Honouring Pacific Missionaries From the Past

Though there are many other Fijians who have served long and faithfully on the mission fields, I have no access to their information. For this reason, my honoring of Fijian missionaries is coming to an end with this last blog post for the region. I will move on to just a few other areas of Melanesia. In this post I honor some names and affirm the bravery of Fijians, an inherent gift of this culture (see my first blog in this series ‘Why Fiji’).

These were the true heroes, commended for their faith, yet they lived in hope without receiving the fullness of what was promised them. But now God has invited us to live in something better than what they had—faith’s fullness! This is so that they could be brought to finished perfection alongside of us. Hebrews 11:39-40 (Passion Translation)

In 1875 during a Measles epidemic in Australia, three Fijians there came down with the disease. On returning to Fiji, the colonial administrators elected to not quarantine the ship that the three convalescents had travelled on, a decision that proved disastrous for a previously unexposed population. In 1875–76, an epidemic of measles killed over 40,000 Fijians, about one-third of the Fijian population. (For more info see History of Fiji - Wikipedia)

In August of the same year, a mission to New Britain (largest island of the Bismarck Archipelago, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, in Papua New Guinea) was launched, just forty years after the first Wesleyan missionaries Cargill and Cross brought christianity to Fiji's shores in 1835. It was just months after the tragic measles epidemic in Fiji. Reverend George Brown the Methodist missionary, appealed to the students of Navuloa Methodist Mission School, to embark on spreading the Christian gospel to their Melanesian brethren. Reverend George Brown, emphasised to the zealous native Fijian converts the dangers involved in missionary work and pointed out that they might well be going to their deaths. 

Eighty three students who attended the mission school were present and heard Brown's appeal. They were cautioned to consult with their wives and families in deciding to volunteer for the mission. It is recorded in the Fiji Methodist Church which was then governed by the New South Wales Australia Wesleyan synod, that the whole student body enrolled at Navuloa, offered to go and spread the faith.

The colonial government of the day was not keen on the mounting of the mission, most probably wanting to limit out-migration of natives as the population had been devastated by the measles epidemic earlier that year.  So a hand-picked few were finally chosen by Brown and cleared by the colonial government. They left the shores of Fiji, true to their evangelical calling, some never to return. By 1876 the new mission field in New Guinea which originally consisted of fourteen teacher's stations had been divided into two areas, one under Rev. Aminio Baledrokadroka and the other under Rev. Sailasa Naucukidi.

Martyrdom

Two Leaders Who Stood Out

In the year 1878, Reverend Sailasa Naucukidi journeyed inland from the northern coast of New Britain with a small party preaching the Gospel. On April 6th at Tanaka, Reverend Naucukidi was suddenly attacked and slain, and his body dismembered and cannibalized. Consequently, three other Fijian missionaries; Reverend Livai Naboro, Reverend Peni Luvu and layman Timoci Baravi were slain at Talakua in what is now Tungnaparau. Reverend Luvu managed to break free from the ambush after he defended himself with a club he grabbed from one of the attackers. He sadly did not reach his Vunela home as he was met along the way by Chief Talili who after offering him a kalau, beheaded him while he was having a drink.  After the tragedy, the remains of the missionaries were later repossessed by Rev. Dr. George Brown, who with local converts carried out retaliatory actions for the murders. At the end of a six-day campaign, those responsible for the killings and cannibalizing of the Fijian missionaries surrendered.

The accounts of Aminio Baledrokadroka's deep faith and tales of his miraculous deeds are legendary in the Methodist Church of Fiji. He and his wife Lavenia Tupou returned to Fiji in 1885. He finally retired to his village, in Nasaqalau, Lakeba, Lau where he is buried.  Reverend Aminio Baledrokadroka and his fellow Fijian missionaries proselytization legacy and martyrdom is today honored in Kabakada village and the Province of East New Britain.

The following list reads like the genealogies in the Bible that we so often pass over but as the writer of this blog, I invite you take the time to read, and even try to pronounce the names (or at least the first names). Let’s thank God for these very brave Fijian men and women who served HIM faithfully in missions many years ago. 

