The last one...

This is it - the last one... the last email to receive from Elder Hanke as a missionary. I was afraid it would come down to this today...I chatted with Garrett for about 30 minutes… then he was outta there!  But I have to say that I understand...I’m so excited for Wednesday - I can hardly stand it!

Here’s the short message we got from him:

Man o mally thomas o mally the alley cat this is weird.

Haha who woulda thought this woulda ever happen right haha!

But I’ve got a few items of business.

What is my phone number again?

When will I be released?

What do you think about me flyin back?

And I would come back with them but half the reason for me to go would be to go to church at the branch and it doesn't start til 1, then i would need to stay back for a few hours and eat and tell stories right? (The Pike family was kind enough to offer to let Garrett go to or ride back from San Francisco with them when they take a little vaca there this weekend for spring break.)

I heard there is a flight that goes from provo to frisco for 69 bucks so if you could check on that, that would be good?

So I got him what he asked for, checked on flights, who knows what will happen.  We just kind of fly by the seat of our pants, but all is good.

I am so grateful to be his mom, and to have such amazing family and friends!  We are so blessed. 

So T minus 42 hours and counting… woot-woot!  J

Oh, and here’s an update on the homecoming! Due to scheduling conflicts and changes with General Conference, our ward had to change Fast Sunday to April 14^th.  So… we had to reschedule Garrett’s homecoming for April 28^th. Meeting time is 11:00 a.m., address is 1255 North 400 East.  Church is on the West side of the road.  We'd love to have everyone there!

Thanks to everyone for all of your love and support – it’s been a great two years!  Kind of bittersweet right now... we will miss having him out there so very, very much... but it will be so awesome to have him home.  We wouldn't trade this experience for anything.

And then there was only ONE P-day left...

Well folks, Elder Hanke is now the official recipient of THE TRUNKIEST MISSIONARY award.  His ”chat” (no real letter again… so I give up) was so goofy today, so I hope all of you get a laugh.  He seems like a little kid on Christmas Eve… he’s had too much candy, he’s happy, excited… but when Christmas day is over it will be a little bittersweet and melancholy – because he’ll realize it’s all done and he can’t get it back.  But he’s happy, seems to be doing well… just enjoying his P-Day to the max for sure.  He’s now writing in what I would call complete Fijian/Ghetto slang, so fair warning.  J 

 

First email response:

Nova 

why dont you just write me a letter? life would be so easy, stop yo jokin and yo teasin, come on now you can write me a letter!  (Totally mocking me for begging for a letter…!)

Second response:

We are busy, I’m going to write you a letter that will make up for everything haha. Besides how am i supposed to focus when you and dad keep talkin about how i got justa couple days lef haha.

Third response:

hahahaha nova scotia, it’s ok we are just busy and I’m tired and we laugh too much in here fo me to e mail. But we are doing great haha. So i found out that there is a flight that goes from like  Idaho Falls to Oakland for like 60 bucks or something like that and we have a baptism on the 30th haha so the idea to come back that weekend might be back. But as for the month when i am home i have to get ready for work number one, so if we go visit family we can only really do it on the weekends because there is training during the week for the job that i would need to go to.

but what sayest thou?

And that’s all he wrote!

Can’t wait to see everyone at the homecoming… and anyone that wants to come to the airport when he flies in please feel more than welcome to do so.  March 27^th at 1:15 p.m. is the date and time… then afterwards we’ll all go to dinner.  And just a reminder... the homecoming is on April 14th at 11:00 a.m.

Love to everyone…thank you so much for your continued support. I can’t believe there’s only one week left… or more accurately… 8 days.. and about exactly 18 hours from right this minute! Woo-hoo! J

Love to get the pics....

So, we found out that Kyndra has a friend who happens to have a brother (Elder Hamilton from Rupert, Idaho) who is serving in Garrett's mission, and now in his same district since their recent transfers. Elder Hamilton sent his sister the below pictures yesterday, and she was kind enough to send them over to Kyn.  Always love to get the pics.... they do a mama good.

As of right now... 14 days... 21 hours... 26 minutes... until the plane lands...  :)

Two to go...

