"Time Out" in Fiji: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

February 17

Kami Musuka is a YSA who is also the mission leader in his ward. He had asked us weeks ago if we would bring the YSA choir out to the Makoi (McCoy) Ward's Missionary Fireside to sing. We were thrilled. He requested that we sing "Folofola Mai Sisu" which made it easy. What did not make it easy was transporting the young adults from Suva to Makoi. The YSAs do not have enough money to get out there and back, so we asked to borrow the APs van three weeks ago. They got back to us on Friday night late. The answer was only missionaries may ride in their van. Scott is so even tempered. I was ticked that they waited nearly three weeks to get back to us with a no. Scott just called Sulu Kama who is in charge of the cars here in Fiji. He asked if we could borrow one of the school's vans. Again the answer was no. So here we are Saturday morning without any way to get the young adults out to the Makoi ward. We were so blessed that we had decided to have the YSAs get to the Samabula ward house by 3:30 for the 5:00 meeting. We figured that we would have time for Scott to drive out and back twice. We were sure we would not have more than 20 show up.

Wrong!!! When we drove into the chapel parking lot there were already 25 YSAs waiting and we know these Fijian kids well enough to know that there were many who would be late. We crammed 14 YSAs plus Scott into the van which is only supposed to hold 11. While Scott was gone, eight more YSAs showed up, so now we have 16 waiting to ride out--impossible. Some of them offered to ride the bus which meant a walk of about 10 minutes and then the bus ride of 20 minutes; we did not have a choice, so I sent them off. For the second trip out we had 12 crammed in including me.

While we were waiting for Scott to get back to pick up the last of us, we decided to sing our song. While we were singing a man and a woman walked into the parking lot and stood there listening. We sang the song twice and they begged us to sing again. The couple were LDS from Utah on a cruise and had gotten someone to help them get to the temple. I guess they heard us from the temple and came to see. Fun.

Practicing once altogether in the Nasinu Chapel parking lot.

Because some of the YSAs who lived out towards Nasinu met us at the church, we had 45 sing with us tonight--a record. It was so awesome. We sat in the front six rows of the chapel with the men closest to the podium. The women sat behind them. Maggie stood them up and then turned them around to face the congregation which put the girls in front. I cried when they sang. This is Fiji's Army of Helaman. The Spirit was so strong.

Three of the speakers (Lillian, Peniette, Viliame) who taught about the restoration were YSAs from the Institute. At these missionary firesides they always ask recent converts to bear their testimony. Onny bore hers and it was so powerful. We are so privileged to be in the presence of these strong choice sons and daughters of God.

Instead of driving back and forth again, I just got all the change out of our van and began giving the YSAs enough bus fare to get home. When the money was gone the rest had to pay their own way home. We gave one gal $20 to get a bunch on the bus and we figure we gave out at least another $30 in change. Worth it! We only drove 11 home.

February 16

It is so wonderful to have been here long enough to have made real friends. Today Jimmy Narayan was working as a tour guide for a young LDS couple, the Holts, who are here for a business retreat, but came in two days early to see Suva. Someone recommended Jimmy to them. Jimmy and the Holts toured Suva, ate lunch with the senior couples, and then left to see more of Suva. Later in the afternoon we got a knock on our door and there stood Jimmy with the Holts. It seems that Jimmy had run out of things to show them, and felt comfortable enough with us to bring them to our house for a chat. Isn't that lovely. I was honored that he knew we would be glad to see him.

February 15

Tonight there were Valentines dances all over Suva. The Nausori Stake had a YSA dance, as did the Suva North Stake. We, however, were invited to participate in the Suva Stake Valentines Dance. We along with the Jacksons were the pre dance infotainment. While they were waiting for the young adults to arrive they wanted the Jacksons to speak for 15 minutes on PEF stuff, and we were to speak on "The importance of institute." When the Jacksons started there were perhaps 15 young adults, but by the time we got to our part there were between 20 and 25. We decided to play instead of being to serious. Scott spoke for a moment and then I had them divide into groups of four or five. I told them we had a treat for the group that came up with the most reason why it is important to attend institute in 120 seconds. We then had the group with the most answers read their reasons and ask the other groups to listen carefully. If the other groups had a reason not noted in the first groups list, we would give them a treat also. Of course, every group listened and while the first group that really had a reason not mentioned by the first group was telling us their reason the other groups thought up not mentioned reason which worked great for us. Scott wrote the reasons on a white board. It was full by the time we were finished. We passed out the treats and then Scott bore his testimony. We had fun. They had fun. We delivered the message.

