Baptizing in a little river

 Elder Ravutaumada, Elder Hawk and three children in Kavala

This is our flat on the left

Bula

Bula!!

Hey sorry this is late. We didn't get the chance to email yesterday because
our flight got delayed getting off the island because it was bad weather.

We just had zone conference today and it was way awesome. I had to bear my
departing testimony and I cried the WHOLE TIME haha For like the first
minute and a half I didn't even say a word because I was just crying. It was
a great experience though. The spirit was crazy strong and just was
bringing to my memory all the great things that I have learned and
experienced on my mission. Man, I have learned SO much and changed so much
it is crazy. Elder Stock is the man. In his departing testimony in all of
the other zones he gave me a shout out and said that he is glad that he met
his best friend on his mission. I love that guy.

Well this last week in Kadavu was way awesome. I don't know if I have talked
to you guys about Ratu Sela before but he is the man. He has a baptismal
date and his wife has always been really iffy about the church and stuff
and we have always tried to get them all to sit down as a family 2 weeks
ago we had a family home evening with them and it was way good and then
this week we went over and we were teaching some of the kids as well and
she was in the other room and we knew that she was listening but she didn't
really want us to know and I asked the kids in Fijian "what did Joseph
Smith see after he prayed" and then from the room she answered "a vision"
haha it was hilarious. and then Elder Ravu is the man and he changed the
subject to prayer and she came out of the room and then it was on.... it
ended up being a 2 hour spiritual powerhouse of a lesson of her asking us
tons of way awesome questions and us answering them. Then she told us a
story about how when her husband first started taking lessons she got way
mad at him and was talking bad about the church and the BOM and then that
night she could not sleep and she said that she could not feel any peace.
She said it got so bad that she woke her husband up in the middle of the
night and said she was sorry for what she said about the church and the
BOM. He said "don't say sorry to me, say sorry to God, he is the one that is
mad at you for saying bad things about HIS church and HIS book" haha he is
the man. She said she prayed and said sorry though and that after that she
fell right to sleep. After the lesson she just kept saying 'wow, this is
the church of Jesus Christ" it was awesome.

This week we also had our 3 baptisms in Kavala. We did it in this little
tiny stream out in the jungle haha it was awesome. Then we rode the little
fiber boat back and it took 2 hours because it was pretty rough seas. It
was pretty fun though. Then we had some awesome lessons in Vunisea.

Well we are heading back out tonight on the boat. The boat leaves here at
11 pm and then gets to Kadavu in the morning. It is pretty stormy so it
should be a fun boat ride! haha Things are going awesome. I am ready to get
back to Kadavu and sprint to the finish! Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

Kalavo (Rat)

Bula!

Sorry my e-mail is so late today. The family that we usually e-mail with
broke that webbox thing that we usually use so we have been trying to
find another place to e-mail and finally found a laptop that has
internet.

This week was really good. The zone leaders came down and went on
exchanges with us so that was way fun. Me and Elder Haimin took the
nice long walk to Tavuki. It was way fun though because he is the one
that went to Riverton so we were just talking about all these people
that we both know and stuff haha and just about all the good times on
the mission so far. He is the man. On the way back we tried to take
this cross cut through the jungle that we take when it doesn't rain but
I couldn't find where the trail started so we just went into the jungle
looking for and and we kept crossing this little river looking for it
and we got way lost in the jungle for like thirty minutes and we
finally found our way back to the road and then we walked a little
farther and there I saw the start of the cross cut haha so we took it.
It is a crazy cross cut through the type of jungle that you see on
movies and there is a few way sweet water falls on the way. I will
have to take some pictures of it sometime.

This week we also got our washing machine fixed but that is another
funny story. Bro Lal one of the members here is good at fixing
electronic stuff so he came up to our flat and our washing machine was
in our tiny little shower because that is where it has to drain. But
it was full of water and not working so Elder Ravu and I were in
the tiny little shower room and we had to shut the door to get around
the machine and tip it over so that we could dump it out. We tipped it
up and I felt something run across my foot..... I looked down and it
was a HUGE RAT!!! hahahaha I yelled "KALAVO!!" which is the Fijian
word for Rat and we were jumping up and down in this tiny little
shower room and the rat was running all around underneath our feet.
Finally Elder Ravu landed on it and it died haha it was probably one
of the funniest things that has happened on my mission haha

This week we also had some awesome lessons with Inoke and Kalesi. One
day we were teaching them and we were teaching them again about the
priesthood and I was talking about how we can trace our authority back
to Jesus Christ and then I was talking about how I have that authority
and I can trace it back to Jesus Christ and I felt the spirit way
strong and just felt so blessed to have that in my life and be able to
do the things like baptize and bless and things like that because of
it. I think they will be getting baptized next month, they are so
awesome.

