After filing and receiving conformation that the petition is in process, We decided to meet in Fiji and visit the US embassy! I arrived in Fiji a week before Sione did. I had fun getting to know Suva and mapping out where the markets are, the best internet cafe for communication, the best and cheep-est place to stay without feeling like bugs are crawling on you!!! In Fiji the international airport is in Nandi and the US Embassy is in Suva 3 1/2 hrs drive form Nandi. You can either take a costly short domestic flight to Suva or a scenic route by taxi or a longer drive by bus. I was fortunate to have taken a domestic flight! As Sione and I where trying to figure out how he will reach Suva. I was blessed to have shared a room at the Fiji Temple Motel with two lovely Tongan ladies. They had found a Taxi driver that was Tongan and he lived in Suva so at a steal of a deal and a fractions of the price they were able to take the drive to Suva. They were leaving for Tonga the same day Sione was coming to Fiji.... Problem solved we arranged to have the Taxi driver pick Sione up at the air port and give the drive the address to drop Sione off at our motel. I told Sione that I will show the driver a photo of him and sione said that he will be wearing a red shirt.... Sione felt somewhat confident but joked that he might be spending the night in the airport because He doesn’t know the Taxi driver and how loose the set up is. I decide to surprise Sione and catch a ride with the two ladies to the airport and spend the day at the airport. With a tight schedule for the driver and the girls wanting to make it there with enough time to check in, we headed off in a hurry and about 30 minutes into the trip the taxi car broke down. Gratefully the diver had a buddy with a taxi car who came out and we swapped cars so we could continue on like there had been no problems! With no other delays we arrived at the air port in good time! I was so tired yet so awake and excited to see Sione in 6hrs... I counted down the time and waited.
As I was in my little world I wasn’t paying attention to the weather and that the departing flights were delayed because of a rain storms!!! with the weather still calm at the air port I walked over to the passenger arrivals and hijacked some wi-fi and as I was sitting in lounge opened to the outdoors as it began to just dump rain with strong winds... I started to film it with my camera to show how fast and intense it had gotten (still not cluing in that this might affect flights).
Right after I stopped filming a huge bolt of lightning cracked next to us and I screamed so loud that it rang thru the entry way... I didn't know I was this kind of girl to shrill this loud... being embarrassed and looking at all the male taxi drivers I collected my things and causally walked away! It was then that I started to think about how in the world does a polite fly in this kind of weather... By this time I should have heard form Sione that he is boarding the plane in Tonga to Fiji. Then the phone rings and he is asking if I can check to see what is going on with the delay... He still doesn’t know that I am at the airport hopefully... I told him about the rain storm and that I will give a call to the airport, haha or just walk over to the departures desk and ask!!! Call Sione back telling him that the flight is still departing just delayed and that it will reach Tonga a lot latter than expected.... so more waiting!!! The sky had opened up as fast as they had dumped rain so I headed back to find that barrowed wi-fi that kept me entertained!!!
Time went so slow! I scouted out a perfect seat that was partly hidden yet I could still see him coming thru the doors without him seeing me first.... when the plane landed I kept a locked gaze at the arrival doorway that he would walk thru.... As I was waiting a, Fijian man was sitting in the same location and was asking all kinds of questions and I told him I was trying to surprise my husband. Every guy that came thru he would ask ‘hey, is that him' I was kind of annoyed by him! Then my heart jumped into my throat I pulled on my backpack as Sione walked thru the doors. The guy that was talking to me started to wave his hands and distracted Sione for a min as I walked up to him. As I watched his head turn searching the crowd his eyes caught mine and I could see him start to melt as he just stood frozen!!! ‘YES! I thought to myself’ I do know how to surprise Sione!!! We hugged in front of all these people waiting for friends and family but we didn’t care... we shortly found the taxi driver and headed back to Suva. I will never forget that night. The roads where still wet and winding around the island, the driver looked like he hadn’t slept in a long time as he pounded down his second red bull... I said at least three prayers in my heart that night and was so grateful to have reached our motel in Suva in one piece. we aslo spent our first Christmass there in Fiji and we where able to skyped family back in Utah on Chrismass day!!!
