How excited we were last weekend when Joe and Karli came to our island for a visit.  We picked them up at the Labasa Airport on Thursday and got to spend the next three days with them.

us with Joe at the airport

Some things we did were:  they followed us around on Friday as we did our missionary work, we went snorkeling, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall, we went to visit "The Only Survivor" - Joeli Kalougata, went to a missionary farewell on Sunday and then got to enjoy an authentic Lovo.

welcome to Savusavu!

getting ready to go snorkeling

at the waterfall

 Eating coconuts in Nabua

Karli was So happy to eat a coconut -

"The Only Survivor"  Joeli Kalougata

October 2004 Ensign Article

YOU SHOULD READ IT!!

at church on Sunday 

Lovo Food - yummy!

And then, all too soon they had to go home.  We were so sad.  But more happy because they came and spent some time with us.  IT WAS WONDERFUL to have them come all the way to Fiji to rest, relax, and visit us.  

Fiji Suva Mission Challenge part 2

On Sunday we finished the Book of Mormon reading challenge that was given to us by our Mission President.  We read the book in 60 days and marked all the references to Jesus Christ and also His words.  What an AMAZING experience that was!  We ended our reading on Sunday with a mission wide fast. 

My favorite readings were in Jacob 5 - the allegory of the  tame and wild olive trees.  What a great chapter in the Book of Mormon!  My favorite for sure!!

Since we loved reading the Book of Mormon this way, we have decided to start the New Testament and read it in 60 days. 

 

Suva Temple with Losena

A few weeks ago we took Losena to Suva to go to the Temple and to work on her Visa for her mission to Zimbabwe.  It was our first time to the Temple since we've been on our mission.  What a beautiful Temple it is.  One unique thing about the Temple is that you take your shoes off before entering the Temple doors (a very Fijian thing to do.)

(these are our friends, the Perry's - they are on a mission doing Humanitarian Aid.  

We were with them in the MTC in Provo)

More mission calls

This is SO awesome - we have gotten six mission calls over the past few weeks.  So many great young men and women are leaving Fiji and going out to serve the Lord for two years.

These first two young men are:Tevita 

(on the left) who is going to a SUPER FANTASTIC MISSION:  the FIJI SUVA MISSION!!

The young man on the right is Elia who is going to another awesome mission: 

 Micronesia, Guam.

This young man is Aisake and he is going to the same continent as Losena is.  He is going to be serving in the South Africa, Durban Mission.  

This is Sailosa - he is going to the South Africa, Durban mission also -

So, that makes three (3) going to Africa so far...

This young woman - Penina is going to the Philippeans, Quezon City North Mission -

Since we have so many going on missions we have held a MISSION PREP DAY - the past two (2) Mondays where we watch "The District" Videos and have return missionaries come and speak to them about their own missions and MTC experiences.

It is such a wonderful feeling watching these young men and young women prepare themselves to go out and put their lives on hold so they can serve a full-time mission for the Lord.  We are so impressed with their examples, their desires, and their great faith!

We know they will make great missionaries as they go forth and serve.

Color Vata

Here in Fiji it's "COOL" to wear outfits in the same pattern.  It's called "Color Vata".  You will often see groups of people having the same dresses on, same ties, etc....  

For school, the kids all wear the same outfits, right down to their shoes and hair ties for the girls.  

So, at Zone Conference we get dresses or skirts, or shirts, and ties made in the same fabric.  Can you guess why?  It's called "UNITY".  They are big on unity here on our island.  

So, I thought I would post some pictures of some Color Vata so you could get a glimpse of part of our life.

These 2 Elders won the "cleanest flat award" so, I made them both matching ties.  They live in a village called Tukavesi - its very remote and in the bush.  They have no electricity, they go barefoot alot, and sometimes they dig up food from the ground and eat that for dinner.  

But, they LOVE IT!

Elder Hunkin (L) and Elder Reese (R)

This is us and Losena at the Temple.  I made a tie for Bob so we could all match.

In this photo are HUNDREDS of women from all over Fiji.  They are all Methodists and are having a Women's Conference at the rugby arena.  

They are all wearing WHITE.  

That was quite a day - to see all those women walking around in white dresses.

Here are two ladies: they are Mother and daughter - wearing matching blue dresses!  This is Sister Vula (L) and Sister Talei (R)

Here are some people from our branch in Savusavu - they are at District Conference -

Here is a picture from Christmas - we had these red dresses and ties made for our Christmas festivities.

Christmas outfits - me and Elder Tamasese

Flowers in Church

Every week, no matter where we go to church whether it's in Savusavu or Nabua or Tukavesi or Rabi we get to see beautiful flower arrangements in the chapel.

These are always made by some member of the branch and it is always so beautiful to see what arrangements they make with the flowers they find in their own backyards.

THE FLOWERS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL HERE IN FIJI!

Awesome Baptism!

So, we had a really cool baptism in a little village called Nabua.  It was just awesome!  It was of a little 12 year old boy named Tevita.  He was baptized in the Ocean and we had to walk about 10 minutes just to get to the right place - once there, people stood all around on different rocks in the water.  

It was super cool.  

Best part was the Elder who baptized Tevita was a kid named Sailosa who is awaiting his mission call.  Can't wait to find out where he will be serving.

This is YM Meeting - pretty good place to hold a meeting, huh?