Thursday, December 2, 2010
A Note from the Blogger:
Hey y'all! It appears that I have been neglecting this blog recently, which is a real shame since Elder Wall's emails have been most excellent. Sorry for the sudden onslaught of reading material, but I just had to post them all. Jake has been an awesome missionary and we are ever so excited to welcome him home this evening! I don't think we've had a ton of readers on this site, but for those who have frequented it it- thanks. I know that Jake appreciates the many people who have supported him throughout his mission.
November 29, 2010 - What a note to end on!
This will be short, sweet, and simple, just like the amount of time I have left on my mission.
I am in Suva as of this morning, but it has been a crazy week. We were on hurricane warnings and there has been some crazy storms. I have had plenty of times where I was worried about making it home on Thursday, but things are looking good and I am so excited.
This week we spent a lot of time in Labasa and then had some very interesting experiences where I literally stared death in the face, but I came off conqueror. So thank you all so much for your prayers and your love.
I love you all and I am so so excited to see you all on Thursday. I've got a great story to end my mission with so prepare yourselves. See you Thursday.
Love,
Elder Wall
I am in Suva as of this morning, but it has been a crazy week. We were on hurricane warnings and there has been some crazy storms. I have had plenty of times where I was worried about making it home on Thursday, but things are looking good and I am so excited.
This week we spent a lot of time in Labasa and then had some very interesting experiences where I literally stared death in the face, but I came off conqueror. So thank you all so much for your prayers and your love.
I love you all and I am so so excited to see you all on Thursday. I've got a great story to end my mission with so prepare yourselves. See you Thursday.
Love,
Elder Wall
November 21, 2010 - Crunch Time
Well I cannot believe how fast this week shot by. I swear it was over in like one day! This week is the last week I have proselyting, so hopefully I can get something good accomplished.
This week was good, but it feels like we were running errands and dealing with problems the whole week and got nothing done. We were in Taveuni til Thursday, which was good. It was really good to see everyone again. I miss them all. They are all doing well, so I was happy.
We came back to Savusavu and had to deal with a bunch of junk cause we moved flats. We got to burn an old crappy couch though and that was a blast!
The area here in Savusavu is really struggling. They are having some issues with drama in the branch- too many people being offended for things that are not meant to be offensive, too much pride, and not enough forgiveness. It is really sad to see. But we had some good talks with some people and hopefully we can help figure out some problems and get the Branch back on track.
This week we are doing some training with the district leader in Labasa and will spend some time there. Then we also have a funeral in a small branch deep in the jungle that we are going to go help out with. So this week we should be pretty busy, however it is not looking good for us getting a lot of missionary work done. I guess that is just how it goes sometimes.
Next Monday I go into Suva to have concluding interviews and close up all my missionary things. I get to have dinner with President, attend a temple session, and then I am done. I fly home on Thursday. I cannot believe how fast time has gone.
Well sorry this email is short but I really don't have too much to talk about. See you all soon. Much Love and Prayers are constantly flowing your way.
Love,
Elder Wall
This week was good, but it feels like we were running errands and dealing with problems the whole week and got nothing done. We were in Taveuni til Thursday, which was good. It was really good to see everyone again. I miss them all. They are all doing well, so I was happy.
We came back to Savusavu and had to deal with a bunch of junk cause we moved flats. We got to burn an old crappy couch though and that was a blast!
The area here in Savusavu is really struggling. They are having some issues with drama in the branch- too many people being offended for things that are not meant to be offensive, too much pride, and not enough forgiveness. It is really sad to see. But we had some good talks with some people and hopefully we can help figure out some problems and get the Branch back on track.
This week we are doing some training with the district leader in Labasa and will spend some time there. Then we also have a funeral in a small branch deep in the jungle that we are going to go help out with. So this week we should be pretty busy, however it is not looking good for us getting a lot of missionary work done. I guess that is just how it goes sometimes.
Next Monday I go into Suva to have concluding interviews and close up all my missionary things. I get to have dinner with President, attend a temple session, and then I am done. I fly home on Thursday. I cannot believe how fast time has gone.
Well sorry this email is short but I really don't have too much to talk about. See you all soon. Much Love and Prayers are constantly flowing your way.
Love,
Elder Wall
November 14, 2010 - Mobster to Mormon?
Well this week was really good. I spent the week with Elder Cooper in Kadavu and it was really great. Everyone was so excited to see me again and it was like I never left. We just went right back to how things were when I left. It was so nice to see the people I love so much again!
I was a little disappointed in the progress in the Branch; not much has happened with the Branch since I left. They haven't had a single activity since I left. So I talked with the Elders there and hopefully they will get things working with the branch. I think they haven't focused too much on the branch work so it has suffered a little bit. Elder Cooper is great though and I had four days to drill my ideas into him so hopefully he can take a few of them and get things progressing again. But it was so nice to be back it felt like I was back home again. I love Kadavu so much!
Ratu Lasarusa and Bulou Rogo, the chief I baptized right before I left, is so strong. He is awesome. They are doing so so well and I am so happy for them. It was really great to be back again. I love all the families there so much!
Then on Saturday, I went from Kadavu to Viti Levu, then straight to Savusavu and then today we just took the boat to Taveuni. So I did a lot of traveling this weekend. It is really good to be back in Taveuni as well. I am excited to go and see some of the old people I loved here too. Elder Allen and Elder Tupou are my companions here. It has been good so far. We came to Taveuni to do a training for a new district leader. It will be good.
This week was good and it was so great to go to Kadavu. It was good to go back and see that I truly did serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength on that little island and all the people love and remember me for it. I had some very sweet reunions with the branch members and some investigators as well. It was so awesome.
One quick cool story:
This man named Save is a straight-up hustler. He is like the mobster of Kadavu. We used to always sit down and talk to him. I always just did it because I thought he was a cool guy. Anyway the elders have been teaching him and he testified to me that the Book of Mormon is true. It was incredible to hear that from a man I never ever would have guessed would say that! I hope he continues progressing and changing. I think that if he gets baptized, President Monson is going to have to do the interview. But that is the power of the gospel and the conversion power of the Book of Mormon.
This week we also have two greenies we were taking to their areas. It was fun to see their wide eyed enthusiasm and to know what they have ahead of them. Boy do they have a lot to learn, but it will be so great for them. Well I think that is about it for this week. I love you all. See you soon.
Love,
Elder Wall
I was a little disappointed in the progress in the Branch; not much has happened with the Branch since I left. They haven't had a single activity since I left. So I talked with the Elders there and hopefully they will get things working with the branch. I think they haven't focused too much on the branch work so it has suffered a little bit. Elder Cooper is great though and I had four days to drill my ideas into him so hopefully he can take a few of them and get things progressing again. But it was so nice to be back it felt like I was back home again. I love Kadavu so much!
Ratu Lasarusa and Bulou Rogo, the chief I baptized right before I left, is so strong. He is awesome. They are doing so so well and I am so happy for them. It was really great to be back again. I love all the families there so much!
Then on Saturday, I went from Kadavu to Viti Levu, then straight to Savusavu and then today we just took the boat to Taveuni. So I did a lot of traveling this weekend. It is really good to be back in Taveuni as well. I am excited to go and see some of the old people I loved here too. Elder Allen and Elder Tupou are my companions here. It has been good so far. We came to Taveuni to do a training for a new district leader. It will be good.
This week was good and it was so great to go to Kadavu. It was good to go back and see that I truly did serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength on that little island and all the people love and remember me for it. I had some very sweet reunions with the branch members and some investigators as well. It was so awesome.
One quick cool story:
This man named Save is a straight-up hustler. He is like the mobster of Kadavu. We used to always sit down and talk to him. I always just did it because I thought he was a cool guy. Anyway the elders have been teaching him and he testified to me that the Book of Mormon is true. It was incredible to hear that from a man I never ever would have guessed would say that! I hope he continues progressing and changing. I think that if he gets baptized, President Monson is going to have to do the interview. But that is the power of the gospel and the conversion power of the Book of Mormon.
This week we also have two greenies we were taking to their areas. It was fun to see their wide eyed enthusiasm and to know what they have ahead of them. Boy do they have a lot to learn, but it will be so great for them. Well I think that is about it for this week. I love you all. See you soon.
Love,
Elder Wall
November 7, 2010 - 3 weeks and counting...
Well first thing's first; I will tell you what my last three weeks are going to look like....
This Wednesday I will be going to Kadavu until Saturday to be companions with Elder Farley's companion while he is in a training. It will be so great to see everyone again. Then I just found out last night, after that I have been transferred to Savusavu to be a Zone Leader. It will be a whopping two weeks there then back to Suva to go home. I am a little surprised by the transfer but I am just gonna go and see if I can do anything in two weeks.
I found out that when I go to Savusavu I will be going back over to Taveuni on exchanges with the new district leader there to train him. Ha ha. So pretty much I am going back and revisiting every area I have served in. It has been great. So that is what is in store for Elder Wall the next three weeks. I am excited and time is going to fly by and I will be home before I know it.
This past week has been awesome! Leaving Tuvalu was hard but awesome at the same time. Monday night, President Niko threw a BBQ for my going away feast and invited the Teikauea's so it was really nice to have that as my last night in Tuvalu. When we flew out, ALL the members showed up to the airport and gave me gifts and said good bye. It was really cool. They gave me this crown thing made of shells and stuff and I had about twenty necklaces and things put around my neck, so I looked like King of Tuvalu; it was funny. I guess it is a thing here to make pillow cases to give to people, so I got like fifteen pillow cases with hand like crochet on them. I will never have to buy a pillow case again in my life. I love the people of Tuvalu and wish I could have spent some more time there; it was hard to leave.
We also came really close to missing the plane. Fiji had daylight savings time but they don't do that in Tuvalu. So the flight times changed and no one told us. Luckily the first counselor works at the airport and came to our house to get our stuff and check it in. If not, I would be extending my mission til after the new year cause the flights are 100% booked till after January. I am very grateful Bro Maumau saved us for that one. Ha ha.
Then we came to Suva and are staying with the Tamavua elders, which has been awesome. I have seen so many of the old members and recent converts I love. I am so so so happy to see how good all of my recent converts are doing! Luke who I baptized right before I left for Kadavu, got the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday and is going to be serving a mission next year! I am so happy for him. I cannot explain how happy I am when I meet all of these recent converts from when I served here and see them still strong in the church.
Another one from Wailoku that I was super excited about got baptized after I left as well. She was a golden investigator and I had a very strong confirmation during a lesson with her that she would be baptized, but then after that she had family problems and we had to stop seeing her. Then yesterday she came running to me in Stake Conference and said hi. She was baptized a few months ago and is strong in the church. I was so happy!
I have countless other stories of families that I built relationships with and reuniting with them was so awesome. It was cool to see so many people I baptized stay strong in the church. I am so happy. It has been an incredible week seeing them all again and seeing the great progression they have all made. It was such a good experience.
We also got a training from James A. Hamula from the first Quorum of the Seventy. As always with the general authorities, it was awesome! He compared missionary work to the things we learn in the temple in ways I had never even thought of. The man is a gospel doctrite for sure and just blew my mind with so many awesome insights and lessons. It was incredible.
I also had to bear my final testimony, which was crazy. I have seen so many elders bear theirs but I never thought my day would come. It was very spiritual but hard to do. I can't believe my time is almost up. Where have the last two years gone? Right now I feel like I am game for two more (although some days just making it to the next seems like an impossible task).
The Fiji Suva North Stake was also reorganized this weekend so we got to hear a lot from both Elder Hamula and Elder Wakolo from the seventy. They are both amazing and it was so good to hear from them. It was a great week and I loved seeing everyone again. I am excited to go see everyone in Kadavu as well. I am so grateful for the opportunity to see the fruits of my labors after they have had more time to develop. It really makes me feel good about the work I have done and things I have helped people to overcome and the difference it has made in their lives. Truly incredible!
Well I love you all. I think that about sums up my week. I am excited to see how this next week goes and then find out what is in store for me in Savusavu. See you all in a few weeks. Much love and prayers are going your way.
Love,
Elder Wall
This Wednesday I will be going to Kadavu until Saturday to be companions with Elder Farley's companion while he is in a training. It will be so great to see everyone again. Then I just found out last night, after that I have been transferred to Savusavu to be a Zone Leader. It will be a whopping two weeks there then back to Suva to go home. I am a little surprised by the transfer but I am just gonna go and see if I can do anything in two weeks.
I found out that when I go to Savusavu I will be going back over to Taveuni on exchanges with the new district leader there to train him. Ha ha. So pretty much I am going back and revisiting every area I have served in. It has been great. So that is what is in store for Elder Wall the next three weeks. I am excited and time is going to fly by and I will be home before I know it.
This past week has been awesome! Leaving Tuvalu was hard but awesome at the same time. Monday night, President Niko threw a BBQ for my going away feast and invited the Teikauea's so it was really nice to have that as my last night in Tuvalu. When we flew out, ALL the members showed up to the airport and gave me gifts and said good bye. It was really cool. They gave me this crown thing made of shells and stuff and I had about twenty necklaces and things put around my neck, so I looked like King of Tuvalu; it was funny. I guess it is a thing here to make pillow cases to give to people, so I got like fifteen pillow cases with hand like crochet on them. I will never have to buy a pillow case again in my life. I love the people of Tuvalu and wish I could have spent some more time there; it was hard to leave.
We also came really close to missing the plane. Fiji had daylight savings time but they don't do that in Tuvalu. So the flight times changed and no one told us. Luckily the first counselor works at the airport and came to our house to get our stuff and check it in. If not, I would be extending my mission til after the new year cause the flights are 100% booked till after January. I am very grateful Bro Maumau saved us for that one. Ha ha.
Then we came to Suva and are staying with the Tamavua elders, which has been awesome. I have seen so many of the old members and recent converts I love. I am so so so happy to see how good all of my recent converts are doing! Luke who I baptized right before I left for Kadavu, got the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday and is going to be serving a mission next year! I am so happy for him. I cannot explain how happy I am when I meet all of these recent converts from when I served here and see them still strong in the church.
Another one from Wailoku that I was super excited about got baptized after I left as well. She was a golden investigator and I had a very strong confirmation during a lesson with her that she would be baptized, but then after that she had family problems and we had to stop seeing her. Then yesterday she came running to me in Stake Conference and said hi. She was baptized a few months ago and is strong in the church. I was so happy!
I have countless other stories of families that I built relationships with and reuniting with them was so awesome. It was cool to see so many people I baptized stay strong in the church. I am so happy. It has been an incredible week seeing them all again and seeing the great progression they have all made. It was such a good experience.
We also got a training from James A. Hamula from the first Quorum of the Seventy. As always with the general authorities, it was awesome! He compared missionary work to the things we learn in the temple in ways I had never even thought of. The man is a gospel doctrite for sure and just blew my mind with so many awesome insights and lessons. It was incredible.
I also had to bear my final testimony, which was crazy. I have seen so many elders bear theirs but I never thought my day would come. It was very spiritual but hard to do. I can't believe my time is almost up. Where have the last two years gone? Right now I feel like I am game for two more (although some days just making it to the next seems like an impossible task).
The Fiji Suva North Stake was also reorganized this weekend so we got to hear a lot from both Elder Hamula and Elder Wakolo from the seventy. They are both amazing and it was so good to hear from them. It was a great week and I loved seeing everyone again. I am excited to go see everyone in Kadavu as well. I am so grateful for the opportunity to see the fruits of my labors after they have had more time to develop. It really makes me feel good about the work I have done and things I have helped people to overcome and the difference it has made in their lives. Truly incredible!
Well I love you all. I think that about sums up my week. I am excited to see how this next week goes and then find out what is in store for me in Savusavu. See you all in a few weeks. Much love and prayers are going your way.
Love,
Elder Wall
Friday, November 5, 2010
October 31, 2010 - An AWESOME week and an enlightening reflection
As incredible as it seems-Jake will be returning on Dec. 2nd!!!! His Welcome Home will be Dec. 12th, so please plan to join us at 10:45 at our church on Cherry Lane.
This week was awesome! We didn't get too many lessons but we had nine baptisms, so I cannot complain about that. The baptism was so so much fun! We rented out a party house on the far end of the island where it is very beautiful, so it was really cool. We had the baptisms and then a big BBQ and played volley ball. We were also supposed to watch conference but just my luck, technical difficulties-- no conference. One for four of conferences missed on my mission. I think I jinxed myself by going riding instead of watching conference in October before I left cause "I was going to have 2 years of church I gotta take a break now while I still can". Now I want to see conference so bad but I can't. Dang it, I suck. But the baptism was incredible; they were all so happy and ready! They all bore testimony after and it was incredible. Not many dry eyes but I was able to choke back my tears, which was a good thing cause I was conducting and had to give closing remarks. I was so happy to see the change that all of them made. They each had challenges and trials they had to overcome to get to the waters of baptism and I was so proud of them and happy for them for accomplishing their goals.
Autoa got a scholarship to go to Taiwan and go to school, so this week she has been really torn up cause she is excited for the opportunity to get an education but has never left home and doesn't want to leave. Her parents are also still not supportive of her decision to get baptize, so she had a really hard week. She said that she was not happy when she went into the water but that when she came up out of the water, all her cares were swept away and she was left with such a strong peace and happiness. I am so happy for her. They are all so awesome!
Tofikai is already looking forward to serving a mission. He told me that he is going to pray to go to Utah so he can come see me. His friends and family have started calling him Pastor because before he never talked about religion but now all he wants to talk about is the gospel. He is such a great guy. I love him. I went on splits with him for home teaching yesterday and he said he was so proud to be my companion and glad that he could help. Such a great guy with HUGE potential for a future church leader here in Tuvalu!
