LDS Primary School Retreat & Where's Papa

On the last school holiday, the end of August, the Primary School had a teacher's and spouse retreat.  It was 2 days of learning and eating and diversion.  The first day we went to the temple together and then went back to the school where we had a nice breakfast.  (One of the teachers' husband said breakfast was the best part of the day. Better than bread and Milo anyway)  

Mike gave one of the talks on appreciation for and the importance of supporting your spouse.

(Since I retired before Cherie, I have been a great wife to my wife, cleaning, cooking, doing laundry, and I get little appreciation! Just kidding)  

I organized a getting to know you activity; "choose between two options" 

Example:   Do you like sweet snacks or salty snacks, (or as Mike said "diabetes or arteriosclerosis") 

The second day we went to a resort called The Pearl which is about 45 min. from Suva. We had some learning activities, another nice lunch, and then some free time..  Most of the teachers played volleyball.  That is a big thing here in Fiji. (Not as big as rugby however). 

On the bus for our ride to the Pearl.  Front to back: Bro. and Sis. Toro, Bro. and Sis. Rokobuludrau,
and Where's Nana???

 

Me and Sister Tagicakibau (tang - ee - thaw - keem - bow).  Her husband is a teacher at the Primary School and she is a secretary at the college.  We really like her.

Most of the group. I fit right in with my sulu (Fijian skirt)!
Where's Papa?  (NO! That is not him on the far right.) 

 Brother Wayne Maurer and us.  He is the Director of the Church Schools is the Pacific. 
He came from NZ for a presentation.

Joeli's Story

Once a month we get together with the Senior Missionaries and have a Family Home Evening.  Last month we met at the Mission Home and had a delicious dinner and speaker.  The speaker was President Kalougata and he had an amazing story that he shared with us.

Joeli is a very humble man who has had a lot of tragedy in his life, but he has been able to overcome his tribulations through faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ, and the hope of someday finding the truth.  What an amazing man.  We felt very priviledged to be able to hear his story and meet Joeli and his wife, Elenoa.

  His story was printed in the 2004 Ensign and Liahona.   If you want to read the full story follow the link below.

http://lds.org/liahona/2004/10/the-only-survivor?lang=eng&query=alone+survivor

Otherwise we will share some of the highlights.  Although his father was raised a Methodist, he did not raise his children Methodist because he knew it did not conform to Biblical teachings.  His cousin had been in Hawaii and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  When his cousin told Joeli's father about his new church the Holy Ghost witnessed to him that it was the true church.  There were no missionaries or branches of the church where they lived on a small island in the Lao group, so his father wrote the Mission President in Suva and the Mission President sent him a Book of Mormon and some other information.  The family saved and planned for 2 years to make the boat trip to Suva to be baptized. Finally, in December of 1973, Joeli, his younger brother and sister, and his parents got on boat for the journey to Suva.  2 older sisters and 1 brother already lived on the big island of Viti Levu.  A few hours into the trip a small storm turned into a cyclone.  The boat took on too much water and sank.  Joeli was able to hold onto a floating bag of coconuts but his father, mother, and siblings all drowned.  Out of 120 passengers, 35 survived and were rescued after 2 days and 3 nights of floating in the ocean.  Joeli, who was 12 years old, went to live with his older sister and in all of the chaos of the tragedy, the mission president could not find him.  In 1985 after 12 years of searching, the missionaries located Joeli and he was baptized a member of the Church. 

 Joeli Kalougata and his wife Elenoa

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The first time Joeli met Eleona he said she kept looking at him and he at her finally he told her he was going to marry her (note: this was before their first date or first anything else.)  His wife was the daughter of the island chief and as such Joeli had to give 7 tabua (pronounced "tam boo uh" and is whale's teeth) to her father (reminiscent of "Johnny Lingo").

Elder and Sister Barfus, work in the mission office (left)

Sister and Elder Archibald, work in the temple

Left to right- Elder and Sister Lawlor, Elder and Sister Anderson all temple missionaries

Taveuni

We had a chance to travel to Taveuni, "The Garden Island of Fiji", and took the time to see a few of the sights.  Our good friends and fellow missionaries, Elder and Sister Sunderlage, picked us up at the airport, and took very good care of us.  They showed us around the island.  We saw lots of interesting sights along the way. 

Bouma Falls (the 1st of 3)

The International Dateline runs through the island of Taveuni.  You can have 1 foot in Friday and another foot in Saturday.


A Fiji weather station.  Notice the rock on the right side hanging by the rope. We visited several of the houses that the Church rebuilt on Taveuni that were destroyed by Cyclone Thomas in May 2011. 

This cute boy had gathered sea urchin shells, left over from lunch, so we gave him a sucker "lolly" as they call it in Fiji.  The people said they boil the urchins and then eat the eggs inside.

Many of the women wash their clothes and dishes in the river.
Cherie does not appreciate how well I have taken care of her.

