Senior Missionary seminar

Back a few weeks ago our Mission President and his wife hosted a 3-day Senior Missionary seminar. They brought all the outer island missionaries here to Suva and we got to meet and enjoy each others company and share our unique experiences. We had many activities such as a Temple session, an all-afternoon training from the President and his wife, an evening of sharing photos and experiences about Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. The final day we got to go out on the Navua River for an all-day boat trip to visit an up river village and enjoy the gorgeous scenery that Fiji is known for.
Here we are loading up on our wooden, 25-foot long, 4 feet wide, wooden- planked seated, 30 hp outboard-motorized engine, about 6 or 8 passenger boats that sailed about a foot above the water.

Here is our dear, very competent captain: Maciv

He was really good at bailing out the water and keep us from sinking!

About a mile from our boarding point, we passed the Navua Ward Chapel that sits atop this hillside near the bank of the river. Interesting bit of trivia about this site. Besides being the Church's worshiping location it is also a designated, Government assigned evacuation center for when this river floods. There was a huge flood some months ago and 500 local neighbors spent 2 weeks residing there. The waters that were flooding this area were as tall as half way up that hillside. People had to use boats to even reach the building.

There was a lot of normal, daily life going on along the banks of the river as we traveled upstream.

The terrain along the shores was very lush and beautiful... low in some areas and other areas reminded me of sailing through the canyons at Lake Powell (but a lot more lush in the vegetation category).

There were lots and lots of waterfalls: small, medium and very impressively large.

More of the locals just living life beside the river.

We arrived at the village and climbed up the mountainside. This is a village that earns income by hosting visitors and tourists almost every day except Sundays.

We were greeted by the traditional beating on the wooden truck that has a carved out center. It is very effective in announcing to everyone in the village that the guests have arrived.

Then we were ushered into their village group meeting hall. This was probably one of the nicest meeting halls we have been in anywhere.

They began with the traditional Kava ceremony but they had no idea that our whole group did not drink Kava... no problem, that just left more for the villagers. Notice how beautiful the inside walls, floor and ceiling are. All covered with hand-woven mats and tapa clothes.

After the initial welcoming ceremony, they toured us through a lot of the village. Here we got to visit the preschool kindergarten class. All the older children travel some distance to get to Primary and Secondary (Elementary & High School) schools but the children that are about 3 - 5 stay here and attend this school.
It was just a one-room building. What you see is what all that it was. The children each told us their names and then they sang about 3 songs. One song was a Bula (hello) song and as they sang they walked around to everyone and shook our hands and warmly gave us BULA greetings!
So sweet!

All schools here hang everything from lines scattered long the ceiling. They had lots of stuffed toys hanging along the walls also. Very simple.

Here are list of all the students in this year's class!

Next we were shown how they do their handicrafts. It was fascinating to see how they continue to make these traditional woven mats and painted tapa clothes.

These are the stencils this woman has used for ever... well, at least since they switched from making their stencil sheets out of leaves to sheets of plastic that hold up much better and longer.

Here is one of the finished tapa clothes that depicts traditional symbols of Fiji and includes the name of the village: Koromakawa
From left to right the items are:
bure (Fijan home), kava bowl, the welcome drum, "head basher" from their cannibal days, turtle, another cannibal weapon, woven fan.

Here these women were demonstrating weaving of mats. This is a really arduous project. Notice how EVERYONE sits on the floor! Not all that comfortable. I asked this cute woman how old she was... she is 85! I think she's made a few mats over the years!

Then they did a coconut presentation which included cracking it open and shredding the meat and sharing the milk and squeezing the meat for the lotion. Coconuts are a lifesaver to all the islanders. They use everything from the leaves to the trucks to the fruit; every bit of it is valuable.

Even coconut JEWELERY!

Lunch was included in our visit. They served the traditional lovo which is the meal that is cooked in the ground. It included chicken and vegetables. It was really quite good.

And then as you would expect, they set up LOTS and LOTS of handcraft souveniers. But we enjoyed taking advantage of the accessibility!

