Trip to Rakiraki

It’s hard to believe that we will be home in just over a week!

This last weekend we traveled back up to Lautoka where we attended the morning service.  In the  afternoon we went from there up to Rakiraki to a church plant that is just getting started.  John preached and played the guitar for the singing part.

Last Thursday his sore throat got much worse, and then he started to have trouble breathing.  So Pastor Paul took him to a private doctor in the area who informed him that he had a throat infection as well as what looked like an allergic reaction.  He took some antibiotics and Benadryl, and things began to slowly improve.  He is now thinking that he will stay away from anything mango, as it seemed to get bad after he drank some mango juice.  Thankfully, it seems to be pretty well cleared up now.

On Monday, I was invited to the Christmas Ladies meeting in Lautoka, where I was also asked to give a testimony.  I hope that it was a blessing to the ladies, as I’m not the world’s best public speaker! 

We played a couple of games that involved gathering things together…one of the things we were supposed to get was a frog!  Everyone was outside looking in the bushes, drains…Anywhere, but only 1 team was able to get one. 

On Tuesday John went out soulwinning with Pastor Warneke and Bro. Joe from Ba.  They were gone from about 10 in the morning until about 4:30 in the afternoon, and 2 people were saved that we know of.  Praise the Lord!  Last Wednesday, the Warneke’s called and their middle son wanted to call and tell John that, because of the message he preached on Sunday, he got saved!  It was such a blessing to hear.

It was a blessing that, while we were in Lautoka we were able to stay in a hotel, so we were able to have some real “vacation” time in amongst the busyness.  It was nice to be able to relax together as a family, as we ended up staying for 4 nights.

This Sunday the church here is having their church Christmas Lovo dinner, and will have a send-off for us, as we will be heading out next Wednesday.  Some of you know what Lovo is, but for those who don’t, it is a meal cooked underground.  They lay rocks down in a pit, light a fire to heat them, place the foil-wrapped food on the heated rocks, cover that with leaves, cover that with a tarp, and cover that with dirt.  A few hours later, they dig it all up and eat it!  I have heard that it is very good.  Generally they only do it for holidays or special occasions.

Yesterday and today John is helping build benches for the church.  We will try to get pictures tonight and post them up!  We will also be helping put some Christmas baskets together to distribute to some of the less fortunate families.

Teaching how to play volleyball!

This is the couple that hosted the church service in Rakiraki.

The 2 young men in the back are the 2 who were saved during the soulwinning.

This is a church service that was held during the soulwinning time that John was also able to preach at.

We appreciate your prayers for the last few days that we are here, as well as safety traveling next week.  John is feeling much better, but if you could also pray that he would continue to heal up from this infection and that it wouldn’t cause any more issues for him.

God Bless you all,

The Elwoods