Letter Home

Dear Family,

This hasn't been an amazing day but included some things that are needed to make some progress in a couple areas. We spent several hours in a very hot clerk's office trying to sort, organize and discard very old manuals, old letters from the 1st presidency, old VT/HT messages, etc.  Opened old tithing envelopes that were there too – and never opened - which was particularly disturbing. All was very dirty and we went all dressed and clean in ignorance.  We're not done yet but the garbage men came by and took 7 boxes for us.  We also met with the former bishop's wife (her husband died while serving) to get her input on the very out of date MLS records.  If it wasn't so important it would be humorous... "oh, he's Methodist now", "he's dead", "she's moved but I think her cousin's mother might know where she  lives", "he's 7th day Adventist because the church is nearer to him", etc. Unfortunately, many are not known to her either.

At this point we are feeling like we need to help get things going at the church for those who attend and then keep on the search for more.  Sunday was pretty sad last week, nothing was prepared and it lasted from 9:30am -about 1:30pm when dad told the bishop that our bottoms were tired and our heads had quit working.  Conference was on for 1 1/2 sessions but only the missionaries and one family stayed after the sacrament was passed following the first session.  Some sort of a potluck was going on and people were milling around.  There was no leadership and we couldn't understand just what was happening.

Tuesday night dad met with the bishop and his only counselor to try to get some planning in place.  Planning is a foreign thought here and there is evidence of it's lack everywhere. Yes, there is LOTS to do and we know it will come in very small steps.

Tonight we had 1st discussion set up with a referral.  Once again her neighbor's children greeted us with the fact that she was gone.  Last time we thought we heard a another neighbor refer to us as the "mormon devils". We'll give it another try.  I think she liked our 1st visit a couple weeks ago, perhaps her being gone was legitimate or perhaps her neighbors have influenced her.  After leaving there we went to a member who is recently taking care of her sick aging mother-in-law who is Hindu.  She had asked for a blessing which dad gave and it was more of comfort since he felt that she will not live long. Yesterday we had "tea" with a man we met some weeks ago when we were out for our morning walk. For some reason he felt impressed to tell us how dismal the care is in a Fijian hospital and that we should avoid going to one at all costs (another has told us you provide the nursing care and food for a family member) and that ambulances are nonexistent. Makes us feel real secure. 

Guess not all days are golden for missionaries. Time for #2 shower of the day.

love,

mom and dad

Settling Down in Ba

We finally got our truck, final instructions, and well-wishes from the Mission Office staff in Suva and left for our assignment to Ba -- perhaps the only "non-beautiful" sounding name in all the islands.  Here's some of the countryside in the area which is a beautiful farming community revolving primarily around the sugar cane industry.  Cane grows for 6 months and then is harvested (mostly by hand) for 6 months and then the cycle starts anew.  There are fewer tropical trees around than on the east side of the island but still lots of coconut palms, mango, breadfruit, and some papaya.  Here we are standing in front of a harvested cane field:

 The Ba river borders the south side of town.  Yesterday when we were driving over the bridge there were fish leaping a foot or more out of the water in some feeding frenzy.  It was strange & exciting.

A cane field is dense and tall (perhaps 8 feet or so).  Very little machinery (we've heard some farms use them but we have yet to see any), and most of cutting is done with a wicked "cane knife".  The picture below the field is of cane trucks lined up at the factory which runs 24 hours a day.

The area is hot and humid, we feel "sticky" all the time.  In some ways, Ba feels like we've moved to India with a few Fijians living in the area.  The town is 80% Hindi and all the shops and industry seem owned by or run by Indians.  That means that when you're downtown, most stores have Indian music blaring in them (a strange custom to us since you can barely hear yourself), incense smells, and to us, an odd assortment of goods.

Today is Diwali, the biggest Hindu celebration of the year.  The town is decked out in lights, people walking in beautiful sarongs, and fireworks going off endlessly (that's been going on for days leading up to this festival.  Ba is a small town filled with small shops that sell things designed to not work or break down immediately.  The saying goes that if any manufacturer anywhere makes a defective product, it is shipped to Fiji for sale.  But we think lots of things were never really defective, they just plain aren't made to work -- they look like they might work, but alas, they don't.  It's very strange.  We went to buy a mop and the worker asked us if we wanted one that would be good for 2 or 3 uses.  What?  We also bought a scrub brush but found out it wasn't designed to work at all.  We see in the markets lots of food but little that is recognizable with the exception of the open market where fruits and a few vegetables are available.  Look at those heaps of red and green hot chili peppers!

