TWO days till wedding time!

With two more days until the wedding here is an outtake from Manasa's recent prayer point letter to a support church in Korea. I am thankful that my parents could fly in for the wedding and a nice vacation time here in Fiji. Also thankful that my best friend from Chicago, Jenny, was able to also make the trip. Am enjoying my 'family' and watching Manasa fit right in. Like any wedding there have been some stressful last minute changes but God is still faithful and we are excited about the celebration day and even more so about the life to come together :) Vinaka!

"

WEDDING PREPARATIONS

Our wedding day will be two weeks from today on July 7^th, 2012. We have decided to hold our celebrations in Lautoka Fiji, so that our friends and family can easily visit from all over. Alissa's parents and best friend will be joining us from the USA for ten days. My family will travel from all over Fiji and New Zealand to join the celebration. YWAM is hosting a new base opening the weekend before the wedding so we are excited to also host guests from our YWAM family as well. We will be having a small ceremony in a local Fijian "bure" (hut) located at Anchorage Beach resort. My mentor, Pastor Mike, will be the officiant and we are honored to have several pastors in attendance. Our family is hosting a traditional Fijian "tevutevu" (homecoming celebration) before our reception to introduce Alissa's family into my culture. Our reception will be at a local hall and we are so thankful for the support of family, church, and our YWAM community in helping us cater and entertain at this event. We couldn't do this wedding without their blessings.

The items we still have left to consider in the next few weeks include:

·       Funds for wedding rings

·       Wedding suit (we have given a down payment only)

·       Coordinating transportation (renting a vehicle for the week of the wedding)

·       Getting my Fijian drivers license completed

·       Funds for honeymoon

·       Signing up for marriage license

·       Completing our vows

·       Preparing for out of town guests (coordinating housing, transportation and food)

PRAYER POINTS

In preparing for the future we have been daily in prayer seeking God's wisdom. The following includes our current prayer points:

·       General health

·       Rent for the month of July (God has blessed me with a two bedroom apartment during this time in Fiji)

·       Ticket from Fiji returning to Mongolia (leaving on August 8)

·       Mongolian visas

Thank you so much for the great support in both prayer and finances. We have truly seen the hand of God move in our lives during the past few months, and we strongly believe this could not be possible without the power of prayer partners in our lives. We look forward to sharing with you further details about our future in our next newsletter.

For more information about our wedding celebration please visit the webpage: www.alissamanasa.com.

Vinaka Vakalevu

Manasa Qaranivalu"

Good time in Fiji

Settling into Fiji!  Managing apartment, and already have declared war on the cockroaches. We can walk into town so its been a blessing - especially with the details of wedding preparation! We are blessed to be a part of two churches at the moment and feel very supported. The checklist is diminishing except for some minor details (like finances hahahaha). We look forward to my parents and my best friend Jenny arriving to Fiji in two weeks time! I know time is flying by so fast now.
Manasa and I are focusing on  building a good foundation of friendship and teamwork and discussing the important things that come up like budget, family vs ministry time etc. Ive included a picture Manasa took off of my balcony during one of the sunsets....was a good reminder to also enjoy the surroundings, this is the time to be in Fiji and appreciate family/friends and culture!

Farewell to Island Breeze Brisbane

On Monday night the Island breeze ladies took me out for dessert, fellowship and prayer time as a farewell and also a celebration of engagement to Manasa. It was a blessed time and I will truly miss these ladies and the Island Breeze Base!

42 Days and counting

42 days till the Wedding! But whos counting :)
I received a beautiful prophesy last night at my last fellowship with a local baptist church here in Australia- looking forward to a season of laughing, laughter of happiness but also laughing in the face of Satan. Compared my past ministry to the future and this past season has been like its "been lost as sand through the fingers" but that will be a season where God will accelerate. The love of the Father will be the key to unlocking the favor in nations- specifically "ancient and preserved nations". Amazing! There was so much more to the prophesy and confirmations but I am sincerly appreciative to a God that cares enough to affirm me and love my ins and outs.
Good day!

