Fiji Times... Well kinda

Yes yes, I know. I AM FIRED.  It has been far too long since I've posted here. But now that I have unlimited internet and no longer have to worry about data usage I will do my utmost to catch you up on the past year of our lives. But for now I just wanted to post about this past week. We were able to have family home evening at the beach, as is our summer tradition, and celebrate Taelor's 14th birthday. I love these nights together. Enjoy the photos!

Tyson giving his volleyball clinic to the kids

Our beautiful Carlsbad sunset

We love playing volleyball till the sun goes down.

Tyson sharing the lesson of being comitted to Christ. 

Perfect ending to a great day..... S'MORES!!

Meatoga Photography

I have always loved pretty pictures. Who doesn't appreciate a beautiful photo? So last year I finally broke down and bought myself (okay well David bought me) a Cannon Rebel EOS 3 DSLR Camera. Sounds fancy doesn't it? Well, it is. It came with 2 different lenses, a tripod, 3 filters, extra batteries, a camera bag, and 2 more lenses to put on top of the lenses. I was in HEAVEN!! I would finally have the ability to take those amazing pictures that you see in magazines and billboards. Or so I thought... :) I came to understand that A LOT more goes into a picture than just point and shoot. So over the past year I've been practicing, reading, and practicing more, and I am happy to report that my photo taking skills have improved so much, along with my editing skills. So, all that being said I had the opportunity last month to do a paying gig for a family member of a friend. It was a wedding, and I was a wreck the night before. I remember my wedding day, and remember how I loved the pictures. I knew that this was a big deal for any woman in her life, and I didn't want to mess it up. So as it went I took the pictures with the help of a friend (Randy) and prayed for the best. I must say that I am pleasently pleased with the results.

In this picture the Dad's hand was blocked by a railing, so I had to get creative in putting his hand in there and making the railing disappear. 

Mother & Bride

The sky was overcast and completely white that day, which lead to many of he photos looking washed out. Thanks to the internet, I learned how to put a little color in and make it look natural. 

Sisters + Cousin = Best friends

The happy couple Mr. & Mrs. Shelvin Lal

Once again adding the little bit of blue helped so much to balance the picture. 

These two ladies are hilarious. They were some that kept making the jokes to keep everyone smiling in pictures. 

First dance together. 

Thus the birth of Meatoga Photography. You may ask, "Why Meatoga?" Well I wanted to use my maiden name, but there were far to many Thompson photography out there. But I still wanted a name that was from my family. I was going to use the name Penina, but that was taken as well. So I chose Meatoga to remember my family and to pay tribute to my nephew Tamatoa Meatoga Moreno who taught us that life isn't always sure, so I want to capture as much of my family as I can. My hope is that I will be able to continually have the opportunity to capture those special moment for others as well. 

Young Single Adults... 2 out of 3 isn't bad right????

Yes, you read right. YOUNG. SIINGLE. ADULTS. No this doesn't mean that David and I have decided to be single again. We just happen to be the lucky, YOUNG, ADULT couple that have the privledge of advising these amazingly talented, wonderful, fun, and most enjoyable people in our ward. When we began as advisors we were very much worried about the spiritual well being of these people. We were focused on getting them on missions, or married, or just active in church. Don't get me wrong, this is still our goal, but we just found that solely focusing on the spiritual side wasn't working as well as we'd like. We found that the YSA were less responsive to setting goals the more we talked about them, so we went back to the Lord to recieve guidance. We realized that the age old saying of "People don't care about how much you know unless they know how much you care," or something to that effect. So we began to focus on the YSA as individuals, seeing each one as an individual person instead of all of them as a collective whole. Thanks to our wonderful education at BYUH we knew exactly how to go about building that relationship with each YSA. Activites to foster friendships and a sense of belonging became our number one focus. We have tried to do one at least once a week. Our first one was a visit to the Hibiscus Festival here in Suva. We only had 1 YSA come so we recruited Langi (David's younger brother) to make the numbers even. The next week as people heard of the activity enthusiasm increased. The next week we went to the pool.

Thanks to the underwater camera that we got from Mom and Dad we were able to document our fun adventure. Since I was the only girl there, I was designated the official photographer. Good thing I like taking pictures, and good thing these guys are photo freaks. LOL. We had a great time swimming from 1 pm - 6 pm. Then had simple egg sandwiches for dinner/lunch. We then decided to go to the movies and watched Into the Storm. We had a 2 hour wait for the movie, so the boys all knocked out in the lobby of the theater while I watched over them. It was a good day. Thankfully here in Fiji it's common to hang out in the lobby while waiting for your movie, so we didn't look homeless. LOL.

