October

October letter 2022

Elder Muhammad baptizing
Aluvereti in the Verata Branch

This is been a month of unique baptisms. The first Sunday of October we got word that our little branch in Verata was going to have a baptism at 9 AM. So we started out an hour earlier to travel up there. We had the service in the home of the first counselor in the branch presidency, because it has a very convenient creek. We had opening hymn, prayer, and Baptismal talk in the main room of the house and then trouped down the hill to the deep spot in the creek and the baptism took place. After the participants were dry, we finished the service, got up and stretched for a minute, and then started Sacrament meeting. 

Elder Andrew baptizing
Kelerayani in the Verata 
Branch

The following week there was another baptism scheduled, and it was also conference weekend for Fiji. There’s no Internet service back in the village where we attend, so we had the morning session downloaded on our laptop. After the 9 AM baptism service, we plugged the computer into the main room TV and sat and listened do the Fijian translation of the Sunday morning session. I found that as everybody was glued to the TV, I was able to discreetly bring up the talks on my phone and read them. It’s almost the same as listening to it in English, because you still have the tabernacle choir.

Our transport truck

 

On October 22 (Saturday) we were traveling to the west side of the island to do some Self-

The Beach in Sigatoka

Reliance training, and we planed to stop in a little town called Sigatoka on the way, because when we told the local branch president we were traveling through, he said he would be happy to meet with us after the baptism they had planned in their branch that day. We were supposed to arrive at 3 PM, but we were delayed by road construction so we called ahead and said “don’t wait for us, we’ll be late”. When we arrived at the church building we heard the members singing hymns and the branch president greeted us at the door. We quickly took seats in the back of the room and joined in the hymns, but the branch president continued to look anxiously out the door and down the road. We thought at first that the people to be baptized weren’t there but we spotted them a few rows in front of us, so we knew that wasn’t the problem. Pretty soon a transport truck pulled up and everyone in the room, about 20 people, went out to the truck, and climbed in over the tailgate (fortunately there wasn’t enough room for Steve and I and the branch president to fit in the transport so we went in our truck). We drove down the road about 4 or 5 km to a beach access, and held the baptismal service on the beach. I’ve seen lots of pictures, but this was the first time I’ve attended a baptism in the ocean.

We have several projects going, but at the beginning of every week we look at our calendar and think “It’s not gonna be very busy this week”. But at the end of the week,  “Wow! We were so busy this week!”

Parking was pretty tight
at Korovou Chapel.
Good thing Steve stays skinny!

One of our projects is helping the members of Korovou District

Several children from the 
Verata Branch

obtain seasonal supplies  and seeds for their vegetable gardens. This assignment sent us on a hunt throughout Fiji for supplies and methods of vegetable gardening in this climate. Our eyes have been educated. Since everything is green and lush and beautiful, we have been missing the little vegetable gardens tucked into many nooks and crannies around town, and also the larger farming operations that do a lot of intercropping. You see bananas, coconut, cassava, dalo, ginger, and sweet potatoes all in the same plot of ground, intermingled. As we travel further into the hills, the cultivated fields are sometimes very steep hillsides. What the members in the villages need is assistance with seeds and supplies (fertilizer, compost, weed killer, etc.) from season to season which, of course, here in Fiji  is year-round. Self-reliance comes into it because they’ve been taking their usual crops to market, and then have to bring them back home because everybody else takes the same kind of produce to market. We’re helping them nurture a greater variety of produce, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbages, and eggplant for their own consumption, as well as increasing opportunities at the market. Those vegetables take more care, and are more sensitive to growing conditions than the regular crops. The villagers also need to learn resource management a bit better so they end up with either enough money or enough seeds to take care of the next season's planting. 

Members enjoying shade and 
lunch after district meeting

Ding! Ding! Ding! Enter the self-reliance missionaries. We have 89 families living in districts on the north eastern side of the island between the main highway and the coast. As soon as we leave the main highway, we travel on gravel roads to the villages. Each branch has four or five villages associated with it. Steve and I (mostly Steve) are working with the district presidency and the branch president of each unit to put together a program that not only supplies resources, but also has an education component so these members don’t have to keep approaching charitable organizations for donations to keep their gardens going. We are starting off with fast offering funds, but Steve has been writing a proposal to go to the area welfare self-reliance (WSR) office in New Zealand for additional funding. He’s done an amazing job researching the available resources and getting it all down on paper to submit what is, essentially, a grant 

proposal to the area office.

The beautiful chapel in Korovou
with a garden growing on the property next 
to it

 We’ve been told that there is funding available for member projects, but this is relatively new and nobody  knows exactly how to apply for, and administrator those funds, including the area managers. With the encouragement of the Mission President, the district leaders, and the local WSR manager, we decided to jump in, be bold, and ask for money. It’s a lot more complicated than it sounds. Fortunately, Steve had grant proposal writing experience during his years with the Sacramento Police Dept.

