The Road to Nasivikoso

 

 

 

Fijian kids playing in the river

 Potential Flat for the missionaries in Nasivikoso

 The church in Nasivukoso.
 They sit on the floor because there is so many of them attending here.

 The village of Nasivukoso

Gotta love Fiji

Hawk & Stock on top of the world

 

Vakatawase!

Bula Vinaka noqu matavuvale!

Well it sounds like everything is going awesome back home! I am really jealous that you guys got to go shooting! There are NO guns in Fiji haha the police don't even have any guns. The only people that do is the military. That is sweet that the boys both did good in that tournament, and that their team did so well. It was really fun talking to you guys on skype. It made me actually miss you guys for about that day... but it wore off again and I don't miss you anymore... haha im jk. I do miss you guys a ton but it just doesn't really effect me because I am so busy and having so much fun here. I cannot believe that I am going to be 21 on Wednesday... I didn't shave this morning and my beard is big just from one day! haha I am totally going to grow it out for a while when I get home just to see how big I can get it. We are going to be flying over to Savusavu on my birthday to go on exchanges with them over there. I didn't plan it like that but if I did have to plan where I wanted to be on my birthday I would probably choose Savusavu so it worked out pretty awesome. The senior couples over there know that it is my birthday and they both said they are going to be making me some cake so that should be sweet as well.

Well this week was another fun filled busy week for us. I guess you know about all of the stuff that we did up through Tuesday from Skype. The picture on this email of me and Elder Stock is what we wore on Christmas day here haha Our Christmas tree had fallen down so we used the stuff on it to decorate ourselves instead. Turned out pretty sweet.

On Thursday we had our Zone Leaders Council. It was really good. Probably one of the best ones that I have been to. All of our zone leaders right now are way good. It is really cool to see how all of us at that meeting have like the same good attitudes about everything. It is fun because all of us have been serving together all this time and we are all really tight together so it makes things really fun. We had cheeseburgers and milkshakes for lunch and it was amazing... haha funny how not having little things like that makes us appreciate them so much more. There is actually 3 McDonald's here in Fiji, 2 here in Suva and 1 in Nadi, but they are too expensive usually for our support money and it really isn't the same as America ha We always go there to get soft serve ice cream though because that is the one thing that is cheap and good. Still WAY different than American soft serve though.

The highlight of this week was for sure going up to Nasivikoso though. We were going to go to after the Zone Leader Council on Thursday but we had to deal with some other stuff that happened here. So on Friday morning we woke up really early and then drove with the Lautoka ZL's over to Nadi. The Lautoka ZLs are Elder Moaalii and Elder Tausinga so that was really fun to get to be with them for a few days. So from here to Nadi was like a 3 and a half hour drive, then we picked up a member and drove another 2 hours up the crazy mountain rodes way into the interior of the island. That is what some of those pictures are from. It was so beautiful up there. When we got there we split up and went to just find the people that have been going to church up there and aren't members yet and also to look at the flat the the Elders would stay in if we send a set up there full time. I would LOVE to get to go serve up in there and just live in the village like that. They would have to bathe in the river and use the neighbors outhouse if we send them up there. It would be awesome haha So the Elders haven't been up there for a while and there is like 8 people that we taught that have been going to church up there and will probably get baptized in the next little while. We taught 6 lessons in like 4 hours ha it was so awesome. It is crazy because it is just this village out in the middle of no where but the church is booming there. There is like 70-100 members there which is more than attend some of the wards here in Suva haha they just meet in this tin building. I will try to send a picture of that too. It was so amazing being up there though. Then we drove back down that night and stayed in Nadi and then drove up to Lautoka the next morning so go see the Zone Leaders area there. Then we drove all the way back to Suva from there. It was a really good exchange, we got a ton of work done.

Well there is an Elder here named Elder Ishibashi and him and his family were following my blog before he came out on his mission and he was skyping his family here in the office this week and so I went over and said hi to them and I told them that I would give him a shout out this week in my email home so that it would make it on the blog. So shout out to The Ishibashi family in Hawaii! You have a very nice family! And thank you for letting us have Elder Ishibashi here with us! He is the man! He is doing great work.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! And especially for taking care of me and putting up with me for the past 21 years! haha Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

 Temple at Sunset

 Peni and Mela and their little girl Wini from Vunivesi came to the temple
to get sealed!

Companion Study by candlelight.
 We were without electricity for 3 days after the hurricane

Hurricane Pictures

Vakanuinui vinaka nomudou Siga Ni Sucu!!

 

 

Bula vinaka!!

Well, yet another fun filled week here in Samabula. It is so crazy how fast the time goes by here but when I think about certain things or events that happen they seem way longer ago just because there is SO much that we are doing here all the time. I got the package you guys sent this week!! Thank you very much! My favorite part was definitely the gummy worm eggs ha The poster was really awesome too. I put it up on the wall in our flat. Last night me and Elder Stock made our Christmas tree... it is made out of a coconut tree leaf thing. It turned out pretty awesome haha Those are the pictures of it that I attached to it. The poster says the same thing as the subject of this email, it means "merry Christmas" in Fijian. Hope that you have a happy birthday too dad!

Well this week was a little different because of the Hurricane. On Monday everyone in the mission just had to stay in their flats all day. I guess we were the lucky ones that just got to be in the office and get to go and eat at Presidents house haha That night we had dinner at presidents house with a bunch of the senior couples because the power was out everywhere. After we had a FHE and me and Elder Stock were put in charge to lead it. I shared a scripture from Alma 26:35-37 and told of some experiences where on my mission I really felt like the Lord knew me and was aware of what I was doing and was helping me out with it. Then I had everyone in the room go around and tell of an experience they have had where they really felt that the Lord was aware of them and loved them. It was way awesome. Sister Klingler said that that scripture is actually the same one that Elder Jay E. Jensen shared with here when he set her apart to come here to Fiji. Then President Klinger played Christmas songs on his teeth.... haha he can do this way cool thing where he like flicks his teeth and moves his jaw to make different pitches and play any song. He is the man! haha

This week there is a girl here in the temple patron housing that came to go to the temple and get her visa to go to St. George to serve here mission there. She is from Vanuatu. 

This week Peni and Mela and their little girl Wini from Vunivesi came to the temple to get sealed!! I was so cool to get to see them again and especially to get to see them come out of the temple after being sealed. I got a picture with them so I will have to send that to you. There was a couple other people from Savusavu area here too to go to the temple so that was way fun to get to see all of them.

