Fiji Day 9 - Sunday

Only 1 more sleep and we will be back home! That was quite an exciting thought...if we could make it home.. it was still raining and all the news reports we heard were just getting from bad to worse.

We woke up super duper early AGAIN to pack our bags as that was the last night we would be spending at Suva...cleaned the place a little for them and made sure that we had emptied the fridge and kitchen of all perishables.

Same old routine of hailing 2 cabs to bring us to church... so that we could set up for praise and worship (Hsien and Grace C); bible reading (Hu die), Testimony (Little Peter) and Sermon (Dr Peter Chen). It all went well and we also presenting an acapella version of Amazing Grace verse 1 in English and Mandarin.

Most kids (the older ones) turned up to do their dance for their parents. And so proud of the younger kids for remembering their dance moves to "This Little Light of Mine" and actually moving and singing. The older ones were really good at it.. especially their shake shake shake shake part.. and the parents were very amused.

They performed it twice (by popular demand) and you could see how proud the parents were from the cameras and video cams all around. Before the end of the service, Pastor Herbert actually presented St Paul's Kogarah with gifts!! how thoughtful!! and then we had a certificate presentation to the kids... with our effort in colouring the certs for the kids!

They were all very happy to receive it and showed them off proudly during the group pic session. At that point, I felt so proud of them too. I felt that we had accomplished so much in just 5 days with them and knew that they would always remember us and what we taught them just as we would always remember them and the impact the 5 days had on our lives.

Yes, life for the kids is simple, without fancy clothes or the latest computer games. But they are happy, and innocent and sincere. I guess as we become more developed, many facades are formed to maintain a front for this society. But for me, 10 days is cool enough to be a wake up call.

The church board brought us out to another Chinese restaurant for a farewell lunch and once again we were fed well - even eating the kids' table food. ha ha. their fried chicken just looked so good we couldn't resist. Small Peter tried unsuccessfully to teach them how to shuffle (tribute to Aaron).

A final farewell to all the kids in the neighbour was done when we reached home to pick up our luggage. It was sad saying good bye to them and hugging them/shaking their hands... A few of the girls had actually made cards for us or written letters to us. Ben had written in one of the autographs - KEEP IT REAL and i wrote KEEP THE FAITH.. ha ha ha.. as if we are rock stars man. At the last minute, Michael actually asked Ben for his Australia mobile number and did call him on Sunday night to make sure that we had all arrived back in Australia safely. How sweet.

We had received confirmation that all coaches for the day had been cancelled as the roads were closed due to the floods. So we had no choice but to fly. On the way to the airport, we saw all the houses that were flooded, causing the residents to flee to the upper floors, we saw cars covered due to the river banks overflowing. It was really bad.

When we reached the airport, the driveway was slightly flooded but we managed to reach the departure hall with the luggage as our host had driven his minivan. All the other normal sedan cars couldn't pass through.

We managed to do our check in, but had to leave Hsien and the boys behind to take the later flight out as the earlier one was full. And we sat there and waited.. in the stuffy warm departure hall which slowly filled up with people all trying to leave Suva. We entertained ourselves with the bible quiz cards and even made friends with some Fiji people who could answer the questions more accurately than we could. how embarassing.

Our flight was delayed by about an hour and a half but we were just glad that we could make it out... Hsien and the boys later told us that by the time they left, the flood levels had risen till the water was coming into the departure hall. They had made the last flight out as the next morning we heard news that all flights from and to Nausori had been cancelled indefinately as the airport was closed. It was truly God's blessings and protection upon us!

Exhausted from the whole day's events, we almost lost it when we had to wait an hour for a shuttle service to bring us to our hotel for the night. But at least we all reached there safe and sound and had a nice room to rest our heads for a couple of hours before we depart Fiji homeward bound (which we all were looking forward to).