Pioneering Native Fijian Missionaries to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands 

1. Aminio Baledrokadroka, departed Fiji Aug. 1875 for New Britain, returned accompanied by wife Lavenia Tupou in 1885. 

2. Ratu Livai Volavola, departed Fiji Aug. 1875 for New Britain, returned accompanied by his wife in 1889.

3. Ilimotama Ravono, departed Fiji Aug 1875 for New Ireland, married and married a wife from New Ireland.

4. Peni Luvu, departed Fiji Aug. 1875 for New Britain, martyred in 1878. His wife Lavenia returned to Fiji 1878.

5. Mitieli Vakaloloma, departed Fiji Aug 1875 for New Britain. He died at sea in 1881. His two wives died in New Britain.

6. Pauliasi Bunoa, departed Fiji Aug. 1875 for New Ireland. His wife Seini died in 1883. He returned in 1884 and died in 1918. 

7. Timoci Lesei, departed Fiji Aug. 1875 for New Britain, died November 30, 1875.

8. Penisimani Caumia, departed Fiji for New Britain Aug. 1875, returned 1881. His two wives died in New Britain.

9. Sailasa Naucukidi, departed Fiji for New Britain 1876, martyred 1878. His wife Mere returned to Fiji 1878.

10. Peni Raiwalui, departed Fiji for New Britain 1876, died 1881. His wife Naina returned to Fiji 1883.

11. Sociceni Raquru, departed Fiji for New Britain 1876, returned in 1878 accompanied by wife.

12. Sioni Ratunikula, departed Fiji 1876 for New Britain.

Matthew 9: 36-38 (Passion Translation)

When he saw the vast crowds of people, Jesus’ heart was deeply moved with compassion, because they seemed weary and helpless, like wandering sheep without a shepherd. 37 He turned to his disciples and said, “The harvest is huge and ripe! But there are not enough harvesters to bring it all in. 38 As you go, plead with the Owner of the Harvest to thrust out many more reapers to harvest his grain!”

Please take a moment to pray that young Fijians would once again tap into that bravery in their DNA and venture out to the nations with the Gospel.

Further Reading:

The Deep Sea Canoe by Alan R Tippet  Chapter 2 The Missionary Call. page 41 - 43 

* referring to the story above- Dr Brown head of the mission board.

Honouring Netani Bolatolu and Merewalesi Qurai

Netani Bolatolu was born in Matuku, Fiji in 1973. Netani’s parents, Netani Bolatolu (Snr) and Temalesi Rarawa Bolatolu left their village in Dravuwalu Totoya in May of 1966 with their eight children. They served as Methodist Missionaries to the Methodist circuit of Daku looking after 4 villages on the island of Matuku where his dad served as a church catechist. Netani and one of his older sisters were born there. After several years the family returned to Totoya.

Merewalesi Qurai was born in Lautoka, Fiji Islands in 1971. As Merewalesi grew up, two values were important to her: church and family. Everything she did centered around these two things.

At around 12 years old she was invited to a small combined Methodist school gathering where she gave her life to Jesus. In her search for more of God in her life, she would read the Bible often but nothing would make sense except a few verses that would stick out from Sunday school or from her school’s religious studies. She would walk into the Centenary Methodist Church in the city of Suva often, taking a few moments to pray before walking up the hill up to school.  

Merewalesi’s cousin, Joele Baleiwai introduced her to missions. She had never understood that a Pacific Islander like her could be a missionary because she was so used to reading about and seeing the ‘palagi’ (caucasian) missionaries coming to her school or to church and sharing their adventures in missions. However, she often wondered if Pacific Islanders could also do something like that. 

So when the opportunity came, she jumped at it. Merewalsesi attended a Discipleship Training School (DTS)  at the Youth With A Mission base in Maui, Hawaii, in 1992 and has been involved in missions ever since. 

She has visited and served in many nations: West New Guinea, Vanuatu and New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, USA, Sweden and Germany.  

Woven throughout these journeys, Merewalesi attended further training after her first DTS, including the Leadership Training School and the School of Intercession Worship and Spiritual Warfare (SOIWSW).  She then led the SOIWSW school in Tonga and New Zealand.