We have a lot of really good investigators right now too. We have one guy we are teaching named Tiko. He has been taking the lessons for over a year and a half. He comes to church a ton and everything but he has just never been able to drop his problems with the word of wisdom. This week we had a really good lesson with him about the Atonement and how a lot of the time we forget the part of the Atonement where Christ suffered and felt absolutely everything that we would feel or face in this life. We taught him about relying on the Lord for help and also about having faith in himself that he can actually do it. He really has a desire to change and I know that he will.

Me and Elder Stock have been doing really good about just contacting everyone that we meet. That is probably one of the best things that we can do just because we are always so busy and running around everywhere. It is so fun that we both just have that excitement about the work and it really is just multiplied with us together. And we both just love the people so much and can really get people to feel comfortable and open up to us. The other day we were in town and we just started talking to a man that was working cleaning up the street. He was amazed that we were speaking such good Fijian because he had never met any other missionaries before. We started getting a few other of the workers that started wandering over because they could hear us speaking. Long story short we ended up at a picnic table in the middle of town, drinking juice with all of these people and teaching them about a living prophet and the restoration of the gospel. It was so awesome, and so much fun! We got all of their information and referred them to the proper missionaries in the areas that they lived in. It was way awesome.

We also had a pretty fun adventure the other night getting all of the Northern Zones Christmas packages on the boat to send to them so that they could get them before Christmas. The boat came in at about 9pm so we went to the dock with these 2 big huge boxes that had all the packages and stuff in them. There was THOUSANDS of people there that were trying to get onto the boat. So we were waiting outside of the boat for quite a while and it was way fun just talking to all of the people there. We finally started all moving onto the boat and it was a mad house haha we got onto the boat and it was just packed shoulder to shoulder but we finally made it to the cage and got the packages on. We ended up being there til about 1030pm. It was fun though just talking to all of the people there.

Well I hope that all of you have a very merry Christmas! I am so glad that we have always had those Christmas traditions that have made it so easy for us to really just focus on the true meaning of Christmas and to build our testimonies. So awesome. Well I am planning on Skyping on Wednesday morning here. So it should be in the afternoon on your Christmas day Well Au lomani kemudou!!!

Loloma levu, Elder Hawk

 Look at what's for Dinner

 Elder Hawk, Elder Mema'ofa, & Elder Stock

 Getting ready for the Christmas Pageant

The Zone Leaders, the APs, and President & Sister Klingler with President & Sister Hamula



Cagi Laba!!! (Hurricane)

Bula Vinaka!

Well it has been a pretty crazy week. There is a Hurricane whipping through Fiji right now. We are actually the only 2 Elders in the whole mission that get to email today because everyone else has to just stay in their flats. In the Northern side nobody has electricity or water. It is pretty crazy here in Suva right now but it isn't supposed to hit here directly. The eye of the storm is supposed to start turning down this way though and head for New Zealand so it will probably get worse here today. The forecast for the thing has changed about a million times. It pounded Samoa pretty good. As of right now it is a category 4 hurricane which means the winds are over 100 MPH. Everything is cancelled and shut down and stuff. Pretty crazy. Everyone is fine though. It should pass by tomorrow, but we are not sure because when it hit Samoa it turned back around and hit Samoa a 2nd time, So we will see. We are definitely in the safest place though here in the mission office. I am pretty sure it is one of the nicest buildings in Fiji haha so no worries. It has been pretty crazy though because we are the ones that have to keep coordinating with President and all the zone leaders and making sure that everyone is getting checked up on regularly to make sure that they are all ok.

This was a really good week. On Tuesday was the day all the transfers happened and it was a pretty insane day. The weather was bad that day too and so every single flight that had missionaries on it got changed multiple times. So we had to keep on changing our plans and stuff to get everyone to where they needed to go. Me and Elder Estill drove like 140 kilometers that day just back and forth to the airport and all over Suva and Nausori. It all worked out good though and we got everyone to where they needed to be. On Wednesday we got to go through the temple with all of the people that were going home. It was really crazy because Sister Longley went home and she was in our intake! Time goes by way too fast. But the temple was way awesome because me and Elder Stock got the headphones and we did the whole session in Fijian!! It was so cool. It was all really easy to understand. I want to do it some more before I leave because I don't know if they will have the Fijian at other temples back home ha. How is the Gilbert Temple going by the way? You should send me some pictures of it.

Me and Elder Stock are having a blast ha we are doing a lot of really good work. We had some really awesome lessons this week. We have an investigator named Apenisa. He is in his mid 20s, he has always been a big partier and stuff but he has been coming to church for a while now. In Fiji this last week they had a huge YSA camp at this resort and he went to it and he came back and he wanted to be baptized. He just had a ton of really awesome spiritual experiences and realized how much more happy we can be when we are doing the right things. We went and saw him and asked him when he wanted to be baptized and he said "tomorrow" haha but since he had some of those problems with word of wisdom and stuff we need to wait a few weeks. He is doing awesome though.

Well I wrote the first half of this email a few hours ago, a lot of stuff has been happening. We had to run outside and help them cut down this big tree because it was falling towards the temple presidencies house. But then we went to President Klingler's and Sister Klinger made us some PB&J so that was sweet ha It is getting bad though.. the zone leaders from the west called and that is where it is hitting bad right now and they said there is just water coming through all the windows and doors even though they are shut tight just because the wind is blowing so hard. I cant imagine all the people that are just living in the tin houses... we might be doing quite a bit of service after this. Keep praying for us all here in Fiji. I know that we are in like the safest place but I wish we weren't. I want to be out and helping all the other missionaries and make sure that they are all ok. I know that I will be fine. I am just worried about the missionaries, and especially just worried about the people of Fiji because I love them so much. It will all be ok though.

Well just one other story I want to share real quick. We are still teaching that man Filipe, the one that lives with the old member Sister Sinu. Well earlier this week or maybe last week she was really sick and had been for a while and so we went to see Filipe and we taught him and then he asked us to give his mom (sis. Sinu) a blessing. So we did. and then me and Elder Stock went back to teach him the other day and he was amazed and bore a good testimony on how right after we blessed her and left she was better. She went out and started working in the yard and she is almost 80 years old haha it was really cool though. It is always a great feeling when we get to see how we actually do have so much power in our priesthood and especially how much faith these people have that the Lord can help them like that, through us. He also told a story about how the first day we came over his mom said the missionaries would be coming and he asked her if it was going to be Fijians and she said, no just 2 boys from America. So he wasn't home when we first got there and so we were just sitting down talking with Sis. Sinu and he came home and heard people speaking Fijian and he thought "o, they brought along a Fijian boy to translate for them" and he came around the corner and just saw us and so he thought "o the Fijian boy must have gone to the bathroom or something" but then he saw that it was my mouth moving and that the Fijian was coming out of my mouth and he said he almost fell to the floor because he was so shocked hahaha It was really cool. He said it is a miracle and just another witness to him that this is the true church. It is way fun to be with Elder Stock now too because his Fijian is way good so when we teach in Fijian it is just like we are speaking English, probably better haha me and him even just speak Fijian to each other a lot of the time. Way fun.

