March 2023

During the month of March we were happy to host Flat Amber. This was a project of our niece, who lives in Cedar City, Utah, and is in the 2nd grade. While Flat Amber was with us we were able to take her on a few adventures. We'll let her tell all her adventures in her own words:

 

The first trip was to Levuka on Orvalau Island. We left on March 10 and came back on March 12th.

You can just see the ferry 
approaching over Uncle Steve's
left shoulder

The ferry is a very nice boat with air conditioning, a snack bar, and lots of nice seats both inside the cabin and out on the deck.

Levuka is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji, and a very busy sea port. Today the main business is a fish packing factory. 

This guard at the factory helped
us with some directions.

These police officers were
very friendly

                                                                                                                                                                                    

I finally met 
someone my own age
at the produce market.

There were lots of fruits and vegetables I didn't 
recognise, but I know what coconuts are!

The inside of the church is 
very nice, and a friendly 
lady told us they have services
there every Sunday.

There is a very old church tower
with a clock that stopped a 
long time ago. Uncle Steve
says it has  the right time 
twice a day.

The view from the top
was wonderful!

There are 200 steps to climb 
and I went up and down 
all of them!

Uncle Steve drove me completely
around the island (while Aunt Mickey
took a nap) 
We stopped to watch a rugby game.

This is Saula. He plants seeds in the 
garden, takes care of the family 
chicken, and he helped paint the 
bottom border around his house. 

Our next trip was to Naikawaga village on March 20, 2023. Most homes are made of corrugated metal sheeting. Most villages are small, between 40-60 houses. They have a church, usually in the center. Most of the time it is a Catholic church or a Methodist church.  Most of the people in the village belong to that church. 

Each village has a chief. The chief meets with the village council to decide on policies and project for improving the village. The chief and the council members decide if the missionaries can come into the village and teach people who are interested in hearing about the Book of Mormon and the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it takes many visits from missionaries and church leaders before permission is granted. 

Some villages have piped water and almost all have electricity. If the village does not have running water, they have large tanks to catch and store the rainwater.  The families of the village have been there for years. When relatives go to the city to live, they often go home to the village for weekends, holidays, or special occasions. The villagers depend on the land for food and the sea for fish. The main food crops are dalo, cassava, pumpkin, watermelon, pineapple banana, papaya, ginger, tomato, cucumber, and beans. 

We went to the village this day to check on some gardens that were planted a few weeks ago, and to see the new village infirmary that is ready to be stocked with equipment so the people in Naikawaga can have a first-aid station close to them.

The New Infirmary. The village
builds the building and church humanitarian
aid provides the medical supplies. 

The inside seemed pretty spacious
to me.

I love puppies! This little one
is 5 weeks old.

I got to check out the village 
transport truck. This transport is 
used every day to take people to
school and to work. Sometimes it
takes our members to church on Sunday

When we were in Suva (which was most of the time)  we got to go to a class of students who are my age (7). Their class is called Year 2. I'm used to calling it 2nd Grade! This is the LDS Primary School, so we all sang "I Am a Child of God". I loved meeting school-aged friends!

I was also able  to meet real missionaries, and some of the people who take care of the Mission Home, the Mission Office, and the Temple.

Sister Halle, Sister Amusson, 
Sister Hall and Sister
Taarau.

Michael and David--two very
important  people because they
can fix anything if it breaks!

The Suva Fiji Temple
The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-Day Saints

Elder Coleman and Elder Muhammad and some
boys in the neighbourhood who love to see them come
and go.

Our last trip was to Nadi to present self-reliance to 2 different groups. Since one meeting was Saturday and one meeting was Sunday we stayed overnight at a beach front resort called Crusoe's Retreat, and got a brief taste of "tourist Fiji". It was great, and I sure wish we could have stayed longer!

This was a great view of the Nadi area from the 
rooftop of our hotel. Nadi is on the western side of the island
and has a lot more agriculture, as well as many resorts
and the main airport, which is a hub for the entire 
Oceania region.

