What is up my family and friends, ha!

So real quick, the whole bank dealio is no big deal, haha. My card for the mission that we get support on isn't really working either, so I've just decided that as far as money goes it will be a long two years, haha! But I know it’s all good, things like this just figure themselves out. SEGA NA LEGA.

Anyways…. as far as the week is going, it’s like every other day in the office, which is extremely frustrating. Either I don't know something, or something is wrong with a landlord, or something is up, but it all makes things quite hard. We had a meeting with President Klingler about next year’s budget and how it will work out, so the whole week we were trying to figure that all out. Also, he gave me like four novels to read about my job, haha. They are just these church training materials about finance, computers, vehicles and supplies. Most of them are like 100 stinkin’ pages long, so I haven't finished them yet either. Snap.

Anyways, I heard a quote that solves all of my stresses: "Pray like everything is in God’s hands, and work like everything is in your hands.”  So pretty much we need to ask God for help in all that we do, but when we are done praying, we should just go out and do everything we’re supposed to do to the best of our abilities. By the end we can look back and see Heavenly Father’s influence in our lives, with Him helping us in the right direction. This goes for everything in life.

  

Earlier this week we were working in the office and a man came up to us saying that there was a guy down stairs who was asking for a blessing, so we grabbed the oil and went on down.  After talking with him for a little while we found out a bit about him (his name, where he lives, how long he has been a member, and all that kind of stuff). He told us that he was baptized three years ago with the rest of his family, but he is the only one that lives in Suva (they live in Nadi). He told us that a while back he had fallen at his construction job and since then his leg has been hurting really bad, but he can't afford to go to the doctor. So my companion anointed him with the oil and I sealed it and gave him a blessing. During the blessing I felt like I was watching myself give it. Instead of being in control of what I was saying, I was just standing and someone else was talking through me. At the end of the blessing I said that the promises therein would be given based on that person’s faithfulness and believing that they could come true with the power by which they were given. Afterwards I felt really good but kind of scared because of the things which were promised. So he left still limping and that was it. A couple days later he came back in saying that he was able to start working again and that his leg no longer was hurting him. He told us how much of a blessing it was because his daughter hadn't been in school for the past few months because they couldn't afford it, and he said when she found out she was going back that she was the happiest he has ever seen her, haha! I was dying this whole time. It was so freaking awesome/cool/amazing/the BOMB.  So therefore, this is for real, no doubt. I love the fact that I get to serve.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week. I have a blast at the flat with my comp and the AP’s, they are freaking funny. But this is the bomb, and I appreciate you all for supporting me so much.

PEACE AND BLESSINGS,

Elder Garrett Hanke

Just a reminder on the “translations”:

SEGA  NA LEGA = No worries

The BOMB = Really cool

AP’s = Assistants to the President (missionaries that also work in the office)

I guess I probably don’t really need to “translate” anymore; you all probably have this lingo figured out.  I keep thinking that Garrett will get past using it, but then it wouldn’t really seem like he was the one doing the writing if the lingo wasn't there any more, right? :)

He still seems to be pretty frustrated with working in the office, but he also seems to realize what he needs to do to get through it.  I love the quote that he shared in the letter, definitely words to live by.

Thanks to everyone for your support, have a great week, we love you all.

Life in the Mission Office...

Bula,

Lets just say I have been very humbled this week realizing that my last area was very easy compared to this new one. Geez, here’s how it is. My comp is Elder Tafuna'I, he has under a month left on his mission and he is the only one in the mission that has served in the office before so therefore he is the only one who knows how to do things. Another thing is that he only speaks FOB English (Fresh Off the Boat), which is just like broken English, so it makes it difficult to understand what he is saying, haha. So we go to the office every day after studies until about 4:00 or 5:00 p.m.  Afterwards we go out and try and get as many lessons in as possible until 9:00, and that is our whole purpose. The ward I'm in now is good but it is tiny compared to Suva 1st and 3^rd wards. Both of those had around 150 to 200 in attendance each Sunday; this ward has around 30 so.  I gave a talk yesterday, haha.  We have quite a bit of work to do in the ward but with only like three hours a day to do it in.  Freak, I'm not sure how exactly it will work out.  I don't even know why I'm in the office anyways, I’ not a computer kind of guy plus Im not a big fan of talking to upset Indian landlords while they can barely speak English, hahaha! We stay with the AP's right across the street from the temple and we get up every morning at 4:45, so let’s just say life is very different now.

