Boot Camp and Fiji

Jaime has finished Boot Camp and is now in Fiji. We travelled up for her commissioning service and then said good byes at the airport the next morning. She has been having a great time and enjoyed all aspects of Boot Camp. We haven't heard from her from Fiji but heard that the team had arrived there.

We had a couple of letters from her while she was on Boot camp. Here are some of her thoughts:

"I am having an awesome time at Boot Camp so far. The days are longer than I am used to - waking up at 4:30am and going to bed at 9:30pm"

"Tomorrow we have a full work day. That means we have the obstacle course and our 2 morning classes and after that we will spend the whole time working. This will be instead of our regular classes and is to prepare us for full work days on the field. We will be painting the A-frames! I love painting! Today we had carpentry. I did so well with my first cut that I got moved to the advanced class. I also made my corner almost perfect in Block Laying."

"We have been here for a week now and we have learnt so much. One of my favourite parts has been making cheers each day for the evening rallies."

"Each Sunday we have to revise all of our verses to date. We have to get one verse checked off each day and today we also had to do the first 8 verses. I am doing well with the verses. By the time I come home I will be able to rattle off all 40 verses!"

These are the from the letters we have received so far. We went up to Queensland for her commissioning Service on Dec 21. They were really busy finishing packing and having their first real shower since they got there (all the rest of the time they have to have bucket showers!) and we didn't get to spend much time with her but it was so lovely to see her and to go to the commissioning service and see and hear some of what they have been doing. They had a lovely candle ceremony and prayer time to end the service. Jaime was so positive and enthusiastic about Boot Camp and so excited to be flying out the next morning. We went to the airport and said good-bye - it was great to see the others on the team as well.


Please continue to pray for them. They are staying in tents and there has been a lot of rain according to the weather reports. We can't wait to get letters and find out more about what they are doing! Waiting for snail mail is hard but really makes us appreciate the letters even more. Please write if you have time as I know she really appreciates hearing from people. The addresses are in a previous post (scroll down!) If you are writing to Fiji, letters need to be in the mail by January 1st. Or send letters to Queensland for her to receive at debrief after the 17th of January.

(the last photo is taken from a blog by the family at the orphanage in Fiji - the day after they arrived! Jaime's in the stripey shirt.)

Two nights left!

I  found my sheet with all of my team members! Only it might have gone through the wash in the back pocket of my jeans so I don't think I will post it because it is hard enouh to read without being scanned. My desses are mostly finished, I only have the sleeves and collar to do but I am not confidant with either. A lady from church who has been helping with them, offered to finish them for me while I was on school camp. I appreciate her help so, so much. The dresses turned out really well.

My bags are mostly packed but I still have a few things including my dresses and all of my tee-shirts and I am getting close to my 15kg weight limit. The plan is that I will pack everything by lunch time tomorrow, we will see how taht goes. I can't believe that I only have tonight and tomorrow night at home before leaving Friday. I appreciate your continued prayers. Please remember to write!

Team Members

I forgot to mention that I also receive the list and photos of my team members a couple of weeks ago. There are 13 girls and 4 boys between the ages of 13 and 18. We also have one couple and 3 female leaders. If I can find the sheet I will scan it and post the image so you can see them. I am the only person from Victoria, there are two sisters or twins (not sure which) and two girls from New Zealand. Most people are from New South Wales or Queensland, there is one leader from Western Australia and one boy from the Northern Territory. Thats all I can think of to tell you about my team (partly because that is about as much as I know, other than names, but I doubt a list of names would mean much to you.)

Just 12 days to go!!

Sorry I have taken so long to add a new post. Things just keep getting busier and busier and I am starting to feel a bit stressed. Anyway, 2 weeks until I leave! I have until next Saturday to pack. Most of my stuff is already packed, but I have 2 dresses to make before then! I finished cutting them out on Thursday and some of the pieces are pinned together I just need to meet with the lady who is helping me make them and sew them up. The only problem is that my machine is busted, so hopefully I can use hers or find one that works!

I have been receiving regular emails from the family that moved to Lomani Au last month. It sounds like preparations are coming along well but there is still stuff that needs to be done before they can accept children from Welfare. There has been a lot of rain since the second week they have been there.The Feilds are only there for 3 months which means they will leave not long (being a few days) after we return to Brisbane for debrief.

I have got half of my stuff packed and labeled already,but I am wishing all of that could be done so I don't have to worry about that. I have almost reached the full amount of money that I need and I am praying that the last couple of hundred that I need will come soon. I appreciate you prayers and ask that you continue to pray that I will peace and not become too stressed. I would also very much appreciate receiving letters from while I am away.

Details and Updates with 48 days to go

The other day I found out that year 10 camp runs from Mon the 5th of Dec to Wed the 7th of Dec. I will probably take the Thurs off school and I fly to Brisbane of Fri the 9th and Boot Camp starts on the 10th. So that week will be completely crazy! I will have to pack a week or two before.