We were able to get a little
beach time. The water is 
clear and warm.

We took a walk very early on 
Sunday morning and met Jacobai, 
who was eating his breakfast. He wanted
to share it with me. 

There's nothing like a good hammock
to rest and think and pray. 

We sure enjoyed having Flat Amber with us during the month of March. She gave us many opportunities to explain to people who we represent and why we are here in Fiji. I know that she will become a great missionary herself one day!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is truly a blessing to us and all the world. The Book of Mormon is a wonderful resource to teach us about Jesus Christ and bless our lives with its testimony and witness that He is real, that He loves us, and that we can be blessed and strengthened when we read it.

Currently my favourite verse is Alma 37:37

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and He will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

February

Our most unusual experience in February was a trip to a Narocivo Village on the Rewa River to be guests for a Fijian Cultural experience. "What does that have to do with Self Reliance?" you may be wondering. 

The stake  president, President Qoroya, has been working with several of the villages along the river to promote the Self Reliance classes. When he counseled with the leaders of Narocivo, he learned that they had a group of skilled dancers that had toured New Zealand and Australia, presenting at tourist locations. Unfortunately, the way they managed the income from performances, and the travel expenses involved, the group came home with no financial gain. President Qoroya pointed out to the village council that they had a valuable asset, got them started on the Self Reliance books "Financial Management" and "Starting and Growing My Business" and encouraged them to explore business opportunities. The village has organized to become a tourist destination, and our group (Senior Missionary couples and Nausori stake leaders), was the first (test) audience

There was a lookout on the river
to give early warning to the village
that our boat was approaching

After arriving by boat, we were carefully escorted
to dry ground, our feet never touched the 
water!

.

Elder Himle, Elder Hinkson
Elder & Sister Walker

I came prepared with my own
Sulu (women don't wear pants 
in the village) but the other 
sisters with us were presented
with a piece of Tapa cloth at the boat landing.

The villagers had prepared the trail from the river carefully, and there was never a pool or muddy spot that didn't have a safe passage around it. 

Sentry Duty

Sentry announcing our 
safe arrival

Since this presentation was a trial run (one of our jobs was to give constructive feedback about the experience) we had the unique opportunity of being able to relax about pictures. Almost every villager had their camera trained on our group through the day, and one of our escorts assured us that they would be happy to share pictures.

The welcoming song

                  

The straw was cut from 
a river reed. 

                          

We were made very comfortable

Lovo for lunch
The traditional Fijian pit barbeque

While lunch was being prepared, our guide took 
us to the bridge  (about 1 km) that allows passage from the 
village to the main river landing, where the 
school is located. A bridge, and someone
to take the picture is always a good opportunity 
for a kiss!

After lunch, the music and dancing began. No, I
am not leading the conga line. The guy behind me is
"directing" this affair!

There was lots of ceremonial recognition and mutual
appreciation expressed

Back to the boat for the homeward trip. This time high tide
made entering the boats much easier.

Ni Sa Bula

January 2023

January

December

     December in Fiji Means Christmas on the Beach!

Three raised beds with bamboo

sides, two in the front

and one to the side in the back                             

All farmers need Gum Boots

                                   

    

             

Steve constructed tomato
cages with bamboo poles

 

December started with the completion of our garden bed, and getting it planted. We spent so much time with the seed project for the Korovou District, that both Steve and I were longing to create our own garden. I spent a few hours viewing YouTube videos made by jungle gardeners and farmers, because when I ask questions, I get a lot of blank looks. I have come to realize that means “everything grows; the climate is year-round; we never ‘make’ a garden—we live in a garden”. That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I soon connected with the fellow “city” gardeners who work in the office, and I realized that I had been asking a lot of “stupid” questions! Fortunately, that’s never bothered me! I was able to successfully start 12 sweet basil plants, and about 40 tomato plants from seed (I planted 6 in the garden bed and gave away the rest tied with a red ribbon). Germinating parsley was an epic fail, but I found some starter plants in a great nursery, called the Flame Tree Nursery, in Nadi. Most nurseries focus on landscape plants, and finding vegetable and herb starts is rare. The herbs are all doing very well, and I love being able to harvest from my pots and use them for cooking.

