Ok...imagine this..
Wake up in the morning, what a beautiful morning it is, preparing for a new day, stepping in to a forever changing world, with eyes closed, you begin to feel the heat, the pressure, about to step out to a huge crowd of people, ready for change, ready to be inspired, ready to be an inspiration, water is gushing down like at Destiny's Child concert, the music rises up in you, rising the microphone to your mouth to begin singing and then you hear the kick pounding followed by a 'HURRY UP YOUR GONNA FINISH THE HOT WATER'..man that wasn't part of the plan...that wasn't on the script.hehe
For those who don't know who I am and what I'm about...my name is Tina (short for Christina) Fatu and yes, I was imaging myself in front of a huge crowd like Destiny's Child, but really it was only me and an audience of two NON LIVING things that is in the bathroom hehe, the water, heat and pressure is the hot water coming from the shower nozzle and the microphone is..embarrassed to say it but the secret must be revealed...is the toilet spray..if not that then its my dads Gillette shaving cream bottle hehe!.
I am the unexpected child, youngest of 3, brought up in an average Samoan home (the hidings is one of the many highlights now...not at the time though) and am honoured to say that my parents knew God, had a relationship with God and taught us about and how to love God too. Born in the Waikato Hospital, brought up in the small town of Tokoroa and now for 9 years am residing in Auckland, but soon...very soon, I'll be on my way to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachussetts, USA.
'Up above my head, I hear music in the air' - wherever you go, whatever you do, you'll listen to music, so I can say that music in one form or another has been apart of my life from when I came to be. I wasn't brought up listening to Aretha Franklin, Boys II Men, Jeniffer Holiday, ABBA, The BeeGees and all these cool cats, I was brought up listening to better songs titled 'Come to Sunday School', 'The devil is a sly old fox', 'I love You Lord' and the classics Suliveta Kurene & The Brothers, Victory Sound, The Sweet Messengers (I think) and to top it off Tokoroa Samoan AOG Band from back in the 90's 'til 99. In the Church is also where singing started, I remember it like it was yesterday, my sister was already in the church band, it was our turn to clean the church and I was waiting to see what my mum wanted me to do next. My objective in church back when I was younger like other kids, was to go outside to play. My old excuse was "Mum, I need to go.." because to get to the bathrooms at church you have to walk out of church in to the hall and at the back are the bathrooms and my mum got sick of me saying "Mum, can I go to the toilet?" and kept asking until she said "Yes..but hurry up, if you're not back in 5 mins I'm coming out" and because I couldn't just get a "Yes!" on its own, I had to give up on that plan and think of another one, so I turned to the babysitting role but my mum outsmart me (they just have that ability) and saw it as another scheme for me to go outside and play, so to keep me in church she pretty much told the band leader to put me in the band and I had to listen, because growing my Samoan family, if you even try and answer back something will come flying to you. This was at the age of about 11-12.
From my upbringing two things were concrete in my heart, 1. God and 2. Music, so at the age of about 14-15 I had an idea of what God wanted me to do with my life. At the time, all I knew was it had something to do with music, then as I grew older and actually began walking on my own with God, He began to unfold specific details of what He wanted me to do with life and how to achieve it. It took alot of learning, listening, submission and obedience in order for me to know more about this plan that He has and still it applies now. God got me excited with what He was telling me, so I craved Him, I needed to get to know Him more, for who He is, so I did and still am. From singing, I began to watch our church pianist play and she'd teach me how to play a song, the first song I ever played on a piano was 'Endless Love' from Luther Vandross, when I was 3rd Form at Tokoroa High School, I played and sung it at a mini-concert we had, the duet was with another girl (haha) and then not long after that my parents bought me my first Yamaha keyboard. Going through school, music became more than something I liked, it developed in to a passion, inside and outside of school I was involved musically with different community choirs and school choirs and bands. Once I completed Secondary School, I went on to study at Excel School of Performing arts in 2004.
Excel was the best year of my life spiritually and ok musically, but though I had already known that God is the source of everything that I do, it began to make sense how God and music fit. I realised that if I seek God with a sincere heart, He will give to me the desires of my heart, so with completing Excel, I came home and my mum said "Ok darling, thats enough study, go find us some money", so I did from 2005 til now I've been working and again, being there because Im required to be there and not because of serving in the music ministry, its because if I wasn't there, I wouldn't get paid which means that the bills won't get paid. I began complaining, wishing I wasn't where I was at, working for paying bills, I've always wanted to be in a job that I love more than money, wanting to do what I love to do, which is music. It got to a point where I started applying for jobs as a bum girl in a studio so that it can be a foot in, I didn't care if they didn't pay well, as long as I was doing something that was in line with what God planned for me and told me about. But then came to the realisation that if God said "I've place you above and not beneath" then I shouldn't have to go so low just to get a foot in and also I had to ask myself, am I seeking God?. So then God said 'USA' and I was like yeah boi!, Gospel Music in the US is like rugby in NZ, why not?, so I googled 'gospel courses' and the result that caught my eye was 'Gospel Summit Summer Programme' - Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA USA, then I googled 'gospel courses in NZ' and the first to show was Vision College and because I have no money, I googled 'FREE gospel courses in NZ' and to my surprise, Te Wananga o Aotearoa was holding a free gospel course at the Hamilton branch. Going back to school for me at that was going to cause a riot between my mum and I, but it was something that I wanted to do, but wasn't the right time. So I prayed about it and then forgot about it.
Come May 2008 I had just started a new job and my mum went on to be with the Lord, after all was said and done regarding her final service and all of that I didn't find comfort and peace in anyone except for God, no one was able cater to the empty need that was in me except for God, throughout the preparations for my mothers funeral, the plan that was put in place was ordered by God, He provided what we needed at the right time, that was when I actually experienced for the first time ever God making a way where there seems like no way in my family. So afterwards God reminded me that success isn't going to knock on your door and ask for you to let him in, you have to go out and get it, so I asked God what shall I do then?; that is when the Holy Spirit reminded me about Berklee. So I had to think about what I was doing, because I had never left home before, I got my passport in 2004 which was other than graduating from Excel, the bestest achievement out and the only country I had been to ever was Samoa, I had to think about all the things I'd be leaving behind, my family, my sister with the finances that she has to cater to, the consequences of me going which is money, I can't afford to go to a school like this, but I want to go to it and all just came down to 2 words, 'faith' and 'obedience' - so with those two words I applied and with that one decision to apply, I prayed and asked God to provide the finance to support my application, God paid for my admission fee and was invited to audition for a spot at Berklee, because Berklee don't come as far NZ yet with auditions I had to fly to Australia to audition and again God came through for me and got me to Sydney, Australia for the very first time, catered for so wonderfully, I was in awe of what God was doing. Once my audition was complete, I had to wait for 3 months and over that 3 month period, I had the peace that can only come from God in me, I wasn't worried, wasn't phased and when people asked about Berklee, I said I was going, not having been accepted yet. I realised that my own enemy is me and I will be at war, not physical war but a battle in my mind which controls the way I spoke about it, so luckily enough I started attending a new church Equippers Church in South Auckland, where I was connected with a bunch of ladies who desired the same as me, believed in the same thing I did and more importantly believed in my calling when I shared to them all the way up to 30 March 2009, I got home and opened up my e mail to find a message from Berklee which was titled 'Your Application', I opened it and the only words I saw was 'Congratulations' and 'accepted' then I felt like I won idol, couldn't speak, began to cry because I knew God was the reason why this all happened.
Now, $85,000NZD is how much it costs for a year at Berklee and programme I was accepted to is a 4 year degree programme which is a a Bachelor of Performance Degree Majoring in Vocals. With fundraising and a benefit concert happening on the 30th July 2009 I know that again God will provide a way for me. So from singing in the shower to now preparing to be learn, listen, submit and obey, God had given me an opportunity to tell my story to others through song and music in general, there really isn't anything that you can think of that God can do, He only wants the best for you, like me coming from where I've been, to now, where what was a part of my imagination is a reality, living the vision. You only limit by your faith, you really can make a change but it must start from home, it must start from us. *I know theres a God somewhere' and finally, God has called me to restore hearts and introduce Him to those who have known Him and who don't yet know Him, which I can sum up in one word - 'RANSOM. Mark 10:45 'For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life as a ransom for many'
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