finish most of the year 10 curriculum (he will in the next few weeks) and pass his final CAA credits with NCEA... but has also spent over three weeks building with our teams this term.
Diwali is a public holiday here and lots of people like to bring you sweets and others yummy things! It was fun to share some of the gifts from our neighbours with our friend Api.