Dec. 9, 2014 - We saw a sign today that said it is "International Fight Corruption Day" Who knew?

     This is Betty. Today was a busy day. We kept our appointment with the Ministry of Education here in Labasa. He gave us many much-needed answers. Members had told us that if a child didn't pass the 10th grade test, he had to pay $200 to take the year over again. We learned today that education is free through 12th grade. If students fail, they have to take the year over, but it is still free. I hope that gets students back to school. Rex also has just finished a power point presentation on education we will share with the branch.

     We got money at the ATM & then groceries. Driving down Labasa main street and parking are about the most stressful thing we have to do. It's quite an adventure! Besides driving on the wrong side of the road, people are crossing the street anywhere and everywhere they want, and taxis are darting in and out of parking spots. It's interesting to me that the whole main street is filled with pedestrians, but very few buy anything. If they do, they are in tiny bags. I think they just like to walk, visit, and window shop.
     We had our district meeting with the young missionaries. It is always an honor to learn from them. We got 2 new elders in that speak Hindi to go along with the 3 sets of young elders and 1 set of sisters who speak English and Fijian. Great young people, great examples. We gave the ones in Labasa maps of the area we had printed out and asked them to mark on them to help us know where branch members live so we can go visiting more. We also asked the missionaries to get all their contact info together to share with us. After training, we all went to my favorite Chinese restaurant. The sweet and sour chicken is heavenly served with a whole big plate of rice. I can't believe I ate the whole thing. Going back to the truck, we passed an electronics store, and Rex bought a mouse for his MacBook Pro. He's one happy camper!
     After that, we went to the nursing home where Roop (pronounced like loop) lives (in a wheelchair) as well as his handicapped sister who just sits on the bare wood floor and laughs at us. She seems really proud of her brother, and we can tell the love is strong between them. Last week we played a dice game. This week, so he could stay by his sister, we played golf with number cards. We had to leave it simple so we played without trying to get to 21. Just as we were finishing our 8th round, Roop's mother, sister, and brother came. We quickly excused ourselves so they could visit. We will try to visit them once a week.
     It was raining as we picked up the last few groceries at the outdoor market. My opinion is that it is totally not worth risking our lives with the parking! It's insane!

     After we got home and got the groceries put away, we went outside to do some much-needed yard work. The people who lived here before had piled dead branches, grass, leaves, and junk in the corner behind and around the banana trees. Not acceptable. It was still raining, but I knew the truck would be coming today to pick it up, and we needed to get at least some of it done. The Lord spoils me, and I love it. As soon as I started working, the rain stopped, and it was the most perfect weather to work. Not too hot, and a light breeze to cool my sweat. We worked for about and hour and made a good mark. The pile Rex made on the side of the road was huge! It was a very good workout. We came inside and ate some watermelon to celebrate. Soon after that the truck came and took it all away. Rex thinks I'm funny when I compare their taking the trash away to repentance, but I love working with a clean slate. 

     Take care everyone! We love you!