The Greatest Gift

I was brought up in Suva, Fiji, in a Christian family. Since I was born, my parents taught me about Jesus. But when I grew up I turned away from what I had been taught. At the age of 12, I left school. I told my father that I didn’t want to go to school and that I wanted to be on the land.

So at 12 years old, I left and went onto the land, farming taro, as well as cassava and other vegetables.

The Other Side

I wanted to try the other side of life, and I chose the wrong crowd and the wrong place. Although I was a taro farmer, my biggest crop was cannabis. I became an alcoholic, and I went into the city to drink, take drugs and abuse people. I would go to a nightclub, find a woman and turn violent. This is not something I like to tell people, but it is part of my story, and the life I was living.

Sometimes I would spend all my money, and I would have to sleep on the streets until I could get money to go home. I would sleep with the other homeless people, and we would try to find food during the day.

An Audible Voice

In Fiji, it is our culture to go to church every Sunday, no matter who you are. The closest church to my farm was The Salvation Army Lomaivuna Corps (church), so I went there every Sunday. Sometimes I would turn up drunk or stoned, but they still accepted and loved me.

When my parents got older, they came and lived with me. Every morning they would pray to God and read the Bible, and I would join them. One day, my mum said, ‘My son, when are you going to come back to what you have been taught about Jesus?’ I said, ‘I’ll come back when I’m ready, Mum.’ But I knew it was a wise word. My dad said, ‘God still wants to use you and is calling you today.’

I went across the river, where my cannabis field was, and I couldn’t get those words out of my mind; it was powerful. I kneeled down in the middle of the cannabis field and looked up to heaven, feeling the sun beating down on me. I said to God, ‘If it’s you, my Father, I’m ready to listen.’

Then I heard an audible voice, although I didn’t know where it was coming from, saying: ‘Do not fear my child, I am your God. Do not dismay, I am with you always. I will strengthen you, my child. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. I am the one.’ They were words from Isaiah 41:10, and I remember them to this day.

Then and there, I gave my life to God. I said, ‘I’m willing and I repent. I want to change right now and return to my first love: Jesus Christ.’

At the very moment I surrendered my life to Jesus, the officer at The Salvation Army felt the Holy Spirit tell him to come and see me. He came across the river, and to the field where I was still kneeling. He said, ‘God has told me that you will come and help the corps (church).’ I went straight with him, and told him I wanted to start by cleaning the toilet—so that’s what I did. I pulled out all my cannabis plants, and I went to every person that I had wronged, abused and been violent to and asked for their forgiveness.

A New Life

I planned to be single all my life and had no desire for a wife, but I felt that God was calling me to be an officer in The Salvation Army. Because I left school at 12 and was just a country boy, I wasn’t accepted for officer training in Fiji. But I didn’t let go of the dream.

One day, a Salvation Army officer from New Zealand called Jeannine, came as a guest speaker. She was only there for three days. Before she came, a woman told her that she would meet a man in Fiji.

Everyone was telling me to go and talk to the guest speaker, but I had no thought of marriage. I walked to the beach and kneeled down and prayed, and asked God if I was meant to be with Jeannine. When I looked up, I saw an impression of an angel in the sky, and I felt that God was telling me ‘yes’. Jeannine asked me to come to New Zealand, but I said, ‘I’m just a farmer.’

Then I ran into an old friend, who could see that I had changed. I told him about my new life, and about Jeannine. Then and there he got out his chequebook, and told me to come back to him if I needed anything else. I tried four times to get a visa for New Zealand, and was rejected because of my criminal record. On the fifth attempt, I was granted a visa, so in 1999 I came to New Zealand.

Jeannine and I went to Upper Hutt Corps where I was a youth leader and part of the music group. I still believed that God was calling me to be an officer, so I applied for officer training at Booth College of Mission in New Zealand, and this time I was accepted. I did my assignments orally, did practical work as a chaplain in prison, and evangelised in gyms and the pub.

Today, I’m the corps officer at Kilbirnie in Wellington. I just love people, no matter where they have come from. I love to work with addicts and alcoholics, because you have to give away what you have received—and it was God who changed me.

By Joe Serevi (abridged from War Cry, 17 December 2011, p17)