SAVUSAVU AND TAVEUNI FLAT FINDING TRIP
We drove over to the other side of the island and stayed overnight at the Tanoa.  Arrived at the airport 2 hours early and our flight was delayed an hour due to a large rainstorm.  While we waited I took a picture of the plane.  It had seats that were 18 X 16 inches (no kidding) and you had to stoop when you entered the plane.  Elder Hogge and I sat near the front and we could see everything the pilots did with their instruments (open cockpit)  It was a new experience for us, as we exited we had to be careful as the steps were 12" wide and 6" deep.

"Oh No ooo" I stuck these shoes in my suitcase when I first arrived in Suva, and the  mold  fairy decorated them!
No worries they cleaned up fine when I washed them off and dried them with a paper towel.

Flat in Savusavu that a senior couple (the Muirs) lived in.  They just finished their mission

Vaneeta neighbor and landlady Elder Ledoux and Elder Hansen , Sister Hogge

View from the second level porch of the Elder's flat

Missionary's do have a sense of humor.  I understand the other prosthetic leg
 is in the missions downstairs storage room in Suva

The drive through this deep rut up to missionaries  flat required  4 wheel driving (it's deeper then this looks)

We went out to one of the many villages and  we had to traverse a stream.  Elder   Hogge  had to get
out so he could wade through the stream.  One of the Elder's captured it on his camera so I post it next week.

This is a road that leads to another out of the way village.  It's so lush and green that it's hard to see the tire trail

Sister Jesse came out to greet us.  She has had a stroke and lost the function of her right hand.  When I asked  her about
her family she excitedly opened her hand twice and put up 3 fingers (there are 13 in her family)

These people are so loving and accepting.  We learn so much from them.
They don't have much in the way of worldly possessions, but they find joy  in the day to day  experiences of life.

This is Douglas (name sake of Douglas Muir senior missionary who just left)  his  second and third name  is Dorry  Dakota (Missionaries who were here teaching earlier) Holding him is Sister Gade (sound like Ghandi) his Grandmother.

LDS church in town of  Savusavu

Elder Hansen and the kids

Church at another angle

To the side of the road is this wood bridge/road that leads to a small island
 with 3-4 pretty little huts.   May be future home to a resort.

Village of Nabua and the ocean view behind the Elder's flat (only used part of the time when they are in the area)

Elder's flat

LDS church in the village

Cool flower I hadn't seen before

The inside of the village LDS church.  A podium, sacrament table and a mat  for everyone to sit on.  They  had a bookshelf at the back of the room with Book of Mormons and hymn books

inside of the Elder's flat a bathroom, sink  filter system, but water catching tank in back isn't working
Elders use this pvc pipe for shower when they have water.

some children on the sid of the road, gathering and bringing something green back home for their mom's 

Kids in the river by their home, when they saw I was taking their picture, yelled  Bula!

This heart shaped vine grows all over other plants and trees in certain areas.  It covers everything so much that you
feel like if you wandered off the road,  you could get lost in it and no one would be able to find you.

View from the balcony of our hotel room at the Hot Springs Hotel  where we are staying

Elder Ledoux was given a bunch of bananas by  a family they stopped in to visit and give the other  Elders key back.

Look at this cool piece of driftwood !  Too bad it won't fit in my suitcase.

Cool Mosaic made out of the colorful inside of sea shells

Mosaics on the floor of our hotel

These are called spider Mollusks
(like the shell I have back home from Grandma Michaelis)

Being silly Sister Wells, Sister Terry ward members, Sister Hogge

Okay serious picture

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This is a home to a family of three, cooking breakfast

I went camping up in the mountains with Elder Tennis, another  senior missionary,
  up into a small village named Nasivikoso.

This was a six in the morning, and the young men were out playing rugby 

This is the missionaries flat where we "camped out"

Elder Dakunimata and Elder Va'ai are the bush missionaries
with no plumbing, electricity, or running water

We slept here in their living room

Five in the morning, and I thought I saw King Kong coming down off the mountain

This is the village bath tub and shower

The Elders kitchen and laundry room

This is the Elder's bedroom with mosquito nets  for protection

The kitchen with  a "sink"

One of the many bridges we crossed

The single lane road going up the mountain

This one was a little deeper and slippery with 5 feet of water on either side

Don't know what these guys were doing in this pond

The ground is so thin with soil that this village cannot grow much food, so they use their land to herd cattle and horses.  They are the cowboys of Fiji and do all the work on ranches with no fencing.

The truck had turned brown by the time we got home,  HAD A  BALL!

What I wouldn't give to do this every week--life is too short to miss these opportunities.

School in the community center which was also the church

This is the "village toilet"

 We were given the key to the padlock door by the village chief
as a gesture of hospitality by the village--he is taking the lessons
from the missionaries.

One of the traditional homes in the village

 I can see why the Elders LOVE living in the bush
so much.  No worries!

The fearsome threesome

Elder Tennis and the landlord joined in

Elder Tennis and I had some fun taking pictures of the children of the village
sweet children with wonderful mothers

The only store in the village that sold food

This old man sat in his doorway most of the day, just watching the village people go by

This mother and son were cooking breakfast the way we do in
the scout camp outs

 Most all the men of the
  village were out hunting by six in the morning.
We awoke a 5 because the village was ringing
to let the village know the bus was leaving in an
hour, and it takes an hour to walk up the mountain
to the bus stop.  Then at 7 the bell rang again and
a man started yelling the events happening for
the village that day.  It is the "town crier" so- to- speak, and it was all in Fijian, so we didn't know Elder Tennis and I were part of the news that morning.

This is cowboy Matui

 WHAT A BLESSING TO BE IN FIJI AND MEET SUCH WONDERFUL, HUMBLE PEOPLE.  BY THE WAY, THERE ARE 200 PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGE AND 85 HAVE JOINED THE CHURCH, AND 79 ARE ACTIVE.  THEY ARE HOPING TO BE MADE A BRANCH SOON.

THE LORD'S WORK HAS THE BEST PAY!
 LOVE TO ALL, GRANDPA