December started off with a fun trip for us. We were assigned to present our Welfare Self-Reliance (WSR) to both the branch council on Malake Island, and the Lautoka Stake council. The whole stake council was prepared to visit the Malake branch on the first Sunday in December, so we joined them and got to have a wonderful meeting on the island, which is about a 30 minute boat ride from Rakiraki. We decided not to take our TV monitor with us, so left the car parked at the hotel and took a taxi to the dock. When we saw the size of the boats for transport, we knew we had made the right decision. The branch meets in the village school, about a 5 minute walk from the shore.
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| The entire Lautoka Stake Council, President Yee and his wife far left. |
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| Malake Island is on the left horizon |
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| It took 4 boats to transport our group over to the island. The passage was very smooth on the morning trip, a little rougher on the return. |
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| Saying goodbye--come as strangers, leave as friends |
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| We walked a little further to the boats on the way back because of low tide. Rakiraki in on the horizon. |
We had Sacrament meeting and Sunday School, then we were able to present WSR to the leaders of the stake and branch. Elder Hinkson also discovered that the monitor on the wall of the school room was compatible with the cables he had with him, so we were able to use our PowerPoint to full advantage. He let the group know that we were very grateful for that miracle!
After the meeting we hiked up the hill to the school multipurpose room where the sisters in the branch had prepared a wonderful lunch. The main source of income for the village is fishing, so it was not a real surprise to find that they were serving about 5 varieties of fish, cooked by various methods, including an open fire pit, which is my favourite!
Every Thursday at lunch time, the women on the office staff meet together in the conference room to eat lunch (bring your own) and discuss a conference talk. The first Thursday in December was special because Fiji was having a country-wide gathering of kids 14-18 for the FSY program (For Strength of Youth). Over 1500 kids attended. Sister Emily Freeman, General Young Women's President, was here for the program. Since so many of our office staff were deeply involved in the conference, Sister Freeman was invited to our Thursday lunch group.
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| Back left is Sister Freeman, then clockwise: Queenie, Naomi, Mickey, Peniete, Maya, Sia, Venenia, Shivy, Sammi, Melika, Ana, Rebecca. This is the biggest group we've ever had for Thursday Lunch! |
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| Beautiful Day Beautiful Temple Beautiful Women |
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| Sister Freeman and Sister Hinkson |
I'll let Sister Freeman tell you in her own words, published on the inklings.institute instagram page:
It was in Fiji that I asked the phenomenal women what D&C 25 and the windows of heaven had to do with each other.
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“Everything,” one of them replied with a twinkle in her eye.
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It was Thursday.
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Lunch.
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I usually went back to the hotel for lunch, but today our driver was taking me to see The Phenomenal Women, that’s what he called the group of Inklings women who meet every Thursday at lunch to discuss conference.
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Who knew we had so many friends in Fiji!
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They were phenomenal, by the way. And we discussed the scriptures and this conference talk for a bit. And we laughed. And one of them suggested I needed a kettle from Fiji which is now my favorite trip prize.
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And I was reminded once again of the strength of women. Especially when we gather to talk of Him.
As we sat and shared stories, I was intrigued with Sister Freeman's connection to Fiji. Her grandparents, the Oswald's, served here in the early 1960s. They were the first white senior couple to come to Fiji, and they worked with the 6 original members of the church here in Suva, as well as covering the rest of the islands in the Fiji group. They were presented with a tuba (whale's tooth), a great ceremonial honour, upon their departure from Fiji. Sister Freeman heard this story at the time of her call to be YW President. She went to the basement of her uncle's house and found the tuba (pronounced tumba). Had she not done that, it likely would have been discarded the next time there was a basement cleanup, as none of her family had heard the story. Our Fijian sisters were very impressed, and explained to her what a great honour it was to have been given permission to take the tuba out of the country. I'm pretty sure that artefact will have new life in the Freeman home.
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| This is a coconut Christmas tree at the venue where we held the office party. It went up 2 floors to the ceiling in the lobby. |
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| One way to have a white Christmas in the South Pacific is to invite all attendees of the office party to wear white. This is a fun memory. Unfortunately, Steve was feeling too sick to go with me. |
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| Senior couple dinner on December 9th. Steve stayed home sick |
The first week of December, Steve started getting the symptoms of the viral flu that was making the rounds. We did all the usual things to combat it (garlic, herbal tea, vitamins, etc) but he just kept getting worse. I knew when he was missing social time to stay home and sleep, that things weren't going so well. Saturday night to Sunday morning (Dec 9 & 10) he had an exceptionally bad night with fever, chills, cough, vomiting (etc). In his words "I never felt so sick in my life!". By Sunday morning he was very willing to go to the hospital and be treated with fluids, antibiotics, anti-emetics, pain relievers, and blood tests. The flu was viral, so comfort/supportive measures only. I took him in to see our personal doctor on Monday and we got a diagnosis of pneumonia. Steve's condition had me pretty worried by that point, and the discussion I had with the doctor was "Would it be better to get him to New Zealand while he can still walk on a plane, or should we wait a bit and possibly have to medically evacuate him?" The doctor, Rayneel Singh, was concerned enough about Steve's condition that he gave me his personal cell phone number and assured me that he would meet us at the hospital if we had to go back. Dr. Singh was such a blessing to me!