 Don't worry about this hurricane stuff either. We will all be ok. Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

 At the temple with the Bavoros

 Christmas Party

 Kevin and Yungyung at their Baptism

 The Suva Fiji Missionaries

Beautiful Night view of the Fiji Temple

Hawk and Stock!

Bula Vinaka noqu matavuvale!!

Sorry I am emailing so late. We had a big temple trip this morning with the Suva and Nausori zones. And Elder Estill's parents just got here today so we have been over talking to them for the last little while. Well as you can see from the subject of this email I have found out who my new companion is... Me and Elder Stock are going to be comps again as the APs hahaha I cant believe it!!! I am so stoked!! It is going to be so awesome. The transfer is tomorrow. We are going to have so much fun and work so hard together. It is going to be awesome. SO excited...

Well the rest of this week was really awesome. Elder Hamula flew home this morning. On Tuesday we had another mission tour meeting here in Suva. It was interesting to see how much he changed his message compared to the one that he gave in Nadi the day before that. It was alot of the same types of things but just a lot of different things that he expounded way more on and others that he really left out. Just shows how close he is to the spirit to know just what the people need. I am really glad that I got to go to both of them though. I learned so much. My favorite meeting of the whole week though was our zone leader council that we had with Elder Hamula on Wednesday. Me and Elder Estill had to account for the work the mission did for the whole year. It was really easy though because we had such an awesome year. It went really good. Then Elder Hamula talked to us for a while and it was way awesome. He told us that "things are going exactly right here" it made me feel really good that I have had a part in setting all of the stuff up that we did and have had a part in leading the mission and that he was so excited with how well everything is going here. Then we had personal interviews with Elder Hamula. It was such an awesome experience. He is just a way good guy. He told me that he really hopes that I get the chance to get back out and be in an all proselyting area again because he could tell how much I really love the people and love this week. He said he is almost certain that I will get to. I am sure I will too. But I am willing to do whatever that Lord has in store for me and do it to the best of my ability.

Another way cool thing that happened this week was that we went over to the Lauvili's a recent convert family, and they had called us on Monday because there 13 year old boy had fallen out of a high tree and had been unconscious in the hospital for hours. They wanted us to come and give him a blessing but we couldn't because we were in Nadi. We called our bishop and he went over and gave him a blessing. We didn't really hear anything else about it until we went over there and the dad told us the story that the boy had been knocked out for hours and had not moved at all. He said that bishop came in and Brother Lauvili just really wanted bishop to give him a blessing because he had the faith that he would be ok. So bishop gave the boy a blessing and when bishop said amen the boy opened his eyes and moved around a little bit but then fell right back to sleep. But bro Lauvili said that it was all he need to know that his son was going to live. He bore such a powerful testimony about how he knows that if they had not joined the church and gained the faith and testimony that they have because of it that the boy would have died. It was a way awesome experience. The boy was supposed to be in the hospital for like a week but he was back home the next day.

One other cool experience we had this week was that we went to Sister Sinus house to teach her son Filipe that I have told you a few stories about. He is in his 50's. But we went there and there was a ton of relatives there doing this big Fijian ceremony thing there they bring food and stuff as an offering because they had a fight years ago and hadn't seen much of each other since so it is kind of like "burying the hatchet". But they did their ceremony thing and then they wanted us to give them a spiritual thought type thing. Some of them were members and some weren't. So the scripture that I had shared in Vunivesi at that baptism where I had that awesome experience popped into my head. So I read Moroni 7: 41-42 and talked about how we have hope in this life because of Christ and how he gave us the hope but it is up to us to live the gospel to return to Him and our Father in Heaven. It was way awesome. And then another day we went over there again and we watched the restoration video with Filipe and he said the minute he started he could just feel the spirit so strong and he testified that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. I am so excited that we will be a little bit less busy now and that we will really work hard to find more time to proselyte because I really love just being with the people in their homes.

The first picture is a fish we ate at our Chinese investigators restaurant. Well the ones that just got baptized. They both got the priesthood this week so that was exciting. That is just the picture of the temple one night as we walked out of the office. That is way awesome about Rand and Parker and all the wrestling stuff!!! Way cool too about the opportunity Rand had to share the gospel with them. That is for sure the best way to prepare for a mission. Well I love you all so much!! I am not for sure what day I will be skyping but I will let you know for sure. Au lomani kemudou!!!

Loloma levu,

Elder Hawk

Back from Nadi! (part 2 of 2)

Bula Vinaka tale!!

Well we just got back from Nadi. It was amazing.. Elder Hamula is the man. We flew over there and we were running around like crazy making sure everyone got there and buying watermelon and drinks and ordering 10 huge pizzas and stuff but once the meeting started it was awesome. He talked a ton about getting rid of anything that is holding us back and just really serve with a willing heart and give all we have to the Lord. He talked about giving our will to the Lord because that is the only thing that we can give him that is actually ours to give. It was cool because his wife spoke to us too and she talked about Christmas and about asking ourselves "what can we give for the Lord?" and I think it is so cool that we have done that as our Christmas tradition for a long time. I know now that we write to Jace but it is still the same idea. Now we get to do the whole meeting again tomorrow but here in Suva. Then on Wednesday we have another zone leader council meeting with Elder Hamula there and me and Elder Estill have to account for the work the mission has done this year. It should be good though since we had such an awesome year.

