We went to the temple this morning with Suzanne. The sisters were so cute with her. They do not advertise it, but they have clothes here if one is without. Many of the Fijian Saints who live in outlying
areas can not afford to have temple clothes, many Saints come in from the other islands without clothing, and, of course, people come from elsewhere unprepared to attend the temple; so our temple has clothing to loan out. We were grateful they did. It was cute that Suzanne had one shoe that fit and one shoe that was way too big. She just grinned--a memory of Fiji.
We then spent the afternoon riding around, shopping, and visiting the Fiji Museum which turned out
to be much nicer that I would have supposed. It was a great, relaxing day.
I was reminded today that people are always watching us as Latter-day Saints. I was wandering around the museum store when the clerk asked me if I knew the Whippys? I said that I knew of them; they are a large family (at least 4 sons + daughters) and the dad used to be the Service Center Director here before he was assigned to Papau New Guinea. The clerk went on and on about how wonderful the Brother and Sister Whippy were and what wonderful children they had. It was obvious that the clerk held the entire family in high esteem. I was overcome by gratitude for this family who had been good examples "in all things, in all times and in all places." I wonder if we will ever know the power of our example.
Monday, December 17, 2012
December 4
Spent sometime today shopping. Scott and Suzanne rode around Suva.
Elder Hamula, our Area President, came to Fiji for two weeks on Friday or Saturday of last week. We missed his first fireside because Suzanne's plane got delayed. We were privileged to have him speak to just the senior couples at the Mission Home tonight. To save Sister Klinger who has been hosting him and his wife, we all brought a part of the dinner that went along with the fireside. A couple of months ago I had the non temple couples over to our flat for dinner after church. I served BBQ chicken sandwiches. Chicken in Fiji is touch. I had reduced the cooking time in the crock pot to 2 hours. It was delicious. So I had been asked to do the meat. I was glad to do it.
I put the chicken in the pots (we fed 37) at 4 o'clock thinking it would be done at six and forgetting that I needed to shred the chicken and reheat it with the BBQ sauce. Duh! So at ten minutes to six Scott, Suzanne, and I are hurriedly shredding hot, hot chicken. We walked into the Mission Home at exactly 6. Then we waited until 7 to eat because Elder Hamula was interviewing missionaries and got behind.
I was so pleased. While I was working in the kitchen, Scott noticed that Sister Hamula was sitting by herself. He, of course, went over and sat down by her and had a great conversation. Delightful woman. I have been praying that we would have five minutes with Elder Hamula. I am so afraid that all the YSAs will have to do without an institute again unless they replace us. Sister Hamula asked Scott why we were here and he told her. Later when Elder Hamula came into the room, I introduced myself as the CES missionary over the institute. His reply was, "Yes my wife told me all about you and your husband's work." She had to have left the conversation with Scott and gone right into the interview room to report to her husband. Amazing.
Suzanne went with us. Everyone was so kind to her including Elder and Sister Hamula. Both of them spoke at the fireside. He told us that our families would be blessed beyond our wildest dreams, because we are serving missions as senior couples. He even said that if we had children who were wayward they would be back. It brought me to tears.
It was so wonderful to look across the room and see Suzanne sitting (she chose to sit behind everyone), sharing this spiritual experience, and knowing that the blessings promised us included her. I am so blessed to have children who want to come visit, and who are willing to make the sacrifice to get here.
Elder Hamula, our Area President, came to Fiji for two weeks on Friday or Saturday of last week. We missed his first fireside because Suzanne's plane got delayed. We were privileged to have him speak to just the senior couples at the Mission Home tonight. To save Sister Klinger who has been hosting him and his wife, we all brought a part of the dinner that went along with the fireside. A couple of months ago I had the non temple couples over to our flat for dinner after church. I served BBQ chicken sandwiches. Chicken in Fiji is touch. I had reduced the cooking time in the crock pot to 2 hours. It was delicious. So I had been asked to do the meat. I was glad to do it.
I put the chicken in the pots (we fed 37) at 4 o'clock thinking it would be done at six and forgetting that I needed to shred the chicken and reheat it with the BBQ sauce. Duh! So at ten minutes to six Scott, Suzanne, and I are hurriedly shredding hot, hot chicken. We walked into the Mission Home at exactly 6. Then we waited until 7 to eat because Elder Hamula was interviewing missionaries and got behind.