Thought I’d get today’s email put right on the blog so that I don’t get caught a week behind schedule again… but – there’s really nothing to post.  Elder Tavoi has now reached the SUPER TRUNKY stage…. (I guess that’s what you’d call it.) 

I’ll translate the chat I had with him today… because basically he is now just writing in what must be Polynesian/American/Trunky Missionary slang, which is truly worthy of a “ha ha ha”. 

The initial email today was true to form with a…

“Yo Novs, my mama, how’s it going?”…

Which I followed up with “How are you?”, and then got the reply of:

“Super good mama, super good. Thanks for asking, ha ha. How’s the jobsite these days?  But for real on the real, how are you doin? Sorry, but I don’t feel much like emailing.  Forgive me, but I’m planning on sending you a nice letter to make up for this past week, and the next two weeks, haha.” (Major translation I just did there.)

I then, of course, asked several questions trying to get any kind of an update from him, and also asked how he was planning on merging back into using the English language. 

“I ain’t gonna merge back, haha, only for those mas importante occasions”.

So…. that’s all he wrote folks!  If I get the letter in the mail, I’ll post it on the blog.  In the meantime, we’ll just be grateful for a healthy, happy missionary who loves what he’s doing – can’t ask for much more than that, right?  J

16 days and counting….

Three...

Sorry everyone, I’m a slow poke…

Didn’t really get a “letter” from Garrett last Monday, just had more of a short chat. He’ll usually respond to my emails with a “What’s up Mom?”, and it goes from there – then before I know it, his email time is up!  So here’s what I got out of him:

Life is super good right now, we are havin a good time out here.  The best is this Samoan family that we are meeting with right now they are all super awesome and their son "Pesi" we gave him a baptism date yesterday night for the 30th of March. He is super ready and there are a couple others who will be baptized out of the family very soon which is awesome. I feel very at home with them and we are able to spend like 4 or 5 nights there a week teaching and eating which is sweet.  I thought I would come here to this area and lose some weight because I wouldn't be around as many of my kind but I was very wrong, I might end up gaining a bit, haha.

Other than that things over all are just really good, Richmond is still ghetto and is still awesome, haha. 

After a few questions from me, this is what I got back…

When I say “my kind” I mean that sometimes I feel like our family was supposed to be from Fiji, haha! And I won’t have time to e-mail again after, sorry, busy busy.

I understand a little of Samoan and Tongan but I speak less.  Just the normal stuff like hello, how are you, I’m good, I want to eat, hahahahaha, where’s the food, I’m full, hahaha.

The days are going quickly now, we’ll be picking him at the airport before we know it!

Love to everyone – I’ll try to get the new emails posted a little more quickly, only a couple to go!

Counting down.... four....

Four emails to go….. I am going to miss them…

Bula Bula Bula,

So...Rich what? Richmond. hahaha

This place is really just what I imagined, haha, but it’s chill though because all the crazy stuff that I imagined only happens at night and we ain't out at night, haha. We were walking in Richmond a couple days ago near some projects and a cop pulls up in front of us and asks us who we are then was just like, you know where you are right? And we were like ya, so then he drove off haha. Just in case we got shot he wanted to make sure that he warned us first! haha, 

jokes mom! i know you’re probably freakin right now, but it’s really not bad at all. I haven't felt weird at all, but like I said all the crazy comes out at night and during the day they are just resting from the night before.

But really is cool here, the Fijians in the new ward are super awesome and just like most I served where they grew up in Suva so we’ve gotta lot to talk about. We have quite a bit of work to do here which is good because there is a lot of poverty so there are in turn a lot of people looking for help, so there is plenty to do, plenty of lives to bless so I’m pretty excited about being here, I realized last week that we really only learn if we are out of our comfort zone putting ourselves to the test. Haha I must have a lot to learn because I am way, way, way out of my comfort zone. My last area was like Utah, really safe and chill, but here it can get pretty hairy in some places, so I will definitely learn.

Hope all is good.

Peace and blessings

ofa atu

Elder Tavoi

Lots of updates....

Yet another sweet email from Mary Tagilala… with the below pictures!  I think she is coming to General Conference in April… so I cannot wait to meet her!

I got this email first thing on Monday morning… wasn’t sure what she really meant by “I’ll wait for Elder Tavoi to email you first”, but you’ll get the gist after reading Garrett’s letter that came later.