During the sharing of the testimonies, I was pondering and thought about how this is most likely my last baptism of my mission. I then thought back to my first one and compared the difference. My first baptism, I was so focused on myself. I was excited cause I thought getting baptisms meant I was a successful missionary and that when they were baptized I would be so happy. I was so excited to get to write home and say that I got my first baptism. Honestly though when it was all over, I was really disappointed because I didn't have this intense happy experience. I didn't feel this happy feeling because I wanted it for me, not for them. However this time, I was so happy for the converts; so happy for their progress and the wonderful change that I had seen and been a part of as they changed their lives; so happy for the future they have in the church; so happy for the wonderful things they will learn and experience through the church. As a result, during their testimonies, I was overcome with joy. I was so happy for each and every one of them. I just loved them all so much and was so proud of them. It was a wonderful experience and a wonderful contrast from my first baptism. My first baptism was awesome and something I will never forget. But it could have been better if I would have thought less about myself and more about them. So that is my message this week. Think more about others.
I am so sad to be leaving Tuvalu. On my mission, my family circle has grown to include people in Fiji and now includes people in Tuvalu. I love them so much. I am so proud of the great progress they have made as individuals and as a branch in my two short months here. I know the church is going to continue to boom here because these people just have so much heart and spirit about them. I am truly blessed to have been able to take part in the Lord's work here. I don't know what I have ever done to deserve it but I will just say thank you and be forever grateful to my father in heaven. As you may guess, I am on cloud nine right now. What a great way to leave Tuvalu!
I love you all very much. See you in a month and have a great week. The church is true and being a missionary is freaking awesome.
Love,
Elder Wall
This week was awesome! We didn't get too many lessons but we had nine baptisms, so I cannot complain about that. The baptism was so so much fun! We rented out a party house on the far end of the island where it is very beautiful, so it was really cool. We had the baptisms and then a big BBQ and played volley ball. We were also supposed to watch conference but just my luck, technical difficulties-- no conference. One for four of conferences missed on my mission. I think I jinxed myself by going riding instead of watching conference in October before I left cause "I was going to have 2 years of church I gotta take a break now while I still can". Now I want to see conference so bad but I can't. Dang it, I suck. But the baptism was incredible; they were all so happy and ready! They all bore testimony after and it was incredible. Not many dry eyes but I was able to choke back my tears, which was a good thing cause I was conducting and had to give closing remarks. I was so happy to see the change that all of them made. They each had challenges and trials they had to overcome to get to the waters of baptism and I was so proud of them and happy for them for accomplishing their goals.
Autoa got a scholarship to go to Taiwan and go to school, so this week she has been really torn up cause she is excited for the opportunity to get an education but has never left home and doesn't want to leave. Her parents are also still not supportive of her decision to get baptize, so she had a really hard week. She said that she was not happy when she went into the water but that when she came up out of the water, all her cares were swept away and she was left with such a strong peace and happiness. I am so happy for her. They are all so awesome!
Tofikai is already looking forward to serving a mission. He told me that he is going to pray to go to Utah so he can come see me. His friends and family have started calling him Pastor because before he never talked about religion but now all he wants to talk about is the gospel. He is such a great guy. I love him. I went on splits with him for home teaching yesterday and he said he was so proud to be my companion and glad that he could help. Such a great guy with HUGE potential for a future church leader here in Tuvalu!
During the sharing of the testimonies, I was pondering and thought about how this is most likely my last baptism of my mission. I then thought back to my first one and compared the difference. My first baptism, I was so focused on myself. I was excited cause I thought getting baptisms meant I was a successful missionary and that when they were baptized I would be so happy. I was so excited to get to write home and say that I got my first baptism. Honestly though when it was all over, I was really disappointed because I didn't have this intense happy experience. I didn't feel this happy feeling because I wanted it for me, not for them. However this time, I was so happy for the converts; so happy for their progress and the wonderful change that I had seen and been a part of as they changed their lives; so happy for the future they have in the church; so happy for the wonderful things they will learn and experience through the church. As a result, during their testimonies, I was overcome with joy. I was so happy for each and every one of them. I just loved them all so much and was so proud of them. It was a wonderful experience and a wonderful contrast from my first baptism. My first baptism was awesome and something I will never forget. But it could have been better if I would have thought less about myself and more about them. So that is my message this week. Think more about others.
I am so sad to be leaving Tuvalu. On my mission, my family circle has grown to include people in Fiji and now includes people in Tuvalu. I love them so much. I am so proud of the great progress they have made as individuals and as a branch in my two short months here. I know the church is going to continue to boom here because these people just have so much heart and spirit about them. I am truly blessed to have been able to take part in the Lord's work here. I don't know what I have ever done to deserve it but I will just say thank you and be forever grateful to my father in heaven. As you may guess, I am on cloud nine right now. What a great way to leave Tuvalu!
I love you all very much. See you in a month and have a great week. The church is true and being a missionary is freaking awesome.
Love,
Elder Wall
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
October 25, 2010 - An Amazing Week
This week was awesome. I will start with the bad news first though. So we tried to have an Elder come and do the baptismal interviews but the plane was booked clear till November 23. So I got authorization from President Ostler for me to do them and it went great. All nine passed. But bad news is on November 2nd, we go to Suva for the mission tour with Elder Hamula from the area presidency and then there are no seats back until the 23rd. So I would only be in Tuvalu a few more days then have to fly back to Suva to go home. So Elder Key will come back to Tuvalu with his new companion and I will stay in Suva and do something (not sure what) until I go home. I am really bummed about having to leave Tuvalu when it is on fire and when things have just begun really firing on all cylinders. But I guess that is what is gonna happen. Oh well nothing I can do. I will really miss the people and really miss the work here. As for this week, things were awesome.
We had 91 people at church yesterday. I don't know how but more and more and more people just keep coming out to church and it is awesome. Our family home evening was awesome and turned out so fun. Everyone had a great time and I think they all learned some things as well. It was a blast and was definitely a huge success.
The interviews went great this week as well. At the end of every interview I like to ask people to bear me their testimonies and tell how they know the church is true and why they decided to be baptized. I got some great answers. One girl said that when she did all the things we asked her to, she repented and felt a peace in her heart and knew she had been forgiven of her sins. She said she then knew the next step was- baptism. What a great young woman!
One girl's mother said that if she is baptized she won't love her anymore, so that has been really hard on her. She is 19 and in Polynesian culture until your 21, you are under your parents' rule. So it is a hard decision for her but since she is 19, she can be baptized without parental consent by the church's rules. She is deciding this week, but I am pretty sure she is going to be baptized. Her testimony and knowledge of the doctrine are great.
Another guy said that he went to the Church of Tuvalu for a long long time and never learned anything but he learns and understands the gospel in this church. It was a great opportunity to get to teach these people from beginning to end and get to interview them for baptism. They have all changed so much and have really enlightened their lives with the gospel.
We had an awesome couple of lessons with the Teikauea family this week and I challenged them to baptism. They accepted, unfortunately they still need some more time to prepare so I will not be able to be here for their baptism. I am really disappointed with that. I love that family so much. Bro Teikauea (a 350 lb.+ Tuvaluan man) cried like a baby when we talked about families and being together forever. He really has changed from a big hard hearted man to a big softy who wants so bad to stop smoking and change his life but is just dragged down by the process. I know he will overcome and make a great member of the church someday. His wife and kids are incredible. It has been amazing to see how much the Lord has prepared this place and the people; things just keep falling into place. We just keep finding more and more golden investigators and we're not even trying. Right now we're just trying to juggle all the awesome investigators we have got. The Lord just keeps throwing more and more in our path.
Things with the branch are really taking off as well. The leaders are great and do what they are supposed to they just need a little bit of encouragement. This week me and my home teaching companion Bro Maumau went home teaching and had an awesome experience. We went and visited a man who lives far on the other side of the island. He is an old member of the church who was really strong in the church in Kiribati. He was a high council man and a 1st councilor to the bishop, but came to Tuvalu and got discouraged over time with the small, weak branch and fell away. Yesterday we told him about the nine baptisms this week and the 91 attendance on Sunday and he cried and said he is so happy the church is getting strong in his own country now. I challenged him to come back and help us build up the church here and he said, "I will be there. I am coming for sure." So it was an awesome testimony of the importance of home teaching. He was so touched and happy that we would come home teach him, just thrilled that there was actually home teaching happening in Tuvalu.
Well it was a great week and this week will be great as well. Saturday we are having the baptisms and then a picnic and games after as well as watching general conference, which finally got to us. So it is going to be a great last week for me here in Tuvalu. I love you all and pray for you constantly. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Wall
We had 91 people at church yesterday. I don't know how but more and more and more people just keep coming out to church and it is awesome. Our family home evening was awesome and turned out so fun. Everyone had a great time and I think they all learned some things as well. It was a blast and was definitely a huge success.
The interviews went great this week as well. At the end of every interview I like to ask people to bear me their testimonies and tell how they know the church is true and why they decided to be baptized. I got some great answers. One girl said that when she did all the things we asked her to, she repented and felt a peace in her heart and knew she had been forgiven of her sins. She said she then knew the next step was- baptism. What a great young woman!
One girl's mother said that if she is baptized she won't love her anymore, so that has been really hard on her. She is 19 and in Polynesian culture until your 21, you are under your parents' rule. So it is a hard decision for her but since she is 19, she can be baptized without parental consent by the church's rules. She is deciding this week, but I am pretty sure she is going to be baptized. Her testimony and knowledge of the doctrine are great.
Another guy said that he went to the Church of Tuvalu for a long long time and never learned anything but he learns and understands the gospel in this church. It was a great opportunity to get to teach these people from beginning to end and get to interview them for baptism. They have all changed so much and have really enlightened their lives with the gospel.
We had an awesome couple of lessons with the Teikauea family this week and I challenged them to baptism. They accepted, unfortunately they still need some more time to prepare so I will not be able to be here for their baptism. I am really disappointed with that. I love that family so much. Bro Teikauea (a 350 lb.+ Tuvaluan man) cried like a baby when we talked about families and being together forever. He really has changed from a big hard hearted man to a big softy who wants so bad to stop smoking and change his life but is just dragged down by the process. I know he will overcome and make a great member of the church someday. His wife and kids are incredible. It has been amazing to see how much the Lord has prepared this place and the people; things just keep falling into place. We just keep finding more and more golden investigators and we're not even trying. Right now we're just trying to juggle all the awesome investigators we have got. The Lord just keeps throwing more and more in our path.
Things with the branch are really taking off as well. The leaders are great and do what they are supposed to they just need a little bit of encouragement. This week me and my home teaching companion Bro Maumau went home teaching and had an awesome experience. We went and visited a man who lives far on the other side of the island. He is an old member of the church who was really strong in the church in Kiribati. He was a high council man and a 1st councilor to the bishop, but came to Tuvalu and got discouraged over time with the small, weak branch and fell away. Yesterday we told him about the nine baptisms this week and the 91 attendance on Sunday and he cried and said he is so happy the church is getting strong in his own country now. I challenged him to come back and help us build up the church here and he said, "I will be there. I am coming for sure." So it was an awesome testimony of the importance of home teaching. He was so touched and happy that we would come home teach him, just thrilled that there was actually home teaching happening in Tuvalu.
Well it was a great week and this week will be great as well. Saturday we are having the baptisms and then a picnic and games after as well as watching general conference, which finally got to us. So it is going to be a great last week for me here in Tuvalu. I love you all and pray for you constantly. Have a great week.
Love,
Elder Wall
October 17, 2010 - Another week bites the dust
Well it was a great week and we had some awesome things happen. The language is coming and I think we made some strides in the language. We taught a couple of really basic lessons in only Tuvaluan, so hopefully we can continue to progress. My companion has really picked up a lot and has found the differences between Tuvaluan and Samoan and can speak pretty well; myself, not so much. My understanding keeps improving, but speaking is coming slowly; I am just not sure how to form sentences so I just slaughtering the grammar-- I just guess and say the words I know. But they nod their heads and say yes, so I think that is a good thing.
The best thing we had happen this week was when another investigator commited to be baptized. She had committed before, then changed her mind and we were going to drop her because she was not interested. Then she talked with Autoa and Tofikai, the best investigators ever, and now she is full onboard with a 180' attitude change and is awesome and ready to be baptized. In Polynessian culture, until you are twenty-one, you are under your parents' rule and have to do what they say. Then at twenty one you get a key that represents freedom and then they are on their own. Metzi is only nineteen, but she is afraid to tell her parents (who live on another island), so she said she is going to get baptized and then tell them. She can sign her own baptismal form cause she is over eighteen, so that is fine by me. It is really funny though cause usually that wouldn't happen. I am really excited for her though.
The rest of the investigators are doing awesome as well. We have 9 people who will be interviewed for baptism this week. That is a new high for my mission. I am way happy! We also keep getting more and more awesome investigators. About the time I go, there should be about 10 more ready for baptism. I cannot believe how on fire this island is! EVERYONE is ready to accept the gospel. We had 15 investigators at church and an attendance of 86. Those numbers are through the roof; it is incredible!
Our elders qurom president is really motivated about home teaching and gave out assignments on Sunday. We have had some great meetings with the Branch President as well. They are just very humble church leaders who want to do what is right but aren't really that sure how to go about doing it. I am really excited as well for the combined family home evening that we will be having tonight; it is going to be a good time.
I was also really happy with the Teikauea family. They all came to church...except Bro Teikauea, but I am not worried. We will keep working with him and he will come. Eve took the fruit first and then persuaded Adam, so Sis Teikauea is really gonna help us out. Sis Teikauea cried a lot at church. I am not sure if it was cause she felt the spirit or cause she wished her husband was with her. But either way, she said she loved it and will be coming back.
We went to the 30th anniversary of the National Bank of Tuvalu this week too, which was fun. We are like famous around here cause we wear shirts and ties and walk around in the heat everyday. So we are considered like "high standing" members of the community. They brought us an official anouncement and invitation. It was a lot of fun. The amount of food at this party was unreal, three whole pigs just sitting on the table and everyone goes and tears off their own piece, chicken, beef, crab, lobster, sausage, and endless amounts of fish and rice. There was so much food we could have fed all of India three times over. But as islanders usually do, they finished it all off. They also had some traditional dances and live band with Traditional Tuvaluan music. It was great.
Well that was my week this week. I hope this week goes just as well. All is well in Tuvalu.
Love,
Elder Wall
The best thing we had happen this week was when another investigator commited to be baptized. She had committed before, then changed her mind and we were going to drop her because she was not interested. Then she talked with Autoa and Tofikai, the best investigators ever, and now she is full onboard with a 180' attitude change and is awesome and ready to be baptized. In Polynessian culture, until you are twenty-one, you are under your parents' rule and have to do what they say. Then at twenty one you get a key that represents freedom and then they are on their own. Metzi is only nineteen, but she is afraid to tell her parents (who live on another island), so she said she is going to get baptized and then tell them. She can sign her own baptismal form cause she is over eighteen, so that is fine by me. It is really funny though cause usually that wouldn't happen. I am really excited for her though.
The rest of the investigators are doing awesome as well. We have 9 people who will be interviewed for baptism this week. That is a new high for my mission. I am way happy! We also keep getting more and more awesome investigators. About the time I go, there should be about 10 more ready for baptism. I cannot believe how on fire this island is! EVERYONE is ready to accept the gospel. We had 15 investigators at church and an attendance of 86. Those numbers are through the roof; it is incredible!
Our elders qurom president is really motivated about home teaching and gave out assignments on Sunday. We have had some great meetings with the Branch President as well. They are just very humble church leaders who want to do what is right but aren't really that sure how to go about doing it. I am really excited as well for the combined family home evening that we will be having tonight; it is going to be a good time.
I was also really happy with the Teikauea family. They all came to church...except Bro Teikauea, but I am not worried. We will keep working with him and he will come. Eve took the fruit first and then persuaded Adam, so Sis Teikauea is really gonna help us out. Sis Teikauea cried a lot at church. I am not sure if it was cause she felt the spirit or cause she wished her husband was with her. But either way, she said she loved it and will be coming back.
We went to the 30th anniversary of the National Bank of Tuvalu this week too, which was fun. We are like famous around here cause we wear shirts and ties and walk around in the heat everyday. So we are considered like "high standing" members of the community. They brought us an official anouncement and invitation. It was a lot of fun. The amount of food at this party was unreal, three whole pigs just sitting on the table and everyone goes and tears off their own piece, chicken, beef, crab, lobster, sausage, and endless amounts of fish and rice. There was so much food we could have fed all of India three times over. But as islanders usually do, they finished it all off. They also had some traditional dances and live band with Traditional Tuvaluan music. It was great.
Well that was my week this week. I hope this week goes just as well. All is well in Tuvalu.
Love,
Elder Wall
Friday, October 15, 2010
October 10, 2010 - Establishing a Home Teaching Program
Well this week was really good. For some reason during the week it seemed slow, but last night when we tallied up our numbers for call ins, I saw that we had a great week. So I guess perspective changes everything.
One thing that I was really happy about this week was the Elders Quorum. We sat down with the President and figured home teaching for companions and for families. We will hopefully be doing a home teaching workshop soon to teach the brethren to home teach cause I don't think they have ever had home teaching here before.
We also split the priesthood into Young Men and Elders Quorum for the first block in church. I really think that will help our members to get some unity and build some good relationships.
We also planned for a combined family home evening that we will be having on my birthday, so that is going to be fun.
