Signs of Suva

This is one of my favorite signs that you see
all over Suva...The girl, Noula Sefiti, is in my
ward. I wish you could see her face! This is
an advertisement for Vodafone....a cell phone
company. Noula was one of the runner-ups
on the Fijian version of American Idol. She can
REALLY sing!


opps......how did I do that twice??????



These next signs are all up by the public
hospital, The Colonial War Memorial Hospital.
A dental office.




The Hospital





OBGYN office.....






Dr. offices







You come to this sign right after all the medical
signs. I am not sure how much confidence
this gives me in the medical help here! (if you
are having a hard time reading it....click on it to
make it bigger!)

Christmas on Denarau

I spent 5 days over Christmas with the Stenlunds,
Seares and Kastelers on Denarau on the
west side of the island. We stayed at the Radison
Resort and it was fabulous! I had a hard time
believing it was Christmas, even with the decorations
that were there. That, however, was ok with me as
I think I would have felt a bit homesick if it had
really felt like Christmas.



This was the first time I had seen the Fiji that
you see on the travel posters....white sand &
turquoise water!



I had to take a picture of this because it is so
"Fiji"........an Emergency Phone....with no phone!


This little bird on the black pole is called a kula
bird. They are beautiful. I have seen a few
here in Suva, but there were many more on
the other side of the island. They never get any
bigger than this one.


This guy lit all the torches every evening at the
resort.....definitely not as scary as he looks!


It was fun eating at the Hard Rock Cafe. It was
as close to American food as you get here in Fiji.
Even at that, it was the fijian version of American
food.


These beautiful trees are covered with red
blossoms just in time for Christmas!


Next to the Hard Rock Cafe they had island
dancers. It just seems so strange to see a
Christmas tree behind these islanders!


Here are a few pictures of this beautiful resort.
It had three swimming pools, but better than
that, it is right on a beautiful beach.

The cyclone hit Denarau harder than it did

Suva and they were still cleaning up the

aftermath. There were many tree uprooted

around the resort...especially on the golf course.

The Cyclone

A few weeks before Christmas I experienced my
first hurricane. Apparently a cyclone is a tropical
hurricane. It was officially called Cyclone Nick.
The outer edge of the storm hit Suva, so even
though I thought it was EXTREMELY windy, we
didn't get the worst of it. The storm went right
down the middle of the island and many homes
were destroyed and filled with mud and water.
It was amazing that only two people were killed.
Our flat, and the mission office, were without
power for two days. Many areas didn't have
water or power for over a week. I feel very
lucky, as I love electricity! We used every
towel in the flat to mop up the water that came
through the doors and windows. Things got wet,
but nothing was damaged....another blessing.

I kept looking out my window during the storm

because there is a big palm tree a few feet

from the window. I convinced myself during

the night that palm trees are very strong and

probably very flexible and probably don't blow

down. The next morning when I went outside,

I discovered that our neighbor's palm tree had

indeed blown over. Oh well that little bit of self

talk helped me sleep that night!

I live in a very nice flat.....but not a very "tight"

flat. The rain poured in from under the doors

and through the windows.

December Zone Conference and Christmas Celebration

During the first week in December all the missionaries
serving here in Fiji came into Suva for Zone Conference
and a Christmas celebration. They were here 5 days.
Sister Seare and I were in charge of feeding the "5000".
(I think it was more like 90) We prepared two lunches
and one Christmas dinner. Here we are getting ready
to serve the Zone Conference lunch....sloppy joes with
vegetable sticks and chips and homemade cookies.
We have learned that most of the missionaries are more
interested in quantity over quality. I think we pulled
off both! All the work is worth it when those big
handsome missionaries, with big smiles, thank us when
they hear they can have a second sloppy joe!


Elder and Sister Seare and I getting ready
to serve the Christmas dinner. We had
chicken breasts cooked in sour cream and
cheese over rice, two salads, rolls and then
brownie sundaes with crushed candy canes
sprinkled on top.



After the Christmas dinner they missionaries
had a talent show. This is Sister Logo (her real
name is Aumoeualogo) from Anchorage Alaska.




Sister Mailo from New Zealand. She taught
some of the sisters a Mauri "slap" dance and
she accompanied them on the drum.


The "slap" dance.



Sister Reeves...the only sr proselyting missionary.
She is such a good sport to do whatever the
younger missionaries do!


Some of the elders doing a war dance.


