February 21, 2010 E-mail and a message to Ben

Hey all! Here is Jake's latest. Also, Jake left a comment for Ben. It is listed in the previous post.



Well this week was super busy and passed by very fast. Last Monday we had our combined family home evening and it was awesome. We had 33 people who showed up and about six of them were from the Tavuki side that we go to twice a week. I think it is the first time that they have come over for a church activity. We had a great time and just had potluck snacks like scones and buns. We did the iron rod activity thing with the rope and blind fold [A lot of people call this a faith walk]. The kids loved it and did it like ten times each. I was really happy with the way it turned out.

The rest of the week we were in Kavala. We rode the boat (4 hours) out there and stayed until Monday. We just now got back. It was kind of slow because there is only one village open to us and it is not a true village, it is a school with a few other families. So there was not too much to do while everyone was at school. So we did lots of service gathering wood for the fire and planting dalo and working on the farm. We ate lots of fresh seafood which was awesome: crab and lobster and fish; it was good. We stayed with a member family and it was ok.

As much as it is rugged and like stepping back in time on this side, in Vunisea it is way worse there. No power or water. We hauled buckets of water from the river and junk like that. Got absolutely eaten alive cause we had no mosquito nets. Literally the flies ate me. I got a little tiny cut on the boat when I was getting out and the flies swarmed it instantly and I could not keep them off it all week. By the time we got here, it was huge because the flies were literally eating my flesh.

We had a very good baptism with a fifteen year old girl named Vinisita. I did the baptism in a little pool from the river with a little water fall. It was really nice. As I was getting out of the water, I thought I felt something crawl up my leg so I checked and then it started crawling up fast. I freaked out and started shaking my leg and a little crab fell out of my pant leg. I picked him up and took pictures so you can meet him. I have a officially gotten mushrooms and crabs on my mission. Ha ha.

We also did two baby blessings. My companion did one and I did the other. The unit there is awesome, 18 attendance. It is all youth. Only 2 adults; the rest are 14-18. It was fun being with them cause here we have no youth. We also were invited by the methodist church to do a musical number in their service so we went and sung I Know that My Redeemer Lives. It was really good.

On the ride back, we were on a little fiber boat and the sea was rough. My butt and back are killing me from slapping down on all the waves. It was a beautiful ride though.

Well that about covers my week I love you all and appreciate the love and support. Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Wall

Comment for Ben

I e-mailed Jake a copy of your comment and got a reply back. This was the only way I could think to let you see it. Here is his response:

Ben

Thats awesome. Elder Christofferson is a great guy he was hilarious. Fiji is beautiful and I love it. If your friend comes here the mission office is across from the temple in the same complex. They can just go give the letter to them and they will send it out here to me in Kadavu. See you soon.

Love Elder Wall

February 14, 2010 E-mail

Part 2 of the Rat Saga:


Well first thing's first: I was reading in 2 Nephi 31 and read that you must be baptized by fire, so we bought some rat glue, caught the rat, and I baptized him by fire. So I am definitely doing work saving souls. I am pretty sure that rat is not going to be meeting me again in the kingdoms of heaven.

Anyway we had a great week, but it was really busy. We had great success with the family of six. We met them on the road and were talking to them and they said, "Not this Saturday but next Saturday, you're going to baptize us there," and pointed to the beach; so that was really cool to hear. We still have some things to work with them with and make sure that they are really prepared, but the plan is for the first or second week in March. There are six of them, plus a small baby, so we will more then double the membership in our unit. It will be great.

Mom, you asked about grocery stores. Nope, at the post office and a couple little hole in the wall shops they sell the basics like flour sugar and such. Every Friday there is a market that the people bring in fresh fruits and vegetables to from their farms and we buy that. We also have a lot of people give us fresh food from their farms and sometimes they give us fresh fish they catch. My companion is an amazing cook and can make good food from nothing, so I am eating well.

We have been having tons and tons of people tell us that they want us to come and teach them, but we're struggling with trying to figure out who gets the opportunity to hear the gospel and who doesn't, because we only have so much time and so much money for transportation and most of the villages are very far away.

We walked to one of the villages that we go to usually on the boat because we couldn't find anyone to take us. Holy Cow was it crazy. We had to walk over like two big mountain peaks and go deep into the interior of the island and then back out to the coast; it was crazy and we're never doing it again. I thought I was gonna die. It was a million degrees with no water, and just up and down and up and down. Luckily we got a ride home. We also tried to make a short cut to one of the families we go see and did some trail blazing through the jungle; that was an adventure.

We are having a combined family home evening tonight and have some people from the other side of the island coming over for it, so that should be really fun and really good for the work. I am excited. Wednesday through Monday this coming week, we are going over to Kavala, the branch on the other side of the island. I have never been there yet so it should be really fun. It is a six hour boat ride to get there so I am not really excited for that, but we have a baptism waiting for us over there.

Well we have been working hard, we're super busy, and we are gonna be really busy this next week as well, so things are going good.

Much love and have a good week and a Happy Valentines Day.

Loloma Levu,
Elda Lalaga

February 7, 2010 E-Mail

Well this week was awesome. I got a lot of questions about our little annex. We have six official members right now: one is inactive and has not been to church in a long long time and one is a ten year old girl, so really we only have four adult members; three of which, are recent converts of about two months. We have one priest who is an Aaronic priesthood holder and is a recent convert, and one Melchezadik priesthood holder who is a return missionary. We the elders, are the branch leaders. We teach, conduct, preside, talk, and do literally everything in the annex; we're really hoping to start getting some callings and delegating responsibility to members. We have a large thriving primary of about 12 kids. A lot of them are baptismal age, but we really want to get their parents baptized before them so they don't just become less-actives.

Work this week was good. We did the Sevusevu in Natumua, which was cool. The chiefs were awesome and we had a lot of fun meeting them and talking with them. During the sevusevu, they did cool chanting and clapping and singing and things to accept our offering to the village. It was really cool to see. (An explanation of this ceremony was given in Jake's previous e-mail)

We have one family of four kids ages 15,11,10,8 who have been coming to church every week for a long time. We really believe their parents are getting close to accepting so we could baptize the whole family; that would be awesome. But they live very very far in the jungle, so it is hard to go see them more then once a week. We have some other investigators who show great potential, but really I think we just need someone to step up and take the first step to be the first member from that side of the island. After that, I am pretty sure lots will follow. We are praying hard to find the brave first soul.

We went crazy with contacting this week and met tons of good new people. Hopefully we can get some new members and enlarge our congregation. One thing we're very excited for is next week's combined FHE. Everyone is excited and it will be the first activity here.

We're also starting a weekly choir practice. Our hymn-singing on Sunday is pretty pathetic and as you all know, I don't help that out at all. My companion is a great singer and is musically talented, so he will be teaching them how to sing while I try to not make everything sound bad. Things are improving slowly but surely. It's good to see the excitement and commitment of our young members. They are truly converted and changed people.

Funny story from this week that I thought you might like: so I was preparing for bed and I went to use the bathroom. When I opened the door, there was a giant rat sitting on the floor, staring at me. We stared at each other for a minute, then the rat realized he was angry that I was in his house and I realized I was angry that he was in my house. So he decided to attack me. He ran at me and jumped on my leg and tried to climb up me. I then screamed and swatted it off and tried to stomp on it. It then tried again and again to climb up my leg. After about four or five times, it realized that I was eventually going to stomp on him and squish him between my toes, so he got scared and ran away...but by this time I had managed to grab the broom which I then swung, missed, and broke our broom. So it was an interesting experience. Ha ha! I know Grandma Thompson is gonna love that story.

That about covers my week. I hope all is well back in America. I am loving life here.

Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Wall

January 31, 2010 E-mail

Well what a week we had this week. It was awesome. Me and Elder Zeyer had a great time working hard and doing good things. One awesome day we went to Tavuki, Solodamu, and Tumua, it was so much fun! We rode the little fiber boat which was a blast: beautiful blue water, white sandy beaches, and the coolest old traditional village. On the way, Bro Lal the church member who owns the boat and takes us around, threw in a fishing line and fished. He caught a nice skip jack tuna, which was really cool to see. He dropped us off to go proselyte and then went fishing all day. It was fun. I love cruising in the boat it is a blast. He said that while he was on the way back to pick us up, a big pack of dolphins came and swam with the boat. We tried to go back and find them but they had already gone. Hopefully one day I can see them. Apparently we always see lots of sea turtles on our trips as well.

For service, we unloaded the boat that comes in once a week. It was a blast! It is such a big deal when the boat comes. EVERYONE goes to the boat. Tons of people don't even have anything to receive or send, they just go to watch. It was really cool to see all the people just come from the bush and all over.

One of the awesome investigators we have Dan. He is a genius and really studies hard. He knows the bible so so good and thinks so deep. He asks questions and makes comments that just blow my mind. He is searching for the true church and has gone to tons of churches and then proves them wrong with the bible. So he is studying really hard from the scriptures and loves the Book of Mormon. I really hope he continues to progress well because he has a boat and can take all the investigators from that side of the island to church on Sunday.

Yesterday we went and saw another great family, but holy cow do they live in the freaking jungle! We were planning and Elder Zeyer told me we were going to plan to see one family. I was confused and asked why we were only gonna try to see one. He said, "you will see."

Well I saw. We walked forever through the thickest craziest jungle ever. We just kept going up and down and up down over peak after peak. I was drenched in sweat and looked like I just ran a marathon by the time we got there. It is one family who lives by themselves deep deep in the jungle. They walk this long path to school everyday and when they need groceries and things, they haul it all the way back there. It is crazy. They are great though and asked great questions. The children all come to church every week but the parents only come sometimes. I think they were testing us yesterday. Last week it was raining, so we didn't go. So this week the parents told the kids not to go to church and they would wait and see if we would go out to visit them. Our lesson was great though and they all committed to church next week.

Another thing I am excited for is that this week we are going to do two sevusevu's, which is a traditional ceremony where you present goods and gifts like the whale's tooth (a rare valuable thing in Fijian culture) to the chief to allow you to enter the village and guarantee your protection so no one will chase us out. It will be fun and I am excited to see.

Bad news though; we got a phone call and Elder Zeyer is being transferred. I am pretty bummed. Not only have I only been here one week and do not know tons of the investigators and there is still three sides of the island I have never been too so that will be hard. But every time I get a companion I really love being with and connect with well, one of us gets transferred quickly. I don't know why, but it is frustrating. But hopefully my new companion Elder Finch and I will get along well. I just pray it will be good. He has only three months left too so I hope he is not trunky. Oh well we will just keep doing what I can.

Well I love you all and appreciate all the love and support I get. I feel your prayers. Have a great week. I know I will.

Love,
Elder Wall