Great pictures AND a great letter...

Elder Hanke and his companion Elder Estill



Sup MOMMA, and others out there,

The week was pretty different I guess you could say.

First off the weather was good pretty much all week so we got some serious sun every day, that was really nice because we got to go out and do some good work, but at the same time I was dying of heat stroke 24/7.

Next was on last Monday was the only day it really rained and so we got to play a big, big mud rugby game which was bomb, those are the best, ha.  We tried teaching the Fijian kids some American Football but it just turned into some weird version of rugby anyways.

After that would be our Wednesday.   All I can say is that it was rough, ha.  Both our lessons fell through, so we went out to this area to find some referrals we had been given from the ward. So first thing you need to know is that an address in Fiji is not some address on a block that you just drive by looking for the house number, here they tell you the area which would be like 3 miles squared say get on the road take 2 rights then a left, park the truck, go to the trail with a big Mango tree then follow it up until you come to a purple house. Which is sometimes impossible to find,  but we try our best, ha. So this time we were out looking for a lady name Sister Sunita.  We were searching and asking everyone for like 2 hours when we called the Branch Pres. and asked him whereabouts it was and he then informed us that he accidently gave the wrong name with that address. So this whole time we had a Fijian boy walking with us helping us find this lady but when we found out who we should have really been looking for we asked the kid first obviously, "Do you know Ratu Donumai Bulu?" and what does he say? Oh ya, that’s my father! So we found the referral I guess you could say but it was just a crazy experience, ha.

Next was onThursday we had service in the morning which was the beginning steps to putting a floor on our jungle chapel so we went out and got the base started then Elder Terry the senior missionary said he would go drop the second load of wood off the next day.  So Friday came, we were just starting our weekly planning when he gives us a call saying that the load was too big, and while he was driving down the road in the middle of town his tailgate gave in and all the wood had fallen out.  So luckily we had our truck so hurried and ran over to where he was in our proselyting clothes and helped him with that. By that time it was already too late for our lesson so we had to cancel and we went out and dropped it off.

Saturday comes along, get up at 4:30, get dressed in our work clothes and go out to the chapel and while Elder Terry cut the wood and did the measurements, Elder Estill and I did everything else. We carried it all and nailed it all, ha, we probably nailed 500 nails each my hand was pretty much raw by the time we finished at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.  After a long day of some hefty work we went out to dinner then came home and crashed. It felt super good to do work like that for a day, but I'm not gonna lie, I was probably the most homesick I have felt since coming to Fiji because it reminded me so much of working with dad on a house (especially the part of me carrying all the wood, haha).

And lastly would be Sunday.  In the morning we went to church in Naduna and had to jet out early to came back to Labasa and confirm Alvin, the boy we baptized last week.  Ha, we almost didn't make it, but it all turned out fine no worries. After church in the evening we had a really important lesson. The Kumar family is our newest Investigators, and they are definitely a tender mercy of the Lord.  When we first met them thy really just wanted the son who is 9 years old to be baptized, but after sitting down with them and explaining that the gospel blesses everyone but the most blessings come in the Family unit if all of the Family lives it together. Their English isn't the best and we obviously don't speak Hindu-stani so it has been hard to figure out their concerns and ask them questions.  They have understood the gist of our message but nothing really to make them really commit to anything. So last week I set up this lesson with them where we would take a convert Hindi couple from Labasa of 17 years, take them so they could explain about our message more thoroughly and so we could ask better questions and receive better answers. Well it went just how we wanted we were able to share about the Book of Mormon in more detail and the importance of Prayer in our lives. They understood it all and towards the end we shared a little about baptism and asked them what the importance would be of them all being baptized as a family together.  The Spirit was so strong, you could tell what we had shared and them thinking about the question. It was really hitting them hard and all the mother could say with tears in her eyes was just that "all I know is it is important, and that we must do it", so that really hit me hard. It will still take some time for them because they don't want their parents to be upset with them because in their culture honoring your parents is very big. So as for them we'll just have to rely on the Lord and do our best with them.

I have never felt such a weight on my shoulders, such a responsibility for others. This is the first time I'm teaching an entire family together and the first time I'm teaching people with no Christian background  at all, so we have to share from the very basics of who God is and Jesus Christ, so it is a huge challenge for us, but I think it will improve my teaching a bunch. But I don't think I have cared so much for the welfare of another family as much as I do with them. If they don't get baptized I honestly don't know what I will do, it would crush me, so we will see.

But that’s it for now, and I did call on the package and the AP's have it and will bring it up next week so no worries there.

Thank you very much, I love you and I know what we share as missionaries is true.

Peace and Blessings,

Elder Hanke

So here are a couple of pictures.  My comp Elder Estill, one of our members Tivili, and I on our coconut bridge. We cross little bridges like this all the time but mostly we just trudge through the mud, so there is another reason the sulu's/man skirts are good, ha.  We’ve also got in our hands the Fiji water bottle. At the beginning of each day we shave a couple coconuts and carry them with us so after the lessons we can have a nice drink and a snack. In Fijian the coconut meat/flesh is called Lewe ni Bu and it is delicious.  We carry a Machete/Sele with us (Tivili is holding a machete) to cut grass out of our way and to open the coconut.

