Home

On Sunday, we went to church. After church, we drove to the LDS College and then walked to the LDS Primary school. Then we headed to the airport. After a few flights (maybe a couple days- it is all a blur to me), we were home.

The kids were quite pleased with their Fiji gifts. I brought that huge mat home for my parents in my empty suitcase. We tried to get the creases out, but it was just too big for our house.

I am so thankful for Great Grandma and Grandma Catmull coming to stay with the kids so I could go on this once in a lifetime trip. And for Shawn sacrificing his time (which is so valuable during school) to take care of the kids as well. And for my parents making it possible at all- both by serving a mission and bringing us all to visit.

Suva Fiji Temple

While in Suva, we stayed in the temple patron housing. It was pretty amazing to walk outside and see the temple first thing every morning. We had some neat experiences in the temple- including the silly ones like the gecko we found inside that no one would take from me. Who knew geckos were so scary.

One morning as we came out of patron housing, there was a rainbow with one end coming out of my parents' housing and the other end the temple.

Visit to the Schools (Fiji)

On Friday, we visited some of the villages and villages schools. Bishop Savu was our guide.  We went to the schools were our family donated books, balls, a lawn mower, and more. The kids came in our their day off to sing to us and show their appreciation. They fed us a ton of food and were so smiley and happy. We, also, met at a unit leader's home and donated more supplies- mom modeled the machete perfectly. We met several sets of missionaries and Laura, Liz or Kate (I can't remember) contacted their parents and sent pictures. 

Thursday, April 20th

Thursday was our Suva day. We walked, toured, and shopped. We found lots of awesome little trinkets and souvenirs. Mom has lots of buddies who gave us "the local price." We had a delicious lunch at a curry place, Maya Dhaba. They had free wifi too.

One thing I learned in Fiji was if you recognize something on a menu, it isn't what you think it is, but usually still was delicious. I really did love all the food in Fiji. Those little fried cakes were listed as curry vegetable kebabs.

After exploring, we headed back to do a session at the temple. I was able to help a young man do baptisms for his family names- he spoke in Kiribati and it was a really neat experience.

Wedneday, April 19th

Wednesday, we said goodbye to the Westin and headed from Nadi to Suva. We stopped at The Pearl at Pacific Harbor for lunch. We had an ok lunch- Laura found lots of critters in her lunch. (Liz had deemed in critter day and it indeed was.) We stopped at a little beach on the way home. We just stretched our legs a bit and walked the pier.

Once we got to Suva, we headed to the temple and did an endowment session. It was pretty amazing staying in patron housing and coming outside to see the beautiful temple.

After the temple session, we went to Grammie and Grampie's house, which was overrun with shovels, a lawnmower, and The Friend magazine. We had yummy ice cream and called it a day.

Tuesday, April 18th

On Tuesday, we went on a Snorkeling trip with the Coral Cats. It was amazing. It was a great little trip.

We started off the morning hanging out at Port Denarau waiting to leave with our group.

We sailed and putted along for a bit. Then we stopped and had our first snorkeling stop at Sunflower Reef. I have never been snorkeling before and loved it. It was a great first time. Patrick, our guide, had a loaf of bread and would feed the fish to get them all to come out. He would, also, throw the bread at you so the fish were bouncing off your mask.

After our little snorkeling stop, we headed to a beach and head a fun little lunch. We got walk the beach and enjoy some beautiful postcard Fiji waters.

After lunch we stopped at Malolo reef to snorkel. It was a bit more wavy and harder to snorkel. I am glad it was our second stop and not my first time. Patrick took Laura's GoPro and set it on the bottom of the ocean. He would put bread in front of it so all the fish would come. It made for some pretty amazing footage.

On the ride back to the port, the guides made amazing bamboo creatures for everyone. I ended up with an awesome crown.