We had District Conference in the Korovou District on Sunday the 14th. One of the branches in our district is located on another island. They had to take a ferry across very early that morning and then they returned later in the day. We met the branch president from Lavuka, Ovalou in 2019. He has a hand shake you never forget. When he shakes your hand, you want to scream, "Uncle!" And his smile is bigger than his face can hold. What a wonderful man. I'm sure his ward was exhausted by the time they returned home that night, but I know they were more than happy to make the journey.
After conference, curry chicken with rice was provided for everyone. Then Sister McBride pulled out her crocheting and everyone was mesmerized. This was something they knew nothing about. Sister McBride decided then and there that she would be teaching anyone who was interested to crochet.
Fiji's National Women's Rugby team came to the Church College. Everyone was so excited. They won a bronze at the last Olympics and just recently they won Gold in Australia and the Regional Competition. Fiji is so proud of this team that they have put them on the $7 bill.
The Kiribati missionaries were assigned to teach their Pathways Zoom meeting last week. They wanted to do a power point but didn't know how to make one. We met them at the Primary School and Elder Roper gave them a 2 hour lesson on power point. They really picked it up quickly. Then we took them to our flat and had lunch. We taught them how to make orange rolls. We had a great time and the Elders left very happy with their pan of orange rolls. We joined their zoom class Thursday night to see how they did. We were very impressed and I know they were proud of themselves. We were only on the zoom meeting for about 15 minutes. Sister Swan, in charge of their group, messaged me and asked who I was since I wasn't registered for the class. But before I could finish my reply she kicked me out of the class.
Two new couples joined us. Elder and Sister McBride from Fort Collins, Colorado and Elder and Sister Baldwin from the Logan, Utah area. We took them out to our favorite beach. The only other person on the beach was this young man. He was so excited to stop and talk with us. Elder and Sister McBride are MLS missionaries assigned to the Korovou Branch where we attend. It's going to be fun to have another couple with us. Elder and Sister Baldwin left 2 days later and took a ferry to the north island, Vanua Levu. They will be living in Savusavu and are also MLS (member leader support) missionaries.
We finally were invited to return to the dorm students for a Sunday evening activity. We were so excited to be there and I believe the kids were just as excited to have us back. They asked us to come twice a month on Sunday evenings. Which means we'll have to be careful not to get them too riled up. These are 2 new students that wanted to take our pictures with them. I'm not sure of their names, maybe Edwin and Pascal. I've got to work on that.
This is Randy. He was here in 2020. He was excited for us and also asked to have his picture with us.
We see Hubert on campus almost daily. He is full of life and was always one to get things rolling and always there to help us when we were here before.
Wilkenly is the head boy for the school. We had him conduct the meeting. He is an amazing young man.
We showed pictures of the activities we did in 2020. We were pretty confident they would love seeing the pictures but we didn't expect them to go as crazy as they did. The laughter and screaming was so loud that at times my ears hurt. Oh we love these kids!
I wish I had taken a video to show how excited they were. After viewing the past photos we did a Who am I? activity to see how well they knew each other. We put up 4 clues of each former student. EVERY time they knew who the student was. They have been living together for almost 2 1/2 years and they are truly family. There are 17 new students that came only a month ago. It won't be long before they are known as well as the former students.
Coming on Tuesday, we have another senior couple joining us. We all came together and cleaned their apartment. They will be living right next door to us. No one has lived in this apartment for 2 years. It was pretty dirty but with lots of working hands we had the whole place sparkling in a couple of hours. Dave and Wendy Patton will be working with us at the College and Primary School. We are super excited to get them here. Now to get their hot water working. We've been pestering the landlord for over 2 weeks.
Funny Story! On Friday, May 20, I saw that Elder Iebenoka had a birthday. We went to a cake shop and bought him a cake. They even wrote Happy Birthday on it. It was raining really hard when we got to their flat so we sat in the car for awhile hoping it would lighten up. It wasn't getting any better so soon, Elder Iebenoka, on the right, and Elder Taabe came out to the car with an umbrella. We told Elder Iebenoka happy birthday. He looked at us with a bit of a puzzle. I said, "You are Elder Iebenoka?" He said yes and then said, "Is it my birthday today?" WHAT? You don't know. He was very confused and we were very confused. He thinks his birthday is October 1 but he's not sure. He thinks that's what is says on his passport. We talked for awhile through the window and decided to go ahead and go inside. I jumped out of the car, got the cake out of the back while the Elders held an umbrella for me. We went in. Talked a bit and then left. As we drove down the road I realized I didn't have my phone. I knew I had had it outside of the Elder's flat because I had called them. So we went back to see if it was in their flat. They came back out to see what we needed. Then went back to see if it was in there. NO phone. Then they looked in the gutter, which had a river of water running down it. AND there was my phone. I must have had it on my lap when I got out of the car and it fell to the ground. It seemed to be working so we turned it off. Took it home. Did several things as advised on-line but as of today....it is not working. It will not turn back on. I'm just sick!!! Tomorrow is a busy day with class room observations, gas company coming to fix our stove and the neighbor's water heater. I don't know when we'll be able to go look for a new phone.
After church today, May 21, Sister McBride taught some of the sisters how to crochet. They were all so excited.
Love our Korovou Branch.