After our part the young adults took their dates (date only event) or paired off with someone of the opposite sex who did not have a date. We then were given table numbers and went into dinner. Brother Taito (Tie toe) taught the youth about table manners, eating with lots of utensils, and toasting. We sat with a young couple who were friends; she was a recent convert and he is putting his papers in now that he has graduated university. Men who were not lucky enough to find a girl before they were all paired off were our waiters. We had a soup course, an entree course, and dessert.

Our Dinner Mates

After they had a fashion show. The five dresses were all made from recycled materials. The dresses were not all modest enough for LDS women, so the models wore shirts under the dresses. They were fabulous. The following pictures does not do justice to the dresses. I was impressed and told the fashion designer--a man--that I thought he had real talent.

Bad Focus
Dress is made of totally recycled materials

The Dresses and the Designer (second from right)

The dress on the left is made of old plastic tablecloths with flannel backing
The black and white dress(second from left) is made of trash bags
The blue dress is made of blue tarp.

We took Asemaca and her date home.
She lives with a relative and earns her space by babysitting.
She will graduate from USP this November in Economics
Don't they look elegant?

We left before the dance lessons as it was 10 p.m. as we wanted to visit the Samabula (North Stake) dance before it got too much later. Even though the Samabula dance had more attendees the feel was not as good as the first dance at Nasinu.

Peniette and Lindon
Both returned missionaries

Tevita and Monika

Kami and Mareta
Both returned missionaries

Viliame, Ashia, Lisa, Talica, Hiagi, Bobby

Anirudh, Viliame, Mareta, Me, Nunia
Nunia is leaving for a Temple Square Mission soon.

Monika, Tevita, Maria, Semeli

?, Mili

Mereoni (Onny)
Baptized last November

Susanna showing off her dance dress.

In bed by 11:30 although the loud music from the Samabula dance kept me--not Scott who can sleep though anything--awake until 12:15 a.m.

Monday, February 25, 2013

February 14

Wow! I did not realize that I would get two birthdays this year. One on the Fijian 13th and one on the American 13th. Most of our eight children sent me emails today wishing me a happy birthday. I got several e-cards, and messages from other family members and friends in Utah. In responding to Suzanne's birthday email, I realized that I have come to a time in my life where being remembered is sweet, much sweeter than presents. What a blessing to be cared about by so many wonderful people.

Scott is just sure that if I get two birthdays, I must be two years older. The rat!!!!

February 13

So today is my birthday. I have not thought much about it until yesterday when Scott kept bringing it up. I am sorry to say that I do not much like birthdays anymore. I remember my mother saying once that she got a shock each time she looked in the mirror because the woman looking back was so much older that she was. I feel the same way. I hate reminders that I am aging rapidly. I still feel young. I still do everything physically I want to do. Except for my face, the arm flab, and my one ear that doesn't hear well, I think I should be 40 or 45.

However, this birthday was great. Scott had purchased a scented lotion/coconut oil set from Pure Fiji. It was sitting on the kitchen table waiting for me to discover it this morning. I was not too sure of the scent "mango" until I smelled it. I love it! I am not one for wear food scents for perfume, but this stuff smells good. Maybe I like it because it does not smell like mangos to me. Now I have to figure out how to get a life time supply to the States.

When Scott got back from swimming he told me he was taking me out to breakfast. Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out. We went to the Victoria Cafe as it is the only place we know that serves an American breakfast. They were closed even though the sign said they were supposed to be open. So we did what every self respecting American would do---ate at McDonalds.

Dear Sister Wells had put a framed counted cross stitched heart and a bottle of Fanta Raspberry (my favorite) on my desk. There was also a card from the Service Center on my desk. I received an e-card from mother. So sweet.

The day ended with a baptism of another young adult at which the choir sang and the Eternal Marriage class. After the class had ended and all the chairs had been put away, Elder Tennis walked into the classroom with a huge 1/4 sheet of German Chocolate cake that he had asked Sister Raketia to make for me at 4:00 just before the baptism. It seems she raced home with her two cute little boys and made the only cake that one can ice while it is still warm and had it to the institute by 7:00. I love German Chocolate cakes. The YSAs sang the Fijian version of Happy Birthday which is three verses long followed by two hip hip hurrahs. We cut the cake and everyone had at least a small piece as there were over 30 in class.

