Hello everyone! I think it is Sunday now for all of you except a couple (you know who you are, hello) however it's now Monday for me! I am in the glorious country of Fiji which happens to have one of the greatest time zone differences in relation to America.
I arrived in Fiji this past Wednesday (Tuesday for you Americans) and it was an adventure for sure. After about 30 hours of constant travel, changing my watch time twice, completely losing my appetite on the plane, eating a meal while sitting on the airport floor, and flying thousands of feet above an abyss of water during a very dark night, I was finally rewarded for my efforts by being slapped in the face with the most hot and humid air I've ever had the displeasure of breathing. Does this sound like paradise yet?
Okay, although that all may be true, it's actually been awesome. In just a few days I've met amazing people and done amazing things and seen the most amazing sunsets. I got a coconut from some guy on the street! How cool is that? If you're wondering, it tastes like warm sprite. I guarantee you if I refrigerate that stuff it'll bring me right back to those 7th grade parties. I've also taught a bunch of people about the church! Which is good since that's why I'm here. The people here are always super nice and willing to talk about religion regardless of what they believe. I've been learning a lot about some religions that I never even heard of before. But the same goes for the people I teach, many of them don't know about the LDS church so it's a great opportunity to introduce it. Religion is a big deal in Fiji so it seems a lot more normal to talk about it than in America. Half the time I don't even need to find people, they find me just fine. I'm not surprised, it isn't every day you see a random white guy in a sulu and tie walking around pretty much anywhere other than a vacation spot. A lot of people are curious about where I come from and what I'm doing here.
Unfortunately, I've been taking pictures on my little handheld camera and can't get them onto this email, but you can take my word that Fiji is amazing! I never thought I would see coconuts and bananas growing in someone's front yard but here we are. Sometimes the vegetation gets so thick it looks more like the Amazon. Many missionaries get machetes to help walk through the more wild bush areas, so I'll be sure to get a really cool picture with one if I get that opportunity. At the moment I'm in more of a small poor city area rather than the wilderness.
Other short thoughts
-the boats from Moana are Fijian
-Fijian tattoos are the coolest looking ones
-if you think you know what a hot sun feels like but haven't been to Fiji, you don't know what a hot sun feels like
-Burger King here is genuinely good. It doesn't taste like American fast food at all. A Fijian burger King chocolate milkshake will change your life, trust me
-people driving on the left side of the road is weird
-coconuts are bigger than I expected
-only the main roads have sidewalks which is fun
-there are dogs everywhere here, whether they be pets or wild. Just chilling on the side of the street or wherever. Some of them may or may not attack. But seriously they're everywhere
-frogs always come out at night because it's cooler, but then they get run over and then dry out when the sun comes up. Because of this there are a ton of flat frog corpses everywhere. I thought they were leaves at first
-fijians speak really fast which is not good for my slow adjusting brain
-the food here is always either bland and horrible or straight from heaven, no in between
-ice cream here is weird, they leave little chunks of ice in it so it's more like ice slime
-it hit me recently that there isn't pizza here. That will most likely be my first meal when I get back to America. Or maybe Chick-fil-A
-please continue to email me anytime throughout the week! I love hearing from all of you
2 Corinthians 4: 17
Loloma kei masu, Elda Coleman
Love and prayers, Elder Coleman
No comments:
Post a Comment