A Christmas Break

With Christmas upon us, things have shut down for two weeks; so Rick & I flew to Hawaii for a break, and to spend some time with our daughter & son-in-law, Tamara & Lee Loewen, and their four children.  It felt strange to leave Fiji, and go to America, driving on the right side of the road, again, and seeing all of the familiar stores and restaurants that we are used to.  But the most special thing was to see some of our kids & grandkids, after 2.5 months of being away from them.  

A visit to the Botanical Gardens, Honolulu.

On December 23, we watched two NCAA
basketball games at the Diamond Head Classic.

Each day, we have made sure to spend 
some time at a beach in the area.
It is fun to play with the grandkids,
and to go swimming or snorkeling. 

On Christmas morning, Santa somehow found us and the grandkids in Hawaii, and left a number of presents for all of us.

It was fun to watch the grandkids open their presents.

Santa brought Rick & Lee matching Fiji Bula Shirts

And Santa brought more matching Bula Shirts.

On the afternoon of Christmas Day, we went to watch the two 

final games of the NCAA Diamond Head Classic Tournament.  

It was a lot of fun watch BYU play a very close game.

On the evening of Christmas Day, we enjoyed a nice meal at "Tikis" in Wikiki.

The purple buns were unusual, but tasty!

This Praying Mantis at the next table caused quite a commotion.

On Boxing Day, just before we went to the North Shore Beach to play in the waves, we walked around BYU Hawaii campus near the Polynesian Cultural Center.

We also walked around the temple grounds.

And enjoyed the Visitor's Center.

We finished the day by treating ourselves to a "Lava Bowl Shaved Ice".  What a wonderful treat!

We are looking forward to one more week off before we return to Fiji January 3rd to complete our six month Humanitarian Mission.  

A Remote Village, and a Very Unusual Eye

This past week we went to the remote village of Navunikabi.  It was an amazingly beautiful drive into the tropical jungle highlands of the interior of Fiji. It was a little hazy going in, but got sunny and beautiful later .

We were met by a number
of children from the village.

The children were also
waiting in the Community
Hall for their eye exams.

It's their tradition to sit on the floor, rather
than chairs; so that's what they did while
waiting their turn for their eye exam.

Helping them with
their frame selection...

It was interesting to see that a
number of the ladies chose to
kneel on the floor, rather than stand
 up while I was helping them.

Two happy ladies
getting their glasses.

They gave us some kind
of fry bread for breakfast.
It was very tasty!

I can't resist holding
this cute little baby.
Almost as good as
holding a grandchild!

The Chief of the village honored us by having
 us dine with him in his house, sitting on the floor
 once again.  What an awesome experience!

We then finished the week off by traveling to different churches in Waila, Navatuyabo, Toga, and Nausori.  At each church, there were lots of people 

lined up for hours in extreme heat, patiently waiting their turn.  

They view their eye exam and glasses as a once in a life time experience.  

We were able to see from 90 to 112 people each day.

Checking the patients in...

The kids love to be around us and touch us, 
also love to have their picture taken

Our Fiji "adopted son" comes with us some days to help 
us out, especially with translating the Fijian language.

Another baby for me to hold!

Some days, we worked in a nice air conditioned room...

...other days, we worked in a hot room.

This 15 year old boy had the most unusual eyes we had ever seen.  Three years ago, he was normal; then all of sudden his eye started to bulge forward and downward, progressing slowly over these past three years.  Amazingly enough, 

he can see perfectly out of both eyes, and does not need any glasses.  

His mother says that he has had scans and been checked out by specialists, 

and says there's no tumor or other problems.  I'm going to contact the 

specialist to find out more details.  Wow!

On this particular day, the people of the
church surprised us with an amazing lunch.
...chicken, fish, salad, banana bread, fruit...
It was very tasty.

This big fish was caught in a river behind the church, and cooked over an 
open fire.  The head of the fish is cut off and offered as a special treat.  
The chief (or head of the village) is usually the one who is honored to 
eat the head.  It was offered to us, but when we declined the honor, 
the stake president in this area was happy to eat it.  He had a 
good laugh, watching our faces of horror as he ate it in front of us!

 

Although we miss all of our family and friends,
at this special time of year, we would like to
wish you all a very Merry Christmas from Fiji!