Out and about on Vanua Levu

Last month Paul & I took a trip to the 2nd largest island of Fiji called Vanua Levu. We have been to this island 2 other times but we had always stayed in Labasa and then driven across the island (about a 2 hour drive) to meet with the priesthood leaders. This time we decided to fly into Savusavu and we would drive out to the remote villages and meet with these leaders in their "neck of the woods". Labasa is considered the drier side of the island and it is mostly sugar cane plantations. Savusavu is considered the "tourist" destination with most people coming for scuba diving and sailing. Here is the view from the balcony of our hotel overlooking the bay.
We enjoyed watching a good variety of sailing vessels coming and going. But this trip did not include any water transportation...

... oh no, we rented a 4-wheel, stick-shift, 5 passenger truck to get us down the rocky, bumpy, dusty roads. We figure we spent about a total of 10 hours in 2 days rocking and rolling our way to Tukavesi, Tacilevu and Nabua. About 180 k the first day and 60 k the second day.
Here is what the road looks like. There is not a lot of traffic but huge, city-type buses travel along these roads to transport the villagers into Savusavu so it is well used.
There is a large coconut drying business (copra, I think it is called) run in this area so there are lots of people cutting coconuts along the road. That large bush knife the man is holding is a very common and well used tool that everyone carries.

This man had gathered up his coconuts and was headed somewhere to sell them. I love the "bridle".

Here is the roadside convenience shop. People have these stands along the roadside and in front of their homes so they can sell and provide snacks and food for people passing by either on food, in vehicles or by bus. When we stopped for the photo opt, the mom and her baby raised up from where they were laying around waiting for any customer.

It is always so fun to be out in "the middle of no where" and turn a corner and come upon one of our chapels. One thing that I have noticed almost everywhere we have gone is our Church buildings are always located on a really lovely piece of property and very well groomed and maintained. This is the Tacilevu Chapel.
And below is the inside of this building. Sister Kumar, the District auditor that came with us on our adventure is standing next to me.

And just a short 50 yards above the chapel is this building which is the missionaries home. Here is the outside...

... and here is the inside. Looks really nice, doesn't it! Clean and organized... and they didn't even know we were coming. Elder Cegaudru (pronounced: thing-in-drow) and Elder Graham. Elder Cegaudru is from our "home" ward here in Suva. We were at sacrament meeting the week that he had his "farewell" and we sang with the ward members "God Be With You Till We Meet Again". We also met up with our mat! Remember the woven mat that was made for us by a woman to earn money for her temple trip... here is where it has been put to use!

Next we moved on to Tukavesi Village. After parking the truck, we followed the Elders who showed us to the next chapel where we met with the Branch President and his clerk and Sister Kumar and Paul each did an audit. It is always really interesting actually walking into a village because you aren't allowed to enter unless you are accompanied by a villager or you get permission from the village chief. Women must always wear skirts to enter a village and men may not wear hats.

Here is the building that the Tukavesi members use to meet in. It is a rented facility. There are about 30 families in this branch so my meeting concerning membership records was very short.

By the time the audits were completed, it was about 1 pm and everyone was hungry. While we had been meeting with the men, their wives had been preparing a generous lunch. We went to the Branch President's home. Here is his cute daughter (or niece or grandchild --- it is so hard to figure out how everyone is related... and believe me, it seems like everyone is related to everyone!).

As usual, there is a mat laid out on the floor and food is centered on the mat and everyone just gathers around and sits cross-legged and enjoys the meal. Luckily, they did have one chair in their home and they generously offered it to Paul. He was really concerned that if he were to sit on the floor for any amount of time, he would not be able to get up again. I think you have to do this your whole life for it to be comfortable. If you are planning to spend any time in Fiji, get off your couch and chairs and starting sitting on the floor --- oh, and sleep on the floor too with nothing but a woven mat.

Guests (especially, missionaries) always get served first. Well, not served. They just watch while you get to be the first to load up your plate. Then the men join in but the women and children do not eat with the guests and the men, they get to eat whatever is left over. They mostly just sit and wave towels and fabric back and forth to keep the flies and bugs away.

