There's one thing for certain, our business hasn't slowed down. On May 31, I started teaching a literacy class for the teachers. I opened it up for anyone who wanted a refresher. I have 16 who signed up and 7 of those 16 are teachers that are required to take the course. I was so nervous the first class, not sure I knew the material well enough but the class went great. The teachers had lots of questions and were very engaged. I only got through half of what I had prepared. Each week since, it's been the same thing, only getting through half of my lesson. Which makes it nice because then I have a lesson for the following class. I try to keep working ahead but I find that I spend more time on what I had already prepared and making it better. There is so much in "literacy" that it makes it a bit hard. But the teachers are learning and they are trying to implement the things they learn--even the college teachers. I'm really proud of their willingness to adjust the information to fit their needs.
We have continued to work with the stranded Kiribati missionaries. Early in June we had the two sister missionaries over for dinner and made cookies afterwards. They enjoyed making the cookies, a task they had never done before. Since then they have completed their first course in pathways and both succeed with excellent grades. The elders from Kiribati have also finished their first course. Four out of the five did excellent. One had a poor grade, so I don't know what happens after that.
Sister Auria and Sister Barekiau
On Saturday this week all 7 of our Kiribati missionaries finally got a flight to take them home. We went by to say goodbye. We really love this great missionaries. But it was time, they have served valiantly for way longer then most missionaries. Elder Bouta served just short of 4 years.
And they are off! I know they had mixed emotions. They wanted to stay so they could finish their pathways and then go to BYUH. Pres. Markus talked to them about how they can still make it to BYU. So the goal is to continue to help them from a distance and encourage them to finish their pathways in Kiribati. We pray that they'll eventually make it to BYUH. We sure love these 7 faithful young people!
A couple of Saturdays ago, we went up to our Korovou Branch to clean the building. The Turavu family met us there. On our way, Jerry Turavu called and asked if we had jumper wires. Well, actually no and not even jumper cables. When we got to his home he was standing out front. We stopped and he had found the wires he needed. We proceeded to help him start his car with a dead battery with 2 wires. That was an experience! But it worked!
After getting his car going, we proceeded to the chapel. Jerry is a taxi driver in Suva so he left to make his daily income. His family was already at the church. We quickly got to work and with the Turavu families help we were able to clean out the library, the clerk's office and clean the rest of the building. What a great service this family gave.
Enjoying ice cream bars when all finished! Cathy, Sophie, Jorge, Johnny and Laisa. Johnny is a boy from the village that come to help.
More ice cream. Niore also came to help. Elder Roper, Koto, Sister Emma Turavu and Grace.
Salote drew me a picture.
I teased Laisa that she was queen sitting on her thrown. She got big laugh out of that. Just this week she had her last interview with Fiji Airlines. She is their newest hire as a flight attendant. She's very talented and will be a great flight attendant. Her training starts this week in Nadi. We will miss her but not as much as her family.
A couple of weeks ago we started helping the dorm students in the evenings with their homework. We go in on Monday and Wednesdays while Elder and Sister Patton goes in on Tuesday and Thursday. The first night, Kim and I helped Smith and Lockey write poems. Now that was an experience. We have helped with writing research papers and with doing math. Sometimes I feel like they are way smarter than we are. But it's been good to stretch our minds and learn some new things ourselves.
Smith
Lockey
We've also been doing an activity with the dorm students on Sunday evenings. We go every other week. We've played getting to know you with the students who have been there the past 2 1/2 years. They know each other very well. They had to guess who the person was with the clues presented. Most of them knew the person from the very first clue. A couple of week later we did the same with the students that came in April. They didn't know them as well but they were able to guess who each one was. Pretty impressive. But they do live with each other 24-7. We played apples to apples one night. They loved that and it was great way to learn some new vocabulary words. Last week we had some mind puzzles they had to figure out in groups of 4. This one was a challenge. We didn't get through all of them. One girl, Annie, couldn't sleep that night without figuring out the rest. She came to our office on Monday to see if she had gotten them right. She had to redo a couple of them, but overall she did really well.
Apples to Apples
Angie and Daniel are brother and sister. Thought this was pretty cute that they ended up being on the same team!
Mind Puzzles! We love working with the dorm students. They're the best.
June 9 was our 44th anniversary. It was a Thursday, so we decided on Friday to take off and go to a resort. We went to the Warwick which is about an hour and a half west of Suva. It's along the coral coast. The water was crystal clear. The weather was a bit cool but still able to get in and swim. We also kayaked around a bit. We were going to snorkel Saturday morning but the tide was LOW and it wasn't possible to snorkel. I was a bit disappointed but we saw some beautiful coral and fish while kayaking the day before. We had a VERY delicious meal at the Wicked Walu Restaurant. We met a fun couple of ladies from Australia. When one of them found out we were members of the church, "mormons" she asked me which wife I was! Man! After all these years of not having polygamy it's still thought to happen. I explained that I was the one and only and would always be the one and only.
I was teaching my class the night of our anniversary so we treated them all with cake!
The lobby of the Warwick. I loved this mural that went all the way across the room.
Lighting of the torches along the beach. This little guy behind him got to help. He'll remember that the rest of his life.
This was my dish. Lobster tail, mussels, shrimp...I don't remember what all but it was delicious. Best lobster I have EVER had.
We were invited to go with a couple of classes on a field trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of Fiji. It was quite interesting. Afterwards they had refreshments and took us out on their balcony overlooking the city. It's a 11 story building, which right now might be their tallest. The view was spectacular. Oere invited us. She is the economic teacher and is one of our ITEP students. She is fabulous.
This hasn't covered everything that's happened in the last 2 weeks but it's covered enough for now. I'll try to get more posted soon. Serving the people in Fiji is truly a blessing. I feel so fortunate to be here. I know God lives and loves these people. They are definitely a choice group. My testimony of Jesus Christ grows continually. He is our Savior. He sacrificed ALL for each of us. I am eternally grateful.
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