We had some great lessons this week with our investigators and are seeing some great progress. The Teikauea family is progressing really well. We have awesome lessons with them and they are really starting to change. Bro Teikauea said he knows we don't smoke in our church so he is going to start quitting so he can join when he is ready. We almost had them committed to come to church as a family (the kids go every week but the parents stay home), then at the last minute Bro Teikauea changed his mind and said his wife and kids could go but he was gonna stay home. His wife said they have been married 15 years and he hasn't been to church once. He said he couldn't remember the last time he went to church. This week though, I think we're gonna get him. He said that he and his family need to make a plan for their family spiritual well being. Great family and they are slowly coming along.
We also had a woman named Sis Ilau tell us that she wants to be baptized with the group that we are going to baptize on the 30th. So now we are in a hurry to cover all the lessons before the interview. They finally decided to send us an elder to do the baptismal interviews. He comes next Tuesday, so this week will be busy trying to prepare all eight of out baptismal dates. It will be good.
We had great attendance yesterday at church with 71, which is the highest since I have been here. Autoa and Tofikai are still just so so awesome! Tofi has been sharing the gospel with his friends and they all meet at USP (University of the South Pacific) campus and have gospel discussions about their different religion. It is so good. He loves the plan of salvation cause he said none of the other churches know anything about it. They are so awesome and I love teaching them!
I feel like I made some good progress this week in the language. I still have a long long way to go until I will be able to openly communicate. I can understand it surprisingly well if they speak slow. But speaking is still just a guessing game of really broken sentences. We have had a couple lessons in only Tuvaluan though with some young kids who don't know English. Elder Key is picking it up really fast now and can usually get the point across. Some people he can just speak Samoan too, so that helps as well.
Well that is all I've got for this week. I love you all and hope all is well back in the promised land. See you soon.
Love,
Elder Wall
One thing that I was really happy about this week was the Elders Quorum. We sat down with the President and figured home teaching for companions and for families. We will hopefully be doing a home teaching workshop soon to teach the brethren to home teach cause I don't think they have ever had home teaching here before.
We also split the priesthood into Young Men and Elders Quorum for the first block in church. I really think that will help our members to get some unity and build some good relationships.
We also planned for a combined family home evening that we will be having on my birthday, so that is going to be fun.
We had some great lessons this week with our investigators and are seeing some great progress. The Teikauea family is progressing really well. We have awesome lessons with them and they are really starting to change. Bro Teikauea said he knows we don't smoke in our church so he is going to start quitting so he can join when he is ready. We almost had them committed to come to church as a family (the kids go every week but the parents stay home), then at the last minute Bro Teikauea changed his mind and said his wife and kids could go but he was gonna stay home. His wife said they have been married 15 years and he hasn't been to church once. He said he couldn't remember the last time he went to church. This week though, I think we're gonna get him. He said that he and his family need to make a plan for their family spiritual well being. Great family and they are slowly coming along.
We also had a woman named Sis Ilau tell us that she wants to be baptized with the group that we are going to baptize on the 30th. So now we are in a hurry to cover all the lessons before the interview. They finally decided to send us an elder to do the baptismal interviews. He comes next Tuesday, so this week will be busy trying to prepare all eight of out baptismal dates. It will be good.
We had great attendance yesterday at church with 71, which is the highest since I have been here. Autoa and Tofikai are still just so so awesome! Tofi has been sharing the gospel with his friends and they all meet at USP (University of the South Pacific) campus and have gospel discussions about their different religion. It is so good. He loves the plan of salvation cause he said none of the other churches know anything about it. They are so awesome and I love teaching them!
I feel like I made some good progress this week in the language. I still have a long long way to go until I will be able to openly communicate. I can understand it surprisingly well if they speak slow. But speaking is still just a guessing game of really broken sentences. We have had a couple lessons in only Tuvaluan though with some young kids who don't know English. Elder Key is picking it up really fast now and can usually get the point across. Some people he can just speak Samoan too, so that helps as well.
Well that is all I've got for this week. I love you all and hope all is well back in the promised land. See you soon.
Love,
Elder Wall
Friday, October 8, 2010
October 3, 2010 - Ganja Virus
Well this week was a bit interesting. I got hit with the Ganja virus. Jk don't know what the heck virus it was, but it sucked really bad. I was really sick and felt like crap for four days till it got better. But the Lord did teach me a valuable lesson.
When I called the mission nurse cause I got really bad sick, she told me the first thing to do was to get a priesthood blessing cause there is no qualified medical professionals here (I found out this was true. The doctor was like a child playing hospital; she had a stethoscope around her neck so she looked like a doctor, but didn't know how to use it or what it was). Well I was prideful and thought that I was tough and that blessings are for dying people, I was just sick and would be better soon. After four days of suffering, the Lord broke my pride and I got a blessing. From there on out, I was on an uphill and by the next day, I was still a bit tired from no sleep for four days but out working again. So I learned to not rely upon my own strength. If I would have gotten the blessing at first, I could have had a lot better week this week. Lesson learned. Time to move forward. We had a great week anyway.
We have some awesome investigators. We are just waiting for the APs to get over to interview them, so we can baptize them. The APs think they are busy though and keep pushing back the date. Hopefully they will get over here fast; these people need to be baptized.
One family that is progressing well is the Teikaue family. Their father told us the other day that he has never really understood religion or the gospel, just went to church before exams in college thinking it could only help. Now he is starting to understand. It is great. We just need to get them to church now. They send their boys and stay home themselves. They say that they like what the church teaches the boys, but they aren't ready to go yet themselves. We will change that. Their mother asks a ton of great questions as well. We have great lessons with them and they are slowly progressing, so I am excited to see where they go.
We also have the best two investigators in the history of missionary work: Tofi and Autoa. They are so so awesome! They love our appointments, listen intently, ask questions, come to church, and get mad if we don't give them enough reading assignments from the Book of Mormon. Did I mention that they are awesome?
The branch is coming along well. It has been very easy and fun working with the leaders here. They are so humble, teachable, and eager to strengthen the branch. This week we're going to plan an activity and start home teaching. Things are going really well.
The language is frustrating the crap out of me. I can understand it pretty well surprisingly, considering the fact that I have only been here one month. But I cannot figure out how to create sentences. Our 60 page, half illustration grammar book is 50\50 for being correct or incorrect and there is so much not in it at all. I ask the members and they have no clue what things mean, when I can and cannot use certain things, or when it is this way and when it is that way. They have no clue. It is frustrating. I have no resources to learn with and nothing to teach me. My companion can speak and understand really well cause some things are the same as Samoan, but he too has no clue why and when to use things as he does. He just says that it's because it sounds right that way. So frustrating. I will just keep praying and trying my best and hopefully the Lord blesses me with a decent grammar book or something to help me.
Well, Love you all. Good luck this next week.
Love,
Elder Wall
When I called the mission nurse cause I got really bad sick, she told me the first thing to do was to get a priesthood blessing cause there is no qualified medical professionals here (I found out this was true. The doctor was like a child playing hospital; she had a stethoscope around her neck so she looked like a doctor, but didn't know how to use it or what it was). Well I was prideful and thought that I was tough and that blessings are for dying people, I was just sick and would be better soon. After four days of suffering, the Lord broke my pride and I got a blessing. From there on out, I was on an uphill and by the next day, I was still a bit tired from no sleep for four days but out working again. So I learned to not rely upon my own strength. If I would have gotten the blessing at first, I could have had a lot better week this week. Lesson learned. Time to move forward. We had a great week anyway.
We have some awesome investigators. We are just waiting for the APs to get over to interview them, so we can baptize them. The APs think they are busy though and keep pushing back the date. Hopefully they will get over here fast; these people need to be baptized.
One family that is progressing well is the Teikaue family. Their father told us the other day that he has never really understood religion or the gospel, just went to church before exams in college thinking it could only help. Now he is starting to understand. It is great. We just need to get them to church now. They send their boys and stay home themselves. They say that they like what the church teaches the boys, but they aren't ready to go yet themselves. We will change that. Their mother asks a ton of great questions as well. We have great lessons with them and they are slowly progressing, so I am excited to see where they go.
We also have the best two investigators in the history of missionary work: Tofi and Autoa. They are so so awesome! They love our appointments, listen intently, ask questions, come to church, and get mad if we don't give them enough reading assignments from the Book of Mormon. Did I mention that they are awesome?
The branch is coming along well. It has been very easy and fun working with the leaders here. They are so humble, teachable, and eager to strengthen the branch. This week we're going to plan an activity and start home teaching. Things are going really well.
The language is frustrating the crap out of me. I can understand it pretty well surprisingly, considering the fact that I have only been here one month. But I cannot figure out how to create sentences. Our 60 page, half illustration grammar book is 50\50 for being correct or incorrect and there is so much not in it at all. I ask the members and they have no clue what things mean, when I can and cannot use certain things, or when it is this way and when it is that way. They have no clue. It is frustrating. I have no resources to learn with and nothing to teach me. My companion can speak and understand really well cause some things are the same as Samoan, but he too has no clue why and when to use things as he does. He just says that it's because it sounds right that way. So frustrating. I will just keep praying and trying my best and hopefully the Lord blesses me with a decent grammar book or something to help me.
Well, Love you all. Good luck this next week.
Love,
Elder Wall
September 26, 2010 - Are these investigators for real?
Well we had a really good week again this week. We have some of the best investigators. I can't even believe it! They all just want to know so bad and we have had some great lessons. One family that I am particularly excited to see what happens with, is the Tekawei family.
Their sons have been coming to church and have been wanting to be baptized for like two years now. But when we taught them, we told the parents we would rather teach them as a family so they started just sitting in to make us happy, but the past couple lessons they have been asking questions and paying close attention. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them this week and the spirit was so strong. Their mother is awesome and will definitely be willing to accept the gospel. I think the father knows that if it is true, he has to change his life. So he seems a bit more nervous to start coming to church. But they promised us they would come this next week, so hopefully they will follow through and the Lord will prepare them to accept the gospel.
Sis Ilau is also an awesome investigator, probably the most studious I have ever had. She writes down every scripture reference and studies them after we leave, takes notes during the lessons, and writes one page summaries of every chapter we give her to read. She is awesome! She can understand English, but almost can't speak a word. So that makes it interesting to communicate sometimes. But we have had some awesome lessons with her.
Autoa and Tofi are great as well. They are just so excited to finally be baptized after such a long wait. Hopefully the APs can get over here quickly and do the interviews. They always remind us about lessons so we are sure to not forget. It is hilarious because the whole rest of my mission, I have been the one reminding people so they don't forget. Now the tables have turned and I love it.
We had a great meeting with the Branch President and made some great plans to help establish the church more here. He is a very humble, teachable man who wants so badly for the Branch to be good. He just tells us over and over that he has never been a member in a large branch, so he is not sure how things are supposed to work. He is awesome! I love him.
We are hoping to have a combined family home evening on Monday and I think all the members are really excited. The language is slowly but surely coming along. We only have one forty page BRIEF book about the language, so it is a lot of asking questions and trying to figure out why and how they use the grammar the way they do. The members are really our only language learning resource. Slowly, slowly.
It is still hotter than crap...but it has rained a lot the past couple of days, which cools things down. I think that about sums up this last week. All is well and I love and pray for you all.
Good luck TJ and Merrill family with the surgery. Get well soon Dad. Nick, I am praying for you as well. Stay strong.
Love,
Elder Wall
Their sons have been coming to church and have been wanting to be baptized for like two years now. But when we taught them, we told the parents we would rather teach them as a family so they started just sitting in to make us happy, but the past couple lessons they have been asking questions and paying close attention. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with them this week and the spirit was so strong. Their mother is awesome and will definitely be willing to accept the gospel. I think the father knows that if it is true, he has to change his life. So he seems a bit more nervous to start coming to church. But they promised us they would come this next week, so hopefully they will follow through and the Lord will prepare them to accept the gospel.
Sis Ilau is also an awesome investigator, probably the most studious I have ever had. She writes down every scripture reference and studies them after we leave, takes notes during the lessons, and writes one page summaries of every chapter we give her to read. She is awesome! She can understand English, but almost can't speak a word. So that makes it interesting to communicate sometimes. But we have had some awesome lessons with her.
Autoa and Tofi are great as well. They are just so excited to finally be baptized after such a long wait. Hopefully the APs can get over here quickly and do the interviews. They always remind us about lessons so we are sure to not forget. It is hilarious because the whole rest of my mission, I have been the one reminding people so they don't forget. Now the tables have turned and I love it.
We had a great meeting with the Branch President and made some great plans to help establish the church more here. He is a very humble, teachable man who wants so badly for the Branch to be good. He just tells us over and over that he has never been a member in a large branch, so he is not sure how things are supposed to work. He is awesome! I love him.
We are hoping to have a combined family home evening on Monday and I think all the members are really excited. The language is slowly but surely coming along. We only have one forty page BRIEF book about the language, so it is a lot of asking questions and trying to figure out why and how they use the grammar the way they do. The members are really our only language learning resource. Slowly, slowly.
It is still hotter than crap...but it has rained a lot the past couple of days, which cools things down. I think that about sums up this last week. All is well and I love and pray for you all.
Good luck TJ and Merrill family with the surgery. Get well soon Dad. Nick, I am praying for you as well. Stay strong.
Love,
Elder Wall
Thursday, September 23, 2010
September 19, 2010 - A New Area and Golden Investigators
Well this week was GREAT. The Lord truly has been preparing Tuvalu for the missionaries. I am so blessed to be here and get to see this great work! We have seven baptismal dates for Oct. 16. I have had some of the best lessons of my mission this past week. So many investigators that are so ready to join the church! They have literally just been waiting for the missionaries to come and teach and baptize them. They have such solid testimonies and love learning the things that we teach them. It is so amazing that they were able to have so much faith and belief in the church without even really knowing anything about it, as far as the doctrines and story of the restoration. They just know they found and felt the spirit in this church and were willing to wait patiently for two years to join and be taught about it. They are awesome people! It has been a priviledge to get to teach such prepared, attentive, and ready to learn children of God.
We had 65 people at church yesterday and 10 of them were investigators. It was great. The branch is lacking a little bit in organization and functionality, but everything they lack they make up for with faith. They are such faithful saints. We have some good plans to do some training and get some callings and auxiliaries set up. It will be good to work with the branch. We have so many investigators and such far walks though that we are really busy. So that is good.
One interesting thing this week was the fact that we had NO money. We had problems with transferring money from Fiji to here because it is a different country, so this entire week we had not one dime and no food. We walked from door to door finding members and investigators to feed us. It was an interesting experience that made me appreciate the missionaries from the church's beginnings who went to England with nothing but the clothes on their back. Luckily though, in the Polynesian culture it's not too hard to find people to feed you.
The national elections of Tuvalu were this week as well, which was interesting. They have a day of like "campaigning", but we were told that whoever gives away the most free alcohol and food wins. So we had A LOT of interesting run-ins with some not so sober people on the streets. It was funny. Then when the winner was announced, the next twenty four hours were full of random fights breaking out on the street with angry people whose candidate didn't win. That was entertaining as well. Luckilly Polynesians fight fair: man to man, fist to fist, so there were no weapons involved. I think some Latin countries could take notes there.
It is still so freaking hot that I think I am going to die every single day. I can't believe the power of the sun here! They literally hang fish on clothes lines in the sun and it cooks the fish, then they eat it. It is so scorching.
The language is hard. My companion can understand it pretty well, maybe like 50% or more. I am hovering at a solid 5% understanding and speaking. He can't really speak it all that well either, but definitely way better than me. Some old people can speak and understand Samoan though, so Elder Key does good with them. I am going to keep working at it though and hopefully it will come quickly.
That about sums up my week. It was really good and I am excited for this next week. I hope yours all goes well. Until next week..
Alofa,
Elder Wall
We had 65 people at church yesterday and 10 of them were investigators. It was great. The branch is lacking a little bit in organization and functionality, but everything they lack they make up for with faith. They are such faithful saints. We have some good plans to do some training and get some callings and auxiliaries set up. It will be good to work with the branch. We have so many investigators and such far walks though that we are really busy. So that is good.
One interesting thing this week was the fact that we had NO money. We had problems with transferring money from Fiji to here because it is a different country, so this entire week we had not one dime and no food. We walked from door to door finding members and investigators to feed us. It was an interesting experience that made me appreciate the missionaries from the church's beginnings who went to England with nothing but the clothes on their back. Luckily though, in the Polynesian culture it's not too hard to find people to feed you.
The national elections of Tuvalu were this week as well, which was interesting. They have a day of like "campaigning", but we were told that whoever gives away the most free alcohol and food wins. So we had A LOT of interesting run-ins with some not so sober people on the streets. It was funny. Then when the winner was announced, the next twenty four hours were full of random fights breaking out on the street with angry people whose candidate didn't win. That was entertaining as well. Luckilly Polynesians fight fair: man to man, fist to fist, so there were no weapons involved. I think some Latin countries could take notes there.
It is still so freaking hot that I think I am going to die every single day. I can't believe the power of the sun here! They literally hang fish on clothes lines in the sun and it cooks the fish, then they eat it. It is so scorching.
The language is hard. My companion can understand it pretty well, maybe like 50% or more. I am hovering at a solid 5% understanding and speaking. He can't really speak it all that well either, but definitely way better than me. Some old people can speak and understand Samoan though, so Elder Key does good with them. I am going to keep working at it though and hopefully it will come quickly.
That about sums up my week. It was really good and I am excited for this next week. I hope yours all goes well. Until next week..
Alofa,
Elder Wall
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
September 12, 2010 - An Airport Adventure and a New Area
Well I am in Tuvalu! First off, it's 660 or so miles closer to the equator, which means 660 or so times hotter. I have been dying. I thought Fiji was hot, but it doesn't touch Tuvalu. Holy crap!