I was so pleased. While I was working in the kitchen, Scott noticed that Sister Hamula was sitting by herself. He, of course, went over and sat down by her and had a great conversation. Delightful woman. I have been praying that we would have five minutes with Elder Hamula. I am so afraid that all the YSAs will have to do without an institute again unless they replace us. Sister Hamula asked Scott why we were here and he told her. Later when Elder Hamula came into the room, I introduced myself as the CES missionary over the institute. His reply was, "Yes my wife told me all about you and your husband's work." She had to have left the conversation with Scott and gone right into the interview room to report to her husband. Amazing.
Suzanne went with us. Everyone was so kind to her including Elder and Sister Hamula. Both of them spoke at the fireside. He told us that our families would be blessed beyond our wildest dreams, because we are serving missions as senior couples. He even said that if we had children who were wayward they would be back. It brought me to tears.
It was so wonderful to look across the room and see Suzanne sitting (she chose to sit behind everyone), sharing this spiritual experience, and knowing that the blessings promised us included her. I am so blessed to have children who want to come visit, and who are willing to make the sacrifice to get here.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
December 3
Spent the day on the Navua River. The Navua River Trip is a right of passage for every senior missionary. We waited for Suzanne to do it and I am glad.
The river is about thirty minutes out of Suva. The trip starts in Navua village. The company that runs the river is owned by an LDS family. Basically one rides up the river in a motor boat which stops at ?? village.
At the village one is greeted by a members of the village and ushered into the village bure (burr ay).
A very formal Kava ceremony (which is traditional) is held. One man from the village welcomed us, and one man from the tour who is chosen to lead our clan/tribe accepts the welcome and thanks the village for hosting us. In the middle each man, and a Ratu (village royal family member) takes a drink of the Kava. The tour guide told us over and over that the Kava is not alcoholic and therefore fine to drink. He even state that they give Kava to babies. After the original three drink, the kava, in the same coconut shell, is delivered to each person. It used to be absolutely forbidden to refuse to drink, but between the Mormons, Seventh-Day Adventists, and modern thinking one can safely refuse to drink. I have heard stories that early missionaries-not LDS-were eaten because they refused to drink. Nice to be born now!
I have been told that Kava is not alcoholic; it is a stimulant. It makes your tongue and lips go numb. It is against the Word of Wisdom and its use has created major problem for some church members especially ones that are still in villages, or who are tied closely to their village of origin. Every leader who has come to Fiji in the past four or five years has preached against Kava.
After the ceremony we toured the village, saw woman making tapa cloth, weaving rugs, and men making hats out of leaves. We also visited the village preschool.
We were then fed lunch which was delicious, and watch a short program of traditional men-only dances. Women sing in the background. We had a chance to purchase Fijian crafts. Suzanne bought a Fijian drum, a necklace and earrings made out of cococut shells, and we bought a woven mat.
We then proceeded up the river another 45 minutes.
We actually went over some small rapids on our way to the waterfall where we would be able to swim.
Then we rode a bamboo raft down the river, but not very far as the wind was coming up the river, and blowing us in the wrong direction. It was funny to see on of our guides jump into the river, grab a line attached to our raft and literally swim down stream pulling our boat. So after a few minutes of that, we changed to the motor boat and made our way back to the beginning.
The river is about thirty minutes out of Suva. The trip starts in Navua village. The company that runs the river is owned by an LDS family. Basically one rides up the river in a motor boat which stops at ?? village.
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| Scott on the River |
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| Me, Our Guide, Scott on the Navua River |
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| Suzanne on the River |
At the village one is greeted by a members of the village and ushered into the village bure (burr ay).
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| Village Greeter in a Tapa Cloth Sulu with a Shell Horn |
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| Pouring Water our of a Bamboo Pole Into the Kava Bowl over dried Kava. |
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| Passing the Kava Notice that only men are sitting on front row on the floor. Women in the back only |
After the ceremony we toured the village, saw woman making tapa cloth, weaving rugs, and men making hats out of leaves. We also visited the village preschool.
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| Suzanne with the village preschoolers in their one room preschool. |
We were then fed lunch which was delicious, and watch a short program of traditional men-only dances. Women sing in the background. We had a chance to purchase Fijian crafts. Suzanne bought a Fijian drum, a necklace and earrings made out of cococut shells, and we bought a woven mat.
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| Dancers. Notice the ceiling. |
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| More dancing. |
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| Dancing with the villagers. |
We then proceeded up the river another 45 minutes.
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| On the way to the big waterfall |
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| Another waterfall on the way up the Navua River |
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| Bamboo Trees |
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| On the way to the big waterfall. |
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| Still on the way to the waterfall. |
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| Swimming to the other side of the pool. Scott and Suzanne were hoping to swim under the falls, but there was way too much water coming over the falls. |
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| Resting on the other side. |
Fun day!
