Becky wrote:

April 17, 2016 We had the most amazing day yesterday. It started off very early. I woke up on the plane and could not get back to sleep. I looked at the time (2am in Fiji) and realized that it would be 8am in Utah. Obviously my body didn't transition automatically. I looked at the flight path and saw that we had recently crossed the equator but not the international date line so I did get a little early Saturday morning in as well. I watched Night at the Museum all that morning and into Sunday morning. It took forever to finish that show. The airplane food was good and filling enough. We arrived in Nadi about 5:40. Customs went smoothly except Roxi had an apple and an orange in her bag that she forgot about. She had to declare them, sign a paper and throw them away. All the bags checked through nicely. The carts in Fiji are free so we grabbed two and headed out to the domestic terminal. The cab drivers descended quickly to try to get us to go somewhere, but we just wanted to get cleaned up and checked in for our flights. Our weight was too much because of the donated clothes. We had to pay $137 Fijian (about half that American) which we thought was quite reasonable considering that our carry on bags also needed to be checked. The overhead bins in Fiji are tiny. Having our backpacks only, we were free to wander the airport a bit. The domestic terminal is tiny and everything around it was outdoors with ridiculously beautiful trees, flowers and walking paths through grassy fields. Everyone was super nice! They're renovating the airport, and even the construction workers were friendly and respectful. We found flowers that had fallen from a tree and put them in our hair for a picture. Everything was perfect! It had been raining in Labasa for three days. When it rains, the planes cannot land. They told us when we checked in that we may not be able to fly to Labasa today. I had faith that we would be able to get there just fine. We had a prayer. Everything went off without a hitch. The flight took off and landed on time. The person sitting next to me had his wife call and tell him that the roads were flooded so she didn't know if she could make it to pick him up. And a man in Labasa had his flight cancelled that morning so he wasn't able to fly out until our plane arrived to take him. Yet we didn't even have a delay. Mom and dad were waiting for us. We could see mom's #1 sign through the window. We ran to hug them, so wonderful to hug them again! They were surprised that we were all dressed and ready to go to lunch. We stopped by the flat to get the hot spot so we could email which we did quickly. Driving on the other side of the road feels so backwards. Dinner was fantastic! We ate on mats on the floor. They did give us forks and spoons, but I alternated eating with my hands. We had fish and chicken and cassava and lettuce and cucumbers which are a real delicacy because they are out of season. The Vosa family has five children ranging from 14 to 2. The four older children are girls and the little boy was dressed in the cutest black sulu. The parents and grandmother ate with us which is a great honor because that means we are considered family. In fact they told us we were family and could come to Fiji any time and stay with them. They have a place on a little island where they fish and grow vegetables and live the very traditional Fijian life. We are invited there as well. In fact, when I said Stacey was at University, they offered for her to live with them and do University here in Fiji. The offer is wide open. We all felt loved and honored. After dinner we showed them pictures of our family, the mountains where we live, snow and other fun things. We laughed and danced. They tried to teach us some traditional dances. I tried to follow, but couldn't well so sometimes I would improvise with over exaggerated movements that were very wrong. Everyone was cracking up. Dad said I reminded him of Lucille Ball. Roxi and Rose and Dad joined in, and it got even more hilarious. Brother Vosa was laughing so hard. We were sad to go, but it was time, and we were exhausted. They drove us around a bit and showed us the swollen river, the sugar factory and the church. It's lovely, and all doors open onto an internal courtyard. The font was outside just under a canopy. This layout so wouldn't work in Utah. Back at the flat, we visited but started dropping off quickly. Mom set up beds for us and woke us up long enough to get in them. I just died. About midnight I was awakened by the neighbors having a raging loud party. I put in my earbuds and it drown out the noise so I could sleep. I woke up at 4am, which is quite a bit better than 2am. Still not quite Fijian time. There's a symphony of roosters outside. Good morning Fiji!