Zone Conf with New Mission President

bula mama!!


well another week has gone by here in samabula, fiji. my english is getting worse and worse every day, still getting choke mosquito bites on my leg (goodbye nice beach legs), and sis. pyne and i are still trying to get better tans by going door knocking in the burning fiji sun. i love my life!!!

this week, we had a welcoming zone conference with our new mission president, Pres. Layton, and his wife. it was amazing!! they talked to us about #1 interacting with as many people as we can and leaving a positive impression. they said that it takes about 7 positive contacts from the church before someone develops an interest to learn more. #2 to align ourselves as one with the Father, Son, Holy Ghost, prophet, apostles, our mission president, and then ourselves, the missionaries. if we do this then we won't have to worry if we're doing what we're suppose to or not and we won't have to ask so many questions of what is and is not allowed. whatever it says in "Preach my Gospel" and the white handbook, then that's exactly what Heavenly Father said we need to do. no questions.

we went out with our members a lot this week. since we got our ward mission leader, every correlation meeting, we assign a member/ward missionary to come out with us every day. so we have a member with us almost every day, which is awesome!! i love taking them door knocking. they are always way nervous at first but by the end, they are taking the lead and sharing a little bit about the Gospel. i remember in the beginning of my mission i hated knocking on doors. i was so scared that people would reject me and just shut the door in my face. but now that ive been out a little longer, I LOVE KNOCKING ON DOORS!!! i think it's so fun to meet new people and to find out what they believe, and then to let them know how much our message about the restored Gospel can help them and bless their lives.

one of the referrals we got from our ward was for a 9 year old boy whose mom is a member. she's been working a lot recently on sundays and so she can't come to church. well, we went and visited them and she was so happy that we did. she said it was the first time that missionaries had ever come over to their house without being called. she asked us to come and teach and visit her and her son because she wants him to learn more before he's baptized. we were so happy we found them because you could see the joy on her face when we just walked in the door. instead of her having to call us to visit, we just came on our own and she was so grateful.

so make it a priority to go and visit our less actives from the ward. we can't really do much on sundays so make it a day to go and visit our brothers and sisters who have lost their way. DO YOUR VISITING/HOME TEACHING!!! i know it might be a burden and you think it takes up too much of your time, but always remember that the Lord never complained and he never said, "I'm too busy" to someone in need. the Lord will always bless those who love and take care of their brothers and sisters. au lomani kemudou!! vinaka vakalevu ena nomudou loloma kei na nomudou veivukei ena noqu kaulotu. loloma yani <3

loloma levu,
sista chong

DINNER!!!

Hau'oli La Hanau e Sista Pyne

bula mama!!

IT'S SISTER PYNE'S BIRTHDAY TODAY!!! i made her breakfast, found her a can of spam from one of the senior couples and made her cookies and all that fun stuff. it was so fun!! some sisters brought her a cake and it was way good. hope she had fun :)

well this week we went and knocked on doors a lot!! we took some of the YSA girls with us and we just picked a street and knocked on every door down that street. it was really good and fun!! man it was so fun! in the beginning of my mission i hated knocking on doors but now i love it!! i think its so fun to talk to random strangers. i might keep doing it when i come home.

we had a ward dance on 4th of july. we made cookies for them and helped work the cookie booth. a lot of our members brought non member friends that we were able to talk to and it was really good. 

okay funny stories this week. so while we were knocking on doors we were walking past this dogs....which by the way, i hate dogs! and it was just lying there as we walked past and my companion decides to yell, "tiko vakadua!!" at the dog and all of a sudden it jumps up starts growling and gnashing its teeth at us and i literally almost jumped in the drain right next to me. it was so scary!! oh and did i mention that the dog only had 3 legs!! hahahaha!!

my second story is i was backing up my companion after an appointment one night and right as i was going to open the door to the car i saw that there was a gecko on the handle. so i jumped back and wouldn't open the door.so sis pyne had to put the car in park and come around, grab the gecko, throw it on the road, and said "alright, get in the car." it was so funny!!! it still grosses me out that she just grabs geckos but im not gonna complain because i don't have to touch them. she's the bomb!!

sorry so short this week but life is good. 

i love fiji!! 

i love my mission!!!

loloma levu,

sista chong

Working the Cookie Booth

Hau'oli La Hanau Sista Pyne!!!