December 2
Got up. Ate breakfast before we remembered it was Fast Sunday. We will make it up next week. Left Nadi by 6:30 so we could make the Lami 2nd Wards meetings. We barely made it on time. Went to the YSA class where we knew about half of the class: Lillian, Mavis, Sosi, Brandon, etc. All were nice to Suzanne.
Got home, unpacked, ate a cold lunch and then went to the Missionary Christmas Fireside. We had over 30 YSAs come to sing. Hallelujah! Now if I can just get them to practices.
Got home, unpacked, ate a cold lunch and then went to the Missionary Christmas Fireside. We had over 30 YSAs come to sing. Hallelujah! Now if I can just get them to practices.
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| YSA Girls Singing at Fireside Meme, Lillian, Mavis, Maggie Dreke, Molly, Vani |
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| YSA Guys Singing at Fireside Filipe, ?, Tavita, Timoci, ? Lomani, Dan, ? |
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| Suzanne Singing Olive, Sister Klinger |
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| More YSA Girls ?, Leslie, Mereta, Olive, Suzanne |
December 1, 2012
Got up at six to drive out to the airport to get Suzanne. Getting through customs is Nadi takes some time. When we walked into the airport we checked the arrivals and wouldn't you know it, Suzanne's plane was delayed. We had to wait in line until we could speak to a check in agent who told us that her plane had not left LAX yet. WHAT? She is still in the U.S.? The agent also told us that her plane would not be in Nadi until 5 p.m. We went back to the Mercure to see if we could get on line with Kristin or Chaya to find out if Suzanne was OK. I had talked Scott into leaving the laptop in Suva. Things left in locked cars are not safe in Fiji. I ended up in the back office of the Mercure on a computer. Kristin had, indeed, emailed us that Suzanne was worried about us, but OK.
We decided to spend the day on one of the cruises we had learned about the day before. We changed clothes, raced to Denerau, and just made a 3/4 day cruise.
We spent the morning on an island which had a class bottomed boat for those of us who did not take a swimsuit, kayaks for exploring, snorkeling gear, a wonderful lunch, and great entertainment. The island was about 200 yards long by 50 yards wide. The main building had dorms on the top floor. I visited with a young lady from the UK who was spending twelve days (2 nights on each island) on different islands in the western/northern ocean off of Fiji. Her ticket allowed her to travel by any ferry/cruise ship to six of the islands. It seems that there are twenty or so that have dorms like youth hostels in which one can stay. The ticket includes three meals a day, activities on the islands, and a bed. We met several young people who were doing this.
Sadness of the day. I talked to two Norwegian students who had spent the last semester in Australia studying and had decided to do the island hopping thing in Fiji before they left for home. I offered them a pass along card that would give them a free DVD. When I offered it to them they recoiled as if I were handing them a poisonness snake. I obviously have to perfect my delivery. It bugged me all day.
Happiness of the day was Suzanne's safe arrival at 7:45 p.m. Our hug made everything better.
We missed Suzanne coming out of immigration, because we participated in welcoming home this elder who had served in Spokane, Washington. They found her out on the curb waiting for us to pick her up. They brought her into us. Cute family. We have the best experiences because we are wearing our name tags.
We decided to spend the day on one of the cruises we had learned about the day before. We changed clothes, raced to Denerau, and just made a 3/4 day cruise.
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| Our Cruise Ship Looking towards similar cruise ship |
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| Spent the morning on this island. |
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| Island Along the Way This Island was home to one resort, plus a native village. |
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| Island We Cruised By |
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| Our cruise ship was also a ferry for Islanders, and island visitors. This is how they got to our ship. |
We spent the morning on an island which had a class bottomed boat for those of us who did not take a swimsuit, kayaks for exploring, snorkeling gear, a wonderful lunch, and great entertainment. The island was about 200 yards long by 50 yards wide. The main building had dorms on the top floor. I visited with a young lady from the UK who was spending twelve days (2 nights on each island) on different islands in the western/northern ocean off of Fiji. Her ticket allowed her to travel by any ferry/cruise ship to six of the islands. It seems that there are twenty or so that have dorms like youth hostels in which one can stay. The ticket includes three meals a day, activities on the islands, and a bed. We met several young people who were doing this.
Sadness of the day. I talked to two Norwegian students who had spent the last semester in Australia studying and had decided to do the island hopping thing in Fiji before they left for home. I offered them a pass along card that would give them a free DVD. When I offered it to them they recoiled as if I were handing them a poisonness snake. I obviously have to perfect my delivery. It bugged me all day.
Happiness of the day was Suzanne's safe arrival at 7:45 p.m. Our hug made everything better.
