Drinking Coconuts is a big deal here.  Everywhere we go, we get handed a coconut to drink.  I'm not a big fan of coconut water, but I guess it's good for you so I will drink it, and besides - I'm usually thirsty!

This was the first time I drank a coconut!

This lady was making a lot of noise that I had to go over and see what she was doing.  She was making what is called TAPA.  It's taking leaves, soaking them in water overnight, and then pounding them to make them wider.  She will then weave them into a very colorful sulu for a special occassion.

Beckys hair and Bobs underwear

SO, JUST YESTERDAY we went to an area we haven't been to before called Tabia Village.  The Elders in Nabua told us we should go there to see the people (they make up a unit that is attached to the Nabua branch).  We sent two chickens ahead with the Elders because we knew they were going to cook food for us.  We arrived around 4pm and found the small unit waiting for us at the Branch President's home.  All the children were sitting on the front porch just awaiting our arrival. 

When we arrived we went onto the porch where the children were and sat down on the ground with them.  But, Bob just has such a hard time sitting on the ground and keeping himself covered up.  The children just laughed and laughed as he was trying his best not to show his underwear.  All the people thought this was just hilarious.  The missionaries that were with us tried to show him how to sit down on the ground gracefully and modestly.  (he will need to practice a little more).

The people are so kind to us, they bring us coconuts to drink (yummy), then they bring us watermelon to eat, followed by a lunch/dinner of chicken, dalo, and banana bread.  The men (and me) all eat before any of the women or children.  This is their custom.  This is the way it is wherever we go.  And we always eat with our fingers - there are no utinsels.

Except here, they brought us a knife and spoon with our dinner.  Which was super nice AND they also brought us a wash cloth to use as a napkin - which was also SUPER nice!  You don't usually get that here - so, I appreciated that VERY much!!  Eating coconut straight from the coconut can be very messy....

So, after lunch/dinner we sat around on the mat just visiting with the women and the Branch President and the ladies were all talking in Fijian and looking at me and laughing.  I said to the Elder with us "Are they talking about me?"  And this is what he told me that they were saying:  They LOVE my blonde hair and wish that they could all dye their hair to look like mine.  But they knew it would never look like mine because their's was black and frizzy and would never look the same.
It was a pretty funny topic I guess.....

Another thing happened on our way to Nabua.  We are driving down this dirt road that is super narrow and a horse that was tied up had gotten onto the other side of the road and the rope was strung across the road making it impossible to drive unless we got the horse to move.  Since Bob was driving, I was the one that had to get the horse to move.  Here are some pictures of what this looked like:

He was a VERY stubborn horse - but I finally got him moved - and I ended up going into a ditch filled with water!  I'll not show that picture because it's just a little too embarassing!!
Anyways, things happen here in Fiji.  They just happen.....  We like to say, "ONLY IN FIJI!"

One Month Down

Well, we've been gone exactly one month today.  It has gone by super fast for us. 

• One week in the MTC
• Traveled 5,280 miles to Fiji from Salt Lake City, Utah
• Had a Zone Conference
• Watched 2 people get baptized in a river
• Had a Beautiful Fijian Christmas -
• Went to our first LOVO - (our branch Christmas party)
• Had a branch activity where we sang Christmas carols at an Orphanage
• Helped a young woman finish her mission papers & send them off to the States.  She is now awaiting her mission call!
• Bob has been working with several missionaries get their papers filled out so they can serve missions.
• We are working with three families that will be going to the Temple for the first time and taking their families to be sealed to them.

This is Navosa and Lia who got baptized on December 24th

Our Group photo at the Orphanage in Savusavu

Bob working with perspective missionaries in Tukavesi

Pictures from the LOVO:

Our Home in Savusavu

I thought we would show pictures of our home and area we live in for this post.  

So, this is a picture of our front porch.  The chair used to be in our front room, but we moved it to the porch (a better place for it).  

In Fiji, you ALWAYS take your shoes off before entering any persons home, so there are many shoes on our front porch, as you can see.

