A View of My World in Fiji

I will now give a “tour” of our “flat” which is the common term here for an apartment. Our accommodations are very nice. My half of the cost is $600 Fijian dollars or about $336 U.S. dollars—not bad. My companion and I each have our own bedroom and bath and we have a bedroom for guests! So come visit!

We live at 54 Ono Street in Samabula, Fiji, 

within walking distance of work and the temple.

Our house is on the left with the tall white fence.

Welcome to our humble abode. We have to unlock three locks before entering our little home: the gate to the driveway, the gate before the front door, and the front door! Talk about Fort Knox! Violent crime is not common here, but annoyance (loud noises, etc.) is the top crime in our area. Burglary is second (hence the locks).

Our front porch has the prettiest tile. The lanterns are probably East Indian.

Here is our living room. Our TV is for DVD watching, but so far we haven’t had time. 

I think our kitchen is pretty—just not enough power points (electrical outlets).

Notice our water filter (3 gray units to the right of the sink).

 

The guest bedroom is off the kitchen and has our spare fridge and clothes dryer.

Our laundry room: the little washing machine works quite well.

  My bedroom 

and closet area

      

My bathroom and my companion’s bedroom.

We have a beautiful view from our back patio. Yes, that is the Pacific Ocean off in the distance.

The patio also serves as our fresh air clothes dryer.

We attended our first baptism in Fiji: a sweet young couple—all spoken in Fijian, but we felt the spirit.

Their adorable daughter is looking forward to her baptism when she turns eight.

Elders Olmstead and Peery performed the baptismal ordinances.

The baptisms are performed outside in this font—cold water.
It is slowly draining after their baptisms.
Everyone gathers around the railing for a close view of the baptism

 

Here is the

front of the 

church and

inside the 

chapel. It is 

the LDS 

Primary 

School 

during the 

week.

Every child comes from this school knowing this important truth.

Sisters Fanene and Lavata’i are both missionaries from Samoa: Sister Fanene from Western Samoa and Sister Lavata'i from American Samoa. They provide awesome leadership for all the sister missionaries.

Now we attend church in the Tamavua 2^nd Ward which meets in the cafeteria of the LDS Church College (like junior high and high school in the USA). The Fijian speaking ward meets in the auditorium. Everything is built on a hill the Fijians get quite creative in their architecture. The covered walkways are very nice when it rains. Did I tell you that it rains a lot here! (I like the rain.)

Sehansa is our almost 5-year-old neighbor from Sri Lanka
who waits patiently each evening for us to come home so she can visit us.
She loves to watch Finding Nemo on my companion's i Pad. Her father is a judge here.

We met Sister Prittam Singh the first Sunday we came to church. Her husband pampers her by buying her beautiful dresses and saris. I hope to buy a sari here for my daughters and granddaughters to share. She served Pisan after church, a warm drink made of coconut cream, raisins, almonds, and flavored with cardamom. It was chunky and delicious. Another Sunday she asked us to dinner. She served a chicken and rice curry dish with fresh tomato chutney (like a salsa).

On August 23, 2013 we celebrated Sister Limburg’s birthday—now she is as old as I am.
It would have been my husband John’s 71^st birthday and so it was nice to be celebrating.

That same day I stopped on the way back from the bank to take these pictures of boats. Shipping is a big industry and is how Fiji gets many of its supplies. Downtown Suva is in the background.

I love the clouds that roll in. The sand around much of the big island is not what is shown in the post cards. The smaller islands have the beautiful white sand.

Now I am only a month and a half behind on my blogging. Yahoo! The next post will be titled "And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and will show some sights from a walk we took one Saturday around our neighborhood.