Dearest Family,
It is so strange to hear Christmas Carols when it is sooo hot, especially on the West of Fiji, near the International Airport. We shared with some of the family that we would be traveling to Lautoka (4 hr. drive) to teach and give the Stake President in that area a better understanding of the Self-Reliance Initiative. We also met some of his Bishops on Sunday. He has a great vision of where he wants his Stake to be by 2020 through this Initiative. Area wise, his Stake covers over 1/2 of the Island of Viti Levu. He is very intelligent, a great leader and so is his wife. He wants his wife to learn everything and be with us to train the people in their stake. He told her, "this is an assignment and not a calling and will be as short as the people are trained, maybe 2 months".
Our second reason for going to the West was to meet and be chaperons for 23, P-13 students from the Island of Vanuatu who were attending the Church College in Samoa. They had to fly into Fiji and stay overnight in a hotel that we also stayed in, eat dinner (pizza), have breakfast and be taken back to the airport to fly home. There is always details that have to be taken care of that we helped do. Everything went quite smoothly. Twelve of the students graduated and most are planning to go on missions. Eleven will fly back in Jan. to go to the Samoa LDS Church College again because they are younger and have 1 more year of school. These students had not seen their Island of Vanuatu since the cyclone hit in March. They were great kids: very appreciative and thoughtful. They gave us a hug and wanted pictures with us before they left. They have so little and are so grateful for the blessings that being a member of the LDS Church brings to their life and also their family.
On our way home we went to the Denarau Island or Resort Island (separated by a river) where all the really nice hotels/resorts are, near Nadi. The West side of the Island is desperate for rain but it is still beautiful especially in this Island. Yes, we took pictures. We will be going back to that area at Christmas time when several Sr. Missionary Couples take a 45 min. boat ride to Treasure Island for a day. We leave from Port Denarau. We also attended the Navua Ward's SR Class on our way home. They were happy to see us so we could assist and help. The class lasted 21/2 hrs. So we got home about 10pm.
We found out today that the Self- Reliance office and people will be moving to the building by the first church that was built in Fiji near the downtown area (we call it Cornell's church) . The building was the original Mission Office in Fiji. This move will be done before the middle of January. It will be a lot further to drive and crazy traffic at 8 am.
Our friend Sonny gave us a print out of the talking points today about the temple to be learning because we will be helping to host during the Fiji Temple Open house. We are really excited about that. We love all of you and hope Christmas preparations will not be too stressful. People here do not stress over material things and their life is much more simple. Some barely have enough to live. We love all of you and Wish All A Wonderful Christmas (Christ - Filled) Season! Dad and Mom (Elder and Sister Smith in Fiji)

The couples that serve at the mission home

They call this tree the flaming tree or the Christmas tree because it Blooms around Nov to Feb. It is in full bloom at Christmas.

The next four pictures are taken of resorts around Port Denarau, Nadi, Fiji

For two days we were the chaperons for 23, P-13 students from the Island of Vanuatu who were attending the Church College in Samoa. They landed at the Nadi airport.