Naomi and Brother Qaqa before her baptism.

Sister Aso, one of the sisters assigned to our Samabula 1st Ward was also born on February 13th. We texted each other a "happy birthday" this morning and then we gave her a tub of passion fruit ice cream. Sister Aso is a wonderful missionary. She is from Western Samoa which is the biggest part of Samoa and has the most people, but also the part of Samoa where English is not spoken as much. She came to Fiji after having had to learn Fijian to find that much of the time she is speaking English which she doesn't know very well. She has such a great attitude and works really hard.

The Birthday Girls
Me and Sister Aso

After class Scott insisted we go to dinner. We ate at Edens which is just up Princess Road from the temple. I was not awfully hungry, so I ordered, you guessed it, breakfast. Waffles with cream and berries. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

February 11

I thought I would never say this, but I want the geckos back!!!!! Really! Honest. I do! Here is why.

Last night Scott went to bed early, and I stayed up finishing this little church book I was reading. At just before midnight I finished, put the book down and went into the kitchen for a glass of water before I went to bed. As I was walking into the kitchen I noticed this black piece of something about six inches long lying on the floor. I turned to pick it up and it moved. Backing up I went to find my glasses. With them on I could tell from the living room door that the six inch "thing" was a long bug with a million legs, a triangular head with antennae. Gross. I stood there thinking about what I had that was big enough to cover and capture this "thing." I remembered a bucket in the back room, so I walked around the kitchen table on the side away from the "thing", got the bucket, climbed onto one of the chairs, aimed, dropped the bucket on top of the "thing", and then went to bed. Scott woke up when I got in bed, but refused to go take care of the "thing". This morning when Scott took the bucket off the "thing" it was almost dead. I have included its picture. We think it is a centipede. If it is they bite and the bite is soooo painful. Come back Girty the Gecko!

The six inch centipede on it's stomach.

Centipede on its back.

We had over 50 in the institute on Saturday night. Whew. Noisey. Fun! We had ping pong in the classroom plus a game table. We had 8 playing Uno in the old stake president's office. There were 6 playing Pit and Phase 10 in the old clerk's office. There were 12 YSAs in the kitchen sitting on the floor singing. About 10 guys were standing around waiting to play pool. 8 were playing cram board in the middle of the lounge and there must have been 11 to 15 sitting around the lounge talking and watching. It was really fun. We were, however, so grateful for the quiet that came at 10:15 p.m.

I had given my marriage class an assignment to have a date before this coming Wednesday. Many of the class members decided to use the activity night at the institute for that date. It did not happen. I felt sorry for the cute little older sister (25) who showed up looking so spiffy and her date did not come. I am going to strangle the guy. I have discovered this week that the dating customs of these young adults is a direct result of the 55 to 65 year old generation whose parents chose spouses for them. If I had been a Fijian, Grandma and Grandpa Chatfield would have chosen my husband. Really. Now when this generation's young men decide it is time to get married, they watch until they find a girl they are really interested in. When they make that selection they go to the girl and say "I am going to asking you out soon. Get ready." Which really means "I am prepared to court you and at the end of the courtship we are going to get married." This is why we had one recently returned sister missionary panicked after class last week when I told them to get dates. One of the recently returned Elders had already told her he was "ready" to date her. She was his pick for the week's date. I could not figure out why she was so panicked. It is just a date; except here in Fiji it is not just a date. It is a commitment. Strange. I would love to know what the divorce rate is here in Fiji.

February 10

Not much to report today. We just had a normal Sunday, however when we walked into the chapel for Sacrament Meeting we were greeted by this:

This is one of two identical arrangement in the Chapel.

Friday, February 15, 2013

February 9

We had a training today with all the Seminary and Institute instructors in the Suva area. We watched a broadcast from the Tabernacle in SLC with Elder Oaks as the speaker. I was delighted that the choir for the meeting was made up of S&I employees and spouses from the Salt Lake Valley. Elder Oaks did a great job, took lots of notes until I realized that I was missing the spirit of the talk. So I quit the note taking and promptly fell asleep. Sometimes you just can't win.

One thing I do want to remember is a statement made by Brother Johnson who is CES Administrator. He said that our willingness to accept changes in the church and in CES hastens the Lords work in these latter days. We are better servants of God when we are adaptable to change.

Had between 40 and 50 at activity night. Scott counted 42, but earlier I had counted 48. The YSAs come and go, so I am sure we had at least 50 including 2 non members, one investigator and two from Nadi. We were so crowded that a group of YSAs took a deck of cards and went out the back door of the institute and played on the roof of the carport which is just a bit higher than the back porch. We need to ask for a cement porch that is decent sized and tables of some variety that will not rust, ruin in the rain, or get stolen. We had activities in every inch of the institute building tonight except the bathrooms.

We stood outside and talked with a handful of YSAs after everyone else had left. These informal talks are why I love this job so much. Home after 10:30.

I made a discover tonight. I can not make these kids see that dating is for fun and not a serious commitment. SIGH. One of our YSA woman was so upset on Wednesday (having to have a date) that she sat in a corner with earphones on listening to church music. I talked to her, but she really did not make sense to me. It is just a date I kept repeating. I learned tonight, however, that it is not just a date in this culture. What happens is the guys look around and look around until they find a girl that they are really interested in. They then go to the girl and say something like, "Get ready I am going to ask you out." Which interpreted means, "I am coming to court you, and this is going to end in marriage." This young adult woman was so upset because after the groups had met on Wednesday night a returned missionary who had already told her he was "going to ask her out" reminded her that her date for class had to be with him. She was not sure she was ready to make that kind of commitment and yet she was not sure she wasn't. It became apparent tonight that most of the guys who were returned missionaries did not come with a date. Their dates--if they are interested in someone specifically--for class will come, I understand, at the Valentines Dance. If they are not interested in someone specifically they will go to an activity find a friend, tell her they are on a date, and then at the end of the activity ask her to sign their "I had a date" card. She will find her own way home.

How do these strange customs get started you ask. I learned this week that our Stake President's (who is younger than Scott and I) parents had chosen a girl for him to marry unbeknownst to him. When he went home to tell his father that he had found the right woman to marry, his parent's were shocked, however, his father gave in and went to the girl of his choice's father to arrange for the marriage. The YSAs we are working with are just over one generation away form arranged marriages.

I also am worried for the older YSA woman in our class. None of the older men are dating them, only the younger woman. These older woman's chances are slim to none. I am going to collect names of older (26-31) active YSA men and give it to the older woman with the instructions to go check these guys out. Also I will tell them to start visiting other ward's activities looking for prospective spouses. These girls are going to have to be proactive and a little aggressive if they want to get married.

Monday, February 11, 2013

February 8

Strange day. Up early for me = before 6:00. Spent the morning working in my PJs blogging, reading for my lesson in two weeks, cleaning up all the lessons I have taught and just dumped into a pile, because I was to tired to take care of them properly, and talking with Scott. When Scott got onto the computer to do his part of the blog, our Vodophone Flash Net (wireless internet receiver) said we had used all of our time for the day, week, month? Who knows, but it closed our internet down. It was the impetuous for getting us dressed and into the service center, so we could use their wired internet access.

We went to dinner at the Mango with the Wellses. Had a great time. The manager remembered us from last week. She asked us on the way out if we had gotten the correct drinks this time. We had--water. We then went to the Wellses to learn how to play a dice game called 10,000. Home by 10:00.

I am grateful that as senior couples we do not have a curfew hour.

February 7

While Scott taught his Mission Preparation lesson I did clerical work for our classes which included determining who has not registered yet, who has turned in homework, and who has missed more than one class. It took me the whole class time (1 1/2 hours) to get the work done for just two classes. I did not get to our Doctrine and Covenants class. Next week. Although it took too much time, I enjoy this kind of work. I like numbers. I like to do things with a logical progression. I like to organize. I wonder if these are talents I brought with me when I came to earth?

Until writing this, I had never thought of them as talents. So now I wonder if they are, have I enlarged these talents? Or are they talents I have added to those I brought with me? Oh I hope they are the latter! It would be nice to think that I might be the servant who was given one talent or maybe two talents and yet I have increased the number of talents I was blessed with originally.