Bula Vinaka Nova -

I'll wait for Elder Tavoi to email you first before I send you an email. I always want to hear news first from my Missionaries and I know you'd probably want that as well. Yes its P-Day today :). Mail, mail mail!! Yayyyy!. I can't wait for my 2 missionaries to email me as well :)

We love both Elder Chapman and Elder Hanke (Tavoi). They've been such a wonderful blessing to our Fijian Branch :). Thank you for sending your angels to us :).

Lolomas,,

Mary Tagilala

Redwood City, California. (SF 2nd Fijian Branch)

Missionary Mom to Elder Tagilala - NVLV Mission - 6/2011 to 6/2013

Missionary Mom to Sister Tagilala - SLC West Mission - 10/2012 to 4/2014

Soon to be Missionary Mom to Sister Oli Tagilala :)

Garrett's letter: 

So here is the dealio, haha,

Chips (Elder Chapman) and I got a call on Saturday night from the office saying that we are being transferred. Elder Chapman is going to Concord, and I’m headed again to the ghetto of Richmond (on the Oakland side again).  It’s the same place where the movie Coach Carter is based off so maybe that gives all of you an idea of what it’s like, haha.

It was super crappy saying goodbye yesterday to the branch members but on the good side there are a lot of Fijians in the Richmond area that go to the ward there so it’s not all bad. I'll be focused on tryin to find the reason for me to go there.  Hopefully there are some Fijians that we can help, it will be pretty interesting. My comp I heard is 5 foot tall, haha so that’s crazy. Our investigators are great though, when they get baptized we will be able to come back here for that.

And also Nova, Mary Tagilala is going to be bringing our investigator to General Conference with her in April, so that will be a good chance to see her and I know you will really like the other lady as well and she really reminds me of you in so many ways haha so it will be good for sure. No better way to start off my life back home.

I definitely was fortunate to serve here for as long as I did, 9 months is way longer than anyone else, haha. And our branch pres. wanted to call Pres. Meredith (the mission president) to ask him what the heck he is doing, haha. But the good thing is that I will still be able to be around them a lot and come see them often for branch parties and stuff.

Hope all is well at home.

Peace and blessings/kalougata tiko

Elda Tavoi

So I believe that the pictures were all taken on Sunday after church meetings… when Garrett and his companion were able to say goodbye to everyone. L  I know he is sad to leave them (which explains the pouty look on his face I guess), but it sounds like he’ll have lots of opportunities over the next month to see everyone. 

So – here’s the scoop:

·         Garrett flies into SLC on Wednesday, March 27^th at 1:15 p.m. on Delta.

·         Homecoming date will be Sunday, April 14^th at 11:00 a.m. at our church house in Logan, 1155 North 600 East.

I can’t believe it’s almost over – five weeks from today he will be home… 35 days… but who’s counting? 

Can’t wait to see everyone and have our Gar Bear back, at least for a little while.  Right now his plans are to leave around May 1^st to go to Washington, DC for his summer job.

Life goes on… all is good… we are very blessed.

This must be most of the Fijian Branch members

Elder Hanke and Elder Chapman

 I think that this is the Tagilala family.

 The Elders with the Ladies, of course!  :)

No letter from Elder Hanke last week.  We did chat a bit, still no resolution on when the Homecoming will be.  I’ll keep you all posted though.

In the meantime, enjoy this week’s letter… along with a sweet bonus (see letter #2, and hopefully I can get the pictures to work out!).

2/11/13

Bula Vinaka,

Such a good week, it’s also good because for the next little bit at least until mid March  t he weeks should be getting better and better. We were able to teach our investigators this week and some seriously good lessons with them super stoked to see them progress to baptism. 

First off one of them was a referral from another ward in the stake and she is awesome. We set a date with her for the 16th of march and she is really looking forward to it, her son was recently baptized and got married to a girl from Utah they have since moved to salt lake, but he said that he will come back for the baptism and he will perform the ordinance so awesome to see how it all is coming together for her she does have to overcome smoking but she really wants to so we promised her that she will focus on the Lord she will be able to accomplish her goal to quit.

