A CHURCH minister on probation who thought he wouldn’t make it through during Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston was emotional as he was ordained a minister of the Methodist Church.
Reverend Daniel Sami was among the 11 Methodist ministers who were ordained during a service at the Centenary Church in Suva last night.
He was serving at the Rakiraki Methodist Multiracial Church when the monster cyclone hit Fiji last February.
An excited Mr Sami said he was thankful he was able to live through the traumatic experience of Severe TC Winston to be ordained a full Methodist Church minister.
“I thank God that today (yesterday) I am able to be ordained. I thought I won’t be able to make it. I had thought I would die because I had lost everything; the roof of our house and we were in the bathroom for four hours,” Mr Sami said. “But today the Lord has saved us for this day and I’m so proud of it.”
The 38-year-old father of three has held various jobs, but has never been as satisfied as he is now.
“I worked as a mechanic and as a carpenter at construction sites, but all these jobs did not give me what life really needed until I came into the ministry and became one of the servants of the Lord,” Mr Sami said.
“It is a joyful moment for me to become a minister. It is like a dream come true.”
He has been serving as a minister on probation for the past three years.
Mr Sami said it was never his childhood dream to become a church minister but it was one of which his parents, David Sami and Dorothy Wati, longed for for their only child.
“This is one of the most great and important days in my life,” he said.
“I want to thank God for whatever he has done in my life. It was not really my dream to become a minister of the Methodist Church but it was the dream of my parents and they wanted me to become a minister or a pastor and start working in the ministry.”
He dedicated his achievement to his wife, Komal Sami, and his three children.