Merewalesi met her husband to be Netani Bolatolu in 1996 and they married in 2003. Netani grew up in a Christian family. He gave his life to the Lord as a 13 year old boy at his island home in Totoya while listening to radio preaching on a Sunday evening. Later in college he again recommitted his life to God during a Christian Fellowship meeting at the Fiji Institute of Technology (now Fiji National University) while studying for a Diploma in Architecture.

Netani did various jobs, such as teaching high school and working as a draftsman for the government architect department in Fiji. He spent time as a Prison Chaplain for the Corrections Service in Fiji, a student worker for Pacific Students For Christ, and a Youth Pastor at Unity Baptist Church in Fiji.

He went on to attend a DTS with YWAM’s Marine Reach in Fiji in 2004. After graduation, Netani and Merewalesi served in their home church. After serving as Youth Pastors for some years, they joined Island Breeze ministry in Brisbane Australia in 2011. Since then, they have moved around, serving with YWAM Ships in Townsville, YWAM Island Breeze, Sydney and now in Hervey Bay.  

Both Netani and Merewalesi have been training young people mostly in Discipleship Training School (DTS) and the Schools of Intercession, Worship and Spiritual Warfare (SOIWSW) in the YWAM locations where they have served. They are both passionate about Intercession and worship and each of them has taught on these topics. Netani is an accomplished worship leader, not only in schools, but on the bases where they have worked and in special conferences, church services and youth camps.  

Once when asking the Lord where they should serve, Netani prayed, “Lord send us to the nation where you know we will be most effective.” 

They both came to understand that Australia was to be that land, with a special call to serve the First Nations People of the Land: aborigines and also the Fijian youth who live in Australia. 

Currently Netani is studying for his Bachelor Degree in Theology. 

Netani and Merewalesi have four children. Jonathan, Leilani, Leanna and Susana all play an important role in their journey as a family, helping them make decisions together.  As parents, they have continued to encourage their children to express who they are individually, and how to hear from God for themselves, for them as a family, and for others. 

 

Honouring Semisi Naqica

Semisi was born in Tavua, Fiji  on December 7, 1967. His father, Samisoni Naqica, is from the Nubu Clan tribe of Nadarivatu, Fiji. His mother, Vasenai Nadule is from the tribe of Nairoso of the Navinoti Clan.  Semisi gave his heart to the Lord in 1984 through the Assembly of God Church Evangelistic Crusade in his village in Nadarivatu. During the crusade, he was hiding in the bushes in the dark listening to a Fijian Gospel song, “He has never failed me yet”. He remembers weeping through the song of God’s love. This was unusual since he was brought up in a traditional Methodist church where he had never cried before in a church service! He recalls how he couldn’t get out of the bush for the public altar call because if his father found out he would be in trouble for associating with a Pentecostal church. The following night, alone at his family farmhouse, he knelt and invited Jesus into his heart, remembering and following the Evangelist’s prayer for salvation from the night before. This was the beginning of an amazing new journey with God.  A year later, Semesi decided to make a public commitment during an altar call in a crusade.

 

As a young boy before his encounter with God, way up on the mountain in the interior of Fiji, Semisi would stay out at night and watch the stars, trying to count them while all his family slept. He would watch airplanes with lights moving among the stars, wishing that one day maybe he’d be up there riding in one and looking down. 

 

He read a lot in his early school days and was drawn to the information about Native Indians of North America. He was so excited about them that he started to watch western movies about Indians and cowboys and would always cheer for the Native Indians when they fought. He eventually  left the village to go to the city for high school and, after high school, found a security job at a resort.

 

One day at work, while looking down at the ocean and watching the waves from the top of the balcony, Semisi had an impression of God speaking to him. “Beyond those waves are far away nations. Would you go and tell them I love them?” This experience pierced his heart. He entered his room and knelt down on the floor. Again he heard, “Do you love me?” Three times this question came. Semesi responded, “Lord I love you! “ After this  he was led to read the story in Genesis 22 where God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac on the altar. Semesi realized there were things in his life that had become idols. He knew he needed to surrender these to God. One by one, he surrendered parents, other family, his job, his nation of Fiji and his dreams for the future. While sobbing over these, he suddenly had peace - overwhelming peace. He knew now his heart was in the center of God’s will. He uttered a prayer, “Here I am Lord, send me.” 

