Bula everyone, we went on an adventure last weekend  (April 20-21st).  On the way we  stopped at Navua to drop some items off to the Elders and I saw this Bougenvilla in their yard that was gorgeous because of it's double blooms.  We have it growing in Arizona, but I've never seen one with such beautiful blooms, Fiji is truly full of beautiful flowers.

Solid rock mountain and tough vegetation growing on face.  We  dropped some mail off to the Sigatoka Elders and  seeing that it was going to be sunny and dry, Elder Hogge announced that we were going to drive up to Nasivikoso.  (the village that he stayed overnight in with Elder Tennis earlier this year ).  

She asked to have her picture taken by some tourists, so Mary obliged  

Mary and I went to Nasivikoso in the bush, she is a trooper, as long as she didn't have to sleep overnight

Lots of great views on the way into the village

Wish I had this four wheel drive truck permanently!  This belongs to the Kennerly's who are  temporarily
serving in Taveuni, until a new support couple arrives next month.  We flew over to Nadi one weekend,
and drove it back to Suva so we could use it to deliver items needed in the missionaries flats.

This is the village bathtub.  

The children love to take baths here, with soccer balls too

Here is the bath drain--beautiful place!

Kids are never shy when taking pictures

Mom decided to join the bathtub fun

They all run in the sun to dry off

The Fijian Elder on the left has only six weeks left on his mission,
the  other has 20 months, and I have only 9 months--crazy!

The road going up this hill is the way the teenagers  go to school, about a half hour walk,
uphill both ways.  The mountain behind there, the Elders climbed up on P-day.
They found some caves where the villager said they use to hide during ancient times,
and  throw large rocks at their enemy.  There are waterfalls there also which serve as a water source.

Elder Dakunimata gave us the directions for taking a different road from Nasivikoso to Nadi.
In this spot with the pine trees growing on both sides of the road, and the air conditioner on,
it felt like we were driving in the mountains of Arizona or Utah

Another beautiful village along the way, traditional Bure on the  left.

Do you like this road? I loved driving this road, Mary just kept talking to me
but kept her cool.

We stopped and had lunch under this tree, then I took a wrong
turn at a junction of 3 dirt roads, and we  ended up in Ba village,
about 60 kms from where I intended to be (in Nadi).

A village down in the valley from where we ate our lunch.

Lots of small villages along the way, no electricity,
no indoor plumbing, and cooking by campfire

A few moments after the drive through the pine trees we drove by clumps of bamboo

There are lots of wild horses along the way.  Mary told me to stop so she could take a picture, I tried to move the truck a little closer and as soon as I got near this mare and colt they hid in the bush, thus our picture of their  rear ends!  

This is a village that has maintained it's charm by keeping everything traditional .
Mary snapped this picture before we got ran off by a villager.  Seems
that they make money by inviting tourists into the village and charging
them to take pictures of homes and people

When we began our trip to Nasivikoso I wondered how rough the road would be, and it went so well that we both were saying" this really isn't too bad".  On the way down to Nadi on a road neither of us had been on before it was a lot rougher and we did a lot of shake rattle and rolling to the point that I decided it would be easier on my back and head to not lean back against the seat, but hold on the loop up by the windshield and lean forward!  The surprise ending was when we drove into town, and I didn't recognize anything...I noticed store signs like Ba Hardware etc and said to Richard, "I think we're in Ba"...he said "no this is Nadi Mary"... then we drove up a hill and at the top was BA POLICE STATION sign.. and Elder Hogge said "this is Ba, how did that happen?"  We called the Nadi elders to let them know what happened, drove to the next town Lautoka and met with those elders for diinner, then drove to Nadi and checked into the Tanoa Hotel where we usually stay when in Nadi. 

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Hey Hunter, how about a game of chess?

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Old Bure home with new conveniences in Nadi outskirts where we were asked to look for a flat  that elders might stay in.

This is our church located in a village near Nadi named Drautabu 

Tuesday we had Elder Rasband and his wife come for a visit.  Our missionaries sang a
special musical number for them and then President and Sister Klingler bore their testimonies, and Brother
 Rasband and Hamula spoke.

Here are about 35 missionaries out of the 106 now in the mission
all Elders wear sulu's

Our next trip this coming Saturday is up to Rakiraki with these new bikes for the Elders.  We will travel
way to the north of Viti Levu on a different road than we usually take.  It should be another great adventure.