Mike and Jean and Jack Sunderlage

4 warriors sharpening their cane knives and a lady

Fishing.  He said he will use these small fish as bait later in the day.
He was freezing the air was 75 and the water was 80.

The coastal walk, which is a trail about 2 miles long, which leads up to another waterfall.

                A suspension bride along the coastal walk.  Indiana Tait crossing the bridge.





Many of the trees were covered with these huge tree ferns.

We met these kids in the bush about a mile from the village.  The oldest was 5-6.  Imagine letting kids do that in California.  

They loved getting their picture taken.

Find the Papa

Walking home across the stream.

A natural rock waterslide that the kids love to slide down.  We got there later in the day, and there weren't many people there.  We didn't try it, but watched a young man slide down. 

Baptism in the Ocean

Walking from the church to the beach.

Getting ready for the baptism.

 It was a special experience to attend the baptism of this good Brother his sweet wife.

The sunset from our hotel.

Every room has an outdoor hot tub.

The fruit bats called the "flying fox"  They "hang out" in the trees by the hotel.  They are about the size of a seagull.

Making Roti and Other Happenings

The members of our Effective Pedagogy class at the LDS Primary School.

(left to right) Brother Kumar, Sister Singh, Sister Rabuka, Sister Bunimasi

Joseph Ruben, he washes our car, and us at a fundraiser for his mission.  He is just a great guy and a hard worker.  He washes all the missionaries cars and will do just about any job to earn money for his mission.

Sister Hussain, the Bishop's wife in our ward, and her daughter, came over to teach me how to make roti.  Roti is the Indian version of the tortilla.  The recipe is a little different than tortillas. The main difference is with roti they use ghee (a type of butter).  Since Fiji is about 50% Indian, the Fijians eat a lot of Indian food.  

The roti was soo yummy hot off the griddle. 

Rolling out the roti.  Hopefully I will be able to do this on my own now.

Primary Interhouse Track Meet

The Primary Schools in Fiji have a track meet during the year just as the High Schools.  We went over for a few hours and watched a few races.  It was a cloudy day with temperatures in the high 60's, probably 68, with a cool breeze.  I had on a light sweater for a while.  Of course many of the Fijians were very cold and looked like they were ready for the Winter Olympics. 

Some of the teachers: Sister Tekabua, Sister Nathan, and Sister Rokobuludrau

The students were divided into 4 teams or "houses", and each team had their own color.  This is the Nephite house in red.  They had a really good cheering section.

Sister Rabuka (I love her!) another teacher, ready to keep the records. 



The Jaredite House dressed in yellow.

The Mulekite House had a good cheering section also.  Someone brought some blue face paint to share as you can see.

The Lehite House was dressed in green.  They had a hard time getting their group in one place.  But they were having a good time.

These boys have the spirit of the games!

Family Home Evening With Saints From Vanuatu, Kiribati, and Tonga

When the Fiji Temple has a large group of saints come in from other islands, the people usually stay for a week or more.  A few weeks ago there was a large group from Vanuatu, a group from Kiribiti, and some Tongan missionaries who were in Suva to get their visas to come to the U.S..  Most of the islanders have to come to Suva to get a U.S. Visa because Fiji has the only U.S. Embassy in this part of the South Pacific.  That Saturday the Temple did a record number of ordinances. 

Usually they will have a Family Home Evening (FHE) with the group and invite all the senior missionaries to join them  A few weeks ago we had a lovely FHE with them.  The people are so humble and kind.   They just love everyone.  It is just a priviledge and a blessing just to be with these good people.  The group from Vanuatu prepared a nice lesson, and then the saints from Kiribati sang a few songs for us and the Tongan missionaries also sang a song. 



President Wooley, the Temple President (standing on the far right)

The Saints from Kiribati (Kid-e-bus)singing.

Mike and President Soken (He was a missionary in Fiji when our nephew, Devon, was serving as a missionary in Fiji)  Now he is in the District Presidency for Vanuatu.  Vanuatu is a country west of Fiji.

Sorry I forgot this young man's name.  He is a Tongan missionary and his is going to the Riverside California mission.  We told him maybe we would see him when we got home - if he ever came to Corona.

This was just a really sweet family from Kiribati.  We met them at church on Sunday.  Their son on the left with the missionary tag just returned from his mission and met his family in Suva to be sealed in the Temple.  His brother next to him is getting ready to leave on his mission in a few months.

The Tongan missinaries.  The man on the far right isn't a missionary, but he is a Tongan.

Primary Songs

The students at the church schools are just such a great group of kids.  We were in a meeting with the teachers and Vice Principal at the middle school and it ran overtime.  The bell rang and the students began to file into the classrooms.  A few minutes later, we heard beautiful singing coming from one of the other rooms.  The students went into the room and began singing primary songs until the teachers finished their meeting.  Their singing brought tears to my eyes as I listened to them and thought about what most students would do in that same situtation.  What a blessing it is to serve here in the church schools.