 

In the 90’s, about a year after this encounter, Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth with A Mission (YWAM),  came to Fiji to speak at a mission conference. His goal was to mobilize Christians with a heart for missions. When Loren called people to step out and make a commitment, Semesi was one among the crowd with tears in his eyes. This was another confirmation for God's call for missions in his life. 

 

10/40 Window Nations

He later joined YWAM and did a Discipleship Training School (DTS) in April 1990 at the Vunayasi, YWAM base in Nadi. During a time of intercessory prayer, the Lord began to speak to him about reaching out to the natives of North America, especially of Canada. After his DTS, he joined the 24/7 YWAM Prayer team at the Babakula, Nadi Prayer Mountain for a year. They were interceding for the 10/40 window nations.  He then travelled to the Pacific Island of Tonga with a team, to help pioneer University Of The Nations (YWAM), staying to attend a School of Missions (SOM). After nearly a Year in Tonga, he left to go back to Fiji. In 1993, he finally left Fiji to work as a missionary among the natives in Canada with a ministry of Pacific Islanders called, “The Second Wave,” (later changed to the "Pacific Waves") led by a Samoan Brother named Vaeluagaomatagi Elisara, and his Canadian wife Julie (nee) Jordan. God supernaturally provided his airfare.  

 

While on the flight leaving Fiji at night, Semesi was reminded of the times as a boy when he would look up at the airplanes flying overhead and wonder if he would ever be on one. He felt the Lord confirm that desire was from him. Tears started to roll down his eyes as he realised God’s goodness and faithfulness. He knew that God fulfills the dreams he puts within us!

 

Semesi spent 15 years in YWAM in Canada, including a year as a prayer missionary with the House of Prayer (called the War Room run by a Vineyard church in Kelowna, BC, Canada). He also spent another year with a ministry from Fiji called, “The Healing of The Land” serving among Inuit communities in the Northern Arctic of Canada. He became connected and part of a ministry in Canada called The Watchmen of The Nation that prepares the way for the destiny of Canada and prepares Canada to be a resting place for Him.

In September 2009, Semesi married Gela, an Inuit, one of the First Nations people of Arctic, Canada. He recalls how God supernaturally brought them together. They first met in Winnipeg, Manitoba, at a Christian retreat. They were married back in Semesi’s village in Fiji. He now has 5 step-children from his wife’s first husband who passed away in a plane crash. The children’s names are Julie, Pudloo, Miali, Cynthia and Syzula. 

Semesi believes that his main gifts are prayer and intercession, teaching,  pastoral, leadership, mentoring, counseling and discipleship as well as bringing, healing and reconciliation.

 

Over the years, Semesi attended a number of YWAM and other training schools: 

• Biblical Studies (SBS)
• School of Mission (SOM)
• School of Intercession, Worship and Spiritual Warfare (SOIWSW) 
• School of Worship and Prophecy (Vineyard Church)
• School of Biblical counseling (Arctic Ministry)
• School of Leadership(Bible Arctic Mission).  

Currently, Semesi is serving the Church of Zion and Watchmen of The Nation of Canada. He is part of an intercession group at his local church in Arctic, Canada and is also mentoring and discipling his granddaughter at home. In addition, over Zoom, he meets with key fathers and mothers (and other global family members) who are connecting with the younger generation in Fiji. Each week, they meet to worship and wait on God to hear his heart for Fiji. 

His greatest passion is to see the healing of the nations, the people and the land (2 Chronicle 7:14) through repentance, reconciliation, healing, restoration, oneness and unity of God’s Family, as well as to see the generations walking together and honoring one another. He wants to see indigenous people of North America and the nations rise up and take their place to rule and reign with Jesus in the Kingdom as stewards of the land and gatekeepers.

 

Semesi is very grateful for his own mother and father and the many spiritual fathers and mothers  who have mentored him over the years. He sees these people as his heroes. But most of all he thanks his Heavenly Father for his  father's heart, always pursuing and self-revealing-something that began way back during his DTS when he first understood God as his father. He sees God’s love and kindness, and promises that have changed him forever! 

 

Contact:

e:mail:southwindmavi@gmail.com,

 

Mailing address: PO BOX 11491, IQALUIT, X0A 1H0 , NUNAVUT,CANADA.       

