4-3-20 Sixth Update From Pres. Higgins in regard to Covid-19's impact on the FIji Suva Mission


Update #6 3rd April 2020

Dear Family,

Well the past 18 hours have certainly been full of miracles and a healthy dose of excitement. Let me share the latest developments as they have transpired.
  • We received confirmation that all USA and Canada based missionaries will be leaving for home on Saturday night 4th April  7.00pm, the flight departs from Nadi and will take 88 of our missionaries plus missionaries from other island missions that will arrive in Nadi to board the plane with ours totaling over 300 missionaries.
  • The flight will go directly to Salt Lake City and arrive 11.30 am 4th April 2020 SLC time.
  • Missionaries will transit through Salt Lake to their onward home destinations.
  • When I receive their itineraries, I will email this directly to each family contact, also your missionaries will receive a copy.
We had planned to charter busses to take our missionaries from Suva to Nadi on Saturday morning, however that plan quickly unraveled when late yesterday afternoon we were alerted to 2 cases of coronavirus in a settlement area of Suva. We made an instant decision to immediately evacuate our missionaries from that area. Within a short period of time a lockdown was announced for the greater Suva area, however by then we had our missionaries with suitcases onboard heading to Nadi in a convoy of mission vehicles. They all managed to arrive before the 10.00pm curfew lockdown and are safely situated at the Nadi Gateway Hotel as I write, including our 3 senior couples.
We are so grateful for your prayers and the miracles that we see as the Lord is watching over his servants throughout the world, including those in our islands. We were able to bring all the missionaries from the outside of Suva into the lockdown area around the temple so Sister Higgins and I can assist and provide for them at this time. We have our remaining 8 missionaries in Lautoka and 2 sisters in Nadi who we will communicate with daily. Please continue to pray for the safe return of our missionaries as we will not rest until we know they have arrived home with big Fiji smiles and spiritually uplifting experiences to share. We are saddened we did not get the opportunity to give each of them a hug to let them know how much we love and appreciate them, could you please do that for us when you see them.
For us and our missionaries who remain, we invite parents to have regular phone or internet contact with them during this time as we wait to assist the rest of our foreign missionaries to return, I will let you know as soon as I have more information to share, but please know that they are all safe and well.
Loloma yani
President Kei Sista Higgins

 

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