So back to things in kind of a chronological order.. haha after the ZLC on Friday we had our combined mission zone conference on Saturday. It was pretty insane having 80 missionaries all staying in Suva and us driving around like crazy in our vans picking up people and dropping them off. The zone conference was amazing. Me and Elder Estill gave a training to the whole mission all at once and it was definitely one of the highlights of my mission. I learned so much from it myself as we were giving it and the spirit was so strong in the room. I love all of the missionaries in our mission so much. They are all doing really good work. Our training was about having a bigger vision of missionary work which will lead us to really feel its significance and give us a sense of urgency to work hard and get it done. I used the video clips from Elder Holland's talk at conference where he talked about how the gospel is supposed to change the world. It is actually really awesome because Danielle sent me that quote a few weeks ago and that is what inspired me to use that for the training and it was perfect. He is such a powerful speaker and that was like the best part of the training, just watching those videos, so thanks Danielle! Then at the end of it I read 2 Nephi 1:25-26 I think where it talks about arise from the dust and be men, and to shake off the chains with which ye are held bound. I talked about pretty much the same thing Elder Hamula talked about, giving up all the things we were before the mission and really living up to the significance of this work that we are doing right now. O yeah another way cool part of it was that I read a scripture from John where it talks about how the sower and the reaper will rejoice together and talked about how this week I was on splits with Elder Lauti in Nasinu while his comp did our baptismal interviews and that is the area that I served in for 2 weeks, and he told me that he was looking through the area book and 3 people that I found while I was serving there for those 2 weeks were eventually baptized. I felt so happy and so blessed with the feeling that I had done what I needed to do while I was there. It was so awesome. After the training I felt like we had just won the state championship or something haha but it was a way better feeling than I have ever had from winning anything in sports. I just felt so pumped up and excited and blessed to be here and to be doing this amazing work with all of these amazing people.

Then that night we had everyone at the mission home for dinner and that was way awesome and then we went over to the chapel and had our Christmas party. All of the zones had prepared like dances and stuff. Our zone's was way sweet. We did this Samoan slap dance. We are going to be making a video of it all so I will send that to you when it is done. We also made a way sweet slide show so I will send that to you guys too. I wrote this way funny song about all of the stupid stuff that all the senior couples and us in the office have to deal with with missionaries calling in and complaining about stuff. It was way funny. I got up and sang it in front of the whole mission haha It was to the tunes of lots of different Christmas songs. I was pretty proud of myself because I didn't know that I had that much creativity in me haha it was really cool.

Then the last highlights of the week on Sunday was that Kevin and Yungyung got bapitzed!!! It was such an awesome baptismal service. I was soo happy for both of them and they were soo happy too. I got a really good picture of all of us so I will have to send that to you guys. Kevin is going back to China for a little while for some business stuff but he should be back in a couple of months. They are both the man. We have a lot of other investigators too that will get baptized if we can just find the time to see them. I am really excited because after this week we should have a lot more time to proselyte. Then on Sunday night we had a big Christmas fireside with the all the missionaries and there was a couple hundred members that showed up for it. It was pretty powerful having 80 missionaries singing those songs. The spirit was really strong there. Elder Stock was conducting and he was the man. He made some funny jokes and said some really good stuff. He said that next November his family is renting this big catamaran boat thing in the carribean that fits 12 people. I guess his dad does it every year and they just sail it themselves and go all around. He said that I am invited to go so don't make any big plans for me next November. haha

Well this has been the most exhausting week of my life, physically, mentally, spiritually, everything haha it has really stretched us pretty far but everything has turned out so amazing. I feel so blessed to be here at such an exciting time. I am learning so much. It will be exciting to get to be with Elder Hamula some more for this next couple days. I know that we will learn a lot from him. Well I love you all so much! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he loves all of us. I have felt so much of His love this week. How blessed we are to have such a loving Heavenly Father, and the great gospel of His son to bring us happiness in this life and in the life to come!! Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma levu, Elder Hawk

Half way there!! (part 1 of 2)

Ni sa Bula Vinaka noqu matavuvale!!

I am sooo exhausted right now. I have never been so busy and stressed in my life, but it has all been going so amazing!!! Definitely one of the favorite weeks of my mission so far, it is not over yet though. We still have meetings the next 3 days with Elder Hamula, he is in the first quorum of the seventy and the president of the south Pacific. We are actually about to leave with President Klingler to fly over to Nadi. We put 2 of the zones on the bus this morning to head over there. We are flying over there this morning and then flying back tonight after the meetings. Then doing the same meeting again on this side with the other 2 zones. We have been going NON STOP for the past few days, but it is paying off for sure. I sent you guys a package this week so keep an eye out for it in the mail. I don't have much time but I will try to write about as much as possible. I might try to get back on tonight when we get back because I want to send some pictures and I forgot my camera.

Well the first highlight of the week was that I got to go to the temple with the Bavoros!! It was so amazing. There was a ton of people from the Naulu ward there so it was way fun to see all of them as well. Elder Ikafanga made it there in time to come to the sealing too with us so that was way awesome. They are such amazing people. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to teach them and be with them when they were baptized and now to have gone with them through the temple. It was such an amazing feeling to see them go through the temple and be sealed and have that next step of blessings of this gospel in their lives. I really wish I would have had some more time to talk to them after but I will be able to see them again. What a blessing.

On Friday we had the zone leader council and that was really good. We have so many amazing leaders right now in the mission and it is really helping the mission do so awesome. We are over 500 baptisms on the year for Fiji!!! That is a record... And just wait until next year when we are supposed to have 150 missionaries here instead of 80 haha I am so glad that I still have time left to get to see a lot of that growth and progression here. We also got to be with President to set apart a kid that is going on his mission to Ghana. It is actually Epeli the kid from Savusavu so I know him really well. It really made me think how cool it is and how big of a blessing it is that I have the priesthood authority to stand in the circle to set someone apart as a missionary. I am super excited for him.

Well President just came over here to the office and we need to go help him move some stuff and then we are going to be off to the airport so I still have a ton to talk about so I will try to get back on here tonight. Au lomani kemudou!!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

A mate le dua, sa qai sucu le lima na ka vou‏

Ni sa bula Vinaka noqu matavuvale!

Well yet another very busy week down. The time is going by way too fast. It goes by soo fast when we are so busy like we are. These next 2 weeks are probably going to be the busiest that we ever have too haha this next week we have our zone leaders council. Then the WHOLE mission is coming into suva and we are having our huge mission combined zone conference, and the Christmas party on Saturday. Then sunday we are having a missionary fireside. All 80 missionaries will be singing and stuff so that should be really sweet. and then on Monday the North zone and west zone will be busing back to the west to have their mission tour with Elder Hamula and we will be flying there that morning with president and then we will fly back that same night with President and with Elder Hamula. Then on Tuesday we will be doing the same mission tour thing in Suva with the other 2 zones. Then on wednesday we will be having another zone leaders council thing with President Hamula. It is going to be awesome, but way insane for us because we have to be the ones that make sure everything goes as planned with no problems getting all these 80 missionaries moved all over Fiji. Pray for us... haha

O yeah, so because of all that I dont really know when I will be emailing next week. It definitely wont be at the normal time like this ha I am sure I will get the chance to email at some point though, so if you dont get any email from me dont freak out haha

This week was really good though. On Tuesday there was an Elder that extended his mission a month and he was going home so we took him to the temple and did all the stuff we do when people go home. He was a way awesome missionary. Then on Thursday the new intake of 5 came in. But actually only 4 came because one of them got stuck in San Francisco. So we did all of their new orientation stuff and then that night we had a big Thanksgiving dinner at Presidents house with all of them and with some of the senior couples that work here in the office. No turkey though because here a 4kg turkey cost $180 haha so we had chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and green bean casserole and carrots and apple pie with ice cream, it was amazing haha I definitely ate way too much. I will try to send you some pictures from that today.