Well since the pool was such a big hit, we knew that we had to up our game for the next activity. Thankfully Moji was visiting from Nadi and gave us the great idea of going to Colo I Suva. It's a local waterfall that is beautiful. Well, it's actully 3 waterfalls into 3 different pools. We got a larger crowd this time so it was even more fun. 

The last 3 photos are the 3 pools. We spent most of our time at the last one. It was so fun!! It had a rope swing that hung over the pool. The kids here are crazy and do some crazy tricks. The most insane one would have to be Luke Nakauciri. Here's a video.

He would have gone higher in the tree, but that's how he got injured the last time. Thankfully everyone came home in one piece this time. It was one of the most tireing the days here in Fiji, but one of the most rewarding. As we did the 3 hour walk home we were able to talk with each of the YSA individually and get to know them on a more personal level. 

Our latest activity has been taking place after institute. I taught the YSA how to play a game called live mafia. It's a combination of Hide & Seek and Cops & Robbers. Most of our YSA are boys, so they have a great time playing this game. But the best part of the game is the arguements that they come up with to either blame each other or to defend themselves. However the funniest part for me is the amount of cheating that goes on. LOL I've played this game on several occasions, and have never even thought of half the ways that these guys have to cheat. In one game they all knew who the killer was, but kept blaming other prople, just so that the game could go on longer. These YSA are truly hillarious. 

Our goal still remains the same of what we would like to accomplish with them, but now they know that we care, and slowly but surely we are building them up to reach their full potential. Our next activity is this coming Saturday, so I look forward to the pictures and menories I'll be able to capture there. 

Fiji Living

Okay so the first thing I was introduced to was Joji's. If you ever come to Suva you must go here and you must order the combination chow mein. Now I know you're thinking what's so amazing about a place that cooks everything in three woks and doesn't even have a sign to outside the door so you can find it. Well that's why you have to come to Fiji to find out. But I can just tell you that it's the most delicious chowmein you will ever have. The best part is that it is cooked fresh right in front of you as you order. So next time you're in Suva ask where Joji's is, but tell them you want the one with the guy who has the mole with the hair. Trust me. They'll know exactly where you're talking about. 

Pool days... It was a warm Saturday last week so we decided to go to the pool. It's the Fiji Olympic pool. It's pretty cheap to go in so we took all our "kids". Lol. I love how simple things like going to the pool transform grown men into little boys.   David and his brothers had a great time racing, playing rugby, splashing, and just being boys. And what was I doing during all these fun and games you say? Taking pictures of course. Lol. Usually I would be a fish along with the boys, but since I was recovering from a cold I decided not to chance it. But it was a great day and we enjoyed our quality time with the brothers. Not to mention we had a great time doing a mini photo shoot on the bus. Lol. 

Well that's all for now. We love life and are loving our Fiji Living. 

5 Months Later... Okay maybe a little longer

Well let's see, I am now really fired at blogging. So instead of apologizing, I will just catch you up on everything that has happened since then.
FIRST AND FOREMOST…. ISIMELI DAVID VOSA RAVIA RECIEVED HIS BACHELORS OF SCIENCE DEGREE FROM BYUH!!!!! I am SO PROUD of him!!! He graduated on April 12, 2014. He majored in Political Science and minored in Peace Building. He is happy to be done with school, and is now looking forward to grad school. He is still applying for many and hoping to get in. My family is hoping that he gets into the ones that are in California.

Cole and his family were able to join us for David's graduation, and we got to have a great 2 week vacation with them and their 6 kids. I was a small space, but it was great fun. All the kids got to know Untle Dabid (as Tui would call him) a lot better, and they got a real taste of TVA life. I think they enjoyed the closeness of the park, and the fact that they could go whenever they wanted. I was even able to take some time off of work to hang out with them. I think they made it a goal everyday to go to a different beach, but I think the favorite was Alligator Pond, and Waimea.

We also had a new Fijian family move in the apartment downstairs. The Cokonauto family. David hit it off with Atalaite Cokonauto. I think she was at our house as much as she was in her own home. We were grateful to have them below us and enjoyed sharing dinners with them.

On April 24, 2014 we officially checked out of TVA and moved home to California. I cannot express the gratitude that I felt for so many people who came to help us move out. I don't think I would have gotten in done with out them. We literally packed up the house and cleaned it in a matter of 36 hours. We will always cherish the time that we had at BYUH and TVA.

In California the adventures continued. David was able to spend 2 weeks there before heading to Fiji. We went everywhere from Coronado Island to San Ysidro Outlets to Rancho Cucamonga. It's was so much fun to spend time with friends and family, but David was ready to go home. 

While David went home for 2 months I stayed back to help mom with girls camp. Thank goodness for modern technology, or else I wouldn't have made it through those months without David.  It was months of planning shopping but it all came together in the end. The food was great and camp ran as smooth as could be. I also got a chance to hang out with her nieces and nephews. I will miss them dearly. My last week there I got to go do swimming lessons with Talei & Lave. Lave was a fish but Talei took some convincing. 

