Random Pictures

These are the elders that went home last month.
(except Elder Wood) They probably won't be
wearing their sulus much anymore....


This was a fun activity we had with all the senior
sisters at Sister Ostler's home. It was a cooking
class where Sister Stanford, who was a caterer
in her previous life, showed us how to make several
yummy things. My favorite was pineapple, papaya
salsa. It was incredible!



This is Sister Radavukivuki. She is one of the
cleaning ladies here and she always brings us
in flowers that she has used in her ward on Sunday.
She does the arranging and all the flowers come
out of her yard. Aren't they beautiful! (Both the
flowers and the florist!)

The Market

Suva has a huge fruit and vegetable market
down by the wharf. Any kind of fruit or veggie
that the grow in Fiji, you can buy there.


This boy with the wheelbarrow walked around
with us and as we bought something he would
put it in the wheelbarrow and then he loaded it
in the trunk for us when we were finished. All
that service for just a dollar or two! Most of
these "wheelbarrow" boys don't go to school.



Zillions of little peppers. The indian cooks especially
like these. They are HOT.




More bannanas than you would ever know what
to do with!





Yummy eggplant. Next time I go, I'll get
more pictures of more produce.

Trip to Korovou

Here is a family selling fruit and vegetables by
the side of the road. I bought some lemons
from them, that I thought were oranges.....


A Fijian beauty!



This family was selling fish. They said they had
just caught them in the river..the trouble is you
never know what "just" means. This mom was
so proud of her little daughter!




The two fish were all that this family was selling!
I so hope someone bought them! If not, I bet they
had them for dinner.

Trip to Korovou

This is why we drove all the way to Korovou.
The land for this chapel was donated by a
member. It is about 2 miles up a dirt road, on
top of a big hill (very small mountain..). It is
a spectacular location....the people here call it
the "Jewel of the Nile". They are very proud
of it.


Looking down from the chapel at a very colorful
home.



You can see how thick the foilage is here in
Fiji. But look.....there are electrical lines running
up the hill. Unfortunately not everyone is able
to afford to have the electical power...




This was so fun to watch. This group of children
had made their own slippery slide...They would
climb up to the top of this hill and slide down in
the red dirt to the bottom, get up and do it again.
They looked like they were having a ball!





Same group of children playing by the side of
their "slippery slide".

Trip to Korovou

What would an LDS Church be without a basketball
court?


Elder Finch and Elder Burton, our missionaries
in Korovou.



This is the home of the ward mission leader in
Korovou. The LITTLE room that sticks out
there in front is the kitchen. The elders didn't
know for sure how many people lived here, but
they said many did.




I am sad that the fence went right through the
middle of this picture. This is the ward mission
leader and his son. You can't see it, but the son
was holding a big machete. He had been cutting
something. I just had to say a prayer that he
wouldn't cut off his toes! (no shoes) The elders
said they had seen even littler children carrying
around and playing with machetes and pitchforks
etc......ugh!





On the way back from the chapel we went passed
this woman carrying her cassava in her woven leaf
basket on her back. It is actually quite a handy was
of transporting items!

Trip to Korovou

This group of children were walking down the
road below the chapel. We had lollies (candy)
for them and they came running!


Fiji has the saddest looking dogs I have ever seen
in my life! This dog was just off the road as we
drove up to see the chapel. I don't think they
have dogs as "pets". I know in Suva they eat
mostly garbage. They would never think of
getting them dog food. Of course, most people
can't afford that.



This was a very nice home on the way to the
chapel. There was a small dirt road that leads
to the house and there was actually a grassy yard!...
very unusual.




A man walking down the road with his cassava
to sell. His baskets are woven leaves. Cassava
is tapioca. They eat it like we would potatoes.
It doesn't have much taste and I understand it
has no nutritional value....but it fills you up.





A mother and her son (wearing a towel). They
loved their lollies.

Trip to Korovou

Sometimes they paint their little metal siding
homes very interesting colors! I also believe
wash day is everyday. There is always clothing
on the line.


This is a rugby game in front of the school. They
love rugby in Fiji. At least 50% of the newspaper
is full of rugby news. This was a muddy field and
they were having a ball!



Some play with shoes on, some don't.




Every village has a chief. This was a beautifully
kept home in one of the villages. Sister Wood
said there was no doubt that that is where the
chief lives.

Trip to Korovou

On Friday, May 29 it was a public holiday here in
Fiji...Ratu Sukuna Day. He was a great statesman
in the 1930's. President Ostler told us to take part
of the day and do something fun, so Elder and Sister
Wood and I decided to drive to Korovou to see the
chapel there that is up high on a mountain side above
the little town. As we drove out of Suva, on our way
north, we saw these three beautiful little girls "climbing"
a tree.


This is an orphanage for girls outside of Nausori.



I had to take a picture of this pretty little
Methodist Church.




This is what most of the homes look like outside
of Suva.

Our Flatmates

These are three of 17 missionaries that were
coming and going last week. It was crazy, but
so fun to meet them. These three sister are from
Vanuatu and have been at the MTC in New Zealand.
They will all be serving in Vanuatu. They stayed
with us for two nights. The one on the left is Sister
Livu, then Sister Taribakotu and Sister Tari.
Sister Tari is about the size of my oldest grandson
who is 10!




Sisters Livu and Taribakotu. Sister Vagarau
made them a drink that she made with the leaves
off a tree in the backyard. She said they were
lemon leaves, but it didn't look like a lemon tree
to me. She boiled them for a while and then
added some powdered milk and sugar to it.
It was good. They had it along with some toast
and seemed perfectly happy!



This is Sister Reeves and Sister Vagarau....they
share the flat with me.

Enrichment Activity, Suva First Ward

We had a great Relief Society Enrichment Activity
a few weeks ago. To begin with we were shown how
to make an incredible tomato chutney Sister
Hussain and Sister Buksch showed us how. They
are both indian and use wonderful indian spices.
Not store bought dried spices, spices they have grown
and dried and crushed....yum!


This is Sister Draniatu and Sister Maria Hussain.
Her mother is the RS President and her husband
is the Bishop.



Sister Hussain, the RS Pres. and her daughter,
Shareene. Sister Husssain turned 72 on Sunday.




Another Sister Buksch and Sister Adamson. She
is married to an Australian who is working here
for a year.





After they showed us how to make the chutney,
we were taken into the RS room where these
tables were sete up. We each had a name card
at our place setting. They were famous women's
names. Some biblical, some modern, some from
church history. We were then asked to tell what
Christ-like qualities "our" woman had. It was
great. Then we were served the best food that
I have eaten since arriving in Fiji. It is called
Palau (I think). It is a rice/chicken dish with
incredibiel spices in it. A little spicey, but not
too much. No matter what dish they are cooking
they always throw in the entire chicken. So your
serving will have yummy chicken with lots of
bones. They are experts at getting the chicken off
the bone while it is in their mouth....me, not so much.
My plate had bones with quite a bit of meat on them,
theirs were just clean bones! We spooned the tomatoe
chutney onto the palau....it was heaven. Sister Hussain
told me she would come teach all of us sr. missionaries
how to make it next month. Maybe I will actually be
able to duplicate it when I get home....maybe.

Lunch

The morning after the ball, the young adults from
the western side of the island did baptisms for the
dead and then we fed them lunch before they
boarded the bus for home.

Many of the sr. missionaries contributed to

the lunch, but Sister Stanford headed it up and

everyone loved her sweet and sour chicken over rice!

We had a wonderful time together.