Rex wrote: Yesterday was to be a day to catch up. Before 8 AM, Betty had clothes in the washer and a business lesson prepared. I got a call that the solar unit for Nakawakawa was at the church, ready to be unloaded. I left Betty home to write emails and call home. There were two big crates, and both wouldn’t fit in the truck. It would take two trips. I called Pita to let him know it had come. He said they were in Labasa town just ready to catch a bus and head back home. I told him I would meet him there. I raced home and told Betty to get ready like now! We were going to Nakawakawa.

We had a delightful trip to Nakawakawa visiting with Pita. He likes all of my stories, and I always like listening to him. He talked a lot about the branch and asked a lot of questions. We gave him lots of ideas, many dealing with Home Teaching, Visiting Teaching, and delegating. The 3 ½ hour trip went quickly!

Pita recruited one of his neighbors to help lift the heavy box off the truck. We found out later that he is a nonmember. Pita is confident that will soon change. Pita's counselor met us at the chapel. After visiting a few minutes, we turned around and drove back home to Labasa. Betty was done, but I had to go to the church to take the volleyball and basketball for a youth activity and to load and tie in the other big box. The plan is to leave Betty home tomorrow and take the young elders with me to help install the solar unit. None of us know how to do it, and we might have to wing it. As all of you know winging it is new to me! It should be a party!

Too much for one trip!

Tied in with my strong braided rope.

Safely delivered.

They will be happy to have electricity in their chapel.

Big box of  solar panels for trip number two.

Hopefully it makes the bumpy ride. We tied it in as best we could.

This is one of the favorite activities the YSA was playing. Fiji flavor!

Some days are unusually busy and a bit dizzying. Yesterday was one of them. We woke up at 6 AM and made two trips to the airport to get all the sisters there.

We came home, Facetimed, rested and wrote emails.

At 11:30 AM we attended a fantastic district meeting on “Love is the Motive.” Our district is a combination of missionaries who serve in Labasa, Seaqaqa, and Nakawakawa. To show unity, instead of the Seaqaqa district, we call ourselves.  Nabaqa. We even have a little cheer we do that ends in the sign “1” that mean “I love you forever.” They trained us in having a positive attitude and in showing love and charity. The spirit was so strong in that little room, and we felt so much love there. We do have the best district ever!

When we first came here, the numbers were really low. Our district usually had a monthly goal of 1 or 2 baptisms or returning members and had trouble making it. This month our district goal was 10. The Zone Leaders questioned them and asked them to reconsider the number, but they stayed at 10 will hit that by this weekend with a possible 14 for the month, which is the goal for the whole zone. That is insane! It is not that we have made the difference, but our missionaries have been amazing! They are dedicated, hardworking, and exactly obedient. We are taking a leap of faith and saying our goal for February is again 10. It will be a little harder with the sisters gone in February for 1 ½ weeks and the rest of us gone to Suva for 4 days to see the Suva temple celebration and rededication, but these missionaries are on fire! President Layton promised that they would see miracles during the time of the Suva Temple rededication, and these missionaries are holding to that promise.

Speaking of promises, Rex had promised that if they hit the goal of 10 this month, he would treat them all to lunch at the Chinese Restaurant. They loved it! Afterwards we took Elder Sieberts and Elder Hariprasad to the old folks home to play. They were so adorable with the people there. In fact, they got two ladies to play who had never played before. One had always said, “No” and the other has Down Syndrome, and I didn’t think her attention span was long enough to do it so I had never invited her. I am so glad they did! There was a lot of laughter and one man got up and danced when he did well. On the way home, Rex bought a stronger lock for the front gate. We got a call from the mission office that we need to start looking for a new apartment to rent for the Elders. The current landlord has been demanding, complaining, and difficult, and they need to move soon. We will have to work on that.