On June 24,2014 I made the big move to Fiji!!! Yes you read right. FIJI!!! I was finally reunited with my true love. Just in time for our 2 year anniversary. I got to meet my in-laws as well. They finally got to meet the person behind the name that the only grand-child carries. They are amazing people and we get along very well. I am blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law who works hard to help us in any way she can. My new brothers are great too. It was definitely different living in a house of boys, but I think they're getting used to me. Lol. Soany things have happened since I got here, but those will be for another time. For now we are just enjoying the island life and family. 

Letters to Elder Ravia

We decided for a FHE activity one night we decided to do letters to Elder Ravia. Here they are. Hope you like them Elder.

Na

Langi

Audrey

David

HAPPY 2014!!!!!!

WOW!!! I am officially fired at this blogging stuff LOL. It has been about 6 months since my last post and so much has happened. 

First of all David finished Summer Semester with a 3.8 GPA and Fall Semester with a 3.7 GPA. I am so proud of him. He has come so far in the past year and a half. In November he had the opportunity to travel to New Zealand with one of his professors to present a paper that he and some of his fellow students ha written at the Australian New Zealnd Law and History Conference. Their paper was “Law & Justice in Indigenous Conflict Resolution Methods in the Pacific: A comparative analysis of Conflict Resolution Methods in Hawaii, Samoa and Aotearoa”. He was able to spend a whole week in New Zealand attending this conference and checking out the University of Otago. Yes that's right folks... We are going to grad school, or at least he is and I'm going along for the ride. LOL.. But he thoroughly enjoyed himself. Here's some pictures of his trip. 

Michael Ligaliga's (David's Professor) family made the ultimate breakfast for them for their arrival to New Zealand. 

In front of the Richardson Law building where they presented their paper. 

David walking up the steepest street in the world. (Okay so he walked the last bit and got a ride up the rest of the way LOL)

David at the top of the steepest street in the world. 

David and his classmates with the 2 women that run the Pacific Islander office at University of Otago. 

Possibility that we might go here this year. 

When they arrived in New Zealand

Other than that, life has been mostly about school and work for David. And it all paid off in December when David graduated from the International Peace Building Program here. He was honored with a certificate and a green stone(jade) necklace carved especially for the peace building students. The funny thing was that true to his style, David didn't even know he was getting honored that night, so that's why he is in basketball shorts and a t-shirt. The same thing happened when he recieved his mediation certificate. At least I found out early enough to be there this time. LOL

David with 2 of his professors and 3 fellow classmates that graduated from the International Peace Building Program.

Michael Ligaliga gave the intoduction for David.

Now I know it seems like David's been having all the fun, but I got my fair share as well. Since David went to New Zealand during the week of Thanksgiving, my family took pity on me and flew me home for the week. It was so nice to go home, even though I was freezing. LOL. The kids have grown up so much and I didn't realize how much I missed them. It was nice to be home and enjoy time with no stress and no work. It was a much needed vacation. I even got to see my brother Cole's new house. We are truly blessed and I am constantly reminded of that everytime I look at the wonderful family that I have. On mu flight home I had a hour layover in Seattle. I stayed in the airport, but I was still freezing. LOL. I had a beautiful welcome home banner when I got home, and enjoyed learning how to make pies from my mom for Thanksgiving. It was good practice for Christmas. I even got to help decorate the house for Christmas, which was nice, because we didn't get a chance to go home this year. Here are some pictures from my trip. 

Ready to go home

Layover in Seattle

Thanksgiving in 760 with the kids

Decorating for Christmas!!

After our adventures we came home for Christmas. We were blessed to be able to skype with David's family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day since it was Christmas and the day after Christmas for them. David's youngest brother Ether left for his mission on December 26th, so we were able to Skype with him as he was at the airport, and we were able to watch him as he went on his flight to the Ghana MTC. We are so proud of him. 

Chritsmas day was filled with food, food, and more food. We were able to have Christmas dinner with the Fijian families here in TVA and some of the Hale kids. There was so much food, but better than that there was great company. There are currently about 8 Fijian Families here in TVA. It's like we have our own little island here. We were all able to get together for Christmas and New Years. It's always nice to feel like you have your own family here in the middle of the ocean so far away from home. 

We have certainly been blessed in this past year. We have great friends, a roof over our heads, wonderful supportive families, jobs, and the opportunity to recieve a higher education. We look forward to 2014 and all it holds for us; David's graduation in April, grad school, new adventures. Thank you to all those who make our lives so wonderful and full of love. You are all in our hearts and in our prayers.