Bula Vinaka from Fiji!
Things are going well at the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa. We just finished up our short courses. My son, Josh, came out and taught a class on Youth and Family Ministry. Josh has been a youth minister for about 24 years and did a great job. The interest level was high and we had three to sit in on the class in addition to our regular students. We also had Paul Meredith, who taught a class on Church History and did great as well. This is Paul's second time to teach and he relates well to the students and does a good job of presenting difficult material in a way that it can be easily understood.
We are currently on school break. Lord willing, Emosi (one of our instructors), his wife Nancy, and I will be traveling to the north to spend a little time with the congregations at Labasa and Buca. We plan to make an audio and video recording of their singing to produce a CD and DVD to be distributed to other congregations to encourage them and to help them learn new songs. We will be working with Atu (whom I hope to persuade to enroll in the school at a future date) who is an excellent song leader. He has singing practice every Saturday and he has several that come regularly to learn new songs and practice old songs. This will be the second time I have recorded them. This has been a real encouragment to the brethren in Fiji.
I have also purchased my airfare to Denver to attend the annual fall staff retreat. Lord willing, I will leave Denver on Sunday afternoon and arrive back in Fiji on September 2. Jason and Emosi are teaching the classes in my absence. When I arrive back in Fiji I will work on finalizing preparation for the upcoming campaign to Nadi, Fiji.
Two weeks ago Jason and I spent a weekend in Nadi so that we could meet with Jone Qoro, the preacher there. We were able to finalize plans for the student led campaign which is scheduled to take place September 9 through the 15. We plan to knock doors during the day. The students will be divided into two teams. One will focus on visiting wayward members and the other on inviting people of the community to the lectureship on the family, which will be Friday night and all day Saturday. The students will be teaching in the program as well. Please keep the campaign effort in your prayers and also the brethren in Nadi.
Following the campaign, classes resume on Tuesday, September 17. I am excited about teaching the Scheme of Redemption. This will be the second time I have taught this at the Bible Institute at Raiwaqa and I have spent a good deal of time updating and reediting my textbook for this class. I will teach this course for three weeks and then I am scheduled to teach Paul's Prison Epistles for two weeks. Jason will be teaching Old Testament History II, Hebrews, and Ethics this term. Emosi will be teaching Denonominational Doctrines.
May God bless you with a wonderful day!
Rocco