I taught Oliva his second piano lesson while Rex visited with a few youth coming in. At 6 PM Rex met with the branch clerk, Mahen, to send a few more records away. Six Young Single Adults came for a family home evening and stood around for quite a while waiting for their leaders. I finished up piano with Oliva, and took Rex’s place with Mahen so he could play volleyball with the YSA. When it got dark and the leaders still weren’t there, Rex called President Bull and found out they were in Suva. They had sent word to cancel to as many as they could, but these six hadn’t gotten word; and some of them were less active so something really fun needed to happen. Rex asked Elder Luatua and Elder Foeva to help them play indoor party games. Brother Mahen helped me get a new branch list printed out for us. Lorenzo Snow Baleiwasawasa, one of the YSA, had brought all his documents with him and asked me to help him apply online for his mission. When we got as much of his application as we could done, we joined in the games with the youth. We had the closing prayer at 9 PM, dropped the Elders off, and came home. It had been a long, productive day. As they say in our mission, “We earned our pillow.”

Yesterday we spent our whole morning helping the church facilities director, Brother Tilley, set up a computer system connected with the church website for the live showing of the Suva Temple Celebration and rededication. Nothing was working. The computer was so old that no one knew the Administrator's password. Finally he said, "It would be easy if we had a laptop!" We said, "We have a laptop the mission gave us to do Self Reliance. We drove home and got it. It worked like a charm. We took him out to dinner at the Chinese Restaurant. It was his first time eating there. He was impressed, and says he knows where to eat when he returns to Labasa. Rex returned later to help him dismantle everything. It will have a few trial runs getting it all back together before the real thing. In the process of all that, a part of Rex's key chain broke with all his temporary keys including the specialized church keys. He realized it when he saw a key lying in his lap. He found all of them except the key to our gate. It was lost somewhere between our flat and town. We looked but we couldn't find it. Rex bought a new padlock, and had Brother Naidu come help get the lock off. He got it off with four whacks of a hammer. That made us feel safe that it could be removed that easily, but at least we were able to get back into our flat. Afterwards, Rex told me he had a feeling earlier that day that he should move the key to the gate onto the main key chain, but he was in too big of a hurry to do it right then. Experiences like this act as a reminder that we should always listen and act immediately when we get a prompting and are told to do something good. We felt like it was a tender mercy that the specialty keys to the church were not lost even though they were the first in line to fall off.
 Our district, plus all the Sisters from our Zone met for an afternoon of playing and celebrating before the Sisters leave to help with the temple open house. We had a special dinner with entrees of my barbecued beef and also chicken simmered in a special soup and mango nectar sauce cooked by Elder Luatua. It was heavenly. Afterwards we had cake and ice cream and played party games. It will be the last time we will be together with some of these missionaries. We get a little relief by saying, "We'll see you at the temple!" since we will all be going there for the Suva Temple celebration and rededication. I have taught them all my high sign so they can listen for my call.

We were also celebrating Sister Hogland's birthday. We had balloons and everything!

We got up early this morning and drove all the Sisters from our zone to the airport. They will be flying to Suva for 3 weeks to help with the Suva Temple Open House. Transfers will happen while they are gone. We fear our sweet Sister Elias, the short one, will not return. We have loved every minute serving closely with her.

I saw this game, and I thought it was adorable for those of you who like to do games with dice and like to have fun drawing:

      We had three glorious baptisms today:

     Karuna Wati Singh by Elder Talamai

     Moreen Prasad by Elder Luatua

         Jessica Prasad by Elder Hariprasad

      After the meeting, as the missionaries were shaking their hands, Sister Singh broke into tears of joy. She was so happy! As Rex shook her hand, she grabbed him and gave him a hug.

During some great refreshments, our two prospective sister missionaries from Naduna met us to help them fill out their applications and print out their medical and dental forms. It went well. To let you picture it a little better, I was helping them understand the questions, and Rex was in the background cracking jokes and telling them nonsensical things to put down. They didn’t put anything he suggested, but they did break down laughing quite a few times in the middle of something that is usually pretty serious. He said he thought he was helping! We had a good time. Is it any wonder that everyone loves to be around him? When missionaries transfer here, his reputation has preceded him; and they love him before they even meet him. They have been told about all his great stories and jokes and how he plays with the missionaries and the members.  I have the best companion ever!

 

A few more pictures Sister Vermeeren took during our Taveuni trip:

This mare reminded me of Cindy Lou. Not sure she wanted a stranger petting her.

Our dear friends, Brother & Sister Roth from Switzerland

They take work trucks seriously here. The whole crew fits in front & supplies in back.
Rex calls it the Family Sand and Gravel truck.

English mixed with Fijian gives an amusing combination.
The i has a long e sound. C is a th sound. I loved this.