Blog Description

A collection of letters from our favorite missionary. This blog is compiled by his sister and is made up of pictures and images sent to the fam.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

November 22, 2009 E-mail

Well this week was pretty good. I walked and walked and walked and I still haven't lost a single pound, but maybe this next week will drop some jiggle around the middle.

We had one Investigator who I contacted one day as an unplanned contact. He was playing rugby out in the street and I had him pass me the ball then kept his ball while I talked to him and set up an appointment and it has gone good since then. Sunday we picked him up and walked together to church. His name is Vilikesa. He is great and is very quiet so I don't think he is paying attention and then he asks awesome questions! I have high hopes for him.

We also had a less active family who we have been teaching for the past three months come to church for the first time in years. She is awesome! her name is Usenia. Her husband is kind of a punk when we bring up gospel topics, but we have a lot of fun just talking with him and cracking jokes. They have three older children who have not been baptized yet so I hope we can get the whole family activated and baptize the older ones.

We still don't have a ward mission leader, but a return missionary from this mission who just finished a couple months ago just moved into our ward, so I am hoping we can get him called as a ward mission leader. He is great and knows missionary work so I think he would be good.

The elders' families who stayed with you were very excited. They heard from their sons and said they loved it and were so very grateful for your love to them.

I don't remember if anyone remembers Jone from Wailoku who me and Elder Smiler found and taught, but he was baptized and it was awesome. I was really excited and I had a good talk with him. He told me how grateful he was for the gospel. It was great.

I got a letter from Miti in Rakiraki and he said to tell you all how grateful he is for you sending me to him. He said he has never met you but to tell you all that he loves you anyways. It was so great to hear from him and hear how strong his testimony is and how much it has grown. I miss Rakiraki and all the people there. I love Tamavua though and I am gonna miss everyone here when I leave.

Well that is my week. I hope all you had a great week and have another one this week. Eat lots of Turkey for me and have a great Thanksgiving. I will be here walking the streets drenched in sweat ( its hotter then crap here again ).

Loloma Levu,
Elda Lalaga

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

November 15 E-mail plus a note from Mom

This past week we had the privilege of meeting 3 members from Fiji at the airport who were on their way to the MTC to serve missions in Oakland CA. It was incredible and they were way cute! Two of them came to our house and then we took them to the MTC the next morning. I asked them if Jake was fat and they laughed and said yes. That is what Jake is referring to in his email. The Fijian people are tall, but slender, not big like the Tongans and Samoans. They loved Jake and he loved them and it was a great experience to have them in our home.

Well like the Elders told you, I am fat. But that is going to hopefully get better soon, we found out were losing our car. So I am giong to be walking again and maybe I will lose some pounds. Most likely not though. I eat way too much to lose anything. This past week was awesome though.

President Uchtdorf came and we had a special missionary fireside on Tuesday, which was awesome. He didn't get to stay as long as Elder Scott did, so we didn't get to have a question and answer session. But he still gave an amazing talk and it was incredible to meet him. He is way funny and his wife is hilarious, she asked us what we were uder our skirts or if were like the Scotts and dont wear anything underneath. It was so funny. They are great, and again I am amazed and will never forget the feeling of being so close to such wonderful men of god and being uplifted by their words. He spoke a lot about strengthening ourselves and our testimonies, not just that of our investigators and being sure that we do everything that we can and have no regrets. It was great.

We had a fireside tuesday night and tons of people were there. He spoke a lot about families and the importance and also how much tithing will bless them even when times are rough if they just pay a few cents here and there. Then Wednesday, they had a culture night and it was awesome. Got to see traditional costumes and Meke dances. It was so fun and I loved it! I took tons of pictures.

Things went pretty well this week with the work. We had some good lessons and we're hoping to make some headway towards baptisms. I think its gonna cut down our effectivness with no car though, cause we have really spread out investigators. It will work out though.

We had a less active who hasn't come to church in years, go to both the nights of President Uchdorf and she has two children who are not yet members, so I am hoping we can get the family activated and baptized. Her husband is kind of a Punk though and is not supporting their desires to return to church, even though he too is a member. We will keep working with them though.

