Update from Fiji...

Dear partners in Rivergum Church

Greetings in Jesus precious name

We’re so much thankful to the lord  for all your prayers  and as we’ve seen God doing great things over the last couple of weeks that we would like to share with you  and we surely believe that it was all your prayers that God has answered.

Few weeks ago we had our preparation for our first year Sigatoka church anniversary  and as usual we continued praying for for all the up coming programs and also for all our church members and including other  prayer needs that the Lord was leading us to pray for. 

One of our fellow church member was caught in adultery and had just ran away from the church feeling angry perhaps due to shame and that has been a great concern for us . We as a whole church have been praying for him almost every Sundays during the intercessory prayer times. Just a day before that anniversary Sunday, Munesh had meet up with him in town and had a talk with him and from him with very positive respond and long story short  he asked Munesh over to his house and had lunch together with him . We thank God that the next day he sent all his children's for fellowship together with us and because he himself was a bit busy due to work.That Sunday was a greatest  and a joyous day for all of us also for his children who as well who were once restricted by him and that now they were able to be back joining other youth also in church.       

We also thank God that we were able to celebrate our Sigatoka church anniversary and every thing went well . Our church members also as individual brought in contribution a dish of home cooked food and that was a great lunch .

Munesh has been visiting as usual new homes doing evangelism alone and brought two new families and one has been constantly coming together with their two children and the other one is just to young  teenage girls have just came for one Sunday only and not coming anymore due to their family problems which have affected them a lot . Their parents few months ago got divorced and they said that they have been struggling living all alone. We kindly request you all to please pray for those two sisters and for their  parents that God would help them to realize their mistake and be reunited again someday. As for the two girls they have been traveling a lot visiting their grand parents and therefore they’re not attending church on Sundays but they also said that they will try to come whenever they’re back in Sigatoka.

We also thank God for Pastor Lim who is a Korean Pastor who helps Munesh every Saturday traveling together to Lomowai church and helps with Music for worship purposes and also with the transport  also for Sundays which he allows us to borrow his vehicle to pick and drop the church members of Sigatoka church which has been a great help and we really praise God for all this open doors . Despite the difficulty with the transport currently, we’ve never stopped doing what we supposed to be doing in ministry that the Lord called us to. As usual  we’ve been following our weekly  the schedule for the ministry here in Sigatoka and lomowai especially Munesh offtenly   visits both the churches  and  but as for me unfortunately I wouln’t help a lot with Lomowai but except Sigatoka church  due to looking after the two kids. 

Please continue to help pray for our upcoming program with the Nakasi church as a combine fellowship and for safe journey in few weeks time.

Please also we kindly request you all to help pray for our transport that will be a great help for the ministry.   

 We believe that God has His own ways of proving in His own timing as we trust we continue to pray and have faith in His promises that are true and we believe in God for a open door for our needs.

Please I also kindly request you all to help pray for an open door for my work permit as well.

We thank you all our fellow brothers and sisters and partners in Christ for your support toward the fulfillment of God’s kingdom here in Fiji towards us.

Our prayers for Gods abundant blessings over your life's and may God’s peace be with you all.

 With love 

Munesh, Stella and the kid’s

Happy First Anniversary Sigatoka (Fiji)!

On Sunday September 8th the Sigatoka Church celebrated its first anniversary. It was a cheerful group of around 15 people that shared in worship and a celebration meal together afterwards. One family, attending for the first time, was made especially welcome.

Muneshwar Goundar reflects on the past 18 months since the vision to plant this church first formed. “It is good to look back and celebrate what God has done so far and also to encourage the congregation to look forward to fresh new things ahead.”

Muneshwar is encouraged that relationships which were damaged earlier in the year through one church member's poor moral choices are being restored. Another young woman who had succumbed to pressure from her in-laws to stop attending church is beginning to reconnect. Church members have encouraged and strengthened her in her faith.

The group which meets at Lomowai is also continuing to grow. Pastor Kim, a Korean missionary, is assisting with transport, music and technology for the now regular Saturday afternoon worship service there. Muneshwar and Stella rejoice in the growth of these new church plants and the support networks that are beginning to form.

September Update

Praise God for the growing attendance at Lomowai, and for Pastor Lim (pictured), a Korean missionary who assists Muneshwar with transportation, technology and music for the Lomowai gathering on Saturday afternoons. 

In return, Muneshwar assists him with Hindi preaching at a church service he holds on Sunday evenings. 

The Sigatoka Church is also slowly growing but the issue of a location to meet and transportation remains one for prayer.

Pastor's Retreat

Fiji Community Churches of Christ Director, Bruce Edwards, has just returned from a Pastor's Retreat which he ran to help encourage and build deeper relationships between the local pastors at Fiji.

Here is his post from the Global Mission Partners website:

Fun, Food and Fellowship in Fiji

Good food, lots of laughter and fun and great fellowship together marked the pastor’s retreat at Tubakula Beach near Sigatoka. This time of deeper sharing, from Thursday through to Saturday, was viewed as a valuable investment by the pastors and their families.

“We had a terrific time learning, praying and reflecting together, and also laughing, playing and eating together,” says Fiji Community Churches of Christ Director, Bruce Edwards. “It was a great opportunity, not only for Lisa and I to form deeper relationships with the pastors and their families, but also for the pastors to deepen their relationships with, and appreciation for, one another.”
Those taking part reported a greater sense of being united in a common purpose. They experienced a renewed feeling of being an integrated team holding a shared vision, despite pursuing this vision in different ways in different parts of the country. The wives also valued their time together. They appreciated being understood by others living a similar lifestyle as well as being further equipped as partners in ministry.
The value of continuing to invest more deeply in each other’s lives, in creating opportunities for mutual encouragement, fellowship and equipping for ministry was identified as a priority for the future. “Praise God for this valuable time together,” says Bruce. “Please continue to uphold each of our pastors, their families and the churches they lead.”  

Letter from Muneshwar...

Dear Partners and Families in Rivergum Church.

Greetings in Jesus Precious name.

We're so much grateful to the Lord for your partnership with  us.We have been seeing God working in a very tremendous ways in our lives and in this ministry through your caring prayers.

We're sorry that we were not able to send our news letters for couple of months due to problem with our computer.

We really also thank God for you all for your prayers that Stella and the kid's were able to return safe back from PNG after her passport has been renewed.

As usual we are engaging in to both the churches here in Sigatoka and Lomowai which are both very new churches with few members in each of the churches. We have about twenty members joint in for worship on Saturday in Lomowai and here in Sigatoka we had one new family joint us for fellowship. We did face some problems here in the Sigatoka church with two of our members and we would love your prayers to help us work through these problems in a Godly, loving way.

We also thank God for your prayers that God used a Korean Pastor to bless us with a very new  guitar  that was one of our big need in the church and God answered our prayer just few weeks ago.

We also kindly ask you all to please bear with us in prayer for a church transport . It has been a great challenge over the past few Sundays due to no transport and availability of public buses on Sundays as we returned back  one of the car weeks ago that we have been using it since last year and so one or just two members shows up for service and it has been a bit disappointing.It is especially difficult with lomoawai church especially when most of the houses is scattered as it is a farming location nevertheless we thank God that He has His own timing and his own way in bringing up the church

Please also help pray for Stella's work permit has she is quiet interested to work with special children in her free time has she has a big heart for people with special needs. Also help pray for an open door for her incomplete course in the Universities Of The South Pacific and a program or course based on Special and Inclusive Education .

We once again thank you all for your support and Prayers may God bless you all abundantly.

With Love and Blessings

Munesh, Stella, Hadasha and little Joshua