Facebook: Semisi Naqica

Honouring Vika Lewavou

Vika was born in Nadi Hospital in October, 1970. Her father, Sakiusa Lawavou comes from the village of Vunamoli Nasesevia, Nadi. Her mother Suluana Lawavou comes from the village of Uto Nasesevia, Nadi. She is the youngest of two daughters. 

Growing up in a Christian family, Vika chose to make Jesus the Lord of her life at 12 years of age, then at age 19, she joined Youth With A Mission (YWAM) attending a Discipleship Training School (DTS), in Vunyasi, Nadi in September 1990. The school made a big impact, transforming her into a different person. There, she received teaching about how to hear God’s voice and she applied it to her life. After seeking God, she knew she was to become a missionary.  

After the completion of her DTS, she felt strongly to go and share with her parents that God was calling her to be a missionary. This was hard for her father because his expectation had been for her to find work and help the family. She left the house knowing that she had done her part and needed to trust God for her parents’ response. 

One month later, she went back home again for a weekend and as the family held an evening devotion, her dad intimated he had something very important to tell her about her desire to be a missionary. With tears in his eyes, he explained that when she had shared that God was calling her to be a missionary, both he and her mother were very scared of losing her. But as they prayed about it, God reminded them about how they had dedicated her as a baby. They had actually said to the pastor that they wanted to give this child to be used by God. Now 19 years later, she would become that missionary. Her parents now understood it was God’s doing and they wanted to obey Him, so they blessed her decision. Whenever Vika wanted to quit because of hardships or trials, the words of her parents gave her the strength to carry on knowing they believed in her. They supported her with prayer and finances whenever they could. 

Initially, Vika had fought the idea to be a missionary because of her distorted view of church life. As an extrovert, she thought being a missionary would be boring. Only after she came to YWAM and was introduced to a personal relationship with Jesus, were her eyes and heart opened. She asked God to take her to the nations. 

Vika joined YWAM as staff in April 1990 and served the base for ten years, working with children in a YWAM ministry called Kings Kids International (KKI). She then left for the YWAM base in Honolulu, Hawaii, as the Kings Kids Director. She went on to attend a School of Missions and Evangelism (S.O.M.E), then staffed DTS’s. She also served in many practical areas of the base, including cooking duties.

After five years on staff in Honolulu, Vika journeyed to Pune, India to do Islamic Studies as she believed God was leading her to the Arabic Nations. Following her studies, she did an eight-month internship in Egypt before returning to Fiji. 

Through YWAM, Vika has had the privilege of serving short-term in many nations, being enriched by the many people she served and encountered: Indians, Arabs, Thais, Chinese and other Pacific Islanders. It taught her to love the lost, realizing that’s what moves God’s heart. 

Something God highlighted to Vika at one point in her life was the racial prejudice in her heart toward the Indians in Fiji (Indo-Fijians) and, even though Fijians and Indians attended the same schools and enjoyed one another’s foods, she felt the need to repent of that prejudice. She asked God to give her the love for those Indo-Fijians and to share the gospel with them. She learned that choosing to love those you don’t think you can love by praying for them became God’s way to give her his heart for them. God moulded her, changing her worldview about people and showing her how she could reach out through her Indian Evangelism Ministry in Fiji.

Coming to YWAM gave Vika a heart for the lost as she served him. In addition, God then brought a godly man into her life who also had a heart for the lost. On  November 17, 2007, Vika married Ledua Seruvatu. Ledua was born in Mabula Cicia, Lau. His father’s name is Cama Sunia and his mother’s name is Wati. Ledua has seven brothers and one sister. 

Ledua and Vika have two children, Jeremaia Richard Seruvatu born 10, July 2009 and a daughter, Sofaia Augusta Ofakivaha Seruvatu born, on 21st Dec. 2010. Ledua used to work in a construction company called Fletcher where he did landscaping and built swimming pools for hotels before he came to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS). He is currently an ordained minister in the Assemblies Of God church in Fiji. Ledua and Vika currently serve at an Assemblies of God church as associate Pastors, but work full time in Youth With A Mission. 