This is what I bought... I love it! I reminds me of a quilt! I have it hanging on the wall in our bedroom and I am really enjoying laying in bed and gazing at it!

After we left the village, we stopped at this beautiful, huge waterfall. Our boat captain here told us we could go in the pool right there below and swim around but no one took him up on it!

Here are our dear friends, the Scherns. They are the senior missionaries in Luganville, Vanuatu. They go home the end of September so the next time we get to visit with them will be back in the USA.

For some reason, after the waterfall, they decided to but us all on these bamboo rafts. It was quite the simple version of river transportation. I think they just wanted us to experience how a lot of the local villagers access the river. Glad we didn't have to do the whole outing on these rafts!

This is not part of the SM seminar but I thought I'd show you a few pictures of some of the SM in action. Sister Sewell and Sister Allen are based in Port Vila, Vanuatu. When we were there about 3 weeks ago, I sat in on their English class. They teach this class twice a week and have about 16 students in attendance.

After the class portion of the evening, they spend about a half hour playing games which is a huge it. Here they were playing musical chairs. I don't think they had ever played it before but they caught on really quickly and it was very entertaining to watch.

Here is Sister Lesuma who lives in Taveuni. She has just begun learning how to applique. Some of her stitches were looking more like basting than applique so I asked if she'd like to see how I applique and hide my stitches. After I showed her how, she caught on in no time. Just what I've been looking for... another quilting fan!

These next few pictures show Sister Erickson in action. She has been sewing flannel diapers non stop while she has been here. She is the mission secretary but when she goes home at night, this is how she has spent a lot of her evenings. Not everyone in Fiji can afford disposable diapers so flannel diapers are still a necessity.
This was a Relief Society meeting and she taught about 8 or 9 women and young women how to make them. I was very impressed because all the women knew how to use the sewing machines. They usually can't afford their own machine but at least they do know how to use one.

So there you go... just another small glimpse into our Senior Missionary life! Great! isn't it!!!

(I hope you don't think that this is all we do but pictures of us sitting at our desks doing our normal office work just doesn't seem like much of an interesting blog post subject!)

This week's adventure = Rabi Island

So back in March, we got to travel to Kiribati for 2 weeks. While we were there I had someone make me one of these custom, traditional blouses. I love the way they do smocking and create a word right in the forefront. Some people display their name or the word "mauri" which means "hello" but I chose the name of this special country.
This week, we went to a "mini" version of Kiribati called Rabi Island and I was dressed appropriately.

Rabi Island is part of Fiji. Back in the 1940's, the British found a valuable mineral on an island in Kiribati and decided to remove all of the people living on that island so they brought them to Rabi Island in 1945. I won't go into the whole story because it is very complicated. It involves a huge law suit and trail but the Kiribati people ended up losing the suit and their homeland and so they continue to reside on this island.

There is a Branch of the Church on this island. It is connected to the Taveuni District. We have been to Taveuni three times and each time the Nuku Branch leaders have sailed over to meet with us. Last time we visited with them was back in April and we told them that next time WE would sail over to meet with them! We had been told it was about an hour and a half boat ride but it could be quite rough sailing depending on the weather. For the week before we were to take this adventure, I began praying that we would have good weather for a smooth sailing. We scheduled to take our trip on Thursday but the winds were way too strong so we postponed the trip until Friday. The winds had slowed down quite a bit but it was still quite a bumpy outing.

Most all of the population lives along the coast. There are about 2000 people that reside on the whole island and it is quite a good size island. Very lush and green; just like all of Fiji!

Here is the boat and the group that we traveled with. From left to right: the 2 young elders who are assigned to this area. They actually live on the Taveuni island but travel over here every couple of weeks. They have quite a few investigators and they really wish they could be assigned here full time. Elder Gashler is from Sandy, Ut and Elder Wall from Layton, Ut. Next is Pres. Lesuma. He is the Taveuni District President. He is a really wonderful and committed leader. He gave us a lot of confidence and peace of mind about taking this outing. Next is the ship captain. He is the brother-in-law to Pres. Lesuma and a very experienced sailor. The ride was rough and long but we never felt unsafe. Paul and I and Pres. Lesuma wore clothes that we didn't mind getting wet and then changed into our missionary attire once we arrived on the island.