We had our first senior missionary couple Farewell a week ago. All the senior couples (and two senior sisters) met

Senior Missionaries,
President & Sister Marcus
Fiji, Suva Mission
14 October 2022

for a potluck dinner at the Mission President’s home. The Denney’s have been here for 18 months taking care of the mission finances and the vehicle fleet. Steve and I went to Riverton, UT in April 2021 three times so he could train Sister Denney as the finance secretary. They served remotely for several weeks until they could actually come to Fiji. We sure love them and will miss them. We also had another couple go home unexpectedly, for health complications. The Jorgesen's were handling all the housing responsibilities. Their departure leaves a big gap in the mission office, because new missionaries from outside Fiji are coming in every transfer. All those flats sitting empty for two years have to be cleaned, then supplied, so missionaries can actually live in them. So far, my biggest responsibility to those projects has been to hem some curtains.

The Indian holiday Diwali is a great experience in Suva. On Tuesday 25 October, our landlord, Avinish, who lives on the property next to us, greeted us at 7:30 am with a plate of goodies; small, bite-sized cookies that were both sweet and savory. His wife, Shammie, told us not to cook because they would bring us dinner. They also made the same visit and request to the Roper’s (the senior couple who live in the flat next door). Sure enough, about 6:00 pm, they came and delivered a delicious potato lentil curry, some carrot, cucumber and yogurt dressing, a small pumpkin curry that was pretty spicy for our kaivalangi tongues, and a foil wrapped pouch of puri (think of a cross between naan and Indian fry bread). We took our treasures next door to the Roper’s (who had the same meal delivered) and enjoyed a great Diwali feast. By the time we finished eating, the fireworks had started, and continued until midnight. Learn more about Diwali in Wikipedia, on Google.

My new favorite picture of Steve
at Kiuva Beach. One of the two people
walking in the surf is me. The other is
Rhonda Roper. The Roper's introduced 
us to this beautiful place

Leftover from MTC 
health clinic

This is Uraia Tabua. He creates
YouTube content with 
authentic Fijian village life.
I acted like his biggest fan
when I saw him at the Pure Fiji 
sale one Saturday morning. He comes
into Suva every 2 weeks
to visit his special friend.

General Conference coloring sheets

Enjoying Sunday morning session
9 October 2022

The baby is gazing out the door
during Sunday morning
conference session

Students working in the garden
at the Fiji LDS College
in Tamavua

August/September

 Bula Vinaka!

22 Aug 2022

Steve and I have been called to once again serve in the Fiji, Suva Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints for 23 months. Many people have requested to be on our "letter list" so I decided to try a blog format to simplify that process. As with anything new, this comes with a learning curve, but several kind people have helped me to this point, and I'm sure I will continue to learn!

We enjoyed the Mission Training Center (MTC) in Provo. We got to know 3 other couples and a sister very well as they were all called to self-reliance or MLS assignments. 

Andersons (New York City) Steve and I, Tidwells (Philippines), Hall (Southern Texas)

Sister Abeyta (Vanuatu)

We enjoyed a weekend in Idaho, especially being able to attend the Rexburg Temple when our granddaughter Katelyn went through for the first time. 

We had a great time exploring the Idaho Potato Museum in Blackfoot. I bought a baked potato with butter. It tasted like a potato!

Steve found a friend

Our last 2 days of training in Provo were very enjoyable, as they were completely focused on self-reliance. Our presenters were from church headquarters in Salt Lake. They showed us lots of bells and whistles. Not many of them are operational in Fiji! They brought great snacks . . .

While we were at the MTC we got word that my work visa has been approved. The Fiji immigration office also let the mission president know that if immigration papers have been submitted, the candidate can come to Fiji on a 21 day temporary business visa, renewable every 21 days until the work visa is granted. That change got us  travel documents, and we were able to fly on Saturday Sept. 3rd.

5 Sept 2022

Fiji welcomed us with a week of sunshine and tropical breezes! President and Sister Marcus and the Ropers were at the airport to greet us. All our bags arrived safely. We are in the same flat that we used last time. The flat was beautifully clean and empty (except for 4 boxes of stuff they packed up for us and put into storage). The first thing Sister Roper did was bring in my sewing machine. The Ropers live next door and had taken the sewing machine to their place for safe-keeping. We spent our first week unpacking, organizing, stocking the pantry and refrigerator, meeting the other senior couples that are serving here, getting our driver’s licenses, figuring out phones, devices and WiFi, and various other chores. 

On Thursday, we were in the Vodafone parking lot and discovered that the truck battery was dead.  A very kind man stopped (as we did have jumper cables) and helped us get going again. Thursday evening we tried to do a practice Zoom meeting with our BYU Pathways group and it was a total fail. Earlier in the day, Steve had been making a right hand turn (think USA left) and made the rookie mistake of looking in the wrong place to clear himself for the turn, and barely missed getting us killed by a very big, very fast truck.  When we were unable to make connections on Zoom (although we could see our group) we decided that 3 doses of bad luck in one day were enough, and packed it in for the evening!

