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Ni sa bula vinaka tale!
Well, I am alive and well! haha I am emailing on this little thing
called a webbox that is just a tiny keyboard hooked to a small tv
screen so it is pretty hard to email haha I will do my best though!
Everything here is going awesome! the branch before was only having
6-10 members come but the last 2 weeks we have been over 15 so it has
been good. Before I flew over here president met with me for like an
hour and we just talkd about what he wants to see happen here and some
things that I can do to help. It was realy good to know exatly what
president wants so that I can do my best to make it hapen. My
companion is the man! His name is Elder Ravutaumada. He is Fijian and
I don't think that we have spoken any English at all to each other,
just Fijian all the time so that is way fun. I love being able to
speak Fijian all the time again. Our flat is a little wooden house
that is like a 20 minute hike from the road up this hill. It is a
killer to get there haha it is just up on this hill all by itself
overlooking this bay. The island is really beautiful and the people
are awesome. It is still way rooted in like the old Fijian culture so
sometimes the people here are hard hearted to change but we are
teaching a lot of great accepting people right now. As you could see
on google earth there is hardly any roads here. The people get around
to the other villages mostly by fiber boats. There are tons here. The
electricity is all just generators in the villages. So where we are at
the electricity is on for a few hours and then off for a few and like
that all day. It is usually on when we get home at night so that is
good. Except this week they shut our power off because the bill hadn't
been paid for some reason so we were with no power for a few days but
it was all good. Our shower is just a pipe with a little spout on the
end and the water is freezing ha it is way fun to live like this
though. I am going to send this email and then start another just in
case the power goes off again at least you get some ha
Well, I am alive and well! haha I am emailing on this little thing
called a webbox that is just a tiny keyboard hooked to a small tv
screen so it is pretty hard to email haha I will do my best though!
Everything here is going awesome! the branch before was only having
6-10 members come but the last 2 weeks we have been over 15 so it has
been good. Before I flew over here president met with me for like an
hour and we just talkd about what he wants to see happen here and some
things that I can do to help. It was realy good to know exatly what
president wants so that I can do my best to make it hapen. My
companion is the man! His name is Elder Ravutaumada. He is Fijian and
I don't think that we have spoken any English at all to each other,
just Fijian all the time so that is way fun. I love being able to
speak Fijian all the time again. Our flat is a little wooden house
that is like a 20 minute hike from the road up this hill. It is a
killer to get there haha it is just up on this hill all by itself
overlooking this bay. The island is really beautiful and the people
are awesome. It is still way rooted in like the old Fijian culture so
sometimes the people here are hard hearted to change but we are
teaching a lot of great accepting people right now. As you could see
on google earth there is hardly any roads here. The people get around
to the other villages mostly by fiber boats. There are tons here. The
electricity is all just generators in the villages. So where we are at
the electricity is on for a few hours and then off for a few and like
that all day. It is usually on when we get home at night so that is
good. Except this week they shut our power off because the bill hadn't
been paid for some reason so we were with no power for a few days but
it was all good. Our shower is just a pipe with a little spout on the
end and the water is freezing ha it is way fun to live like this
though. I am going to send this email and then start another just in
case the power goes off again at least you get some ha
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So most of our work is in the villages right here closer to our house
but once a week we walk 3 hours one way up and down the mountains to
get to where the branch president's village. We teach what we can there
and help him out and then make the 3 hour walk back. But the crazier
thing is that our branch president is like in his 50s and the last 2
weeks he has made that same walk on Sunday mornings with his wife so
they could come to church. then on the next day after that we walk to
another village that is a 2 hour walk one way. There is an Indian man
that just got baptized there and he walks it every week to come to
church as well. He is the man. he has one of the strongest testimonies
I have ever seen. This last week while we were walking there I was
kind of being a baby and thinking how far it was and stuff but once we
got there with the people in their houses and teaching them it was all
worth it and I felt so stupid for complaining. What a blessing it is
to be here serving the Lord in such an amazing place. I am going to
lose a lot of weight here from so much walking so that will be another
great blessing too! haha On this walk to one of our less active's house
it is an hour walk through THICK jungle and there are these vines that
hang down from the trees, so I cleared out this area and we got a
video of me swinging on this vine like Tarzan haha It is way sweet.