Isn't that just a gorgeous view!!!

Here is the MAIN road through the town of Nuku with a few of the sights along the way...

Groups of people just hanging out and enjoying the day...

I thought this "house" proves how plants grow everywhere!!!

Are you ready to see this? This is the Chapel here for the Nuku Branch... very humble! This is one of the original Colonial homes built back in the 1940s. Every person who moved to Rabi was promised a house like this but it never happened and most people lived in tents until they could construct their own homes mostly from coconut trunks and woven fronds.
The pictures below didn't really end up in the order I wanted them but they still tell the story of our outing just fine.

Our main purpose for this trip was to do the mid-year audit of the Branch finances and training on updating and handling the membership records.

After the training and auditing was completed, the Branch served us lunch. Honestly, these dear people have next to nothing so we felt like we were eating their next meal when we got served. One of the wives of the Branch Elders Quorum Pres fixed us corned beef spaghetti served over rice along with sodas and biscuits (cookies) for dessert! I have to admit this was the first time I've ever eaten corned beef spaghetti... very interesting!

Here is Sister Mary who fixed the meal... look at her beautiful hair! and face! and personality!

Here are some of the Branch leaders we met with. From left to right: first is Pres. Natantamokin, the Branch President. Bless his heart! He does such a great job as the Branch President and this Branch is growing. They have about 70 members in attendance at Church each Sunday and like I mentioned, quite a few more investigators. Next is Bro. Mateka. He is the Branch clerk but he has only been a member of the Church for 3 months and was called to the Clerk calling just recently so he is still learning what he is supposed to be doing but he seems to be catching on quickly. Next is Pres. Lesuma who was so much help to us. He really made our job go smoothly. Last is Bro. Valu. When he showed up and sat down, I thought I understood that he was just a member of the Branch. He is a Tongan man but has lived on Rabi Island for many years. He joined the Church in Tonga but has been inactive until just recently. He showed up one day and said he wanted to come back to Church and his wife and 6 children all wanted to be baptized! It turned out that he helped me a lot by translating what I was saying in English to the Branch President who mostly only understands and speaks Kiribati, not even Fijian. Believe me, these kinds of meetings are always really interesting! What I loved the most was that by the end of our training, the Branch President decided to call this Tongan man, Bro. Valu to be the Branch Assistant Clerk over membership records! They even went into the next room and set him apart!

Aren't these children darling!
We always seem to attract quite an interested audience when we pilangies show up!

Here is quick tour of a bit of the Chapel. Here is the sacrament meeting room. It is really small. They have grown so much that they really struggle to get all the members to fit into one room. Some times, members have to sit in other rooms on the other side of the walls. This shot is facing forward....

this is facing opposite of the podium. Quite tight quarters!

Here is one of the classrooms

and this is the Primary room. Notice the "blackboards"! The songs are written on the walls.
It may not have been one of the nicest Chapels I have ever been to but it was about one of the cleanest! I was really impressed with how neat, clean and organized all the rooms were despite the lack of nice facilities. Unfortunately, I have seen really nice buildings that are not watched over and maintained anywhere near to how well taken care of this humble facility is cared for.

So, as usual, all good things must come to an end. We were only on the island for about 2 and 1/2 hours but we felt like it was a very productive and worthwhile outing. We feel like it is important to visit these outer Branches and show them that we appreciate and recognize all that they are doing and that they are important enough to us that we will come to them not just always expect them to come to us. We find we are always touched and edified by meeting these dedicated, willing, humble and committed Church members. It helps remind us of all that we do have instead of how we sometimes just seem to focus on what we don't have.

The ocean was lots rougher on our return trip and it took about twice as long to get back. By the time we approached Taveuni island, it was low tide and the captain ended up having to get out into the water and push the boat forward from behind while....