  

Anyways, I'm done whining, it’s really all fine.  It’s really awesome; I'm just new so I know it will just get easier.

So… a couple of cool stories…

1.)  My first day in this area we went over to a recent convert’s house just to talk and what not and she said there is a girl who wants to take lessons and has gone to church with them a couple times.  Her name is Lini, she is sweet. We were able to get two lessons with her this week. But it’s just cool how we find people who God has prepared to hear the gospel.  We run into people all the time who are just golden and very ready for baptism. Heavenly Father works in his own ways most of the time. I don't understand, but as we just go with the flow things work themselves out as long as we are willing to change when it is needed.

2.) Hahaha, so this morning we got to play a basketball game against the Fiji National Team. Brother Whippy was in my old ward and he works for the church so I see him all of the time and so the two of us set it up.  So this morning at 5:00 the Elders played the National Team, it was way fun.  I'm just glad we have Elder Malo because he is 6'7” and 250, so we had someone down low to take their big guys. It was fun but they really aren't very good, ha, they probably couldn't beat Chattanooga Technical College. (Ok, not that bad, but you could definitely tell they weren't all-stars.) But it was still way fun, and we’re trying to set it up so we play them every Monday.

Anyways that’s about it from over here. I'm still having a blast and it’s still awesome but just different. 

Good to hear from you all.

  

Peace and Blessings,

Elder Garrett Hanke

We were at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Von’s house in Vernal when Garrett’s email came on Sunday night.  Kyle wanted to asked some questions, so we tried the “live email” process again, and it worked out, which was awesome in my book! Kyle wanted to know what Garrett does on his P Days, so here is the response to that question:

P-days we go out and e-mail and do all that kind of business, but from 2:30 until 5:00 we just play basketball and volleyball at one of the churches. A ton of YSA (Young Single Adults) come for the games, too, so we have like 100 people out to play. It’s way fun but playing the National Team is where it is at.

How are you Kyle?

Kyle and Jeff had me tell Garrett about the baseball tourney that Kyle just played in (playing with the older boys and getting Player of the Game in one of the games – good stuff!) and about all of the golf he’s been getting in this summer (in between baseball games).  This is the response from Garrett:

Playing with the big boys, that’s what I'm talkin’ about, haha! Keep working hard and practicing.....for going on a mission, haha!  But still that’s sweet, player of the game, nice, man.

We also received an email from Garrett late last night letting us know that he received his UPS package with his bank card, so that was a relief.

Hope everyone has a nice week.  Love to you all – and thanks for the support.

So yesterday was interesting, as far as emailing with Elder Hanke went.  Normally we send our email to him when we get home from church, which is early in the afternoon.  But I chose to be a little lazy, took a little nap, and then we had a surprise visit from Grandpa Ed – it was so good to see him.  He is doing very well at the spry age of 92, and sure enjoys taking a nice afternoon drive once in a while.  We had a very nice time with him for a couple of hours, and it was great that Steve was in Logan for the weekend, and Kyndra was home with us, too.  After he left I logged on to write the email, and wouldn’t you know it, Garrett had emailed about 15 minutes prior to that (earlier than ever), but all that his email said was…”Nova?”.  I replied quickly and told him I was there, to go ahead and send his nice, long, entertaining email while we wrote one to him. We did get to email back and forth for a few minutes, so it was great to get to chat with him in “live time” again, even though I could tell he was a little frustrated.

