Another fun visit from our Family

We were so happy to welcome Brittany and Chris and their 3 boys Michael, Luke and Keaton as well as Jason and Molly to Fiji for a visit. This is the greatest thing ever to be able to show them what we have been doing for the past year.  We were so excited that the boys were able to join their parents on the trip.  They are the first grandkids to come here.

We started off in Nadi this time as they came in on a Monday instead of a Friday.  We picked them up early (6:00 a.m), went back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and then headed to the boat dock to catch a boat over to Malolo Island.  This is our second time there so we were pretty excited to show the family around.

Britt catching a few Zzzzz's on the boat.  Must of been a hard and long plane ride.

We had a fabulous time on Malolo Island at the Malolo Resort.  Because we had been there before with Heather, Jason, Stacy and Jesse, the staff remembered us and treated us like we were family.  

A few things we did there were: jet ski, hand fishing where Sister Peterson caught the biggest fish and they cooked it for us and we had it for lunch, hiking, relaxing, singing with the band, playing guitar with the band, and just having a great time.  Here are a few pictures of day 1, 2, 3 or their visit.

Michael showing off his great hair and Fijian flower.  Real Fijians wear flowers in their hair.

Michael got to play with the band At Malolo Island resort.  He was in Heaven.

Malolo has the greatest staff

Having a little lunch by the beach

Keaton admiring the fish that I caught

Day 4 

Today we drove to Pacific Harbor after a fun time at the Malolo Resort.  We stayed at the Uprising which is one of our favorite places. Papa handed out the sulu's to the boys and showed them how to put them on.  The boys were so excited about their sulu's and their bula shirts.  They looked so handsome.

Day 5

Today was a great day.  Today is the day that Keaton was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He turned 8 in October, but waited to be baptized here in Fiji.

We got up and got dressed in our best sulus and Sunday best and headed to Magoon's Lagoon.  Sister Magoon and her family are members and they live right on the beach in Navua.  They are wonderful people and have become great friends.  

We arrived and found the whole Magoon family dressed in their Sunday clothes to participate in Keaton's baptism.  Keaton and his dad had prepared the program for the day.  We went inside the Magoons home, had the short program and then out to the ocean we went.  It was an amazing experience to see Keaton and Chris (his dad) all in their whites standing in the ocean.  The weather was perfect and the tide was just right.  The baptism was performed and we all went back inside where Keaton bore his Testimony of the Holy Ghost.  He did such an amazing job with grace and confidence.  The Spirit was so strong and there were tears shed.  

After the baptism, the Magoon's had prepared a beautiful and very tasty lunch for us.  We ate, played with the kids, swam, ran on the beach, net fished, boat rides, cleaned fish, had lunch and then went home tired but very happy and grateful for this great experience with these wonderful Fijian friends of ours who made Keaton's baptism day so incredibly special.  This will be a day none of us will ever forget, especially Keaton.

Keaton bearing his testimony about the Holy Ghost.

Luke even got a bath from Sister Magoon.

DAY 5

Today we headed up to the Nakavika Village in the Namosi Highlands to visit Moses and his village.  Michael, Luke and Keaton held a car wash and earned $2000 in Fijian to give to the school.  It was decided by Moses that the best way to spend the money, was to buy the uniforms for the school children for next year.  Elder Peterson and I ordered and picked ip the uniforms before the family came so we would be ready to deliver them.

Talk about an amazing experience.  It is traditional when you bring something to donate to the villages, you must go through a Kava ceremony.  This is a welcome and a thank you ceremony.  Because we don't drink Kava, they still performed the ceremony and our drivers drank in our behalf.  

The women of the village had made all of us Salusalus and presented them to us.  After the welcome, Luke got up and expressed to the chief, how grateful they were to be able to come to the village.  He told him what they did to raise the money for the uniforms.  Michael also stood up and spoke to them.  We were so impressed with these two grandsons of ours.  We were Proud Grandparents for sure.

After the Kava Ceremony, we played with the school kids, sang songs, jumped ropes, played ball, gave out lollies, played some more and then said our goodbyes.  The village kids and our family were touched with the friendships that were made that day.  These memories will never be forgotten.

The boys carrying in the boxes of uniforms for the school kids

Luke, Michael and Keaton handing over the school uniforms to the head men at the village.

The little kids here are adorable.  It's hard not to want to take them home

Keaton with the school uniform on.  He is the white kid in the middle :)

This beautiful lady putting a salusalu on Michael

After a wonderful time at the village, we headed to the river with Moses for a white water rafting trip.  We went cliff diving, swimming in the river and pretty much carried our 10 man raft down because of the low water levels.  Oh well, sega na lega (don't worry, be happy as they say in Fiji).