Elder Wall helped push from upfront with a big stick!

Then we finally all just disembarked and waded through knee-deep water until we arrived at the shore!

We walked quite a ways... you can see out boat just below the right-side of that large island. We loved it! Makes for a fun story!

Here is another story: We weren't the only people in the ocean. For the past month or so people have been flocking out along the shores around this area when it is low tide. They are harvesting what they call "caterpillars" ...

I'm thinking they are more like squid or slugs or something pretty creepy! Apparently, these slugs or whatever, show up about once a year and are a greatly desired delicacy to Chinese people. So the locals dig them out of the sand, boil them and then dry them and then sell them to the Chinese dealers who I guess then export them over to China. After I caught a glimpse of these squishy little beings, I was glad I made it a shore without having come in contact with any of them!

Just another WONDERFUL day in the life of a missionary!

Give Blood! Play Rugby!!!

We went to our FIRST Rugby game!!!

Rugby is huge over here! The season had just ended when we arrived last August. In fact, one of our first cultural events we attended in this country was an end of season, Saints rugby team party but at that time we didn't know any of the team members let along anything about the game of Rugby. So we have been anxiously awaiting the opening of the next season which started several weeks ago. But we hadn't been available to make it to a game until just a week ago.

This is the SAINTS Rugby team.

It is composed of young men from various Wards and Branches of the Church around the Suva area. In fact, George Koroivanuve who is sitting in the middle of this group shot (facing forward, holding the blue bottle) works with us in the MSR Department in the Service Center.

The Saints belong to a league made up of teams from this Province (like a county). The other teams are from particular villages. Ours is the only team not made up of villagers. The other teams practice every day in their village while the Saints only get together for practice twice a week because Monday night is Family Home Evening and Wednesday night is Institute.
At "kick off" the opposing team of this game was ranked in first place of the league. The Saints were in 5th place.

We stood right on the sideline almost next to this guy who began the game with his throw in... good view! Actually, there weren't very many spectators. I don't know why there weren't more fans... I actually believe the women get pretty tired of non-stop Rugby games.

That's George being lifted up to catch the throw in and the guy with #1 on his red shirt is Bro. Ramasimi. We have spent a lot of time with him in his church calling as the Nausori Stake IT (computer) specialist so we were excited to see him in ACTION on the field. He is a really strong, tough player!

Off and running! NON STOP!

Seriously, even when someone goes down the game keeps on going! This is one intense, rough, no-protective-gear game. When players are smashed to the ground, it made me wince and quiver but don't worry, they just jump up and keep on going!

And of course, it just wouldn't be Rugby without the SCRUM! So brutal!
They all put their heads down and together and then start pushing straight forward as someone throws the ball in the middle beneath all the players. Somehow it gets in the hands of some player and everyone is off again.
Their coach, Bro. Maiwiriwiri stood right next to us during the game and "tried" to explain the game but I'm sure he wondered what planet we came from -- no, he knows we are American and only understand football. He did tell us that this opponent team was doing whatever they could to avoid having to get into a scrum with the Saints.

The games are divided in two periods of 30 minutes each. If a ball is kicked over the goal post, the team gets 3 points. If it is carried across the goal line, they get 5 points and they get to try to kick the ball over for an extra 2 points.
During the whole game the only points were made by 2 kicks from the Other Guys (as we called them) so it was 6 - 0 up ...

until the last minute when the Saints ran the ball over the goal line and then...

kicked it over for the extra 2 points (you can barely see the ball straight above the yellow truck in the center of the photo) and the Saints pulled it off:
Saints 7! Other guys 6
They were stoked and we were thrilled! The coach was even kind enough to give us the credit for their win because of our attendance!

So now I can confess that we are Rugby fans!!!! Which, as it turns out, is really lucky since our grandkids, Colton and Cory, have become rugby players and our son-in-law, Eric has become their rugby coach and a cerfified Rugby official! I think we have lots more rugby games in our future!

GO SAINTS!!!!