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
Thursday, September 23, 2010
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
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