We stopped on the way home from the clinic and rented an oxygen concentrator, mainly for "just in case", but it also helped relieve some of Steve's symptoms (headache, shortness of breath).
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| The guy at the warehouse told me that there were no oxygen concentrators in Fiji before Covid. The hospitals and clinics only used tanks. We're very grateful they are available now! |
Monday evening, two of our senior missionaries, Elder Thevenin and Elder Boehm, gave Steve a priesthood blessing. He limped along, no better but no worse, for a couple of days. Then he started to improve . . . slowly. He was an obedient patient, and didn't go back into the office until the following Monday, and then only for half a day. With rest, regular meals, green smoothies, vitamin C fruits 3 times a day, chicken noodle soup, and sunshine, his energy returned. We were able to return the oxygen machine after a week. The cough persists, but it's more of an annoyance than a real concern now.
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| Gate repair |
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| Making the gate "automatic" again! |
23rd December Steve and I decided to take a taxi to Suva-town to do some shopping for the senior couple Christmas dinner (we were in charge). A taxi ride was essential because the market area was very crowded, and parking was impossible. (Have I ever mentioned how easy taxi travel is here?) We accomplished our errands, came home, had dinner, prepped 5 pineapples, continued with a baking project, and about 3 hours later I realised my phone was missing! We hunted, we called it, we back-tracked, we prayed, and we finally decided that it had probably fallen out of my pocket on the taxi ride home. I called Sister La'ulu (MPW) to let her know that missionaries would need to call Steve's phone if they were sick. When she put it out on the WhatsApp chat group, she asked all the missionaries to pray for its return. About 9 pm, it occurred to Steve that the "Find my Phone" feature might be useful. We tinkered with it for a while, and finally got a location about 10 miles outside of Suva, in the Nasinu area. The map looked like the phone was in the middle of a big field. We decided to drive out there and the trip took about an hour due to a 45 minute traffic jam. We got to the right area about 10:30, and started driving around all the little streets that were not identified on the map. We also continued to call my number about every 15 minutes. About 11:15, the taxi driver answered the phone! We called him back on his phone and he voice-directed us to the street where he lived. With the help of a lot of local taxi drivers (they all started coming out of their houses when Steve would approach the taxi in their driveway with a flashlight), several wrong turns and U-turns, and lovely Fijians pointing the way to the right street, we met the driver waving with my phone in his hand. I was so relieved! Many tears of gratitude were shed by the time we got home, after midnight. When I posted our success on WhatsApp, I bore my testimony of the power of prayer to all the missionaries. The next day the senior missionary in charge of phones told me that since he has been here he has not had one single lost or stolen phone returned to the mission.
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| Christmas Eve with senior couples at the front of the Fiji Temple |
Sunday Christmas Eve we went to our favourite Suva 1st ward. They had a lovely Christmas program, and we were able to visit with many old friends, new friends, and missionaries.
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| Emily, Sister Hussian, Emily's Mom and Mickey. I was invited into the picture because I wore a green dress! |
Christmas Day was a beautiful, sunny day. Several of the senior couples went to a beach an hour's drive to the west of Suva. Steve's energy was still only up to one event a day, so we stayed home and had a quiet morning. Our potluck Christmas dinner turned out really well. Music, games, and conversation. Clean-up was a group effort, leftovers divided for Boxing Day enjoyment, and we were home by 7 and in bed for the night by 8!
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| We specified the dress code as "island casual" |
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| From the left clockwise: Seeholtzers, Moyes, Klomps, Williams, Walks, Thevenins, Hinksons |
Another happy/sad event for us was the Thevenin's departure for home. Happy they get to return to home, family and friends in North Carolina. Sad that they will no longer be our next door neighbours. They were there to greet us at the Nadi airport when we landed in Fiji in Sept 2022. We will sure miss them.
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| Diana Thevenin and Mickey Hinkson |
The last Sunday in December we were staying in the west for a few days, so we attended church at the Sigatoka branch. During a Relief Society lesson on ministering, I was able to say a few words and bear my testimony. The spirit of the meeting was so sweet, I asked the sisters to gather for a picture after the meeting. They really got into the project and the rest of the branch members joined in and we had a picture-taking extravaganza!
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| The Sigatoka branch Relief Society 31 December 2023 |
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| Elder Poduska, Elder Herman Mickey and Sister Susu |
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| Leaders of the Sigatoka branch Relief Society 31 December 2023 |
Finally, every year I look for the piece of art that will inspire, encourage, and sustain my Christmas spirit. The picture below is my choice this year. I hope you all have at least one special memory of drawing close to the Saviour during this wonderful season.
Sending you love from Fiji
Steve and Mickey Hinkson