I'm working hard and having a good time. I cant believe my one year mark is knocking on the door. I still feel like I just got here and still have so much more I need to learn and improve in. It is good though. I love Fiji and even more I love the people of Fiji. Have an awesome week. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Wall

Friday, November 13, 2009

November 8, 2009 E-mail

Well this was a pretty good week. We got quiet a lot done. But best of all we had two people come to church, so we finally have some people progressing! One of them, Filo, is from a part member family. Her husband is an old member who has not gone to church in over ten years. Both of them were at church and he even shaved and cut his hair. I was very happy about that. We're going to go have Family Home Evening there tonight. I am excited. I have really high hopes for that family.

We got a few new investigators. None of them are the golden investigator I have been hoping and praying for, but I think slowly and surely we can get them to come around. We did a lot of talking about prophets and talking up our visit from President Uchtdorf tomorrow. I hope we get a good turn out to that. I am so excited for him to come. He is doing a special fireside for missionaries then a big fireside that will be broadcasted throughout all of Fiji. Then Wednesday night, they are doing a culture night for him. They'll do Meke's and dance and sing for him and things. It is going to be really really cool. I am very excited.

Well I think that about sums up my week. I love you all hope all is well back on the home front. I am doing good.

Love,
Elder Wall

Thursday, November 5, 2009

November 1, 2009 E-mail

This week was good. No one knows what Halloween is here so that is too bad. I'm sure if they knew about it, they would celebrate it. They love any excuse for a holiday. They seriously have like two holidays a month, anything to get them out of work and school.

We had some cool things happen this week, but things are still really slow. The entire mission has kind of slumped off and all of the areas are pretty slow right now. I don't really know why; just trends I guess. Maybe Christmas will come and things will pick up.

But one really cool experience we had this week. One of our recent convert's mother had a stroke and died (which isn't cool) and worst of all, his Dad died last year. They were both young and he is only 15. They are almost at their one year mark. But Funerals in Fijian Culture are huge. All the family from outer islands and far away come in and they have big feasts and church sessions as a family. So we had a really good lesson with him trying to offer him comfort and also used the funeral as a good opportunity to teach and contact people. At the funeral, our bishop was very very bold and taught about the plan of salvation and basically told everyone that their church now doesn't give answers about an after life and had us come stand on the pulpit and said they all need to talk to us. Then I gave the closing prayer and the look on everyone's faces when a young white kid stood up and prayed in Fijian was priceless. I wish I had a camera. Lots of people came and talked to us afterward. I hope some new good investigators come from it.

I also learned from it the true meaning of weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.They yell and scream and roll in the dirt and pull on your legs. It is crazy. It is like the scene on Other Side of Heaven but worse in real life cause you just are appalled that a grown person would act like that. It is not a pleasant scene. Josua, the kid whose mother it was, chose not to go to the funeral because he knew his aunts and uncles were going to be like that and he didn't want to have to go through it. It is pathetic that he had to miss his own mother's burial because his family goes crazy like that. I felt so bad for him. It's so sad that the people think they have to mourn like that cause they will never see their loved ones again. The Plan of Salvation truly is a great comfort and blessing in our lives. It was a cool experience though.

We had two lovo's (earth oven) in a row and I ate way more then is humanly healthy. It is no wonder I am so fat. But we also had an awesome activity with the young men. I taught them how to play American Football and we played. They picked it up super quick and were very good, just like I knew they would be (Lucky people with their black skin and being good at sports). I discovered how fat and slow I am. I would be running and think to myself, "This can't be as fast as I can run," so I would try to go faster but nope, it really was as fast as I could run. So that was depressing. I felt like I was in slow motion the whole time. It didn't help that I was playing a bunch of little Fijians who are wicked fast and run all day everyday to get where they are going. But with the exception of me being slow, it was a success. We had tons of less active, recent convert, and non-member young men in attendance and they all loved it, so it went really well and we're hoping to have some good new investigators come from that as well.

As far as investigators go, we still don't have anybody progressing. We had great lessons and they say they want to be baptized, but they just won't come to church. I don't get it. One guy promised me that if I gave him a white shirt he would go, so I gave it to him and he didn't make it. I am gonna go make him give it back. We have a couple of new people who we have taught once or twice who I have high hopes for. We will go at it again this week and hopefully come out a little better. Well that's all I got. I love you all.

Loloma Levu,
Elda Lalaga