Sunday- lepto?, Church, rest day, three square meals :)

(Writing this on Monday)

Yesterday we went to church in Savusavu. We had considered going to Nabua where Jeff served but it was a 1.5 hour drive and considering all the traveling we did on Friday and Saturday we thought it better to stay close to home. 

In Rabi and throughout other islands we have seen billboards about "leptosporosis kills".... we ignored them more or less but wondered what is lepto. I think I remember learning about it in my infectious disease class in my MPH program. We googled it when we got home and find it is zoonotic from animals to humans- contact with animal urine and urine in the rainwater being washed into puddles etc. And of course we spend the day on Rabi in wet conditions, the boys slid all over the field with puddles, etc. We weren't near a lot of livestock but it also can be spread through dog rat urine. I spent some time last night reading about lepto and thinking through how much risk we actually had been exposed to yesterday.... the boys jumped in the ocean after playing soccer so that's good.... we stepped in ocean water getting out of the boat so that's also good... we were in wet, soggy conditions all day, our skin was waterlogged and pruny and some of us have small scrapes, not so good... we stepped in rain run-off puddles, not so good... Katie got peed on by a dog, not so good... when it's said and done I think we had moderate exposure. We could go hunt down some doxycycline (not sure if there's any in town) ... all in all if we become flu-like in the next month or so we will need to let our doctor know to test for lepto and don't dismiss it as a flu. Also not going to wear our wet shoes without washing in bleach water or having them totally dry. New level of worry unlocked, maybe a tropical disease is in our future. Had I known more we would have been sure to washed off yesterday and strictly avoid any puddles we could. Emily is asking if we can possibly die from lepto,... now she has to worry about lepto, dengue, rabies and coconuts falling on her head! I can't reallly blame her. There is a level of vulnerability and uncertainty that always accompanies a trip like this. 

We had a nice morning and got to church a few minutes late. It hadn't started yet- Fiji tome :) We were greeted by two sister missionaries and branch members. A sweet older lady was also at the door and hugged and kissed our cheeks as we arrived and showed us to sign our names on the roll. It was fun to also see a senior missionary  couple there- the Woolfs. They are from Utah, have a son in Spokane and are serving for one year. They arrived in June and not long after arriving they were asked to serve in the Savusavu district, Elder Woolf is in the mission presidency. They were fun to visit with, Sister Woolf gave me a few ideas of what to do here in Savusavu the next few days, recommendations for where to eat and how to get to the waterfall. 

Church was good. They have a nice and clean building, built- next to the older building that they use for primary and youth. It started around 10:20 I would guess. There are no YW so Emily and Katie came to relief society which was one end of the chapel and elders quorum was at the other end. Jeff helped teach the EQ lesson. RS we went around a circle and read one paragraph at a time on Elder Eyring's most recent talk, adding commentary. There wasn't really one teacher per se but about 1/3 of us contributed. I tried to ask questions when it was my turn to get conversation going. 

After church we stayed and visited for an hour. We took a picture with some of the branch and just visited with members and also the senior missionaries. The boys were tugging at us to get going, and then it was tears and meltdowns when we finally were loading up the car. They have been such good travelers that it's funny that church did them in, haha. It's like they are conditioned to have the after church meltdown no matter where we are in the world. 

We had a nice afternoon and evening hanging out at the house. So wonderful to have a day of rest! It was more relaxing than our Sundays at home- it was so nice to have Jeff home, to be in such a beautiful setting, bright daylight and being all together. Sunday- afternoon was a hightlight. AFter lunch the kids played games, I worked on making rolls for dinner, we visited and had a great time. 

Today was the first day we had three full meals. Pancakes and eggs for breakfast, baked potatoes and leftover pasta for lunch; rolls, chicken gravy over rice and mixed veggies for dinner; toffee flavored ice cream for dessert. The last few days we had a lot of peanut butter sandwiches made out of (basically) french bread, puffed chips, sodas and "bean."  It was nice to eat something different and prepared. 

Before sunset we drove out to split rock to check it out and see where we would snorkel today. We got some incredible pictures of the huge clouds and sunset and of the kids and family. Everyone is in good spirits and just happy to be here. 

 While waiting for our dinner to be finished cooking, we went and the table and talk our favorite things from the trip so far, a funny memory and showing we are still hoping to see or do. That was fun.