Tsunami!!

Bula Vinaka!

What a week it has been! Crazy... It is insane how much we do in one week and then I sit here to email and the time has gone by SOO fast for the week but when I think about specific things that happened in the week it seems like they were forever ago because so much stuff happens in between haha There was a big huge earthquake near the Solomon Islands this week and we had a tsunami warning here in Fiji, so we were frantically calling all the ZLs and telling them to tell everyone to stay away from the water, and all of Suva town was getting evacuated because it is right on the water and then.... nothing happened at all. haha pretty funny. That is way exciting about the boys! I know they may not have done as well as they wanted to but that is a huge accomplishment to even get those places. I am glad that they both have a good head on their shoulders and realize that there is more to life than things like that. It is still always fun to win, but it for sure isn't everything. The real win that we went is to win in life and become what the Lord wants us to, and they are winning in that, so keep that up!! I sent Justin a letter and this really good talk called "The Fourth Missionary" I think I will send a copy to the boys too. It is way awesome.

So this week was pretty crazy as expected. I knew that it was going to be pretty hectic because it was pretty hectic just looking at the plan, and we always know there is going to be a ton of other stuff that happens, we call those things mayhem haha we actually plan in 'mayhem' everyday haha pretty awesome. Dealing with some of this stuff has been dragging President down a bit, us too. It is hard to see people that don't get it. They don't get how great of an opportunity this is and they don't get how blessed we are, they just waste it. Way sad. It is hard for me and Elder Stock to even understand sometimes because we LOVE our mission so much. But everyone is different.

Well we had some pretty cool experiences this week. I don't really feel like writing a huge email this week but we will see what happens. haha So last Monday we had to pick up the Elders from Kadavu (another island) because they were coming in for one of the leadership trainings. After we picked them up from the bus stand we asked them if they wanted to get something to eat and they jumped on the opportunity to go to McDonald's because they just came off of an island that doesn't have really anything ha so we went to McDonald's, which is pretty rare for us even though we serve in Suva, and we were in the drive through and me and Elder Stock were just talking to the Indian lady working there and being are usual happy exciting selves haha and she all of a sudden said, "I want to join your church, what do I need to do to join it? I have been a Christian for a long time but I have never been baptized and I really want to." It kind of caught us off guard but we got her information and it ends up that she lives right up here by us. She said, "o yeah I just live in walking distance of the chapel so I will come to church" So we called her up on Sunday morning and she said that she really wanted to come to church but that she had to go to the west because her parents live there and were super sick. She asked us to pray for them and said she will be here this week. It was just yet again a great reminder that a lot of times as long as we always have the mindset and the faith that the Lord will lead us to where His prepared people are, and if we are doing what we need to do to be the examples of the happiness and blessings that the gospel brings, then those people will notice and feel it. So always be happy examples of the gospel because you never know who is paying attention and searching!!

Well this week we gave 2 more of the leadership trainings. The one on Tuesday was the best one out of all of them. Just the spirit that was there was awesome, and it was the best training that we gave too. I received some sweet ideas while we were sitting there listening to the other trainings and so did Elder Stock, and they made our training way better. Dad, you will like this one. So our training was about planning and the zone leaders training was about setting inspired goals and so while the zone leaders were giving their training I was thinking about how goals and planning really have to work together at the same to for us to be able to come up with the best result. And Wilsonart glue popped into my head... haha I cant remember what the glue is called but it is the glue for solid surface that has those crazy nozzle things that has the zigzag pattern inside of it that mixes the 2 different substances together and when it comes out in the end it makes the strong glue. So I explained that and attempted to draw a picture of it on the board and compare it to how we have to do our planning and our goals together to help us to come out with the best result and push us to do the best that we can do. I thought that it was pretty sweet haha but that is probably just because it made more sense to me because I have seen the actually thing a million times. So thanks for having me work in the warehouse so that I could get that idea!! haha After the training that day Elder Trent, one of those Elders on Kadavu was thanking me and Elder Stock for our training and he said "you two just make missionary work seem so exciting and fun". It felt good to hear that because I know that that is one of the reasons that President put Elder Stock and I together, so that we could pass on our excitement and fun hard working attitude, so we have to make sure that we keep that up because people notice!

This week as well the Muirs (the senior couple from Savusavu) are finishing their mission. It is going to be a huge blow to the mission. They did SOO much. Elder Muir is the one that served his mission here 50 years ago and can speak Fijian. They are awesome. But this week we went to the temple with them and the whole session was in Fijian like over the speakers. We have gone through the session quite a few times in Fijian but we always have to wear a headset and talk in English but this time it was all in Fijian. Even the veil, we went through in Fijian. So that was WAY awesome. Hopefully we will get to do that a few more times before we have to go home.

Well the work here is going awesome. We have so many people that we can teach. Luke is doing awesome. He is the man. I really wish we had more time to see everyone we want to but it is all good. This week should be a good week of teaching for us. But then we go on our zone conference tour so the next 2 weeks after that will be crazy, lots of traveling. And then the first week in March there is a big intake of 15 coming. Really exciting. Well I love you all! Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk