Monday, July 25, 2016 we flew on Fiji Air to Suva, Fiji.

This is the plane we flew on to Fiji.  This is after we landed in Suva.

Elder and Sister Smith picked us up and we stopped here for some lunch.  It was warm but not too bad.

Suva, Fiji Temple.  The Service Center, Self-Reliance Center and Mission Office are all on the same grounds.  We did some training  with facilitators and  BYU Hawaii alumni about encouraging students who want to go to BYU-H to take the Self-Reliance class "Education for Better Work" and we have added an additional six lessons that deal specifically with BYU-H.

Nada and Reed at the LDS Church College of Fiji campus.  What a beautiful campus.  You can look out on the ocean from the campus. The school has a lot of land and it is on a hill.  All the walkways are covered.

Elder and Sister Willis are our Education Specialist Missionaries in Suva.

This is called a Bure (original Fijian home) and Fijian Drums.

This is the LDS Church College of Fiji's campus, years 7 to 13 attend here.

Beautiful sunset.

Monday evening after finishing speaking to all the faculty at the church school we headed to downtown Suva.  There were quite a few tall buildings.  It was a fairly large city.

We had dinner at Daikoku a Japanese Teppan Yaki restaurant with all the senior missionaries serving in Suva.  A couple, the mission nurse, were going home and even President and Sister Layton were in attendance.  It was very nice to meet everyone and dinner was very good.

Tuesday morning, July 26, 2016, we were the guest speakers at the morning devotional for the student body at LDS Church College of Fiji.  I bore my testimony and introduced us and Reed talked about the doctrine of education and no whining!  About preparing now for your future.

They presented us with these beautiful Salusalu's.

We attended two "Life Skills"  classes where the year 11 students participate in a Self-Reliance class one day each week.  Each group does the "My Foundations" lesson during the first 20 minutes and this group were working on lesson 7 in "Starting and Growing My Business."  They were all very engaged and the young man standing, Antonio, was the facilitator today.



Fishing boats waiting to be rented out in the harbour.. 

They call the mountain range in the background "The Thumb!"

Standing on the Temple grounds you look across the parking lot and this is the Fiji, Suva Mission Office, the Family History Center and the Service Center.

Tuesday afternoon we met with leaders and facilitators and did training on the Mum's Pre-School, Study Buddy, and English Language booklets.

 

Wednesday morning, July 27, 2016, we headed to Naisinu Ward and participated in an Education For Better Work Self-Reliance class.  Alma Tikoenavalu is a returned missionary and was the facilitator.  Elder Willis is helping him with a video.  There were 9 participants and 6 of them were returned missionaries.



There were some pretty sharp YSA participating.  Here in the Pacific Area before you can apply for the Returned Missionary Scholarship or PEF they have to complete 12 weeks of  My Foundations and  12 weeks of Education for Better Work/My Job Search and earn their certificates of completion.

At the same church building across the way Foki was facilitating a Starting and Growing My Business Self-Reliance course.  There were 15 students in attendance.

At noon we met back with Elder and Sister Smith and they took us to see a little more of Fiji.  We drove along the Coral Coast road so we could enjoy the ocean and scenery.  Looking back from behind the Lambi Ward to downtown Suva.

Beautiful foliage growing right along the ocean.

Some homes tucked back in the bush.

We stopped in Pacific Harbour resort area for lunch.  There was this beautiful lily pond where we stopped to eat.

All around this restaurant area were beautiful bridges, river, pond and this very large Bure (traditional Fijian) home behind Reed and Nada.  You can no longer get out to it but people use to rent it to stay in.  There were very sharp large sticks all around the little island.  They were used for defence back in the day.

This is a Fijian Drum!

We then drove to "The Pearl" a very nice resort along the Coral Coast road.  Elder Smith kept calling this "Gilligan's" boat.

Reed and Nada standing on the end of the walkway between the bay and the ocean.  The wind was really blowing out here.

Very nice beach.  Wish we would have had some time to get into the water.

This is "The Pearl" resort.  It was very nice.

We had to be back to the Samabula Ward building for a training for leaders and facilitators.  That evening we did a parent devotional on "Success in School Begins at Home".  We had 135 people attend.  It went really well and we had a hard time getting away, people wanted to ask a lot of questions.

The Samabula Ward is on the Fiji LDS Primary School grounds.



We stayed with Elder and Sister Smith at their home.  They took such good care of us.  They are great missionaries and doing a wonderful job.  They are loving their mission.  This is on the deck of their home.  They have a lot of banana trees in their yard.

Thursday morning, July 28, 2016, we got up, packed and headed downtown to buy a couple of souvenirs.

The clothing here is very different from other islands.  Much more of an Indian style.

Walking around downtown Suva checking out stores and enjoying our last morning here in Fiji.

This is the first LDS Church House built in Fiji.

Elder and Sister Willis took us to the airport.  We had to catch a small plane to Nadi to fly back to Auckland.

Nada getting ready to get on the plane flying us from Suva to Nadi.  It could hold 21 passengers.  We had to weigh ourselves with our luggage.  You could not stand up straight.  The co-pilot could not walk down the isle without bumping into us sitting on the isles.  Luckily it was a calm flight.

One nice thing about flying in a small plane you could enjoy the scenery all the way.  It was a 40 minute flight.  We are looking down on Nadi.  It is not as green and lush as Suva.



We had a four hour layover in Nadi.  This is the Nadi airport.  It is much larger and modern than the Suva airport.  Nadi is where most of the tourists come because most of the big resorts are only a short way away and more of the cruise ships come to Nadi.  However, we thought Suva was much cooler and greener.

We hope you have enjoyed learning a little about Fiji and seeing what a very beautiful country it is.  The people were so friendly and helpful.  We wish we could have spent a little more time here.  We have truly been blessed to visit so many different countries and learn about so many different cultures.  We have some wonderful senior missionaries all over the Pacific Area working hard and making such a difference in so many peoples lives.

The Gospel is true and Heavenly Father knows us and loves us.  We love you and are grateful everyday for each and everyone of you.  We live in such a beautiful world with so many good people who are trying to live the way they should.

Until next time, Love Elder and Sister Spencer (aka Reed and Nada)