This was such a funny skit where the elders
got President Ostler to participate. They were
all pretending to jump rope. The elder on the
right of President Ostler is Elder Zeyer from
Melba, ID.


More fijian dancing.


Sister Tiraim from Kiribati doing a beautiful
island dance. I think all island girls are born
graceful!


Sister Soli and Sister Nair. Sister Soli is from
Hawaii and Sister Nair is from Fiji. She has
a twin sister also serving here.


More crazy elders!



These are the Zone leaders doing their "talent".
This is Elder Lloyd. He leaves to go home next
week....what a "truncky" guy!!!!


Elder Tavo and Elder Nay.


After the talent show Elder Nay asked President
and Sister Ostler, Elder and Sister Seare and
me to come up front. He told us how much
all the missionaries appreciate all the work
that went into the fun "weekend" etc etc.
He then presented us with a fijian plaque
with a picture of the mission and President
Uchtdorf. So thoughtful!!!



Getting out gift!


The plaque.




Sister Seare and I made 150 pillowcases for
Christmas gifts for the missionaries. These are
the ones the sister missionaries received. In the
middle is the mission logo....There is a man
on the other side of the island that stamped them for us.
We wrapped them each up with a ribbon and a candy
cane. It was fun!

President Uchtdorf's Visit

In November, President Uchtdorf came to Fiji.
It was a wonderful couple of days. The high
light for the mission was his speaking to all the
missionaries. We had a mission picture taken
with him and several of the area authorities, he
greeted each missionary individually and gave
us some wonderful training and counsel. This is
a picture of him with his daughter. We always
have a bowl of candy on the counter in the office.
We have had to post a sign by it reminding people
to take just one....instead of a handful. He
picked up the bowl and started to leave and then
asked us if the sign meant one piece of candy or
perhaps one bowl?


President Uchtdorf and our fabulous assistants,
Elder Nay from Richfield, Utah and Elder Tavo from
right here in Suva.



President and Sister Ostler and Sister and
President Uchtdorf in front of the Suva Fiji
Temple.




After President Uchtdorf spoke to the mission,
President and Sister Ostler hosted a dinner
for President and Sister Uchtdorf and the stake
presidents and their wives and other church
leaders here in Fiji. Sister Stanford (2nd from
right) was the chef. She prepared a wonderful
meal of pork tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes,
vegetables, salad, rolls and an incredible custard
and berry dessert. Sister Seare and I were lucky
enough to help out. President and Sister Uchtdorf
came into the kitchen to thank us.





I was lucky enough to get my picture taken with
President Uchtdorf. It was an experience I will
never forget!

The Mission Office

Just wanted to record what goes on in the Mission
Office here in Fiji! (Elder Lloyd got a set of nerf
guns from home. I had to protect myself.)


This is where I spend a good portion of my days.
Besides answering the phone and doing general
office work on the computer, I run a lot of errands
for the mission. One of the biggest perks of
this job is getting to know most of the wonderful
missionaries here in Fiji!



Elder and Sister Seare. She is the mission nurse
and he is a jack of all trades. If you want some-
thing done, Elder Seare will find a way.




Sister Ostler. She is one of the busiest ladies
around. She is mom to all the missionaries,
besides being the mission president's right
hand "man".





President Ostler. He presides over 140+ missionaries
in 3 different countries, with 3 different languages,
and many different dialects. This is the board in
his office that shows all the missionaries, where
they are all serving and who their companions are.
President Calister (area president) said this is definitely
one of the most challenging missions. President
and Sister Ostler do a fabulous job!!!!

Diwali

Nina and Sonia invited the ward missionaries, the
full time missionaries, and me over to celebrate
Diwali. Diwali is the Hindu Christmas. The homes
are decorated with lights, fireworks are lit off all
night long, and they make many "sweets". We were
served pumpkin curry, bean curry and puri (a very
small tortilla which you use to eat your curry), + the
sweets. We had a wonderful time. The company
was great!


I wore my "indian" top and Sonia
wore her jewelry.



All the women employees in the service center
dressed in the traditional indian outfits to
celebrate Diwali. When I got the the office, Eileen,
(in the middle in red) told me she had brought in
outfits for me and Sister Kasteler to wear. I am very
yellow, aren't I!




Sister Kasteler is from SLC. She and Elder
Kasteler do the auditing for the area. They
travel all over.....such a tough mission. (ha ha)





The assistants to the President had their pictures
taken with us. Elder Tavo is from Suva and Elder
Nay is from Richfield, Ut. They are wonderful,
awesome, FUN missionaries!