A bit of a party and a blogload of prayers

It was a bit of a challenge, as those who travel will know, to stuff enough pressies in the UK suitcase before leaving for transit to loved ones here. There was a flurry of weight redistribution in Hong Kong, I seem to recall...

But anyway; glad to say that My Very First Prayers travelled well and was presented to yours truly's namesake, Crystal Valerie Tuilomani Kalouniviti, on Saturday when she brought her Mum and Dad around to House 12 for a get together. She's toddling around now and escaping from the confines of the house at every opportunity. A young woman of firm opinions and steely determination.

It was lovely to catch up with Lome and Koli, and a few friends from the campus kindly joined us too: Anna and daughter Emalyn from next door, Kini with her son Mosese and Kasa with her two grandchildren Raphael and Maria.

As will be familiar by now if you read the blog, we 'spread the mat' in the Pacific. Who needs chairs? The chatting and the praying and the singing and the eating all go on seated a bit nearer to God's earth. Except our youngest guest doesn't do sitting on a mat - or a chair for that matter - for very long. See one of many attempts at absconding...

And on the menu? A big roasted chicken, slices of creamy dalo, a staple root vegetable, some walu fish in coconut milk with onions, garlic and red peppers, roti (kindly supplied by Shelley) and dhal, roasted pumpkin and eggplant, juicy slices of pineapple and watermelon (kindly supplied by Anna), with Neapolitan ice cream cones to follow.

Oh yes, and that indigenous Pacific delicacy: a tube of Pringles. 

I like cooking and was up at about 5am before it got too hot, happily peeling, chopping, roasting and generally getting organised. But it is a complete disgrace - and I confess the weighty sin via this blog - that I didn't, physically, climb, retrieve, smash, scrape and squeeze coconuts fresh from from the tree to get the milk. So bad.

The alternative used wasn't actually the brand pictured on the right, but the name gives hope...

If you had a look at the last blog post, I included a sermon referring to 'Break the Silence' - the 16 days of activism to highlight the sin of violence and abuses of women, children and the most vulnerable across the world, and which the Fiji Council of Churches has been vocalising  and championing. Dudley Church focussed on this last Sunday evening in a special act of worship and it was humbling to be part of the event, with Deaconess Sala in blue, on the left, who heads up the Women's Department for the Methodist Church in Fiji and Rotuma. The Revd Dr Cliff Bird's sermon, reminding us again about 'fullness of life' being God's desire for all, was terrific. We even split the silence, symbolically, by cake slicing.

In the Education by Extension Department, we're trying to do student follow ups, but when it's a pretty scattered student community across the wide oceans, that's harder than you think. Distance learning requires steady, solid, self discipline; otherwise the work doesn't get done. We understand, though, that people commit to doing a course and pay up at the start with enthusiasm, then life gets in the way. So towards the end of the year, we try doing some track and trace to give the lapsed an encouraging word or a gentle kick up the... you know. Every student has, as you might expect, a database entry recording their vital details and achievements with a matching (in theory) hard copy file. So, you'd think that somewhere in that lot there would be some way of making contact with most? Easier said than done if...

Mr A has changed his mobile number three times in the last year, switched networks and cancelled his landline but hasn't told PTCEE any of this...

Ms B used to use her work e-mail for contact purposes but then changed jobs and didn't tell us so we find ourselves following up assignments with her replacement at the same company who doesn't ever remember signing up for a course in Christian Ethics...

Brother C keeps reinventing himself on Facebook: new name, unrecognisable photo etc, so we're scratching heads about whether he's the original that we used to message and we're trying to pin down... Or not.

Sister D didn't renew the rent on her Post Office mailbox, so we're told, and doesn't do communications by telephone or through cyberspace, so our kind messages are going somewhere - but who knows where....?

Rev E lost his mobile phones, his internet hub, his course books - well, in fact his whole house, and nearly his whole household, because of a category 5 tropical cyclone last February

And you can't really argue with the last one.

Which brings me to Advent Sunday, Haiti and the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew. I don't often feature the ministry of other mission partners specifically on the blog because all the news is up on the Methodist World Church pages and you can follow it there.  Please do. But John and Sharon Harbottle, who've been inspirational friends and partners in mission for years and years, (we've stopped counting!) are currently in Haiti. A medical doctor and an educator - among many other God-given talents - they've produced some 'Advent Praise' reflections which I'm so glad to share for your interest and prayers. Haiti continues to need loads of support. You could give here if you wish. Thanks. 

Now let's praise and pray....