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