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