In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
A new adventure begins on the 15th of August we began our travels first to San Francisco then an overnighter to Auckland New Zealand. Whew!
There were only two senior couple missionaries the third couple were still trying to get visas, which created a little bit of concern since I had not yet received a visa for Fiji. My visa finally arrived Thursday, we left on Friday. I was thinking during that week of thoughtful prayer that maybe Janet could go on ahead and get our flat ready, she said NO to that idea. The week in the MTC was a great experience as we learned from Preach My Gospel. Our teacher was a returned missionary from Tahiti, he did a great job our getting us into the spirit of our mission.
We left Friday morning 7:45 for Nadi Fiji, it was a three hour flight, after landing in Nadi we needed to quickly get to a domestic terminal for our flight to Suva. Let me step back a bit, and tell you a story of blessings. When we left for this adventure we were allotted on one bag each of 50 pound which was a big problem so we decided that we would pay the extra and let Janet take two bags, that worked because we also had carry on bags and a computer bag that we could place under the seats. You know it's easier for me to travel light but not for Janet, it's a girl thing. OK, here's the story when we got the airport to fly to Fiji the rules changed we would need to again pay for the extra bag and the carry on, it could only be 15 lbs and the computer bag only 7 lbs, also my carry on was to big at this airport so it needed to be loaded as baggage. Now with our last experience and a lost bag in Paris I couldn't afford the risk of losing my carry on because I had 3 months of medicine in it. At the airport as we were checking in for some reason my passport wouldn't check through in the computer check-in, so we had to go to get a air New Zealand worker to help us with the check-in. Well, she happened to be a member of the church, as we explained to her our concerns she was able to make arrangements with the manager for us to take the carry on on to the plane and let us through with the baggage at no additional cost.
In Nadi the plane was so small they had to load my carry-on as baggage, which wasn't bad because we were only going one place, Suva.
We arrived in Suva and were greeted by senior missionaries the Felsmans and the Wards. They are both from Idaho and both are serving as Self Reliance Missionaries. The Wards arrived the previous week and the Felsmans have been a couple months. They took us to the temple where a car was waiting for us and told us to follow them to our apartment. Elder Felsman is a retired law enforcement officer and if you know their kind they like to drive fast so, needless to say that was our first adventure in Suva! We also went grocery shopping after we got our baggage unloaded, our flat was just rented a couple days before we got there and was devoid of any thing edible.
Saturday they came and took us to Cost-U-Less to finish buying things we need at our flat. It was in this store that sticker shock hit, the cost of two bottles of Peanut butter that you might buy at Costco's was scary. To ease the pain a little the exchange rate is about two to one, so in American that would only be about $21.00. We had an appointment with our Mission President and his wife so we left to meet them, but sister Felsman needed some vegetables so we stopped at the market to pick some up.
After stopping at the market we went to meet with our Mission President and his wife about 12:30 to get to know them, and have lunch. He took us into Suva city to a Holiday inn. It was nice there because the Inn is right on the waterfront.
President and sister Higgins are from New Zealand and arrived in Fiji the first of July. As we listened to him I think he is a great fit, he is a very fast learner and is willing to let those around him help guide him through the first bit of time here, oh, and he's a surfer.
Church on Sunday, it was ward conference, so we met our stake president, who also happens to be a teacher at the college. Pres. Qaqa. What an amazing man. When sacrament meeting started I realized how humble and pure many of the saints here are. A sister said the prayer in a way I have never experienced, she started the way anyone in the church might and gave thanks for all we have and the church and the temple and anything we might have now and in the future, and then she started again. She is an inspiration to me. I knew then the reason I was called here is to learn Humility. Our ward
is the Samabula !st and our Bishop is Bishop Quqa, he is the stake presidents son.
Monday Morning bright and early we went to the the college to meet the staff and get acquainted.
We met for a Monday morning devotional and faculty meeting, we were taught by the Seminary teacher who, I believe, teaches all of the Monday morning devotionals.
