Post 3

bula!

set tiko! (im good) i still love the language and this week we actually had one of the other fijian teachers (Bro. Angilosi) come and substitute for our class because Bro. Matheson is on vacation. anyway, this week he went through the first and second lesson with us, helping us find scriptures in the bible that would help people understand certain doctrines. he said in fiji there are a lot of methodist so they know the bible pretty well, so they might need proof from the bible rather than the book of mormon in order to believe something. i hope that makes sense. so we read scriptures that explain God and Jesus Christ are two different people. another one explained that we need to pray to our Father in Heaven and not Jesus Christ. we found so many scriptures in the bible that i didn't even know existed! then again, i don't really read the bible but this week made me want to study it more. so that's what im going to try and do.

i miss you all so much! but i love the work and i love serving the Lord.

my favorite scripture this week is in Jacob. it's Jacob 6:12, "O be wise; what can I say more" short and simple! it just reminds me to always think about what im doing. dont make dumb mistakes and just always think about my purpose and bringing others to come unto Christ. There are some elders in the tongan district that got in trouble. they're not getting sent home but they got a warning and it just made me think of this scripture. Don't do anything dumb that will keep you from returning home with honor. it kind of goes along with the message we heard at our devotional. this week we had Elder and Sis. Maynes of the seventies, come and speak to us. Sis. Maynes said something that stuck with me, "Decide right now to make your mission a celestial mission." To me it means to not just serve your mission because you have to, but to make the best experience and most spiritual experience ever! A mission is the closest you'll get to the Lord and the most attentive you'll be to the Holy Ghost. What a blessing! So this week i remind myself to by wise and focus on the work of the Lord, not on the unimportant things. 

we just got back from the temple and it made me think about trent going to the temple for the first time this week. i wish i was there to experience it with him but im sure there was a lot of family there to support him. send him my love and im so excited for him. i just wish he came in while i was still in the MTC. oh well.

heres some pictures from this week. in the picture with me and my companions....sister mauga on the left of me, sister mataoa on the right. in the back the poly one is elder utai and the haole one is elder day (district leader). the picture with just the elders (left to right) elder hosea, elder higa, elder sitake-tanoai, elder pulli. and the last one is just me and sister mauga :)

last thing i want to say is, I love my district! It's going to be so hard to leave and split up once we get to Fiji. No matter what happens, I know we'll have a special bond :) We all know how to crack jokes and have fun. We laugh all the time and just make learning Fijian fun. But when it's time to study or to just be serious, we can all become very humble and spiritual. In our district meetings and even when we're just sharing personal experiences in class, we're not afraid to share experiences that are so close to our hearts, stories that we hold dear. The spirit is so strong in our district meetings and I never fail to shed a tear. 

when do the caycayans check in and josh!?! i'll be looking for them and hopefully i'll get to be host (greet the new missionaries) when josh gets here. if he comes on sept. 4 then i leave that saturdayso hopefully he comes next week on the 28. i feel like it is the 28th because i think it was in august. but im so excited to see all 3 of them!!  anyway i love you guys so much and i miss you all!!  i see micah a couple times, he doesn't have a class right now because they all went into the field but he stopped by tuesday to say hi. hes awesome and he always encourages me to keep going!  but i love you guys and i miss you!!

loloma levu,

sistah chong

And a few more pictures...