The scenery was amazing and the company was the best.  We had a great time.  We ended with a delicious tunafish sandwich and a long-boat ride back to Navua.  What a great day we had.

After all this fun, we headed back to Suva for a surprise Birthday party for Elder Peterson.  He turned 60 so the YSA's wanted to throw him a big party and this they did.  It was great fun.  We danced all night and they did "items" for us as well.  We so love these YSA's of our.  Happy Birthday Elder Peterson.

love the jaba and bula shirt that Edwina's mom made for us.  

Val Johnson made this poster for Elder Peterson with pictures of him this past year.

Day 6

Today we started at the Market in Suva. We took the bus (that is an experience all in itself) down to town. We bought fruit, vegetables and treats for dinner on Sunday.  We always love to go to the market.  The boys spent their time and money looking for sunglasses.  They bought about 3 pair each.  They loved the knock off name brands I guess.  We ate Indian food, pineapple and had a great time. The Market is always a must.

A must when you visit Fiji.  The bus ride to town is one of my favorite things to do with visitors.

Indian food at the market. Yummmm

Day 7

Today, we dressed up on our sulus again and went to church.  It was Edwina Bogidua's farewell as she is going to Australia for her mission.  She gave a great talk (it was all in Figian so we didn't understand it) but it was good to go support her.  We love this girl very much.  She is the one who started calling us Grrrandmother and Grrrandfather.  She will be a great missionary.  We had a great roast beef dinner which tasted so good after all the restaurant food and then went for a great walk along the sea wall.  It was a very restful day and very needed.

Day 7

Today we went to one of our favorite places Takalana to see the spinning dolphins.  It was a beautiful day and the sea was very calm.  We had a nice breakfast, walked down to the boat, Britt caught a ride with one of the village boys and his horse, climbed into the not so new boat, headed out to the open seas, saw many many dolphins spinning and jumping, we snorkeled, swam and headed back to see more dolphins and then back for a wonderful lunch.  Britt and Chris wanted to stay over night but decided it would be too tight of schedule since they were headed home the next day.  

We handed out candy to the children playing along the road and this is alway so fun because they don't get much candy so they are your friends for life.  We had a fabulous day at Takalana.

Chris makes friends where ever he goes.  

Michael chilling in the boat

 This is how the locals spend an afternoon. Spear fishing is a daily activity for them here in this village.

Today we had to say goodbye to the family.  It is always so hard.  We spent one more morning at the market buying last minute "stuffs" before we headed to the airport.  Vinaka vakaleve matavuvale for the visit.  We so enjoyed sharing our mission with you and watching you embrace this wonder culture and people that we love so much.  These memories will stay in our hearts and minds forever. 

 Sister Peterson not wanting to leave until their plane took off.  Moce mada until we see you again.

Wow, I can't believe it has been since Halloween that we have updated this blog.  Where does time go?  

We have been incredibly busy with finishings up the semester and having a wonderful visit from our family.  Time is going by way to fast and we have so much to do.

The temple closed down in November for renovation and that was a very sad day.  We have loved having the temple so close and so available.  Our YSA's are really missing it and we are trying to fill our Tuesdays with other good things.  We have been doing a "Lunch and Learn" where we learn something and then have a nice lunch.  It has been good,but we still really miss our Temple Tuesday.

We were able to watch them take down Angle Moroni from the top of the temple.  We were able to get pretty up front and personal with him.  He will be regold plated and then put back up as soon as possible.  

I decided to bite the bullet and buy a sewing machine.  I miss doing little projects and I thought it would be good for teaching the YSA's to sew.  We made string backpacks and I made one for each of our grandkids for Christmas.  It was a great break for me and the YSA's loved it as well.

Our YSA's have many wonderful opportunities to do service around the Island.  We were asked by the Stanford's who are the Humanitarian specialists here, to participate in a "handover ceremony" for the Diabetise Foundation.  We were asked to walk with the young people who have diabetise and then hand over to them some testing kits.  The kits were donated by the LDS Humanitarian Department.  We also sang a song and had our picture taken with the Prime minister of Health.  I guess she is a pretty big deal here in Fiji.  We all had a great time and we love doing service.

Here are a few of the sights we saw at the event that day.  You gotta love Fiji.

The sad day finally came that we had to say good-bye to our wonderful neighbors and friends the Jacksons.  They have been our "go to" people, our sounding boards and our biggest cheerleaders since we arrived in Fiji.  Because of them, we have seen so many beautiful places and have met some wonderful Fijian people that we wouldn't have other wise.  We love them and we will surly feel their absence.  

