Aidan Willams

Before coming to Fiji we prayed a lot that God would change us through this trip. I talked to a few of the other students about how we thought God would change us this month before we came and most people assumed or believed that it was their attitudes to affluence and consumerism that would change. This has been true of all of us I think, but definitely not the only thing.

The things that people put their faith in here is amazing.  For me, although my faith is in God, it certainly wasn't in God alone, as it is for nearly every Christian I've met here. If things at home fall out for me; if I ever lost my job, if ever I ran out of money, if ever I had no roof to live under, if ever I felt lonely, of course I'd have God, but I'd also have my parents, my grandparents, a lower paid job or the government to fall back onto. For a lot of the people I've met here, they don't have a lot of the things I listed. Often they don't have their parents nor do they have the blessing of government support. 

It's true what they say, that you don't truly know what you have until it's gone. I can't say that I've lost those things, because I haven't, but this last week we've seen what its like not to have them, we've seen firsthand where Fijian Christians put their faith, and their faith is in God alone. They can't rely on their job or their government or on their family to provide for them the things we think are essential, and I guess we can't either. But we do, and we forget the one thing that will never fail us in this life and that is our God.

No doubt our attitude to money and possessions will change this month, not in a way that makes us value them more, but in a way, for me at least, that makes me wish I didn't have them. I want the faith of these people, how great it would be to put my everything in the hands of God without having this net of material possessions that we all think will catch us when we fall.

To read previous blogs from the Year 13 team, click here.