HAPPY FIJIAN FATHER'S DAY!
Today is father's day in Fiji, and quite a few men came to church this morning.  One father wished me a happy day, and then told me his wife stayed at home to cook dinner for him because that was her duty.  I don't think that will catch on in the U.S.  That's the way it is, here in 'paradise'.

I have been going to one store to buy refrigerator's, washing machine's and microwave's for a year now, and I've gotten to know the salesmen and cashiers quite well.  The other day, one of the salesmen sat me down while writing up the order form (which usually takes about an hour no matter how many items I need), and then started to open up about his family.  He knows how important families are to the LDS and couldn't help just talking to me about his life.  He said sixteen years ago, his parents and sister all moved to the U.S. leaving him here alone to "take care of the land inheritance."  He has not talked to his family, nor seen them since that time--lots of anger and resentment because of that.  He said his sister called him for the first time, and it surprised him so much, he had to talk to someone about it.  All I could say was that his family is the most important thing in this life, and that all he can take to the next life was his character, his intelligence, and the relationships that we develop while here.  He stared at me for a short time, then tears started to flow.  He was certainly touched by the Spirit.  He must have said "Vinaka vaka levu" to me at least six times, and shook my hand for about that whole hour (you know I'm exaggerating), so now I know a seed has been planted.  That's all it takes to do missionary work, just let the Spirit touch people, and listen to them.

The previous week the cashier in the same store asked me what she should do about being married to a man who was physically and mentally abusive to her.  She says she loves him, but cannot tolerate the situation much longer.  I told her that her husband didn't love her like Christ does, and that she should pray for her husband, and let him know that she was doing that for him.  Also that service will express her love for him.  I'm starting to see a change in her demeanor lately, so I can hardly wait to ask her privately how things were progressing.  I'll let you know as I find out more.

Even though I don't get to proselyte all the time, people notice how we act, and are very curious as why we are so different.  I encourage them to ask me questions, and of course, I ask them questions, and LIFE ON A MISSION IS GREAT!  Good people looking for answers in their lives.

I may have taken another picture of this, but I just learned  what it's called Yesterday-today and tomorrow
It has white, lavendar and purple blooms on it.

A young girl who we met when we first came to Fiji came into our office to sell us some flowers the other day.  The first time she just had the pink ones but I like the peach with green trim and we and the sisters each bought some.  This girl has been pushed by her father and brother to sell flowers as part of their support and we haven't seen her for a while at the store we shop at, so it was nice to have some flowers in our office, and help her out. a bit.

With sister Whiting gone, and sister Newsom scrambling to learn the finances I've inherited doing the birthday board.  Sister Whiting would call each missionary and get their favorite food, color, etc and a picture of each of them.  I made an executive decision and decided their name and birth date is all I could do  The Happy Birthday thing on the board was something I found out in the copy room, so I clipped it up and called it good.  Elder Hogge's B day was this month, but he was happy as a clam that no one made a fuss for his birthday (I've learned not to push it or he gets cranky).  Then  last week,, Sister Newsom bought a cake for Sister Limburg's birthday and  Sister Limburg insisted we sing to Elder Hogge too, which we all did in spite of his "you don't need to do that".

The top block is missionaries and three senior couples who are coming by Sept 10th
The bottom row is 11 of the sixteen coming in November.  I can't create the card until their
paperwork for immigration comes and I can use the extra pictures for their board card.

last week we prepared 2 lunches (one for about 35 and the other 20).The first was ham sandwiches, potatoe salad, pasta salad and brownies, ice cream and homemade chocoate syrup for dessert.  The second one we used some of the leftover salads and made an Italian dish that had a creamy layer made of  Butter, cream cheese and heavy cream.  The missionaries kept commenting how good it tasted and I thought it's no wonder with a creamy
filling like that!....am I gaining weight?.......no...... my clothes are just shrinking.

Sister Maile and Vai both wore yellow T shirts today little did sister Vai know she was headed for a fall
down some steps later in the week and sprained her ankle pretty bad.

It was great to see some of these elders who are on outer islands so we don't see them very often.  It was great to have them take some of the mail and packages from our office that we have a hard time getting to them (we have to put them on a boat and then call the ZL's and have them meet the boat, pick up the mail and deliver it to their  missionaries.

