Christmas Partyyy!

Bula Vinaka na noqu matavuvale!
Well it seems like it has been a while since I talked to you guys last! This
week was a ton of fun. On Monday we all got to go into Suva to LDS Tech the LDS
school and play sports all day long because President was stuck on another
island with a few other missionaries because all the flights were getting
cancelled haha It is always way fun to be with all of the other missionaries.
On Tuesday we all had a big combined Zone conference. It was really good. We
always have a lot of good trainings and things that give me a good boost to
keep working hard and getting better. That night we had our talent show. Our
zone learned a Meke which is a Fijian dance. There are a lot of different ones
so that is what the other zones did for the most part too. It was a ton of fun.
Some other people sang and did some other stuff too that was all really funny.
And then on Wednesday we got to go to the temple which was awesome. The temple
here is super small. A whole lot different from the one in Mesa but I like it a
lot. It was nice to just be able to relax and not have to think about anything
else but just being there in the temple.
Well I got my new comp. His name is Elder McCombs. He is from Toqurville, Utah.
He was Elder Stocks trainer. He is a really good kid and a really good
missionary. I think me and him are going to get a whole lot of good work done
in this area. We have a lot of investigators right now and we are getting new
ones all the time. The other day we were walking out to this part of our area called
Wainibuku that I have never actually walked to before because we usually take
the bus because it is quite a ways, but we missed the bus and they only go out
there every 2 hours so we had to walk. While we were walking, this Fijian women
called us over to her. She asked us what we do and we told her we are
missionaries for the LDS church. She said she doesn’t go to any church but
wants to and asked if we could come teach her. Of coarse we were pumped and
said yeah we will definitely be back haha It is crazy how much the Lord guides
this work. Even in ways that you don’t realize He will until after they have
already happened.
O yeah, so this week something happened to my foot and it was HUGE and swollen
and all infected and red so Elder Whiting the mission doctor guy got me some
antibiotics. So it wasn’t really getting any better for a few days and then on Sunday
I had to wear my real sandals instead of flip flops because we were going to
church and when I got there I realized that my foot was like leaking puss and
stuff out of this tiny little hole on the top of my foot from my sandal
squeezing it. So I went into the bathroom at the chapel and started squeezing
it and slowly so puss started coming out, and then I squeezed it really hard
and it just EXPLODED with blood and puss! haha blood shot literally like 5 feet
and there was a bunch of little boys in there too and they all thought it was
awesome haha but now it feels a TON better so that is way good.
Last night we had a missionary Christmas devotional in Suva where us
missionaries where the choir and we sang some songs and stuff. It was really
good. It will definitely be a lot different Christmas this year but I am still
really excited haha I am not really even sure what we are doing on Christmas
day but I am sure we will do something fun!
Au lomani kemudou vakalevu!! Keep being awesome!
Loloma, Elder Hawk

Noqu itokani sa lako e na siga moniti!

Ni sa bula vinaka tale mai na noqu matavuvale!
Well I don’t know if you remembered but today is our P-day because this next
week is all the Christmas party stuff so they moved our P-day to today. The Christmas
party stuff is going to be awesome! Monday we have zone conference, Tuesday we
pretty much get another P-day but with everyone at LDS Tech and we get to play
rugby and stuff and then that night is like the talent show thing, and then Wednesday
or Friday we get to go to the temple which will be awesome. This week was
really good too. Last Monday we went to Reggae Falls with all the boys from
Wainibuku. It was soooo fun and so beautiful up there. I will try to send lots
of pictures of it today.
Neivote, Sala's son also got baptized last night which was really good. It is
awesome that we met our goal of 7 baptisms before Elder Ika leaves on Monday.
He is going to Tacilevu with Elder Stock!! and Stocks Trainer, Elder McCombs is
coming here to be my comp, so me and Elder Stock are Brothers!! haha I am sad
that Ika is leaving. We had a ton of fun and worked hard and really turned this
area around. This area is on fire right now and it usually is one of the
slowest areas. We got a lot of new investigators this week so im sure Elder
McCombs will be happy to come here because the work up there is really slow
right now. It is out on Vanua Levu which is the other big island. Ika was an
awesome trainer. I know that we both learned a lot from each other. I will
probably be in this area for another month or 2 before I get transferred.
Usually you are in an area between 4-6 months.
This week we also went on exchanges twice. Elder Nawaqasema came to Naulu with
me and then the next day after that we went on exchanges with the ZL's and I
went to their area in Nausori with Elder Alleman. It was really fun. There are
a lot of really cool missionaries here. I ate sugar cane for the first time
while I was in the ZL's area. It is wayyy good haha they call it dovu in Fijian
and when you say you have to say gunu dovu which means drink it because if you
say kana dovu which means eat it, it is like a dirty slang term that I’m sure
you can figure out haha. When I was with Elder Alleman we went and taught these
2 ladies from Rotuma and it was a way good lesson. It is so cool how we are all
teaching the same message and so you can just go with someone that you have
never taught with and have an awesome lesson like that. I pretty much committed
them to baptism and I am not even in that area haha It was really cool.
Last night after the baptism it was our ward Christmas party. It was a ton of
fun. We had a lot of investigators that came so that was really good. We had a
huge lovo with pork and chicken and dalo and all kinds of other foods. I am
really going to miss this ward when I leave this area. There are so many
awesome people here. It was way cool to also see all of our recent converts
that we have baptized there and just being a normal part of the ward. This ward
has been really good about fellowshipping all of them. That is so important in
this work. Without the ward doing that most converts would probably fall away
after not very long.
Well I hope everything is going good with you guys. I feel so blessed to be
here serving my mission. It has already been flying by! Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