Ledua now leads the DTS Training school, where he is passionate about raising young Fijians for the Lord and reaching the lost. His main gifts are evangelism/ apostle and prophetic as well. Vika now leads the School Of Frontier Missions (SOFM) with a heart to multiply more Fijians going out and reaching the unreached. Her main passion is in teaching, exhorting, hospitality and intercessory prayer. For a while, they both served at the Personal Transformation Center in Lautoka before they were prayed over to come back to Vunyasi and lead the base where they are today.

Their heart for the future is to go to Turkey and work long term among their neighbours. Vika came to YWAM a long time ago and now with her husband is still in YWAM and believes they will continue in the mission for a very long time. 

Honouring Semi Ratulele

Semi Ratulele was born on the Fijian island of Ovalau in the historic old capital town of Levuka. He spent his childhood in the family village of Vatukalo and was raised by his maternal grandparents, Kameli Vutoa and Sainimili Adiama. 

Despite being raised in a Methodist Christian home, Semi's powerful conversion to Christ occurred at Christmas 1991. A radio jingle came on air and seemed to penetrate his heart. The announcer challenged the listeners to consider a question: in the midst of all the hustle and bustle of shopping and giving and getting at Christmas time, "What would YOU give Jesus?"  Semi’s heart was racing, and he was unable to shake the question - what did he have or what had he ever done worth giving to Jesus?  What could he afford to buy and give? He raced to see his uncle, the pastor, who helped him pray. Semi understood that Jesus wanted more this Christmas than a village boy could ever afford!  Jesus was after Semi's heart!  It was a powerful moment that marked him with a call to pursue his Savior for life.  

Within just a few weeks of that profound life-altering decision, Semi was enrolled in a Youth with A Mission Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Vuniyasi, on Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. It was the first of many missionary journeys that he would set out on with Jesus.  

Although a tough childhood and addictive behaviors were obstacles for Semi, he never gave up his call. He began to hear God calling him with a recurring life verse from the story of Joshua, encouragement to continue through the impossible. Whether it was discipleship, character development, spiritual maturity, or faith in God to meet financial needs, Semi repeatedly heard, "Be strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9). Semi has continued his training and service with YWAM as staff and in leadership roles for 29 years. 

He has participated in Schools of Biblical Studies, DTS and Crossroads DTS. Basic Carpentry School and Biblical Counseling School. 

Semi came to University of the Nations, Kona, Hawaii in August 2003 and met his wife Laura there in 2004. They were married in Northwest Arkansas on December 8, 2006.  Semi and Laura have two daughters Noela (10), Talei (7), while their eldest, Sereana, was born into heaven on September 9, 2009. 

Semi is a remarkable, amiable, endearing outreach leader and has taken or led scores of outreach teams for both long- and short-term mission assignments in more than 20 countries including:

Polynesia: Fiji, New Zealand 

Micronesia: Guam, Saipan, Palau, Yap, Pohnpei, Chuk

Asia: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the  Philippines.  

He has also worked in Greece, India, USA, and with the First Nations people in Canada. 

Semi is passionate about seeing groups of people of various cultures and languages coming to an understanding of who God is to them within their own culture and helping them to know Biblical truth about God's character. He wants to enable them to understand and articulate counselling, the Bible and discipleship through the lens of their own culture. Rather than just bringing in new external ideas around healing and binding the brokenhearted in each culture, he wants them to understand it in their own cultural context, acknowledging and affirming that God has intentionally designed their culture.

Right now Semi is still working with counseling schools which he started in 2003. In January 2021, he will pioneer a new Foundations in Biblical Counseling School focussed on trauma and healing through the Scriptures. 

He is also currently studying in a master’s program at the University of the Nations on oral Bible translation. The focus is to use these tools to bring the gospel to illiterate people groups who do not yet have the Bible in their language. 

Honouring Rusila Dilagi Logaivau

Rusila Dilagi Logaivau was born in Jeruslamie, Savasavu, Fiji on December 30, 1965 to Paula Raveavea and Ateca Tinaimere. She was the third youngest of eight siblings, five boys and four girls. 

