I thank God for giving me the opportunity to take part in this mission visit. The two-week team included 13 brothers and sisters: nine served in Lautoka and four in Suva. My son Kexuan and I served at the church in Lautoka. I happened to be the youngest adult on the team. Do not misunderstand—being younger brought no special privileges; the work still had to be done. :)
Serving with the Mission Team
December is Fiji’s hottest month, and Lautoka is even hotter than Suva. The room where I slept also happened to be the hottest room in the church. My roommates were Sisters Yizhen and Zhu Qing. Their lively and humorous conversations often left this younger roommate laughing and admitting defeat.
Most of the children attending the holiday programme were non-Chinese Fijian children. A few did not understand English very well, so their older brothers and sisters explained things to them at important moments.
As the Lautoka co-workers described them, the children could be very obedient when asked to be quiet and very energetic when it was time to play. Several were excellent singers. Hearing them sing hymns loudly and in unison moved everyone. Some were also talented dancers, and two children from charismatic churches taught us to dance to Christian songs.
The Fijian children took Sunday worship seriously and always came neatly and appropriately dressed. Several children who stayed overnight and came from a church with unorthodox teachings prayed together every night before bed and again at five each morning, asking for blessing on everyone. They also took the initiative to learn the Chinese pronunciation of key teachings from Children’s Evangelism Explosion.
I thank God for giving me ideas for the activities I led. I arranged for the children to speak lines and demonstrate the hand movements used to present the core message of Children’s Evangelism Explosion. Through taking part and performing, I hoped they would remember the true gospel message and later be able to distinguish it from false teaching.
I thank the brothers and sisters of EFCCA for praying for the mission team. Your prayers gave us great strength and brought warmth to our hearts. May we continue to pray for one another without ceasing.
Interpreting a Sunday Sermon for the First Time
The children’s holiday programme ended on Saturday evening, but 11 children stayed overnight. The following morning, they and their parents would attend Sunday worship. As everyone gradually went to sleep on Saturday night, I began preparing for another task God had given me: interpreting the next day’s sermon into English.
With my level of English, this was not a simple or easy assignment, and it was my first time interpreting. I settled down with the Chinese sermon, working out how to translate it while searching online for the English names of the people mentioned. That evening I prayed for God’s help and messaged several close sisters in New Zealand and China to ask them to pray. May God remember your prayers.
On Sunday morning, I asked my son to listen and check my English grammar. Even so, there was not enough preparation time. Half an hour before the service, I prayed again. I sensed God saying that even if I made a mess of the interpretation, it might help the listeners remember the sermon more clearly—and that could still serve His good purpose. The burden lifted immediately. I thank God for sustaining me and enabling me to complete the task.
Mission Visits and Short-Term Missions
A one- or two-week mission visit cannot be compared with the experience and sacrifice of long-term mission work. Minister Che and his wife, who have served in Africa for many years, can give a much fuller account of what mission means.
Taking part in a mission visit or short-term mission is not a measure of a person’s spiritual maturity. Someone who is very close to the Lord may not necessarily take part in this kind of trip.
Different Gifts
God gives each of us different gifts, backgrounds and places to serve. May we be faithful to the mission He has entrusted to us, walking with the Lord and relying on Him for victory each day.
First Peter 4:10 reminds us to use the gifts we have received to serve one another as faithful stewards of God’s grace.
What preparation and place of service has God shaped for you and me? May He open our spiritual eyes so that we offer our five loaves and two fish and remain faithful to what He has entrusted to us.
More importantly, our service, evangelism and life must be grounded in our relationship with God if they are to have heavenly value.
Finally, I share this prayer with everyone: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
Thank you.
Author: Stephanie Liu
Written in January 2024
