It’s 5am on a Sunday morning in early April. Although Fiji’s capital of Suva is in lockdown, 12-year-old Nasoni Junior is already awake and ready to feed the homeless on the city streets.

Today, Junior is joining his parents as he has done so many times before, but this time he is more reluctant. The police have been very strict in arresting people, and authorities have not made it clear whether Junior and his team are allowed to continue their ministry.

Junior’s team is called “MISSION-1”, named after the mission work they do on Suva’s streets every Sunday morning. They have been doing this for a year now, but it’s getting harder. Half of the team were recently forced to return home to Australia due to the pandemic. The Wood boys from Campsie New South Wales (NSW) would normally be here. They have been serving with Junior for 12 months, providing the homeless with breakfasts of hot chocolate, muffins, and homemade buns, along with singing songs and praying with people.

The situation is different now. The remaining team are wearing masks, gloves, and have bottles of hand sanitizer. Only three people are allowed to go out together due to social distancing rules. But this morning, they still ministered fo 40 people—providing them hot drinks, homemade buns, rice, and stir-fried food in takeaway packages.

The recipients responded with words like “thank you for your love”, and “God bless”.

Knowing that the homeless in Suva depend on the city opening for business each day, the MISSION-1 team kept ministering for four weeks during the lockdown. Despite their hesitation, they were overwhelmed with a deep sense of compassion to reach out.

Junior and the MISSION-1 team feel that this is a unique way to share the good news of Jesus’ love and Salvation to the forgotten people of Suva City.

This article was originally published on the website of Adventist Record