Aloha Pres Klingler

bula mama!!

wow that's way cool that everyone is there on oahu!! is it a special something going on?? i know why you're there!! you're all celebrating my 11 month mark!!! hahahahaha!! just joking....its nothing worth celebrating, rather you should all by crying that time is going by so fast.

all the kids look so grown up!! im pretty sure they'll all be almost taller than me by the time i come home, my gosh!! are the boys in the same class again?? how's papa and gramma holding up with all those crazy kids running around?? how's anna holding up?? that's the better question hahaha!!

well life here in the mission is going good. lots of changes happening this week. well, maybe not lots but a big change happened this week....we got a new mission president!! we got to meet them at church yesterday and they're awesome!! im sad that president and sister klingler left, but at the same time im excited to see all the changes and things that will happen in the near future with our new mission president.

also this week we had baptisms. bro and sis khanna got baptized on saturday! they were the indian family that we met at church through a member. their baptism had such a strong spirit there. after they were baptized we sang with them, "i love to see the temple" and then they bore their testimonies. the spirit was so powerful as they bore their testimonies and shared with us what they truly believed about this Gospel. they both said how happy they were to be baptized and to be clean and born again. bro. khanna said that there is no question, he is not turning back!! he is going to do all he can to follow Heavenly Father and His commandments. they're amazing!!

on friday we had the farewell for the klinglers and all the auxiliaries did a cultural dance. the young women did a hula. they danced to the "li hing hula". it was so cute!! they did a good job. it was hard for me not to jam out to the song hahahah!! small kine homesick but i got over it :)

well that's all i got for this week. au lomani kemudou valevu!! loloma yani vei na nomudou matavuvale!! kalougata tiko :)

loloma levu, 

sista chong

Bulabula Vinaka!

Hawaiians in Suva!

bula mama!

this week was a pretty good week. i've seen the blessings of doing service. every thursday we do service from 8-12. so we ask members, investigators, and random people sometimes if we can help them with anything in their home or around their home or anything. anyway, this thursday we went and did service for a less active family. we scrubbed their walls and ceilings in their home. they weren't home when we did it and we never saw them after that, so we didnt know if we did a good enough job for them or not. well sunday came and the whole family came to church!! i was so happy to see them. it showed me that service is worth a lot more than words.

we also tried to contact a lot of referrals this week. we got a lot of referrals for part member families and so that's what we're working on right now. part member families are the best because you already have a member present at every lesson. so refer the part member families in our ward to the missionaries!!!!!!!

also.....one night this week we had dinner at a family's house that is like way super super nice!! like a mansion!! but we went over there with our mission president and his wife for dinner because they'll be leaving this saturday. i can't believe how fast time has gone by. last i remember, they still had one month left, but in the blink of an eye it's the end of june already and we'll be getting a new mission president on saturday. we'll see how it goes but im positive that he'll be amazing! ill miss pres. and sis. klingler but i know that everything in life happens for a reason. but ill miss them so much!! 

as for our investigators. we have a baptism coming up this week. a mom and a dad will be baptized and then their daughter will be baptized later on. hopefully by that time her father will have the priesthood and will be able to baptize her. it would be so special if he did. 

FOB MOMENT OF THE WEEK- we were eating at a rotuman family's home yesterday and i was asking them to teach me some rotuman words. as they told me i would write them down and at one point i was trying to ask them to tell me another word but what came out instead was, "what else word?" they all just started laughing and i that's when i knew that my english was getting really bad hahahaha!! im working on it!!

au lomani kemudou!! loloma yani! kalougata tiko :)

loloma levu,
sista chong

Happy Father's Day

bula mama!!

well this week was a really good week. we found a new investigator that we got from a referral and we got even more referrals from the members that we didn't even contact yet. i love getting referrals from the members because when you get referrals from them then that means they're starting to trust you. so im happy :) we've been trying really hard to get to know the members and gain their trust and we're starting to see the blessings of doing that.

