Time for change

I really do need to change the title of my blog. Blogging is really all new to me but if it's what gets the message out, then it's all good!

Well, since our last entry, a lot has happened. After a 21 day partial fast and praying about what God wants us to do, we settled back into our normal routine - Asaua started work, the kids started school and I started my new journey at Bible College. This was a big decision for me as I didn't understand how it could work - financially, family wise and time wise. On the first week - the Thursday of our first week to be exact, I get a text from our neighbour during our Prayer and Spiritual Warfare class to say our house had been broken into. They had taken our TV and the police, our real estate agent and our neighbours were all having a good nosey around our house while I was stuck in the city.

Then, that Sunday night, our eldest son was playing outside church with a rock and a broken piece of wood and the piece of wood flew into his eye, rendering him blind and knocking him out. This turned into a distressful evening and an eventful week. I had to leave my son in the hospital by himself that night which was the first time I had done that. I sent out a text for people to pray and just waited for God to bring a miracle. In the morning I got a message on my phone saying my mum was in hospital. I could hear the ambulance in the background asking her to respond and I just got this aching feeling that this might just be all too much. I drove to pick up my son, thinking I would have to spend a whole day with him in the hospital, but arrived to find out that his vision was coming back and that he could come home. This would mean I was going to miss out on some of the foundational classes of my Bible College. Through that time, however, I got to stay home and really spend some time on my knees.

I asked God (like you do) WHY this was all happening, and as usual, I asked Him to speak to me through His word. I opened my Bible and it opened on Jonah. Jonah is a story of a man appointed by God to go to a specific country to preach His message of Hope. Jonah, was a faithful man, his life was in check and he had a gift, obviously, to be able to accomplish such a task. But what Jonah did wrong, was run from where God had appointed him to go. So God, in HIs loving nature, sent a storm to the sea on which Jonah's runaway boat was on, and everyone realised that there was someone on that boat that God was not happy with. Jonah drew the short straw, they threw him off the boat and got swallowed up by a whale. Jonah's disobedience not only affected him, but also affected the people on the boat - the innocent by-standers. God has often showed us this story in relation to our life, but at this time in our life, I felt that this was the answer to our recent dramatic events.

When we planned to go to Ethiopia in December, we were really retracting what God had already said, and were making statements like, "we're going to see IF God wants us to go to Ethiopia long-term." But what we needed to be saying was "Yes, we are going to go to Ethiopia long term, we are going to ask God what, when and how." That week, I realised that I already sort of know the answers to that question. It really is just up to Asaua now. So using the money we had raised last year, and what we had raised this year, we agreed that Asaua would go by himself, booked his ticket and he is off next Thursday!!

Around the same time, I was specifically praying for God to show us what He wanted us to do while we or he was there. A preacher from Australia came that weekend to preach at our church and briefly mentioned that he had gone to Ethiopia last year. He was in a hurry to leave but our Pastor slowed him down by taking him around our building. I walked past him, tapped him on the shoulder and asked what he was doing in Ethiopia and if it was something that we could visit. Turns out that his daughter and her family had just moved over there last year and were teaching English, working with street kids and doing programmes in the University in Addis. He gave me permission to contact his PA to get his daughters email address and I emailed her straight away. After a couple of initial emails and then deciding that Asaua would go by himself, they have asked if Asaua would preach at their Easter Service which is the only Sunday he is there. Asaua happily accepted the invitation.

Our friend Samson who was one of the translators on our trip last year, will be spending time showing Asaua around and hanging out with some street kids, and other projects. Samson is in Bible College, leads worship at his church and many other services and has a real heart for God. I see us working closely with him over there.

God is so good. His ways are sovereign and His plans are beyond our deepest imaginations. I can't wait to see what He will do while Asaua is in that place that God loves so much - Ethiopia. We will keep you posted on what the outcome is. We covet your prayers for direction, protection and wisdom for the future. Thanks for your financial support and your love. We love you all.

PS. My son's eye was miraculously healed. He had to have laser surgery and the doctors couldn't believe how fast he healed after that. They gave him four weeks of what would normally be eight weeks, for his eye to completely heal and it only took two weeks! God is a God of miracles - that's partly why we love him so much!

Delay in our trip.

To all of our dear supporters,

We hope that you all have had a very joyful Christmas day and want to send our sincere thanks to all of you for supporting our trip to Ethiopia. As most of you know, we had an enormous task of raising about NZ$9,200 for the both of us to go to Ethiopia with the Mocha Club. We had really struggled to fundraise this time as the Tsunami fundraisers were happening and the Christmas season approached, and had hoped that the Newspaper article would have gotten us the extra funds that we still needed. Unfortunately, we were still down a big percentage of what we needed and at the last minute (ie. Yesterday) found out that there was not enough money for us to go. This was a real sad moment for us as we have been preparing for this trip for the last few months, but we know that God has our ultimate interests at heart. Even though we did not get onto our scheduled plane today, we are still planning to go to Ethiopia when the finances permit. We thank you all for your prayers and for your financial support and we hope and pray that you will continue to pray for us as we are called to this amazing mission field- Ethiopia. Even in our preparations, we have learnt so much about Ethiopia and about cross-cultural missions through our conference calls with the Mocha Club team and through our own research. This has only made our desire to go, stronger and more significant. Ethiopia is the only African nation that has not been colonised and they are a very patriotic country. They also have around 5 million orphans and around 1 million of those have HIV or AIDS. We know that God has a calling for us to go, so please keep in touch and see what happens as we prepare to do what ever, and when ever, He wants us to do and go. Please feel free to contact me with any questions. For those who have sacraficially given, your money is still in the Mocha Club account that either you, or we, put through. We will be saving that money for our trip. Thank you for giving at such a financially stretched time of the year- Your generosity has not gone unnoticed. God bless
-- Asaua and Michelle Tiatia

Through the Mocha Club, Michelle went to Ethiopia in July of this year. Touched by what she saw, her and her husband, Asaua are going back this boxing day to see if they can make more of an impact there in the future. This December and January, they will be visiting two main projects, working with Women At Risk and with Street boys, providing activities, English lessons and connecting, feeding and caring for them while they are there. For more information, please visit 963missions.org. Please help support us to get there this December!


Well, it is only two weeks to go and we are so excited!! With the rush of Christmas and all of the activities that surround it, we are still trying to make some time to raise some money. Today we had our second to last fundraiser and as much fun as we had making sausages for the 274 Otara Family and Youth Festival, we only just broke even. Fundraising at this time of year has been a struggle, especially since the tsunami hit Samoa and many people are raising money to support the relief efforts over there. It has been great to see how giving our New Zealand people have been in giving to our Samoan people.

If you are reading this and would like to know how you can support our trip, please email Michelle on michelle.tiatia@gmail.com.

We will be keeping everyone updated on what we are doing in Ethiopia as much as we can while we are there, and then more so when we get back. We expect great things to happen while we are there and can't wait to share it with you all.

Thanks for showing your support.

Asaua and Michelle