 Since the water is not reliably clean, we use a multiple phased filter system provided by the mission home for each apartment.  Before using the fresh produce, Annie soaks everything we purchase in bleach water, then rinses them in tap water and then the  filtered water before we use it.  The tiny bananas are fabulous as is the pineapple, the beans were not, the grapes, oranges and carrots (best in the world) are imported from New Zealand.  The squash/pumpkin is an experiment, we'll see what it really is when we cook it.

We have had very blue times and needed all the help and prayers we can get.  Everything is new, everything is difficult, everything is dirty -- Oh, did I mention this is a 3rd world country?  That explains why most of the people, particularly Fijians live in desperately poor villages.  We have just never really been exposed close up before.  Homes are corrugated tin shacks or cinder block.  Many have no facilities at all, or very little.  Members of the Ba ward are few (about 30-40 active) and they have had no bishop for over a year.  In the parking lot on Sunday, there is one car (ours) and we feel chagrined at the fact that we can drive but by Church rules cannot take anyone with us.  The people either walk (most barefooted) 30-90 minutes, or they hire a "transport," which is a small Toyota truck that goes along the highway and you jump in until you get to the general area you're going.  But most cost $3-10 (Fijian dollars)per person per trip and few Fijians can afford it.  Public transportation is cheaper but does not run on Sundays except on the major road. By way of understanding one Fijian dollar is worth about 56 US cents. The challenges are immense -- it is difficult for people to come to meetings during the week, and cannot stay too late on Sundays.  There is really no leadership structure and no base of knowledge to make that work anyway ("organization and efficiency" are not words found in the structure or cultural experience of Fiji).  Our inactive Relief Society President was a member for 4 months when called but never previously heard of RS, had no counselors, and no training (she's been inactive since shortly after the call).  So this will be one of the great challenges we have and a place where we might make some contribution (leadership training).

But for all our challenges, they simply melt away into insignificance when we are with the people.  They are smiley and happy in the midst of nothing, and they freely share everything they have with you.  Here's some of the beautiful people we have visited:

 The Ratu family are amazing.  Sister Ratu is the seminary teacher, defacto RS, YW, and Primary leader.  She immediately recognized the Spirit and truth of the gospel when taught.  Her husband went years before he joined and one day while sleeping and in a dream, an angel appeared at his bedside and said three times: "Are you going to be baptized or no?"  He arose and told his wife to call the missionaries and was shortly thereafter baptized and quit his 20 year smoking immediately. They fixed us a meal of Roti (grilled chewy tortilla type bread), fish cooked in coconut milk, curry chicken, some sort of greens, and plantain type banana.  All was cooked outside on a fire, the common method here (when this family heard we had a gas stove they offered their propane tank which they said they couldn't afford the $45 fill up cost which lasts 3-6 months). As is their custom, they sit there and watch you eat what is likely more and better food than they ever have themselves, and then when you're done and leave the men eat, then afterward the women and children eat if anything remains. Their 3 older boys are preparing for missions.

 Some neighborhood kids followed us into a chapel in Tavua where we travelled for a District meeting.  Everyone comes and goes as they please here.  When at a home, kids from the village wander in and out when they hear the singing or note that visitors have come.  These kids just came off the street and sat down in the Church where the missionaries were having a training.  They seemed to love the singing.

Last night we visited a home of an inactive member and his wife who wants to be baptized but since they are not legally married and he was married previously they have been unable to proceed.  No electricity, no facilities, an extremely humble  but welcome home -- it was hard to even walk into and sit down (our Americanism some times takes over momentarily).  But oh how sweet these people were.  The husband works each night and reads scriptures on his breaks, then when he returns in the morning he shares what he learned with the family and they all practice bearing testimony to each other.  We hope to help them work out their legal problems so she can be baptized soon.

So what have we to complain about?  When we are reminded that much of the world lives this way, we are  quickly "put in our place."  On Sunday we were listening to General Conference (they just received the DVD's).  And after listening to the talks about trials and difficulties and being loved by Heavenly Father, Annie turned to me and said: "You hear these things differently here don't you."  Indeed.