It was a bit of an adventure this last week getting here. We missed our flight on Wednesday. We pulled into the parking lot just in time to watch the plane take off. So we tried to go on Thursday, then had problems getting into the country with work permits and return flights and things, so we spent some time caught between security and boarding (we were leaving the country and going to a new one so the weight limits and security and everything were way tight). Then President Ostler called and said to just keep us back so we could be a part of the training on Tuesday. So we got off the plane after finally getting on, just in time to find out that the next available flight is in October. So we had to go get back on. It was a pain. We got here and no one knew we were coming, luckily after standing around looking for somewhere to go, a member recognized us and helped us out. Then we had to run around to like ten different places trying to get work permits but didn't have all we needed. So until literally an hour ago, we were illegal immigrants. But after a lot of sweating and running from place to place, we figured it out.
Our flat is pretty nice. It is like a dormitory type thing. We have our own room and bathroom but shared kitchen, sitting room and washing machine. It is ok though. The island is so unbelievably skinny! It is literally twenty yards wide in some places, but really really long which mean lots and lots of walking. Yup just a myth- no mopeds for this guy. President Ostler knows I would enjoy that way too much. But seriously EVERYONE else on the island has some motorcycle, moped or other, that they cruise around on. I love it! I have seen lots of XR's XL's and even a few KLX 450's that just call my name. But mostly just a bunch of Chinese mopeds and things. I am going to ask if we can at least get pedal bikes since we walk so much. Maybe we can talk him into some mopeds.
The island is so small that we don't have rivers or lakes for fresh water, so the rain water from the roofs gather in tanks and that is our water. So if it doesn't rain, we have no water. So far we have been good though. We have electricity which I am very grateful for. I can barely sleep with a fan, without it I would die for sure. There is not very much land (the coral outnumbers the land about 100 square feet to 1), so everything is packed together really really tight; houses are just one after another after another. I haven't seen any sandy beaches yet. They said it used to be covered with beaches but the hurricane washed away all the sand and left the rocks. The water is amazingly beautiful though. There are o many different shades of blue! I have heard that the other islands close by still have really nice beaches though.
Oh! The island I stay on is called Fanafuti. The soil here is just sand so other than coconut trees, there aren't not any farms. We have eaten rice and fish nonstop since arriving here. Everything is imported, so it's very expensive and in Australian dollars, so even more expensive. The Language is crazy.
My companion can definitely understand way more than I can because it is similar to Samoan, but still we're basically communicationally handicapped right now. We have been studying hard and it is slowly coming. We only have one tiny crappily written book to learn, so our resources are very limited. The members have been helping a lot though. There is no Book of Mormon in Tuvaluan yet and they cannot understand the Samoan here, so they just use the English version(i don't think they understand that one either but they try). The younger kids and some of the older members speak really good English though, so that helps a lot.
The branch is surprisingly strong seeing as they have been on their own for almost three years now. The Branch President is awesome and has been president since 1989. He has kept the church alive all these years through some rough times. He is great! We had 67 people at church, which is better than most branches in Fiji. A huge portion of them were nonmembers as well. So we should be busy teaching and baptizing the active nonmembers.
I have found a few Fijians on the island and have enjoyed being able to freely communicate. One of them, we picked up as an investigator and had a pretty good lesson. My companion Elder Key, is from Western Samoa. He is good and we are having good times so far. Well I think that wraps it up for this week. I hope all is well and that everyone is doing great. Love you all..Tofa.
Alofa Lasilasi,
Elda Poi
Quick story I forgot from last week: Saturday before I left Taveuni, we had funeral for a member that died. It was huge! I don't know if she was from the chiefly family or what, but it was HUGE! They did they old traditional ceremonies and exchanged tabuas (whale's tooth) and gave big speeches with chanting and clapping. It was especially cool cause they spoke pure unmodernized Fijian in their dialect and I was still able to understand what they were saying. It was really cool to get to see!
They presented tons and tons of mats (ibe) and bark pounded designed cloth (masi) it was really cool. Then when the district president gave the church part of the ceremony, he announced that I would be dedicating the grave. I was super nervous and trying to cram as fast as I could how on to dedicate a grave in Fijian and then trying to rack my brain to speak pure Fijian and not modernized. It went really well though and I think I did a really good job. I was nervous because funerals are huge in the Fijian culture, so that was a great honor. After we had a huge feast and I ate way too much. So all in all it was a really fun and interesting last Saturday in Taveuni. Love you all..
Love,
Elder Wall
It was a bit of an adventure this last week getting here. We missed our flight on Wednesday. We pulled into the parking lot just in time to watch the plane take off. So we tried to go on Thursday, then had problems getting into the country with work permits and return flights and things, so we spent some time caught between security and boarding (we were leaving the country and going to a new one so the weight limits and security and everything were way tight). Then President Ostler called and said to just keep us back so we could be a part of the training on Tuesday. So we got off the plane after finally getting on, just in time to find out that the next available flight is in October. So we had to go get back on. It was a pain. We got here and no one knew we were coming, luckily after standing around looking for somewhere to go, a member recognized us and helped us out. Then we had to run around to like ten different places trying to get work permits but didn't have all we needed. So until literally an hour ago, we were illegal immigrants. But after a lot of sweating and running from place to place, we figured it out.
Our flat is pretty nice. It is like a dormitory type thing. We have our own room and bathroom but shared kitchen, sitting room and washing machine. It is ok though. The island is so unbelievably skinny! It is literally twenty yards wide in some places, but really really long which mean lots and lots of walking. Yup just a myth- no mopeds for this guy. President Ostler knows I would enjoy that way too much. But seriously EVERYONE else on the island has some motorcycle, moped or other, that they cruise around on. I love it! I have seen lots of XR's XL's and even a few KLX 450's that just call my name. But mostly just a bunch of Chinese mopeds and things. I am going to ask if we can at least get pedal bikes since we walk so much. Maybe we can talk him into some mopeds.
The island is so small that we don't have rivers or lakes for fresh water, so the rain water from the roofs gather in tanks and that is our water. So if it doesn't rain, we have no water. So far we have been good though. We have electricity which I am very grateful for. I can barely sleep with a fan, without it I would die for sure. There is not very much land (the coral outnumbers the land about 100 square feet to 1), so everything is packed together really really tight; houses are just one after another after another. I haven't seen any sandy beaches yet. They said it used to be covered with beaches but the hurricane washed away all the sand and left the rocks. The water is amazingly beautiful though. There are o many different shades of blue! I have heard that the other islands close by still have really nice beaches though.
Oh! The island I stay on is called Fanafuti. The soil here is just sand so other than coconut trees, there aren't not any farms. We have eaten rice and fish nonstop since arriving here. Everything is imported, so it's very expensive and in Australian dollars, so even more expensive. The Language is crazy.
My companion can definitely understand way more than I can because it is similar to Samoan, but still we're basically communicationally handicapped right now. We have been studying hard and it is slowly coming. We only have one tiny crappily written book to learn, so our resources are very limited. The members have been helping a lot though. There is no Book of Mormon in Tuvaluan yet and they cannot understand the Samoan here, so they just use the English version(i don't think they understand that one either but they try). The younger kids and some of the older members speak really good English though, so that helps a lot.
The branch is surprisingly strong seeing as they have been on their own for almost three years now. The Branch President is awesome and has been president since 1989. He has kept the church alive all these years through some rough times. He is great! We had 67 people at church, which is better than most branches in Fiji. A huge portion of them were nonmembers as well. So we should be busy teaching and baptizing the active nonmembers.
I have found a few Fijians on the island and have enjoyed being able to freely communicate. One of them, we picked up as an investigator and had a pretty good lesson. My companion Elder Key, is from Western Samoa. He is good and we are having good times so far. Well I think that wraps it up for this week. I hope all is well and that everyone is doing great. Love you all..Tofa.
Alofa Lasilasi,
Elda Poi
Quick story I forgot from last week: Saturday before I left Taveuni, we had funeral for a member that died. It was huge! I don't know if she was from the chiefly family or what, but it was HUGE! They did they old traditional ceremonies and exchanged tabuas (whale's tooth) and gave big speeches with chanting and clapping. It was especially cool cause they spoke pure unmodernized Fijian in their dialect and I was still able to understand what they were saying. It was really cool to get to see!
They presented tons and tons of mats (ibe) and bark pounded designed cloth (masi) it was really cool. Then when the district president gave the church part of the ceremony, he announced that I would be dedicating the grave. I was super nervous and trying to cram as fast as I could how on to dedicate a grave in Fijian and then trying to rack my brain to speak pure Fijian and not modernized. It went really well though and I think I did a really good job. I was nervous because funerals are huge in the Fijian culture, so that was a great honor. After we had a huge feast and I ate way too much. So all in all it was a really fun and interesting last Saturday in Taveuni. Love you all..
Love,
Elder Wall
Friday, September 10, 2010
September 5, 2010 - Not in Tuvalu yet
Well I am not in Tuvalu yet. There were problems with our flat and our flight to Tuvalu, so I spent the week in Taveuni in a threesome with Elder Gashler and Elder Mccombs. It was good. I got to Suva today though and am hopefully leaving for Tuvalu on Wednesday. That is the plan. Taveuni was good though.
We spent a large large majority of the week doing things not missionary work. I was super busy my last week with District Leader duties. I was kind of hoping to slide out of leadership as early as possible, but it didn't work like that. We had to get a flat ready in Qeleni because the sisters got assigned to Qeleni. As everyone knows, sisters can only have and live in the best. Cause for heavens sake they can't meet any trial or tribulation by having anything other than perfect circumstances to live in. Haha! So that was a huge pain in my butt arguing with contractors and trying to get them water and power; it took tons of time. But they are kind of good to go. It will be an adventure for them; they are living in the straight bush.
Then the Elders got assigned to Rabi, so we had to find them a flat and prepare everything, which was kind of interesting cause it was on a different island with people who speak a different language so that was a little bit different as well. But we got everything figured out and the elders and sisters are somewhat happily in their areas.
So basically my area got split into 3 areas, which will make things easier on Elder Gashler when he trains his greenie Elder Mccombs. I am especially happy that Rabi has missionaries. The members and investigators there are awesome! That took up most of my week, but we still got a couple of good things done missionary work wise. One recent convert went to the temple and took out his endowments. He is awesome and really loved it. Then we took him to talk to some other recent converts who are planning to go in October and we talked about the temple. It was the most awesome, powerful lesson ever! I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple and so grateful for the wonderful experiences that I have had in the temple. We are so blessed to live in Utah with temples EVERYWHERE and easily accessible! The people of Fiji have to sacrifice so much to go to the temple. We also got to do the confirmations of our baptisms last week.
Church was really good and it was hard to say bye to everyone. I was not in Taveuni very long, but I built some good relationships and the people really seemed to love me. So it was hard to leave. I am really happy with the progress that I saw while I was there. The church is REALLY growing in Taveuni. I am so blessed to have served there!
Well that is my week this week. I love you all and hopefully next week I will be emailing from Tuvalu. I found a place that has a "Learn Tuvaluan" book, so I will start studying today when I go buy it. Please pray for me. My time is ticking for me to learn a language. I love you all. Have a great week.
Dad again, get better soon.
Love,
Elder Wall
We spent a large large majority of the week doing things not missionary work. I was super busy my last week with District Leader duties. I was kind of hoping to slide out of leadership as early as possible, but it didn't work like that. We had to get a flat ready in Qeleni because the sisters got assigned to Qeleni. As everyone knows, sisters can only have and live in the best. Cause for heavens sake they can't meet any trial or tribulation by having anything other than perfect circumstances to live in. Haha! So that was a huge pain in my butt arguing with contractors and trying to get them water and power; it took tons of time. But they are kind of good to go. It will be an adventure for them; they are living in the straight bush.
Then the Elders got assigned to Rabi, so we had to find them a flat and prepare everything, which was kind of interesting cause it was on a different island with people who speak a different language so that was a little bit different as well. But we got everything figured out and the elders and sisters are somewhat happily in their areas.
So basically my area got split into 3 areas, which will make things easier on Elder Gashler when he trains his greenie Elder Mccombs. I am especially happy that Rabi has missionaries. The members and investigators there are awesome! That took up most of my week, but we still got a couple of good things done missionary work wise. One recent convert went to the temple and took out his endowments. He is awesome and really loved it. Then we took him to talk to some other recent converts who are planning to go in October and we talked about the temple. It was the most awesome, powerful lesson ever! I am so grateful for the blessings of the temple and so grateful for the wonderful experiences that I have had in the temple. We are so blessed to live in Utah with temples EVERYWHERE and easily accessible! The people of Fiji have to sacrifice so much to go to the temple. We also got to do the confirmations of our baptisms last week.
Church was really good and it was hard to say bye to everyone. I was not in Taveuni very long, but I built some good relationships and the people really seemed to love me. So it was hard to leave. I am really happy with the progress that I saw while I was there. The church is REALLY growing in Taveuni. I am so blessed to have served there!
Well that is my week this week. I love you all and hopefully next week I will be emailing from Tuvalu. I found a place that has a "Learn Tuvaluan" book, so I will start studying today when I go buy it. Please pray for me. My time is ticking for me to learn a language. I love you all. Have a great week.
Dad again, get better soon.
Love,
Elder Wall
Friday, September 3, 2010
August 29, 2010 - Tuvalu!!!
Talofa!! Well I am going to Tuvalu. It is supposed to be a big secret, but EVERYONE knows. Ha ha transfers still haven't been officially called in. It is a super skinny island way far away from here (Around 600 miles if my sources are correct). It was open a few years ago and the missionaries did some stupid stuff and it has been closed ever since. So I will probably get to deal with a little bit of clean up from previous elders. They are not under the Fijian government. I have heard they have their own government. They use Australian currency. There is one small branch. I have no clue other than that. I really don't know what to expect with going there. They speak Tuvaluan, which is supposedly Samoan with some Tongan smashed into it. Which is apparently how the people are too. They don't have a Tuvaluan Bible or Book of Mormon, so they use the Samoan versions.
My companion is Elder Key who is from Western Samoa. He says that Tuvaluan is so close to Samoan that he can understand it. So that will help us out a lot. It is nothing like English though and I definitely don't understand it. So that is going to be a fun new challenge for me; learn a language in under 90 days. I am really excited and really nervous as well. Should be good.
I have no clue what living conditions are like and I don't know if I will have electricity or internet for email or anything, so next week email will be a surprise. I have heard that there are no cars at all and that everyone on the island cruises around on Mo-peds and the missionaries get mo-peds as well. I am so excited for that! I hope it is true cause I haven't touched a motorcycle in 21 months and it's killing me. I think I will just pray that it brakes down so I can do a top end rebuild and maybe pep it up a bit. Ha ha jk. Either way I will have to set a new record for highest stack of Book of Mormons ever jumped on a mo-ped.I have also heard that it is the hottest place in the Pacific so I will hopefully sweat off twenty pounds and come home looking freaking good and tan.
I don't know how I am going to get there or when I am leaving, but hopefully it will be pretty quick. So that is the news on the new area. Hopefully I can email next week and tell you how it is.
This week in Taveuni though things went really well. We had 2 awesome baptisms yesterday. Doli and Diki were both really excited and really ready for baptism. Diki's mother caused a little bit of drama before the baptism; she was quite opposed to it. But things went on as planned and ended up really great. We had a very strong spirit in the baptismal program and both new members bore amazing testimonies showing that they were truly converted. They both have had very tough lives and it has been so great to see the light that the gospel has brought to them. After 21 months on my mission, I finally learned to plan baptisms around the tide and we even had plenty of water to baptize them in. It was great and definitely the highlight of this week.
I really had a good moment watching these two members and realized the great importance of the work here that we are doing. I am so grateful I got to see them through all the way to baptism before I go. I have helped Doli through from the very beginning so that was cool to see her go from start to finish. Diki has been taking lessons forever. Three times in the past three years, she has gone all the way to the baptismal date then ran away. So that was another one that was really good to get to see when she finally make the last commitment to step into the waters of baptism. She even did it with quite a bit of opposition from family and friends. It was a very good experience.
I also gave a farewell talk in sacrament and it went really well. I tried to bask in every moment of my last little bit of being proficient in the language and being able to communicate freely. I am not to excited to be the handicapped new missionary who says things wrong and everyone gets to laugh at. Oh well, I think I have learned how to learn a language now and hopefully that will cut back greatly the number of stupid things I say while learning.
Well that is about it for my week this week. It was a great way to close my stay in Taveuni and I am happy with it. I am excited and nervous to start a new and last chapter of my mission in Tuvalu. Until next week, just pray with me that I have electricity, I have been nine months without it and I would be really grateful if I got to enjoy it for the last three. Love you all, I pray for you daily. Thanks so much for your prayers as well, I feel them.
Love,
Elder Wall
My companion is Elder Key who is from Western Samoa. He says that Tuvaluan is so close to Samoan that he can understand it. So that will help us out a lot. It is nothing like English though and I definitely don't understand it. So that is going to be a fun new challenge for me; learn a language in under 90 days. I am really excited and really nervous as well. Should be good.
I have no clue what living conditions are like and I don't know if I will have electricity or internet for email or anything, so next week email will be a surprise. I have heard that there are no cars at all and that everyone on the island cruises around on Mo-peds and the missionaries get mo-peds as well. I am so excited for that! I hope it is true cause I haven't touched a motorcycle in 21 months and it's killing me. I think I will just pray that it brakes down so I can do a top end rebuild and maybe pep it up a bit. Ha ha jk. Either way I will have to set a new record for highest stack of Book of Mormons ever jumped on a mo-ped.I have also heard that it is the hottest place in the Pacific so I will hopefully sweat off twenty pounds and come home looking freaking good and tan.