Once again we are reminded of the need to communicate better. Our help at the Family History Center did not show up. Scott called them several times, but they did not answer. However, Heavenly Father was with us. Just after 4:00 Sister Senakuraciri (sen a cur a thee ree) told her husband to give her the one battery they share for their two phones. There was just enough energy in the battery for her to see that she had missed several calls from Elder Tennis before the battery died. They hurriedly dressed and came to the center. Although they were 1/2 hour late, we were glad to see them. Scott reminded them when we left that we would be at the center next week again.

Everyone was in the temple on time. Whew! We had twelve in the baptistry and seven in a session or doing initiatory. Nice. As we were the gatekeepers, Scott and I spent from 5:30 to 7:00 sitting in the entry to the temple talking to everyone who came in or went out. Fun. It is so wonderful to watch the YSA women being baptized by YSA men with YSA men as witnesses. In fact, once we got started there were no temple workers in the baptistry on YSAs.

We had worked so hard to get the YSAs in on time, and then realized that a ward whose Young Women and Young men were supposed to do baptisms at 4:00 had not arrived until after 5:00 and continued to drift in until after 5:30. The temple worker in the Baptistry told the YSAs that since the YW/YM had a time of 4:00 that they would go first! Are you kidding me???? I was proud of the YSAs. No one said a word. Why can Fijians not say the tough thing, hold the line, even when it is right?

Ate passion fruit ice cream today. Yummy. The perfect blend of sweet and tart. A new favorite.

February 6

We had so much fun tonight in the Eternal Marriage Class. Scott did a role play with Peniette and Dan about yelling fathers and young men who come to pick up the daughter for a date. All these young adult men are so sure they are going to get yelled at. Silly really, so we showed them how silly. When Dan was introduced to Scott, he started yelling. Peniette let him yell for a minute and then she said, "Dad, I like this guy."
"Well, I don't like him." was Scott's reply. There was much laughter here!

I do not remember all they said, but by the time they were through, I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Scott then talked to the YSAs a moment, and then explained that they were now going to show them what was more likely to happen. It is interesting to note that Dan who has a lot of self confidence has never "met" a girl's dad; he is 23. Amazing.

The rest of the lesson was on integrity. Great discussion. I then reminded them that their assignment was to have a date this week. They were nervous, but I could tell that the guys were also excited. I gave them choices: ask a girl/guy for a date by yourself, have the guys meet and get the girls in class a date with some male member of the class and the rest of the guys get their own dates, or divide the class into smaller groups and let them work out how they were going to get dates. Some times I hate being here. No one would make a decision. Even when I polled the girls individually they would just shrug their shoulders. So I decided to put them into groups of four which I did, and then told them to go someplace and decide how they wanted to do it. Before they left we talked about cheap or free date ideas which only about 1/4 of the class had taken the time to think about. Argh!

When I talked to the YSAs after their group meetings, most were just bringing dates to Activity Night on Saturday. We will see.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

February 5

I taught D&C today.We had the best discussion on the Atonement. Both Scott and I mentioned that we do not study the Atonement often enough. I found a great quote from Elder James E Faust stating that it was important to our salvation to study the Atonement often and in depth. There was such a great spirit in the class tonight. It was amazing that after the class almost everyone left instead of sticking around to play. I am hoping it is because our subject was so important that the students wanted time to contemplate it rather than play.

February 3 and 4

Sunday after church Elder Hogge, who is in charge of missionary housing, and I (this is Scott, speaking) left Suva to take the Nasivikoso elders, two kerosine lanterns, pillows, dishes, wash tub, pots pans etc. The Nasivikoso village is about four hours from Suva in the high lands of Viti Levu which some call the bush.

After traveling two hours on the nice Gold Coast Highway we turned off the main road in Sigatoka. We met the Sigatoka elders (Elder Heath and his greenie) and dropped two electric fans to them which took about 45 minutes and then proceeded toward Nasivikoso.

Road to Nasivikoso one of the last villages with electricity.

The wealthy ride horses; the rest walk.