Here is my plate. I was a little hesitant to be very adventurous. The fish was delicious! The Branch President had gotten up early that morning and caught the fish just for this occasion. The banana looked like a safe bet but it turned out to be hard as a very hard potato and it tasted about like one too. The greens were some kind of leaves cooked in coconut oil. I have to admit I didn't eat very much but the young Elders made up for what I passed by. They seem to have assimilated well.

After lunch we decided to go across the street from their home and take a group photo with the sea in the background. These people may not have much in worldly possessions but between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the beautiful view of the sea, they are rich and blessed.

As a side note from our trip... you may have heard me talk about the Cyclone Tomas that thankfully passed by Suva. Unfortunately, it slammed this area and did lots and lots of damage. It was an extremely slow moving but intensely strong, torrential storm. And because of their proximity to the sea, that became another source of damage from high tides. At our Monday morning devotional in our Service Center yesterday, it was announced that we will be gathering clothing to send out to these people because they have lost so much of their belongings. We were asked to gather any used clothing we might have and donate it. Since we have very little in the clothing department anyway, we are going to go and buy clothing to send over to help out. It makes a difference when you actually know the people that are in this difficult situation.

How strange is this? We just burst out laughing when we came across this sign in the middle of NO WHERE! But as strange as it seemed, we just about took the turn to see how long it would take us to get back to SLC! Maybe next time!

On our 2nd day we drove to Nabua and while Paul & Sister Kumar were meeting with the 1st Counselor in a very hot meetinghouse, I went out in back and walked about 25 yards and dipped my feet in the pleasant ocean water and rested in the shade of a huge tree. But before too long, I noticed that they had decided to move their meeting outside and under the trees also. Where does it say that meetings have to be indoors? By the time it was my turn to go over the membership records, everyone was feeling much more comfortable.

Then we were invited back inside for another lunch prepared by the 1st Counselor's wife. This is Brother and Sister Kalougati. This is the man that I have talked about before in an email. When he was about 12 years old, his family was on a boat on their way to Suva to be baptized into the Church. The boat capsized and all his family drowned. He held on to a sack of empty coconut shells for 3 days! He was the only survivor from the boat. As he grew up he drifted out of contact with the Church. People from the Church had been trying to find him but no one knew where he was. When he was in his 20s, he was working in a field and a car stopped and a senior missionary couple came over to him and asked if he knew Joeli Kalougati. He asked why they wanted to know and when they explained, he told them they had found who they were looking for. He told me this story back in about October when I first met him. This story has also been published in either the Ensign or the Liahona (I can't remember). He told me that he was mad and confused for a long time about why his family had to die. And why he lived. But he believes that he was saved so that he could do the Temple work for his family. He has a strong testimony now and is a great leader. His son is serving a mission here in the Suva Fiji Mission and his second son is preparing to serve his mission some time next year.

This was a delicious lunch. She served us fried eggs served on noodles (a very typical dish), dalo (upper left corner -- another very typical dish that is a root crop that is similar to a potato but it doesn't have much flavor that I can tell but Fijians eat it almost every meal), fresh papaya, fresh avacado and traditional lemon pie which is more like a cake with lemon pudding on it. The dish on the left hand side in front is a huge, banana that they boil in sugar and water and it is very soft and yummy.

Here we are back in Savusavu. Next to our hotel is this park that has several hot springs; hence the name of our hotel was The Hot Springs Hotel. The local people like to bring food wrapped up and leave it in these hot springs to cook. They were very, very hot!

As we were walking back to our hotel from the hot springs, this young boy started walking and chatting with us. His name is Joseph. He is about 9 or 10, I think he said. He was showing me all the flowers and fruits and telling me what everything is called. Then he showed me how to blow up a hibiscus petal. It blows up like a mini balloon. Who knew?! The Fijian children are so darling and friendly and curious about the white-skinned strange people. Aren't his eyes beautiful. I always consider them my substitute grandkids! We are so blessed to meet new faces and see new places. I hope you enjoyed coming along!