Yesterday was amazing. Arriving here after the long sail down from Savusavu, doing the sevusevu and then back to the boats and an invitation for cocktails on Slip Away (before we all dropped dead from exhaustion). We had a nice time on Slip Away and back on Charisma dropped into a deep, deep sleep only to be awakened by our alarm for Sunday service at the church in the village near where we’re anchored (there’s a church in each of the three villages here).

The kids were so excited to have us with them in church.

One of the choirs in the next village.

The other choir in the second village. They were competing with each other as they sung for us.

We were told to arrive at 9:30 and being cruisers were of course 10 minutes late. No worries, the villagers knew-the service didn’t really start until 1000. But there was singing.

As we arrived the children we met yesterday ran out of the church calling our names (everyone here is amazing at getting and remembering your name). “Ann, Ann, Bob, Bob, come with me…” was what we heard and then little hands grabbed ours and off we were towed into the church. All the kids guided us almost to the front and then adjusted the pews to give us some extra leg room. Once we were settled all the kids sat in the first three pews in front of us….and stared. They just smiled and stared at these strange people from so far away. They were fascinated with us and since they knew our names from the day before when we in town, now they wanted to know where we came from, how old we were–everything And they were all so beautiful and darling. Big smiles, big eyes, happy personalities. They were delightful! Seating in the church is very specific. Children on the front left, (there were about 15 of them from the ages of about 6-15) yachties (us and Slip Away) behind them, women on the front right and men in the back.

The service was all in Fijian (other than a small bit in English welcoming us to their church-so nice!) , so I have no clue what was said. Since it was Methodist and not Catholic, Ann was a bit lost as well, but there was a lot of singing and it was heartfelt and beautiful. The harmonies were amazing. And there was only one instrument. A triangle. This helped to keep the beat, but other than that, nothing. Just lovely voices and the sound of happiness.

During the service since I didn’t know what was being said, I was struck by the visual richness of the scene- A tropical trade wind was blowing through the windows Out the windows on the left side of the church you could see the ocean with waves breaking on the reef and the turquoise lagoon inside. Out the right side windows were the village huts. Rusting corrugated tin roofs showed many luscious shades of orange, red and brown against the tropical foliage of palms, bananas and such. The sides of the huts were painted in many pastel hues including pink, orange, turquoise, lavender and peach All in all, a stunning visual feast for the eyes.

Church for me has rarely been so captivating.