Mormon Miracle Pageant

Last night, Chris & Hilary + Anders & I, headed down south to Manti, UT.

Every year they have a pageant at the Manti temple and Anders had never been!

I love all the adventures we have together.

We've been trying a lot of new things this summer.

Example?

Well since you asked... Disneyland!

Anders has never been and we're making the trek down there in less than a month!

Anyways, that's besides the point.

Last night.

We had tons of fun listening to music and chatting on our way down there. 

 We were starving when we got there so we tried some of the local food vendors.

Let me tell you... those people make some of the best homemade grilled cheeses ever!

And we got a churro. Yum.

And a snow cone. Double yum.

So, we ate a lot.

Worth it.

 Last year was my first time going to the pageant. 

We went on a weekend and sat in the very back.

This year we had amazing seats super close to the front.

Such a beautiful temple!

On the way back, Anders was begging me to stop in the middle of nowhere 

so we could get some awesome shots of us and the stars.

The first time we stopped was a little creepy.

We pulled off down some road,

saw a raccoon,

and saw a house in the distance where we all swear 

we could see someone watching us on the porch. 

After contemplating all the ways this person could kill us for being on their property, 

we decided to get going again...

...Until we saw a turn off for a state park.

This stop was a lot less creepy.

And we saw 2 rabbits!

We sure had fun playing around with the light in these pics.

Spontaneous adventures are the best.

^^ Please excuse his Edward Cullen-esque face ^^

^^I had no idea what Anders was doing with the light. 

Hence, my facial expression.^^

After a long drive back and a stop at Mickey D's,

we were back in Provo.

This summer is shaping up to be a beaut.

Isn't it?

Fiji Part 2- Naruwai

We boarded our bus and as soon as we docked we drove off of the ferry.
I was beyond excited!
We stopped just a block up the dirt road by a shop.
I can't remember why we stopped but I'm so so glad we did.
Liz (our adviser & native Fijian) ran into her mom at this store
and saw a few friends as well.
A couple of the returners got off and talked to people they knew.
I sat on the bus just admiring the familiar scenery.
It was so surreal.
I was searching everyone's faces to see if I knew them.
And that is when it happened.
I saw Susu appear from behind the store.
I literally screamed and ran to him.
And what did he do?
Well the shy kid ran away from me, haha.
Naturally, nothing had changed.
But as soon as the other returners saw who I was chasing
they joined in and helped me catch him.
I was so close to tears.
Unfortunately I didn't get a picture.
But I did later, so just wait.
Our stop was short lived as we had to begin our 30-40 minute drive up
 into the mountains of the Bua Province.
When we arrived to the Bua Central College (similar to our Junior High/High Schools) we began unloading the boxes of water bottles.

I made a cute little friend.^^

(the teachers and principals of Fijian schools live on campus
 so their children were all there to greet us)

One of the teacher's houses. ^^

The girls in my group. Team roti!

Roti is a Fijian tortilla. 

I made the mistake of calling it a tortilla & had all the women
laughing at me for a good 5 minutes. 

We were all separated into 3 groups that would sleep/eat in 3 separate villages. 

Every 3 days we rotated villages. 

Karli & Bobbi dancing in the rain^^

We played frisbee with the kids at the school while we waited for the truck to come and drive us to the village we'd be staying at for the next 3 days.

Our first village was Naruwai.

The first night in Naruwai was confusing for many reasons.

We'd been traveling for a good 48 hours and I was exhausted.

By the time we got to the village the sun had gone down.

Most of the villagers don't have lights.

We were escorted to the chief's house because he had to welcome us into the village.

There was one dim light on in the hut as we gathered into the small room.

The windows and doors were filled with curious Fijian people.

Liz was such a blessing to have in our group because she could easily communicate with the chief and the people of Naruwai. 

Us Americans sat quietly, exhausted, and probably smelly. 

Originally, the people of Naruwai had decided to separate each member of our group into a different house where we would sleep and eat.

This wasn't exactly a good plan seeing as we couldn't be by ourselves for safety reasons.

So we had to sit for however long (since we didn't have any clocks either)

for a man to get back from his plantation because he had the biggest house for us to sleep in.

Eventually, after some tea (which is sooo good) a few girls lead us to his house.

The name of the man who owned this house is Sammy.

Sammy is a snorer.

Sammy, the members of our group, and whoever else wanted to sleep in this room with us would pile in the living room and sleep there for the night. 

I was the first to lay down and pass out the first night there.

These were our beds for the next 3 days^^

Pro: they had the nicest bathrooms of all the villages.

Con: Our limbs had gone numb at the end of 3 nights on the ground.

Naruwai was beautiful.

We'd wake up as soon as the sun rose (to the sound of roosters)
and take a walk around the village.

The village was beautiful in the morning.

It was misty and perfectly green.

The most peaceful place I could think of. 

Our neighbor Micah^^

Shower^^

One of the nicer toilets^^

Drying our clothes on the clothes line^^

A Fijian broom!^^

Taking an early morning walk with Tom^^

The beautiful scenery of Naruwai^^

The next day we began our work at BCC (Bua Central College)

These are the before pictures of the library we were renovating:

It was pretty dirty and crawling with spiders so we spent most of the day cleaning.

Blake & Paul bonding^^

One of our meals- curry, bread, and prawns^^

Noodles and prawns?^^

I'm guessing the green stuff is some sort of mashed up spinach?

And the stuff on the right is taro. 

Taro is a Fijian plant. Similar to a potato.

Cleaning out the desks in the classrooms^^

I will be honest,

The first couple days on the island we hard for me.

A lot of it was the challenge of separating the two trips in my mind.

I was in a place so familiar yet entirely different.

Different villages and different people.

The students we traveled with this time were amazing.

But last time I made some of my best friends on the trip.

I was looking for the connection I had last time but it wasn't there... yet.

One afternoon I was sitting in the living room and a girl named Lo sat down next to me and started talking to me. She was the sweetest and funniest girl.

After our conversation I realized to accept the differences of this trip.

I realized I could have those same connections but in different ways and with different people. 

That is when it started to turn around. 

Humidity hair^^

My sweet sunburn^^

(I still have this tan line on my back)

One evening after work we came back to Naruwai and the kids decided to take us to the dam to go swimming. 

Jumping off a vine into the water^^

Lo and I^^

My 3 closest friends in Naruwai^^

Breakfast consisted of a lot of carbs^^

We'd eat a lot of bread, rice, and scones.

Oh, and don't forget the tea!

More curry^^

Rice and taro^^

A really really disgusting bug we found at the school one day^^

Did I mention how much I loathe bugs?

The last night in Naruwai we had a little party.

A Tang party.

Since the village had given up drinking kava
for the first 2 weeks of every month, we drank Tang.

A bunch of men (and a few women) from the village came over and we stayed up late
drinking Tang and just chatting. 

My friends french braided my hair^^

Saying goodbye to the people I met in Naruwai was bitter sweet.
I knew I would still get to see them before we left the island
but I was just starting to bond with them all.
As soon as you get comfortable in the village you're in,
it is time to switch villages.

The next village was Nogondoa.
The next 3 days were fun but carried their own set of challenges...