I told him I was finally able to get the street address for the mission home, so I will be sending his package with his new bank card. To that he said, “Well, I’m really out of time now, but next week’s email will be legit….if I get the package”.  My reply: “ha-ha”.  J

Below is the email for the week…

Bula Vinaka,

So this week went very well.  We had some awesome lessons with our investigators; I am so stoked for them. But then this happened: TRANSFERS, ha-ha. I'm leaving this area to go 10 minutes away to Samabula 2nd ward where my new comp will be my old Zone Leader, Elder Tafunai.  He is Fijian and it is his last month on his mission, but this is why it’s happening…. I'm becoming the Financial Assistant to the Pres.  Don't ask me why they picked a two-month old missionary with no computer skills or anything like that to do this, but whatever, it’s alright.  This also means that once Elder Tafunai is finished in one month I will have to train someone to do this with me.  The word on the street is that I will be in this position for at least six months, ha-ha, holy crap. I should hopefully still get to teach a bit, though.  I'll tell you my schedule next week, but for now that is all I know.  This could be way cool or way not cool, we'll see, ha-ha.

  

The worst part is that I'm leaving Komai and his family, they are the best.  Also I don't get to baptize the rest of the investigators we’ve been teaching in the ward, but really those are the only really bad things (but they seem really bad).  So my next e-mail should be pretty interesting.

But, I'm out of time so…..

PEACE AND BLESSINGS,

ELDER GARRETT HANKE

Raise your hand if you think Elder Hanke enjoys serving a mission in Fiji...

Bula Vinaka!

This week was way sweet! First of all, the Tongan girl I wrote about last week, Mele, agreed to be baptized and we set the date for the 30th of this month. We had such a sweet lesson with her, she had prayed and read a lot, so I knew she was ready. I'm so freaking stoked for her, mostly because she knows that this is what she needs to be doing and there is no doubt in her mind. ONZ, ha!

The next day we taught a girl named Barbara. She is sweet and is in the perfect situation to be baptized. She is from Kadavu, but she is staying in Suva with her Auntie while she goes to school at USP. Her Auntie and Uncle are strong members so Barbara comes to church every week with them.  Anyway, we talked about God preparing people to hear the Gospel and when we went over to their house for the second lesson it went really well. After the lesson we decided to ask her to be baptized and she was all for it. I was like, “ONZ, Sista! I know you’re doing the right thing. PERIOD.”  It was such a sweet week.

Sunday was sweet as well. Komai, the awesome kid I baptized a few weeks ago, he blessed the sacrament! He only received the priesthood like two weeks ago. He did really well, though. He messed up the first time but nailed it the second. I went up and talked to him after and he was stoked. Man, I love doing the stuff that I’m doing; I'm totally gonzo on being a missionary. Whenever I think about it, and the promises people make with me, it’s all a pretty big deal. Like one time this week this guy straight up promised us that he would stop smoking which is huge because he was doing like a whole lot of cigarettes a day. But when we went back five days later he hadn't smoked one. He said he just prays for help and it comes. ONZ, I can't get over how awesome everything is going.

Anyway, today is P day, so we went to a waterfall, which was so sweet. I slipped in the water and what not, but it was way fun. ONZ, ha-ha. But I am hoping you are all still having a good time, because I am! I'm sorry, but this is the BOMB! SERVE A MISSION! It’s so sweet when you do things that make it fun. There are those missionaries who aren't having a good time, but I know that if they would just give it their all they could have the time of their lives, just like me. Anyway, I know this church is true with all of my heart. When you can be so happy that you just wanna cry, that’s when you know something is true. The feeling deep down, knowing that what you believe in is true, it just makes everything perfect, even if you have a bad day. Nothing could change my mind from what I know and believe right now.

So I'll try and send pictures next week, but no promises, ha-ha.

Peace and blessings,

ELDER GARRETT HANKE

So….I was at the computer when Garrett's email came through, so I emailed him right back saying hello and that I loved him.  Here’s the response I got back:
Right back at ya, mama. How are things?

(Yes, this is where I got all excited because I’m emailing “live” with him.)  My next question was “What in the world does ONZ mean???”, to which he replied:

ONZ is just some slang used here. It means like “sweet” or “awesome”.

