After driving the circumference of the Viti Levu twice, scoping out locations to base our projects, we finally decided (and got Board approval) to move to Tavua. We have found a 3-bedroom house with a large living room which can be portioned off to make a 4th bedroom. There is a large bathroom with a shower, bathtub, and toilet. In one of the rooms there is a toilet and sink. There is a patio in the front and back of the house as well as eggplant bush, mango tree, lime tree, and banana trees. The house is on a hill that overlooks all of Tavua and the sea.
On Saturday we conducted an army of Tavua volunteers that came to help us purchase supplies, scrub the floors, and carry in and put-together 7 bunkbeds. On breaks we would sit and eat the wi (a green sour fibrous apple-like fruit) that grows on one of our trees in the backyard.
Sunday we went to the LDS ward in Tavua. I sat in on an Fijian-speaking Sunday school class in which they would look at me every so often, give a few word English description of the topic, and ask to hear my thoughts. When the entire congregation came together we realized we were lucky enough to be there on the first Sunday of the month. This is the Sunday that instead of having prepared talks, audience members are invited to stand at the pulpit for a few minutes and talk about their testimonies.
In every Mormon Church I have previously been to, the content of these mini-speeches tend to vary widely and tend to include melodramatic stories of trails or convoluted stories of semi-miraculous occurrences. But the testimonies given in this meeting were honest, terse, and fairly similar to each other. People talked about believing God, following Christ, and how they loved each other. And they did all of this is about half the time and church ended early!
1 comment:
I remember as a child in Hawaii being very touched by testimony meeting. There was an old woman who often stood where she was sitting, would begin to sing softly, and members of the congregation would join in, an ebb and flow of musical testimony. Mormon Choir sang at a Why I Believe Fireside yesterday evening --- the theme was the power of music to invite the Holy Spirit -- the accoustics were so good that we could sing very softly and intensely and beautifully. There was also a bell choir, with trumpets, organ and timpany. We all felt grateful for having had this special way to worship. I am so glad that you are having these beautiful ways to worship with the Figians.
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