June 11

Winter has arrived!  I have worn a jacket or a sweater all day.  We woke to a temperature of 24 Celsius which is 75 Fahrenheit.  Brrrr.  How 75 can be cold is beyond me, but I am cold and the YSAs that are here in the institute are all wearing hoodies, coats or beanies.

Tonight Scott taught a Doctrine and Covenants lesson on the events that will occur before the second coming of the Savior.  He had prepared for days for it.  He had the full time missionaries--Elder Olmstead and Filipe Vakalaloma--come help him, he had run all over Suva looking for a trumpet to sound the seven trumps.  I had a job.  It was to use the flash on the camera after the darkness came and during the earthquake.  Yes, we did have a simulated earthquake.  It was so fun.  It made those events seem more real and the discussion after was very animated.

Here is one of the pictures the camera took when I thought all I was doing was setting off the flash.

Moving under the desks during the earthquake

Huddling under the desks during the earthquake.

June 10

We are losing the Jacksons who are the Perpetual Education Fund missionaries. They moved into the institute with us in April after spending the first 15 months of their missions in the Emergency Resources Center (ERC).  They were  basically alone in this huge building in downtown Suva.  We have enjoyed having them here.  They bring in YSAs whom we do not see.  Because they are here, the institute is open from 9 o'clock in the morning until after we finish teaching generally around 8:30
to 9:30 p.m.  They are leaving a week from today.  It is fun that the new PEF couple is also named Jackson.  We are praying for a great relationship with the new Jacksons.

June 7

Generally Friday is a respite day for us.  We are so tired emotionally after teaching for three days that we just sort of "wing" Fridays.  Some times we study, some times we run errands, some times we just sit around and visit with the young adults that come into the institute.  It is the day we often feed the missionaries as we actually eat dinner at a normal hour on Fridays.

Today the Jackson's were out of the office all day.  Scott and I went to the institute, but he left to get pictures done for our missionary board.  I kept the institute open for any who needed help or the use of a computer.  After lunch I went back to the institute while Scott slept.  He hasn't been sleeping well lately.  This morning he woke at 3:00am and read for an hour and a half, came back to bed and slept until 6:30 am and then went swimming.

I was busily finishing some studying when I felt like I should lock the front door, so I did.  Just before 3:30pm I heard a knock on the front door.  I did nothing.  The knocking continued louder.  I walked to the windows to the left of the door and looked out.  There stood a very scarey, agitated beggar.  Of course he had a story about all the horrible things wrong with his life: sick wife, lost job, no money, unable to work, starving.  The longer he talked the more agitated he got.  I just turned went into our office and got the only money I had--a two dollar bill.  I opened the louvered window just enough to put the bill through and then closed it.  He was furious that I had given him a bill that can only be "spent" at a bank.  I kept telling him it was all I had.  I finally just shut the curtains, locked the back door which I had not be inspired to lock, and continued to study in our office.  Scary.  I am sure he saw me working and probably tried to open the locked door.  I am so grateful for the prompting to lock the door.  Having the beggar inside would have been awful.  Heavenly Father takes care of his missionaries.

Scott came at 5:00p.m.  and we worked together until after 6 o'clock when we decided to go for pizza.  We shopped after eating and did not get home until about 9:30.

June 6

Scott, as is tradition, had a mission prep student bear his testimony in class today, because it is his last class before he leaves on a mission.  Ephraim bore a strong testimony about repentance and what an honor is was to be called by a prophet to serve a mission which brought the Holy Spirit into the classroom.  Afterwards Scott asked the students if they felt the Spirit.  They all said that they had.  Then Scott told the class that with a testimony like that, Ephraim would not only save many souls in the California, Roseville mission, but would bless his own family and his posterity for generations to come.  When Scott finished talking, he looked at Ephraim and there were tears flowing down his face.  These Fijian youth are so strong, so sensitive to the Spirit, so willing.

No baptisms for the dead today as the temple washing machine is broken, so Scott and I decided to go to the 4:OO session.  After the session I had gone to change when sister Tilley came in and said, "Your husband wants you I the sealing room."

