Cziep's plantation. Instead of leaving Idaho to go to St. George for the winter, they come to Fiji.

Cziep's home they designed themselves.
The inside is decorated with Fijian crafts including mats, placemats, fans, wall hangings...
He scuba dives and takes the most amazing pictures and videos with his waterproof equipment. He has them lazered on metal or framed to hang on the walls.

Rex holding up Cziep's house

Everything was pretty by the waterfall

                 

My fern palms

Looking up at my fern palms.

I just love looking at these. It's as if I can't drink in all their beauty.

In the middle of the national park is this little Fijian house

This crab bigger than my hand was walking the same path, not happy we saw him and Brother Cziep was teasing him.

This cement bridge was dry when we came.
 On the way home, the tide was up and water was 1 1/2 feet deep in the middle.

We had to stop for 45 minutes while this "scooper"
removed 3 lengths of broken covert and replaced it. 

There were 3 vehicles backed up on each side while it was repaired. Not much traffic here.

"Mahana, you ugly, come down from that tree!"
These children were watching the fun.

I love you forever!
Rex waiting in the truck with Elder Vermeeren.

Sister Vermeeren, member living by the repair, Sister Roth

Betty loves to watch for horses. She got to pet this beauty that is expecting a colt soon.

Boatload. They were so excited when they saw us that a few stood up to wave. We thought they were going to tip over.

We tried to catch some of the beauty.
Pictures don't do it justice.

Our group ate pizza at a restaurant overlooking this bay.

Betty with the Sisters waiting on the dock at Buca Bay

Elder and Sister Roth, our dear friends.

The Taveuni Princess being pulled by a rope to the dock.

A beautiful day for a boat trip. Look at that ocean and sky! 
That's our path. The way is smooth and clear.

Elder Aoina on the guitar with Elder Luatua and Elder Stock

Our Seaqaqa District spent their time on the bow practicing their song for Zone Conference

We got to meet a new missionary, Elder Larsen, from Palmyra, New York.
He opened his mission call on top of Hill Cumorah.
He verified that they never call off the Hill Cumorah Pageant for bad weather. 
The Lord always tempers the weather to allow the show to proceed.

Betty in her element. She loved watching the different patterns of the ocean from smooth as glass, to matlike designs, etc. She took a ton of pictures.

Now, this is the life!
They are looking for more Senior Couples to come to Fiji  if anyone is interested.

Hard to believe tiny fishing boats would venture this far from shore.

I'll lean back out of the shade
and so you can see the ocean behind me.

How does this look?

While I'm here, I may as well pull some faces.

This is better than a mirror!

Coming into the dock at Taveuni. The other boat just beat us.

Looking down at the water. This is Fiji, Folks!

Elder and Sister Vermeeren waiting at the dock. They were our hosts for 5 days.
She is always taking amazing pictures.

Our missionaries from Vanua Levu docked safely in Taveuni, the Garden Island.

Picture with the captain, a tiny drink of water.

The Primary Sacrament Meeting Program is always my favorite week of the year. 
We took a shot of the children as they started to gather. 
Sister Bull had them all dress in white.

Swastica is a recent convert. As we were visiting, before church began, she came to us frantic and said we had to take her home. She had left her new white dress her mother had made just for this. We told Swastica we couldn't take her. It is against mission rules. We didn't have much time. She called home and said we would be coming. We knew the road we had dropped the Elders off to go visit her. She said to turn at the big rock. The road was lined with huge black boulders.Which one? We called her father for directions, but he said he didn't speak English. We were blessed to make the wrong turn at the fork in the road. A young mother who spoke Engliush was outside. She pointed up the hill to Swastica's house. We asked if she would talk with the parents in Hindi. She yelled up the hill and told them Rex would be coming for the dress. Rex climbed up a very steep hill and got the dress. They had it wrapped in newspaper. He had to slide down the hill, holding the dress in the air so it wouldn't get dirty. He slipped and scraped his hand a little; but the dress was safe, and we returned in time for her to change. Swastica felt beautiful. 
She already knew we love her, but now she knows without a doubt..

Practicing before the program started. 
Sister Bull is at the piano, and her daughter Emma is leading.

Swastica, Sister Bull, Sera
I called Sera "Princess" when I first met her, and her mother expects me to call her that. Sera gives a little squeal for joy followed by a big hug every time she sees me.

We are joined by the chief's daughter, another recent convert. 
She is the one who helped us clear clumps of grass off their field so we didn't need to use the bulls.

Whenever someone gets out a camera, more join in.

And more!!! 
Swastica is the one taking the pictures. She did an amazing job.

We were excited to see Presiden't Nasova's daughter and her sweet baby at church.
We had given them a special invitation.

I was thrilled to see the Chief's wife, a nonmember, there. She is a sweetheart. We had also given her a special invitation to come see her daughter in the Primary Program.
She is in front holding the Nasova baby with a member from Naduna.

We got to travel to Taveuni, The Garden Island, for our Zone Conference and District Conference. We spent one extra day sight seeing at the Bouna National Heritage Park visiting the glorious Tavoro Falls.

We are loving serving a mission in paradise.
Standing in front of what I call my Fern Palms.

Betty's dream come true--playing in the pond at the base of a waterfall. 

Betty in Heaven with the pond all to herself. Floating in crystal clear water, hearing the roaring of the waterfall. No stress here!
Yes, there is a loving Heavenly Father to have created something so very beautiful.

I love you forever!

Rex is loving it, standing behind a huge waterfall.
How many people have been able to do that?
A once in a lifetime opportunity.

What a fun date! 
How do you like how distorted our legs look under the clear water.

Rex by the falls. Look how big it is.
He offered to put one of those in our back yard. Right!

Rex's turn to float and.relax while I take the picture.
He also showed off with a lot of front crawl racing.

Betty; Sister and Brother Cziep from by Rexburg, ID who have built a beautiful home here and come every year when it is winter in the States; Elder and Sister Vermeeren from Canada who were our gracious hosts for five days; Sister and Elder Roth, Humanitarian Aid Missionaries from Switzerland..

We enjoyed our 4 hours at the bottom falls while the rest of the group were gone hiking 3 hours there and back to the other two waterfalls.
 Fiji is like another honeymoon. 
This mission has helped us love each other more than ever.

Totally  out of order, but I just found a note we wrote Sister Eneri just before she was released from her mission:

Dear Sweet Sister Eneri,

   How we have loved serving a mission with you. We love your contagious laugh! We love your smile! We love how you let your light shine and brighten the lives of all around you. We love how you speak boldly and teach the gospel to all you see. You touch people’s lives in ways no others can. They all love you. You are easy to work with, and your companions love you! You are strong, yet tender. You have taken the lessons your parents taught you and made them part of your life. You have done so many things for us and always treated us with kindness and love. You made Mother’s Day the best ever!

We love you and will always remember you. You’re the best!

May the Lord bless you always!

President Layton sent us the following note:

 As we prepared to open up two new areas in the Nausori North Zone [down by Suva,)] the Elders secured a whales tooth and President Tagidugu, Stake President of the Nausori Stake, presented it to the Chief. The Chief accepted the whales tooth and our missionaries were welcomed into the village.

We have heard of this whale's tooth ceremony, but it was exciting
to see what it looked like.

This beautiful picture has a quote from which our Fiji Suva Mission Motto might have been taken, or Faust was quoting our Motto with an extra "and" . Either way, this is beautiful.