bula mama!!
dont worry i didn't forget about you guys but i think you're on a plane but
we're emailing on tuesday this week because we had a zone pday yesterday and
didn't have time because it was a holiday so everything was closed. but i'll
email you my big letter, later on when we drive back to labasa. we're in
savusavu right now, about 2 hours away from my area. but i love you guys and i
email you more later today. i got some stories! i love the kids costumes!!!!! we
dont have halloween here, i miss the candy :( lol love
you!!
***Later in the day we received this letter***
bula mama!!
okay so now we're back in labasa town and back to
the work. well, after we email lol. but i had a pretty adventurous week. but
before i get to that. what happened to your hand!!! you beating people?? lol nah
but fo real what happened! why doesn't the doctor give you a brace or
something?? i loved the kids halloween costumes this year, so cute! im sure kino
loved disneyland so much! did all the kids go on the tower of terror? the
picture is small so i cant really see it clearly. if they did, wow! im so proud
of them :)
well, last week wednesday we had a sister training in
suva. so on tuesday morning me and my companion still didn't know when we were
going because the APs (president's assistant) didn't email or call any of our
zone leaders or district leader. so we're sitting in our flat on tuesday and
doing our normal studies until we get a call from the APs and they say, "sisters
did you know that your plane leaves in 3 minutes?" come to find out, they forgot
to tell anyone! they just booked our flight but forgot to any of us so we had no
idea our flight was that morning. so we ended up having to catch the bus down to
savusavu which is about 2-2.5 hours and then we had to catch the BOAT to suva.
we are the first sister missionaries to catch a boat in the whole mission. like
for so long. the outer islands have to catch a boat but it's only like half an
hour. our boat ride was 15 hours long! when we got to the boat we had no idea
what to expect. it was a huge boat, more like a ship. downstairs there was like
cars and trucks to ship and stuff and then we had to go upstairs. upstairs where
we were going to be sitting was surprisingly really nice! it kind of looked like
an airplane and everyone pretty much took a row for themselves and lied down to
sleep. but me and my companion shared a row, so one of us slept on the chairs
while the other slept on the ground. we were okay and really excited to ride the
boat until we woke up in the morning and we did not feel good at all! my head
was throbbing and i felt like i needed to throw up because we were in this hot
room all night. then we went outside to get some fresh air and watch the waves
and we felt a little better. the ocean spray felt good and ocean breeze smelt good and i missed it so much! we left savusavu at 8pm on tuesday night and then
we didn't get to suva until 11am wednesday morning and we ended up missing half
the training. it went from a fun, simple trip to suva to a crazy, long trip. it
was an experience ill never forget!
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The Boat Ride
|
the training itself was actually really awesome. they pretty much talked to us
about member present which is so important and the thing we are the weakest at
as a mission right now. and then LANGUAGE! we need to learn the fijian
language!!! and it was perfect for me because i love the language and i want to
learn it but i just want it to come to me already you know? i hate not being
able to speak it. i read uncle shons letter like everyday for that extra boost
and motivation so im determined! even our zone training last night was about
language. isa! i need to do it! there's a scripture they shared with us from
D&C that says that every nation should receive the fulness of the gospel in
their own tongue. they told us that even though fijians speak english, they
would understand so much more if we spoke fijian and they deserved to be taught
in fijian, their first language. so im trying hard but now im going to try my
hardest ever to learn the
language. fiji has just enhanced my FOBness lol. i love it!!!! i wear my suluvakatoga
(lavalava) to sleep every night because it's so hot haha!!!
 |
Elder Rainston and Sister Bechu
|
 |
| North District |
i want to thank each and every
one of you for your prayers. this week we were able to find 2 new investigators
and i know your prayers played a big part in that. im humbled and overwhelmed
with the spirit everytime i think that not only me and my companion pray for our
work but our families do too and you guys are so far away. i can feel your love
through your prayers and i am seeing the blessings of having a family that is
constantly supporting me and encouraging me to do the Lord's work. i dont know
if i would be able to do this without you guys. so i just wanted to say VINAKA
SARA VALEVU!
one of our new investigators is Arieta. she is from a
small group of islands between the main fiji islands and tonga, called Lau. she
is leaving next to Meli and Lucy and she is a referral from both them and
another member in the branch. her family is catholic but she has never really
practiced their religion so she doesn't anything about Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ. our first lesson with her was about the Godhead. she expressed her want
to change and become closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. she says
she knows that she's done so many things that she's not proud of and now she's
willing to change her life and fix it. i love her for that and i know she can do
it, especially with this gospel in her life. When we taught her about the
Godhead she understood that they are 3 different people but she asked us about
Mary, Jesus' mom, because she said that their church they pray to her. we
answered her question by showing her the scripture John 16:23, which is Jesus
telling us himself to not ask Him anything but instead ask the Father in His
name and we will receive whatever we ask for. she couldn't believe what she had
just read. she was like, "why did they tell me to pray to Mary when it says
right here in the Bible to pray to Heavenly Father? i've been praying to the
wrong person my whole life. no wonder i felt like God never answered or loved
me." it was the first time that i've seen a scripture effect a person so much.
she could not believe this verse, she read it over and over and couldn't believe
how clear it was. so we taught her the 4 steps of prayer and committed her to
pray about what we taught her using the 4 steps and she said she would.
we then had a second lesson with her and we taught her about the
Restoration. when we taught her that lesson, we had another lady come and sit in
the lesson, Maca. she was another referral but she wanted to kind of see what we
teach, what we do, and then she would decide if she wants to take lessons. when
we taught the Restoration the spirit was so strong. at the end of the lesson she
expressed that it all made sense. we committed her to read the introduction of
the Book of Mormon and then pray about it. next time we'll show her the
Restoration video so she can picture it and see the First Vision. it should be
good for her. but we're hoping that she'll be able to change her ways and come
more unto Christ. we're meeting with her again tomorrow and i can't wait! we're
meeting with Maca tonight for her first lesson on her own. we'll see how it
goes.
this past sunday it was that holiday diwali. and on diwali all indian
families pop firecrackers, it's crazy! well, not crazy like home on new years
eve but there's still kind of a lot. and they also all make food and sweets.
their indian sweets are pretty bomb. and they just give it away to everyone who
wants, its awesome! so it was kind of like halloween for me haha.
so the work is moving a little more everyday. the sad thing is
this next week there'll be transfers and i really think my companion will be
getting transferred because she has been in this area for about 6 months.
everyone says that im gonna train as soon as my training is done because that's
what usually happens in our area. they said the normal time period in our area
is about 6-7 months. so i think ill be here for a while but i love this area so
it's okay :) i just dont want my companion to leave me, but it's time for her to
get transferred because she's been here really long. but it'll hard, but ill be
happy for her. she's amazing!
that was pretty much my week. it was
pretty adventurous and productive. it was so much fun! but au lomani kemudou
sara ga!!
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