Never a Dull Moment

 There's one thing for certain, our business hasn't slowed down.  On May 31, I started teaching a literacy class for the teachers. I opened it up for anyone who wanted a refresher. I have 16 who signed up and 7 of those 16 are teachers that are required to take the course.  I was so nervous the first class, not sure I knew the material well enough but the class went great.  The teachers had lots of questions and were very engaged.  I only got through half of what I had prepared. Each week since, it's been the same thing, only getting through half of my lesson.  Which makes it nice because then I have a lesson for the following class.  I try to keep working ahead but I find that I spend more time on what I had already prepared and making it better. There is so much in "literacy" that it makes it a bit hard.  But the teachers are learning and they are trying to implement the things they learn--even the college teachers.  I'm really proud of their willingness to adjust the information to fit their needs. 

We have continued to work with the stranded Kiribati missionaries.  Early in June we had the two sister missionaries over for dinner and made cookies afterwards.  They enjoyed making the cookies, a task they had never done before.  Since then they have completed their first course in pathways and both succeed with excellent grades.  The elders from Kiribati have also finished their first course.  Four out of the five did excellent.  One had a poor grade, so I don't know what happens after that.

                                                        Sister Auria and Sister Barekiau

On Saturday this week all 7 of our Kiribati missionaries finally got a flight to take them home.  We went by to say goodbye.  We really love this great missionaries.  But it was time, they have served valiantly for way longer then most missionaries.  Elder Bouta served just short of 4 years.  

And they are off!  I know they had mixed emotions.  They wanted to stay so they could finish their pathways and then go to BYUH.  Pres. Markus talked to them about how they can still make it to BYU.  So the goal is to continue to help them from a distance and encourage them to finish their pathways in Kiribati.  We pray that they'll eventually make it to BYUH.  We sure love these 7 faithful young people!

A couple of Saturdays ago, we went up to our Korovou Branch to clean the building.  The Turavu family met us there.  On our way, Jerry Turavu called and asked if we had jumper wires.  Well, actually no and not even jumper cables.  When we got to his home he was standing out front.  We stopped and he had found the wires he needed.  We proceeded to help him start his car with a dead battery with 2 wires. That was an experience!  But it worked!  

After getting his car going, we proceeded to the chapel.  Jerry is a taxi driver in Suva so he left to make his daily income.  His family was already at the church.  We quickly got to work and with the Turavu families help we were able to clean out the library, the clerk's office and clean the rest of the building.  What a great service this family gave. 

Enjoying ice cream bars when all finished! Cathy, Sophie, Jorge, Johnny and Laisa.  Johnny is a boy from the village that come to help.

More ice cream.  Niore also came to help.  Elder Roper, Koto, Sister Emma Turavu and Grace. 

Salote drew me a picture.

I teased Laisa that she was queen sitting on her thrown.  She got big laugh out of that.  Just this week she had her last interview with Fiji Airlines.  She is their newest hire as a flight attendant.  She's very talented and will be a great flight attendant.  Her training starts this week in Nadi.  We will miss her but not as much as her family. 

A couple of weeks ago we started helping the dorm students in the evenings with their homework.  We go in on Monday and Wednesdays while Elder and Sister Patton goes in on Tuesday and Thursday. The first night, Kim and I helped Smith and Lockey write poems.  Now that was an experience.  We have helped with writing research papers and with doing math.  Sometimes I feel like they are way smarter than we are.  But it's been good to stretch our minds and learn some new things ourselves.

Smith

Lockey

We've also been doing an activity with the dorm students on Sunday evenings.  We go every other week.  We've played getting to know you with the students who have been there the past 2 1/2 years.  They know each other very well.  They had to guess who the person was with the clues presented.  Most of them knew the person from the very first clue.  A couple of week later we did the same with the students that came in April.  They didn't know them as well but they were able to guess who each one was.  Pretty impressive.  But they do live with each other 24-7.  We played apples to apples one night.  They loved that and it was great way to learn some new vocabulary words.  Last week we had some mind puzzles they had to figure out in groups of 4.  This one was a challenge.  We didn't get through all of them.  One girl, Annie, couldn't sleep that night without figuring out the rest.  She came to our office on Monday to see if she had gotten them right.  She had to redo a couple of them, but overall she did really well.  

 Apples to Apples

Angie and Daniel are brother and sister.  Thought this was pretty cute that they ended up being on the same team!

Mind Puzzles!  We love working with the dorm students.  They're the best.

June 9 was our 44th anniversary.  It was a Thursday, so we decided on Friday to take off and go to a resort.  We went to the Warwick which is about an hour and a half west of Suva.  It's along the coral coast.  The water was crystal clear.  The weather was a bit cool but still able to get in and swim.  We also kayaked around a bit.  We were going to snorkel Saturday morning but the tide was LOW and it wasn't possible to snorkel.  I was a bit disappointed but we saw some beautiful coral and fish while kayaking the day before.  We had a VERY delicious meal at the Wicked Walu Restaurant.  We met a fun couple of ladies from Australia.  When one of them found out we were members of the church, "mormons" she asked me which wife I was!  Man!  After all these years of not having polygamy it's still thought to happen.  I explained that I was the one and only and would always be the one and only. 

 

I was teaching my class the night of our anniversary so we treated them all with cake!

 

The lobby of the Warwick.  I loved this mural that went all the way across the room.

Lighting of the torches along the beach.  This little guy behind him got to help.  He'll remember that the rest of his life. 

At the restaurant.

This was my dish.  Lobster tail, mussels, shrimp...I don't remember what all but it was delicious. Best lobster I have EVER had. 