I also received some specific details about the trip from TMIA such as flights, dates etc. I also have information regarding mail, I would really appreciate if everyone wrote to me while I am away. While on boot camp it is suggested not sending anything after the 16 of Dec, letters are to be addressed;
Teen Missions Team 1107
Jaime Kuipers
PO Box 29
Tewantin QLD  4564
AUSTRALIA
I think that you can send mail until the 16 of Jan so I will receive it when I arrive back for Debrief. While I am in Fiji it is suggested that you allow 2 weeks for arrival (Australia to Fiji), the suggested cut off date is Jan 1st. The address is;
Teen Missions Team 1107
Jaime Kuipers
Lomani Au Children's Home
PO Box 688
Savu Savu
FIJI 
No Packages are allowed and aerogrammes are suggested. I wish I could write to everyone but there are just too many people, however I will be sending updates home in my letters to my family and mum will post them for me.

There are also more details about out project. We will be building a playground for the children at Lomani Au as well building a chicken pen and a retaining wall and other odd jobs. There will also be an opportunity to go paint a local Community Hall. The Children's Home is 10min away from the hospital and it backs onto the beach (guess where I'll be spending all my free time). At the end of October there will be a full time nurse and dorm parents and they will be able to begin accepting children from Social Welfare. For more information see their website www.lomaniau.com.

At this time I have 3 main prayer requests; for the family who is going to Lomani Au with their 4 children to be dorm parents at the end of the month and that all of the preparations would go smoothly for them, that none of our team (me in particular) would be too affected by the heat/humidity, and that Christ will give me the boldness to evangelise effectively. Thankyou so much for your paryers, I really appreciate them.

Matthew 6: 25 - 34

It is amazing how, every time I begin to worry or even just wonder how things will work out and I feel overwhelmed with details, someone comes and asks how things are going and lets me know that they are praying or someone gives me an envelope with money. And I feel like God is saying, "Just trust me, everything will work out, don't worry." This has happened several times, always within 48hrs. How long will it take for me to learn? Please pray that God will give me peace and that I will be able to focus these last few months of school.

Booked Flights

After a long day of waiting, calling, messaging, talking to automated ladies and being on hold my flights are finally sorted out! I also bought my travel insurance without problems (yet!), now I just have to book a doctors visit and find out what medications/vaccinations I will need to have. Everything is comming along nicely.

65 Days and counting

I am now 65 days away from flying to Brisbane! Yesterday we went and got my forms signed by a Justice of the Peace at the police station, now most of my forms are completed. I am having some troubles with flights but hopefully that will get sorted out. Money is not my main issue now, everyone has been incredibly generous and I have reached the $3000 mark! Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed, especially those who have been praying for me and I ask that you pray I won't get so focused on all of the planning that I lose sight of the reason I am going.

Last week I was on work experience and I met a wonderful lady, after talking to her in the kitchen for a few hours I told her about the trip. She stopped me mid-sentence and said that she had some money that she had asked God to use for his work and she would like to give me some money towards my trip. I found it so amazing that some one who I had only met that day was willing to give me a couple hundred dollars towards something I had only briefly explained. I wonder how many people would be willing to do that in a world where possessions seem to define a persons value; it is so easy to forget about the reality of eternity because we can't presently 'see' it. That day I also made a friend and learned a lesson.

I will have more updates soon.

Boots

A few weeks ago I bought my boots! I haven't worn they yet because I am waiting for confirmation from from TMIA but I think it should be fine. Also, as of yesterday I received a total of ... $2350!!!! I am so excited and so amazed at the generosity and encouragement from everyone, God has answered my prayers in much bigger ways than I could imagine! So far I have 10 official prayer partners, but I would love everyone's prayers. By the end of the week the $2260 that the trip cost should be paid. Soon I can start paying for some of the other costs such as vaccinations, medication, flights to QLD, insurance etc.

Commissioning Service

"Parents, Friends and Pastors: Please come and be a part of the Commissioning service. Commissioning will be on Wednesday 21st December 2011. The service begins at 6:30 pm. The gates will open at 4pm. You are welcome to bring your own dinner to eat with your young person (Me!). Teen Missions will be providing team members and leaders with dinner."

This is an excerpt from the newsletter I received in the mail today from TMIA.

Fiji Facts

Fiji is an archipelago made up of over 300 islands, only 110 of which are permanently inhabited. The islands are formed of volcanic rock and the centre of the islands are mountainous and relatively uninhabited. It has a total land area of 18,376km, the two largest islands are Viti Levu and Vanua Levu whose inhabitants make up 87% of 83,125 population. Being a tropical island they are subject to typhoons during the wet season (Nov-April), they also experience frequent earth quakes.

Majority of the population are between the ages of 15 and 64 years old, over all the median age is 26.9, with the life expectancy around 70 years. Most of the population is fairly well educated, on average, people have formal schooling for 13 years and 97.3% of the population over 15 are literate. English and Fijian are the official languages, Hindustani is also spoken but is not an official language. 25.5% of the population lives below the poverty line. Religion: 62.5% Christian, 27.9% Hindu, 6.3% Muslim, 0.3% Sikh, 0.3% none, 0.7% none.