It was the Navua ward's night to do sealings.  It is very expensive and time consuming (one hour) to get to the temple from Navua, so there were not enough ward members to do the work.  Bro. McGoon asked Scott if we could help.  We could.  As Scott and I proxied for the parents, and Brother Vulavula proxied for a son, I was overwhelmed with the knowledge that God is no respecter of persons--that He loves all his children no matter the color of their skin, how much they earn, or how intelligent they are.  I had a hard time not weeping.

June 5

Our lesson tonight in Doctrines of the Gospel was on the Holy Ghost.  I used a talk by David A. Bednar which he gave when he was the president of Ricks College in 1999.  It made for a nice lesson.  He used a great object lesson in his talk and I wanted to use it in my lesson.  I called all over Suva for a tuning fork.  No one had any idea what a tuning fork even is.  RATS.  It would have made a wonderful object lesson.

Ate lunch with the Edwards.  They are from Kaysville and are here to teach seminary teachers.  They will spend three months at each church school in the Pacific which means three months in Fiji, three months in Kiribati, six months in Samoa and six in Tonga.  Better them than me.  Sounds exotic, but setting up a flat six times in 18 months is a real pain.

Learned that pianos here are not tuned with a fork, but are tuned with a pitch pipe???

June 4

I am not really sure when Timoci (Timothy) left Fiji for Guam.  I hate being behind in this blog, but simply cannot find the time to write everyday.  Neither Scott nor I have enough energy at the end of the day to write in a journal.  We go home after class and taking the YSAs home so tired that we change clothes as soon as we get home and go to bed.  So I am adding this here as it is important to get into our journal which is what this blog is---our journal.

As a review Timoci was one of our original YSAs.  He came the first day we taught and attended both of the classes we taught in the institute and every activity we held until he left on his mission.  He original call was for the Canada, Toronto mission.  He was to leave in November 2012.  His visa request was turned down twice by Canada which was such a disappointment for him.  There was a time when we feared he would just decide not to go on a mission, but through the ministration of our wonderful Bishop Farpa 'pau it did not happen.  His next call was to the Micronesia, Guam Mission.  Because Guam is a territory of the United States it takes months to get a visa.  So instead of going in November, Timoci had to wait for a visa.  Finally in the middle of January, the church instructed the employee in the Service Center that Timoci was to leave for the MTC in New Zealand in three days.  He went.  No visa came while he was there, so he had to come back to Fiji as a full time missionary waiting for his visa to Guam.  It finally came the end of April or the beginning of May. 

We had the privilege of seeing Timoci while he was in the Mission Office here is Suva the day before he flew to Guam.

With Timoci Tupua just before he flew to Guam

We are so proud of Timoci.  He put his whole heart and soul into his mission work here in Fiji.  We have been corresponding on an irregular basis and I would like to record some of the things he has written to us.  He is a man of great faith and we are aware that these trials before his mission have strengthen his faith and made him more fit for the work.

From the MTC in New Zealand:
"Every day that goes by...my testimony of my saviour is strengthened....my spiritual eyes have been opened....i am always uplifted and i love that feeling....i know that i will be able to experience more of this in my time here....sometimes i am challenged but i am grateful for the spirit that comforts me and gives me the strength to carry on....here obedience is something to always remember...and it does bring blessing....."

This after one week serving in Fiji (where he really, really did not want to serve):
"i am happy to serve the Lord in whatever vineyard he has called me to serve him."

From Ba, Fiji
"The priesthood is indeed the power of God....and can only work on faith.....i am so blessed to have this power, Sister Tennis."

Timoci (on right) and his first convert

June 3

Had a great time today listening to Scott talk to all our children and his mother.  Happy second birthday, Scott.  It was good to wish Kristin a happy birthday also.

We are studying Elder Bednar's book Act in Doctrine. It has been a nice experience.  We read to each other discussing as we go and then listen to the DVD that came with the book.  A lovely experience.