Korovou Branch

On Friday, Kim and I traveled to our new branch in Korovou so we’d know where we were going on Sunday.  It is located on the top of a big hill (small mountain) in the middle of a jungle.  What a breath-taking view!  To get there we drove for an hour on a 2-lane highway.  There wasn't a lot of traffic, gratefully.  Then out of nowhere there was a sign that said “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Visitors Welcome  2km”. And an arrow pointing left.  We decided this must be our turn.  We turned onto a narrow one lane gravel/dirt road.   The further we drove the more we kept questioning if this was the road.  We met 2 large work trucks coming our way.  Kim’s first reaction was to pull to the right side of the road, but since we drive on the left side of the road here, the driver of the truck stopped and just looked at us!  OH YEAH!  Wrong side of the road.  So, we maneuvered over to the other side of the road, and he barreled on down the road past us.  Then we met another truck!  OH GEE!  At the top of a hill, we could see the church on the top of the second hill in front of us.  The next hill we climbed up, there was a truck stopped at a small house on the side of the road.  As we squeezed by, we saw an Elder Missionary in the door way.  We stopped and waved and he came out and talked to us.  They live at this house in the middle of the jungle—literally the middle of nowhere.  WOW!  Elder Kutterer, from Heber, Utah,  said we were on the right road and not to try the road that continues on past the church and goes into the village of Korovou because it has NO gravel and is pure mud.  We took his advice and did not venture into town by the dirt road.  We went on though and did stop at the church and took a peek around.  What a blessing to these villagers to have this beautiful chapel to meet in on a regular basis.  It’s beautiful and the grounds are as well.

On Sunday when we went for church, we met three young girls walking to church.  The oldest looked like she would be about 15-16 and the youngest was maybe 8-10.  The teenage girl was carrying her shoes.  There had obviously been a good rain the night before and the road was in worse condition then when we had driven on it just 2 days before.  We stopped and asked if they’d like a ride.  We assumed they were going to church—where else would they be going?  And we were right.  They were going to church and they gratefully took the ride. There were probably about 50 members in attendance.  There are no pews in the chapel, just folding chairs.  The podium, though, is complete like any other church.  Some of the men were barefoot.  This is quite common here, especially out in the villages. Almost all the men wear sulus, (sooloo) which Kim has purchased a few of since they are much cooler than pants.  There is a piano, but no one played it.  The chorister sang the first line as a prelude and to set the tone and then we all sang.  They have strong and beautiful voices.  They obviously love singing.

How fun it was to attend church with these native Fijians.  They were all so friendly and welcoming.  They all spoke English although some of them don’t feel real confident with English.  I thought they spoke perfectly.  The meetings were held though in Fijian.  We couldn’t understand a word!  But the spirit was there! I had a Fijian hymn book and was amazed that I was able to sing along…mostly.  I’ve learned the vowel sounds their language makes and I know the consonants that make different sounds than ours.  So it wasn’t too hard. 

Sunday School was my favorite.  Every once in a while the teacher would say something to us in English and she’d ask us to comment on different verses in the scriptures we were studying.  At the end she asked if we had anything to add.  I made a comment about my feelings on the topic of the lesson and how I related to it.  Kim made a comment about how he really enjoyed being there and how he’d had the impression how much he loved this branch already.  And he knew that when it comes time for us to go home in 23 months, that he knows it’s going to be difficult to say goodbye.  He got a bit emotional talking about it.  It was an interesting thought and perspective.  The longer I’m married to him the more I realize he is a very sentimental man. His comment was quite sweet.

 This is mostly to show Kim in his sulu.

 The gravel road as we turned off the highway.  😲

The Church!  Isn't it beautiful!

 Looking out over the area.  That is the ocean between the tree line and the distant mountains, which is another island.

 

The gateway into the church.

 The Chapel.

 Looking at the view from the church.  Yes, that is a banana tree.  They are everywhere!

 

Another view.

 At the base of the driveway.

 This is where the 2 Elder missionaries live.  It's super tiny.  They were installing a chain link fence.  What for we're not sure.  They weren't sure either.

This is the house we live in.  It has 3 apartments.  We live in the one visible.  There is another one to the right of us and one behind them.  Then in the basement there is a daycare/preschool.