Young Single Adult Activity We're putting the pictures first. Movies are at the end. 

Visiting Branches cooking food outside for their members

Eating and visiting. Notice the extra water tanks the church has for emergencies.

Young love. This little boy from Savusavu found a friend. They were walking hand in hand everywhere.

End of the line for Sunday meal. Notice Betty at the back.Sorry for my finger over the lens.

Happy people everywhere!

Thumbs up from Naduna's Branch President

Showers

Betty Wrote: Thursday afternoon we met with Lucy Bulewa at the church to give her some training on Job Search. At first she hardly spoke. By the end of our meeting, she was laughing and talking freely. She is amazing! We told her that was the side of her the interviewers need to see. She had some time before work, and she jumped right in and helped us stack the chairs and sweep the chapel. We loved spending the time with her.

Thursday night, we met with the Branch Presidency, the Relief Society President, and Young Women’s President to talk about meals for a two day District Conference. It was going to be huge with the Mission Presidency, the District Presidency, and many members from other units and branches attending. The ladies’ eyes almost popped out when they saw the numbers. To them it was a fortune. The budget for refreshments for Saturday for 100 people was $200. The budget for Sunday for a meal for 400 people was $700. (Cut that in half for American money.)

At the end of the planning, I mentioned that the branch members assigned to clean the church needed to be told to clean before early the next morning, Friday, when the mission president arrived and training meetings began. My words fell on deaf ears. Once again, Rex and I went early to the church. I cleaned the bathrooms while Rex mopped. I came back to spell him off. I was a little unprepared for what I saw. Rex was mopping the huge floor with a mop that had been left out in the sun a few too many times, and it was literally falling into pieces, getting littler and littler. It was so bad that we had to sweep the whole floor again after it dried to pick up all the strings and pieces. Rex called it the Hansel and Gretel mop. It left a trail.

We got home just in time to change and race to the airport to pick up the mission president and his wife. While they were meeting the missionaries in a separate room, we arranged all the chairs for Saturday’s big meetings. We just got home when they called us to go to the other side of Labasa and get the key from the Branch President to unlock the supplies to fill the bathrooms with tissue and paper towels. Labasa was wall to wall people and cars with school out. However, we had a mission to perform, and we were blessed to make it home without harm.

When we got home, I still had to make treats. We made two big sheet cakes for the Friday night activity. Rex topped them with his amazing chocolate powdered sugar frosting. The youth loved it. We also made a double batch of brownies for Saturday’s YSA activity. Sister Harward was bringing a huge cookie sheet of brownies, also.

While Rex was playing with the kids for the Friday night activity, I was in the kitchen helping the ladies prepare food for the Saturday luncheon. I have never seen that many bags of huge carrots in my life. They were using them for both meals.  Again, we had brought a truckload of supplies for them to use for preparing and serving the meals. Even when we’re not in charge, we and our props play a big part in the production.

Rex Wrote: For District Conference people came from all over this Island. Nakawakawa brought 39 members on a bus on Friday. They sacrificed and paid their own way without asking the church reimburse them. They camped out in Namara, an area just past the church. The church had added temporary showers to accommodate the traveling members. Others came from Savusavu, Nabua, Seaqaqa, Bua, and more places with strange names. Some slept in the church classrooms. They set up part of the lawn for making fires and cooking.

After the Saturday morning meetings, we were going to have a luncheon of tuna fish sandwiches and egg sandwiches, fruit, punch, and pie. We had been asked to fix a meal for the leaders; but when they found out a lunch was being planned for everyone, they told us to not make the meal. They would eat with the members. Sister Harward and sister Layton came the last half hour to help Betty and the branch sisters make the food. They showed Betty that they had buttered some crusts and put them into a bag to eat instead of the tuna or egg sandwiches. Betty told me what she had seen. She felt guilty that she hadn’t prepared them a separate meal as originally requested. We sneaked home missing the Fijian part of the meeting started broiling two chickens in our oven. The broiler kept going out. We took the half broiled chicken back to church in a fry pan to finish cooking and served it hot with no added oil. It was a hit. The ladies were very grateful to have something they liked to eat. They said we had rescued them. Sister Harward even gave Betty a little journal the next day to say thanks.

The afternoon meetings were great. The Spirit was strong. A lot of time was used for returning missionaries to report their missions.

Next there was a Self-Reliance meeting. Our new boss from Suva, Ned Taito was there along with Sonny. They announced that Labasa, Somosomo, and Savusavu were going to have mini Self-Reliance centers set up in the Family History Centers. The members were going to get needed help with job search and education workshops. We know who they were planning on to help them in Labasa. By default, they said it would be the Senior Missionaries.

The Harwards had called previously and asked us to plan a District Young Single Adult activity for that Saturday night. I was excited to show off our play area and show the fun we have. After the Self Reliance meeting, the Harwards brought us the brownies they had promised and said they had to leave for Savusavu to attend a wedding. They had been asked to give a Christian blessing at a Hindu wedding.

The YSA party was awesome. There was basketball, Volleyball, Soccer, a movie, and Fijian home cooking. Ned Taito joined in to help officiate volleyball. He enjoyed the young people and the fun going on around him. Most of the time in our Friday night activities, only one light works, but people from the church physical facilities had come and been hard at work, and on this special night both lights lit up the play area. We played until nine which is curfew for the missionaries.

On Sunday we came early to share 3 big bunches of the bananas we had grown. They had gotten ripe just in time for the occasion. We could not have planned their ripening any better. We cut them into thirds and passed them out to the many people already at the church. They were a hit.

One of my favorite moments was seeing Nakawakawa come marching in almost forty strong from their camp. They are such a special group. The meeting was great. The whole building was full with standing room only. The returned missionaries who were not able to attend the Saturday meetings were asked to share their testimonies. The Chief’s son, Manasa, was one of them. He bore a strong testimony. He had brought ten nonmembers to meeting with him. We loved that he was able to speak to them from the pulpit. We are so impressed by him. The messages from the leaders were incredible. The Spirit was so strong in the room we could have cut it with a knife. Betty had to keep wiping away a few tears.

After the meeting there was no rush to get the food out on the tables. Betty was watching to see if the kitchen crew would leave before the closing song. When they hadn’t moved even after the closing prayer, Betty calmed herself by saying, “Fiji Time. Fiji Time” She realized that they weren’t expected to get the food on the table for at least an hour after the planned eating time. She quit worrying and let them do it their own way and in their own time. In a student ward they have what they call Linger Longer when they have food after church. This could be called Linger all Afternoon and into the Evening. There was a lot of visiting. The district and mission president were doing Interviews as the food was being made ready. They had many entrees including chicken chow mein, chicken chop suey, chicken curry, tomato and chili chicken, and fish. It was worth the wait. It was very good, and I was very hungry. 

Below: Girls chopping up chicken with cleavers & A glimpse of the activity.