Reprinted from nadadventist.org
Three years ago, Josiah Hughes, a member of Capitol City Seventh-day Adventist Church — Fiji Campus, in Sacramento, California, had a bold vision: to gather Fijian Adventists from around the world to sing at the GC Session.
“Most applied for the visa but were rejected,” said Epeli Saukuru, general secretary of the Fiji Mission, who joined the choir; notably, he wrote more than 400 visa letters. Others cancelled for financial reasons, leaving the U.S.-based churches bracing to sing alone.
Amazingly, 85 voices came together from the U.S., Australia, England, New Zealand, American Samoa, and the Philippines. “When we all met here, Joe was overjoyed,” said Saukuru. “It wasn’t easy to put everything together. We can only praise God.”
The group included six pastors, as well as Marc Woodson, the Northern California Conference president, who learned the lyrics phonetically. Although they learned the songs via Messenger and rehearsed just twice, their rich harmonies and smiles gave no hint of obstacles. “Singing is natural for us,” said Saukuru. “We love singing.”
“We felt like we were singing with the angels. Even Joe said he felt the angels were singing with us while conducting,” he reflected. Their message shone through, even in a different language: “Despite the many challenges we go through, God’s great love can still protect us. And we can still proclaim hope for the second coming.”
Saukuru added that in the South Pacific, they can feel isolated, but at the session, they realized “We’re not small. We’re part of a bigger global church family. And that has been a blessing.”
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