On Saturday was the transfer. So all day we were driving people around to get on buses and airplanes and then the other Elder that got stuck in San Francisco came in so we had to hurry and do all of his orientation stuff and we got to take him to dinner at this nice restaurant so that was really sweet haha we took the other new guys to Chee Wais which is our chinese investigators restaurant. It is a WAY nice restaurant and pretty expensive but they give us a way good deal because they love us haha if you guys come get me then we will go and eat there for sure! They are going to feed me some sushi soon so I will let you know how it is.

Kevin and Yungyung are doing really awesome. They should be getting baptized this sunday after church. I am way excited for them. Their is another guy that lives there named Lou and he is the cook of the restaurant and the brother of the mom and we have started teaching him and he is way awesome too. They understand so much even though they have no type of really Christian background.

Things are going way awesome with Filipe too. This week we had a way good lesson with him and he just kept referring back to his mom and how he sees how happy she is and how blessed she is and everything. He bore a way powerful testimony and said that he knows that the church is true just because of that. It really just made me want to make sure that I continue living the gospel to its fullest so that I can continue receiving its blessings that will be an example to others that will testify that the gospel is true. I know that all of you are that kind of great examples and I am thankful that I had all of you as the great examples around me to help strengthen my own testimony and especially in being a good example to others.

The Bavoros are going through the temple and getting sealed this week on Thursday! I am so stoked to get to go to it. What an awesome blessing to have had the opportunity to teach such great people that the Lord had prepared. I really need to write letters to a bunch of my other recent converts.

Well life is good. Sounds like you guys had an awesome Thanksgiving! Au lomani kemudou!!!

Loloma,

Elder Hawk

 Elder Riley is getting ready to head home and this is our van

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

 This is Levuka town. The ocean is right there across the street.
 

This is me and Elder Mema'ofa before our 2 hour walk across the island

 

 

The chapel in Levuka

 

This is the place we stayed the first night in Levuka town

 



 The golfing gang
 



Levuka!

Bula Vinaka!!

Well, this week was way awesome. Lots of really cool and fun experiences. I don't have a whole lot of time to write, so I will try to get as much in as I can.

First off, this last Tuesday was a huge Indian holiday called Diwali. It is like Christmas and the 4th of July combined haha All the Indians decorate their houses in lights and they light of TONS of fireworks. They actually have some pretty sweet fireworks in Fiji and they were going off EVERYWHERE on Diwali night. That night we went to our landlords house which is upstairs and had a ton of Indian sweets that they make and Indian food and stuff like that. It was pretty fun. This week we also got to eat with a couple of the senior couples for dinner. They are all the coolest people ever! haha I guess that is a requirement to serve in Fiji, you have to be awesome... haha

This week we also spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to buy all of the plane tickets and bus tickets to get everyone in here and around and stuff for the mission tour and the Christmas party and stuff. Lots and lots of planning and things. It will definitely help me out a lot later in life to have planned all kinds of stuff like that. We spent so much money that we maxed out our credit card and had to start using other peoples church credit cards haha crazy. I think all of the Christmas and mission tour stuff should be really good though. I am really excited about it.

This week was really cool too because we finally got our Chinese lesson pamphlets that we can now use to teach all of these Chinese investigators that we have. They LOVED them. Everything just started clicking so much better with them now that they could see it and read it in their own language. Kevin and Yungyung will probably be getting baptized really soon. I really love that family so much. The mom too is now getting a lot more interested and asking questions and stuff. This week we also got a way awesome new investigator. His name is Filipe. He is the son of one of the old time members in our ward, Sister Sinu. He is like 50. He was in the Fijian military for a long time and was in Sinai and Lebanon for a few years. He is such an awesome guy. We had a way good intro lesson with him. The spirit was super strong in the lesson. I love how every time we teach lessons and we feel  the spirit that strong and we see these people that have such a great desire to get the gospel and stuff that it strengthens my own testimony so much. I am truly so much more converted to this gospel now than I ever was at home, and I know there is nothing else that I could have done with the last year and a half of my life that could have helped me to learn all of the amazing things that I have learned and experienced. Really can't even begin to explain how grateful and blessed I feel to be here and to be serving my mission especially in Fiji.

Well the highlight of the week was definitely going to Levuka. On Thursday we got on a bus which took us to the boat and then it was like an hour boat ride to the island and than another half hour bus ride to the other side where the town is. It is such a cool place! It was established way back in the 1800's and it was the old capitol of Fiji for a while. That is where the pictures on this email are from. That is the chapel out there. The first night we got there we were supposed to sleep in the chapel but we couldn't find anyone that had the keys so we slept in this hotel haha than the 2nd night we slept in the chapel. I will show you the shower in the chapel haha it was just a hose up of the wall. Pretty cold water. It was so much fun though. Me and Elder Mema'ofa walked for 2 hours one way to get to this village to go and see some people. It was way awesome because the road is literally right on the ocean around the island. We saw this big iguana on our walk haha it was pretty sweet. We actually almost stepped on it because we didn't see it. Then on Friday morning we got on the bus and the boat and than the other bus at 4 in the morning. It was a way good trip though. I think that it will get opened back up to Elders soon.

This morning we went golfing!!! It was me Elder Estill, Elder Whiting and Elder Tennis. It was SO much fun! I actually did alright considering how long it has been haha I pared 2 of the par 3s. Hit some way good shots there. I will send some more pictures of that today.

Well sounds like you guys will be having an awesome Thanksgiving! You should try to send me a video of something of the wrestling matches. We have a new intake of 5 coming from the MTC that day so we will be having Thanksgiving dinner at Presidents house with all of them that night. Should be pretty sweet.

