Journal Entry

It’s about 4:30am and I’ve been up since 2:30 with a mind grinding over a call today from President Klingler.  He informed us that we would very likely be transferred soon to the northern island of Taveuni.  He’s working on a problem with another senior couple there, the Kennerlys, who have some health issues that likely will require they come to the main island.  Things are not set yet but we will likely go in a week or two.  Wow – can’t quite get our minds around that.

The young missionaries come and go frequently – every 6 weeks to 3 months and we get used to having them make a quick announcement and be gone in a day or two.  It’s been sad to see the good ones go, and happy to see others leave.  But in the midst of that, we begin to feel like “grandma and grandpa” who never go anywhere.  We were never sure if we would get a single transfer during the mission or stay the whole time in Ba.  Senior couples get sent to difficult and struggling areas and you plan on being there for a long time in hopes of making a difference.  So being in Ba for 9 months has endeared us to so many, sunk our roots deeply into the challenges and joys of these people, and began to feel “like home” (at least as much as possible when you’re away from home).

Leaving Ba will be hard – never really thought we’d feel that way, but it will be heart rending to leave behind people we’ve grown to love so much.  And we have 3 people we’ve been preparing to go to the temple for the first time and we so looked forward to being in Suva with them for that sacred and wonderful event in their lives.  We’re also intimately tied into the leadership of the ward here.  We’ve been frustrated at the slow progress as leaders come to find out just what it means to lead amidst the reality of their lack of experience, education, and a culture that is anything but organized and effective.  So we now are faced with questions of just how effective we were at enabling them to go on without a senior couple to guide them.  No doubt, we’re gonna shed some tears as we drive away from Ba for the last time (but they won’t be for the floods, heat, constant ash from the sugar mill, etc. which we are gratefully leaving behind!).

On the bright side, we get to see another part of Fiji and have a change from some things we won’t mind leaving behind in Ba.  And we are being sent to what is known as the most beautiful of the Fijian islands – Taveuni, the “garden island.”  From talking to other missionaries and looking on the web, we find that it is a preserved island with small population (about 13,000), 26 miles long and 7 miles wide.  Much of the island is a natural preserve and there are exotic birds, plants, and natural beauty everywhere.  In addition, the only road goes right along the ocean and we’ll finally be in the “Fiji everyone was envious of” when we got our mission call.  Everywhere you go there are beautiful beaches (with lots of sharks in the ocean, I might add), small villages of primarily native Fijians and only a small number of Indians.  Given its natural beauty and pristine preservation of flora and fauna, Taveuni is a tourist destination – not sure if that’s a good or bad thing when it comes to missionary life.

We have yet to be given permission to talk to the Kennerlys about their assignment in Taveuni.  Initially, we understand that the Church on the island is small and struggling.  We have thought that Ba was difficult, but perhaps we are actually going to a more challenging area, we’ll see as things unfold.  Taveuni is more remote and we understand that shopping for necessities and food is limited and expensive.  We have been told that our rent there will also be much more than we are paying here in Ba (and that is worrisome since we just found out that our renters in Corvallis are moving out and we’ll have to find someone new – bad timing).  So, lots of unknowns just now and moving will be a pain.  Even though we don’t have much as missionaries, we have stocked our apartment quite well and have lots of flood preparation supplies. We have to fly to Taveuni on a very small plane and will be swapping trucks with the Kinnerlys so that presents a challenge as to what to do with our food supplies and all the wonderful gifts we’ve been given by friends in the states to bless the lives of Fijians here.  We just don’t know if we’ll give things away more rapidly or try to box them up and ship them to Taveuni and what all that would cost.

I’m full of mixed emotions and racing brain waves and looking forward to getting this move behind us so we can begin to adjust to a new area and assignment.  It’s mind-boggling to think of another couple coming to Ba (if they assign one), and just how long it’s taken us to get acquainted with people and find our way around the incredibly complicated challenge of many, many villages spread over a large area.  With no maps, no directions, and no physical addresses (house numbers and addresses are a luxury for countries with a mail delivery system!), it’s taken us months to just find our way around and locate members spread far and wide.  How will another couple do it??? Well, about the same as we will do when we get to Taveuni – we just start over and begin to visit villages and meet people and be told the typical directions of Fijians – “go inside and in front by the big mango tree and you’ll see one house there; ask them where so and so lives and they will show you – plenty long way, Elder!”

Farewell to Ba, hello to Taveuni !