Second is a lady named  Myriam she has been taught long before I came here and we have been trying to help her for the however many months I have been here with no real progress, but just recently we shared with her about forgiveness both being forgiven and forgiving others and she really took it to heart and said that because of it she realizes that she needs to make a change in her life and move on because she has had a really rough past, but the direction she wants to move is towards baptism so we set a date with her for the 2nd of march. We are really surprised about it but really feeling super blessed.

we also met with Bill and a couple other investigators and they are all doing good and we are enjoying working with them. 

other than that we had zone conf. this past week and thats always really good and then just a bunch of other jus normal stuff so overall a really good week.

loloma yani

peace and blessings,

Elder  Hanke

We received this email  from sweet, sweet Mary Tagilala who is a member of the Fijian Branch.  This is the lady that will send emails and pictures every couple of months – I call her our Fijian Angel!  She obviously watches out for our Elder Hanke, which this mama really appreciates! J

2/2/13

Bula Nova,
 
 We had a wonderful time at Dinner last night with Elder Hanke and his companion Elder Chapman. They brought along Elder Allphin and Elder Ah Mu to dinner and it was just so much fun being with them. What wonderful young men these Elders are and we are grateful for them. Elder Hanke is doing really great out here. It's a countdown for him aye :). Next month is just so much closer - I know you must be super excited :). We're going to be so so sad to see him go because he's just been so much a part of us out here. He is Elder Tavoi  to us out here :). That's his Fijian name :). Everyones used to that even our Bishop. He's got a good grasp of the language and the we text him, talk to him and greet him in the Fijian Language - totally great!. What an awesome and sweet young man he is!!Thank you so much for raising such a wonderful wonderful Missionary.
 
 Best,
 
 Mary :)

A big shout out to Diana – YEA!!!!  Treatments are a thing of the past… only direction to look is ahead!

Love to everyone.... have a Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

It was a "superfreakingood" week....

Bula Vinaka kemudou na wekaqu,

I love life, haha, I love the week I have just had. I also hope everyone had a good week like me.

Blessings from the week have been too much to handle, I can't even explain to you how pumped I am for what has happened, it’s just awesome. First I just wanna tell you that I know God lives, no doubt whatsoever in my mind about that statement. A few things have happened this week that have further solidified my testimony and my conviction of that truth. First off, this one may seem lame but it was intense for me, haha. I woke up on Wednesday and couldn't find my wallet.  Now this may not be a very big deal and that’s how I pictured it right at first.  I figured I just lost it somewhere and would have to start the process of replacing things. Really taking no thought really to ask for Heavenly Father’s help. The very next day in the morning we had our annual interviews with our Mission President, they happen about every three months and it just happened to fall on Thursday.  But anyway in the interview I told him about the situation and his advice was to kneel in prayer and ask for help to find it. Long story short, I did and what happened? I found it just a few hours later. I never really pray for things like that but man o mally let me tell you that I won't ever not pray for something like that again. He lives and cares about us.

Secondly, each night we as missionaries ask God to help us in our efforts to find, teach and baptize people.  Well it seems like lately He has made it pretty difficult for us to keep on trying to do it, sometimes we just feel like to give up and not work as hard but you know we keep on going. Well, what happens - we receive information about a lady who wants to be baptized and is excited to come to church.  I called her on Thursday night and what would ya know but the information was true and she is very excited!  We set our first appointment up for this Wednesday and she is super ready and super excited to get started on this journey. I was shocked because it is for the English-speaking ward we cover and we don’t spend a whole lot of time working there and there hasn't been a baptism in that area for a couple years.  Haha, oh the blessings... He lives and He cares about us.

Lastly, holy smokes, talking about this makes me get the chills but here we go. A couple weeks ago we had a member of our Fijian branch invite a friend over to listen to her speak in church, which was a genius idea.  She really had a great time and enjoyed what she learned and came again the next week, and then again yesterday.  We were finally able to talk to her and she was so excited and ready that she invited us to come to her house every night this week. WHAT???!!!! Are you kiddin me, I’m so pumped about the situation that we are in, haha! There is more to the story but I’m tired so I think it will need to wait for a couple months. But just know this.....He lives and He cares about us.

kalougata tiko/peace and blessings

Elda Tavoi

I love this kid’s emails…. J I was able to chat with him a bit yesterday, and then he sent this nice email last night.  He kept telling me in our chat yesterday that he had a “superfreakingood” week last week, so now I know why.

