Dearest Family and Friends,                                       Oct. 22-28, 2015

   This has been a very event filled week. Sister Willis and I were asked to make a Self Reliance display/booth at the Church Primary School K-6 Career Week. The kids were dressed as soldiers, firemen, nurses, doctors, The neighboring school was also invited to attend. As the students rotated we shared 5 min. of information of why Self Reliance is important. We shared the Chinese proverb: "Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." We made laminated posters and fish handouts with the proverb.

 The children love when the missionaries come. They always want to give us hugs and to help. We had no idea what to expect, but Heavenly Father guided us. Fiji's Permanent Secretary of Education was the guest speaker and the school's principal brought him over to our booth to show the materials that is available, he was so impressed that he asked if he could get a copy of our books. He said this is what Fiji needs. We need to get this into our curriculum. Since we did not have a copy to give away we took his information and plan to take it to his office this week.

  

   Because of what was seen at the school, we were asked to also set up a booth at the Suva North's Stake Relief Society Expo the next day. Fiji's Minister for Women Affairs was the guest speaker also the Permanent Secretary for Women's Health attended. She advocated the importance of prevention and early detection of breast cancer and Self Reliance, not depending on Charities alone. Elder Johannson brought them both to our booth and this time we were prepared to give them each the books (3 and 2 pamphlets). They were very impressed with the material and what we are teaching our people.

  Many sisters had spent hours making pillows, etc. to donate to the Woman's Charity. The rooms were decorated with hand made handy crafts, some for display and some for sale, also food and baked goods. The money was donated to this charity. The Fijians love to have fun and celebrate. There was a live band and ladies dancing.

   Dad and I were asked to speak at a ward fireside last night and had one day notice. Heavenly Father really blessed us in what to say. We attended 2 ward classes and 1 stake on Self Reliance. This initiative is inspired and is powerful. 

   Dad was called about a company that wanted to hire LDS people because of their good reputation. Sunny, a Stake Rep. for Self Reliance told his class Sat. that this job opportunity was available and 7 people came to the SR Center to be trained on the best way to interview and present themselves. All are going to be hired. The spirit and purpose of this initiative is starting to snowball. We are looking forward to doing a lot more training. Yes, this is the Lord's work and there is plenty of work to do.

     We sure love all of you. May you be blessed always.

                                                                 Love Elder and Sister Smith