Well, au lomani kemodou!!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

Levu na veivakavulici (lots of lessons)

Ni sa bula vinaka noqu matavuvale!

Well it sounds like everything is going good back home! That is cool about the regional conference thing. I finally got to go to church this week in both of the wards that we cover and it was way awesome. The English ward that we cover is probably the strongest ward in Fiji, and it is where like the temple president and President Klingler and a bunch of the senior couples go so that helps it out a ton. It feels a lot more like church at home, which is good in ways but I kind of miss the small branch jungle feel ha. President Klingler was gone pretty much this whole week to a mission presidents conference in New Zealand. They told him there that by the end of next year we will have 150 missionaries here in the mission!! That is almost double, right now there are 80. It is going to be sooo awesome.There are going to be a lot of new areas opening up and things and other areas will get the extra attention that they need. It is really cool how we get to work so closely with President and how he shares with us all of the things that he learns from meetings and from General authorities he gets to meet with and just things he has learned in life. I know that I have already learned so much from him since I have been here. I think that I might be AP for a while and then get released to go and open up an area and maybe train again. I think that would be so awesome. We will see though. Everyone who has been called as an AP has finished as the AP, but there also hasn't been any for 8 months either so I think I got a chance haha I am not going to worry about it though. I will work my hardest and do my best wherever the Lord wants me.

This week was really good too because we actually got to teach quite a few lessons. We have way good investigators that are getting close to baptism. We have Kevin and Yungyung, those chinese people that should be getting baptized next week. They are so awesome. The mom and another guy that lives there even came to church this week so that was exciting. One day this week we taught them about Faith and we read Alma 32 about how faith is like a seed and Yungyung the boy said the prayer at the end and in his very broken english he said "I now know that I have a seed inside of me, please help me to make it grow strong" It was way cool. They have so much faith and it is so cool to see how much this gospel changes peoples lives. We also started teaching another Chinese couple this week named Shelly and Tony. They just started coming to church because they want their kid to go to LDS primary school but they are way awesome. They have very broken english too and have really no christian background so it is really fun to teach them too. It is so great to see how much these people need the gospel in their lives and how as they learn about it they can feel of its importance to them and they realize so many things about life that they never even have thought about before. We also have another investigator named Apanisa. He is 24 and he is kind of a wild guy. His grandma is a super strong member and so she wanted us to teach him. He has such a strong desire to change and he really realizes the importance of the gospel and our message and how this is what he needs to change his life around. I love him so much. I love all of these people so much even though I have just barely started meeting and teaching them. I love that love that we feel for others as we share the gospel with them. I always feel like Heavenly Father helps us to feel that love for them, just so that we can get a tiny little glimpse of what His love is like for them. We have some other way awesome investigators too but I will talk about them some other time haha

This week we also got to go to some nice dinners ha one night we went with one of the Senior couples, Elder and Sister Terry. I had grilled Mahimahi and it was soo good. I was telling them that I am pretty sure that was the first time I have ever ordered fish from a restaurant haha I am so excited that I have broken all of those stupid picky eating habits that I had before my mission haha There is so much amazing food that I was missing out on!!

O yeah, there is this lady in our ward here and I told her I was from AZ and she said she has a sister that lives there and I asked her where and she said Gilbert! She actually was in Gilbert last year to visit. Pretty crazy. You should try to find her. She is a member. Her name is Kiti Sheffett. I don't know if that is spelled right or not ha

Well this next week we get to go to Levuka which is another little island right off of this main island. They havent had that area opened for a few years but one of the Zone Leaders go out there every few months and we get to go with them because they have baptismal interviews! It was the old capitol of Fiji back in the day. I heard it is a way cool place. I will make sure to take lots of pics since I haven't taken like any since I came here haha

Well au lomani kemudou sara vakalevu! Im still livin' the dream!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

Oso oso sara ga (very busy)

Ni sa bula vinaka na noqu matavuvale!

Well it sounds like everyone had a really awesome week this last week! That is way sweet that that little boy dressed up as a stripling warrior haha On Halloween me and Elder Estill switched badges and ties and watches and that was our costume for Halloween. That is about the extent that we could do and get away with haha I thought it was pretty funny. There was a couple times where we got called the wrong name or the people were really confused. Pretty funny.

Well this week was another CRAZY busy week. Alot of going to bed late and getting up real early to run people to the ariport or pick people up or the bus stops or all kinds of crazy things. Part of the job I guess. It is really fun though to get to be with all of the missionaries a lot though. We have so many way awesome missionaries here right now. I have made a lot of really good friends. This week was especially busy because we brought in all of the sister missionaries and had a specialized training for them and then we also brought in all of the Elders that are training and being trained to have a special training for them as well. It is so weird to be the one giving all of these trainings now. I feel like it was just yesterday that I was the one sitting on the other side of the table just looking at the APs like they were the man and now I guess I need to live up to that. Pretty humbling experience. One part of the training was way awesome though. It is cool how much we learn too when we give a training. But we were giving the training and it was about our purpose as missionaries and living up to that purpose at all times and things like that, but there was a part where I started just talking about letting our missions change us, which originally wasnt a part of our plan. But I started talking about how at the start of our missions a lot of us just think that we dont want to be weird or whatever when we go home and we still want to be "ourselves" or whatever and so we hold ourselves back from letting our missions change us into what they could. And I just talked about how at the beginning of my mission that is kind of how I was. But especially the last few months, probably since I went to Savusavu, I have really just let the mission mold me into what the Lord wants me to be and it has been so awesome to see how much I have changed for the good, but I am still me. The spirit was way strong as I was saying it and I really felt like not only was it a huge moment for me to realize that and let that continue in my mission, but I know that because it was by the spirit it was able to help all the Elders that were there too. Way sweet.

There was also another sweet thing that was shared by one of the sister missionaries in the other training where she said "be the missionary that my parents are praying for" I think that it really hit all of the sisters and me as well that all of our parents are praying so hard for us and think we are the best missionaries ever so we really need to live up to that. It was really good.

Another cool thing that happened this week is that we have these investigators that are straight from China and speak very little English. It is way cool though because we just get to teach them so simply and realize that power of the simple principles of the gospel. But they are the bomb. We set a baptismal date with them and they will be getting baptized at the end of this month. Their names are Kevin and Yungyung, and we also started teaching another guy there named Lou. I already love them all so much. They are awesome people. It is really the first time I have taught people that didn't have a Christian background so it is cool to see how much they love to know the things about Christ. The coolest thing is when they pray because they do it in english and they are just way sincere.