And the wallet – really???!! Again??!!  I think he failed to mention the fear of the wrath of his mother… we’ve replaced everything in that child’s wallet too many times over the years. Ha ha ha.

No update on the release date…. So T- 2 months, and counting.  It’s going to go fast now!

Thoughts and prayers are with Di, Jeff and the 5 K’s.  And thank heavens for amazing Grandparents!

A 21st birthday, a new release date, and a nice little letter...

Well – clearly I am becoming a little “trunky” myself… not staying on task and losing focus!  Sorry to everyone for making you wait for so long for the latest post from Elder Hanke.  Two Mondays ago, January 14^th, was his birthday… my little boy is 21, hard to believe.  I “chatted” with him a bit that morning, then he and a few other missionaries went to a birthday lunch.  He said they were also going to play ping pong and basketball... then about 8 hours later I got a quick message saying they'd had a good day, but he was just too worn out to write any more. 

Also, I received an updated travel itinerary from the Church’s travel office on Monday with yet another release date for Garrett:  MARCH 27, 2013… which is one week earlier than the last date of April 3^rd.  I sent the itinerary to him, and he let me know that he didn’t know anything about that date change, and that wouldn’t work out for him, because he HAS to be there on March 31^st for some big Fijian celebration where he was expecting to see everyone for the last time and say his last goodbyes.  So – we’ll see what comes of that…. Because for whatever reason, Elder Hanke thinks he’s going to change his release date back to April 3^rd.  More to come on that. J

Anywhoooo – below is the email from this week… enjoy:

January 21, 2013

Bula bula bula 

This week went pretty good again, I just wanna say again how good the feeling is to be a servant of the Lord, there has been no greater joy than to be doing this work. Understanding that each day we are on the Lord’s errand and feeling His influence as He guides me has been a great feeling and something I will always strive for.

Let me share with you an experience we had on Friday evening. It had been almost 2 weeks since going across the bay to visit some Fijians.  We had been trying to make it across all week but just hadn’t had the chance, so finally we decided that we needed to go. Our first and only stop was with a family who had been struggling in the past. We stopped by and luckily the father was home, he explained to us that they had been having a very difficult week and that he was very glad that we stopped , they had family and car problems so he wasn’t doin very good at this time.  He told us that us stopping by was like an answer to his prayers and that he had just been thinking about us. I know that we all have the ability to be guided to someone in need if we will just listen to and heed the promptings of the Holy Ghost, from God, and I also know just like Pres. Monson that the sweetest joys come from doing this work. In the scriptures we read that God’s work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, so when we team up with him and help him accomplish this great work he will bless us and we will feel closer to him and to those whom we are serving. I hope that we all will strive to find ways to serve and by doing so receive the blessings God has in store for us.

love all of you

Peace and blessings

Elder Hanke

Continued prayers are with Diana. 

Love to everyone! 

Happy New Year!

So it was a pretty good week.  Now that Sister Salawai got baptized, we have to go out and find more people to teach, so we didn’t get as many lessons in this week but we did make some good visits and had some good lessons.

We stopped by two less active families on Friday and had really spiritual lesson.  Both of them had a really rough 2012 and they were both really hoping for a good fresh start, so that’s what we talked about in the lesson. We read over part of 3 Nephi 11 and then Helaman 5:12, which is my favorite scripture.  We talked a lot about building upon the correct foundation, a foundation of Christ and his teachings having the center of the family and relationships be Christ’s teachings instead of greed or envy or hatred, which can make all the difference.

I feel like the last 21 months I have seen and learned a lot of things, one being the fact true happiness cannot come from anywhere else but a family or person that is built upon the solid doctrines of Christ. The plan of happiness truly is a PLAN OF "HAPPINESS".  There is so much to see and to do and to achieve but none of it matters if we don’t have the correct foundation.  If we try to build our lives upon some other plan or upon some other purpose when the day of trial and tribulation comes the foundation will fail and that individual will have nothing to fall back upon.