Following the faculty meeting the students were gathered in the gym and and a student devotional. The students had had a two week hiatus and were returning from their holiday. They sang their school song and had a few words of greeting from the principal and assistants, then went off to prepare for a feast of some sort.
I'm not sure what the feast is about, but I will fill you in in the next blog. The students went to the farm and picked vegetables and cleaned chickens. I think they know where their food comes from and it isn't the meat and produce aisle in the grocery store.
Well I guess I'll finish and prepare for tomorrow. We will start teaching the courses next week and that should be a learning experience for me.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning, Prov. 1:5. I know it is an old scripture but I hope that the teachers and I will be in tune with it.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real and will bless the lives of those that search and find and act upon it's principals.
We left Friday morning 7:45 for Nadi Fiji, it was a three hour flight, after landing in Nadi we needed to quickly get to a domestic terminal for our flight to Suva. Let me step back a bit, and tell you a story of blessings. When we left for this adventure we were allotted on one bag each of 50 pound which was a big problem so we decided that we would pay the extra and let Janet take two bags, that worked because we also had carry on bags and a computer bag that we could place under the seats. You know it's easier for me to travel light but not for Janet, it's a girl thing. OK, here's the story when we got the airport to fly to Fiji the rules changed we would need to again pay for the extra bag and the carry on, it could only be 15 lbs and the computer bag only 7 lbs, also my carry on was to big at this airport so it needed to be loaded as baggage. Now with our last experience and a lost bag in Paris I couldn't afford the risk of losing my carry on because I had 3 months of medicine in it. At the airport as we were checking in for some reason my passport wouldn't check through in the computer check-in, so we had to go to get a air New Zealand worker to help us with the check-in. Well, she happened to be a member of the church, as we explained to her our concerns she was able to make arrangements with the manager for us to take the carry on on to the plane and let us through with the baggage at no additional cost.
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| Nadi Airport |
We arrived in Suva and were greeted by senior missionaries the Felsmans and the Wards. They are both from Idaho and both are serving as Self Reliance Missionaries. The Wards arrived the previous week and the Felsmans have been a couple months. They took us to the temple where a car was waiting for us and told us to follow them to our apartment. Elder Felsman is a retired law enforcement officer and if you know their kind they like to drive fast so, needless to say that was our first adventure in Suva! We also went grocery shopping after we got our baggage unloaded, our flat was just rented a couple days before we got there and was devoid of any thing edible.
Saturday they came and took us to Cost-U-Less to finish buying things we need at our flat. It was in this store that sticker shock hit, the cost of two bottles of Peanut butter that you might buy at Costco's was scary. To ease the pain a little the exchange rate is about two to one, so in American that would only be about $21.00. We had an appointment with our Mission President and his wife so we left to meet them, but sister Felsman needed some vegetables so we stopped at the market to pick some up.
After stopping at the market we went to meet with our Mission President and his wife about 12:30 to get to know them, and have lunch. He took us into Suva city to a Holiday inn. It was nice there because the Inn is right on the waterfront.
President and sister Higgins are from New Zealand and arrived in Fiji the first of July. As we listened to him I think he is a great fit, he is a very fast learner and is willing to let those around him help guide him through the first bit of time here, oh, and he's a surfer.Church on Sunday, it was ward conference, so we met our stake president, who also happens to be a teacher at the college. Pres. Qaqa. What an amazing man. When sacrament meeting started I realized how humble and pure many of the saints here are. A sister said the prayer in a way I have never experienced, she started the way anyone in the church might and gave thanks for all we have and the church and the temple and anything we might have now and in the future, and then she started again. She is an inspiration to me. I knew then the reason I was called here is to learn Humility. Our ward
Monday Morning bright and early we went to the the college to meet the staff and get acquainted.
Well I guess I'll finish and prepare for tomorrow. We will start teaching the courses next week and that should be a learning experience for me.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning, Prov. 1:5. I know it is an old scripture but I hope that the teachers and I will be in tune with it.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is real and will bless the lives of those that search and find and act upon it's principals.
