Good-Bye to Our Friends

Before we left we had a dinner with out neighbors and a great family from our ward, Sister Taito (Tie-toe) and her daughters.  

This is our night guard Simone.  We just love him.  He is so nice and always laughed at Mike's jokes.  (We kept joking that Mike could be a Fijian comedian because everyone thought he was so funny. ) 

Taitos and Taits

Apenisa

Kelly and Connie Whiting

We will miss everyone so much.  We will always have an empty place in our hearts.

Good-bye Fiji!

Good-Bye LDS Primary School

The Primary School gave us a great send-off.  First they asked us to speak at the Friday, devotional.  It ended up being a stormy day, with wind and buckets of rain.  One thing you may not know about Fiji, is when it rains, people stay home from school and church.  So the school attendance was about 1/4 of the enrollment.  There would normally be about 400 students in attendance and that day there was about 100.

The 1st grade teachers, Sister Nathan and Sister Rabuka with their classes.

Brother Qaqa and Sister Talemaitoga singing the Fiji national anthem.

Sister Tait sharing her message with the students and staff.

The school giving us a "silent applause".  

 Then every student in the school (that was there) came and shook our hands and everyone had made us cards and letters.  

 

The secretary and teachers had made us a special lunch and we were given beautiful hand-crafted garlands.  (I can't remember the name of them.) 

 We even had a band with beautiful singing! (No one sings like the Fijians) - Bro. Betisaresare, Bro. Tagicakibau, Bro. Sautu

 Sis. Nathan, Sis. Tuwai, Sis. Tekabua

Sis. Toro and Sis. Levaci

Sis. Singh, Sis. Kumar, Sis, Rabuka

The ladies chowing down.  

 Some of the teachers.  Sis. Rabuka, Taits, Sis. Toganivalu, Bro. Sautu

Bro. Tagicakibau, Bro. Batisaresare

 This was a special family we came to love.  Mya and Gina.  They were new to the school this year, and Gina was voted the PTO president. 

Sis. Bidesi, Taits and students

We have grown to love the teachers and the students at both schools.  There were lots of tears shed as we said good-bye to all of the wonderful teachers and students at both schools.  

Good-bye Suva 1st Ward

Suva 1st Ward gave us a going away party.  We had an awesome dinner and some fantastic entertainment of dancing and singing.

 (lft to rt)  Maria Hussain, Patricia Fratangelo, Sr. Sister Hussain, Sister Vakarewakobau, Sister Tait

Sis. Manueli, Sis. Vakarewakobau, Sis. Hussain dancing

Kalayla Hussain

The ward getting ready to sing" Isa Lei" the Fijian good-bye song.  We love that song, it is so beautiful.

Good-bye Suva 1st Ward, we will miss you.

Flat Rylin in Fiji

Our sweet granddaughter, Rylin had a school project.  She made a "flat" mailable person of herself and mailed her to Fiji to spend a few weeks with us.  Flat Rylin then flew home with us and Rylin wrote a report about Flat Rylin's adventures in Fiji.  We had a blast showing Flat Rylin around Fiji.  

 Flat Rylin at the fish market checking out the colorful reef trout.

 At the vegetable market hanging out with the okra.

 Flat Rylin happily met the woman in the back selling yummy coconuts.

Next Flat Rylin went to the LDS Primary School and said hello to the member of the 2nd grade class there.  The students even wrote her some letters to take back to California.

Flat Rylin at the beach.

She was very adventurous and even climbed a coconut tree.

The guard is not allowed to talk or move, just like the guards at Buckingham Palace in England.

See the guard in the upper right?  We asked him if we could take some pictures and Mike takes Flat Rylin up to him and says, "This is my granddaughter."  I still laugh when I think about it.

Standing guard at the Presidential palace.  Even though he is not supposed to talk or move you can tell by his eyes that he is wondering what is going on.

A boat at the museum.  

Recent Events

February 23 was our 39th anniversary.  Then we found out that our friends the Hussains have the same anniversary as we do, and it is also Bishop Hussain's birthday!  So a celebration was definitely in order.

Maria and Peter Hussain.  Happy Anniversary to you too!

 

A whole deep fried fish.  Very tasty.  But we only ate the meat.  The Fijians eat all the fish except the bones. They say the head is the best part. (uh, No Thanks!)  They were happy they didn't have to share the brain and the eyes!

The sharp teeth of the fish we ordered.  I didn't know fish had such sharp teeth!  

Eating the tail.

The baptism of Karla Sefeti, one of our home teaching families.  

Karla and Elder Aleman

We had a gym membership for a year but it expired in February, so we are back to walking outside in the rain. It was a very wet Monday morning.  

We love our walking partners and neighbors the Whitings!

School Happenings

One of the teachers at the college made a dessert called vaka lolo.  It is made with the taro plant.  Here in Fiji they call the taro plant "dalo"  (dah - lo).  Mike tricked me into trying it by saying it was good.  All I can say is it was better than poi.  Of course the Fijians all love it.  But I asked them if they would rather have vaka lolo or chocolate cake and they did not hesitate to say, "chocolate cake!" 

Vaka Lolo

Sister Sovasova (the school counselor), SisterTuwai (substitute teacher), Sister Tagicakibau (secretary) and the vaka lolo

Parent Night at the Primary School

Sister Rabuka, class 1 teacher, talking to the parents.

Brother Nathan, class 3 math teacher, telling parents about the new Singapore math books.

Sister Toganivalu, class 4 math teacher.

A new family, whose children are attending the Primary School.  They are a great family.  Gina was voted in as the PGTA (PTA) President that evening.  Mike had to have our picture taken with them because the father looked familiar.  Who do you think he looks like?  He said when he was in the Florida airport everyone stood up when he walked in and called him Mr. President. 

Taits, Rankins, Brother Qaqa (principal)

Good-by Sister Levaci.  You will be missed.  One of the teachers at the college was leaving because she got a new job.  It worked better for their family, since her husband is also a teacher, to have a job that is more flexible.

Melissa Levaci