I don't know how I am going to get there or when I am leaving, but hopefully it will be pretty quick. So that is the news on the new area. Hopefully I can email next week and tell you how it is.
This week in Taveuni though things went really well. We had 2 awesome baptisms yesterday. Doli and Diki were both really excited and really ready for baptism. Diki's mother caused a little bit of drama before the baptism; she was quite opposed to it. But things went on as planned and ended up really great. We had a very strong spirit in the baptismal program and both new members bore amazing testimonies showing that they were truly converted. They both have had very tough lives and it has been so great to see the light that the gospel has brought to them. After 21 months on my mission, I finally learned to plan baptisms around the tide and we even had plenty of water to baptize them in. It was great and definitely the highlight of this week.
I really had a good moment watching these two members and realized the great importance of the work here that we are doing. I am so grateful I got to see them through all the way to baptism before I go. I have helped Doli through from the very beginning so that was cool to see her go from start to finish. Diki has been taking lessons forever. Three times in the past three years, she has gone all the way to the baptismal date then ran away. So that was another one that was really good to get to see when she finally make the last commitment to step into the waters of baptism. She even did it with quite a bit of opposition from family and friends. It was a very good experience.
I also gave a farewell talk in sacrament and it went really well. I tried to bask in every moment of my last little bit of being proficient in the language and being able to communicate freely. I am not to excited to be the handicapped new missionary who says things wrong and everyone gets to laugh at. Oh well, I think I have learned how to learn a language now and hopefully that will cut back greatly the number of stupid things I say while learning.
Well that is about it for my week this week. It was a great way to close my stay in Taveuni and I am happy with it. I am excited and nervous to start a new and last chapter of my mission in Tuvalu. Until next week, just pray with me that I have electricity, I have been nine months without it and I would be really grateful if I got to enjoy it for the last three. Love you all, I pray for you daily. Thanks so much for your prayers as well, I feel them.
Love,
Elder Wall
Thursday, August 26, 2010
August 22, 2010 - A New Mountain to Climb
This week was zone conference and it was awesome. Like always, it was a much needed boost and re-motivator. It was announced to us that the church has started a new missionary program. Zone conference will no longer be every six weeks, it will be once a quarter. They have introduced a new eight step program for training missionaries that will work hand in hand with Preach My Gospel. More focus is going to be placed on missionary leaders training the new younger missionaries and the mission president will make special needs training visits to individual areas and missionaries when needed. I am excited for it and think it will really change missionary work and help make better missionaries who can be more effective. It is almost as revolutionary as Preach My Gospel was.
Other than that, we talked a lot in Zone Conference about being fully prepared and using all the tools that we have available to us to do our missionary work. It was really good and I am excited to apply these things to become better.
My interview with President Ostler was pretty crazy as well. He told me about a new assignment that I will be receiving next week. Unfortunately I was sworn to secrecy until it is "official" (whatever that means). So you can all bask in anticipation until next week. He did say that he has been to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and all over and none of the places he has been to have the same special feeling that the place I will be going has. I am really excited and nervous at the same time. President Ostler has put a lot of trust and confidence in me to send me there, so I just hope I can do all that he wants and expects of me.
On my mission, I feel like at the start, I was looking up at a huge mountain wondering how I would ever climb to the top, then recently I have felt like I was just about to the peak. Now I feel like I have come over the crest just in time to see another huge mountain I am looking up at. It will be good for me though and give me a new challenge and task to keep me busy and working hard to the very end.
Well other than that, things here in Taveuni are going great. We have two baptisms: Diki and Doli, that are going to happen this Sunday, so that will be a really good close to my stay here in Taveuni. It is going to be really sad to go. Taveuni is a wonderful, beautiful place. I am sure my next area will be as well though.
Another highlight of this week was an awesome baptismal interview that I had; this man will be baptized next week. His name is Nasa and he is awesome. I really enjoyed getting to talk to him and getting to know him. He said that through the lessons and the Book of Mormon, he really got to know the Savior. He thought that he knew him before, but he said when he started taking lessons he learned that he didn't, and that through this church he could really come to know him and feel his power. He bore me a solid testimony and is so ready to join the church. He is a great man and I challenged him to help his wife and family accept the gospel as well as soon as he is baptized. He said his goal is to be sealed to his wife and baby girl in one year's time. He is an awesome man who has truly changed and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I really enjoyed my interview with him.
This morning for exercise, we went out and did some farming of Casava with some members; it was great. The best news is that I practiced climbing coconut trees and I am getting really close. With a little bit more practice, I think I will finally be able to do it. So I am really excited about that.
Well that about sums up my week. I am praying for you all. Please keep me in your prayers.
Much Love,
Elder Wall
Other than that, we talked a lot in Zone Conference about being fully prepared and using all the tools that we have available to us to do our missionary work. It was really good and I am excited to apply these things to become better.
My interview with President Ostler was pretty crazy as well. He told me about a new assignment that I will be receiving next week. Unfortunately I was sworn to secrecy until it is "official" (whatever that means). So you can all bask in anticipation until next week. He did say that he has been to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji, Wallis and Futuna, and all over and none of the places he has been to have the same special feeling that the place I will be going has. I am really excited and nervous at the same time. President Ostler has put a lot of trust and confidence in me to send me there, so I just hope I can do all that he wants and expects of me.
On my mission, I feel like at the start, I was looking up at a huge mountain wondering how I would ever climb to the top, then recently I have felt like I was just about to the peak. Now I feel like I have come over the crest just in time to see another huge mountain I am looking up at. It will be good for me though and give me a new challenge and task to keep me busy and working hard to the very end.
Well other than that, things here in Taveuni are going great. We have two baptisms: Diki and Doli, that are going to happen this Sunday, so that will be a really good close to my stay here in Taveuni. It is going to be really sad to go. Taveuni is a wonderful, beautiful place. I am sure my next area will be as well though.
Another highlight of this week was an awesome baptismal interview that I had; this man will be baptized next week. His name is Nasa and he is awesome. I really enjoyed getting to talk to him and getting to know him. He said that through the lessons and the Book of Mormon, he really got to know the Savior. He thought that he knew him before, but he said when he started taking lessons he learned that he didn't, and that through this church he could really come to know him and feel his power. He bore me a solid testimony and is so ready to join the church. He is a great man and I challenged him to help his wife and family accept the gospel as well as soon as he is baptized. He said his goal is to be sealed to his wife and baby girl in one year's time. He is an awesome man who has truly changed and converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I really enjoyed my interview with him.
This morning for exercise, we went out and did some farming of Casava with some members; it was great. The best news is that I practiced climbing coconut trees and I am getting really close. With a little bit more practice, I think I will finally be able to do it. So I am really excited about that.
Well that about sums up my week. I am praying for you all. Please keep me in your prayers.
Much Love,
Elder Wall
August 16, 2010 - Keep on Keepin On
It was a pretty good week this week. We had some ups and downs, but overall it was good. I went on exchanges with Elder Moala in Somosomo for two days and it was really good. I really enjoyed getting to know him. He is a good Elder who is doing really well and progressing a lot as a missionary and a person. Somosomo area is on fire too. They have a million good investigators and baptisms going on. They are just doing awesome. One village I did some baptismal interviews in, all the people remembered me and we had a great time with them. Very nice people.
We also got to go to Rabi for an afternoon this week. Elder and Sister Kastelar were going over to do some financial auditing, so we hopped in with them for the free ride over. The seas were WAY rough and it was an adventure. I was soaked from head to toe. But we had a great lesson with Iotene and set a baptismal date with him. He is a great kid who has such a strong desire to be baptized. I am excited for him.
Vili was baptized this Saturday, which went really well. Again things happened and we were late starting, so the tide was low and we had to stomp him into the ground to get him to be immersed. It was good though. The beach was very beautiful. He seemed really happy to finally get baptized and had a permagrin all day. I think his brother was very happy to see another member of his family join the church. He is preparing to serve a mission. Great kids.
Doli is also doing very well. She has stopped smoking and after one more week of no smoking, we're going to get her baptized. She is such an awesome lady and we have really good lessons with her all the time. I love teaching her!
The Branch is improving slowly. We have a couple of members who have now found motivation to do things. We had a good PEC meeting and I chastised them a little bit for doing nothing we talked about in the last meeting. They took it really well though. After the meeting, we went home teaching and it was really good to have some members helping us with the work. Our attendance is awesome and we had to bring more chairs from another building cause we didn't have enough. The building was PACKED! Hopefully they will build us a small chapel soon. So things are going well there.
Bad news is I am clean shaven. The fungus is almost completely gone and I can shave again. But I got some sweet pictures. I was kind of hoping to make history and be the elder who had interviews with President in a full beard. I missed out by one week though.
This week is zone conference and interviews. We got a new investigator this week who I am kind of excited about. A young Indian girl asked us if we could go visit her. I was kind of worried cause I thought she was more interested in the Elders than the lessons. But we ended up having an awesome lesson with her and things were really good. I am excited to go back again.
This week will be good we're going to Labasa for Zone Conference so that will be fun. That about sums up my week I hope all is well back home. You are in my prayers.
Much Love,
Elder Wall
We also got to go to Rabi for an afternoon this week. Elder and Sister Kastelar were going over to do some financial auditing, so we hopped in with them for the free ride over. The seas were WAY rough and it was an adventure. I was soaked from head to toe. But we had a great lesson with Iotene and set a baptismal date with him. He is a great kid who has such a strong desire to be baptized. I am excited for him.
Vili was baptized this Saturday, which went really well. Again things happened and we were late starting, so the tide was low and we had to stomp him into the ground to get him to be immersed. It was good though. The beach was very beautiful. He seemed really happy to finally get baptized and had a permagrin all day. I think his brother was very happy to see another member of his family join the church. He is preparing to serve a mission. Great kids.
Doli is also doing very well. She has stopped smoking and after one more week of no smoking, we're going to get her baptized. She is such an awesome lady and we have really good lessons with her all the time. I love teaching her!
The Branch is improving slowly. We have a couple of members who have now found motivation to do things. We had a good PEC meeting and I chastised them a little bit for doing nothing we talked about in the last meeting. They took it really well though. After the meeting, we went home teaching and it was really good to have some members helping us with the work. Our attendance is awesome and we had to bring more chairs from another building cause we didn't have enough. The building was PACKED! Hopefully they will build us a small chapel soon. So things are going well there.
Bad news is I am clean shaven. The fungus is almost completely gone and I can shave again. But I got some sweet pictures. I was kind of hoping to make history and be the elder who had interviews with President in a full beard. I missed out by one week though.
This week is zone conference and interviews. We got a new investigator this week who I am kind of excited about. A young Indian girl asked us if we could go visit her. I was kind of worried cause I thought she was more interested in the Elders than the lessons. But we ended up having an awesome lesson with her and things were really good. I am excited to go back again.
This week will be good we're going to Labasa for Zone Conference so that will be fun. That about sums up my week I hope all is well back home. You are in my prayers.
Much Love,
Elder Wall
Monday, August 16, 2010
August 8, 2010 - Bearded and Loving it!
Well this week was really good. It was busy though. The Zone Leaders Elder Munton and Elder Allen came down for a visit. It was really good. I like them both; they are great. We had two baptismal interviews for Vili and Diki. They both passed, so I was really happy about that.
Best news though, is I have a full on beard and I LOVE it. I got a fungal infection on my neck that gets really bad if I shave. So this entire week I didn't have to shave once. I am loving it. How many people can say they grew a beard on their mission? I can. Ha ha. It is almost gone though, so if I keep on the pills and cream I should be shaving in a couple more days. Too bad. But I guess that is what is gonna happen.
We also have an awesome investigator Doli, who will be baptized next week. She is golden and asks the best questions ever! She just really applies and thinks about all that we teach her. I have really connected with her and really feel like I always know her concerns and know exactly what to say and how to answer her questions. It is awesome! I love the lessons we have with her. She is doing so good. She is going to be baptized on the 21st. Then on the 24th, she is going with the branch to Suva for a temple trip to do baptisms for the dead. She is going to love it. I am so stoked for her!
Vili will be baptized this Saturday and he is excited and ready. He was really shy and didn't talk much during his interview, so he barely passed. But he is great with me and not afraid to talk. Really good kid. His brother is preparing his mission papers and is so excited to see another member of his family join the church.
The attendance in Matei is really great and the Branch is progressing, we just have a few more issues to work out with members and their relationships, but we are definitely progressing.
We have been really busy in Qeleni and haven't spent much time there. We don't know the investigators there either, so it is hard. Hopefully we can spend some time there and get some work done on that side of the island. The Branch President there does an awesome job and is really keeping things together, so that is really cool to see.
This week, we're going to go spend a day in Rabi. It will be awesome! The auditor will be going over to audit the branch's financials, so we will go with him and teach while he does the audit, then come back. I am really excited!
We will be finishing the last lesson with Iotene so next time we go he can be interviewed and be baptized. He is a great kid. I really like him! So this week should be good.
Well all is well here and I am having a good time and working hard, so I can't ask for too much more. I hope all is going well back home and I miss you all. You are always in my prayers. Have a great week. I will do the same.
Love,
Elder Wall
Best news though, is I have a full on beard and I LOVE it. I got a fungal infection on my neck that gets really bad if I shave. So this entire week I didn't have to shave once. I am loving it. How many people can say they grew a beard on their mission? I can. Ha ha. It is almost gone though, so if I keep on the pills and cream I should be shaving in a couple more days. Too bad. But I guess that is what is gonna happen.
We also have an awesome investigator Doli, who will be baptized next week. She is golden and asks the best questions ever! She just really applies and thinks about all that we teach her. I have really connected with her and really feel like I always know her concerns and know exactly what to say and how to answer her questions. It is awesome! I love the lessons we have with her. She is doing so good. She is going to be baptized on the 21st. Then on the 24th, she is going with the branch to Suva for a temple trip to do baptisms for the dead. She is going to love it. I am so stoked for her!
Vili will be baptized this Saturday and he is excited and ready. He was really shy and didn't talk much during his interview, so he barely passed. But he is great with me and not afraid to talk. Really good kid. His brother is preparing his mission papers and is so excited to see another member of his family join the church.
The attendance in Matei is really great and the Branch is progressing, we just have a few more issues to work out with members and their relationships, but we are definitely progressing.
We have been really busy in Qeleni and haven't spent much time there. We don't know the investigators there either, so it is hard. Hopefully we can spend some time there and get some work done on that side of the island. The Branch President there does an awesome job and is really keeping things together, so that is really cool to see.
This week, we're going to go spend a day in Rabi. It will be awesome! The auditor will be going over to audit the branch's financials, so we will go with him and teach while he does the audit, then come back. I am really excited!
We will be finishing the last lesson with Iotene so next time we go he can be interviewed and be baptized. He is a great kid. I really like him! So this week should be good.
Well all is well here and I am having a good time and working hard, so I can't ask for too much more. I hope all is going well back home and I miss you all. You are always in my prayers. Have a great week. I will do the same.
Love,
Elder Wall
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
August 1, 2010 - Magic healing leaves?
Well this week was interesting. It actually was pretty good. It was really really slow throughout the entire week but then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, things went great. The definite highlight of the week was a lesson we had with Iotene from Rabi. They had a big YSA activity on Friday for the whole district of Taveuni, so a boat of people from Rabi came over. We used this oppurtunity to get some extra teaching time with our investigators there. Iotene is awesome! He really wants to be baptized and his father said that ever since our visit, he has really changed and has been very motivated to go to church, read, pray and learn more. We had an incredible lesson with him on the gospel of Jesus Christ. While teaching repentance, I watched his eyes well up with tears. I could see and feel his deep desire to repent of his sins, receive forgiveness, and feel of the peace we were telling him about. It was incredible and the spirit was so strong. He has such a desire to know more and join the church. I really hope we can get him baptized within the next month or so. It is just so hard with transport over to Rabi. It is lessons like this one with Iotene, that make being a missionary worth it. The long walks, soaking wet in the rain and mud, waking up early, everything that is hard to do seems like a small sacrifice compared to the huge change, peace and happiness people recieve when they accept the gospel. Lessons like that motivate me to continue on even when the area is struggling and I didn't really feel like what were doing was making a difference. I loved it and hope we can get him baptized quickly.
We also had good lessons with four other investigators from Rabi. One man we saw while in Rabi is a less active from Toga who married a woman from Rabi and now lives in Rabi. He had some unfortunate things happen in the church and became bitter and fell away. He is now back and his seven children and wife have been coming to church and want to take lessons. It is awesome! The church is really going well in Rabi.
Things here in Matei picked up a bit this week. We had a good Branch Counsel and now if people will do all the things we talked about, we are going be in good shape. We also have one investigator who will be baptized either this week or next.
Vili, the one I made do push ups, has really opened up to us and has been reading and praying and recieved an answer to his prayer and now knows for himself that the church is true. He is excited to be baptized. Another woman Doli,is a relative of a recent convert family. She has been coming to church and has started taking lessons. She told us this week that she wants to be baptized and bore an awesome testimony in fast and testimony meeting yesterday. We set her date for the 21st. She is great!
We also had a cool experience with priesthood blessings this week. Sis NauRosa, a recent convert, had a huge puss-filled growth on the back of her head that smelt like rotten death. It is quite serious because people actually die from infections like these fairly often here. We gave her a blessing, then went to go get some leaf that the Fijians believe helps it (whether or not it does I don't know, but I am gonna guess no). By the time we found this special leaf, then got back, the boil had already popped and leaked death puss all over the place. It was cool to see blessings for the faithfull be fullfilled so quickly. Hopefully she can now recover and be back to everyday life.