In 1984, while attending a local church (Christian Mission Fellowship) youth camp, Rusila responded to the pastor’s altar call inviting the participants to give their life to Jesus. In 1985-86, she attended a mission school where she learned more about God. When a friend challenged her to join a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth with a Mission (YWAM), she agreed it was right. 

In September of 1989 she attended her DTS in Vuniyasi, Nadi, (website) then joined the YWAM Prayer Team in Baba, Nadi, where prayer for the nations continued in 24/7 shifts. The land for this ministry was given as a gift to Loren Cunningham,the founder of YWAM. He in turn gave it for the Prayer Ministry. In 1991, Rusila felt a call from God to go to Canada, leaving her parents and siblings behind for the first time. 

Rusila lived in Canada for four years serving the First Nations people on a Canadian reservation. She worked with a ministry called “Second Wave,” led by a Vaeluagaomatagi Elisara, a Samoan and his Canadian wife Julie.

On returning to Fiji in 1995, Rusila met and married Penijamini Logaivau. In 1997 the couple welcomed a beautiful baby girl they called Selina to the family, then in 2001 a boy named Louie Frank Penijamini (Peni) arrived. Rusila faced a terrible tragedy when her husband of only eight years passed away in 2003. As a widow, she returned to the village of her birth in Savusavu and in this time of loss, grief and bewilderment she drifted away from the Lord. However, God had not forgotten her and her little family. 

In 2005, her Fijian friend Viniana Gaunavinaka, with whom she had served in Canada, asked her to pray about coming to help pioneer a new ministry in Lautoka, Fiji. Feeling encouraged, Rusila agreed and in 2006, she became a vital member of this new pioneering team called The Personal Transformation Center (PTC.) (web page)

Never looking back, Rusila and her children have thrived. She has been in PTC ever since. Rusila works tirelessly and the journey has been fruitful. Over the years Rusila has shown superb Fijian hospitality to visiting speakers, including myself, and served countless outreach teams from other YWAM bases. She also attended the Foundation in Counselling Ministry (FCM) and went on to help staff future schools, all while raising two remarkable children. It has been no small accomplishment or step of faith, wondering how God would provide for her little family in missions. 

Her daughter Selina, did well in public school and has now grown up with a strong enough faith to believe she too could become a missionary herself. Today she is serving in Romania with YWAM. 

Peni just finished High School last year. He was a Company Commander during their Annual Cadets Parade, a part of the school basketball team and also an actor in his school’s film for the National Competition. 

When PTC was pioneered in 2006, the Lord spoke to the leader Viniana, “The Children will lead the Way”. The Pathmakers Kids Club takes place in four locations a week, and Rusila is there serving the children of Lautoka with all her heart. Peni helps when he can. When PTC was pioneered in 2006, the Lord spoke to the leader Viniana, “The Children will lead the Way”. The Pathmakers Kids Club takes place in four locations a week, and Rusila is there serving the children of Lautoka with all her heart. Peni helps when he can. 

Currently, the PTC ministry is in downtime with only three staff members. Some former staff have been called to serve in other nations. Usually PTC offers Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) and Foundational Counseling Ministry (FCM) but due to lack of staff and finances these are on hold for the moment. However, they are currently running a Children’s ministry in the local community offering help with homework and providing Bible teaching, games and crafts. 

As a part of the pioneering team in 2006-2008, I watched Rusila and her small family serve and thrive and have followed her commitment through social media over the years. She deserves to be honoured. God has promised to sustain widows and orphans and part of that sustenance for Rusila was the close community environment of PTC. As she served God and many others, Selina and Peni found fathers, aunties, uncles, brothers and sisters all around them. 

Fiji Leadership Team

Rusila also serves on the Fiji Leadership Team. 

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing.

Deuteronomy 10:17-18

Contact: Email: rusilalogaivau@yahoo.com

ywamptc@yahoo.com

Rusila Logaivau on Facebook.

Honouring Setitaia Kotoivunisina (Koto)

What a privilege to honour Koto in this post. She is such a dedicated servant of the Lord, one who has seriously followed the instruction of Paul to 2 Timothy in 2:15, “Always be eager to present yourself before God as a perfect and mature minister, without shame, as one who correctly explains the Word of Truth.”

