Welcome to our World

Paul & I have just passed the 3-month-point of our mission. I am constantly amazed how fast time is flying by. We feel quite comfortable and settled in by now and are realizing that things that seemed so foreign to us just a short few weeks ago seem almost normal now (i.e. the left-side of the road driving). I thought you'd might be interested to see some uniquely Fijian aspects of our daily life.
The photo above shows our water filter system (the 3 white cylinders) and our "hot water heater". We have been instructed not to drink the tap water. But in each missionary flat the Church has provided us with these unique filters systems. We keep our toothbrushes here next to the kitchen sink so we can use the filtered water. We don't have any hot water except in our shower so we use this pot that is sitting in the sink

One of my favorite TV shows at home was "The Biggest Loser" and guess what, I am actually playing that game over here -- which I am not excited about at all. The office where we work came up with this project and included us on one of the teams. I'm not sure if I should be offended or happy that they included us. It is a 3 month experiment and it began in Oct and will end sometime in December. I committed to losing 1K (2.5 lbs) which I think I have actually gained instead...which is information I am not interested in knowing!

Fiji is quite humid and salt does not do well in storage. I have noticed that if any restaurant serves salt it is either in a small packet or in an open dish like the photo above. It does not do well in a salt shaker even if you add rice to absorb the moisture. Just one of those things you live with.

Thank goodness for modern technology! It makes life liveable over here. Have you heard of the handy little device called "Magic Jack"? Heidi & Eric discovered this fabulous gadget when they were living in China. You pay a small amount to purchase the device and receive a US phone number. We just plug in our landline telephone in one end of the Magic Jack and plug the other USP plug into the computer and we immediately get a dial tone and can make a "local" call to anywhere in the US for free. We video Skype also but sometimes it is more convenient to just pick up the phone and have a regular conversation. It has saved our sanity more than once!

Here is our soup bar. We love this place! We discovered it in the back of our local grocery store and we probably take away soup for dinner at least once a week. There are about 10 different soups to choose from and they take your order and have your soup ready in about 10 minutes.

Our favorites are won ton soup and sweet corn chicken! It costs us $2.50 to feed both of us!

Grocery shopping is always an adventures. It is always interesting to see what is available over here and what they just don't carry. This was a unique way to purchase frozen veggies. You just scoop up how much you want, put it in the plastic bag that is provided and you are good to go!

The flowers over here are stunning and so unique. I love to see the beautiful arrangements that are created using these colorful tropical blossoms and leaves. Most of the flower arrangements hold up for quite some time, like over a week. These are some of the arrangements that are on display in the reception area of the Temple Patron housing.

Here is our local butcher shop. This is called Walley's and they sell the best meats around. They sell mostly lamb, chicken and pig heads. I mostly stick with minced beef (hamberger).

Oh, and they do eat a lot of FISH! Here is a young boy that stands out in front of his house in our neighborhood and sells what his father catchs that day. My grandkids had a lemonade stand in their neighborhood but over here, there are produce stands and fresh fish for sale.

Here is the Deacons Quorum one Sunday a couple of weeks ago. Paul was very impressed with how well put together these young men looked that day. Sulu's are the style of choice. All the males from toddlers to businessmen wear this apparel everyday. They look very handsome. Paul has bought a sulu but he has yet to wear it. They don't really look as good on "white" legs.

Rugby is the sport of choice! Everyone plays rugby -- rain or shine! And since it always rains here, that does not even matter. The mud just makes it more fun.

Here are the local shoe shine boys. They sit in the same spot every day in downtown Suva next to the high rise office buildings and wait for anyone not wearing flip flops to come by and then they put on the pressure for shining your shoes. They actually do a really nice job and it costs about $1.

And if you have shoes that needs any repairs, here is the place to go and have the repairs made while you wait. I think people here tend to repair instead of replace their shoes and boots. These repairmen are constantly busy.

Here is our local car wash. I think this was our first and only time we have had the car washed since we arrived bacause it seems pointless when it rains so much. But somebody must be washing their cars alot since most all the car wash places are open 24 hours. These 4 men did a super good job and it only cost us about $4.

There was even an oil change bay here....

Suva is all about traffic round abouts! We have learned to appreciate them and how they keep the traffic moving. There are very few stop lights around town. The round abouts were quite intimidating when we first got here. We couldn't quite figure out which way to look and who had the right of way but now we know to just look to our right and if no one is coming we are good to go...the faster the better!

Before we came on our mission we had heard from many friends that they had never worked so hard as while on their mission. We have been finding this to be very accurate information. Sometimes we just have to take a quick break and then we are good to carry on....
and Paul thought he had retired from working at a desk!
Don't let me fool you, life in Fiji is fantastic! We wouldn't want to be any where else right now!