Primary and Relief Society Activities

Last weekend, the Primary and Relief Society had activities on Saturday.  We went up to Korovou to support them.  Sister McBride (MLS missionary and RS secretary) taught the sisters how to make crepes. Crepes have simple ingredients that all of the sisters can easily get.  They filled them with bananas, jams and pudding.  The sisters really enjoyed learning a new recipe and a whole new type of food.  

While the Relief Society was meeting, the Primary was outside have a Primary Birthday Party.  They played some good old fashioned games but the highlight was the slip and slide on the hill by the church.  They had a hose they squirted some tarps with water and then squirted shampoo on them.  They slid all the way to the bottom and when the teenagers came and slid, they slid all the way through the grass and to the fence.  So much fun! But the day ended with the best treat ever for Primary kids--ice dogs!  What's an ice dog?  Ice cream (chocolate in this case) in a hot dog bun!  😅😂 I was really confused for several days until I found out that they were suppose to have hot dogs and ice cream cones. When the store ran out of hot dogs, they didn't want the buns to go to waste.  So, they put the ice cream in the buns.  Cones will wait for another day! Now, that's being resourceful!

 

 

Teenage boys rolling tires-trying to knock the other's tires out!  Having so much fun.

Relay Races-had to tag the Elders

Message from the Elders.  They LOVE the missionaries.

😍😍😍

Koto

Nada

Salote

Diana

I don't know who he is.  I think he lives in the village.  He became my buddy and followed me every where I went! 💙💙

Elder Roper snuck in for a taste!

Beautiful women!  Sisters in the gospel.

Moce! (Good Bye!)

This is what happens when they discover your backup has a camera!  😂😂😂

Until next time!  Life is busy!  Life is Good!  We miss our family so much!  Thank Goodness we love the people in Fiji! 

Korovou Branch

 We absolutely love being able to serve in the Korovou Branch.  It takes us an hour to drive there but the scenery is beautiful all along the way and once we get there the people are even more beautiful.  Last Sunday I sat in on the youth Sunday School class taught by Elder Sanele and Sister Turavu, the YW President.  I was in awe at how many youth were there.  I counted about 30.  Seeing that when we first returned in April there were only about 30 in the whole congregation, 30 youth is amazing. President McBride has decided that on the first Sunday of the month the branch budget will pay for a transport to pick up members in the outlying villages.  The transport that came in was packed.  I think I heard a rough estimate of 45 people in the truck.  Not sure how accurate that number is.  I think there could have been more.  The total number in sacrament meeting was 103.  UNHEARD OF! The chapel was full back into the overflow.   Very few people that live outside of the city own cars and rely on taxi service or buses or transports (large trucks with covered beds) to get from one place to the other, which can be expensive . Thus many members and investigators are too poor to afford transportation to church. There is one man who walks 2 hours each way to attend the meetings.  That is true dedication.  Someone in the village always feeds him lunch before he returns home in the afternoon. That being said, the transport is a true blessing for these people.  

That Sunday I decided to try playing some prelude music on the keyboard in the chapel.  The keyboard is never played.  Sister Tabua, who normally leads the music, was not there that day.  Cathy Turavu, one of the young women, was leading the music for sacrament meeting.  I told her I wasn't planning on playing the piano for the meeting and she looked at me with great disappointment.  I asked her if she would like me to play and she said she did.  So I ended up playing for the meeting.  Afterwards, I had a few young people tell me that the music was "nice".  Then they asked me to teach them how to play.  After the 2 hour block, I went to the keyboard and several young people came and I taught them a few things about the keyboard and about music.  There was the gentleman that walks two hours every week (I guess I should learn his name) that also came and said he wanted to know how to play. 

                            Youth Sunday School Class.  I think it's time to divide into two groups!

                                               Jone, the young man in the front, took my phone!

I don't know why but they wanted their picture taken with me! 😅

 

We had a baptism after the meetings.  The young men and the missionaries sang a traditional Fijian song.  It was really awesome.  The Fijians love to sing and really belt out the music.