We have a self-reliance program here in Fiji that was designed and produced by the Pacific area office called Eat Healthy, Be Active. It is a 12-week course, with lots of good information and activities, but it is very complicated and somewhat intimidating for an average facilitator with no medical background. The area office staff participated in the full course in 2019, and as far as I’ve been able to determine, nothing has been done with it since. We have stacks of boxes full of manuals sitting in a storage area, taking up space. After talking to a few of our fellow office inhabitants, I offered to facilitate an employee group, on my terms. So, on December 1st we had our first office group. About 25 attended and were able to record their numbers. I had a scale, a blood pressure cuff, a blood glucose monitor, and a tape measure. We identified our December goal as:  “NO weight gain over the holidays” 

In the January class
I used a presentation 
board to get some practice
 without electronics

These are the rules we established for the month:

1-Do not drink sugar. Water only. (If you NEED a sugar drink, 

have it with a meal.)  

2-Three meals a day. Nothing but water in between meals. Get 12-14 hours of no food between dinner and breakfast. 

3-Move more. Try to get at least 10 minutes of exercise after most meals.

 Strategy: Plan 3 feast days with no rules.

I put weekly content on an email group and a Facebook group. Each week, I invited someone to share their story, good or bad, about how they were making changes, and I repeatedly reminded friends in the break room that I am NOT the “food police”. One of my "terms" is that we meet monthly instead of weekly (that’s all I can handle in our schedule!) I’m going to report here that at our January 5^th meeting there was good news and bad news.

 

Good news: 8 people of the original 25 showed up. 4 lost weight, and no one gained. Also, 2 new people came.

Bad news: Only 8 people came back for more. I also picked up on some very bad blood glucose readings. 

 

 

I have 2 ulterior motives. One is to get a few people confident enough, and enthusiastic enough to take the program out to their individual wards, and the other is to expand the timeline out long enough so that some success can be demonstrated over time.

We will persist. I’ve committed to one meeting a month until the end of our mission, or until no one is interested any more. My challenge now is to find content that will appeal, educate, and support the goals. 

 

Staging the supplies

On the weekend of December 18^th Steve was able to have a great adventure. We found out about 4 pm on Saturday that President Qoroya (pronounced Gor- oi-ya) of the Nausori Stake was taking a leadership group to a village on the Rewa River for Sacrament meeting and self-reliance training, and he wanted Self-Reliance missionaries along for the ride. We already had commitments for Sunday, so we decided to divide and conquer, and Steve went on the river trip. He said it was like the Disneyland Jungle Cruise minus  crocodiles and natives with spears. The village has several members of the church, and they are getting ready to be a unit, so they can have Sacrament meeting without traveling every Sunday. The village is also getting ready to be  tourist stop, so self-reliance classes are very popular.  The villagers provided a nice lunch, and the Stake leadership provided ice cream. A good time was had by all!

    

              

Steve, President & Sister Qoroya, and other
Stake leaders

     

Landing at the village

Deliver supplies

Ice cream village style

When I heard they took
ice cream, I was so 
surprised!

Senior missionary dinner, farewell 
to Roper's
And welcome Lesuma's, our new 
Temple President and Matron

Part of my commitment for staying in town was to say goodbye to our dear friends, fellow missionaries, and next-door neighbors, the Roper’s. They were headed to Nadi for their flight to the States, but they wanted to attend an English-speaking ward one time before they left, and chose the ward that meets in the original LDS building in Suva. Since that was the ward we attended pre-Covid, we agreed to go with them, see old friends, and host them for lunch before they started the trip. It’s always a bittersweet moment to send someone home. We sure miss them. 

