Introducing the Hogan Whānau
Bula Vinaka,
We are the Hogan family; Roy, Rachael, Josh, Gabrielle and Caleb (who loves to go by the Fijian version of his name - Kelepi). We have lived in Fiji since May 2022, working with MMM Fiji.
MMM stands for Mobile Mission Maintenance, we do volunteer building and maintenance work for Christian organisations and host short-term project teams from New Zealand. We are excited to have recently been accepted as NZCMS mission partners and are looking forward to journeying with them, alongside MMM, in the future.
As a family we call Waikanae our ‘New Zealand home’ and we are grateful for the amazing people within Waikanae Anglican Parish and St Luke’s church who have supported and journeyed with us to be where we are today - the two years before moving to Fiji, we travelled throughout the country working with MMM New Zealand.
Our journey to live and work full-time in Fiji is the culmination of years of following God’s leading on our lives. Our hearts are for partnering with the people of Fiji, many of whom live below the poverty level but still do their best with what they have.
We first came to Fiji in 2006 on a short-term mission to Savusavu and were hosted by a Fijian family who we still have a good relationship with today. We got to see first-hand how many Fijians live. Their passion and love for God is so deep, genuine and real. We came away feeling that it is so easy to take the blessings we have in New Zealand for granted.
Right from our first project in Fiji, we could see that this was a place where we could use our skills and passion to make a real difference. Now, nearly 20 years later, we are continually reminded of the amazing things God can do through us to help people achieve things they could not do otherwise. In the last year we have helped a pastor build a family home, done building maintenance at ‘Homes of Hope’ (a ministry that supports women who are victims of or vulnerable to sexual abuse), reroofed several churches and Christian Camp buildings and assisted missionaries that have their own homes here. We have also had many other opportunities to support, encourage and advise people within the Christian community of Fiji.
We have been here two years and we are only just getting started. ‘Fiji Time’ is a real thing, everything always takes longer than you would like it! But God can be found in those spaces of waiting and we are learning to embrace and celebrate the differences in culture. We want to grow this ministry and those we can support. We want to be Jesus’ hands and feet to the people of Fiji and continue partnering with them in the ways God calls us to.
Vinaka vaka levu, thank you very much,
The Hogan’s
Things you can pray for:
For God to lead us to the work he wants us to do and the people he wants us to meet.
For wisdom for the building projects we take on and how to approach them.
For spiritual protection as we live in a culture with other religions all around us.
That our family will have strong friendships with each other and thrive in this environment, all having meaningful friendships with locals.
If you want to get regular updates or prayer requests email us at: hogansonamission@gmail.com or check out https://hogansonamission.blogspot.com/ to see some of our story.
If you would like to support us email us or look up: https://www.nzcms.org.nz/our-people/mission-partners/roy-and-rachael/