The youth are taking a temple trip next week and they all needed to fill out parent permission slips.  Sister Turavu and I were helping them fill out their forms.  

Time to load up the transport and head back home.

Teaching Piano

Junior and Jone

There are no words-Jone and Peni leading the music and Vaka....???? 😂😂😂

Elder Sanele playing the piano 💛

We followed this truck for a little while.....I felt so bad for them....they were tumbling all over!

Finished the night right here! 💖💖

                                

 

Back To Work

 After 7 days of quarantine for Covid, and 5 days of wearing a mask, we are back to our normal routines.  Covid was not a fun ride!  We were both pretty sick with fevers, cough, aches and pains, congestion and diarrhea.  Mostly we got sick of staying in our flat.  Once we got back to work, it still took us several days when we weren't completely exhausted by mid-afternoon.  There were several days, Kim just laid down on the floor in our office behind the desk and slept.  But after two weeks we are both feeling more like ourselves.

Kim started teaching the technology and computer class last week.  We have 12 teachers at the Primary School and 10 teachers at the College who are taking the class.  We are excited that so many want to improve their computer skills. We've started teaching word, then we'll teach excel,  power-point and google. Because there are so many, we're teaching 2 nights to just the College and 2 nights for just the Primary.  

                                Bera, Save, Eseta, Ruthy and Temo.  Teachers at the Primary School.

                                                                Ruthy, Temo and Kim.

                        More teachers at the Primary School.  Kala, Juliet, Matilda and Bera.

                    Teachers at the college. Ivavere, Flora, Liddy, Cliff, Peni, Qoli, Meli and Bill.

                                         Ivamere, Aliti, Oere, Flora, Liddy Cliff, Qoli and Bill.

                                                    Liddy, Cliff, Peni, Qoli, Meli, Bill, Kim.

Kim sent his drone up and took a video of the college.  Here's a couple of pictures.  Such a beautiful campus.  

         This is the dorms.  Boys in the left wing, Girls in the right wing and common area in the middle.

Kim is working on a video of the Primary School.  Here's a couple of pictures I took of the kids while he was flying his drone.

We went for a drive one day while we were still in quarantine and needed to get out.  We saw this little guy with his wheel on a stick running up and down the gravel road barefoot.  He was having the best time!

These kids had what looked like a plastic container that they had cut one side out and tied a rope on it.  He was giving his friends rides.  Oh the life of a Fijian child.  It doesn't get much better.

Sister Fafita, a former teacher at the Primary School passed away last week from cancer.  She was a wonderful lady.  I loved the display they had made of her life and the flowers were beautiful.

We generally come here when we want some good fish and chips.  We decided to try the hamburger!  OH MY!  It's a double burger with barbeque sauce and a mayo sauce.  It was HUGE and very delicious.

We decided to take our friend Soko.  We take him to Burger King after he cleans our flat. But took him here last week and he decided it's better then a whopper.  

Then he took us to where he lived as a child since it was in the same neighborhood. The roof top between us was his home and now his older brother is raising his family there. 

Last Thursday we had 2 new senior couples arrived in Suva.  Elder and Sister Jorgensen will be over housing and working in the mission office.  They are from Idaho.  Elder and Sister Thevenin will be MLS missionaries in Latoka which is on the other side of the island.  They are from North Carolina.  

 

Ropers, Pattons, Jorgensens, Walkers, Thevenins and McBrides.

Thevenins, McBrides, Jordensens and Us. Stopped for lunch after helping them get new phone services. 

 

This week the Primary School got to have covid vaccinations for students that had parent permission.  They started with the 6th Graders.  These were all very brave souls.

Waiting 15 minutes after their "jab".

The waiting and anticipation is the worse part.  One of these boys was afraid that the needle would poke his bone!

                                                                            Here's the proof!

Family Feud with the dorm students.  Fun Night!

Elder Andrew and Elder Sanele at the Korovou Branch teaching 5th Sunday.  They are super missionaries.

And last but not least...the security guard at the President's Home downtown Suva.  He does this march once an hour, I think, and we happened to be there at the right time!