Spice Garden Tour

September 17th was election day in Fiji

Everything in town was closed, so we left the mission office locked,

and got together with the Collins, Deckers and Jacksons.
We had lunch at our favorite spot in Pacific Harbor

and took a tour of the Gatty Spice and Nature Garden about 40 minutes away.

We have watched a pole like this being braided

with palm leaves.  It is done very fast!

David standing in the vanilla bean grove.

Cocoa

Of course we had to try some!
Not bad tasting...just a little slimy around the cocoa bean!

The group standing by a cinnamon tree.  We are holding the branches
which are dried and turned into cinnamon sticks;

The baby orchids were in full bloom!

Nutmeg
Below are some of the beautiful flowers growing in our front yard!

 If you ever wondered where Noni comes from,
 This is a Noni Tree growing in the front yard of our house
The fruit is still a little green, but turns white and bumpy when it is ripe.

Happy Birthday David

HAPPY 65TH BIRTHDAY DAVID

Celebrated with great Senior Couple Friends

at his favorite lunch spot "Baca Blues" on Pacific Harbor!

He ordered his favorite Prawn and Pineapple salad (not a burger!)

 a yummy berry smoothie and carrot cake cupcakes!

KEEP IN MIND THAT IT IS P-DAY!

 

With Elder and Sister  Jackson, Collins, Peterson, 

Watling, Christiansen, Newsom and Lindburg

5 new missionaries arrived to the mission just in time

 to sing  Happy Birthday to Elder Terry!

Sister Malito, Elders Pomate, 'Ita, Johnson, and Tiruea

with Elders Hyde and Olsen (APS) 

Elder Terry cooked their welcome dinner (mushroom steaks)

 

 what a great group of departing missionaries!

Sisters Vai (Australia) Ongasel and Johathan (Micronesia) Trammell (Calif)

Elders Jack (Blanding) Abplanalp (Morgan, Ut), Golson (Tenn) Singh (Fiji)

If you look close you can see the carnival rides at the Fiji Hibiscus Festival

Much like a Washington County Fair!

 

Another great lunch at Pacific Harbor with the Wells,

 Christiansens, and Watlings (temple couples)

A picture with Elder and Sister Buckner
 serving as area PR missionaries in New Zealand

They are from Nate and Jacque Knight's ward in South Weber!

Lal Wedding - Craft fair - August 2014

August 15, 2014

 We had the priviledge of attending the temple marriage of 

Shalveen Lal and Rosa Manuele.

Nathan was instrumental in bringing the groom and his family into the church 

when he was serving his mission 18 years ago.

At the reception...

a beautiful mix of Fijian and Rotuman  traditions.

                                                                    

    The green woven baskets are full of the food that was

 cooked all day in an underground oven called lovo. 

The food is first wrapped in  banana leaves.

      

                                                                        

 A Rotuman tradition where many woven mats are placed

on top of each other. Each is woven in a different design

with a significant meaning.

 

The Wedding Party.  They are all related!

Look who got caught dancing!

Those Rotuman women just swooped David right out of his chair!

Quite a difference between the Indian dress and

the Rotuman dress!  The Indians wear

beautiful ornate clothing.

 

Women's day out!  Sister Layton suggested we close the office

and go to the native women's craft festival! 

 

It wasn't just for women!

 The best use of  Kava bowl yet!

David is so proud that he has learned the art of

pineapple sculpting!

Best way peal a pineapple!

The first mango of the season and the tangerines are sooo good!

This creature decided to move in!

We woke up to it just lazing around on our floor.

It actually is a very harmless millipede,

but David tip toed quite gingerly around it to get this picture!

Market and Taveuni Trip August 2014

1st Senior Pot Luck dinner with President and Sister Layton

also a farewell dinner for Elder and Sister Howard (7/6/14)

Front: Sisters Terry, Limburg, Decker, Newsom, Wells, Howard, Jackson

Middle: Elder Terry, Collins, Decker, Laytons, Wells, Howard, Davis, Jackson

Very Back:  Susan and Frank Stanford

The fish market on the way to church.

They asked if I wanted to buy some fish.  

 I said no that I only wanted to take pictures!

So the held them up for me!

More market...

It's definitely pineapple and watermelon season.

And of course you can always buy dalo

(the branch/root on the ground)

I'm in charge of the birthday board.

We didn't want to be too American for July,

so we chose to do covered wagons!

It was a hit, but there were lots of July birthdays!

July departing missionaries

Front:  E. Marsh, S. Tugaga, E. Vaovasa, E. Ishibashi, E. Ohlson

Back:  Elders Heath, Cloud, Gadd, Hancock

Let's go snorkeling!

with Elder and Sister McFadden and the Tzecks from Idaho.

Ready to enter the rough sea!

Snorkeled around the island of Gamea.

Look at all those clam shells!

Fruit Bats in the trees by our hotel in Taveuni.

They are very noisy...sounds like cats fighting!

It's orchid season.

The orchids are in bloom everywhere!

At Vuna point with Sister McFadden.

The Blow Holes at Vuna Point.

Vuna with McFaddens and Elders Golson and Lowder.

The elders insisted on sharing their "treats" with us!

Fried Dalo Balls! 

David was brave to try one...I tried just a taste (Yuk)

Out with the old and in with the new!

The sisters were glad to get a new washing machine!

Elder Terry and Elder McFadden working hard

as Sister Tago looks on!

The landlord didn't claim this bunch of bananas 

growing in our back yard..soooo..

you know who did!