This week we also had a cool experience while we were teaching a new
investigator named Inoke. Him and his wife are both way awesome, but
his wife was busy so we were just teaching him and we taught him about
the restoration and the BoM and then Elder Ravu was inviting him to be
baptized and the room was just filled with the spirit and he accepted
the invitation to be baptized. It was so awesome to get to feel of
that feeling again of such happiness when you see someone who really
understands the importance of our message and feels the spirit and
accepts the invitation to be baptized. That is what this work that we
are doing is all about and if that feeling of happiness that we feel
by seeing other people accept it was the only blessing that we got
then it would all be worth it, how crazy it is that the Lord gives us
so many blessings even though that one feeling is enough. Life is
good, the gospel is true, and Kadavu is wananavu! haha that means
awesome in Fijian.
This week we are going to get on the big boat and go down to the other
side of the island called Kavala. there is another unit there. there
are some investigators there too. hopefully we can find more work
there. the elders usually only go there once a month but if we can get
some work going we will go twice a month. we ride the big boat there
and then a little fiber boat back haha it is going to be sweet.
well au lomani kemudou! I am going to try to talk to this other girl
that we just started teaching to see if her laptop that she has can
skype and we might be able to skype on Mother's Day! If not though I
think I will just give you guys our phone number and you can call from
there. We will get to talk for sure though so no worries!
loloma, Elder Hawk
but once a week we walk 3 hours one way up and down the mountains to
get to where the branch president's village. We teach what we can there
and help him out and then make the 3 hour walk back. But the crazier
thing is that our branch president is like in his 50s and the last 2
weeks he has made that same walk on Sunday mornings with his wife so
they could come to church. then on the next day after that we walk to
another village that is a 2 hour walk one way. There is an Indian man
that just got baptized there and he walks it every week to come to
church as well. He is the man. he has one of the strongest testimonies
I have ever seen. This last week while we were walking there I was
kind of being a baby and thinking how far it was and stuff but once we
got there with the people in their houses and teaching them it was all
worth it and I felt so stupid for complaining. What a blessing it is
to be here serving the Lord in such an amazing place. I am going to
lose a lot of weight here from so much walking so that will be another
great blessing too! haha On this walk to one of our less active's house
it is an hour walk through THICK jungle and there are these vines that
hang down from the trees, so I cleared out this area and we got a
video of me swinging on this vine like Tarzan haha It is way sweet.
This week we also had a cool experience while we were teaching a new
investigator named Inoke. Him and his wife are both way awesome, but
his wife was busy so we were just teaching him and we taught him about
the restoration and the BoM and then Elder Ravu was inviting him to be
baptized and the room was just filled with the spirit and he accepted
the invitation to be baptized. It was so awesome to get to feel of
that feeling again of such happiness when you see someone who really
understands the importance of our message and feels the spirit and
accepts the invitation to be baptized. That is what this work that we
are doing is all about and if that feeling of happiness that we feel
by seeing other people accept it was the only blessing that we got
then it would all be worth it, how crazy it is that the Lord gives us
so many blessings even though that one feeling is enough. Life is
good, the gospel is true, and Kadavu is wananavu! haha that means
awesome in Fijian.
This week we are going to get on the big boat and go down to the other
side of the island called Kavala. there is another unit there. there
are some investigators there too. hopefully we can find more work
there. the elders usually only go there once a month but if we can get
some work going we will go twice a month. we ride the big boat there
and then a little fiber boat back haha it is going to be sweet.
well au lomani kemudou! I am going to try to talk to this other girl
that we just started teaching to see if her laptop that she has can
skype and we might be able to skype on Mother's Day! If not though I
think I will just give you guys our phone number and you can call from
there. We will get to talk for sure though so no worries!
loloma, Elder Hawk
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