Yesterday we also drove again to the other side of the island to Nadi with President to go and do another missionary fireside. It was way awesome. There was some recent converts that bore their testimonies and they were way powerful. Then we got to drive Presidents car home by ourselves haha that was pretty cool. We also had a new intake that came in this week from New Zealand. It was 3 Fijians. They are all way cool. We had to do all of their orientation and stuff. On the 20th is when the intake comes from Provo. 

Alright well I love you all so much! Thanks for being the bomb. Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma levu, Elder Hawk

PS: That is a picture of me with a Tabua (Whales tooth) I've got to get one for when I come home. They are way sweet.

 

 

 Farewell Feast

 This is the lady that made the salusalu that I am wearing. Her name is Tamalesi, she is probably getting baptized in the next month or so.

Salusalu

Vunivesi Gang 

 Zone Meeting

 President Vatu's Family

 Ridin' the Boat

 

Vodo waqa (ride the boat)

Ni sa bula Vinaka na noqu matavuvale!

Well this has been a pretty crazy week. It has been good though. About the whole new missionaries thing that you talked about mom, we heard from President Klingler that in the 2 weeks after conference there were over 10,000 new missionary papers that were started. Usually they get only 700 a week. But there was 10,000 in 2 weeks. And over half of them were for sister Missionaries. Insane. It will be way awesome to have so many more missionaries out.

Well I guess I will just start from the beginning of the week and work my way up to now. On Monday night we went out to Vunivesi, that village that we cover in Savusavu. They had a HUGE feast for me and they made me a way sweet salusalu (which is that flower necklace type thing that you guys saw that guy wearing from the olympics) it was made with real flowers so it was way cool. I bore my testimony to all of them and I spoke all in their dialect for them. It was sooo cool. They were all way shocked that I could speak their dialect that well and so was Elder Moaalii haha it was really hard to leave there. We will have to go back there for sure.

On Tuesday we had our zone training meeting in Savusavu. All the missionaries on that island came in and even my replacement and the other missionaries coming to that side were there because they rode the boat over too. The training was way awesome. I cried in front of everyone as I was talking about my mission and all of the experiences that I have had and how thankful I am for all of them and how humbling it is to be called to this position right now but that I know I will learn so much from it. It was really good. Probably good for everyone to see that side of me. Then we went to dinner at President Vatus house and they made me this raw fish stuff that they make on Rabi Island where his wife is from. It was WAY good!!! I loved it. They gave me some stuff too. Then we got on the boat that night at about 9:00. It was me, Elder Inu, and Elder Tay. The boat left Savusavu at about 10. It was a pretty decent boat. We had an ibe (mat) so we spread that out and slept on that on the floor for a while. At about 2 am we stopped at Koro Island and so we went out on the deck so we could see it. It was super dark though but it would have been way cool to see in the light. Then we went back in and slept some more on the ground until about 6:30. We went out onto the front deck of the boat and just hung out there until we got into Suva at about 10. When we were coming into the bay in Suva there was a bunch of dolphins jumping up out of the water at the front of the boat! It was the coolest thing ever. And right when I pulled out my camera to take a video they stopped haha it was so awesome though. When I got to the office Elder Myer, the Elder I am replacing took me into a room and did a sevusevu ceremony to give me all the keys for the AP stuff haha it was really funny.That night we had all of the departing dinner and testimony and things for the outgoing Elders. It was crazy to be at President's house with all of the Senior couples and all of these Elders that I have looked up to my whole mission. I left like a little mouse among all of these spiritual giants but it was awesome.

Then on Thursday, our job was to take all those Elders going home around town in Suva so that they could go souvenir shopping. It was really fun. Then we put them on the bus and they were off. We also got to go to the temple with all of them that day too so that was really awesome. I will probably get to go to the temple pretty often now. The mission office is literally like 100 feet away from the temple. It is in the same compound. We are pretty much the mission travel agents. We buy all kinds of plane and boat tickets and plan where everyone is going to stay and all of that stuff. We deal with a whole lot of church money so it is kind of scary sometimes haha This week we also have all of the Elders and Sisters that are training and all of their trainees are coming in and we have to do trainings for them so this week will be insanely busy. We also have a new intake of 3 Fijians coming in from New Zealand MTC so we have to do all of that orientation stuff too. We are also planning all of the stuff for our mission tour and Christmas party. This is the busiest time of the year for the APs. It is crazy. President Hamula, the area president for all the pacific will be coming for our mission tour and we will pretty much be his personal drivers while he is here. It will be cool to have time with a general authority like that.

Yesterday we had to drive all the way to Lautoka on the other side of the island with president and his wife to do a missionary fireside. It is like a 4 hour drive. We drove presidents car. I drove back. It is really cool to get to know president better and be with him all the time. He is an awesome guy. I really hope I get released as AP towards the end and get to proselyte more again at the end because I am going to learn so much during this time and have a huge fire to want to proselyte again haha We actually have a ton of way good investigators here if we can ever find the time to see them ha

Well I have tons and tons of pictures that I want to send you from this week but my card is not working. So I will try to get that figured out. I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and support! Keep em comin! Au lomani Kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

 

 Some people from here in Savusavu.

The Chapel in Savusavu

Kida cala sara ga! (very suprised!)

Ni sa bula vinaka na noqu matavuvale!

That is way cool that you guys met that girl that Elder Moaalii knows! He said that she was one of his really good friends back in American Samoa. They both served together on the Young Single Adults council thing together. That is way cool about Elder Patenaude too! He is a pretty funny guy. I think I asked him while he was here if he knew Judy and Randy but he said he didn't.  I think that would be really cool if Rand could leave right after I got home. I would really like to get to see him before he leaves for sure. When we went to Suva this week I met one of the newer Elders and when I went and shook his hand and told him my name he said that his family is following that blog that you guys are making for me haha pretty funny. He said when he got his call they just started trying to find stuff about Fiji and the mission on the internet and they came across my blog and thought it was awesome so they have like been following it haha I also found out that Elder Wall, the one that I know from AZ that was supposed to be coming here soon went home while he was in the MTC. That was a big bummer. I was really looking forward to seeing him. We also just went on Daylight savings time here this week so we went an hour ahead, it is 12:30ish right now.

