Fiji

While Brother Robert Bowman was in Fiji attending the funeral of Brother Samson Goundar, the committee of the Oceania Union requested Robert Bowman to visit church members and other interested people in various parts of Fiji and also in Samoa and Tonga.

After the funeral of Brother Samson, a visit was made to church members in Suva. This visit was from February 17–19, including a Sabbath. The Sabbath was celebrated with members from outlying villages as well as those living in Suva. Brother Sanaila Kenivale has been translating the Sabbath school lessons into Fijian, and these have been distributed to church members throughout Fiji, as well as to various interested people who enjoy the lessons. Brother Sanaila Kenivale is also competent in acting as an interpreter from Fijian to English.

We are preparing tracts DVD’s and other material for them. The church there is of good courage. It was explained to them that due to the passing of Brother Samson, and the possibility of more baptisms in the near future, it would be necessary for a Minister to come and reorganise the church and hold elections, baptisms, etc.

A visit was then made with Brother Savenaca Driu and his wife Loata, who are based in Lautoka, to travel to the north of Fiji. We visited several families there. Brother Savenaca is currently worshipping with around 15 people each Sabbath. We visited a group of people who are interested in joining our church with a promise of a harvest of souls in this area. The leader of this group has already decided that he wishes to join the IMS, and he anticipates that many of his people will follow him. Once again, we provided them with tracts; Brother Savenaca and his wife Loata will shortly take DVD’s by Pastor Henry Dering to them, to explain how our church was formed.

On returning to Lautoka we called at the house of Brother Samson, to visit with Sister Estrella Goundar and her husband Rodney and the children, Debbie Sheenal and her twin brother Dan and Romil, but they were not at home. We waited for half an hour and then heavy rain started to fall; it was necessary for us to go into Lautoka to complete some business there, and return the hire car. However, we did spend a considerable amount of time with the family prior to the funeral of Brother Samson.

Samoa

A meeting was held at the home of Brother Thai and Sister Mainifio Saunia in Apia, Samoa. Also present were Brother Fali Tevaga and his wife, also Sister Maria Petaia, who is the church secretary of IMS Samoa. Also present were some of the children of church members.

We love the people of Samoa and we want to see the work advance here and stand shoulder to shoulder with them in proclaiming the gospel to the people here. The people were then shown some tracts that would be useful in witnessing and we have promised to send them some DVD’s as well. We paid a visit to their place of worship, which is very well set up, with extra buildings attached.

Tonga  

We currently have two church members in Tonga, Brother Tipasa and Brother Pauliasi. The daughter of brother Tipasa is named Takuilau, and she is very interested in our message, and it has been arranged that we will send her study material in order to prepare her for baptism. She wishes to be baptised and to work for the Lord. She is also willing to translate our material from English to Tongan and to be involved in witnessing. We are at present preparing materials: DVD’s, magazines, booklets, etc. to help with the work in Tonga.

To summarize, the work in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga is going well, especially in Fiji, because we have Brother Savenaca Driu and his wife Loata taking care of the Western side of Fiji and Brother Sanaila Kenivale working on the Eastern side. We give thanks to the Lord for blessing the work in this area.