 

Elder&Sister Roper(left)
Elder&Sister Hatch(right)

The week before Christmas brought some challenging health issues for 2 of our sister missionaries.  I was spending a lot of time helping, and at one point, while I was meeting with President Marcus, I looked at him and said, 

“You really need a nurse!” 

He totally agreed, and since I was very willing, he sent the request to the area office in New Zealand.  I figured nothing was going to happen “officially” until after the holidays. The next morning, I had an email from Mission Medical in Salt Lake welcoming me as the new “Mission Health Coordinator” for the Fiji, Suva mission, and granting me access to all the computer medical sites that I need to do the job. We think that I can fill that role and still be very active in the self-reliance projects, and Steve has been wonderfully supportive, and drops everything if a missionary needs medical help. He is a joy to work with. Glad I married him!

 

We advanced the request for funding, that Steve has nurtured so diligently, to the point of sending it to the area office in NZ the first week of December. We got word on the 13 Dec that the request has been granted, we have been named project managers, and all the funds that we have used so far can be redirected from fast offerings to our project funds. We were thrilled!

 

Elders Lipua&Martinez, Elder&Sister Walker
Elder&Sister Whippy, Uraia&Margi Levaci
The Billinghurst's from NZ 
Steve and Mickey Hinkson
Lenord Whippy, Jarom and Israel
Sister Vakalata&Sister Kumar

We had a quiet Christmas. Went to the best local    Chinese restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner with several other senior missionaries. We went to Verata branch for Sacrament meeting on Sunday Morning. After the meeting, the Patton’s (who are the other senior couple assigned to Verata branch) and we handed out a couple of bags of small gifts and toys to the children in attendance—there were about 35 children. We were so touched with their response, smiles, laughter, and general delight. Then, after a couple of rounds of loot, they started identifying the children of the families who were not in attendance. They wanted to make sure that gifts were set aside to give to them as well. We were humbled. 

We took a chill day the rest of the afternoon. Our colleague and “boss” at the Fiji Country Office, Uraia Levaci, invited us and the Walker’s (our humanitarian couple) to his home for dinner, which turned out to be a sumptuous “lovo”, Fiji’s traditional pit barbeque. One set of elders and one set of sisters and a few extended family members were with us, and it was a very pleasant afternoon and evening.

 

Small circle is Suva, large circle is 
Taveuni

I’ll cover our New Year’s trip to Taveuni here, because it began on 28 December, and it was so fun. Mostly, I’ll let the pictures tell the story. It was our Holiday splurge, and we booked at a resort called Coconut Grove in November. We also booked a snorkeling trip on a boat that goes to Rainbow Reef, a world-class dive site. It was wonderful to be able to look forward to the trip for over a month. In the meantime, when Uraia found out what our plans were, he said we could book an extra night and spend some time meeting with the district and branch leaders to talk about Self-Reliance.

!Didn’t have to   twist our arms

!The perfect South Pacific View

 I didn’t really understand the effects of the stress we’ve been working under until I walked out on the veranda of the resort and took in that perfect South Pacific view. I could feel my whole body loosening up and relaxing. The ladies that ran the resort were like a group of nurturing mothers! Anything we wanted from the resort, from a kayak to a massage in the bure on the beach. We ate wonderful food, beautifully prepared, and had time to just sit and enjoy the environment. What a great way to end one year and start the next

 

 

 

Love traveling in small planes

 

The Maitei Elders

Always good to have a 
snorkling buddy

The first fall of the 
Tavoro Waterfall
hike

The viewpoint rest stop. I didn't make it much 
further, but Steve got up  to the top (third) fall

The international dateline runs through
Taveuni
We behaved appropriately

With the Maitei Elders, back in 
Missionary clothes

New Year's Day 
Sacrament meeting, Maitei Branch
The man between Steve
I was there for the first time
with his grandson

As soon as I saw it
I knew I needed to spend
some time in it 

90minutes of complete alone time

New Year's Day afternoon

Welcome 2023