I kid you not, Elder Rylan Olsen was like a kid in a candy store when he saw what was for dessert and excitedly kept saying chocolate sauce and clapping his hands.  He loaded up his bowl and headed for his table.  Then about a minute later he was back in line in the kitchen!  I asked him what happened, and he said he gave it to his companion.
 I think he liked putting his dessert together and anticipating how it would taste, as much as he enjoyed eating it. 

I went with Elder Hogge to check out a flat that was just vacated by some elders.  He went on Thursday (service day) and supervised the elders cleaning it right.  To both our amazement, when the landlord met with Richard
 to inspect the flat,  he gave him the deposit money back.  Something that rarely happens here.  (way to go Elder Hogge)

Take care everyone and have a good week  Sister Hogge

BULA BULA everyone!  These last two weeks have been REAL.
I took this picture of our sidewalk while Elder Hogge took the garbage
can back by our flat.  The smooth cement on either side is our sidewalk at
the base of our driveway and you can see how everyone wanted to leave
a little history in the patch with initials, shoe imprints, and bare feet.

The AP's went out of town and when they came into the office
their eyes told us they didn't get much sleep.  When it was quiet
we discovered where they crashed and took a quick pic (waiting area
in front of my desk).  President Savu who takes care of the temple grounds
sometimes comes in, sits down, and also rests for a few minutes.

Last weekend, we drove around the whole island picking up bikes needing repair, delivering mail,& looking for flats.  The Wells were scheduled to fly from Nausori (our side of the island) to the Nadi (other side of thr idlsnf to catch a flight the next morning. When they heard we were driving, they cancelled their flight and rode with us.  One of Elder Wells favorite Fijian words is Wananavu so we had to take them to lunch at the Wananavu Resort.

This month is the Hibiscus Festival in Suva.
President Klingler's son and fiance are here for a
visit.  Our couple lunch was at Mangoes which is
away from the crowds in town for the festival

Elder and Sister Wells had reservations at the Tanoa in Nadi.  We didn't have eservations and went to 4 different
hotels looking for a room.  At Novatell, they called the Tanoa and found their was a vacancy, made a reservation for us, which made me happy as I was picturing us sleeping in the truck!  That night We had dinner at the hotel buffet and went to our room to play a game with the Wells. On their way back to their room, Sister Wells didn't notice a ramp at the exit from our wing of the hotel, and fell and bruised her ribs.  They had a wake up call for 5am so the shuttle could get them to the airport., so when we were woken at 5am with the phone ringing we thought the hotel must have mixed us up withthe Wells.  When it rang again we picked up and it was Joyce telling usshe had left her purse in our room.  They have to take Austrailian money to Tuvalu and apologized for having to wake us up so early.

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The Elders took us on a road through the village and when they stopped and pointed down the hill I thought, this couldn't be it because it looked more like a dump area.  The three flats at the base of this hill are actually newly renovated and are pretty nice.  The stuff is around the yard is left over materials from renovating and will
probably be hauled away eventually, as the landlord lives on the other side of the street and is Indian
and they take good care of their property. 

Elder Maiwiriwiri, Elder Lavaci, Elder Gadd, Ward Missionary

Theirs hope for this flat, as I found these charming pink flowers growing among the weeds at the side of this flat.

I had to take a picture of the view at the back of the flat,  the thatched bure type structure was interesting.

Here's what we saw when the Elders in a van ahead of us stopped and pointed, and illustrates the old saying "don't judge a book by it cover". This area has been a real challenge to find a flat in.  We had looked at another flat in this area several weeks agoand when we went to check if the landlord had made the repairs we requested, before signing a contract with him he said "oh I meant to call you to let you know I rented the flat to my brother".  I think that was because his brother was willing to take it as it was and he wouldn't have to make any repairs.
Anyway this flat is really an answer to our prayers.

We saw this sugarcane train by the side of the road where we were driving and I told Richard to stop for me to
take a picture.  He raced ahead of it and pulled into a spot ahead of it so I could get a picture.
As you can see, the engines aren't very big but they do pull a lot of  cars behind them.
I was excited to see one since you see cane being hauled in trucks mostly.

