Roper Fijian Crusades: Korovou Branch

We absolutely love being able to serve in the Korovou Branch. It takes us an hour to drive there but the scenery is beautiful all along the way and once we get there the people are even more beautiful. Last Sunday I sat in on the youth Sunday School class taught by Elder Sanele and Sister Turavu, the YW President. I was in awe at how many youth were there. I counted about 30. Seeing that when we first returned in April there were only about 30 in the whole congregation, 30 youth is amazing. President McBride has decided that on the first Sunday of the month the branch budget will pay for a transport to pick up members in the outlying villages. The transport that came in was packed. I think I heard a rough estimate of 45 people in the truck. Not sure how accurate that number is. I think there could have been more. The total number in sacrament meeting was 103. UNHEARD OF! The chapel was full back into the overflow. Very few people that live outside of the city own cars and rely on taxi service or buses or transports (large trucks with covered beds) to get from one place to the other, which can be expensive . Thus many members and investigators are too poor to afford transportation to church. There is one man who walks 2 hours each way to attend the meetings. That is true dedication. Someone in the village always feeds him lunch before he returns home in the afternoon. That being said, the transport is a true blessing for these people.

That Sunday I decided to try playing some prelude music on the keyboard in the chapel. The keyboard is never played. Sister Tabua, who normally leads the music, was not there that day. Cathy Turavu, one of the young women, was leading the music for sacrament meeting. I told her I wasn't planning on playing the piano for the meeting and she looked at me with great disappointment. I asked her if she would like me to play and she said she did. So I ended up playing for the meeting. Afterwards, I had a few young people tell me that the music was "nice". Then they asked me to teach them how to play. After the 2 hour block, I went to the keyboard and several young people came and I taught them a few things about the keyboard and about music. There was the gentleman that walks two hours every week (I guess I should learn his name) that also came and said he wanted to know how to play.

Youth Sunday School Class. I think it's time to divide into two groups!

Jone, the young man in the front, took my phone!


I don't know why but they wanted their picture taken with me! 😅

We had a baptism after the meetings. The young men and the missionaries sang a traditional Fijian song. It was really awesome. The Fijians love to sing and really belt out the music.

The youth are taking a temple trip next week and they all needed to fill out parent permission slips. Sister Turavu and I were helping them fill out their forms.