A few more Firsts

We are quickly coming up on our "4-weeks in country" and we are still amazed at how many "first time" experiences we are still having. I actually think this will keep on for quite a while. The funnest first-time experience this weekend was on Saturday when I got to step on a beautiful, sandy beach in Fiji and dip my toes in the warm ocean waves. I actually got in up to my mid calf! I was thrilled! The city of Suva doesn't really have any beaches near by. It is mostly a harbor town where large container ships and Cruise ships come to port but you have to go about 60 Ks to get to the nearest beaches at a place called Pacific Harbor.

We drove there on Saturday with Dave & Becky Seare and Alice Erickson. Becky is the mission nurse, Dave is the "jack of all trades" but mostly responsible for the apartments and automobiles of the whole mission and Alice is the Mission Office secretary. We had heard of a really nice resort in Pacific Harbor called The Pearl so we decided to go there for lunch and check out the beach. It is the same drive that Paul & I did a week ago when I was practice driving so we had been that way but not the Seares. It was a wonderful outing for the 5 of us. The Pearl Resort is fabulous. We have to figure out a reason to spend a couple of nights there! But for this trip we just enjoyed a delicious lunch. They even had chips and salsa on the menu! Ah, a little touch of home! There were quite a few tourists there and it seems like they were all from Australia and New Zealand. I don't think very many North Americans get over this far. But it is definitely closer to those other 2 countries. Like Hawaii is for Americans.

Another first that we experienced this week was our first meal "at home" here in our new apartment. It was kind of a shock to my system after having eaten out for the first 3 weeks to actually have to figure out something for dinner! I'm sure you are wondering what fabulous dish I made for our memorable first meal....scrambled eggs and toast! We even came home one afternoon this week for lunch. We treated ourselves to peanut butter sandwiches and ramen noodles. Yes, we are officially missionaries!

Tonight we got to enjoy the company of a sweet, young (17 yrs old) girl that lives close by who asked if she could come over and use our internet. I think she did this quite often when the Staggs lived here. We were happy that she felt like this was something she could continue to enjoy. Her family can't afford the internet and to go to an internet cafe would cost her $2 Fijian for 1 hour ($1 US) and she said that was way too expensive for her. She is Indian and she brought us an Indian snack that her mother had made. The snack was these little chips that were sort of like tortilla chips but smaller and thicker and spicey. I quite enjoyed them. Paul is having a little trouble with the curry flavors and ua kind of trying to avoid eating much Indian cuisine. I just happened to be making chocolate chip cookies while she was here so I sent her home with our favorite "snack" for her and her family to enjoy.

We had another wonderful Sabbath day today. We went to another new ward, Nasinu 2nd. We knew it started at 8 am and we knew it was about a 20 minute drive so we were trying our best to get up, get ready and get going so we wouldn't be late.
**quick side note: we have a solar powered water heater but when it is cloudy and rainy we have to flip a switch at least 30 minutes before we want to take a shower so the water will be heated by the electrical power and then we must always remember to switch off the power because it is enormously expensive to leave it running) We didn't even have time to wait for hot water to shower before we had to leave for church because we wanted to be on time. When we found our way to the Chapel it was 8 am and we were surprised to find the gate to the property still locked and no one was there. Of course, we immediately thought we had gotten wrong info on when the meeting began but as we sat there wondering what was going on, a taxi drove up and a man and his 3 children got out and walked over and unlocked the gate and welcomed us into the car park (that's what a parking lot is called here). Then we followed them in as they went around the building and unlocked all of the class room doors and began setting up chairs and tables and distributing hymn books. By then a few more people had shown up. They pointed Paul and I to the Relief Society room and the Priesthood room and we sat down in our assigned rooms and waited as a few more people trickled in. There were about 5 sisters in RS when at about 8:15 the sister who was conducting RS showed up. She then began the meeting and after inviting someone to lead the opening song and say an opening prayer, she "invited" herself to give the lesson. By then I think there were 8 of us in attendance. The lesson was very sweet and very well presented. I love the Spirit these dear members provide in all the meetings that we have attended. After RS we went into Sunday School and enjoyed another excellent lesson. Fast and Testimony meeting began on time and it was well attended. By then there were about 60 people that had arrived and it was another delightful, spiritual experience. Things here just seem to take a little while to get going but then they always come through in the end! Everyone just says "remember, you're in Fiji" and that explains a lot!