Journal Entry

Our stay in Africa was needed, but draining emotionally and physically.  We were so glad to be with Seth, Caroline and the kids but it was a difficult time for many reasons.  The night we arrived in Johannesburg, we visited Seth in the hospital (Sandton Mediclinic) and found him to be restless and anxious to get out of the hospital – he was just sick of being there.  That seemed a little premature to us but the next day we found that it was indeed going to happen as his doctor, Dr. Vanheerden, had given permission.  Just as it has happened throughout this ordeal the Lord provided a perfect location for him to go to at the Carolyn and George Bonnet home in the Rosebank area of Johannesburg.  George is the Director of Temporal Affairs for most of Africa and they have a townhouse sort of home in a gated community just a block away from a hospital where Seth was going to do outpatient physio therapy.  The home was perfect with two extra bedrooms, one for Seth and one for Annie or I as we traded places every few days – one of us staying with Seth and the other with Caroline, Tommy, and Cali.

We froze in Joburg!  We went from Fiji warmth and humidity to winter weather with snow the first weekend in South Africa – SNOW!  We had complained so much about the heat and humidity in Fiji and longed to be cool but we had no warm clothes and our bodies had strangely acclimated to Fiji weather so we were cold and uncomfortable much of the time.  Because it normally does not get so cold in SA, homes there generally have no central heating and the first home we stayed at with Caroline and the kids was just freezing.  The home was provided by Brady and Kristen Southwick who are in the process of moving back to the states.  Their home is big and beautiful but since they are not living in it, it was cold and only a few furnishings and we were joined there by another family who were waiting to move into a new home themselves.  It was a bit crazy and chaotic but still, such a blessing for free room and Brady lent us his car as well since he was in the states for business and a holiday with his family.  In a few days, we felt it was just too cold and difficult with the kids so we moved to David and Sarah Coleman’s home.  David was the Elder’s Quorum president in the ward which covered the hospital Seth was in and he and his wife did everything anyone could have done to welcome us, care for Seth, provide meals, and generally open their lives and home to us.  We stayed a few days there while Tommy and Cali got the flu, threw up all over everything and generally made life miserable for everyone.  On one night when I was repeatedly up with Tommy as he threw up every half hour, I was tucking him back in bed after the “4^th round” and he made it clear to me that it was vomit, not throw up, and that he must be the “Vomit Super Hero” after all he’d gone through.

To complicate life, Caroline’s heel injury was not in good shape and it was determined that she should have surgery to remove the dead flesh and try to repair it somewhat.  That meant that she and the kids could not return to Zambia and she would be on crutches for the next several weeks.  It was an emotionally trying time as she and Seth continued to be separated, coping with her injury and crutches, kids sick, etc.  It wasn’t much fun.

At about that time, we decided we just couldn’t stay at the Coleman’s any longer – Caroline and the kids just needed some privacy.  Again George Bonnet stepped in and offered two apartments at the Johannesburg Temple Patron Housing complex.  The temple was being renovated and the caretakers for the complex were gone so we were able to move into two lovely apartments there and we stayed until we left on August 24^th, the same day Caroline and the kids flew back to Zambia.  Leaving Seth behind was tough for them but it was the best.  In just a week and a half later, Seth also got clearance to fly home to join them. Seth has made miraculous progress but still has a long way to go and it is unknown how much function he’ll regain in his neck, shoulders, and arms and whether there will be a time when he’s free of pain – all of which are real worries.  As for now, they plan to be in Zambia until mid-October when Caroline and the kids fly to California to be at her home until her brother’s wedding November 9^th.  Seth continues physiotherapy in Zambia and will join them in early November after which they are planning to move to Oregon and live in our home until we return.

Annie and I saw very little of each other in SA because we took turns staying with Seth and Caroline separately since they were not living together.  We were tired and exhausted by the end.  I had been sick much of the time and just couldn’t adjust to SA time so I was perpetually waking up at 3am.  We were glad to have gone, it was essential, but we were also glad to get back to the mission field knowing that Seth was now independent and on the way to recovery.

