After 15 months here I had settled into my ministry among the Indo-Fijians in Naleba, Fiji. I enjoyed attending the prayer meetings in four areas of the settlement on different evenings of the week. I usually walked to these places. Sometimes for a special prayer or Mass in a more distant settlement I borrowed the parish van and drove there.
Two SMSM Sisters teach at Naleba College as a way of getting into missionary work among the Indo-Fijian people. They live together in one of the teachers’ quarters just below the church. They also attend some of the nearby prayer meetings and accompany me in the van to other gatherings further away.
Recently I drove Sr. Noelita and Sr. Frances to a prayer meeting at Wavuwavu. We travelled on a muddy track to reach one of the main roads through the Naleba settlement. We approached a rickety bridge crossing a deep drain. Heavy rain had washed part of the bridge away. Sr. Noelita, who may have had some doubts about my driving ability anyway, said somewhat nervously to me, “Be careful Father, the drain is dangerous.” I responded sweetly, “Trust me, Sister.” Without a moment’s pause, she retorted, “Father, even God doesn’t ask the impossible!”
The score: Columbans 0, SMSM Sisters 1.
Columban Fr. Frank Hoare lives and works in Fiji.