In her journey, Koto has relentlessly pursued God’s call as a missionary by honing her specific gifts and by sharpening her box of tools to serve others. Countless people, especially young Pacific Islanders, have been trained and healed through her gifts of teaching and counseling. Well done!

Koto was born in Nasau village, Moce Island, in the Eastern Lau group of the Fijian Islands. She is the youngest of four siblings, all married with their own families. Sadly, both her mother and brother have passed away but Koto’s dad is still alive, living in the village with one of her sisters and her family. 

Koto grew up in the village until she went to the capital of Suva to continue her education. While still in high school, Koto became a Christian and though her spiritual journey was not easy at first, she was thankful for some friends who helped her along the way. 

Experiencing an increase of spiritual hunger in the early 90s led to a big change. She left Fiji to attend Fowey Lodge Bible School in Mellons Bay, Auckland, New Zealand, where she studied the Bible for two years. On her return to Fiji she served her uncle, a Methodist church minister. 

Koto learned about Youth With A Mission (YWAM) through a cousin who did a Discipleship Training school (DTS) in Maui, Hawaii around 1994-95. She attended her own DTS in Vuniyasi, Nadi, Fiji in 1997. Following that, she staffed DTS programs at the Vuniyasi base for a few years as a staff member and then as a teacher. From this experience, there followed an impressive list of further training and serving. 

She returned to New Zealand in 2000 to do the Leadership Training School. (LTS). As part of that school, she attended Rosalie Pedder’s workshop to learn more creative ways to teach. Rosalie taught about how to engage students through the use of drawing, reflecting and processing exercises, rather than merely lecturing. This style of teaching turned out to be perfect for Pacific Islanders, who thrive on more kinesthetic and visual styles. After returning to Fiji, Koto co-led a Teacher's Training DTS, followed by an outreach to Tonga and the Cook Islands.  

Koto took many leaps of faith as she pursued further training. She raised funds for these, by far the biggest being the decision to journey to the University of the Nations, Youth With A Mission, Kona (UofNKona) on the Big Island of Hawaii. There, she attended two second year level schools: the Communication and Biblical View of Man (CBVM) and Teaching English As A Second Language (TESOL). Following the schools, she returned to Fiji to continue working with DTS programs. She then travelled back to Hawaii in November 2004 to staff the DTS there for three years, from where she took students on outreach to Asia, Australia and Fiji. At the end of three years, Koto experienced some visa issues and returned to Fiji permanently.

After two years back in Fiji, Koto joined a new YWAM ministry called the Personal Transformations Center (PTC) in Lautoka, Fiji. This ministry was pioneered by another amazing Fijian woman, Viniana  Guanavinaka and her team. Koto led a DTS there, taking the students on outreach to Tuvalu, (formerly known as Ellice Islands).  

While part of the PTC, she attended the Foundations in Counseling School (FCM) and felt it was time to move on from the DTS. She was part of a local outreach of the FCM in Fiji that worked with counselling in prisons, hospitals, and high schools. They also conducted counselling workshops and seminars in churches, also running them at the Falelauniu base in Samoa.  

After five years with PTC,  Koto felt it was time to move on. She joined the YWAM Family Ministry in Suva where her present ministry is with the JILI (Jesus is Lord Indeed) Family Life Ministries. This is a fairly new ministry and there is no base as of yet. The ministry runs Family Ministry workshops in villages, communities and churches in Fiji. Some of the topics offered include Families Built on Godly Foundations, Family Systems, Identity and Biblical Worldview. The workshops are holistic, using Rugby Plus (part of Waqa’s ministry -previous blog post), the Ministry of Health and the Social Welfare Department. 

The last workshop was held in December 2019  in Savusavu, the second biggest island in Fiji. She and a team took a holistic approach which involved the police, health department, and public administrators in rural areas, including the IB Rugby Plus Healthy Living and Farming Projects. Unfortunately follow-up has been postponed due to Covid-19.

Koto also serves on the leadership team that oversees the YWAM Pacific Work.

Commending his servant, the master replied, ‘You have done well, and proven yourself to be my loyal and trustworthy servant. Because you have been a faithful steward to manage a small sum, now I will put you in charge of much, much more. You will experience the delight of your master, who will say to you, “Come celebrate with me!

Matthew 25:21