Well that about covers my week. This week the Zone Leaders are coming over from Labasa and we will be on splits with them. I will be with Elder Munton this week in Qeleni, so that should be fun. In Qeleni we have to pump our own water so I will either come back really stinky and dirty or with huge arms, I hope the second. Ha ha.
Love you all and hope all is well. I am praying extra hard. Dad- if your leg doesn't get better I will bring you home one of the special leaves.
Love,
Elder Wall
We also had good lessons with four other investigators from Rabi. One man we saw while in Rabi is a less active from Toga who married a woman from Rabi and now lives in Rabi. He had some unfortunate things happen in the church and became bitter and fell away. He is now back and his seven children and wife have been coming to church and want to take lessons. It is awesome! The church is really going well in Rabi.
Things here in Matei picked up a bit this week. We had a good Branch Counsel and now if people will do all the things we talked about, we are going be in good shape. We also have one investigator who will be baptized either this week or next.
Vili, the one I made do push ups, has really opened up to us and has been reading and praying and recieved an answer to his prayer and now knows for himself that the church is true. He is excited to be baptized. Another woman Doli,is a relative of a recent convert family. She has been coming to church and has started taking lessons. She told us this week that she wants to be baptized and bore an awesome testimony in fast and testimony meeting yesterday. We set her date for the 21st. She is great!
We also had a cool experience with priesthood blessings this week. Sis NauRosa, a recent convert, had a huge puss-filled growth on the back of her head that smelt like rotten death. It is quite serious because people actually die from infections like these fairly often here. We gave her a blessing, then went to go get some leaf that the Fijians believe helps it (whether or not it does I don't know, but I am gonna guess no). By the time we found this special leaf, then got back, the boil had already popped and leaked death puss all over the place. It was cool to see blessings for the faithfull be fullfilled so quickly. Hopefully she can now recover and be back to everyday life.
Well that about covers my week. This week the Zone Leaders are coming over from Labasa and we will be on splits with them. I will be with Elder Munton this week in Qeleni, so that should be fun. In Qeleni we have to pump our own water so I will either come back really stinky and dirty or with huge arms, I hope the second. Ha ha.
Love you all and hope all is well. I am praying extra hard. Dad- if your leg doesn't get better I will bring you home one of the special leaves.
Love,
Elder Wall
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
July 23, 2010 - Problematic Caterpillars
Well this week was interesting. I heard the word Katapila about a million times. So in Taveuni right now, there is a wierd looking sea slug thing that looks like a big catapiller. Apparently it is a Chinese delacacy, because they come buy it from the Fijians to import to China and make tons of money selling them. So EVERYONE is out gathering, cooking, and drying caterpillars to sell for anywhere from 30-100 dollars a Kg. So this week we walked and walked and walked. But did not get a lot of teaching done. It was a little bit depressing, but I am sure things will improve when these stupid catapillars go back to wherever it is they came from. One ward missionary, after lots of walking and no teaching, suggested we go back to the chapel and have a group prayer for Heavenly Father to take away the caterpillars. I was greatly tempted but decided the people needed the money and it was actually a great blessing to them since so many members are using it for their money to go to the temple. So we decided against that.
However one great thing that happened this week was with a boy named Vili. His brother and family are all members of the church and he has been coming to church and activities and taking lessons for a long long time, but has never really progressed much. He is always very very quiet and shy to talk to us and ask questions. Then last week, I made a deal with him that if I came to see him and he hadn't read his chapter from the Book of Mormon, then he had to do push-ups. After three visits of me making fun of him and calling him a girl while doing push ups, he decided he'd better start reading. He has begun reading and has really opened up a lot through asking questions; We are having great lessons! We scheduled August 6th for his baptism. He is a really good kid who just wasn't really sure what it was that he was feeling during church and lessons and wasn't sure how to explain it. He has definitely felt the spirit and said that it is something he has never felt before. I am excited for him! He is doing great.
We also have a girl Diki, who is boarding at a school close to us. She has had lots of baptismal dates in the past but gets cold feet. Diki has had a VERY tough life and rough past with almost no family to support her. But she is doing really well and we have talked with her about being baptized during the two week school break that is coming up. She was embarrassed not to have any family to come pick up her report card at Parents' Day, so we went and got her report card and met with her teachers. It was good and she was very appreciative. Hopefully she will stay confident through her baptism.
Well hopefully this next week involves less walking and more teaching. We are going to be covering the Qeleni area as well this week, so that doubles our amount of people to teach. So hopefully we can stay really busy. Two people from Rabi are going to come over this week so we can finish the lessons and they can be baptized sooner. So that will be fun.
I hope all is well back home. I am praying for you all. I will pray extra hard that Dad can have his surgery and start the path to getting better. Im great just trying to do my best.
Much Love,
Elder Wall
However one great thing that happened this week was with a boy named Vili. His brother and family are all members of the church and he has been coming to church and activities and taking lessons for a long long time, but has never really progressed much. He is always very very quiet and shy to talk to us and ask questions. Then last week, I made a deal with him that if I came to see him and he hadn't read his chapter from the Book of Mormon, then he had to do push-ups. After three visits of me making fun of him and calling him a girl while doing push ups, he decided he'd better start reading. He has begun reading and has really opened up a lot through asking questions; We are having great lessons! We scheduled August 6th for his baptism. He is a really good kid who just wasn't really sure what it was that he was feeling during church and lessons and wasn't sure how to explain it. He has definitely felt the spirit and said that it is something he has never felt before. I am excited for him! He is doing great.
We also have a girl Diki, who is boarding at a school close to us. She has had lots of baptismal dates in the past but gets cold feet. Diki has had a VERY tough life and rough past with almost no family to support her. But she is doing really well and we have talked with her about being baptized during the two week school break that is coming up. She was embarrassed not to have any family to come pick up her report card at Parents' Day, so we went and got her report card and met with her teachers. It was good and she was very appreciative. Hopefully she will stay confident through her baptism.
Well hopefully this next week involves less walking and more teaching. We are going to be covering the Qeleni area as well this week, so that doubles our amount of people to teach. So hopefully we can stay really busy. Two people from Rabi are going to come over this week so we can finish the lessons and they can be baptized sooner. So that will be fun.
I hope all is well back home. I am praying for you all. I will pray extra hard that Dad can have his surgery and start the path to getting better. Im great just trying to do my best.
Much Love,
Elder Wall
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
July 16, 2010 - Boat Rides and Coconut Trees
Well sorry about the late email this last week, the internet was down so we are catching up today. Sounds like things are a bit crazy with Dad's new injury. Hope he heals quickly. I will pray for things to work out well.
My week was good. Busy but good. I went on exchanges with an elder in my district, Elder Olson. We were checking out this area called Wainiyaku. We are thinking about opening an annex there for the members cause it is far travel for them to come to church. The people we met were great and it was a good trip. There are lots of coconut tree plantations down there. For miles and miles, there are just thousands and thousands of coconut trees... an unlimited supply; that was fun to see.
We also had a really lesson with a girl who had been taking lessons for a long time but not really progressed. During the lesson, she was not paying too much attention and didn't seem to care too much. So I used the genes I have from my father and gave her a good lecture. Ha ha! I told her how it is the most important decision she will ever make and she better get serious about it. I was actually worried about offending her a little bit cause I really tore into her for a bit. But I ended with testimony and it ended up working cause she came to church and has began to progress. I was really happy to hear that.
We had Zone Conference this week, so half of the week we spent in Labasa or traveling there. It is a long two and a half hour boat ride, then a five and a half hour bus ride through the bush of Vanua Levu. I would like to tell you it was enjoyable, but it was not; it was very crowded and bumpy. Plus our bus was missing a window and it happened to be pouring rain and I happened to sit by it, so it was not a very fun bus ride at all. The seas were really rough during the ride and made for an interesting experience. All in a days work eh? It was nice to be back though.
I really want to have more time to focus on our area but we have been so busy lately. We actually just got back from Rabi today, so this week was not in our area either. you will have to wait until Monday though to hear those adventures. I really hope we can get some time to spend working with out investigators and members. Things are going well. We dont have enough elders in the mission, so for one month until new elders come in, the Qeleni area will be closed and we will cover both area's. So these next two weeks, we are going to be going on lots of splits trying to learn the area and investigators in Qeleni. So I am staying very busy but that is a good thing.
Zone Conference was amazing as always and I learned so much and am excited to be able to be that much better at being a missionary and trying to apply what we learned so I can improve. President Ostler is amazing and always seems to say excactly what I need to hear. Well I think that covers my week. I love you all. Hope things are good and getting better. Dad, get well soon!
Love,
Elder Wall
My week was good. Busy but good. I went on exchanges with an elder in my district, Elder Olson. We were checking out this area called Wainiyaku. We are thinking about opening an annex there for the members cause it is far travel for them to come to church. The people we met were great and it was a good trip. There are lots of coconut tree plantations down there. For miles and miles, there are just thousands and thousands of coconut trees... an unlimited supply; that was fun to see.
We also had a really lesson with a girl who had been taking lessons for a long time but not really progressed. During the lesson, she was not paying too much attention and didn't seem to care too much. So I used the genes I have from my father and gave her a good lecture. Ha ha! I told her how it is the most important decision she will ever make and she better get serious about it. I was actually worried about offending her a little bit cause I really tore into her for a bit. But I ended with testimony and it ended up working cause she came to church and has began to progress. I was really happy to hear that.
We had Zone Conference this week, so half of the week we spent in Labasa or traveling there. It is a long two and a half hour boat ride, then a five and a half hour bus ride through the bush of Vanua Levu. I would like to tell you it was enjoyable, but it was not; it was very crowded and bumpy. Plus our bus was missing a window and it happened to be pouring rain and I happened to sit by it, so it was not a very fun bus ride at all. The seas were really rough during the ride and made for an interesting experience. All in a days work eh? It was nice to be back though.
I really want to have more time to focus on our area but we have been so busy lately. We actually just got back from Rabi today, so this week was not in our area either. you will have to wait until Monday though to hear those adventures. I really hope we can get some time to spend working with out investigators and members. Things are going well. We dont have enough elders in the mission, so for one month until new elders come in, the Qeleni area will be closed and we will cover both area's. So these next two weeks, we are going to be going on lots of splits trying to learn the area and investigators in Qeleni. So I am staying very busy but that is a good thing.
Zone Conference was amazing as always and I learned so much and am excited to be able to be that much better at being a missionary and trying to apply what we learned so I can improve. President Ostler is amazing and always seems to say excactly what I need to hear. Well I think that covers my week. I love you all. Hope things are good and getting better. Dad, get well soon!
Love,
Elder Wall
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
July 4, 2010 - Falling In Love with the Culture
Well this week was good but is was very busy. I only spent two days in my area proselyting. It was a pretty crazy week.
We went to Labasa and got the truck serviced. The boat we rode on was so nice! It was a totally different experience from riding the floating chunk of scrap metal that goes to Kadavu. It was an enjoyable boat ride. We spent a couple days with the Zone Leaders, which was good. They are both great. We came back and tried to get right back into things in our area, but I had some baptismal interviews and ended up on exchanges in Qeleni, one of the other area's in my district. We also spent an entire day setting up the new flat for the Elders in Qeleni. We are still not even done so it will pry be another half day this week buying some more appliances and things to take to them. Oh well they are gonna end up with a pretty nice place to stay by the time it's done.
We also had to go to a district counsel meeting. It was really good and Taveuni has some great leaders. I had to give a short training and it went really well; I think the leaders all really took in what I said. A leader from Suva came over and gave an awesome training on what the leaders can do. Hopefully things will continue to shoot forward here.
We also got to meet with the leaders from Rabi who came over for the training. We are planning to go over and visit them with some members from the district leadership from the seventeenth to the nineteenth. That should be good. In our branch in Matei, things are going really well. Our branch president has been working with us really well and we will hopefully have some big progress in the future.
We met one really awesome new investigator this week. Her name is Marina. Her husband left her with six kids and one is a small baby. I think the gospel and the church are really going to help her out.
We set a baptismal date this week with a guy named Magi. It should be good and he is progressing very well.
Well that is about all for this week. This next week, we go back to Labasa for Zone Conference and I have more exchanges and baptismal interviews, so I will be very busy. But that is a good thing.
I hope all is well back in the USA and happy 4th of July to everyone. We are going to a waterfall and having a lovo today to celebrate. Please pray for the wonderful saints in Fiji. They are the most loving and happy people you will ever meet. But it is a huge and difficult change for them to change their religion and accept the truth. The Fijian people are a very cultural people and their culture means so much to them.
When I was with Elder Matheson in Kadavu, we met a man named Semi. Semi is the Bati ni Tui Tavuki (teeth of the king of tavuki). Which basically means he is a protector or warrior of the king. When the king has barked enough and it's time for him to bite, he calls for his teeth. We asked him about his responsibilities and calling as the Bati ni Tui Tavuki. He was so touched by our caring and interest in his culture that he choked up while explaining it to us. He cried as he explained his responsibility to guard the grave of any member of the chiefly family who dies, and some other things. He then put on his full traditional outfit and painted his face and chest with the black war paint so we could take a picture with him. He was so deeply honored by our interest in his culture. That is how deep their culture runs in their blood. So for them to change from the Methodist church, which is so deeply a part of their culture, is a big change and really isolates them from family and members of the community. Then to deal with struggles of beginning a small branch and struggling to fulfill callings and establish the church in its fullest capacity and blessings, is nothing short of a miracle. So please keep them in your prayers. I love them very much and am blessed to be working with them side by side. I love you all have a great week.
Love,
Elder Wall
We went to Labasa and got the truck serviced. The boat we rode on was so nice! It was a totally different experience from riding the floating chunk of scrap metal that goes to Kadavu. It was an enjoyable boat ride. We spent a couple days with the Zone Leaders, which was good. They are both great. We came back and tried to get right back into things in our area, but I had some baptismal interviews and ended up on exchanges in Qeleni, one of the other area's in my district. We also spent an entire day setting up the new flat for the Elders in Qeleni. We are still not even done so it will pry be another half day this week buying some more appliances and things to take to them. Oh well they are gonna end up with a pretty nice place to stay by the time it's done.
We also had to go to a district counsel meeting. It was really good and Taveuni has some great leaders. I had to give a short training and it went really well; I think the leaders all really took in what I said. A leader from Suva came over and gave an awesome training on what the leaders can do. Hopefully things will continue to shoot forward here.
We also got to meet with the leaders from Rabi who came over for the training. We are planning to go over and visit them with some members from the district leadership from the seventeenth to the nineteenth. That should be good. In our branch in Matei, things are going really well. Our branch president has been working with us really well and we will hopefully have some big progress in the future.
We met one really awesome new investigator this week. Her name is Marina. Her husband left her with six kids and one is a small baby. I think the gospel and the church are really going to help her out.
We set a baptismal date this week with a guy named Magi. It should be good and he is progressing very well.
Well that is about all for this week. This next week, we go back to Labasa for Zone Conference and I have more exchanges and baptismal interviews, so I will be very busy. But that is a good thing.
I hope all is well back in the USA and happy 4th of July to everyone. We are going to a waterfall and having a lovo today to celebrate. Please pray for the wonderful saints in Fiji. They are the most loving and happy people you will ever meet. But it is a huge and difficult change for them to change their religion and accept the truth. The Fijian people are a very cultural people and their culture means so much to them.
When I was with Elder Matheson in Kadavu, we met a man named Semi. Semi is the Bati ni Tui Tavuki (teeth of the king of tavuki). Which basically means he is a protector or warrior of the king. When the king has barked enough and it's time for him to bite, he calls for his teeth. We asked him about his responsibilities and calling as the Bati ni Tui Tavuki. He was so touched by our caring and interest in his culture that he choked up while explaining it to us. He cried as he explained his responsibility to guard the grave of any member of the chiefly family who dies, and some other things. He then put on his full traditional outfit and painted his face and chest with the black war paint so we could take a picture with him. He was so deeply honored by our interest in his culture. That is how deep their culture runs in their blood. So for them to change from the Methodist church, which is so deeply a part of their culture, is a big change and really isolates them from family and members of the community. Then to deal with struggles of beginning a small branch and struggling to fulfill callings and establish the church in its fullest capacity and blessings, is nothing short of a miracle. So please keep them in your prayers. I love them very much and am blessed to be working with them side by side. I love you all have a great week.
Love,
Elder Wall
Thursday, July 1, 2010
June 27 - A Change of Scenery
Well it has been an interesting week. It has been kind of fun though. Elder Gashler is my companion. He is still really new but willing to work hard and is learning fast so things are great between us. There are three companionships on the island and one truck that gets shared between two of them. Unfortunately I am not the one that gets to share the truck. We walk a lot in very hot weather to very far places. It's all good though cause I am told every time you walk in the rain, your wife gets hotter. Needless to say, my wife is going to be a super model. But I like the area so far and the people are very nice.
Some people here prefer to speak English so I have taught a couple of lessons in English and it is hard. I can't even teach in my mother tongue! It is just way different from Kadavu where I couldn't have spoken English if I wanted to. (A note from the blog administrator: And believe me-- he can't write it either. I am doing a lot of editing here in regards to his spelling, grammar, and word choices :) - Love, his adoring sister, Shaela)
Taveuni was just made a district and there are four branches. We are trying to work to open up a new annex, so there is lots to do in Taveuni. We meet with the branch presidents and the district president and work a lot with them. It's fun and keeps us busy.
