garyandpearl

Day 24 February 9, 2014

When I was 17, it was a very good year…

That summer, I joined 35 other young people and we travelled to Fiji as part of Teen Missions International. Our job was to help a young missionary and his family by building a dormitory for Fijian students who wanted to attend Bible School. We spent almost 6 weeks in Nadi, and I had always wanted to return someday.

Today was that day. Gary and I ventured out and took the local bus to church. How hard could it be? The first leg of the journey was fine as we made our way downtown, but then we were snagged by a salesman and found ourselves drinking Kava in a back alley shop where they wanted us to pay inflated prices for products he insisted that he had carved himself. But I digress…

We were able to get away, and then we looked for a bus to get us to church. As we boarded that bus, I offered the bus driver what I thought was the correct fare as I handed him the 2 dollar bill that I had brought from Canada. He kept saying that I didn’t have the right money, and I didn’t understand. Finally he said, “Where did you get that? We don’t use that anymore!” We realized that 2 dollar bills have not been used in Fiji for a very long time! The bus was almost full and everyone was listening to the two foreigners. Great entertainment!

Anyway, I gave him the money he wanted, but then we had to figure out where to get off the bus. Thankfully, there were a few people around us that took pity on us and told us which stop to get off at. I had no idea if the building that I had helped to build was still there, but I found it. How exciting it was to find a Chinese church using the facility. The pastor and his wife gave us a tour while people around us were having Sunday School.

After a few photos, we headed across the street to the church that I attended that summer: the South Pacific Evangelical Fellowship.

What a joy it was for Gary and I to be a part of this service this morning. They sang from the heart: imagine being in an African American southern gospel church but with a pacific flavor! The temperature at noon was 33 degrees, and with the humidity, it felt like 45 degrees. There was no air conditioning, so people just fanned and dabbed themselves. It was the icing on the cake to find out that the missionary’s daughter happened to be in church that morning, visiting from Canada with her husband and three children. I had not seen her since she was 7. We chatted until most everyone had left, and then I said goodbye.

Across the road from the church was an Indian restaurant called the Sitar. Fiji’s majority of the population comes from India (they came to work the sugar plantations in the 1800’s), so one of my fond memories was eating Indian food when I was here last. I told Gary that we would have to try Indian food in Fiji, and so we did. It was delicious!! I had Chicken Madras (mild) and Gary had Lamb Vindaloo (hot). It was served with potatoes, Dahl soup, roti, rice, and onion/tomato salad.

It was pretty warm out, but I wanted to wander around the neighborhood one last time before we left. We found a pharmacy where we chatted with a pharmacist. They didn’t offer injections, but they did do ear and nose piercings! We also found one more food that I remembered: passion fruit ice cream. It was about 70 cents Canadian for a scoop, so I enjoyed mine and Gary enjoyed cappuccino. We eventually made our way back to our hotel, feeling much more confident on the way back. Now, what will I do with the rest of my 2 dollar bills?

Proverbs 24:3-4

“By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.”