Bula re!
Well this week has been pretty insane. We had our zone leaders council which is always good. We announced the transfer at the end of the meeting and everyone was way excited for it because they knew there would be some areas opening up haha We got 8 new missionaries in this week which was way exciting. We have another 2 from this intake that got delayed but just got here today and then another Fijian that has to come back here and serve here for a while before he gets his Visa to Guam so we are getting lots of new people which keeps us super busy. And in 6 weeks we are getting 17 more new ones haha pretty awesome. There is going to be a whole lot of new areas opening up. This transfer we opened up Levuka, that one island that I went to a while ago and saw the iguana and all that, and also Nasivikoso, that other place we up in the mountains that we went to a few weeks ago with the Lautoka zone leaders. Really exciting. Both of those places got brand new missionaries that just came in. Pretty exciting to be opening up some awesome places like that as your first area haha the one up in Nasivikoso is pretty crazy. They have no electricity or running water and they will have to bathe in the river. They will really be living the village life haha it is a Fijian and then one of the new Elders that is from New Zealand that are going to go open it. Way cool. I am jealous haha
Well I don't have a lot of time to email. We are kind of running all over the place today, but I will try to write a few highlights.
Elder Corder from our intake that went home came in with this intake! It was sooo exciting to get to see him back out here. I am way proud of him for being able to make it back out here after a year and a half. He is the man. We also had an Elder that finished his mission this week, Elder Diloi. He is the biggest man that I have ever met haha like 6'8 and 400 something pounds. That is what the picture is on this email. Me and him right before we took him home. He is Fijian. The mission will miss him a ton. He is just always super happy and loves everyone. Way good guy.
We had a really good lesson last Monday night. We went and taught Filipe. He is the one that has a super strong testimony about everything we teach him but he just feels like he isn't ready to be baptized for some reason. So we were talking to him about it and the scripture from Alma 34 popped into my head and we shared it and it said "raica, oqo sara ga na gauna kei na siga mo dou vakabulai kina..." which is something like "right now is the time and the day for you to be saved." The spirit was super strong and he paused and said that he knows that he needs to be baptized and that he is getting close. He didn't commit to a day yet but I know that it helped him get closer.
The coolest thing by far that happened this week was a lesson that we had with one of our new investigators named Luke and his friend Nathaniel that he brought with him. After the zone leader council on Wednesday we were just supposed to meet Luke at the chapel at 730 because he doesn't have a phone. So we go to meet there and we waited for about half an hour and were about to leave and then him and his friend Nathaniel came around the corner. We just started to introduce ourselves to the Nathaniel kid because we had never met him. He said that he had a sister die when he was in class 5. Right then I just felt like I knew that I was supposed to meet him and tell him about my experience with Jace and about the Plan of Salvation. So we started the lesson and the spirit was really strong. We started to explain the Plan of Salvation to him and to explain how we know that he can be with his sister again someday. He was very thankful and expressed how much peace he was feeling. Towards the end the story popped into my head and I shared with him about how when Jace died, Parker was super young and you guys were explaining to him that Jace was going to go and live with Heavenly Father and Jesus and then Parker said "Heavenly Father and Jesus?! YES!" As I told the story to him through my tears the spirit was stronger than ever as I testified that I know that his sister is with our Heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ and that we are here to help him get there with her and his family to stay forever. It is experiences and lessons like that that make this work soo rewarding. There is nothing else that we can do that can help convert ourselves and grow our own testimonies than by sharing them and teaching this gospel and having amazing experiences like this.
Well this week is going to be another crazy one. Today we have 2 more new ones coming in. Then tomorrow the new one that is waiting for his visa is coming in. Then on Wednesday we are flying up to Labasa on the other island and doing a leadership training there, then that evening after the training flying back to Suva, switching planes and then flying to Nadi, sleeping there, doing the same leadership training over there for that zone and then flying back to Suva that night.... haha insane. We also have a baptism this weekend which is way exciting. Saki is the man. He passed his interview. He is completely different than when we first started teaching him. The spirit has just taken over and taught him all that he needs to know. way cool. Well that is so awesome about Rand and Parker teaching that guy!! That is by far the best way for them to prepare for their missions. Keep it up!! Au lomani kemudou!! o yeah, I got the package! You guys are the best!! Vinaka Vakalevu!!
Loloma, Elder Hawk
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