First Days in Fiji

It is amazing how attached we have become to the little circle of friends we have made here in Suva.  People have been so kind and thoughtful and it has made a big difference as we have tried to become more oriented to Fijian ways and our role here.  Our pantry is pretty limited and so a meal out each day or so has been especially appreciated.  One friend took me to the market yesterday via taxi and walked me through telling me about different produce and their uses.  She and her husband have lived here almost 3 years and render a huge amount of service both through employment services, at the temple, church callings and privately to people like us. Today we were invited to lunch in honor of a Fijian couple who have just completed a service mission in the church services office here in Suva.  It was an interesting experience to be eating Chinese food with Fijian people with the Beach Boys etc.playing in the background.

A very expensive Toyota truck ($45,000) is now in our keeping.  Dad has had an hour or so of driving experience and since there is only one road that goes to Ba once we get out of Suva we trust we will find our way.  Actually one of the temple missionary couples who coincidently served in Ba some years back will be riding with us to the airport in Nadi.  Sadly, last week their 14 year old grand daughter was killed in a car accident while out with young friends and so they are returning for 10 days to be with family in Canada.  We had talked with them last week but more time will be good.  As far as we can tell our flat should be shaping up.  Added since last week are a bed, washer and dryer, air conditioning and frig.  It already had a sofa and table and chairs.  As hard as we have tried here with the kind help of the office missionaries, we have determined there are no all electric stove/oven combinations to be had here.  With gas one needs to have a propane stove in the kitchen and we had hoped to avoid that, so that appliance will need to be obtained once we arrive.  You wouldn't believe how inefficient shopping can be and how very few choices there are.  Grocery shopping will be another major need although we have purchased some things from the Fijian Costco type store;  here it is called Cost U Less but prices would say otherwise (about 2-4 times as high as the states for similar items).  

We said good bye to a special young couple today who had been here just since Sunday as part of their effort to legalize an adoption of a baby boy from Tahiti (the US Embassy for South Pacific islands is located here in Suva).  Unfortunately the baby and adoptive mom will need to stay in Tahiti at least 2-4 months longer while France and the US work out details.  Both they and we felt so fortunate to have overlapped here as emotional and physical help went both ways.  They kind of filled a void we have missing our own kids and we could offer some support and breakfasts in a foreign spot.  Our kids may appreciate the fact that their Utahn grandparents are neighbors of the Lee and Carolyn Perry family in Orem.

The universal response after someone asks us where we will be serving and we tell them Ba, is, "Oh that is very hot and dry!"  Here is a site that proves half of that, but 80 or so inches of rain doesn't seem too dry to us.  Converting the Celsius temperatures it looks like 86 degrees to about 74 degrees is the average for most of the year.

http://www.worldweatheronline.com/weather-averages.aspx?q=BFJ

So as you enjoy the beauties of the seasons, please don't tell us about them (except for Seth and Caroline) because we're more than worried about the long term.

So it's bedtime here.  We'll tell you Wednesday is a good day - since we have already lived it.  We'll let you know how Thursday goes once we have arrived in Ba.  We are acting as the pony express here delivering mail to missionaries along the way; postal dates include late August and Sept. so I'm sure there are some families in the US wondering why their child never mentioned the package or letter.

May we say how much we have needed and appreciated your love and support.  This is not like anything we have ever done for sure.

Our love to you all,

Mom and Dad

Elder & Sister Sherry

From MTC to Suva, Fiji

Is it required of all missionaries to stand in front of the world map at the MTC and point to their mission?  Probably not, but it seemed like a good idea.  There it is, east of Australia, north of New Zealand, and west of Tonga -- the Fiji Island group!

 We were introduced to Fijian by our tutor, Elder Vuikadavu, a native of Fiji who is going to school at BYU and working at the MTC.  A smiley, spiritual, wonderful guy - he helped us begin to see that Fijian is a beautifully complicated language which we're glad we don't have to have command of to do our mission work.  We know the people will appreciate all our effort to speak in their language but allow us to depend on English -- the official language of the islands.  Our mission includes many other countries and languages across a broad expanse of ocean.  Languages spoken in addition to Fijian include: French, Bishlama, Gilbertese, Rotuman, Kiribati, Tuvaluan, and Lifou.  The only languages taught at the MTC are Fijian and French so missionaries going to other language islands must learn to speak after they arrive.