On the way home we had a lovely afternoon and night in Sydney, Australia and walked around the opera house and downtown Sydney – it was beautiful and we had a great ice cream cone!  Next morning we were on a plane to Fiji and arrived in Nadi that afternoon, with an evening flight over to Suva.   We stayed in Suva for a week at President and Sister Klingler’s mission home on the temple grounds.  Annie and Sister Klingler sewed banners for the YW colors to be given to the Taveuni District YW leaders, while I worked on mission baptismal records in the mission office.

The highlight was going to the temple with Sister Adi Tabualevu from Ba (we had taught her the temple preparation lessons) – it was a sweet reunion and a beautiful and inspiring experience.  

At the same time, we fortuitously were there for a temple trip from the Taveuni saints, so we were able to meet many of them and be in the temple together as well – a nice start to our relationship.

From Suva, we flew with Pres. and Sister Klingler to Savusavu on the island of Vaua Levu for a zone conference.  It was a nice couple days to spend more time with them, meet the missionaries of this zone and visit with our friends, the Muirs and Terrys – other senior missionaries on that island.

Finally, on Thursday, September 5^th we boarded a ferry to Taveuni – a 5-hour trip.  All the couples had explicitly told us not to take the “Stinky Sofi” ferry and to schedule the trip on a day the Lomai Viti Princess was crossing (those are the two ferry boats that serve the northern Fijian islands).  But the zone leaders opted for the earlier boat that was cheaper so we drove our truck onto the boat and boarded with the 4 elders returning to Taveuni for a ride on the Stinky Sofi.  Gratefully, it wasn’t that stinky as long as you didn’t have to enter the bathroom – just awful.  We went up on the upper deck and sat on wooden benches and passed the time as we travelled the Somosomo Straight in quite good weather and not very rough seas.  I had taken a motion sickness pill and did great, though Annie suffered some sickness.

Viewing the beautiful island of Taveuni was a treat – long and mountainous, it was green and lush and obviously not very densely populated. The sea was beautiful we could immediately recognize that for much of the island, the livable land is primarily limited to the area near the sea with the mountains rising quickly and they generally are covered in clouds much of the time and get a lot of rain (over 300”/year).  Our home in Soqulu Village is located in the “Taveuni Estates” – a grandiose development idea that never took flight and only has a few homes.  The house, Vale Nei Katherine, is owned by a British family and they are in the process of selling it but have rented it to the missionaries until that time.  It is much lovelier than anything a missionary couple needs but what a welcome sight with a beautiful view down the hill to the sea (about a half mile away).  It has large private grounds area with coconut, banana, and breadfruit trees, beautiful parrots, and a large wrap around veranda where we can eat, exercise, and hang our clothes to dry.  No electricity is available in the area so we have solar panels that do a limited but good job.  We have a gas stove and refrigerator (a strange idea at best) and they run off propane tanks.  It truly looks like paradise, but paradise also comes with millions of bugs, and bug-eating creatures everywhere.  The geckos are twice the size here as in Ba and, in fact, all the flora seems twice the size as well – a perfect combination of rich volcanic soil, rain, sun, and warmth year-round.

We have learned that we will, sadly enough, be spending much less personal time teaching and more invested in training leaders – our primary purpose here.  There are 4 struggling units of the Church here, Qeleni and Matei to the north are very small branches, Somosomo is the District Center and has a large beautiful building and many members but is troubled with new and inexperienced leadership, and then there is a small “group” at the southern tip of the island called Vuna.  As of next week, we will have visited all the units and become initially familiar with members and leaders.  We’re happy to be here and getting a bit settled after a lonely start where we have missed close friends in Ba and begun to get acquainted here.  In time, we hope to have good friends again as we invest our heart and soul into the last 6 ½ months of our mission here on Taveuni.