Well, we all know these are two of Elder Hanke’s favorite words, so I suspect that we’ll be seeing “ONZ” many more times in the next 20 months.  I asked how it was pronounced,, and he answered with:

You just say it like “ons”.  Pretty much say it all of the time and people will love you.

And all I can say to that is, Elder Hanke seems to be very, very happy and completely in his element, for which we are so grateful.  J

Love to everyone, thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Four months in already....

Bula vinaka!

  

So a few things about Fiji that are awesome….

1. The laid-back “Sega na Lega” lifestyle.  Missionaries just have to get used to it, but it didn't take me long.  The people here don’t want to be rushed, they just want “no worries”, so as missionaries we just have to try and get them to have the desire to things on their own. If you try and force them to do something not only will they not do it, but they won't like you anymore, so we really just try and get them to want to do it themselves.

2. Drunk people are very funny, ha-ha. We don't run into a whole lot of them but when we do it is hilarious.  So yesterday we finished our last lesson of the day and were just heading back when a guy yelled out to us to come over to him. He was talking way loud so all of the little kids came over and were listening, but he ended up singing us a Fijian hospitality song which was so funny, and then he was asking us our ages. He asked the others first… they were 19, 20, then when he asked me I said tinikaciwa, which is 19 in Fijian, ha-ha. He grabbed me and gave me a big ol’ hug, then a nice kiss on the cheek, ha-ha! I about peed my pants from laughing so hard.

3. The people here are growing on me a lot. When we teach people and mostly just get to know them they will be so loving as long as you try and just be yourself with them. They attach really pretty easily, I love them so much. The people we teach are my best friends and also the members of the wards are so sweet. I hope I serve in this area again, that would be the best.

  

Anyways… so the Wards I cover are both English speaking wards and so we teach mostly in English and that is really frustrating because it makes it super hard for me to learn Fijian.  (I wanna so flippin’ bad!)  The word on the street is that I might be getting transferred to the bush somewhere, so I'm just hoping it’s an area where I'm just isolated and that I won't be able to e-mail or do anything for like 6 months, ha-ha! But who knows, I just wanna learn the language so stinkin’ bad and it’s tough here.

  

I really do love it here though, the city is awesome. We are teaching a Tongan girl who is about 22. We had a lesson with her on Saturday and she is really good but she has a sketchy family, ha-ha.  Her dad is a Methodist preacher so obviously he is against it but we were talking to her about the situation and how she could talk to him about it. Then we gave her a baptismal date for the end of this month, which she accepted, and we told her that she has to tell her dad before then. She said she would, I think this week, so we should have another baptismal date as well.  The work is going good here.

So the Ostlers left this week and in came President and Sister Klingler.  They are actually from Kalispell, Montana (I thought Dad and Grandpa and Grandma might wanna hear that), but they are sweet. Today we had our mission tour so all of the missionaries in Fiji came to Suva for the weekend.  It was awesome seeing my whole district and what not.  There is so much going on that I can't even write everything but just know that miracles are real, I see them every day. People can change when they choose to accept what we share and then apply it into their lives. The gospel brings so much joy into people’s lives, I can't even explain it.  Just knowing that if someone will read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and then act on the answer they receive, and just knowing that by doing these simple things their lives can be blessed so much.  I just want everyone everywhere to do that and I know they can be blessed so much.  I know it’s true because I have seen it happen many times. I love the gospel for the happiness that it brings and for the direction it gives.

So you want to know about a typical Sunday….  They are pretty crazy. We go to Suva 1st ward at 8:00 and sacrament meeting is last so we leave sacrament early and go to Suva 3rd ward because in both wards we have to check and see if any of our investigators came to church. After church is over we always have someone in the ward feed us lunch which is way good. Then the rest of the day is spent teaching lessons, its packed and now that we have a car its even crazier, ha-ha.

  

‘Til next Monday, your Sunday, ha-ha….

ELDER GARRETT HANKE

  

Peace and Blessings  

Garrett's sense of humor continues to shine through, but we're so happy to always read that he loves being a missionary and doing the work in Fiji.  Not sure how I feel about "the bush" and no emailing for six months, though!  :) 

Love to everyone, thank you so much for your support. Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!