The Korovou youth having been planning and waiting for this weekend for over a month. They've been working to get temple recommends, etc. They've asked lots of questions. What's the temple like? Will we go inside? Where will we sleep? Will I be sleeping with them? There is a "Patron Housing" building across the parking lot from the temple. This building houses the mission office, family history center and has offices for others who work for the church. The patron housing has 2 levels. One level has a large kitchen, eating area and living room area. It has 4 family rooms that sleep 6-8 with a full bath. The 2nd level has 2 dormitory rooms (one for boys and one for girls) that sleep 18 each and 2 large bathrooms with 4 showers in each. There is a large kitchen with dining and living between the 2 dormitories. This is the area we were able to reserve for the Korovou Branch. We just have a small branch. In 2019-20 when we were here before there were 35-50 who attended regularly. Lately we've been having 75-100 attending. And when the youth came to the temple to do baptisms for the dead....we had 36 young men and women! So exciting. But in reality, there were kids that I'd never met, who don't generally come. But wanted this experience. I only hope they truly felt the spirit of doing the baptisms and see the great work that they did. The kids were picked up at the Branch Chapel in Korovou and came in a transport to Suva. A transport consists of a large truck with benches on each side and a large covering. They road for 1 1/2 hours to Suva. When they got here, we showed them the area they would be staying, gave them a snack and had a short presentation on the history of the Fiji Temple. Then we took them out and walked around the temple at night. It's beautiful with all the lights. It sits on the top of a hill and you can see the ocean in the background. At night, you see the lights of the few ships that were docked off shore. They all wanted their picture taken and the boys especially seemed to be taking lots of pictures. There was just an excitement in the air, almost like Christmas. Once we came back to the housing, they all got ready for bed. We went to our flat for the night. Two moms were there with the girls and one of the Elders that had just returned home stayed with the boys as well as the Branch President. We went back early Saturday morning and fed them a breakfast of french toast and hot chocolate. We had asked if any of the other senior couples were available if they'd like to come help fix breakfast. We had more people then we could use. The kids were so excited that we couldn't keep them in...they started heading up to the temple before 7:30...our appointments were at 8:00. Then we joined them when the last ones finished. What a great experience to sit in the temple and witness these youth perform baptisms for those who died without having this opportunity. We only pray they will accept this ordinance and this service that was performed for them. Each one was baptized for 5 different people.
When the last one finished we met back together in the dormitory. We had a short message from the temple recorder and the youth were able to bear their testimonies. This was the first time for most of them to get to come to the temple. What sweet testimonies were born. They are now asking when can they come back.
We gave them a little snack and took them to meet their transport--suppose to come at 11:30. At 2:00, when no transport had come, Elder Roper and I jumped in the car and ran and got them some granola bars. These are youth who get hungry! Not sure the granola bars were sufficient, but it was something. Finally the transport came and they were able to return home! This was a weekend they will always remember. One I will not forget as well.
The group picture was taken with Kim's drone and I have yet to see one. I've seen the video--which is awesome but too long to put on the blog. Hopefully I will get a picture soon. Until then....here is a whole slug of photos. How can you just choose a few??