We LOVE our porch - its a great place for sitting......

This is a picture of our front room.  We have 2 small couches like this one and a chair to match.  We also have a desk and the other day we went into town and bought a TV - a store in town was having a Christmas sale - that was an adventure for sure!  It would be likened to a BLACK FRIDAY sale.  It was crazy!!  There were SO MANY PEOPLE and they had a microphone with LOUD music playing and a salesman speaking on it - You could hardly hear yourself think.  It took SO LONG to get our purchase - we were probably in that small store for almost 2 hours.  

But we ended up with the TV and with our firestick that we brought with us, we get TV (sometimes) when the internet is working well.  

Everything is a process here.  Some days we don't have internet, some days our electricity is sketchy.  We just roll with the punches.....

This is a picture of our bedroom.  It is nice.  Lots of storage.  

This is our bathroom.  Well, one of our bathrooms.  We happen to be blessed with two bathrooms. 

This is our dining room.  I bought the fabric for the tablecloth.  Its a little long so I will be using my sewing machine to fix it and make it look better.

Our Kitchen:

This is downtown Savusavu:

These are pictures we took one day on a walk - its not far from our flat.

We are really loving Savusavu and Fiji -

This is the best mission in the world!!

We love the people here who are the most friendliest and most giving people we've ever met!

We stay busy every day - sooooo much work here to do!

One week down!

Well, its been a very busy week here in Savusavu. The counselor in the mission presidency and his wife came over to our island from the neighboring island, Taveuni.  We picked them up from the boat dock and went to tour a couple of our branches.  We went to Tukavesi and Nabua.  They are both very small branches and meet under very humble circumstances.

This is the church building in Tukavesi:  it is part of a members house ~

This is the church building in Nabua ~

We went to Zone Conference this week - we had to drive 1 1/2 hours to Labasa where the conference was held.  It was a Christmas theme so each district did a cultural dance and sang songs. 

 It was very cool - very fun day ~

 This is the BEST district:  The TUKAVESI district - These are the Elders we work directly with :)

We are really enjoying our time here in Savusavu - The people are wonderful and there is much work to be done ~  In fact, they are looking for more missionary couples to serve in the FIJI SUVA MISSION.   

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles!

 After an 11-hour flight and a 5 hour layover in Los Angeles, we finally made it to FIJI!!  Oh Happy Day!!  

Then we had another 5 hour layover in Nadi before flying over to Suva where the Mission Home is.

Finally got there around 2pm in the afternoon.  

Had a Great day at the mission home - learning a bunch and meeting lots of Missionaries who were there for a Leader Conference.

We got to have dinner with the Mission President and his wife tonight and then we spent the night at the Mission home -

The next morning we drove 2 hours to the Ferry and got to take a 4 hour boat ride over to our Island (Vanua Levu) - We also took our truck with us so we had something to drive once we got there.

After arriving on our Island, we still had to drive to Labasa - a very long drive so the zone leaders could get their truck.

Then, the final stretch - we were finally on our way to Savusavu and arrived there on Thursday around 6pm.  We got there before dark, but it poured rain on us most of the drive.

We arrived to our home in a small town next to Savusavu called Neqere.  

 This was our small plane that we took from Nadi to Suva - There were only 5 rows and we were the first row - we watched the pilot fly the plane!

One of the smallest luggage conveyor belts I have ever seen.  Needless to say, we didn't have to wait long for our luggage to arrive.

Last day of MTC

This is a picture of our District at the MTC - The couple on the left are also going to Fiji as Humanitarian Aid Missionaries.  They have another week at the MTC for training and then they will also be off to FIJI.

This is a group of missionaries that we found on our last day at the MTC - they all just got there and are going to be serving in FIJI also.  But they don't leave until the second week of January.

When at the MTC, you just have to drink the CHOCOLATE MILK!!

************************************

MTC was a great place for training.  We learned so much and appreciate our teachers who were awesome!  Such a great place for training.  We will be off to FIJI soon!!