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
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.
"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.
Hope everyone has a good week.
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