This week I have to open up a new flat for the elders who are in Galeni, so I have to do a lot of junk for that, but that's good I guess and it will really help out the elders there to be able to work there. We also have to take the truck over to the other island on the barge to get it serviced and go on exchanges with Zone Leaders this week so I will be in Vanua Levu for three days. So this week will be very busy doing some other things... not really missionary work, but I guess someone has to do it.
Taveuni is so so beautiful and I am very blessed to be serving here. This morning we went to some blow holes where the waves come in and blow sea water thirty feet in the air through some rocks. It is awesome and a lot of fun! We also went to the butcher shop and watched them throw cow guts into the ocean and then watched sharks eat it. It was awesome!
The Branch we are serving in is Matei. It is a good little branch that has seen lots of growth lately. We had 47 people at church and they are all really good. We also have some great investigators. We have two people who want to be baptized. One is named Pita. He has an older sister who has been a member for about one year now. He is progressing really well and wants to be baptized.
Another lady, Vini, wants to be baptized and is arranging a wedding with the guy she lives with so she can be baptized. It is good. I plan to try to work with the less actives and recent converts a lot and try get all our members active and strong. I am excited to be here and I am pretty sure that I will be kept very busy these next few months and I am happy about that. The potential here in Taveuni is great and I am excited to get to be apart of the great progress that we are going to have. I hope you all have a great week and thanks so much for all you do. Your the best. I love and pray for you all.
Moce,
Loloma Levu
Elda Lalaga
Some people here prefer to speak English so I have taught a couple of lessons in English and it is hard. I can't even teach in my mother tongue! It is just way different from Kadavu where I couldn't have spoken English if I wanted to. (A note from the blog administrator: And believe me-- he can't write it either. I am doing a lot of editing here in regards to his spelling, grammar, and word choices :) - Love, his adoring sister, Shaela)
Taveuni was just made a district and there are four branches. We are trying to work to open up a new annex, so there is lots to do in Taveuni. We meet with the branch presidents and the district president and work a lot with them. It's fun and keeps us busy.
This week I have to open up a new flat for the elders who are in Galeni, so I have to do a lot of junk for that, but that's good I guess and it will really help out the elders there to be able to work there. We also have to take the truck over to the other island on the barge to get it serviced and go on exchanges with Zone Leaders this week so I will be in Vanua Levu for three days. So this week will be very busy doing some other things... not really missionary work, but I guess someone has to do it.
Taveuni is so so beautiful and I am very blessed to be serving here. This morning we went to some blow holes where the waves come in and blow sea water thirty feet in the air through some rocks. It is awesome and a lot of fun! We also went to the butcher shop and watched them throw cow guts into the ocean and then watched sharks eat it. It was awesome!
The Branch we are serving in is Matei. It is a good little branch that has seen lots of growth lately. We had 47 people at church and they are all really good. We also have some great investigators. We have two people who want to be baptized. One is named Pita. He has an older sister who has been a member for about one year now. He is progressing really well and wants to be baptized.
Another lady, Vini, wants to be baptized and is arranging a wedding with the guy she lives with so she can be baptized. It is good. I plan to try to work with the less actives and recent converts a lot and try get all our members active and strong. I am excited to be here and I am pretty sure that I will be kept very busy these next few months and I am happy about that. The potential here in Taveuni is great and I am excited to get to be apart of the great progress that we are going to have. I hope you all have a great week and thanks so much for all you do. Your the best. I love and pray for you all.
Moce,
Loloma Levu
Elda Lalaga
Friday, June 25, 2010
June 20, 2010 - Farewell Kadavu!
Happy Father's Day!!! Well I had an amazing week! It was the best farewell anyone could ask for. I told Lasarusa that I was being transferred and couldn't baptize him. He was very upset and said if I didn't baptize him, no one would. I called President Ostler and luckily he is an awesome man and let me stay until the baptism. However due to some flight issues, I just barely landed in Suva today and tomorrow will be flying off to Taveuni. But the baptism was amazing. We had a huge Lovo and made a branch activity out of it. The food was great and we had a great turnout. Forty people came. We went to the most beautiful beach ever and did the baptism and played volleyball on the beach while all the members snorkeled. The baptismal service was amazing, the most spiritual one I have ever been apart of. The baptism went so good and everyone loved it. Afterward, two of the members bore awesome testimonies and the spirit was so strong, leaving so many people in tears. They all also expressed so much gratitude and farewell to me! I got all choked up and couldn't talk when I was trying to give my concluding remarks. When we sang come follow me (Muri Au Mai), there weren't very many dry eyes. It went so so well! One of our investigators was so touched by the spirit; you could just see it in his face. He just buried his head in his hands and I am pretty sure within the next couple weeks, he too will be baptized. He is ready for sure.
On Sunday, we had 41 people in attendance at sacrament meeting. I think my first week we had 12, so it was so good to see the intense growth and progression. I started out with an empty building and by the time I left, we had all the 30 chairs full with more sitting on the ground, a white board, a pulpit, a book cabinet, and flowers to decorate with. It was so amazing to witness the amazing progress. It was such an amazing meeting! Everyone was crying and evidently they all just thought that the topic they were assigned to speak on was nice things about me, which they all exaggerated on to make me cry too. Anyway it worked and I was so choked up I couldn't speak and just cried like a little girl. Then Elder Farley thought it would be a good idea to sing "God be with you till we meet again" in Fijian. I just lost it and sobbed. I felt like the biggest wuss ever. I love the people so much! It was so so hard to leave. But I know the work will continue to explode. There is so much potential in Kadavu.
Dan (the intellectual one) is so close to baptism and is going to be baptized soon. He also happens to have a boat and has been providing transportation for the people in Tavuki. Sera and Lati are also awesome and Sera asked us to baptize her. Now they just need to get her husband to jump on board. I think the future in Kadavu is beaming brightly.
Well I have given it my all in Kadavu and I know things will continue to grow. I am excited to go to Taveuni but it is hard to leave Kadavu. I had a meeting today with President Ostler about Taveuni. It was just barely made into a district and has a new District President and new Branch Presidents as well. I am supposed to go down and help them learn how to be a Branch and a district. I think I will be working with leaders a lot and doing training with them.
There are 3 branches in Taveuni as well as an Annex. I am supposed to figure out how we will distribute and use our 3 companionships there to cover them all. I also have a branch on an island of Rabi that I am supposed to go visit often and continue running. Rabi is an island Fiji gave to the Kiribati people because Kiribati is sinking. It is all Gilbertese people and they don't speak Fijian, they speak Gilbertese and the Branch President there does not know English, so that will be fun for me. I am excited to go over there and see how things are going.
We are also going to be getting some senior missionaries who are going to be doing lots of training. I am supposed to help prepare for them. It should be fun and I think I am going to be very busy because I have the entire island to be running around and trying to help out 5 different branch units. So I have a big adventure ahead of me and I am very excited. Taveuni is supposed to be beautiful, but it's still an outer island so I get to live the primitive life still. I am excited about that. Well I think that covers everything. I love you all. Pray for the people of Kadavu they send their love to you. As do I.
Loloma Levu,
Elder Wall
On Sunday, we had 41 people in attendance at sacrament meeting. I think my first week we had 12, so it was so good to see the intense growth and progression. I started out with an empty building and by the time I left, we had all the 30 chairs full with more sitting on the ground, a white board, a pulpit, a book cabinet, and flowers to decorate with. It was so amazing to witness the amazing progress. It was such an amazing meeting! Everyone was crying and evidently they all just thought that the topic they were assigned to speak on was nice things about me, which they all exaggerated on to make me cry too. Anyway it worked and I was so choked up I couldn't speak and just cried like a little girl. Then Elder Farley thought it would be a good idea to sing "God be with you till we meet again" in Fijian. I just lost it and sobbed. I felt like the biggest wuss ever. I love the people so much! It was so so hard to leave. But I know the work will continue to explode. There is so much potential in Kadavu.
Dan (the intellectual one) is so close to baptism and is going to be baptized soon. He also happens to have a boat and has been providing transportation for the people in Tavuki. Sera and Lati are also awesome and Sera asked us to baptize her. Now they just need to get her husband to jump on board. I think the future in Kadavu is beaming brightly.
Well I have given it my all in Kadavu and I know things will continue to grow. I am excited to go to Taveuni but it is hard to leave Kadavu. I had a meeting today with President Ostler about Taveuni. It was just barely made into a district and has a new District President and new Branch Presidents as well. I am supposed to go down and help them learn how to be a Branch and a district. I think I will be working with leaders a lot and doing training with them.
There are 3 branches in Taveuni as well as an Annex. I am supposed to figure out how we will distribute and use our 3 companionships there to cover them all. I also have a branch on an island of Rabi that I am supposed to go visit often and continue running. Rabi is an island Fiji gave to the Kiribati people because Kiribati is sinking. It is all Gilbertese people and they don't speak Fijian, they speak Gilbertese and the Branch President there does not know English, so that will be fun for me. I am excited to go over there and see how things are going.
We are also going to be getting some senior missionaries who are going to be doing lots of training. I am supposed to help prepare for them. It should be fun and I think I am going to be very busy because I have the entire island to be running around and trying to help out 5 different branch units. So I have a big adventure ahead of me and I am very excited. Taveuni is supposed to be beautiful, but it's still an outer island so I get to live the primitive life still. I am excited about that. Well I think that covers everything. I love you all. Pray for the people of Kadavu they send their love to you. As do I.
Loloma Levu,
Elder Wall
Monday, June 21, 2010
June 13, 2010 - Transferred
Well this week was amazing, such an awesome week. But like I predicted and like it always does, just when things are great I get thrown a curve ball. I am being transferred to Taveuni to be a district leader, which normally every missionary in the mission would be so happy to do. But I really love Kadavu and the people and really really don't want to leave. I have finally "figured it out" here and things are just starting to really roll and the church is going to explode here in Kadavu in the next few months. But I guess I need to learn to say "thy will be done", so I am gonna do my best to not be bitter or slothful to be transferred...but I really love Kadavu and the work is going so well. Plus I think if I had one more month, I could be fluent in the dialect. Well enough of that. I will explain my awesome week.
So the best thing that happened this week was the interviews for baptisms. We pushed back the baptisms for this Saturday so we could do four baptisms all together. This week Elder Logsdon and Elder Tavo, the Zone Leaders, came to do the baptismal interview. It went awesome! We found out two really cool and important things. One: we knew that Ratu Lasarusa was a chief which is a big deal, but we didn't know which chief he was (there are different levels). We found out he is the chief of the Yavusa, which is the highest you can be. He is second on the chain of command and the only person higher is the King of Kadavu, so he is very very high up. He also found out he is the Tuirara of all of Kadavu. We knew he was a Talatala, but we didn't know he was that high up in the Methodist church either. Basically he is like a Stake President. He is over all of the Methodist churches in Kadavu (over 40). He said that when he is baptized and joins the church, many will follow. The head of the Methodist church approached him and said they were afraid that all of the congregations would follow him. He said he would just invite people to listen to the elders but wouldn't force them or try to influence them to join the church. He is so great and has a solid testimony. He said after the interview that he knows this is the true church and even if we don't allow him to be baptized, he was going to continue to go to our church and leave the Methodist church. His wife is also the Relief Society president and we heard that everyone cried and cried when she asked to be released from the Methodist church. They are so awesome.
We also have an investigator named Dan who came back from Suva. He has a boat and brought them to church and we are going to pray really hard that he can continue to help them with transportation and hopefully join the church himself.
We had 26 people at church even though we have four members who are gone to Suva. Church was awesome and we had great meetings for all of it. A member from Utah who is doing service projects here in Kadavu spoke in sacrament and everyone was very touched. The spirit was so strong and he is such a good man. He has a great spirit about him and I am so grateful for the help he gave the members here with his words.
All of our recent converts are doing very well and progressing so well toward building the kingdom here in Kadavu. It is great as well to see the Lord pour blessings out upon them as they live the gospel and change their lives. Great things are happening here in Kadavu.
I am going to call President Ostler and beg him to let me stay until Saturday to do the baptisms. Ratu Lasarusa has asked me to baptize him and I am so honored and excited. I am going to hit my knees and pray like the dickens that I can stay to baptize him.
We also saw a lot of dolphins this week and sea turtles and lots and lots of fun with the Zone Leaders so it was a great week to end my stay in Kadavu with, but I cannot explain the remorse I have knowing I am going to be leaving my family here in Kadavu. These wonderful people truly have become my family and I have an amazing love for them and it is going to be so hard to leave them. I guess the Lord has a different plan for me because I was dead set on finishing my mission in Kadavu.
I love you all and need your prayers please pray extra hard for the wonderful saints in Kadavu. As well as for me to not cry like a little girl.......I love you all!
Until next week,
Elder Wall
So the best thing that happened this week was the interviews for baptisms. We pushed back the baptisms for this Saturday so we could do four baptisms all together. This week Elder Logsdon and Elder Tavo, the Zone Leaders, came to do the baptismal interview. It went awesome! We found out two really cool and important things. One: we knew that Ratu Lasarusa was a chief which is a big deal, but we didn't know which chief he was (there are different levels). We found out he is the chief of the Yavusa, which is the highest you can be. He is second on the chain of command and the only person higher is the King of Kadavu, so he is very very high up. He also found out he is the Tuirara of all of Kadavu. We knew he was a Talatala, but we didn't know he was that high up in the Methodist church either. Basically he is like a Stake President. He is over all of the Methodist churches in Kadavu (over 40). He said that when he is baptized and joins the church, many will follow. The head of the Methodist church approached him and said they were afraid that all of the congregations would follow him. He said he would just invite people to listen to the elders but wouldn't force them or try to influence them to join the church. He is so great and has a solid testimony. He said after the interview that he knows this is the true church and even if we don't allow him to be baptized, he was going to continue to go to our church and leave the Methodist church. His wife is also the Relief Society president and we heard that everyone cried and cried when she asked to be released from the Methodist church. They are so awesome.
We also have an investigator named Dan who came back from Suva. He has a boat and brought them to church and we are going to pray really hard that he can continue to help them with transportation and hopefully join the church himself.
We had 26 people at church even though we have four members who are gone to Suva. Church was awesome and we had great meetings for all of it. A member from Utah who is doing service projects here in Kadavu spoke in sacrament and everyone was very touched. The spirit was so strong and he is such a good man. He has a great spirit about him and I am so grateful for the help he gave the members here with his words.
All of our recent converts are doing very well and progressing so well toward building the kingdom here in Kadavu. It is great as well to see the Lord pour blessings out upon them as they live the gospel and change their lives. Great things are happening here in Kadavu.
I am going to call President Ostler and beg him to let me stay until Saturday to do the baptisms. Ratu Lasarusa has asked me to baptize him and I am so honored and excited. I am going to hit my knees and pray like the dickens that I can stay to baptize him.
We also saw a lot of dolphins this week and sea turtles and lots and lots of fun with the Zone Leaders so it was a great week to end my stay in Kadavu with, but I cannot explain the remorse I have knowing I am going to be leaving my family here in Kadavu. These wonderful people truly have become my family and I have an amazing love for them and it is going to be so hard to leave them. I guess the Lord has a different plan for me because I was dead set on finishing my mission in Kadavu.
I love you all and need your prayers please pray extra hard for the wonderful saints in Kadavu. As well as for me to not cry like a little girl.......I love you all!
Until next week,
Elder Wall
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
A note about the Suva Temple
Hey! I thought this was interesting and thought I would share it with y'all. Kelsi was asked to talk about the Fiji temple at YW camp this week. She found out that it was the 91st temple built and wrote to tell Jake because his racing number is 91 and his mailbox number at the MTC was also 91. She asked him for any info about the temple that he knew of and this is his reply:
The Fiji Suva temple has awesome stories. I am not sure where the written version of it is, but this is the gist of it. The US government bought some land, then Pres Hinckley came to Fiji and said this is where the temple will stand. The people taking him around said no, that is US soil owned by the USA. Technically that is a piece of America in Fiji. Pres. Hinckley said no, that is where it will be. Long story short... The USA met with a bunch of problems and decided it was not a good place to build the embassy. So, they sold it to the church and bought new land up the street. Then, when the temple was supposed to be dedicated there was a big Ku (civil war) in Fiji. Pres Hinckley was admonished to stay away, because it was dangerous and there was lots of war and gun fighting going on right around the temple. But Pres said nope, this Temple of the Lord needs to be opened and dedicated. I will be fine. So they literally snuck him in and did the dedication amongst war and in secret without publicizing it. We now have the Fiji, Suva temple. It sits on top of the hill and the seamen use it as a beacon to avoid the reef and maneuver their way into the harbor. A few years ago there was a black out in suva for like a week and the only thing lit up was the temple because they had a generator. People all the way from an outer island said they could still see the temple like a glowing beacon from
heaven. That's all I've got. Hope it helps. Love you.
Elder Wall
The Fiji Suva temple has awesome stories. I am not sure where the written version of it is, but this is the gist of it. The US government bought some land, then Pres Hinckley came to Fiji and said this is where the temple will stand. The people taking him around said no, that is US soil owned by the USA. Technically that is a piece of America in Fiji. Pres. Hinckley said no, that is where it will be. Long story short... The USA met with a bunch of problems and decided it was not a good place to build the embassy. So, they sold it to the church and bought new land up the street. Then, when the temple was supposed to be dedicated there was a big Ku (civil war) in Fiji. Pres Hinckley was admonished to stay away, because it was dangerous and there was lots of war and gun fighting going on right around the temple. But Pres said nope, this Temple of the Lord needs to be opened and dedicated. I will be fine. So they literally snuck him in and did the dedication amongst war and in secret without publicizing it. We now have the Fiji, Suva temple. It sits on top of the hill and the seamen use it as a beacon to avoid the reef and maneuver their way into the harbor. A few years ago there was a black out in suva for like a week and the only thing lit up was the temple because they had a generator. People all the way from an outer island said they could still see the temple like a glowing beacon from
heaven. That's all I've got. Hope it helps. Love you.
