July 26, 2009 E-mail

-We went to Island Park this weekend and so all of us sent one big happy email. This is his reply:

Ni sa bula vinaka noqu matavuvale kece!

Hello my all family. Thanks for that email. It was awesome to hear from everyone.

Cherie- unfortunately I didn't keep my mushrooms, which you inform me are for eating, but if you want I am sure I could grow some more and you can eat them.

Sounds like all of you had a great time in Island Park. I am glad. I have had a pretty good time here in Suva. I eat pancakes for breakfast and I drink real milk. I didn't think I would ever get to do that. I also have a real mattress not just a foam pad. So Suva has its benefits.

My companion is awesome. He has a goofy accent and keeps telling me to pop the boot (trunk) and other wierd words, but he is great. He is very eager to learn and I am doing my best to teach him. His first trainer didn't really teach him much, so I am starting with a pretty fresh slate. His Fijian is not real good yet either, so I have to do almost all the talking and teaching. It has been really good for me.

I have been doing well and getting better. I am doing my best to teach him too which actually helps me out a lot also. As for the work here, it's like shooting fish in a barrell with a 12 gauge. I cannot believe how different it is from the West side. In one of my first lessons here, I asked the investigator if she could read a chapter from the BOM, pray about it, and come to church on Sunday. She said yes,..then I stared at her blankly and didn't know what to say cause I was preparing myself for giving a lecture on why it was important and why she needed to do it. That never happens in the West. You have to force them with repeated visits and commitments before they do anything and they never just say yes, they make excuses. I was shocked but it was good.

We cover two wards Tamavua Ward and Wailoku Ward. Our area is almost all Fijian speaking. They are both big functioning wards who do things for us when we ask them. It is crazy. We had two baptisms on Saturday which was good and more on the way. Tamavua ward has had 40 baptisms this year. It is crazy how the work is booming here. We have ward mission leaders and ward missionaries who actually come with us and do their jobs. It is good. One ward missionary ,Inia, is preparing for his mission and comes every morning and spends all day with us. It is awesome.

Well Mom, I got your cookies that were in qurantine for a month. Not sure why. They were still wonderful and I loved them. Thanks so much. I love you all. Keep writing. It is so nice to hear from everyone. It makes a missionary's week.

Cherie- your excuse of not knowing where to send is a terrible excuse. Just ask my mother jk. But thanks for writing.

Au Lomani Kemuni! (i love you all)

-Loloma LevuElda Lalaga