Mission Tour, Elder Hamula and Diwali Weekend

The Sunderlage's

Breakfast with Ronald McDonald

Today is Diwali here in Fiji.  Diwali is the biggest Holiday of the year in the Indian Culture. It is some type of an Indian Religious Holiday which we don't really understand.  All we know is that President and Sister Ostler gave us the day off and closed down the office!

Everyone dresses in the traditional Indian Saree or Kameese.  Houses are decorated with lights like we do and Christmas, only Fijian Style.

The evening skies light up with fireworks.

Yesterday was our big Mission Tour Day with Elder Hamula, from our area Presidency.  All the missionaries in Fiji came to Suva for the conference.  We were richly fed by the words of Elder Hamula and President and Sister Ostler.

Following the Main Conference we met as senior missionaries with Elder Hamula.  What an opportunity for us to meet with him and feel his spirit.  He let us know in no uncertain terms how much we are appreciated and how much our families will be blessed for our service.  Something we have already experienced.

We also fed all 80 missionaries.  Since Dave and I were it for the catering of the lunch,  we got a little help from our friend and Guava.  We had them make chicken salad sandwiches and served them with chips, bananas and ice cream bars.  It was simple, delicious and almost no work.

We have 2 new mission couples here in Fiji who attended the Conference.  The Sunderlages are serving in Taveuni and came here for the weekend and the Tait's are the new ITEP missionaries at the college.  They live right next to us.  We have had a lot of fun visiting, eating together and just getting to know each other. We have a great group of senior missionaries right now.

They have not yet found our replacement yet.  We are wondering who will carry our load when we leave.  I guess that is in the Lord's hands.

Elder Cegaudrau

Elder Cegaudrau,  the missionary who hurt his knee has had quite the struggle with his recovery.  It is going to be a long slow recovery because of the extensive damage done to his knee.  He was told by the Physiotherapist that he will never be able to play Rugby.  This is huge for a Fijian who see's Rugby as his life.  He is struggling to keep his spirits up.  We remind him that the Lord takes care of his faithful servants and that if he does his part as a missionary the Lord will bless him.  I take him to therapy 2 times a week.  It is draining on me to see him struggle to take even a small step but our goal is to have him off crutches and able to get around better by the time we go home.  We have grown to love this young man and feel it a privilege to be able to help him through this difficult  process.

Needless to say we are keeping busy,  time is going quickly and we are satisfied and happy with the work we have done here.

We Love the Lord and are so grateful for the experiences we have had over the past 18 months.