We have been working hard with the branch and the branch clerk to clean up the records in Labasa. When we arrived, there were 742 names on our branch list. Since then, Naduna has been demoted from a branch to a group and combined with our branch with over 70 names. We also have had many baptisms, and people move in. We have finally gotten the list down to about 470. Brother Mahen printed out a new list, and I spent a full, hard day typing in all the extra names to add to our current data base. I know it seems silly to do with it already on the church computer, but we have no access to the MLS without Mahen doing all the work. What we are trying to do is too complicated, and the info on the branch list way too out of date to accommodate our efforts. We need to be able to sort and print out the names in different scenarios. It is crazy to see that in one family, the wife keeps her maiden name, and many of their own children are given all different last names. I would hate to have to do their genealogy! When we print out by last name, such as on a Relief Society List, unless we know them personally, or have a list of families to compare it with each time, we would have no clue which family they belong to. Also, many of the children are listed alone as heads of households. We have an extra category that puts the families together by numbers. The printout by area is the one that would take hours to modify on MLS before it would work. Many involve turning at the big mango tree. Since our branch area covers very many miles, and most people walk, go on bus, or get taxis, area lists are essential to help make up Home Teaching and Visiting Teaching Routes and organize missionaries and leaders to visit the members. As it is, not many members are getting visited except by the leaders and the missionaries. One of the main reasons we hear of why members have left the church is that no one comes to visit them. No one cares about them. We would like to change that and have Home and Visiting Teaching assigned by area so they can more easily visit in their own village. The timing seems right since we have a new Relief Society President I need to help.

Love this picture of Rex with the missionaries after playing ball on P Day. People are forced to retire in Fiji at 55. The other day Oliva asked Rex how old he is. He was surprised at the answer and announced that his grandfather is the same age and barely gets around. He is basically home bound. He is amazed at how in shape and active Rex is. They all love to have him play with them. Of course, Rex makes everything fun!