Sunday afternoon drive

One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday afternoon is to go for a drive. So after having spent 5 hours at Church attending 2 different wards, eating leftover Chinese food and having an hour nap, we decided to head out on an afternoon driving adventure. The traffic over here is just nuts and intense during the week but on Sundays there is hardly anyone out and about. The perfect time for us newbies to go and get the lay of the land without the constant fear of danger around every corner.

We had been told of a really pretty valley not too far away that we should check out. It is called Wailoku or Green Valley. It totally lived up to it's name. Everything here is just so lush and thick with trees, bush, vines, flowers. We road winds down a very steep decline...thank goodness it doesn't snow here because you'd never make it out of that valley in the winter! The road was paved until we reached the bottom and then it was a very, very bumpy, rocky dirt road. The roads here are soooooo narrow. Even the main roads through Suva have such narrow lanes. The cars are really small and still it is a tight fit to squeeze past the oncoming cars.

We knew there was a chapel for our church down in this valley and sure enough, there it was right over the first bridge! It is a unique design. We recognized it from the model at the Standards night on Friday. It is in the post below with the Sabbath Day Observance theme. It is the only 2 story chapel around here. We stopped by to take pictures and visited the missionaries that are working in this area. What great young men they are! One of the Elders is waiting to travel out to his new assigned area. He will travel by boat but there is not a regular schedule for when the boat goes to this waaaaaaaaaay remote island so he has to call every day to see if it is leaving yet. He thinks it will be a few more weeks before it leaves. It will be a 2 1/2 DAY boat ride! Thanks goodness, we will always get to fly to our assignments!

After we left the Church we drive around the bumpy roads for about 45 minutes just seeing what life is like in this remote village. There were lots of people walking on the roads and in their yards and the Fijian people are extremely friendly. Every one waves hello and greets you with "Bula". I think we white-faced foreigners are a sight to behold. They actually refer to us as polangies which means white face. It is a term of endearment not of disrespect.

I loved this pig pen that we came across. It was just sitting just off the road. Paul stopped so I could take a photo and just then the pigs started going wild... squealing and honking and I wondered if I'd scared them some how but as I turned around to go back to the car I saw the farmer coming with buckets of feed and the pigs were just getting excited for lunch!

All in all it was a really enjoyable, authentic lifestyle experience. They really don't need much to make them happy. Basically just a roof and some walls and some paint. Lots of the homes are very colorful!

When we got back to the Temple patron housing which is where we are still living (for another week), we were talking to a young man who works here at the security gate and he told us he lives in Wailoku village. We asked him how he gets back and forth from there. Most of the Fijians don't have cars. He said he just walks. We were so shocked and asked how long it took him to walk one way. He said it only takes about 45 minutes and he loves the walk because it gives him time to think and plan. You can't believe how knarly that hill in and out of that valley is. I'm still amazed that he does that at least twice a day!

Tonight was a momentous occasion for us. We conducted our first training meeting with the Bishops of the Suva Stake. We are implementing a new way to handle disbursements of fast offering funds. We are meeting so many new people and trying to remember very unfamiliar names and faces but we are finding that everyone is anxious to help us out by spelling their names and pronouncing them multiple times. Paul is doing lots better than me and remembering them. I'm sticking with Brother and Sister mostly for the time being. We have even planned our first outing to another island for the first part of September so that will be a great experience. There are about 6 or 7 families here where we are staying that have come over from various islands this week for Temple work. It is great to meet them and know that we will get to go over to their home territories before too long. What fabulous people! As you can tell, we are just so happy here. What a blessing to be serving in Fiji!