We had our YSA's sign a laundry bag for them and we had a farewell party for them.  The YSA's love them also and will truly miss them. 

 We have been very privileged to meet some wonderful families here in Fiji.  The Chand family have been very kind to us and have invited us into their home for dinner a couple of times.  Sister Chand showed me how to make pori the last time we were there.  It is like roti, but is deep fried.  Her's were perfect circles and mine looked like the world map.  

We love the Chand family.

Another sad goodbye to one of our YSA's.  This is the hardest part of this mission.  Edwina has gone for her mission to Austrailia and she will be an incredible missionary.  We love her and will miss her calling us "Grrrandmother, and Grrrrandfather".  Until we meet again Sister Bogidua.

Edwina and her father at the Nasouri Airport

October 29, 2014

Halloween Party Fijian Style

What is Halloween without a Costum Party.  Here in Fiji they don't celebrate this holiday.  WHAT??? Well we couldn't let it go by without showing our YSA's what a Peterson Halloween Party is all about.

Rachel and Penna wanted to decorate so I gave them $ and they went and got all the "stuffs".  I let them in the institute and came back to lock up and WALA, all done.  

They made a scary room and a fairy rooms.  So funny.  The decorations were great since there just isn't Halloween anything here.  I was amazed at how creative those two were.  They even made a spider web that went across our whole ceiling with yarn that I had left from the pompoms.  

We played a few games like 7 over, charades, and musical chairs.  
The musical chairs kind of got a little out of hand :).  Crazy Fijian YSA's.  Love them to death.

We then had a costume contest where they walked the cat-walk and modeled for the judges (Elder and Sister Jackson).  It was great fun and they really got into it.  

All in all it was a great time.  It is always fun to introduce new things to the YSA's and to show them some of our traditions.

Here are a few of the costums.

 Penna was amazing and cute scary

 Me and cute Rachel

Joyze as "Jasper" the friendly Ghost.  We had to correct him and let him know it was "Casper" the friendly Ghost.

 This is Kami the vampire

 Edwina strutted her stuff on the "cat-walk"

 Phillipe Vakaloloma as a scary fireman

 The Lami Pumpkins won for most original

 Samu won the Scaryist prize

Elenoa won the grand prize  This picture doesn't do her justice

 Rachel of course won the prize for being the cutest

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERY ONE FROM ALL OF US HERE IN FIJI

 25, 2014

Magoon's Lagoon, Senior Missionary's Excursion

Saturday we went with the Senior couples to a place called Magoon's Lagoon.  It is located in Navua.  Sister Magoon in a member of the church there in Navua.  Her husband passed away just before we came to Fiji, but we understand he was an amazing and fun man.  They ran a tourist adventure from there home which sits right on the beach. The adventure consists of a boat ride out to Bega Island, net fishing, lunch and relaxing on the beach.  After Brother Magoon passed away, they stopped the adventure while the Magoon family mourned the death of their wonderful husband, father, and grandfather.  A few months ago, Sister Magoon approached sister Stanford and told her that they were ready to start up the business again and wanted the Seniors to come.  

Sister Collins arranged the tour and off we went.

It was a very fun day, however, we pretty much got rained out.  It was nice for a little while, but as we were coming in to shore from our boat ride, here came the winds and the rain, and oh boy, did it ever rain.

We had to gather in their home to eat our lunch.  We sat around and Sister Magoon told us stories about her husband and family as she proudly showed off her pictures.  The kana kana (food) was great.  My favorite is always the fruit and the roti (like a tortilla).  I have to learn to make roti before I come home.  Also we had babagau (like a scone) for dessert and that is always a highlight.  We didn't get any net fishing in, so I guess we will just have to go out again before we come home.  This might be a fun place to visit when out kids come next month.

We were excited to see Edwina and Phillipe's little brother Bogi there.  We love their family.

 This little fella just might be tomorrows "Lovo" dinner.

 Simple toys, happy boys

 Elder Peterson always seems to find the little kids.  They love him!

Sister Peterson acting like a kid on the swing.

 Elder Peterson playing a little soccer before lunch.  Ball was pretty flat.  Think we will bring a new one with us next time.

 Lucy making roti in the outdoor kitchen.  Love watching them do the cooking.

 Lucy getting the fire ready for the roti.

 Ta and Sister Magoon serving us juice and pumpkin pie.  It was delicious, but not at all like our pumpkin pie.

 Sister Newsom, Sister Jackson and Elder Jackson holding on for dear life on our wild and wet boat ride.

The boat crew.  Because of the low tide, we hit the shallow beach much sooner than we thought we would.  Some of us "worker B's pushed the boat all the way back to the beach.