Well sorry this email is going to be way short. We have a lesson soon.
This week we are going to Kavala. We should have 3 baptisms up there,
and hopefully set up for another one or more for when we go next
month. We are riding the boat up there on Thursday and we will ride
the little boat back on Sunday. I am not looking forward to sleeping
in that house with all the rats haha hopefully they don't eat my
feet!!!

We are working really hard. I think I have seriously lost like 15
pounds just in this month. way awesome. Hopefully I keep losing more!
Finishin' strong!!! Sprint to the finish! au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

Mother's Day

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Bula noqu matavuvale!

Well this week was pretty awesome. The work here and the branch is
progressing a lot faster than I expected. We are definitely being
blessed a lot. My English is getting worse I can tell haha awesome.

This last week started off awesome on Monday night. We went and
taught a man named Tomu. It was him, his wife, his cousin, and another
lady that lives at their house in the lesson. It was our first lesson
with him and as we sat down and started to explain ourselves and our
purpose as missionaries and stuff like that we asked him some
questions about himself and he told us that he grew up in the AOG
church but as he got older he never felt any peace about it and so he
left and he went to the new Methodist church and he became a talatala
(preacher) there and he was really involved in that for a while but he
said it came to the point where every time he came home he never felt
any peace about it and so one day he went to preach and he said he
couldn't do it anymore because he knew it wasn't right so he left that.
and he said after that he went over to Nadi and he was having a hard
time and he kept praying that the lord would help him to find the
truth in his life that would bring him the peace that he was always
wanted. and he said that ever since then he goes to the Methodist
church every few weeks but he knows it isn't true and he said to this
day i am still searching for the truth. we were kind of shock and how
prepared he was but the spirit was really strong and we just explained
a few teaching about the church and the BOM and answered some of the
questions that he had and then bore our testimonies. He told us that
every Monday at 7 o clock his house is our house and he will be there
with his family to listen to our message. We left and we could not
stop talking about it all night haha I just wanted to go back there
and teach him everything right then and show him that the Lord is
answering his prayer right now. so we have been excited all week for
tonight to go and teach them again. we have so many awesome
investigators right now and it is great because they are all couples
and families and stuff like that that will really strengthen the
branch a ton if we can help them get baptized.

The branch is doing so much better already. this week there was 26
members at church which is almost all the members on this side of the
island. We have some more less actives that we are working with so
hopefully we can get them coming too. it is just so hard to get around
the island so it is super hard for people to get to church but we have
a lot of good plans to help them out . We had a way powerful testimony
meeting that I know strengthened all of our testimonies about the
church and really lifted all the members spirits. after church all the
members were all super happy and spirits were high so hopefully we can
keep it up. it was definitely a good start. we also had a meeting with
the branch presidency. I am actually the 2nd counselor haha I might
have told you that already. But the meeting was awesome. We are going
to start giving the members callings and getting all of the auxiliaries
and stuff set up with teachers and leaders. I think it will help the
members out a ton to have responsibility like that to help them want
to come to church. We also planned ways to have certain boats go to
some other villages to pick some members and have them pay part of the
cost and the church budget to pay part of it so that should help us
get some more of the less actives to start coming back. We are really
excited about the way things are going.

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This last week we also went up to the other end of the island to the
other unit that is here. it is pretty much just one really strong
family and a few other people around there. We are teaching a family
though that the mom is a member and has started coming back so she has
3 kids that we will baptize next time we go there and hopefully we can
keep working with her husband and help him join as well. they are a
great family.

When we go up there we ride the ferry boat up there on Thursday and
stay at those members house until Sunday and then ride a little fiber
boat back. The ride back in the little fiber boat is like an hour and
a half and it is gorgeous because we get to see like that whole side
of the island. There is a bunch of white sandy beaches along there
that are pretty much untouched.

The members house that we stay at up there in Kavala has LOTS of rats.
If you don't cover your feet at night they come and start chewing on
your feet just like in the other side of heaven and you just here them
running around the tin all night haha the toilet is just a dug out
outhouse with a small tin shelter around it and the shower is just a
pipe outside with a few pieces of tin thrown up as "walls" pretty
awesome. we definitely get to live the real Fijian life while we are
there. cook with firewood and everything. it was cool. the last night
we were there some people that we taught gave us some fish and we took
it back and ate it and I think it was bad because I got pretty sick
and had to run outside to the outhouse a few times in the night haha
after that one day I was all good though.

Well everything is going awesome. We are working really hard and we are
being blessed because of it. The Lord is preparing a lot of people
here to strengthen this branch. I am really sad that I  have such a
short time left and would love to extend my mission but I know that I
will just work as hard as I can with the time that I have left and do
my best to do what the Lord sent me here to do. Au lomani kemudou!!

Loloma, Elder Hawk

Are you out there?

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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

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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

TUVALU