Next is a pic of me and my boy Elder Hansen outside our flat here in Labasa. We get a sunset pretty much every day and where our house is, is a great spot to see them. We have a couch sitting outside on our porch so if we’re home for the sunset then we sit out there and watch it go down.

Elder Hanke didn't have much to say this week.  Steve and I both had a couple of emails back and forth with him, all short and sweet. Steve sent him a picture of a tool collection of Grandpa Ed's that will belong to Garrett when he gets home, and also told him that he was waiting for Grandma Von's pork roast to come out of the oven.  In addition, he mentioned to Gar that I should be thinking about getting a condo in St. George. (Yes, Steve wrote that!)  Gar's response:

Hahaha you think you are getting hungry ha i'm starting to drool that sounds so good, ha.

Ya, those tools look awesome and it will be a privelage to have them, I'll have to put some good work in with them. That's one really important thing, that I want to be just like you.  I have always thought and still think that if I ever needed anything to be done you could do it yourself and not need help. I hope that I can be the same.

On the opposite side of things, the only response to my email was:

I'm trying to load a pictrue or 2 for you so that will be my e'mail, i think this computer is just way slow.

Pictures... are you kidding??  Okay, since I've been begging for months, I'll trade a good email for pictures (can't we get both?).

His next response was:

Dad told me to tell you to get a condo in st. George?........what the heck to that? And the picture deal isn't working and i don't have time to type a long e-mail so.....sorry about today i guess.

Peace and blessings,

Love,

Elder Hanke

So.... I guess that's it for the week.  I'll go with the "better some news than no news at all" theory. (We've tried the "no news"; I'd definitely rather have a few words than none at all.)

Hope everyone has a nice week.  Happy Valentines Day, too.

11 months in.....

Ni bula re,

Sorry it took a bit to get started this week (this email came pretty late on Sunday night).  It is a public holiday so most everything is closed but luckily this shop opened at 3 today.

Man those are some good pictures, ha, Dad sure is looking great (oh ya, and you guys do, too, ha). But ya, anyways it’s good to hear that the wedding and everything went well, I'm sure Dallon was very grateful that all of you were able to make it.

As far as the rain......ya, it’s just gotten worse.  It’s pretty bad and the wind has been picking up as well, so hopefully it doesn't get too bad because the people’s houses in the villages couldn't take it I don't think. Church got cancelled yesterday because of it, man it was rough.

So news for this week, Transfers came in and I got Elda Estill which is cool, he's a cool guy and a good missionary. But honestly I was hoping to serve just with islanders my whole mission mostly just because I will be around white people the whole rest of my life so I wanted to spend as much time as possible with the Kai Pasifika. It is a little weird though because we will be in a threesome for a week until Elda Mecham goes home.

We had planned yesterday for 20 lessons this week, 15 being with our investigators, but because of the weather we decided to cut that goal in half, which is a huge bummer but honestly what can ya do.

So yesterday we were supposed to have a baptism, and all went to the quitter. First off on Saturday we went over to the church to check on the baptismal font, good thing we did because turns out it was filled up with some really crappy brown water. So the only thing to do was take off my sulu, get in and try plunging it.  After a half hour of failing at that we decided the only thing we could do was get the trash can and I would fill it up then pass it up and Elder Estill would dump it into the grass.  This took a good hour, but we got it taken care of. Next was that we found out that the person who the investigator wanted to baptize is a recent convert and when we looked into it we found out that when they did his ordination to the priesthood they didn't do any paperwork so before he can baptize anyone he has to be re-ordained and set apart. And last is that when we told this to our investigator he was seriously depressed and was really bummed, I think that he was really looking forward to getting baptized.  When he showed up to church in his jeans and a t-shirt soaking wet it still helped me have faith and always understand that there is always good with the bad.

That would be the main thing this week and hopefully we can get it under control this week and get that rolling.

So ya, things here are still going great though.  A lot of blessings are being realized and that’s always good to see and understand.

I love you all,

Peace and Blessings

Elder Hanke

I was able to chat back and forth a bit with Garrett tonight, always love that.  :)  Remember when Garrett mentioned his "best friend in Labasa"?  Then in a letter about a month ago when I asked him who his "best friend" was he told us about Pita Vakalala; the guy whose family feeds Garrett and his comp all of the time, who he's become really close with.  So I asked Garrett how Pita is doing, and this is what he said:

"We go to his house like every other day and he's not only a best friend, he's more like family.  He takes good care of us and feeds us a lot.  I am also working with him about making an investment about some farming. He just purchased 99 acres of his village's land, and with it me and him would export Dalo, Yaqona, and Sadelwood. Right now he is doing that but only with 1 acre, which is where I would come in, giving him money and helping him so we could use all of the land. It is a little gold mine out there, this land has never been used before".  

Ummmm, not sure what the mission rules are about going in to business, but Garrett always has been one to be looking for the "big idea" (crazy or not!).  Sometimes I wonder if he really plans to ever come home!  :)

He also told me that his new companion is from California, and has been out for 13 months, two months longer than Garrett.  Speaking of that.... I can't believe Gar is up to 11 months!  Every month just seems to fly by.   

By the way, congrats to Dallon and Natalie, so happy for the newlyweds!  We enjoyed a great weekend in St. George with lots of family, and lots of warm sunshine.

Hope everyone has a good week.