Visit to Newcastle, NSW Australia

With only a week left I spent a long weekend at a friends house, with her family and new baby Sophia (one month). Amazing to see how God has imprinted even children at such a young age with His fingerprints. Here are a few pics.
Notice instead of rocking horse, they have a rocking kanga

Leaving Australia

Countdown is one week before leaving Australia! Thinking of all the great memories and praying blessings over all the ministries I laid on a hand on, but that also touched me!  Leaving next Thursday for Lautoka Fiji, my new home for the next 2 months. There are still lists of things to do. Did some packing today and was pleased to see that I've minimized to a decent amount considering I can only take two carryons and a 23kg bag..... on to more adventures! Thanks for the prayers during this transition time!

Fundraising

Trying to be creative in fundraising-- the newest one is selling coffee, i get quite a bit back on each thing purchased! Check it out!


https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/kingdom/

some more pics from Fiji trip

Here are some more pictures from the FIji trip. In the village they use their own garden, fishing and raising animals for food. The only thing I saw them buy from the shops was toilet paper and rice. Heres a picture of Manasa shelling the coconut to be used for a sauce for dinner. Even though the ferry was almost four hours, it didnt seem long with airconditioning and movies playing!

ENGAGED

This is alittle late, but during my trip to Fiji during Easter I was able to visit with Manasa's family, and also become an engaged woman! Manasa asked me to be his wife on top of a little hill in a traditional fijian bure looking over the ocean and the mountains to our left. I am honored, thrilled, excited, sentimental, and can't believe in just under 2 months we will be married! There is more information on our website at "www.alissamanasa.com".
First pic is the first picture of us engaged, and the second is my realizing how quickly the wedding day is coming!

Floods in Nadi, Fiji

Praying for flooding to go down in Nadi- This is where Manasa is (on the outskirts).

He returned to Fiji to apply for Australian visa after some time in Korea including a car accident (he is fine though doctors recommended two weeks rest).

He was rejected his first try at the visa however we believe it may be a mistake. I am scheduled to fly to fiji for 2 weeks (on Tuesday) but there are floods currently.

Please pray the floods recede and for favor in the immigration office.

Blessings!

Human Trafficking Seminar

Coordinating a seminar on Human Trafficking, such a relevant and heart wrenching topic for all of us Christians:

My Father's House, 17-21 Progress Road Shop 10 Burpengary

Let's come together to learn more about Human Trafficking and how we can support the cause to end slavery. YWAM has joined 'Not for Sale' to promote awareness and help the nations become 'smart activists'. www.notforsalecampaign.org Join us at My Father's House for a night of learning , fellowship and coffee (next to Post Office) Contact Alissa at missionresources@islandbreeze.com.au for further information! Pass it on!

TRAIN THEM IN THE WAY THEY SHOULD GO

Never be afraid to empower and create opportunities for the youth in our churches!

Father son conversation

Best Father / Son conversation I've heard in a while:

Pastor Net: Please shush

Son Jonathan: Shush is not a polite word daddy.

Pastor Net: Sorry Son, you are right, Daddy is sorry.

Son Jonathan: Its not me you should be saying sorry to, you should say sorry to God.......

 

Just goes to show that when you train your children, it eventually does stick (and may come right back at YOU!) Hehehehehe

Blessed my heart :)

Akward moments

Akward Moment:  Standing in line at Officeworks for twenty minutes waiting for the bank to approve a check cause none of us jokers have an Australian drivers license. Love Ywamers!

How cold is tooo cold?

When is too cold, TOOOO cold?

Story from Manasa in Mongolia - this week my boyfriend Manasa moved from his apartment onto the YWAM base dorms in Darhan Mongolia.This move will help his save a bit more money before heading to South Korea next month to apply for a visitor visa to be able to visit me in April in Brisbane Australia.  They started the move about 4pm so quickly the sun set and the temperature dropped to almost -40....
Two signs that its tooooooo cold:
1) his plant wilted immediately after hitting the cold air
2) his glass coffee table shattered after ten minutes in the cold (not simply cracked, but small pieces shattered)

WOW! Makes me thankful for the heat here ! Even on our unusually rainy days. Queensland has had some flooding the past two weeks, the worst being areas hit south of us but thankful it does not compare to the floods of last year. This time last year we were regularly helping with flood cleanup around the Brisbane area. Our YWAM base is situated on higher ground so we have never been fearful of being flooded, just sometimes having to stay put because roads are closed...

Good reminder that God will never give us more than we can handle! We just sometimes underestimate ourselves !