The GDP are 8.9% agriculture, 13.5% industry and 17.6% services however 70% of the labour force works in agriculture and 30% in services and industry. The main industries are tourism, sugar, clothing, gold, silver and lumber. Each year 400 000 - 500 000 tourists visit annually, there are large numbers of resorts and one of the main attractions is snorkeling. Unemployment rate is 7.6% and the external debt is $127 million.

Interesting Fact: there are 4 airpots with paved runways and 24 airports with unpaved runways in Fiji.

$1000 mark

Thanks to some very generous and wonderful friends I have received $1000 towards the trip! I have passed on $500 of that to TMI already - well before the 4th. I do feel bad thought because I don't know how to express my gratitude. When people hand me envelopes with their support I just stand there grinning, probably looking a little goofy. Sometimes I wish I spoke another language that has much better words to thank people, but even that probably wouldn't help much!

I have been writing thank you notes this afternoon but I can only come up with a few sentences and I get frustrated at my lack of words. I also want to say a huge thank you to the people who have been praying for me, without their prayers this would not be possible.

 I would like to share something that has happened. Last Friday I had $100 and I said to a friend that I was beginning to be concerned at how I was going to get the $300 by the 4th of August. When I got home after school there was $150 waiting for me, now it isn't even August (a few more hours to go!) and I already have over 3 times as much. I feel like God is saying to me, "Don't you trust me? Are you going to limit me? Let me show you what I can do. Let me show you how much more I can do!" It has been a humbling and amazing experience so far - and I still have many month to go. Then after that I have the rest of my life - however long that may be! I am getting all excited just thinking about what God might choose to do with my life!

Update

As of today I have reached the $300 that is due in a couple of weeks. Thank you so much for being so generous in supporting me! God is great! I made $39 profit from my stall, it didn't go quite as well as I hoped but it will help buy my boots etc. All up, it was a fairly good day.

I am also going to try and sell more of my stock. If you want any hairclips, hairties, bookmarks, bracelets and such let me know. There is going to be another market at the school fair later this year where I am thinking about holding a stall at. I appreciate your prayers.

Important Dates

23rd July - Maia's Market stall, the money I make there will go towards expenses involved
4th August - First $300 of the $2260 is due
1st October - 2/3rds or $1506 of the $2260 is due
1st November - The full $2260 is due
10th December - Boot Camp Begins
21st December - Commissioning Service. You are all invited!
22nd-23rd December - Travelling to the orphanage
16th January - Return from Fiji
17th January - Debrief begins
21st January - Debrief ends and we all come home!

Introduction

At the moment I am preparing to go on a missions trip for 6 weeks during December and January. I created this blog to let you know how I am going in my preparation and to share my prayer needs. To begin with, here is some basic information about the trip I'm going on.

Teen Missions International
The organisation I will be going with is called Teen Missions International Australia. TMI was started by a man in America in 1970. He felt that it was important to train young people for missions while they had the desire to do so, rather than waiting for several years until they finished schooling. Since then TMI has grown to include Australia and New Zealand. Each summer there are several missions trips from both America and Australia (different summer times) that go to places throughout the world. "TMI is an interdenominational evangelical mission made up of Christians from many denominations who have come together to work for the Lord. This summer TMIA is running 8 trips at the same time, each in a different country. For more information see the Australian website: http://www.teenmissions.com.au/ or the American website: http://www.teenmissions.org/

Fiji Missions Trip
One thing in particular that drew me to TMI missions trips is that they put you through an intensive training program before sending you off to the field. I believe that this is very important as it allows your ministry to be much more effective. It also means that the missionaries we will be assisting can have more peace of mind - you wouldn't want an entirely untrained person building the roof of your church, hey?  In early December I will be heading up to QLD to meet a whole bunch of teens from Australia and New Zealand. We will be at Boot Camp (called that because we have to wear leather work boots the whole trip) for 10 days, during this time I will get to know my team who I will be going to Fiji with as we camp together and have daily classes and devotions together. The classes will include: carpentry, painting, block laying, music, puppets, balloon tying, Bible memory, Servanthood, God's Will, Personal evangelism, basic photography and more. On the last evening of Boot Camp we will all have a comissioning service - you are all invited to come! The next day each team will fly out of the Brisbane airport to their various locations.

My team will fly to Nadi on Viti Levu the main island of Fiji before taking a bus across the island and catching a ferry over to the isand of Vanua Levu where we will be helping at Lomani Au (I am loved) orphanage. the orpahnage is the first in norhtern Fiji and it opens some time this year. Our job will be to help develop the grounds, building a retaining wall, planting an orchard, cultivating the gardens etc. For the entire trip we will be sleeping in tents and washing our clothes in a bucket. After four weeks in Fiji we will fly back to QLD for Debrief for 4 days then I will return home 8 days before Year 11 starts!