the referral that we were able to contact is a security at the temple. she just got moved there from another station and she asked one of the members, who was a taxi driver, what people do in the temple and why they go there. so that member gave the referral and we went and met her on friday and she told us that we could come back on saturday but as soon as we left, her boss told her that that was her last day working at the temple. she was so sad because she was looking forward to us coming. well...that night they called her and told her that they were putting her back at the temple on saturday. she was so happy and when we went for our first lesson with her she was so happy and told us the story. she told us that she's been through a lot of things in her life and she's been searching for the truth and trying to figure out how she can know God better. she's been to many different churches but felt like something was still missing.

today we went and saw her again. we talked about prophets, the great apostasy, and Joseph Smith. when we explained about prophets and how important they are and why we need them, she said that it made sense and she believed it all. we told her aobut Thomas S. Monson and the blessings of having a living prophet. she immediately told us, that the prophet is what was missing in the other churches she's been to. to know that there was a prophet leading us today made her so happy and she said that she has no trouble believing it because it just makes sense!! the spirit was so strong in our lesson and the Lord truly has prepared her to receive the Gospel at this time in her life. she said "the Lord knows my heart and that's why He had me work here at the temple."

the family that we're teaching our preparing for baptism. they are amazing!! the father, although he doesn't speak much english, is so intune with the spirit! he knows how to recognize the spirit and he knows what he needs to do. we should be finishing our lessons with them this week and having their interview, so that next week they can be baptized. they are such a humble family that the Lord is mindful of and knows that they are ready to raise and strengthen their family in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

on friday we had a baptism! she was one of our kiribati investigators that came to go to LDS college for school and she's living with a member family. from teaching her i have truly seen the importance of members in the work. taking members to lessons brings an extra testimony and a strong spirit in the lesson. when we take members to lessons it lets them see what we do as missionaries and gets them excited and want to share the Gospel to their friends and other family members. we took one of our YSA girls who's preparing to leave for the Philippines on her mission. every lesson we took her to, you could see the change and her testimony growing and getting stronger. but the baptism was really nice and as soon as she came out of that water she had the biggest smile on her face. knowing that she was clean and pure. that's one of the greatest sights as a missionary, seeing your investigator coming out of the water with a huge smile on their face because they know that they made the right choice. they know what they gotta do.

so this week was full of blessings and im so grateful for it. there's a lot of work to do here in fiji and im grateful i get to be a part of it. hope all is well back at home. sounds like everyone is sun-kissed. lucky!! being in suva where it rains AND in a car doesn't give you a really good tan. haha! but whatevs!! the kids are getting so big it's crazy!! au lomani kemudou!! loloma yani!!

loloma levu,
sista chong

Mount Korobaba

isa im so jealous that you all went to the beach this whole week!! i miss the beach so much!! that's the first thing imma do when i come home :) pretty sure you already knew that.

anyway....today i had a confirmation about something in my life.......i strongly dislike hiking!! we got a call last night that we were going hiking as a zone for our pday activity. little did i know that it was a hike that you literally go straight up the mountain. plus! it was raining and so it was way muddy and slippery. so what ended up happening was me slipping and landing flat on my back atleast 3 times throughout the hike. it hurt so bad! haha. but when we got to the top, the site was beautiful! it actually looked just like waikiki!! going down the mountain after the view is another story! i pretty much slid down the mud like a slide more than half way down. it was like the red dirt that just stains everything and plus it was like wet and so no matter what angle you stepped on it....down you go! lol but it was fun. i have no regrets doing it, but it is definitely a ONCE in a lifetime experience haha!! ill send you some pictures from it.