Renewing the driver’s licenses was interesting. We went to the LTA (think DMV) and the gentleman put my information into the computer first. He asked my age, and I told him (its under 70). I paid the money for renewal from the expiration date, and decided to go bold and get the 6 year license. No problem. Took about 15 minutes. We were thrilled and comparing Fiji LTA favorably to Utah/Cali DMV. Then it was Steve's turn. When he stated his age (over 70), the process took a radical left turn.  If you are over 70 in Fiji, you have to renew your license yearly. But wait, there’s more. You also need a physical exam by a physician, an eye test, a road test, and then it’s only renewed until February, which is one year from the time the old license expired. Because of the way the dates fall, he gets to do that 2 more times while we are here. 

11 Sept 2022

President Marcus assigned us to attend the Verata branch on Sundays. There is another senior missionary couple, Elder and  Sister Patton, who have been attending there since April.  The branch meets in the Branch President’s home in Naloto village. We stopped to pick up a family on the way to church and crammed an additional 10 people into our 2 vehicles. We realized how necessary that was when we arrived, because we brought half the congregation! We’ve been out there 2 Sundays now, and I’m beginning to like sitting on a low sofa (all the Fijians sit on the floor) with a beautifully woven mat under my bare feet, while we have  a Sunday School “Come Follow Me” lesson in Fijian, Sacrament service with one tray of bread and one tray of water (last week Elder Hinkson fixed the wobbly water tray because he has the good sense to carry a tool kit). Hymns are sung a’cappella, and when the members sing the melodies and harmonies, I hear angels. It’s so beautiful! Steve and I were asked to speak the first week, and Pattons organized an assigned testimony meeting last week, because the branch president wasn’t there. There is one elder who attends, and 2 deacons, one of which was ordained our first week and passed sacrament for the first time on our second week. We are having a district conference this Sunday in Korovou, and everyone is expecting changes. We’re looking forward to it because Korovou chapel is on a hill with an amazing view of villages, jungle, and ocean. Missionaries and members from the northeast side of the island will be there, so I’m expecting to meet people we haven’t seen in a long time!

This is where we pick up our family. It is about 15 km from the village where we meet.

The first week, all these old tires were right in front of the branch president's house. They are in preparation for building a protecting wall where some of the beach was eroding behind the house. Cyclone season is coming (October to April) 

The next week, the tires were organized into stacks and filled with sand, dirt, and chunks of concrete. They will pour more concrete down the centers to reinforce the wall.

Verata Branch Sacrament meeting

13 Sept 2022

Starting on Tuesday of our second week here, there was an Area Welfare/Self-Reliance conference here is Suva. It involved several people who work here in the service center (including our boss) the other senior couple, Elder and Sister Walker, who are here for Welfare/Humanitarian, and us! We had representatives from the Area office in New Zealand and Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Kiribati area managers. BYU Pathways reps from Salt Lake, and 2 people from the BYU Hawaii admissions office. We got some great information and several new friends and contacts in high places! On Wednesday evening there was a multi-stake BYU Pathways devotional for high school and YSA kids. It was a wonderful meeting. Thursday afternoon we did a temple session with the whole group, and Friday night we were treated to a native Fijian experience in the Colo-I-Suva village, and a Lovo dinner at a restaurant afterwards. Lovo is traditional Fijian pit barbecue. After our humble little village Sunday, it was a high-end, big city week. Quite a contrast. 

Walter led our morning devotional with a hymn and accompanied us on the ukulele

The Fiji LDS Church College school choir at the YSA devotional

Our Area Conference group

The two folks in red are the BYU admissions team, LaVern and Maurice. The man on the far left in aqua is Uriah, the Welfare Self-Reliance (WSR) manager here in Fiji and our "boss".

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We feel we were witness to a miracle. We have been acquainted with a young man (Soko) who served his mission here in Fiji during Covid, and had applied to BYU Hawaii in January. He also made application to the iWork program (which is a very generous grant available to Pacific Islanders). He has been waiting for several months to hear if he has been accepted. We were starting to encourage him to continue in the Pathways degree program as a fall-back. When he went to the devotional, another couple who has been working closely with him since before covid encouraged him to talk with the BYU admissions people who presented at the devotional. They contacted him via ZOOM for his interviews on Friday, and Saturday he got word that he has been accepted for the winter term with an iWork grant. We are so excited for him, but not half as excited as he is! 

19 Sept 2022

Dr. Dean Clark and his wife served a Humanitarian mission here in 2016. He is a podiatrist, and they worked extensively with the medical community and the NGO groups that focus on diabetic complications. They developed a great love for Fiji, and a commitment to the programs they developed, so they come back pretty frequently and bring lots of supplies with them. They arrived last week, for the first time since covid, and came to us to help set  up a service project to unload a cargo container the size of a railroad car containing crutches, wheel chairs, and prosthetic devices for the physical therapy hospital in Tamavua, which is up the road from the temple about  10 km. We referred it back to the Assistants to the President (APs), and they organized about 12 young missionaries, MP and MPW, and 2 senior couples on Monday morning (P-day) to unload the supplies and put them in a few rooms in the clinic. It was an amazing experience!

President and Sister Marcus are back center (in blue) Sister Clark is far left (in aqua) The Walkers are center right (in blue shirts) Steve and I (in light shirts) and the missionaries of the Suva North district.

I watched, took pictures, and provided water and cookies as needed.

We used a few abandoned beds and gurneys as box transports

Loloma levu

Mickey Hinkson