Elder Wall
June 6, 2010 - A Boatside Sermon
Here is the latest news from the Island of Kadavu (Paradise):
Well this week was really really good. I am loving things right now! Everything is just working out how I want it too. We went to Tavuki for the first time in a long time and it was great. We just had some awesome lessons with so many people and it just seemed that everyone was in a geniune spirit of learning during our lessons. We taught the law of tithing and fast to Rogo & Lasarusa and it went well.
Then on Sunday, they came to church and paid their tithing. It was great to see them accept and APPLY the things we taught. In church on sunday, they both shared their testimonies and it was amazing! Rogo talked about going to church in Suva and how great the spirit is and how organized church went and how loving and accepting everyone was. She basically begged us from the Pulpit to baptize her and her husband. We decided that even if we don't have consistant transportation to get them to church, they have shown that they are ready to be baptized and who are we to hold them back? She also testified that even though she couldn't go into the temple, she knew the spirit was there and that it was the house of God. She said the feeling she had outside was unlike anywhere she had ever been before.
Then Lasarusa bore his testimony and really blew me away. From the very begining it has been kind of wierd to see his reactions to things and how I thought that he loved us coming over, but wasnt really too interested in changing. He shared a great story and confirmed those thoughts before telling us about what brought the change. He said that from the first time he read the Book of Mormon, he knew it was true and felt that it was the word of God. But he thought he could just read it and use it and stay Methodist and keep preaching. Then his wife started liking the church more and more. When she got back from the main island where she went to the temple and to the church there, he said she had changed and that something about her had changed. She then accepted our challenge to really pray and fast about the church and ask if it was true and sure enough like it always does, her prayer was answered and she knew it was true and that she needed to join the church. She told her husband and he said that was fine but that he wasnt going to change and he would keep preaching for the Methodist church. However when Rogo was in Suva, a member gave her a few church books that she brought back with her. Lasarusa came across the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith and read it and loved it. He said he knew it was true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. This inspired him to accept our challenge to fast and pray. He too recieved the answer and knew it was the true church of God on earth. But he still didn't want to change and leave the Methodist church... then he had a dream.
In his dream, we told him that he had to build a new house in a new place and he didn't know why but he said he just started building his house (in Fijian culture building a house is a big deal and you have to do big ceremonies and things when you lay the foundation and things). He said it was hard building this new house and everyone from his old house kept trying to get him to go back and he wanted to just give up and go back. Then his Mom and Dad who are dead, came and started helping him build the new house. They told him that building this house was the right thing to do. So they worked on this house but when the work was done, he started off to go bathe and clean up. His parents then told him that he couldn't go bathe in the same place he always has. They told him to go bathe in this new place and took him to a pool of water that he had never been to before and bathed him in this pool and told him that this was what he had to do. He said he woke up and instantly knew he needed to be baptized and join this church. So he decided he was going too.
Part two that blew my mind: his son Tuqoro is a missionary for the AOG church and has sat in on lots of lessons, but I never really thought he was too interested. He told his Dad that if he got baptized, he too would follow suit and join the church. So this week the Zone Leaders are going to be coming to do the baptismal interviews and next week we will have four baptisms. It is going to be great! The work is progressing so well and we have so many awesome things like that happending.
We also have another lady, Sera, who is at her fourth week in a row at church and who was a little late for church because the Methodist church went to go visit her and she couldn't get them out in time to be on time for church. She was very upset and told us that she wants to join our church and that she will never go to the Methodist church again. I am so excited to see her progress as we finish teaching her!
Zone Conference was incredible as usual. The boat ride was miserable as usual, however we did preach a sermon on the boat and we had a big crowd beneath as I sat up on a bed and taught all the people below. It felt cool. I felt like apostles of old teaching crowds of people. It was kinda fun. We met some interesting people for lack of a better word, and had a crazy girl spoil the first vision, but we got some good potential investigators still I think.
I haven't been to the temple in forever either, so while we were there we got permission from President Ostler to go do a session and it was great! I loved it. I miss the temple and wish I could go more.
Well it was a great week and I am excited to see how things go this week. I keep thinking that things are going too good and something bad will happen soon because I just can't get over how perfect things are.
Well I love you all. Pray that nothing bad happens and that things stay great. I am praying for all of you.
Love,
Elder Wall
Well this week was really really good. I am loving things right now! Everything is just working out how I want it too. We went to Tavuki for the first time in a long time and it was great. We just had some awesome lessons with so many people and it just seemed that everyone was in a geniune spirit of learning during our lessons. We taught the law of tithing and fast to Rogo & Lasarusa and it went well.
Then on Sunday, they came to church and paid their tithing. It was great to see them accept and APPLY the things we taught. In church on sunday, they both shared their testimonies and it was amazing! Rogo talked about going to church in Suva and how great the spirit is and how organized church went and how loving and accepting everyone was. She basically begged us from the Pulpit to baptize her and her husband. We decided that even if we don't have consistant transportation to get them to church, they have shown that they are ready to be baptized and who are we to hold them back? She also testified that even though she couldn't go into the temple, she knew the spirit was there and that it was the house of God. She said the feeling she had outside was unlike anywhere she had ever been before.
Then Lasarusa bore his testimony and really blew me away. From the very begining it has been kind of wierd to see his reactions to things and how I thought that he loved us coming over, but wasnt really too interested in changing. He shared a great story and confirmed those thoughts before telling us about what brought the change. He said that from the first time he read the Book of Mormon, he knew it was true and felt that it was the word of God. But he thought he could just read it and use it and stay Methodist and keep preaching. Then his wife started liking the church more and more. When she got back from the main island where she went to the temple and to the church there, he said she had changed and that something about her had changed. She then accepted our challenge to really pray and fast about the church and ask if it was true and sure enough like it always does, her prayer was answered and she knew it was true and that she needed to join the church. She told her husband and he said that was fine but that he wasnt going to change and he would keep preaching for the Methodist church. However when Rogo was in Suva, a member gave her a few church books that she brought back with her. Lasarusa came across the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith and read it and loved it. He said he knew it was true and that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. This inspired him to accept our challenge to fast and pray. He too recieved the answer and knew it was the true church of God on earth. But he still didn't want to change and leave the Methodist church... then he had a dream.
In his dream, we told him that he had to build a new house in a new place and he didn't know why but he said he just started building his house (in Fijian culture building a house is a big deal and you have to do big ceremonies and things when you lay the foundation and things). He said it was hard building this new house and everyone from his old house kept trying to get him to go back and he wanted to just give up and go back. Then his Mom and Dad who are dead, came and started helping him build the new house. They told him that building this house was the right thing to do. So they worked on this house but when the work was done, he started off to go bathe and clean up. His parents then told him that he couldn't go bathe in the same place he always has. They told him to go bathe in this new place and took him to a pool of water that he had never been to before and bathed him in this pool and told him that this was what he had to do. He said he woke up and instantly knew he needed to be baptized and join this church. So he decided he was going too.
Part two that blew my mind: his son Tuqoro is a missionary for the AOG church and has sat in on lots of lessons, but I never really thought he was too interested. He told his Dad that if he got baptized, he too would follow suit and join the church. So this week the Zone Leaders are going to be coming to do the baptismal interviews and next week we will have four baptisms. It is going to be great! The work is progressing so well and we have so many awesome things like that happending.
We also have another lady, Sera, who is at her fourth week in a row at church and who was a little late for church because the Methodist church went to go visit her and she couldn't get them out in time to be on time for church. She was very upset and told us that she wants to join our church and that she will never go to the Methodist church again. I am so excited to see her progress as we finish teaching her!
Zone Conference was incredible as usual. The boat ride was miserable as usual, however we did preach a sermon on the boat and we had a big crowd beneath as I sat up on a bed and taught all the people below. It felt cool. I felt like apostles of old teaching crowds of people. It was kinda fun. We met some interesting people for lack of a better word, and had a crazy girl spoil the first vision, but we got some good potential investigators still I think.
I haven't been to the temple in forever either, so while we were there we got permission from President Ostler to go do a session and it was great! I loved it. I miss the temple and wish I could go more.
Well it was a great week and I am excited to see how things go this week. I keep thinking that things are going too good and something bad will happen soon because I just can't get over how perfect things are.
Well I love you all. Pray that nothing bad happens and that things stay great. I am praying for all of you.
Love,
Elder Wall
June 2, 2010 - A Visit to Kavala
Well we had a great week again. We just got back from Kavala side now. We went up to give support and to pay a visit up there to the members. It was good and all the members are doing really well; the missionary work is very slow though. There are no villages open and the only place we are allowed to go is a small settlement with about ten houses. The problem is they all know who we are and what we share and don't really care about it. So it is really hard to find things to do. We pretty much just go support the members.
We did have one really good lesson with the mother of two of the youth members. She had just returned from Suva and had taken lessons from the missionaries in Suva so she knew a little bit and we just went over the restoration. The spirit was very strong and I think next time we go up there it will be good to go see her again.
Here in Vunisea, we had some good things happen as well. We had a great lesson with the Serus about the plan of salvation. They really love how perfect yet simple the plan our Heavenly Father created for us really is. After the lesson, Bro Seru took us in his little tiny row boat back to our side of the island. It was really fun. Just a tiny boat, but a beautiful moon lit sky on the ocean. It was awesome! We also talked about what members of the community say to them for joining the church and he just very strongly bore his testimony to us and said that is exactly what he tells them. He also talked about how his father is a preacher from the Methodist church and he was a member of the Methodist church 59 years but learned more about God and his plan for us in 2 months while taking lessons then the whole previous 59 years in the Methodist church. He went on to explain that in this church, it is automatic. Before learning about the church, he was really worried about how his family was gonna eat how they were gonna be able to afford to put the kids in school and so many other things. But in this church, when you just go to church and do what the church teaches, the blessings are automatic and things just work out. It is great to see them progress.
The Lal and Sakuka are awesome as well and our little branch is really growing. Sera, the lady we started teaching, came to church again and brought her grand kids. She told her husband that she is going to our church from now on and if he wants to come that's fine, but if not, she is going anyways. This is a very bold thing for her to do because in Fiji, the woman always follows the man. They are great though and I am so excited to continue teaching them.
This next week, we're going to Suva for Zone Conference. I am not excited to ride the boat all day again. But I am really excited for conference and to see some other missionaries and eat some good food.
Well things are going well here and I hope you all are having a great time there
Until next week,
Loloma Levu
We did have one really good lesson with the mother of two of the youth members. She had just returned from Suva and had taken lessons from the missionaries in Suva so she knew a little bit and we just went over the restoration. The spirit was very strong and I think next time we go up there it will be good to go see her again.
Here in Vunisea, we had some good things happen as well. We had a great lesson with the Serus about the plan of salvation. They really love how perfect yet simple the plan our Heavenly Father created for us really is. After the lesson, Bro Seru took us in his little tiny row boat back to our side of the island. It was really fun. Just a tiny boat, but a beautiful moon lit sky on the ocean. It was awesome! We also talked about what members of the community say to them for joining the church and he just very strongly bore his testimony to us and said that is exactly what he tells them. He also talked about how his father is a preacher from the Methodist church and he was a member of the Methodist church 59 years but learned more about God and his plan for us in 2 months while taking lessons then the whole previous 59 years in the Methodist church. He went on to explain that in this church, it is automatic. Before learning about the church, he was really worried about how his family was gonna eat how they were gonna be able to afford to put the kids in school and so many other things. But in this church, when you just go to church and do what the church teaches, the blessings are automatic and things just work out. It is great to see them progress.
The Lal and Sakuka are awesome as well and our little branch is really growing. Sera, the lady we started teaching, came to church again and brought her grand kids. She told her husband that she is going to our church from now on and if he wants to come that's fine, but if not, she is going anyways. This is a very bold thing for her to do because in Fiji, the woman always follows the man. They are great though and I am so excited to continue teaching them.
This next week, we're going to Suva for Zone Conference. I am not excited to ride the boat all day again. But I am really excited for conference and to see some other missionaries and eat some good food.
Well things are going well here and I hope you all are having a great time there
Until next week,
Loloma Levu
Monday, May 24, 2010
May 23, 2010 - The church is springing forth!
Elder Wall ran into some computer difficulties last week and wasn't able to e-mail us, so here is his latest message to us.
Well this week was an awesome week. I loved it! Honestly last week was a little slow and we struggled a bit to stay busy. But me and Elder Farley kept at it, worked hard, and had a great week. By far the highlight of the week was church yesterday. It was by far the best church we have had since I have been here. Everything went picture perfect and we had great lessons and talks. One of our investigators wanted to go church but was shy and didn't know anyone. So our new Relief Society went and visited her and like it always does when people do their visiting, it worked and she came to church. It was great. Also she is an older lady and very respected in the community so a lot of other people have been asking us about the church and trying to find out what it is that made this woman leave the methodist church and go to church with us. It has been good.
We had really good priesthood and sunday school classes with lots of questions. The members are all recent converts and are all studying hard and trying to learn the gospel. So they have lots of great questions. It keeps me on my toes. But all the classes were awesome with great discussions and learning. It is so cool to see their knowledge and testimony of the gospel growing! The Lord truly is preparing them to be the foundation for the church in the future here in Kadavu.
Bro Seru gave a talk in sacrament that was amazing. It was his first time ever speaking in public in his 59 years of life. He was very nervous but prepared well and gave one of the best talks on the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smiths calling as a prophet. I was so impressed with his level of understanding and how he really "got" the message of the gospel. He ended with describing what a great blessing the knowledge of the restoration is and how it has changed his life as well as all of ours and how now it is our responsibility to share this happiness and blessing with others. I was so proud of him. It has been amazing to see him and his family's amazing progression and the change that they have had as a family and as individuals. It was like a pay day for me yesterday to see some of the fruits of our hard work.
Also, the Relief Society has taken it upon themselves to clean and put fresh flowers in the church building to prepare for Sunday; it made all the difference. It looked so nice and invited the spirit to be strongly with us. We also got a locking book cabinet to put all our hymnbooks and manuals in instead of piling them in the corner, and it looks so great. It has been cool to see our little wooden one room shack turn into a church building with a pulpit, white board, chairs, sacrament table, and now book cabinet. I still remember my first Sunday when it was an empty room and we all sat on the floor. I am so grateful to be a part of the progression and establishment of the church in Kadavu. We also had some good things happen with Rogo and Lasarusa who have wanted to be baptized but were preachers for the Methodist church. They went this week and resigned from the methodist church and are now ready to move forward with joining and becoming strong members in our happy little unit. I am excited for them.
I am loving my new companion! He is great and we are having a really good time and working hard. That is what it is all about. All is well and I hope the same for you. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Wall
PS. Six months from today I will be getting on a plane. Where has all the time gone? I gotta use these last precious six months wisely, my time is running out.
Well this week was an awesome week. I loved it! Honestly last week was a little slow and we struggled a bit to stay busy. But me and Elder Farley kept at it, worked hard, and had a great week. By far the highlight of the week was church yesterday. It was by far the best church we have had since I have been here. Everything went picture perfect and we had great lessons and talks. One of our investigators wanted to go church but was shy and didn't know anyone. So our new Relief Society went and visited her and like it always does when people do their visiting, it worked and she came to church. It was great. Also she is an older lady and very respected in the community so a lot of other people have been asking us about the church and trying to find out what it is that made this woman leave the methodist church and go to church with us. It has been good.
We had really good priesthood and sunday school classes with lots of questions. The members are all recent converts and are all studying hard and trying to learn the gospel. So they have lots of great questions. It keeps me on my toes. But all the classes were awesome with great discussions and learning. It is so cool to see their knowledge and testimony of the gospel growing! The Lord truly is preparing them to be the foundation for the church in the future here in Kadavu.
Bro Seru gave a talk in sacrament that was amazing. It was his first time ever speaking in public in his 59 years of life. He was very nervous but prepared well and gave one of the best talks on the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smiths calling as a prophet. I was so impressed with his level of understanding and how he really "got" the message of the gospel. He ended with describing what a great blessing the knowledge of the restoration is and how it has changed his life as well as all of ours and how now it is our responsibility to share this happiness and blessing with others. I was so proud of him. It has been amazing to see him and his family's amazing progression and the change that they have had as a family and as individuals. It was like a pay day for me yesterday to see some of the fruits of our hard work.
Also, the Relief Society has taken it upon themselves to clean and put fresh flowers in the church building to prepare for Sunday; it made all the difference. It looked so nice and invited the spirit to be strongly with us. We also got a locking book cabinet to put all our hymnbooks and manuals in instead of piling them in the corner, and it looks so great. It has been cool to see our little wooden one room shack turn into a church building with a pulpit, white board, chairs, sacrament table, and now book cabinet. I still remember my first Sunday when it was an empty room and we all sat on the floor. I am so grateful to be a part of the progression and establishment of the church in Kadavu. We also had some good things happen with Rogo and Lasarusa who have wanted to be baptized but were preachers for the Methodist church. They went this week and resigned from the methodist church and are now ready to move forward with joining and becoming strong members in our happy little unit. I am excited for them.
I am loving my new companion! He is great and we are having a really good time and working hard. That is what it is all about. All is well and I hope the same for you. Love you all.
Love,
Elder Wall
PS. Six months from today I will be getting on a plane. Where has all the time gone? I gotta use these last precious six months wisely, my time is running out.
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