Climbing up a Coconut Tree

Au a ciqoma na nomudou isolisoli! (I got your gifts!)

Bula Vinaka na noqu matavuvale!

Man the time is flying by. I can’t believe I have almost been away from home for 5 months! I got Grandma and Grandpa's package and your guys' package this week! They got here way fast. Like 2 weeks. I also got a letter from Grandma and Grandpa that they sent in the beginning of October haha I don’t get what goes on with the mail once it gets to Fiji. Sometimes I get it quick and then sometimes it is like that where I dont get it for over a month haha The packages were awesome though! The bop-it game has been getting some good use haha I have been showing everyone the pictures too. It was really good to see you guys in the pictures. My companion might get transferred in like 2 weeks. I don’t think I will for at least another month at the least. It is all good though because I am really loving this area. And we are going to start going out to this other part of our area more that is kind of out a little in the bush so it will be more people that will actually want to speak more Fijian to me so that will be awesome haha It is called Wainibuku.

Well I will be emailing you guys again on Saturday because we are having our p-day moved to Saturday instead of next Monday because next week all of the missionaries are coming in again for the Christmas party! It should be way fun. On Tuesday we are going to this little tiny island that is really close to the coast to do some kind of service thing and then we all get to play sports on the beach! It should be pretty sweet. And all the different Zones and stuff are learning meke which is like traditional Fijian dances and that night we are having like a talent show thing that we will do them at and then another one of the days we will get to go to the temple so that will be awesome. There will probably be some elders that will stay at our flat so that will be fun. We are also having our ward Christmas party this week on Friday so that will be way fun too.

Today me and Elder Ikafanga are going out to that Wainibuku village part of our area because we are going to go with some of the boys from our ward and go to this little water fall place up in the bush. It should be pretty sweet! I will take some pictures to send next week. it is called Reggae Falls.

So this week was a little slow because my companion was really sick one of the days. He had food poisoning I think, so we stayed in the flat one day. It was the first day that I haven’t gone out and worked, and hopefully the last haha It really wasn’t that bad though because that was the same day I got the package from you guys so I had the candy and the bop it game and stuff haha and I got a lot of reading and stuff in.

A few weeks ago we were with some of the YSA (young single adults)in our ward and there is a kid named Pita that comes on splits with us sometimes because he is trying to get on his mission and he is the man. But all the YSA in like all of Fiji and some other islands around this area came to Suva and had a big YSA camp for like 3 days, and on the last day they had a big testimony meeting and Pita got up and the first thing he said was "there is an Elder serving in my ward and his name is Elder Hawk and he told me a poem that his dad taught him and it goes "Mary had a little lamb that turned into a sheep until it joined the Mormon church and died from lack of sleep" haha I told them all that a couple weeks ago and they all thought it was hilarious so he shared it in his testimony in front of like a few hundred YSA haha We didn’t get to go to any of the camp of coarse but I just heard about it from the other kids that were there. I thought that it was pretty sweet that I got quoted and it was a quote that I learned from dad.

Yesterday in testimony meeting the girl we baptized last week got up and bore her testimony. She told a story about how her boyfriend, Rapo cut a piece of her hair and how mad she was and she was screaming at him and stuff and the next morning she felt bad about it and she was about to read the Book of Mormon so she prayed and she asked to get some kind of answer from the scriptures that day so she opened up the book and the first verse she read was "I the Lord was angry with you yesterday, but today my anger is turned away" she said that she felt the spirit so strong and she started crying and went and told him that she is sorry that she got so mad at him. She went on and bore her testimony and how thankful she is for the gospel and how it has changed her so much from who she used to be. I can't remember if I told you the story about how she stopped smoking but that was pretty amazing too. All of the people that we have baptized are so amazing and have such strong testimonies. I feel so blessed to have been a small part of their conversion.
This week Naivote, Sala's son, should be getting baptized. We may have a few more this month too.

Thank you so much for being such an amazing family and amazing people. Seeing those pictures and stuff just reminded me of all the fun times that we have had as a family and how much more we still have to come!! I will let you know as soon as I find out when I will be able to call or Skype or whatever. It will probably just be that P-day after Christmas since that will be Christmas there. I will let you know for sure when I find out though. Au lomani kemudou valevu!! Vinaka sara valevu na isolisoli!

Loloma, Elder Hawk