 

 

 

We were invited to go with a couple of classes on a field trip to the Federal Reserve Bank of Fiji.  It was quite interesting.  Afterwards they had refreshments and took us out on their balcony overlooking the city.  It's a 11 story building, which right now might be their tallest.  The view was spectacular.  Oere invited us.  She is the economic teacher and is one of our ITEP students.  She is fabulous.

This hasn't covered everything that's happened in the last 2 weeks but it's covered enough for now.  I'll try to get more posted soon.  Serving the people in Fiji is truly a blessing.  I feel so fortunate to be here.  I know God lives and loves these people.  They are definitely a choice group.  My testimony of Jesus Christ grows continually.  He is our Savior.  He sacrificed ALL for each of us.  I am eternally grateful.

 

 

Korovou Branch

 We love our Korovou Branch.  It sets up on a hill overlooking the area.  It's the same branch we attended in 2019-2020.  Next door is a little village, Davetalevu.  Here's a few pictures from the village:

 

I loved this home.  They've planted lots of gorgeous foliage all around.

Sister Tabua was showing us around.  This is their water storage. 

This is an old well.  They have a newer one off to the side but is in need of some repairs.  They are hoping that church charities will be able to help them with some needs with the water system and their dispensary.

Here are a few of the branch members.

These three families are from a different village that is fairly far from the church.  Korovou Chapel sits up on a hill overlooking the area.  It is beautiful.  Their village requires them to travel down to the main road and then turn and drive up the dirt road up to the church.  It is too far to walk and they don't own cars.  They have to hire someone to drive them.  They all come in one pick-up and it costs about $20.  This is an amount that they can't afford every week. I'm grateful for their dedication in joining us when they can.  They are beautiful people and the children are so sweet.  

Neori comes every week to church so he can pass the sacrament. He is a dedicated and responsible young man. Elder Roper has been distributing ties to the men, one each week. Neori was the recipient a couple of weeks ago. He has worn it every week since. Sometimes his mother joins him and sometimes he comes alone. I'm really proud of Neori. 

The Taukei children are stalwarts in the branch.  The 4 children in the next picture are their cousins.  They have been in the branch for some time but recently have moved into the village right next door, so no more long commutes to church.  Their parents had already gone home but I still wanted to get their pictures.  We'll have to get parents later.

These 4 children never miss a week.  Salote didn't want her picture taken but reluctantly came in.  We love seeing these 4 smiling faces each week--even though you didn't get to see all of their beautiful smiles.

Diana and her mother, Nia Tagidugu, actually live in Suva.  Nia was raised in the branch and we always love it when they come and join us.  Diana goes to the LDS Primary School so we get to see her often.

This is the Turavu Family.  They're the cream of the crop.  Emma is the YW's president and Jerry is the 1st counselor in the branch presidency.  Thier oldest daughter, Laisa, graduated from LDS Church College in March.  Cathy is year 11 at the college. Their 7 children are all adorable.  We love this family. 

Look at that happy smile.  Akuila's grandfather was a prominent member of the village.  He was the temple president a right before we came to Fiji in 2019.  His wife passed away just after he was released and he passed away while we were home in 2021.  Akuila lives in his grandfather's home with his mother and brother.  He is also Nai's nephew and Diana's cousin who were pictured previously. 

Sikeli and Lavenia are happy to come in quietly and sit in the back and soak in everything. But they also join in when they have something they want to say.

I simply love Sister Turagarua.  After taking her picture I had her write her name down for me.  Her first name is Iowana.  Even though it looks like Iowa-na, it's not pronounced that way.  I showed her how her name says Iowa and that I graduated from high school in Iowa.  I told her that must be why I she's my kindred spirit because of her name.  Haha!  Love this cute family even though I can't tell her twin girls apart.  That's my goal to remember which one is Una and which one is Tema. 

Shirley and her girls are as faithful as they come.  Her husband isn't a member so it was a treat to have him join us.  He says he wants to come more often.  The little one is her sister's daughter.  She brings her to church with them every week.  Shirley teaches seminary, which is quite a challenge since everyone is quite spread out and no one has a car.  

I don't know this young man's name but I believe he is Akuila's brother which makes him Pres. Tagidugu's grandson.

We have both been given opportunities to serve in the branch.  Kim has been called to be the branch clerk. On Saturday we will be going to the church and will meet the Turavu family and we plan to go through the clerk's office and the library and try to get them organized.  It's been awhile since that has happened, so it may take a good portion of the day. It'll be great to spend the morning with the Turavu's.  Pres. McBride and Sister McBride will join us at some point.  They have some visits to make in some of the nearby villages before they can come.  Elder McBride was called to serve as the Branch President.  He and Sister McBride are MLS missionaries serving from Fort Collins, Colorado.  They are a perfect fit for Korovou.  

The McBrides are on the left.  This is when they arrived with Elder and Sister Baldwin early in May.  The Baldwins are also MLS missionaries. They are serving in Savusavu on the north island.  I've been impressed with their bravery.  They took the ferry with their truck only 7 days after arriving.  They are over on the other island all on their own.  But we talked to them yesterday and they are loving it and doing great.  

We love our branch and look forward to attending with them each Sunday. There have been no missionaries in the branch since covid.  Pres. McBride was able to get into their little cottage and soon we will be getting it ready for new missionaries.  In two weeks the mission will receive it's first set of foreign missionaries since 2020.  Pres. Markus is very excited.  Right now the mission is down to about 45 missionaries.  He hopes to have it up to capacity within a few months.  It's going to take some time, but he's ready to go!

I Love Fiji!

 

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.