Richard stopped to ask directions and I had to capture this cane field

I know this doesn't look like much but this is our 3 drawer printer that the service centre sent up when our other much bigger and better printer died.  This one started having problems when Sister Limburg was doing a mass printing of the youth pamphlets and articles they need for the new youth program.  We print them for branches on the outer islands and ship them by boat.  They often don't have internet or computers to access these materials themselves as other members can,so Sister Klingler feels it gives them something versus nothing.  Isaia from downstairs came in with a technitoan and said New Zealand okayed our having a new printer since this one had hit a predetermined number of copies that are allowed.  The problem, the printer (below) is not only smaller but won't run as long as a three drawer printer before adding more paper.  To add grease to the fire he said New Zealand would only allow us to have one other smaller printer (ie two printers for the whole office)and they would be taking the 3 extra ones we currently use and rely heavily on to try and stay up with the work load.   

Here's our car for this week (the white rhino)  We dropped the red truck off to the Elders in Lautoka before
finding our hotel in Nadi and took the gray truck they were using back with us to Suva and gave it to the Elders
in Waila, who gave us back Wilma (the small teal car we had long enough to name) and it will be going to
the Leader Trainer Sisters to use (they are the first sisters to drive in our mission).  The Kennerly's, a mission support couple who will be finishing their mission the first week of September and will drive their truck over to Suva and we will be using it (hopefully) until the end of our mission in January, because there won't be a support couple coming to replace the Kennerlys.

Sister Lavatai, and Sister Fanene our LT's first sisters to drive in the Fiji Mission

The Wells just returned from Tuvalu and shared how faithful the branch President is there.  He has served in this calling for the past 26 years, but they said he is getting tired.  One of the challenges on islands is
having enough strong leadership to help strengthen the members so the branch can grow.

Today is Sunday, and we just heard from the Walkers who are in Savusavu (large island north of us)  They were robbed while asleep in their flat.  They think it was young boys who cut the screen, removed several slats from the shutters and climbed in the window.  They took their charge card, cell phone, and food.  They opened cans of tuna and chips on the porch outside and ate it leaving the packaging behind.  Fortunately they didn't take thier laptop computer or IPOD  and the Lord must be helping them, because the Wells are flying up to Savusavu tomorow and will be able to give them a new cell phone (from Elder Hogge) and a debit card the Walkers recently ordered that has arrived just in time for the Wells to deliver to them.
When I walked in the office today to do the blog Sister Newsom was here printing up her talk she will give at church today.  She said guess what happened yesterday after we all had lunch? (they went to the Hibiscus parade with Elder and Sister Tennis their  son, daughter and her husband and two kids) "a pick pocket stole my wallet out of my purse"   She said there was a lot of people crowding her on the sidewalk and a woman behind her kept pushing her on the bacc (probably setting her up for the pick pocket to take her wallet without her knowing it).
She had just got her laptop working for skype and was able to cancel her cards quickly.  She also lost her drivers liscense and temple recommend.  But she has a great positive attitude and will hopefully be able to work things out.

The Wells also traveled to Kiribati and feeling bad about waking us up on the last trip brought us 5 big chocholate bars that were in the airport for $7.00 rather than the$13.00 we pay for them in the store here.  They visited with the Edwards who have a 3 month assignment on Kiribati.  They have been battling with critters in their flat and Elder Edwards had caught 3 big rats and several mice using a trap the locals showed him how to use.  Talk about courage.