I love the gospel, I love my mission, I’m grateful for every experience I have had so far and I’m looking forward to the future with hope. I know God knows me and everyone, I know that Christ is our perfect example and we will become the best person possible only when we follow 

and strive to become like Him in our lives, I know the truth was restored through Joseph Smith and if anyone doesn’t know this themselves all they need to do is read the Book of Mormon wanting to know for themselves, and I know this will be the biggest blessing that anyone can receive, a confirmation of its truth. Their life will not be the same but will have deeper meaning and a srtonger resolve to be the best they can be.

I hope the new year brings heaven-sent guidance to everyone.

Peace and blessings,

Ofa lahi Atu

Elder Hanke

Well…. That letter’s a keeper for sure…. Great way to start the New Year!  J

We got a nice letter last week from Elder and Sister Sorenson, a senior couple in Garrett’s mission.  Apparently they like to help out Santa Claus for the missionaries, and then send their families a note and some pictures – which we’re happy to receive!  The letter was very sweet…. And below are the pics they sent.

Hope everyone is staying warm enough!

Continued prayers and love for Diana, Jeff and the 5 K’s. 

*****

(Looks like I will have to post the pictures later - after someone helps me figure out the new method for loading pictures on the blog.)

December 24^th / 25^th, 2012

We had a nice “email chat” with Elder Garrett on Christmas Eve (P Day), and again a “real chat” on the phone on Christmas Day – both very enjoyable.  He seemed to be most anxious for the Christmas day “eatings” he had scheduled with some Fijian families.  He sounded great, happy and healthy and on the downhill slide of the mission.  Three months left – now it’s going to go fast! (Maybe….) 

January 1, 2013!!

Here’s his email that came through today.  We again got to chat for a bit on email, which I always love to do!  Also check out the pictures that he sent across – each with its own unique explanation.

Love to everyone, and Happy New Year!  Hope everyone enjoyed a very nice holiday season.

Bula vinaka

What a crazy week we had hahaha soooooooooo good though.

First off last Monday after we called we went over to some of our Fijian members house and ate then relaxed then ate some more, what a good day of food haha had a roasted Pig and much, much more.

Other than that we had a great time teaching Sister Salawai this past week or actually I think only I really did, haha.  I feel kinda bad because it’s all in Fijian so he kinda just sits there and chills while I teach haha.

And then on Saturday we had definitely the most best baptism that I have had so far on my mission. It really was pretty intense because so many people have been waiting sooo long for her to be baptized.  There were a lot of people there and by the closing hymn they were all in tears. It felt so good just knowing that this baptism meant so much to so many people. It didn’t really hit me until that moment how important it was to everybody. And during the end Brother Cinavi (her son) got up and was speaking and he said that he told her one way that you can know that this is true is because it will be taught to her in her own language, hahaa, sort of as a joke but before we started teaching her Bro Cinavi came up and told me to study up on my Fijian haha.  But it all went really well.

So funny story though from this week, we went over to Oakland on Thursday for her interview and afterwards we had a meeting back across the bay so we had to grab a quick lunch before we went so we stopped by Taco Bell.  We were inside for about 5 minutes, came back outside and someone had busted in the two passenger side windows and stole Elder Chapman’s backpack!  It was so nuts because it was right in a way busy area. Haha stinkin Oakland, doesn't give us any breaks.

That’s it for the week, sorry for the lateness.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

Fair warning:

Below is a graphic pork picture!



 

Poor little piggy - he became Christmas dinner!

Elder Chapman, Elder Hanke, Sister Salawai, Elder Racule and his companion, and Brother Cinavi at Oakland Temple visitor's center.  (Sister Salawai is the one Garrett wrote about above, she was baptized last Saturday. Elder Racule is actually from Fiji, he was in the MTC with Garrett and they became good friends... then when Garrett was in his first area in Fiji he spent a lot of time with Elder Racule's family - they fed him often and took good care of him.)  :)

We'll call this one the "Oakland Taco Bell Smash & Grab".

(Garrett said that they didn't even bother calling the cops, because the typical cop attitude is pretty much, "sorry, too bad that happened, nothing we can do".)  Luckily Garrett had previously put his backpack in the trunk, but felt badly that he hadn't reminded Elder Chapman to do the same.