Sunday, May 4, 2008

MEET METUISELA CINAVOU OF DALICONI, VANUBALAVU, LAU

Life as a missionary is interesting and challenging but requires a lot of prayer and fasting, says Metuisela Cinavou who has been serving as a missionary for about 15 years.
He said following Jesus required a lot of sacrifices and commitment.
The 34-year-old man hails from Daliconi, Vanuabalavu in Lau.
In 1995 he attended the Christian Mission Fellowship Bible School, World Harvest Institute in Labasa.
Metui spent one year in Bible school and did field work from 1995 to 2000 when he was told to leave Fiji to serve in Melbourne, Australia.
Metui left in 2000 to serve as a missionary in Melbourne for five years before heading to Cambodia in 2005. He says life in Cambodia is different but he excepted the fact that he was sent on a mission.
He spent the first six months learning their language.
Metui said the only way he could share the word of God to the Cambodians was through learning to speak and understand the language. Metui was accompanied by Ben Ryland.
"When we first arrived in Cambodia, we could see that people living there did not understand English and it was very hard for us to share the word of God. In order for us to get to them we had to learn their language," he said.
"We therefore attended a language class for six months. Within the six months we were able to understand the language."
When they started their mission work, one thing they felt would help them in sharing the word was building relationships with the people within their area.
Metui and his mate made sure they were ready in spirit before they could go out and share the word of God in order for them to make an impact in the particular community.
He said it was very hard to preach the gospel since it was a Buddhist country.
But it was through the power of God and prayers that lives were changed and people converted to Christianity, he said.
"It was really a great challenge for us to share the gospel in a country where everyone was a Buddhist. We made sure we really prepared ourselves well before we went out and spread the gospel.
"For them being Buddhists was like their religion and tradition and for us to change them to become Christians was like taking them away from their tradition and religion as well as their culture," he said.
"We helped out in the community by meeting their needs and helping them in whatever situation they faced. We were able to help provide accomodation for those who were homeless, we gave food to the hungry, provided medical assistance and also assisted students with their educational needs."
"After we'd built a relationship and helped them with their needs, we saw that they really appreciated what were doing and when we shared the word of God with them it was easy because we had this relationship between us."
Metui said within the three years they'd served there, lives were changed and they believe that God had been working through the lives of young people of Cambodia.
He said more than 160 people received the gospel and believed in the Lord as their saviour.
Out of these Christians, the majority were youths and Metui believes these young people could be the main ambassadors of Christ in their country.
He said they'd been working very hard to reach out to those who were living in the interior of Cambodia.
Metui believes where there is a will, there is a way.
"If you have the heart to go forth and take the word of God, God will help you."
He said words and actions always went together.
He would like to encourage young people to take the privilege of what God has instilled in their individual lives and be proud of who they were.
"I am so proud to be a Fijian because we are uniquely designed in God's creative hands. While you have all the opportunity when you are still young, make use of it and try and win as much souls as you can for the kingdom of God."

Adapted from Fijitimes Online