Last reality story... Sister Tennis and her Husband go walking in the morning and use Princess  (street above the temple because it's a wealthier area and people keep their dogs locked behind fences).  They went by a home and a Dobermine Pincer came out of nowhere and bit her calf (it didn't growl or bark).  She screamed and dropped to the ground while the dog ran into a yard where 3 other dogs were.  They quickly spoke to the woman in the house who said the dog wasn't hers.  They came in to see sister Limburg who cleaned the deep puncture wound and sent them to the hospital.  They irrigated the wound thoroughly and bandaged it, but serveral days later the doctor saw that her tissue around the wound was dying and they surgically removed a 2 inch circle of skin because a small area of the wound was beginning to look like gangrene was beginning.  He said if not removed,  the gangrene could spread and if it traveled up and down her leg and in a worse case scenario it could lead to amputation.  I marvel at the courage of Sister Tennis.  She was told by the doctor she would need to stay in the hospital for 2 weeks.  She said "you need to get me well in a week, I have family coming to visit us next Monday".   She is still having some concerns with it but both she and her husband are determined to stay until their release date in early November.
We're happy to report that we are healthy and busier than ever.  The next two weeks will be filled with preparing large lunches for missionaries on Tues and Thur and our big group of 22 missionaries will arrive Tues September 10th.  That night we will do a dinner for two senior couples (Kennerly's and Terry's) and two missionaries who are all heading home.  The next day we will be orienting the 22 missionaries, shopping for sulus and dinner for about 30 that night.  I thought that maybe the number of missionaries coming to our mission would begin to slow down but with 16 coming in November and 15 coming in January along with 19 missionaries heading home in January (ourselves included) I think I will be busy right up to the day we leave!  We just received the names of the replacement couple for the Wells and you guessed it, their last name is Wells.
Well I'd better close, but I want to be sure to congratulate my grandson Reven on his being baptized by his dad.  We are so proud of the decision you made Reven.  We want all our children and grandchildren to know how much we love. you and pray for you.  We're grateful to be serving a mission and have the health we need to do this work.  We know some of you have some adversity going on in your lives and encourage you to stay strong, and stay close to the Lord.  He loves you very much.  You are in our prayers,   Love Grandma and Grandpa

LIFE IS GOOD ON A MISSION

Dear Friends and Family,
Guess who is doing this blog today--yes, boso levu bubu (big boss grandpa)!  It's been a while since I did this, not that I haven't participated in the writing, but Mary loves to put things here that I wouldn't, so she is boso vaka levu (very big boss).  First thing is to wish Hunter a HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEENAGER.  I can't believe that he's thirteen, although he did say he wanted to be 16 so he could drive, and date girls!  Man, I remember those years, good years I might add.  I did rename Hunter to boso lailai (little boss).  You are a great young man boso lailai, just stay close to the Lord the next five years,  and you'll be on an exciting and wonderful mission too.
Mary is sick these days.  She has got body aches and fever, and is gets tired easily.  She came home early Friday and has been in bed off-and-on through today.  I will give her a blessing today and then take her to a G-I doctor tomorrow if needed.  If mama ain't happy, nobodies happy.

 Mary has been domestic since living here (of course she was that way before we left) but she has made this pillow to brighten up our flat. Pretty good, right?




MY WIFE AND FAMILY IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME.





She has been collecting fans from all the islands we have visited-Vanua Levu, Taveuni, Kadavu, Ovalou, and here in Viti Levu.  We will be  traveling again to Rabi, and some remote villages, so I'm sure this collection will grow some before she is finished.

These two wall hangings are hand-made out of Palm tree leaves
and colored by different colors of stain from the soil. That is my study desk.

 

Guess who got a new truck for two weeks?  It's going to the ZL's
in Lautoka this week-lucky Elders.  They have to go on a mission
get a truck like this-4 wheel drive ,stick shift, diesel engine.

The AP's and an Elder who has finished his mission, eating chocolate chip cookies and milk as an appetizer before their dinner.  Normal for "growing" boys!

This is Elder and Sister Whiting who served in the mission office with us.  They have left for home (Rockport, Utah) after serving 23 months.  Sister Whiting was the financial secretary, a very time consuming job, and Elder Whiting was the mission medical representative, and computer expert.  Boy do we miss both of them!

This is Sister Khattri who finished her mission and has returned to Delhi, India.  She taught many Hindi speaking people here,and was a great asset to our mission.  Her first name is Sweety.

This Elder Mayberry.  He served honorably and returned to St. David, AZ. He said he was looking forward to the DRY heat of AZ.  He served as a DL for nine months.

This is Elder Alex Olsen and his parents visiting
from Ephrium, Utah.  He was a ZL for nine months,
and said he loved Suva as his favorite area.  See, all the missionaries wear sulu's here.

