Today we got up early to make our final preparations for going to New Caledonia. The Assistants picked us up at just after 8am to go to the airport. We were scheduled to fly to Nadi at 10am and wait their until nearly 7pm before we were to take a flight to New Caledonia! We weren’t looking forward to such a long day in the Nadi airport. As we arrived in the Suva airport we learned that they were having plane trouble. They told us that the flight was supposed to go to Labasa first and then return to Suva before taking us to Nadi. They were waiting for a part for the plane and they weren’t sure when it would leave. They told us they were talking with all the international passengers and, if there was enough time to make their flights they were offering to get them ground transportation to Nadi. Shortly after that they offered to let us take a taxi with one of the pilots. So we took a taxi ride for about 200 kilometers from Suva to Nadi.
Jan told the taxi driver that we were looking forward to seeing some new scenery as we rode on these roads we had not yet travelledJ As you might guess, Jan zonked out shortly after we left and it was only I who got to see the new scenery. For those of you who know northwestern Montana, the drive reminded me of the east lakeshore drive around Flathead Lake circa 1965. We could only go around 45 mph and we went through a bunch of little “koro’s (villages) which required that we slow down to around 15 mph. It took us about 3 hours.
We had lunch at the airport and settled in for a long wait. As the time finally came for check in and moving through the customs area, we were walking through a “duty free/tax free” area of stores and a lady who had a reflector vest on approached Jan and called her Sister. Jan stopped and this airport worker introduced herself as a member of the Church who was not active. She told Jan her story and Jan encouraged her to go back to church and take her 4 children with her. She told this sister that she had been praying all day that she would have someone she could talk to about the Church and she was confident that this sister was the answer to her prayers. The tears flowed down the cheeks of this sister as she spoke more freely and did give Jan her name and phone number. As we parted and went to sit down to wait for our boarding call I got a call from the Elders who work in the ward where this sister lives! I have never received a call from these Elders! After fielding their question, I assigned them to get in touch with the Bishop of her ward and giving him the contact information and encourage him to make contact with this sister.
As we boarded the plane, we left the terminal to walk over to the jetway and there was this sister outside working the breezeway! Jan gave her another hug and words of encouragement and told her that the missionaries from her ward called us just minutes after we had spoken with her. Sometimes the Lord’s promptings as to what He wants us to do isn’t as subtle as other times J
We arrived in New Caledonia on time and Elder Olsen and Elder Rock (the Zone Leaders) met us and took us to our hotel. Since the Pacific Games are scheduled for New Caledonia beginning the end of this month, the place we had stayed last time was sold out and we had to try a new hotel. We got there quite late and were just happy to have a place to lay our heads. A day that appeared to be destined for long travelling hours had been blessed with one very fulfilling contact that we hope ends with a sister and her 4 children coming back to Church.
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