Roper Fijian Crusades: 2023-01-08

I realize we have now been home almost 4 weeks. Wow how time flies. But I still wanted to make one last and final post. We absolutely loved our time in Fiji. We loved working with the students at the schools. We loved helping the teachers at the schools and teaching them and learning from them. We loved serving in the Korovou Branch. We loved mingling with the other senior couples who were serving missions in Fiji. There really isn't much that we didn't love.

Elder Roper had a few ties he had been saving for the last. Two of the dorm boys, Wilkenly and Joseph had both asked him for a tie and Kim waiting until the end to finally give them the ties the wanted. A few other young men came into the office and also chose one last tie. Kim absolutely loved giving his ties away. It did his heart good.

Kenly wanted this tie that Kim wore the first day of every month because it listed all 12 months.

Joseph has been eyeing this tie ever since the 4th of July. He loves this tie.

Culwick wanted this jelly belly tie. He also has an M&M Peanuts tie.

Paskell and Atelifo chose these ties.

Lorenzo and Jopeth chose Christmas ties.

This was our very last class of teaching these great teachers. They presented us with these fans and gave us a very nice tribute. We love love love thee people. L to R back row: Bill, Una, Kelesi, Oere, Peniette, Meli. L to R front row: Ivamere, Rhonda, Kim, Temo.

The Primary school had a Christmas party we were invited to. They did a gift exchange and then each department (2 grade levels) performed a little song or dance. It was so cute. Then we ate delicious food and then they honored us and we said our goodbyes to each of them. The Primary School has been my favorite place to spend my time, but this year we had so many things going on at the college we didn't get to spend nearly enough time at the Primary School. Love them non the less.

The year 1 and year 2 teachers: Ruci, Temo, Eseta and Josiah

Gift exchanges: Temo and Ruci--they're just like sisters, always teasing each other.

Temo's gift to Brother Batisarisari (Save).

Meisi's gift to one of the physical facilities men.

Sister Lord giving her gift to Sister Sighn.

Meisi Talimatoga, the principal. We love her. She is a character!

The 5th and 6th year team along with Meisi performing a dance. Tina, Save, Api and Meisi. Save is dressed as a woman....the one in the front.

5th & 6th grade team: Api, Save and Tina

The Office Team. Panapasa (the tall man, is the new assistant principal. He taught accounting at the College. He was a great pick) Next to him is Meisi then Sister Lord who is a substitute teacher and Sister Tapele, the secretary. The men on the far left and right are physical facilities men and I don't know their names.

I can't remember the first lady's name, she is a substitute, then Sister Charan, the librarian, Sister Sinhg, Kindergarten, Tima, 5th grade and Tima, Remedial Teacher.

A little dance from the First and Second Year Team. Eseta, Ruci, Temo and Josiah.

5th & 6th Grade Team with Meisi. We all laughed pretty hard as Save came out dressed as a woman. Then one of the other teachers popped his balloons. These teachers know how to have a good time.

At the very end they had us come up front and they all sang the traditional farewell song, Isa Lei. Because we knew we had a couple of weeks still before we left, we were mostly able to control our emotions. It was tough though.

This is just the first verse of the song.

The last Sunday in Korovou, Kim and I both spoke in sacrament meeting. My talk centered mostly on the birth of Jesus Christ and because of this one miraculous event, we went/came to Fiji to serve the island people. Kim spoke about our time in Fiji and the love we gained for these good people. His talk was perfect. I wish I had a copy of it. After Sacrament Meeting, I taught Young Women's. Then I gave away the majority of my clothes and jewelry. We drew names out of the hat and each girl went home with 3 items. It was fun to give my things away to these youth who have very little. There was a good group there, but there were 2 girls in particular that I noticed were absent and I wished so much that I could have given them something and said goodbye. Salote and Meraia.

Young Women

I love Sister Tabua. Every Sunday she would give me a big hug and a deep sniff--smelling me deeply.

We took a gift to the Turavu Family, a framed picture of their family when they were sealed at the temple.

One last visit to the Turavu's pig.

That night we had our last activity with the dorm students. My main thing that I wanted to happen was to get lots of pictures...of everyone. Unfortunately it didn't happen. We took Elder and Sister Walker with us that night. I started by taking pictures of the girls and then got called out by Selai who is the girls dorm mom. She had a nativity for us that she had made. She wasn't sure if we would like it. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! By the time I got back, Kim had started a bubble gum blowing contest. We were surprised at the hesitation of many to participate-especially the boys. But those that did had a great time. There were lots of laughs. We gave our appreciation to them for their love and friendship. Then we took a group picture and hug and cried and went home. It was a hard night.