 Well, here is an interesting photo.  This green bike was a brand new bike that I bought three months ago.  The Elder riding this bike had his helmet on and had his lights on (living the rules), and a truck swerved over on the dirt road he was on, and purposely ran into him.  The Elder jumped off his bike just in time  not to get hit, so he was OK, but the guy ran over his bike.  The Elders got his license plate number (it was a hit and run), and reported it to the police, who has now arrested the man.  Turns out, the guy doesn't like LDS missionaries.  Sadly, the bike frame is bent so he needed a new one.

Here I am, yes in a skirt, with my tools to go up to a Sister's flat to break into their bedroom (don't worry Mary was with me).  They had locked the door and didn't have a key to open it, so I took my trusty channel locks, and bent the handle until it broke off, and removed the the mechanism.  Now I will go back and replace it with a new locking door knob.  Just one of the many emergency calls I get from the missionaries.  Life is good.

 These two Sisters are the replacements for the Whitings.  Sister Newsom and Sister Limberg.  They were childhood friends who have stayed close over the years even when they lived in different states.  Now, when their husbands have passed away, they decided to serve a mission together (both have served with their husbands on missions before).  They are very adventuresome, willing to learn and work hard--great missionaries.  They are also learning to drive here on the left side of the road, and plan on getting their Fiji driving license.

 This is Tiatusi Lee.  He was our guard at our flat every other night (we had an Australian Embassy member living above us in a flat that required a night guard to be present for security, and they recently moved out), and now Taitusi has to leave us.  He will be reassigned somewhere else.  We have become very good friends, and he is taking the missionary lessons since we introduced ourselves to him.  He has read the Book of Mormon, and wants to be baptized along with his wife before we finish our mission.  He's a choice man who speaks English,  Fijian, and Japanese (where he studied for a year).

 A mission is very hard work, with long hours, and lots of frustrations.  Seniors are needed everywhere to help with the missions, so they need to be prepared to serve.  We are blessed because we serve in such a beautiful place, with a wonderful mission president and wife.  The best part of my service is to associate with all the missionaries here,  and to feel their spirit of sacrifice and love for the work.  They are amazing young men and women who love the Lord.  I wish everyone could serve here!  LIFE IS GOOD!  I miss all of you, and pray for our  immediate and extended family each day.  Each week I put your names in the Fiji temple prayer rolls when it's needed because the Lord loves you all, and so do I. Loloma, Boso Levu Bubu.

Bula Bula to Hailey, Hunter, Eli, Adriana, Lydia, Laney,  Joi, Alex, Emery, Reven, Mason, Jesse, Roxy, and Raylee from Bose levu (big boss) as the elders have named him and bubu (Grandma).  We love you all so much and look forward to when we will see you again and can give you a big hug and a kiss.  I know my grandsons are wincing at the thought of a big kiss from grandma, but I may have to give them one, since I kiss women I know here on the cheek all day long in the office or at church on Sunday.  We also want Darren-Jenny, Stephen-Natalie, Justin-Lindsay, Rob-Lexie and our extended family and friends to know how much we love and miss you too.  We're kind of at a crossroads in our mission with many new couples coming each month and ones we've grown close to leaving for home.  I've loved following the blogs of the Jameison's in Africa and Morgans in South America an who have both gone home.  We love reading your experiences (those who have blogs) and appreciate those of you who have taken time to send us an email.  Those of you who are going through difficult trials and challenges, please know that we take courage from your courage and faith and pray the Lord will bless you with his tender mercies. 

It's been another eventful week.  Tuesday our new senior missionaries the Walkers  arrived after a long delay on Elder Walker's approval letter from immigration. They are a wonderful loving couple and will be a great support to the work in Savusavu.  Sadly, there was a last minute change to their flight plan and despite being reassured by the airline, their luggage didn't come for 2 days!  They were surprised to learn that Cost U Less or any other store in Fiji doesn't carry wheat or brown rice, but she found it comforting to see some familiar name brand cereals and other products that she recognized.
There were three training meetings this week with lunch to prepare for 20.  One was out of town, so the support couple helped on that one, and we prepared an easier menu of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Sister Whiting, Walker and I caught a taxi and went shopping for a few more items after Sister Walker understood that the things at Cost U Less aren't available on the island she is going to.  We got word that the new truck they will use was ready and Elder Hogge suggested they lock their food and extra luggage in the cab of the truck that will be coming up by boat on Friday as you are only allowed one small suitcase and a light cary on on a plane.

