Beautiful Bau Island

These are the members from the Bau Branch
that invited us to go to Bau Island. The brother's
father was hired by the church to translate the
Book of Mormon and was converted in the
process!


This lady used to be the "first lady" of Fiji.
Her husband was head of Fiji 20 years ago
before he died. This is when England ruled
Fiji. She is showing us a picture of Queen Elizabeth,
Prince Charles, her husband and herself when the
"royals" visited Fiji. They used to live in the
big palace that is here in Suva. She was so kind.
She spent a long time telling us about the history
of the island, showing us pictures and explaining
how Fiji changed from heathenism and cannibalism
to Christianity. It was so interesting.

This black rock wall runs all aroun the island.

The Methodist Church

I obviously don't know how to turn this

picture...sorry!

More from Bau Island

They call the people of the island to community
meetings with the shell.


This is the inside of the community meeting
house. The big beams in the ceiling are tied
together with the "string" from coconuts that
are woven together.



These wooden posts go all the way around the
large meeting hall. A slave was buried alive
under each post to make sure that no evil
spirits would attend their meetings.




The inside of the Methodist Church.





The "killing stone". The natives used to smash
the heads of their enemies on this stone before
they would eat them. The stone has been painted
white and the small bowl at the top is to hold
the water for baptisms. It is in the Methodist
Church.






Sisters Reeves, Erickson, Stagg and Seare and the
Chief!


One of the head chiefs of the island. He played
on the national rugby team until he was 35.
His ears were really deformed....because of playing
rugby for so many years. It's a rough game.







The meeting hall on Bau.

Bau Island

This is Sister Reeves and me getting ready to
take the motor boat ride to Bau Island. It was
about a 5-10 minute ride from the mainland.
We were invited (which you must be) by a member
of the Bau Branch who has a home on the island.



This is the wife of the member who invited us.
You are not allowed on the island without an
invitation from someone who is from there.
They do not live on Bau, but they do have a
family home there.



This is Elder and Sister Seare. They are from
Draper, Ut. Sister Seare is the new mission
nurse and Elder Seare is the new mission jack
of all trades.




Our other boat just docking on the island.





I just had to include this picture. This is what
we parked in front of at the dock (not on the island)
where we took the boat to Bau. I can't imagine
anyone would ever use this facility as it looks right
out onto the parking lot and there is no door. (to
say nothing of the overall creepiness of it)