Well this week we were in Suva from Tuesday until Saturday. It was wayyy too long to be out of our area. It was really good though. We had our zone leader council meeting and then also we had a specialized district leader training where they brought in all of the DLs in the mission. Me and Elder Moaalii gave a training at that and it went super good. We also got to go on splits with the Suva ZLs which is Elder Stock and Elder Seila. I got to go with Elder Seila. It was really fun teaching with him again. He is the man. He finishes his mission on Thursday. Pretty crazy. We had a really cool experience though where we were walking to an appointment and this indian guy came running up to us and told us how his wife just ran off with their two little kids and how he wanted us to pray for him so that he could find them. Elder seila told him we could go into a house close by that he knew so that we wouldnt have to just pray right out in the street. So we walked over there and there is a really old lady that used to be a temple member but she has been less active for a long time. When we walked up she started crying really hard. We went in and said a prayer for the indian guy so he could go and then we started talking to this Fijian lady. She had a stroke a while back and her family that she is living with isnt really taking good care of her and they live in this terrible tin house in like a swamp pretty much and she said she was feeling so alone and down and then she saw us walking up and she felt like God still knows who she is and cares about her. It was a really cool experience to see how God really does know every single one of us and cares enough about us to have things like that happen.

There is also 2 boys in our branch here that got there mission calls this week!!! One of them is going to Ghana, Africa and the other one is going to Kiribati islands (where Elder Tamuera is from). I am sooo excited for them!! They are going to be awesome. One of them opened his call in sacrament meeting on sunday and he was bearing a super powerful testimony about how excited he is and things and I started crying too because I feel sooo amazingly blessed to be here on my mission. I cant even begin to explain of how big of a blessing it has been for me to be here.

Well now for the big news and the reason for the subject of this email. I also spoke in that sacrament meeting and it is because it was my last Sunday here in Savusavu.... I have been called to be the new Assistant to the president... AP.... I am still in shock and I think the whole mission is. Usually the AP is just called for the last 4 months of his mission or if an intake gets skipped than 6 months. But I still have 8 months left. Everyone in the mission is like in shock. The last person to be called to be the AP at this young in the mission was Brother Matheson, one of my teachers from the MTC. I am very very humbled about the whole thing and feel very unprepared and inadequate to be called to a position like this at this point in my mission. But I just need to have faith that it is the Lord's plan for me and that he will strengthen me to do my best and help this mission progress. I am super sad to have to leave this area. I love this area and especially the people in it. I cried a bunch while I was speaking in sacrament meeting ha big baby. I don't think that I will be the AP all the way til the end of my mission. I might get released towards the end and go open up some island or train again. I hope that is what happens at least. I am just going to do my best... All of the planes are booked up from here to the other island so us 3 that are getting transferred from here have to get on the boat tomorrow night and ride it for like 10 hours through the night to get over to the main island. Should be pretty crazy.

Well please keep me in all of your prayers that I can be strengthened to fulfill this big calling. I need all the help I can get. ha I love you all so much! Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma levu, Elder Hawk

Papitaiso tale mai Vunivesi!

Ni sa bula vinaka na noqu matavuvale!

Well it sounds like you guys are having a lot of fun up in Utah! Rand and especially Parker look so big! crazy. That will be good if Rand at least waits until I get home haha I really want to see him before he heads out too. It will be really exciting to see where he goes. I am excited to get to write him while he is gone and help him with things that I also learned here on my mission. I am sure it will be a way different experience somewhere else in the world but there will still be a lot of similarities. I am way excited for him. I know he will be a way awesome missionary. Did you read Isaac the letter that I sent? Hopefully it was alright haha This week will be pretty weird. We are flying over to Suva tomorrow and then on Wednesday we have our zone leader council. Then on Thursday all of the District leaders from the whole mission will be coming in and we will have another training for them that day. Me and Elder Moaalii have to give a training. I think that it will be really good. We based it mostly off of a talk by Spencer W. Kimball called "Jesus Christ: The Perfect Leader" or something along those lines. It is a way good talk. Especially for comparing it to being a leader here in the mission. And then they couldn't get us a flight back on Friday so we have to wait until Saturday to fly back to Savusavu. It really sucks because we have so much stuff going on and we are going to get taken out of our area for pretty much a whole week! We will be alright though.

As far as this last week goes it was really awesome. The APs came over for a few days and we did splits with them so we were able to get a ton of work done. We just keep finding more and more people to teach. We really need another set of missionaries here to help us out since we are gone so much. One of the days that we were on splits I was with Elder Estill and we were walking through a village called Yaroi. As we were walking through a man just came walking up to us and told us to come into his house and teach them. He is a pretty plump guy and he is missing a lot of his teeth but he is the man. We went in and had a good intro lesson about our purpose as missionaries with them. He just kept telling us that he was feeling the Spirit. Me and Elder Moaalii went back the other day to teach them again and they are way awesome. He was so thankful for all the new stuff that he has already learned from us and for the Spirit he says that he always feels as we teach. His name is Jimmy. His wife is half Chinese and half Fijian. Pretty weird mixture haha they are all awesome though. they have 5 kids. hopefully things will work out well with them. Me and Elder Estill also taught a lesson and we were sitting outside of this ladies house in a different village because there was no man home so we couldn't go in. As we were teaching her tons of kids just started coming and gathering around us because they were so amazed that we could speak Fijian haha Their dialect has some similarities to the one in Vunivesi that I have been learning so when I started throwing in some of that stuff they were going insane haha it was awesome.

So the baptisms in Vunivesi were really awesome. There was a ton of people there again, and we had an amazing feast again. Every Sunday pretty much they have a big feast out there and they make you eat so much haha pretty much the more you eat the more they love you, so I am starting to gain wait from eating so much. It is way good food though. I can't wait for you guys to come and try the food. It was a bummer that Semi wasn't able to get baptized with them but he is still the man. On Tuesday night me and Elder Myer the other AP went out there and we taught him a lesson and I thought that he would be all down and embarrassed and stuff about not passing his interview and the smoking thing and stuff but he was just super happy and kept saying how he knows with the Lord's help he will be able to stop smoking so that he can get baptized too. It was really awesome. We had a really good lesson with him about the atonement and about how Christ took on EVERYTHING that we will ever go through in this life so that he would know how to best help us. I got some better pictures from the baptism this time so I will send those haha.

I also just found out this week that Brother and Sister Bavoro, the old couple that I baptized from Naulu and that has been in the bishopric for a long time now, well they are going through the temple at the end of next month!!! I REALLY hope that it will work out to where I will be in Suva for meetings that week so that I can go with them but I don't know if it will. That would be SO awesome to be able to get to go through with them. It is awesome enough I guess that they are going through anyways. haha

Well I am glad all of you are doing so good! Say hello to everyone up in Utah for me! Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk