It feels like we are constantly running. There is always somewhere to be and something to do. This week has been very eventful. On Monday, Kim and I were the guest speakers at the Primary School for the Prefect Inductions. There are maybe 20-25 students chosen from the Year 6 class to be school helpers. They help in the classrooms, they help at assemblies, they help as crossing guards and in any other areas where they are needed. We spoke to them about being a leader and what that means. They are problem solvers, optimistic, team builders and hard workers. Ultimately, "Leaders are not people who are served by others, but leaders are people who serve others." It was an honor to serve these students that day and see the proud faces of their parents.
Also on Monday, two new American Senior Couples arrived in Fiji ready to serve this wonderful country. Elder and Sister McBride will serve as MLS missionaries in the Korovou Branch. We will continue to serve there as well to fully support this branch. They are from Fort Collins, Colorado. Sister McBride actually grew up in Loveland, Colorado where I was born and lived the first 8 years of my life. Unfortunately she is young enough that she was not around while we were there. Elder and Sister Baldwin from northern Utah are also MLS missionaries. They will be going to the north island, Vanua Levu and will reside in Savusavu. There are not many missionaries currently on that island so I'm sure Savusavu members will be thrilled to have them. Young sister missionaries will be joining them shortly and soon there will be more Elders arriving. Right now the mission is low on missionaries. All but the 7 stranded missionaries from Kiribati have either returned home to their countries or have gone on to go to school at BYU Hawaii. I think there are only about 45 missionaries serving in the mission.
On Tuesday, the employees of the church, including the senior missionaries and mission president had a devotional with Elder Yamashita. Elder Yamashita is a counselor in the area presidency residing in New Zealand. In July he is being reassigned to church headquarters in Salt Lake City. He is a very kind, gentle man originally from Japan. He spoke to us about 3 things. The importance of the scriptures and how we should have a scripture that has had an impact on our lives and continues to direct us. He had 4 people volunteer to share such a scripture with us. Then he shared his scripture: Alma 5:14, 26. 14 "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts? 26 And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, ccan ye feel so now?" The second point he made was the we must HEAR HIM and Receive Him. Him being Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost. They all speak to us through the Holy Ghost and it is important for us to Hear Him. "God speaks to us each day!" Are we listening? His third point was to think on the doctrine of Jesus Christ. I definitely have realized this past year how important it is for us to build our faith and our lives on the rock of our Savior. That it is only through him that we are saved. It is through him that we receive peace in our lives. Our salvation is determined on us accepting the atonement of Jesus Christ. After the meeting they took a group picture with Elder Yamashita and then fed us delicious Fijian food. Kim and I were both here 2 1/2 years ago when Elder Yamashita visited. He mentioned that visit and that he hadn't been able to return again until this week. We were able to talk to him afterwards and told him that we had been here on that visit as well. He was overjoyed to meet us and to see that we had been able to return.
Wednesday morning we met with President and Sister Markus and the 3 other senior couples here and cleaned a flat for a couple who will be coming here next week. The flat has set empty for 2 years. It was pretty dirty. The hour we expected to be able to clean it took a couple of hours. But it looked so much better when we left than when we arrived. We found 3 frogs who had taken up residency in the house. Not sure what they lived on or how they got in there or how long they had been there, but they no longer have the privilege of residing there. That night we met the 5 stranded Kiribati missionaries at the computer lab at the primary school to help them with pathways. The classes are getting harder and some of them were really struggling with some simple math skills. We came away with a determination to teach them some basic Excel or they're never going to make it.
Thursday was a calmer day. We taught our class in the late afternoon and then took the 2 new couples to the President's Residence to watch the bats as they come out at dusk. They have huge fruit bats that are so fascinating. We watched them for awhile and then went to dinner. On the way home we decided to stop at the computer lab where the sister Kiribati missionaries were working on their pathways and found that they too need a lot of help on the basics of Excel. Both groups of missionaries realized how valuable the computer lab is. When they are at their flat, they have one Ipad to share between 2 people. Being on their own computer doing their assignments is much faster and easier.
Friday was the Prefect Induction at the LDS Church College. Sister Bahn, the principal, invited us to bring the 2 new couples to sit in on this big event. The choir sang some beautiful songs. Brother Taito was the guest speaker. One of the area stake presidents also spoke at the end. They asked the 6 of us to help do the pinning on the prefects. The Head Boy and Head Girl were also pinned and both gave a small speech. We know the head boy well. He lives in the dorms where we did activities when we were here in 2020. We are so proud of Wilkenly for this great achievement. Both of his assistants are also from the dorms and many of the prefects are dorm students as well. They are a great group of kids.
Here are some pictures of our week.