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| Nadi Ward Bishop's Son. Arrived on same plane as Suzanne from a mission in Spokane, Washington. |
November 30
Left Suva around to drive to Nadi. Suzanne comes in at 5:15 tomorrow morning. Scott decided we would take the day so we could stop along the Coral Coast, southern shores of Viti Levu, to look at the resorts there for places to visit with our kids when they come to visit.
It was a lovely day. The drive was beautiful. We did not, however, see any places that I thought were worth the price they charged. We arrived in Nadi around six o'clock. We stay at the Mercure which is relatively inexpensive and gives us a great breakfast.
Spent some time on Denerau Island asking about the day cruises that leave from there. Lots from which to choose. We ate the best pizza we have had in Suva at the Mercure.
It was a lovely day. The drive was beautiful. We did not, however, see any places that I thought were worth the price they charged. We arrived in Nadi around six o'clock. We stay at the Mercure which is relatively inexpensive and gives us a great breakfast.
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| Water Lilies at Pacific Harbour |
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| The Sekoula Tree Exact translation is Blooming Like Gold Real translation is Ostentatious. |
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| Close up of the Sekoula Tree It starts blooming right before Christmas. |
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| I have no idea what this is, but the bush was gorgeous as in the flower. |
November 19-23
Gosh, I hate it when life moves too fast. This week was so busy it is just a blur now. Another example of why writing in one's journal or blog as the case may be must be done every day.
Tuesday the 27th stands out as I had set it as our first institute choir practice. We had been asked by Sister Klinger to have YSAs prepared to sing two songs at the Mission Christmas Devotional. The President is bringing all the missionaries into Suva (save 4 who are so far away it takes days to get here) for training, and Christmas celebrations. So I show up at 5 for the 5:30 practice. At 5:30 no one is here, including the pianist. GULP! By six I had four sopranos, one alto, and five tenors. GULP! GULP!
We practiced Oh Come all Ye Faithful and Joy to the World which were the songs Sister Klinger said she needed. Does not sound to hard, I know, except in Fiji most congregations sing without accompaniment as few play the piano. When one sings without a piano one can just sing parts that sound good which are not necessarily the parts played by the piano. Everyone except the sopranos were singing parts that were not correct. We worked a whole hour learning the parts for these two songs.
I set another practice on Thursday and asked everyone to bring a friend. Thursday we had 15 singers and most of them had not attended on Tuesday. UGH! We practiced the two songs again, and then I added two songs for the Christmas program we were to do on the 23rd (explanation in next paragraph) One out of the children's song book which they did well (unison) and another one which no one could sing as the accompaniment did not play the parts.
Both President Seru and President Sefeti had asked me if I would start an Institute Choir. They want that choir to sing at stake conferences in April. OK, I can do this----maybe. Many of the seniors had noted that last year at Christmas, Christmas was never mentioned in Sacrament Meeting in any of the wards they attended. I decided that preparing a Christmas program would be a good way to get this new choir started. Bishop Farpapau agreed to let us sing on the 23rd.
Thank goodness we have three weeks to prepare.
Tuesday the 27th stands out as I had set it as our first institute choir practice. We had been asked by Sister Klinger to have YSAs prepared to sing two songs at the Mission Christmas Devotional. The President is bringing all the missionaries into Suva (save 4 who are so far away it takes days to get here) for training, and Christmas celebrations. So I show up at 5 for the 5:30 practice. At 5:30 no one is here, including the pianist. GULP! By six I had four sopranos, one alto, and five tenors. GULP! GULP!
We practiced Oh Come all Ye Faithful and Joy to the World which were the songs Sister Klinger said she needed. Does not sound to hard, I know, except in Fiji most congregations sing without accompaniment as few play the piano. When one sings without a piano one can just sing parts that sound good which are not necessarily the parts played by the piano. Everyone except the sopranos were singing parts that were not correct. We worked a whole hour learning the parts for these two songs.
I set another practice on Thursday and asked everyone to bring a friend. Thursday we had 15 singers and most of them had not attended on Tuesday. UGH! We practiced the two songs again, and then I added two songs for the Christmas program we were to do on the 23rd (explanation in next paragraph) One out of the children's song book which they did well (unison) and another one which no one could sing as the accompaniment did not play the parts.
Both President Seru and President Sefeti had asked me if I would start an Institute Choir. They want that choir to sing at stake conferences in April. OK, I can do this----maybe. Many of the seniors had noted that last year at Christmas, Christmas was never mentioned in Sacrament Meeting in any of the wards they attended. I decided that preparing a Christmas program would be a good way to get this new choir started. Bishop Farpapau agreed to let us sing on the 23rd.
Thank goodness we have three weeks to prepare.
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