Ecuador 2 - The ladies have been busy

The Ecuador 2 group arrived last week and have been busy bees ever since. They spent the first day and a half in Quito, riding zip lines and touring around before heading to Cuenca to start work at the orphanage. 

 

The HEFY Ecuador groups this year have been working at building more facilities for volunteers to come stay at the orphanage. The girls have taken shifts working on the project and working with the orphans. For legal reasons, we have been asked not to publicly share pictures of the young children at the orphanage. You'll have to wait until your girls get home to see pictures of those sweet children.

 

I have spoken briefly with Allison about the young women in the group. She says they are all having a great time working together. She also expressed how impressed she is at how hard the young women in the group work.

“The Savior taught His disciples, ‘For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.’

“I believe the Savior is telling us that unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives. Those who live only for themselves eventually shrivel up and figuratively lose their lives, while those who lose themselves in service to others grow and flourish—and in effect save their lives.”

-Thomas S. Monson

Tonga 2 Adventures

Here are a few pictures Melanie sent of some of the adventures 

Tonga 2 has had so far.

On the boat, heading out to the island off the coat of Fiji

On top of "Rambling Rock", a great lookout spot in Fiji

Building and painting desks for a local school in Tonga

 Enjoying the view while writing in journals on Sunday

A post from our Fiji 2 Trip Leader

We have had BEAUTIFUL weather (today is the first rain we've seen this entire trip!), and as a result the work projects are progressing quite quickly. We are constructing 5 bathrooms and 6 septic tanks out of cinder blocks and wood. We've spent this week laying the blocks (LOTS of cement mixing) and today we are putting the walls up on our bathrooms and sanding them. Next week we'll construct covers for the septic tanks, paint the walls, and put on the finishing touches. Our village is full of friendly people and extremely outgoing little children -- it's getting harder and harder each day for me to get our participants to say goodbye and get on the bus in the afternoons.

The Samabula Ward is extremely welcoming and fun. We've had a great time attending a full week of activities, including a movie night at the Coconutohnecolor Cinema (constructed in the back half of the Cultural Hall) complete with "3D glasses" made out of palm fronds and a concessions stand. During our first Sunday one of our local coordinators bore a powerful testimony to the ward about the importance of HEFY's work and the great impression that the Fiji 1 trip gave of the LDS Church to the village of Nabundrau. It was really cool to hear that the work we are doing makes a difference, not just in the physical facilities we build but also in the way we carry ourselves and execute our work. It was a great motivator for our first workday the next morning.

At the request of the Samabula bishopric we put together an Independence Day celebration for the ward's youth and YSAs on Wednesday. It was pretty rockin' -- hand-drawn decorations, Americana singalongs (accompanied by Savannah on ukulele!), relay races, baseball, American football, ice cream, and, of course, fireworks at the end of The Star-Spangled Banner...supplied by 12 liters of Diet Coke and Brad's inexplicably endless supply of Mentos. Watching the participants rally together and pool their resources and creativity to put on a great party and share our culture with the youth in Fiji was a trip highlight for me -- I woke up the next morning still smiling!

Another trip highlight was our visit to the Suva temple on Thursday to do baptisms and confirmations for the dead. It was a special experience, made even more special by the inclusion of some participants' family names. There was a lovely spirit there and we are grateful that we got to share that moment with each other.

Tomorrow we are off to go net fishing at Brother Magoon's house and then to the church for Kareoke Night(!!!). The ward will be cooking lovo for us, a traditional Fijian dinner that takes all day to prepare and is cooked in an underground oven. Then another Sunday with the Samabula Ward (we could all really use a day of rest), three more days finishing up our work projects in the village, and we'll be on our way home!

 

Fiji 2 update by: Lauren Bray

Adventures of Belize 2

As you can see from the pictures below, our Belize 2 group has been very busy. During the day they work hard building onto the school in Corozal and in the evenings they spend their time having fun with the local youth playing soccer and other fun activities. Over the weekend they enjoyed going on a zip line through the jungle and cave tubing. Here are a few pictures from their adventures.

A word from Peru 2

After a great time in Cusco and visiting Machu Picchu, the group arrived in Lima on Saturday night. They enjoyed going to church in Lima and then taking a tour of the school and work site where they would start the project the following day. The group quickly made friends with the school children and were surprised to see that the children had made them each their own Peruvian hat. The group will spend the remainder of their days in Peru working hard to build a new classroom for the school children and enjoying activities with the local youth in the evenings. 

 

 

Wearing their new hats!

 

Young Women's class in Peru

 

Checking out the work project

 Working hard on the school

 

 

Taking a lunch break

Attacking Nathan, I think he has candy

Fiji 2 has checked in

When you step foot in Fiji and see the beautiful atmosphere and meet the friendly people it really makes the 11 hour flight more than worth it. Our Fiji 2 group arrived early last Thursday and enjoyed a great weekend at the island before taking the 3 hour bus ride to Suva on Saturday night.
Suva is where the LDS temple is located and is where the group will stay the remainder of the trip. 

Here's a few pictures we received from the trip leader today. The group starts the work project today. We will bring you more photos as they come.

Bright and early at the Nadi Airport

Taking the boat ride out to the island

 Waking up early for the sunrise

  

Learning Fijian Dances and Songs with our island friends

 

 

"Rambling Rock" one of the coolest things on the island

 

The View from the top of the hike on the island

  

The Youth Ruby Team at the Island

 

Packing the bus for the trip to Suva

 

The Samabula ward in Suva is so excited to have the group join them for church and activities for the next 2 weeks. When I last checked with our coordinator they had already planned several activities to do with the group. Including a movie night, sports night, and a time to teach them traditional Fijian dances. So, be sure you make them show off their newly learned "skills" 

when they get home.