We flew all night to Aukland and awoke to this beautiful sunrise . . .

We then flew to Nadi, Fiji and later in the night arrived in Suva where the Church has a complex of buildings which include the beautiful temple, mission home, patron housing, mission office, distribution center, and "service center" which manages all the Church business and buildings in the mission area.

 The temple and Suva itself is on a peninsula with ocean views on each side of the temple. Across from the temple is patron housing and out our window we look towards the ocean.

Down the same street on the right is the Church sponsored elementary school with a little over 100 students (the Church also sponsors a middle and highschool).

 Pretty nifty to go to a school where you have a banner declaring; "I Am A Child of God".  And these beautiful happy children certainly radiate their divine nature.

 She has on her school uniform (common at most schools and distinguished by colors).  Barefoot is the norm.  Below is the principal of the school.

The mission staff has been generous with their time and training.  While doing errands we stopped at a large open market with hundreds of vendors and an endless variety of local fruits, vegetables, and imported goods including fabulous Indian spices.  The bananas are cute little sweet treats and the pineapple is fabulous!

 The currency is the Fijian dollar and the exchange rate is very favorable (.56 cents of US currency buys $1 of Fijian money).  Since Fiji was formerly a protectorate of Britain, the money reflects it's roots and the British Queen Elizabeth.

 We will finish our training and other preparations in the next few days and then be off to our first assignment on the northwest side of the main island in a town called Ba.  In the meantime we love being near the temple and learning from those around us here.  A highlight for Tom has been adopting the common Fijian and missionary daily dress of a nice skirt (called a "sulu" in Fijian) -- it's all he'll wear while serving.  And we both wear sandals without socks to keep as cool as possible in this rainy warm climate, particularly as we head into the hot summer months ahead (seasons reversed here from America).

"Moce" for now! ("good bye" in Fijian, pronounced something like "mowthey")

Off to Fiji

     On October 3rd, Leah & Luke dropped us off at the Mission Training Center in Provo, Utah.  It was an emotional farewell as we entered the doors and stepped off into the unknown for the next 18 months.

What follows is Tom's first Journal Entry from October 11, 2011.  It will have some overlap with the next blog, but does relay a more complete picture of the beginning of our Fiji adventure:

     We completed a whirlwind 5 days at the MTC on October 7^th.  It was an overwhelming, inspiring, and packed daily schedule experience.  We joined the largest group of seniors (102) that have left the MTC and were amazed at the worldwide assignments the couples and 4 single sisters had – it opened our eyes to the vastness of the work being done through aging and yet dedicated members.  We also had our 3 introduction language lessons in Fijian from Brother Vuikadavu, a native Fijian.  We started each day at 6am and fell into bed about 10pm.  Exhausted but well instructed, we feel blessed to be entrusted by the Lord to do His work.

            A quick recap of travel:  We were released from the Mission Training Center in Provo at 7:30pm on Friday night, October 8^th.  Leah picked us up and we went directly to an outdoor concert by the group Lower Lights, who put on a fabulous concert of revival style hymns and spiritual music.  We just loved that concert and stayed toasty warm with clothes Leah had brought for us along with hot chocolate, and blankets (temperature was about 40 degrees F).  We slept over at the Wrights' in Mapleton and had a frenzied morning doing our final packing before a wonderful luncheon with Matt & Jessica and girls, Virginia and Rudy, and Luke. It was a perfect send off and then Matt & Jessica took us to the SLC airport at 3pm for our 5pm flight.

            While at the airport, we had what was for us, a significant experience.  We were feeling emotional about our departure into the unknown for such a long time, and the finality of missing our family ~ it was a difficult and tearful moment.  As  we sat waiting for our departure we noticed a very put-together -woman walking towards us with a familiar missionary name badge. We visited with her and learned that she and her husband were presiding over a mission in the Midwest.  She was accompanying a young sister missionary back home who had a health issue and wanted to be sure all was well with her.  She lovingly gave us hugs and reassured us that all would be well for us as we left our family to serve the Lord.  She definitely understood what we were going through as she had and was doing the same when they left all behind to fulfill their call to serve.  It lifted our spirits and was truly a tender mercy

            The flight from SLC to Los Angeles was quick and comfortable aboard Delta Airlines.  We arrived about 6:30 pm Pacific Time and waited until 10pm to board an Air New Zealand flight to Auckland (13 hours).  ANZ is a fantastic airline with superb service (better than we’ve ever experienced) and a very large plane.  We had a wonderful dinner about midnight then slept fairly well until about 6am when we awoke and had breakfast before landing at Auckland, New Zealand.  There we waited about 8 hours for a connecting flight to Nadi, Fiji (pronounced, Nandi).  As we walked down the runway into the airport, 3 Fijian men were playing guitars and singing so beautifully ~ it made us feel welcome.

            We were soon greeted by two elders, an islander and an American who apparently has been here just long enough to have melted into the Fijian culture, speaking English only in clipped terms with Fijian words mixed in.  Young missionaries so fall in love with their assignment that they take on the mannerisms of the local people, which works fine in the field but is a little odd when they get home.

            Anyway, they said to us: “The plane to Suva does not allow any baggage over 14 kilos so the Mission President wants you to leave your things with us and take just what you need for a few days because you’ll be coming back to this side of the island and can get your stuff from our flat then.”  Do you have any idea how hard it is to take 4 bags, weighing 50 pounds each and create one bag weighing 14 kilos (31 lbs.)?  We were a bit stunned but obediently opened our bags to rearrange, only to find that one of them contained a 1000 vitamin/calcium pills spilled everywhere and liberally mixed in with bath gel from another broken container.  It was soon obvious that this wasn’t going to work so we just stuffed in 2 pair of garments each, a couple shirts, and our toilet kits and off we flew to Suva, just 30 minutes to the east on the other side of the main island. We had spent a total of about 32 hours in transit.

            In Suva, we were greeted by the mission president, Kenneth Klingler and an office couple (Sister Klingler was in the states for her father’s funeral so we didn’t meet her).  They drove us the 20 minutes or so from the airport to the Suva temple grounds that also contain the mission office, temple patron housing, a home for the mission president as well as one for the temple president, and 3 condominiums for temple missionary couples.  We arrived about 10pm and took a shower, crashed and slept wonderfully until 6am this morning.

            We are being temporarily housed in the temple patron apartments until we leave for our new assignment in Ba, which is on the Northwest side of the main island of Viti Levu.  This morning, President Klingler spent about 10 minutes with us before flying off to another island for mission business.  He spoke of meeting with the Area president and Stake president of the Lautoka stake that includes all the towns on the eastern side of the island.  During the meeting, he felt that the Lord wanted strong missionaries on that side of the island and committed to the stake president to send us to one of the towns where they have a ward that has been without a bishop for 16 months.  Lot’s of inactivity and struggling leadership in the town of Ba led the President to assign us there and to have an additional assignment to go to many of the neighboring towns and villages to also work on reactivation.  When we tell other Fijians at the temple complex that we are going to Ba, they just smile and say, “Oh, very hot and difficult.”  So we are getting a feeling that things will be challenging (we’re already hot and sweaty in Suva so going to a hotter place didn’t seem too cheery).  We note that it is about 10-15 degrees hotter in that area than on the east side of the island and is a very poor area with 80% of the population being from India (having descended from indentured workers in the sugar cane industry).

            We are spending the next few days here in Suva getting trained, qualifying for a driver’s license (yep, they drive on the opposite side of the road!), and waiting for a new 4-wheel drive truck they are providing us.  The roads are very rough and it’s slow going (best travel is about 10-20 miles/hour).  Suva is the capitol but you can readily see that there’s not much money for upkeep on roads and buildings.  The people are smiley and happy and a mix of Fijian, Indians, and other internationals from all over.

            All of the talk about serving a mission, having faith, and “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,” is finally coming home to reality.  We are quietly listening, watching, and preparing to work hard and pray for the Lord to strengthen us in our weakness and inabilities in so many areas.  We want to love the people and know that only the Holy Spirit can bridge the many gaps between us.  We trust God to keep His promises and strengthen us to keep our covenant of service to his children in Fiji.