Road to Nasivikoso

We were glad we had a 4 wheel drive Toyota truck because it had rained most of the day. The road to the village was at first graded gravel and then it was all mud, dirt and pot holes filled with water. These roads are not well marked and we had to ask who ever was on the road which way to go to the village. Because we had to go slow it got dark and after a time we really thought we were lost. Fortunately we came across two young men walking on the road and asked them directions. It just so happened the village was only a couple of kilometers away and we were on the right road. These two villagers wanted a ride and we showed them our truck was completely full of supplies. They said no problem and climbed on the back bumper and took us straight to the village. It was a good thing they came with use because the village was dark and we also had a couple of forks in the road.

Bridge through the river.
Going up I had to walk across this in the dark ahead of the truck to make sure the bridge was all there.

We arrived at the village, parked and the boys got someone to take us through the gate into the village. The villager had one flashlight and I had a flashlight. With no electricity and no moon it was really dark. After passing a few houses a man, who was actually the landlord and LDS, showed us into the elder's house and told us to wait while he got the elders who were out in the village teaching missionary lessons. In the room there was one broken table and two chairs that the elders borrowed from the hall. Fifteen minutes later we saw three little pin lights coming down the path--the elders and landlord. The elders were surprised to see us. We had no way to let them know we were coming, because there is no phone service.

We unloaded the truck and the landlord got the two kerosene lanterns working. The light in each lantern is equivalent to a 25 watt light bulb. The elders for the first time have something besides a little flashlight to light their house after dark. The village has no electricity or running water.

Elder Hogge brought two nice mattresses for us to sleep on. We laid the mattresses in the front room and lit mosquito coils to keep the mosquitos out. The windows only had a tied cloth over them which we left open because it was hot (mid 70's and humid). We went to bed about 9:30 PM. Some of the villagers stayed up and partied until midnight. After a comfortable night listening to Elder Hogge snore and the rain pounding on the tin roof a loud bell rang at 5 AM to wake the villagers. The one and only bus leaves for Sigatoka at 6 AM and the villagers have to walk an hour to catch the bus. We got up at 6:30 AM about the time it was light enough to see inside.

When we woke up this is what we found inside the hut and outside their house.

Front room where we slept on comfortable mattresses.
That is a wall behind the mattresses.
There are no closets only the hanging rods.
There is also no furniture in this room.

The Elder's kitchen.
They have to get water from the river and boil it to drink.
Notice the rusted corrugated tin walls

The Elder's bedroom. They have mosquito net fortunately.

Former Elders

The elders home.
Kitchen on right, front room on the right and bedroom in the back.

Current Elders; the greenie, Elder Vai-ai from New Zealand
and Elder Dakunimata from Fiji.
Elder Dakunimata's mother cleans our house to support him
on his mission.

They rent the house for $100 Fiji about $60 US. We brought some wire mesh to cover the windows and holes which was impossible because there were too many. The villagers did try to use what we had to fix the outside up.

In talking with the elders they told us they had 79 people to church Sunday. Usually they have 85, but six were sick. They are teaching several families. The Mission President has submitted an application for them to form a branch. The elders are teaching three families who want to be baptized and cannot because they are not married. One family has one child, the other two children and the last has three children. To get married requires a one hour walk to the bus stop to get the 6 AM bus, a two hour bus ride to town, $31 dollars for a marriage license, the bus leaves to come back at 9 PM arriving at midnight and then a one hour walk home. None have the money to get married.

The village hall
which is used for pre school during the week
and the church on Sunday.
The older children walk 2 miles to school. There is no high school.

The church/school from the outside.

The rest of the pictures are of the village and its people. We loved the people. They are happy, loving and awesome. We had one of the church members cook us scones. We wandered around the village taking pictures and talking to everyone. I hope you enjoy these.

6 AM Rugby Practice. Goal posts are made of long skinny trees tied together.

The bath tub, laundry and water supply.

An outhouse with flush toilets, complements of a humanitarian project for the village.

Enjoying the fruits of the humanitarian project.
There are 4 or 5 of these for about 50 families.
I had to get a key to use it.

I forgot to mention this river is also a swimming pool and park for all to enjoy.

A girl with her brother.
Everyone seems so happy. There is only a couch in the front room.

A village family.
The man is gone to hunt or to work or to town.
The Elders can only teach when the men are at home.

The one and only village shop.
The shop consists of a room about the size of a closet and has candy and a few things. This is also where the shop owner lives with his wife and teenage son. This building contains the shop, a front room, a bedroom separated by a sheet from the front room and an indoor kitchen which has an open fire for cooking.