other than our adventure this morning, our week went pretty good. we are teaching a new family. there's the mom, dad, and eldest daughter, that's about 8, that we're teaching. and then they have 2 younger boys. but they are definitely an amazing family!! the father is so in tune with the Spirit, it's crazy! we met the mom and daughter first at church, one of our members brought them and they enjoyed it. the next week they came to church again and this time they brought the father and they all became very interested in the church. so we went over and visited them and my goodness they are ready for the Gospel. you can definitely see that the Lord has prepared the way for right now. everytime we have a lesson with them the father expresses how he feels and he knows that it's the Spirit testifying to him that what we're sharing is true. he doesn't speak and understand english very well and so we have a member translate for us, but when we are sharing a story or our testimonies he can feel that same Spirit and he knows how to recognize it. he's amazing!! we gave them a baptism date for 28 june. also, this last week they brought another neighbor of theirs over to our lesson that we watched the Joseph Smith movie. and she even came to our activity and church this past sunday.

on saturday we had a farewell for the Wakolo family (area of the seventy). they will be leaving this friday to go to arkansas where he will be a mission president. and so in their behalf the ward had a farewell party. there was good food and the program was that each auxiliary learned an "american dance." the primary did like a rainbow song, the young men did like break dancing to macklemore, the young women did the cha cha slide. the young single adults did GREASE!! we go together. then the relief society did a line dance to dont break my heart, my achy breaky heart. the elders quorom did YMCA and lastly the high priests did the bunny hop. so funny!! it was awesome performances!! everyone had fun and it was a good night for the Wakolo family before they leave.

as for you all at home. it sounds like life is going well. beach, beach, graduation, and more beach!! that's the life right there!! i can't believe that tori is getting married in one month. she's getting married on me and kaytie's year mark. well not exactly but same month. that's a way to remember it :) i got her wedding invitation and she looks amazing!! so cute. im happy and excited for her. im also very grateful that anna had the time to talk to trish. it probably helped a lot and i only wish i could've been there to talk to her as well and be there for her. but don't worry i will be there for her when i get back.

but life is good here in fiji nei. i love the people, the food,  the work, not really the mountains that i climbed today but i love being a missionary!! by the way there was a little transfer and so sis. crowell (from hauula) is in my zone, actually we go to district meeting together, and so im so excited for her to be here!! watch out 2 hawaiian girls!! hahahaha it's gonna be fun :) anyway...au lomani kemudou sara valevu!!


loloma levu,
sista chong

Reflections...

bula vinaka mama!


well this week has been crazy and a major test on my patience. we went to meetings 3 days this week and im grateful we did. pres. and sis. klingler will be leaving at the end of this month and so they're giving their last trainings to us before they head back home. so im lucky and i get to listen to their trainings more than once :) such a blessing! they started to pack up all their things in their home and it's sad seeing the house empty and all their pictures put away. we already started talking about the schedule when Pres. Layton (our new mission president) comes. there is a lot of work to do and it'll be sad watching our mission president leave, but im excited for the new adventure we'll have with pres. layton.

we were suppose to have a baptism this last Thursday but he didn't show up. this is the second baptism in a row that our investigator didn't show up. it's definitely make me re think about how im doing as a missionary and what i need to improve on to help our investigators feel better prepared for baptism. it's been really hard showing up to the baptism and waiting and waiting and they don't show up. i know that there's something the Lord wants me to learn from this. im not quite sure what it is right now but im praying and studying to find out. many times this week i've been questioning myself and what ive been doing as a missionary. am i doing enough? am i doing what im suppose to? am i doing all i can? these challenges have definitely made me take a step back and try to figure out what i can do to become a better missionary.

something that i keep reflecting on throughout my studies is Christlike attributes. as a missionary or just a member of the church we are servants/disciples of our Savior Jesus Christ. it doesn't mean we go around telling everyone that and flaunting it around, but we need to show it through the way we act. we need to act like the Savior. that's something that ive been working on throughout my whole mission. but recently it's something that keeps popping up in my mind and something that ive been really focusing on. there's many times this last week where my patience has be tested and it was a challenge! i just wanted to blow up and talk right back at the person, but something kept me from opening my mouth. i know that if we do our best and try as much as we can to be like Christ and if we ask for help, the Lord will definitely help us and give us the strength we need to overcome our weaknesses.

sorry there's not a lot this week. it's been a long week of reflecting haha. but hopefully next week will be better. au lomani kemudou kece!! loloma yani!!

loloma levu,
sista chong

this is the tongan sister who was staying with us...sis. ngauamo