Annie & Elin

Gloria, Tina and Katiella

Hanoa with Jennifer, Tina and Maikep behind

Maikep, Mazina, and Christine

Delia, Paruru and Tanja

Marie, Angie, Melissa and Leah

The nativity that Selai made for us. How could I not love that!!! Beautiful.

Frida, Katiella, Hanoa, Marie (with the good bubble) and Aiavuna

Jopeth

Ashton, Lockland, Joseph with the winning bubble in that round.

Katiella pops a bubble right in her face!

Pauline has a good practice run!

We love these kids so much! We are hopeful to see some of them as they come into the Provo MTC before serving missions. Many will be going to MTC in other countries. We are always thrilled when we hear they'll come to Provo. Can't wait to see them here.

The next day was Monday. Monday mornings at 8:00 there is always a faculty meeting that we always attend. This Monday was different. Graduation had been on Saturday so school was out of session, but there was still a meeting. The meeting turned out to be a time to give honor to one of the teachers, Brother Solomone, who was leaving to be the Principal at the church college in Kirabati, and us.

Oere and Qoli, two of our teachers we've worked with. We love them.

Brother Solomone

A few kind words.....

They had us say a few words....words can't express our gratitude we hold for being able to serve such wonderful people. We miss them greatly.

Then we all sang, "God Be with You, til we Meet Again". That was really tough!

Then lots and lots of pictures and SO MANY tears!

Lena and I got close the last 3 months as we worked together to help some of the students in their reading. She's going to take over next school year. She'll be great.

Livia always would come in our office when she was in need of "medicine", her chocolate fix. We worked with Kara since 2019. She got married Dec. 30 and we were SO sad we couldn't be there! She's the teacher that we saw the greatest improvement in. She had a change of heart and became a new teacher.

Oere, the "class pet and the favorite student", always kept our classes light and fun.

Yaco / Qoli, whichever we want to call her. We love you Qoli!

That was Monday the 12th. We didn't fly home until Sunday the 18th. We had our office to clean and pack up and pack up our apartment. We saw several through the week and each time it was another goodbye! So many tears. So much sadness. And why? Because of LOVE. Fiji you changed us and made us better people. You taught us to love and to look at people's hearts. You taught us what it's like to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and we will never forget! Thank you!

Randy

Turning over my files to the Primary Teachers.

Soko, our last lunch at Burger King. I could write a whole big post just on Soko, who is now at BYU-H. We're so proud of him.

Randy and Gloria

Gloria

Tina and Ruci at the Primary School.

Eseta gave Kim this hand woven tie!

Tina, Eseta and Ruci

Panapasa, the new assistant principal at the Primary School. Such a good hire! They don't get any better.

Sister Tapele, secretary at the primary school.

Juliette, 4th grade teacher. She can always make me laugh!

Soko

Save, 6th Grade Teacher. Such a kind, gentle, loving man.

3 dorm girls...Nathalie, Paruru and Annie

Bill and Livia

Bill was one of our ITEP teachers. He's only been teaching 2 years and does a fabulous job.

Rosa was the copier queen. Whenever it wasn't working, she knew how to fix it! Love Rosa.

This sister was one of the best missionaries. She's from Lehi, so maybe our paths will meet again one day.

Sister Hinkson and Sister Hatch.

The middle missionary, Jio, was in the dorms 2020. He's a great missionary.

Jeroline and he little brother. Her family came to her graduation. She was in the dorms.

Jioviti was a super missionary also. She also was in the dorms in 2020. Love her!

Our last day at the office. Walking out to the car park with Kim taking home his pillow used for naps on the floor behind our desk.

The sign at the top of the stairs. Good thing the school year is over and a new theme comes in January. This sign has had it! Great theme that I learned so much truth from this year! Trust in the Lord!

Jio again and his 2 companions. Ran into them down by the bus station downtown Suva.

Sister Mildenhall and Sister Call had us over for dinner 2 nights before we left. These two sisters were amazing. So proud of their ability to get out of their comfort zones. This is the view from their front door. It doesn't get much better than that.