Elder Hogge flew up to Labasa with the Walkers Thursday and drove them down to Savusavu in the ZL's truck.  He  called me last night to let me know that there are 2 flats to choose from one is the flat with the steep driveway we looked at on our last trip, and the other is the Muir's old flat which we held and paid rent on for several months for Howard's (Welfare couple) to use.  They decided they didn't want it, and found their own flat, causing hurt feelings with the landlady.  The AP's just let me know that the Walker's rented the Muir's old flat, so maybe that will help mend our relation with this previos landlady. We've found that many people know LDS, and value us as reliable renters. 

With Elder Hogge gone, I walked to work on Friday and an hour later our new office help Sister Newsom and Lindburg arrived.  Elder and Sister Whiting picked them up at the airport and are trying to make use of the week they have left to train them before they head home.  Sister Newsom's approval letter for her visa was also delayed.  We had a meeting with 2 immigration workers this week and found out that immigration is now trying to do some of the processing electronically, but sadly one of the managers who should have done the work was either out of town or in a meeting most of this week, causing a big headache for us in trying to get our senior missionaries to Fiji.

Our landlord Avenish came over last week to let us know that he was having both the Jackson's and our flat painted.  He let us pick out the colors and we both chose a neutral cream colored wall meaning no more dark burnt orange accent wall, bula! While Sister Jackson kept the front door and window trim the same (charcoal grey); I asked for a one shade darker than the wall color and love how fresh and light it is.  Avenish also let us know that our upstairs neighbors (wife is an embassy employee) will be moving at the end of this month.  The husband has been a real nit picky complainer and never seems to be satisfied.  What cracked me up was when Avenish said "life is too short, I'm glad they're going" due to all the grief he gave him and ended by saying, here he has a $4,000.00 flat with a deck that gives you a view of the ocean and they never used it! and suggested when they move out we'll have a party up on the deck to celebrate.

When I got up this morning, (Sat) I realized that these painters could arrive at any time, so I locked the bathroom door, quickly showered and dressed and by 8:00 am they were knocking on the door.  They have one bedroom completed and they have rehung the drapes.  I discovered a greasy dirt stain on the backs of all our drapes and will have completed washing 12 panels of drapes by the end of this weekend which is quite a feat in my little washing machine.

I grabbed a book to read and walked up to the mission office.  Then I remembered that I had taken my electronic key out of my wallet yesterday so the new sisters could use it and left it there!  I sat in the waiting area of the building until President Klingler came over and let me in.  I decided to work on my blog until Elder and Sister Tennis come by to pick me up to go to lunch with the Seniors at 1 pm. and look forward to Richard's return tonight at 6 pm. 

Well that's our week, we hope that all is well with each of you and your families.  

Love Elder and Sister Hogge





   

This is Joeli Kalougata and his daughter.  He is the man I wrote about who lost 2 brothers and his parents when they were all traveling by boat to Suva to be baptized and the boat sunk
in a Cyclone.  His daughter will soon be leaving on a mission

This is Elder Leeren and Sister Beverly Walker who just arrived in our mission.  President and Sister Klingler went to pick them up from the bus station (there were no flights from Nadi to Suva so these brave souls took the bus).  Sister Klingler greeted Beverly by saying "well hello Sharon" because her voice and manerisms are so  similar to her sister Sharon whom we both know from the Arboleta ward.  They are both so warm and loving and will be a great addition to our mission.

I realized I haven't taken a picture of Ana Rarawa who comes in every Tues and Thur to clean our office

A one last time shot of the burnt orange wall.  This is our drying rack that we dry out our
 towels and other stuff, by running a fan on it during the day when we're at the office.

A pretty pink flower I discovered when I walked to work this week.

I think this is the common variety of  Hibiscus that grows here.

This is the hybrid type of Hibiscus that blooms in front of the gaurd station entrance to the temple/mission office/service centre.  The gaurds gave me a funny look until I reassured
 them I was just taking a picture.

I looked out back and realized that not only did they paint the walls, trim and all the doors, but they painted the decorative bars to our flat which is nice because they have begun to corrode and rust.

The trim around our windows used to be a dark gray and are now a light cream which has made them blend with the walls better and lighten up the room, which is a welcome change for us.