Bula Vinaka!

Bula Bula

How goes it? hahaha

  

So a couple of way sweet things happened this week.  I finally met up with Pita's mom and dad, they are awesome just like I knew they would be, we talked for a while and what not. Pita’s little girl turned 1 a couple days ago and she looks a lot like Quincee, haha.  They said that Pita bought a new house and is doing really good with the farm and what not. I’m going to go to lunch with them this Friday or Saturday. But ya, that was cool, I walked up to the church not knowing they were there and then one of the members was like "Don't you know? This is Bro. and Sis. Vakalala”, and then I were just like “Woooooooo hahahaha”, and then she came over and gave me a big ol' Fijian kiss! So ya, they are great people.

What else.... Saturday was sweet.  So the Fijian Branch is part of the Tongan Stake which I love, haha and all of the youth had a big Volleyball tourney Saturday morning and they asked the missionaries to be the refs because we wouldn't be biased.  I was like hahahaha ya right go Fiji team haha.  And then they made it to the finals, haha.  It was way fun, we were there for like 4 hours and I wish I could do that every day.

Other than that our week went really well. We met with the Nawaqatabu family that I mentioned last week, we taught them on last Monday but they had to cancel their lesson with us for Friday for some reason or another and then they didn't make it to church, but they are still doing good.  We definitely have a lot of work to do with them, but if we can baptize the son and mother then the trust we have with the members here will go way up so I’m excited. Referrals are very important in the Fijian ward because we can't just go tracting and expect to find some Fijians, they have to come from referrals, so trust with the members is very important.

So the whole week went good except Sunday, ha.  It was the first Sunday since I have been here that no investigators were at church. Our closest ones to baptism, Aliti, Beta, and Sita, weren't there. Aliti had to cover shifts for someone at her work and Beta and Sita were out of town, so that was a bummer, but we should be seeing them get dunked pretty soon, which is exciting. The work in that ward is bomb and I’m excited for it.

As for the English ward, it’s a little bit more rough, but we do have a couple good potentials there.  The Bishop’s half-brother has accepted the Baptismal invite but for the past few weeks has been unable to meet with us because of family and sickness. He also has himself a new girlfriend that isn't a member and she may get in the way of his progress as well, hahaha. Keep in mind that he is 80 years old, hahaha, and still dating. He is a great guy though and the Bishop is very excited for this.

And also this week we added a new investigator from the English ward. This lady is about 35’ish and she has two kids, one of which is autistic and she is raising them by herself, but to say the least she has a lot on her plate right now.  So when we met with her she just began to cry and lay it all on us, she is a great woman. That is one of the things I love about missionary work… the uniform shirt and tie can be annoying sometimes but people really recognize us as servants and they understand right away that we are there to help them in their situation, and that with the Spirit makes a perfect environment for them to trust us right away.  She had never met us before but was able to trust us right away with the details of her life. But anyway she has a best friend who is a member of the church and just a couple weeks ago she went to Salt Lake to visit her and while they were there her friend took them to Temple Square and they went around and she agreed to send her name in as a referral, and now we are sharing the gospel with her.  Man, I love it.

Be an example in deed and in thought, be the person you would like to see in this world.  The greatest effect we can have in the world starts with us being who we need to be. “Have I done any good in the world today? ...if not I have failed indeed.” I love the examples I have in my life, who have helped me see what I need to be.  I love trying to look at people through God’s eyes, not thinking one bit about their past but focusing on what they are now and what they could be in the future, and I love trying to help them get to that place. And I love that we have Heavenly Father’s help to do this.

I love you all!

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke