Happy Holidays!

Well - this week's email said "PS - I'll be calling at 10 your time on Christmas Day".  So I'm not sure if this meant "PS", this is a follow up to some great email I wrote to you (if so, I didn't receive!).  Or "PS", this is all you're getting from me this week.  Who knows...!??

By the way, I don't think I've mentioned on the blog that Garrett's release date is April 3rd!!! We received his itinerary - he lands in SLC at 12:54 p.m. - about 14 weeks from today (but who's counting...?). 

We did receive the below Christmas card in the mail on Tuesday - which pretty much made up for the PS email... :)

So grateful to hear Diana's great news this week! 

Love to everyone, hope you're all enjoying the holiday season.

Well, I’ve been a little behind again…. Sorry everyone!  Enjoy these letters, sounds like he is doing well.  Thanks to everyone for your love and support.

Happy Holidays!

December 3, 2012

Sorry sometimes I just get kinda bored when I e-mail and I cant take it, haha, sorry.

Anywho the week went really well we have seen some great success our investigator Keana passed her interview and she will be getting baptized on Thursday which we’re stoked for.

Bill is doing great as well with him it takes a long time to teach and commit him to do things because he is sooo old so teaching him is like putting the lessons on slow mode, haha, he's doing great though.

Beta and Sita are also doing good. We haven’t seen them in  quite a while but we have talked to them several times on the phone. Sita had surgery again in LA this past week but from what we know she is recovering really well and Beta said that she will be up and playing around again in no time at all.

What else happened this week…. The whole time I have been covering the Branch there has been this Part Member family that I have been trying my butt off to get in contact with and we finally did on Saturday which is sooo sweeet and he is as cool as everyone said he was so I’m very excited. I’m going over to his house in a week or so for some curry which I’m really lookin forward to, haah.

 Anywhobewhaty

Peace and blessings,

Elder Tavoi

December 12, 2012

Bula Bula Bula,

The week was awesome......

Keana's baptism was way good everything went good. We received her as a referral from one of our members a bit ago, she was solid and we dunked her very quickly.

We also received another referral this week, one of our member’s mothers. she is 75 and very prepared by the Lord.  She doesn't speak English so it was my first whole lesson In Fijian since getting here which felt sooo good. We taught her two lessons this week and invited her to be baptized on Dec. 29 and she accepted so we are pumped around here and feeling super blessed.

And as for the people I mentioned last week, Amini , we have our dinner with him a week from today which will be good, he is way sick and we are hoping to get him to come to church. Also Beta and Sita made it here yesterday for church which was good. Sita looks better and better each time I see her which is sweet. And Bill is also doing well he cancelled the lesson for this week but we talked to him on the phone and he said he threw out his back so we'll have to see him later haha and yes you are correct it will be a long term project with him but eventually he will get baptized.

That’s pretty much it from here.  Other cool things this week, there was a huge wedding and our Tongan Stake’s Christmas songfest which went awesome and made me gain like 5 more pounds haha.

Peace and blessings,

Elder  Hanke

Continued thoughts and prayers are with Diana… and with Jeff and the kids.  We love you!

Bula Bula Bula,

Thanks for the e-mail and I cannot stress how jealous I am that you had lunch with Rico, haha, man that’s sweet. Be sure to tell him hi for me every day until I get home. (Garrett is referring to one of his best buddies Jackson Everton, who returned from the Indianapolis, Indiana mission last week. What an amazing young man, so good to see him again!)

This has been a very great week, and I have been super humbled by a lot of things that have been happening. And all I can think about lately is the song "count your many blessings". Last Monday we were teaching a less-active member and at the end of the lesson we committed him to take Pres. Monson’s challenge from General Conference and make a list of all the blessings that he has in his life. Because I asked him to do this I decided that I should also follow that council from the prophet. The mission has made me realize in so many ways how blessed my life has been, I have a Mother and Father who support me in whatever, I have a strong relationship with my Sister and she is one of my best friends, I have the greatest Grandparents a kid could ask for and I have all four.  I have uncles, aunts, and cousins who are awesome and I feel like would do anything for me if I needed it, and I have the greatest group of friends that anyone could ask for and they are all examples to me. And that is just a start. I sat there for a whole hour of personal study time realizing how blessed my life has been.

I got to the end and realized something, that I had saved the greatest blessing of all for last. I have a Savior, a Redeemer, an older brother who suffered personally for me. Can anyone ask for a greater blessing? All of the time we hear people say that they wish they could have fame or fortune and I know that thought creeps into my mind sometimes, but it’s true knowledge to know that even if we had all of the fame in the world and all of the money in the world it would surmount to a perfect nothingness without a knowledge of Christ, without the belief, the hope, the faith and the testimony that He died for us so that we could live again. I cannot express with words the gratitude that I have for Him, I love Him for what he did for me. This doctrine has been confirmed to me over and over again on my mission, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. This is what I am most grateful for and I can't say it enough. I am grateful for what He has done so I can go out each day to give thanks for this wonderful blessing. I know that is the only real way we can give thanks to Him. "If ye love me, keep my commandments", "love one another", when we do this we can know for a surety that we are doing exactly what he wants we are who he wants us to be, and if we can do this I know that His grace is sufficient for us the we can receive all the Father hath.

I love this work, I love my Savior, this is His work, and this is His Kingdom here on earth. I KNOW MY SAVIOR LIVES, WHAT JOY THIS SENTENCE GIVES.

I love you all, have a good week.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

All I can add to that (through a few Mama tears) is… Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Picture that Garrett sent last week in the mail - The Halloweenie Mobile!

He included a couple of other pics that I won't be posting... but I will mention they went with the story he told last week of his pants blowing out! :)

(Anyone that wants to log on to the blog and turn this picture is welcome to do so! Most definitely beyond my mental capabilities tonight!) 

Bula bula,

The weeks are going by soooo fast,  I honestly cannot believe that it is Monday already the week wasn’t even that good but it still went by fast haha.

Each week Beta and Sita go south a bit to a city called Gilroy which is way too far for us to drive there, so we can’t meet them unless they come down here and they haven’t done that for two weeks now so there is really no update on them. I’ve texted with Beta a little to check on them a bit and they said that they are good and they miss us and that hopefully they will make it next week. They are super special just their whole experience of being able to come to America and  makr such good friends here who introduced them to us.  I’m just so grateful for the opportunity to teach them and get to know them.

Other big news that happened this week- on Thursday nights we teach a PMG missionary class to the young men and we have a blast but this week while we were there I bent over to pick something up and all I heard was a bust then I felt a nice breeze on my bahooki haha. I blew out the my pants, haha so we had to run home and change then come back, haha classic . But other than that it was a good time we had each of them bring some ingredients and then we made meatloaf, haha it actually turned out really good and it wasn’t too big of a mess. But like I said before I love the young men, I love jokin around with them and they are all awesome here. And then on Saturday we got permission to go and watch one of our young men play in his football game. They got wooped but he did really good, he’s a stud.

What else....we saw Bill again this week and he said that he would come to church but he never made it and we still don’t know why so that was a bummer.  He is such a sweet old man and he is way stinkin hilarious as well.

  

That’s pretty much it from here hope you all have a good week.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

Here’s another sweet email that I got from MaryTagilala on Friday.  It’s a huge comfort knowing that she seems to be Garrett’s “Fijian Mama” in Cali – what a blessing she is!

Hi Nova :),

We just had dinner with your Elder Hanke and his companion Elder Chapman this evening. They are a joy to have in our Ward and are a blessing to us out here. We love them both. Elder Hanke is well. We look after him like he is our very own :). We hope to keep him here for a long time :). Thank you for raising such a fine young Missionary to serve the Lord. You should be so proud of him :).

Much love,

Mary :)

She also sent this picture – yea!

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Kyndra, Sharly, Easton, Krista, Grandma Von, Kynlee… hope I didn’t miss anyone!J

Continued thoughts and prayers with Diana, Jeff and those cute 5 K’s.

Hope everyone has a great week – so grateful for all of our family and friends!

Hello out there everyone…

Okay, I know – I’m about to be fired as the official blogger for Elder Hanke!  I’m taking applications for the position….if you know of anyone that would like the job, please let me know. :)  (There’s nowhere to go but up, right?)

Enjoy the notes below – short but sweet.  And just FYI – we’ve received two letters from Garrett’s Mission President over the last week with his release date(s).  The first one said February 21, 2013; the second one said, “My apologies, but the correct release date for Elder Hanke is April 3, 2013”.  And then when I emailed with Garrett on Monday he told me it’s up in the air… so we’ll see what comes of that.

Enjoy these notes, and my apologies for the delay! 

Love to you all, thank you so much for your support of Elder Hanke.

This is the day we ref'd the youth volleyball tourney. These are my boys Lopetti and Garvin.

(Garvin is also the one who cuts my hair.)

A usual lunch of leftovers:  KFC, deep fried fish head, and Lu (roro leaves cooked with coconut milk, onions and corned beef). 

A group of us missionaries down at Fisherman's Warf. (Yeah, that's my boy with his eyes closed!)

On October 27^th, we received this letter in the mail with a few pictures (above):

Noqu Matuuvale Lolomas,

These are the receipts for the eye exams. They said to just sent them in to get reimbursement. (Gar got his eyes examined and ended up with contacts – he said it’s great to see the street signs when he’s driving.)

Thanks for the support you have given to me lately.  It means a lot to me and Elder Chapman.

Hope all is well. We are good here. No baptisms yet but I think God realized how easy it was for me to get them in Fiji so he’s makin it extra hard here, haha. I’m just lookin forward to each day as a learning experience and hopefully we can make something happen here.

Hope you have a good Halloween, we’re planning on one.

Peace and blessings.

Love,

Your Baby Boy

October 29, 2012

Bula Bula Bula

So the week went well no complaints here. We were able to meet with most of our investigators and they are doing good.

Last week little Sita participated in the Ward’s primary program. They are like part of the Ward but they are still waiting for the permission from the father, and he is in Japan right now so that isn't very easy. But we will keep working with them to get them into a covenant with Heavenly Father. When we invited Sita to be baptized yesterday she just had the biggest grin on her face and she wanted to be baptized right now haha. I know she will be soon. Beta has some challenges to overcome first but I think she wants to as well the only problem is that they stay in Gilroy during the week which is around 2 hours away from us so we can only see them on the weekends when they come here. But we will keep on prayin for them.

And Bill is also doing good, he is thinking about having the Bishop (his brother) marry him to his girlfriend which is interesting, we have really funny lessons with this guy he is older and hard of hearing so it makes our conversations pretty funny sometimes and Elder Chapman is a quiet guy so it’s extra funny with him. But right now he basically said that he would get baptized if he didn’t have a girlfriend but since he does he doesn't want to do anything that will rock the boat at all so he's gunna take this process slow. Which is kind of frustrating for us to try and slow down but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Have a great week.  Happy Birthday Dad!

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

November 5, 2012

So this last week was pretty crazy we had a lot goin on.

First of all I just want to remind you about how nuts being in downtown San Francisco is on a bike dressed like we are, haha, I can’t even explain it. It's definitely a one of a kind experience haha.  So the first thing that we did last Monday was go to this huge Methodist church right in the middle of the hairiest part of the city where Monday through Friday they serve breakfast lunch and dinner to the homeless. So we went there and gave our service during the lunch hour and that was easily the craziest 4 hours of my life. First we had to help with the preparation then while they were eating we were bus boys and then we had to clean up after. Haha I can't even tell you how bad I was sweating and how many grey hairs I developed just from those few hours.  Hundreds of homeless in a pretty small cafeteria all gettin in fights and yelling and trying to take stuff that isn’t theirs. It was sooo funny and I can’t wait to do it again.

But ultimately what I’m getting at is that service is the best. That was really one of the most intense positions I’ve ever been in and I wasn’t a very big fan in the moment, but the opportunity to serve is always the best opportunity.  It felt so good to help those people and after it was all over I felt a huge sense of gratitude for the blessings that I have and I just pray that I will remember always what the Lord has given me and all the blessings we all have and then realize that the only way real way we can say thank you is by giving back. I know that if we help others we are teaming up with God to accomplish His goal of blessings his children.

Sorry it’s short, love ya'll.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

Bula bula bula,

So this week has been pretty interesting we have done a lot of good work lately and we are seeing some of the blessings come from that, I’m pumped.

A couple months ago we received a referral from some other missionaries about a young man and we tried like 20 times to contact him but to no avail then this week they asked us again if we had met him and since we hadn't they were all like what the crap, go baptize him and all we could say was we would if he would talk to us. Haha, well long story short we ended up catching him at home and because something was wrong with our phone we hadn't been receiving his texts but he had received ours, hah, so he was always thinkin that we were just too busy to meet so that’s why we hadn't replied.  So we were just both mixed up and way off but now we’re on the right track and we have a lesson on Wednesday which should be good. And then hopefully get him baptized and saved here sometime soon.

Other than that we have been trying to do a lot of less active work and we have come in contact with some people recently that have been lost for quite some time now and I know as soon as they feel the spirit again in their lives that we will be able to help them see again and realize the blessings that come from living the gospel.

Which brings me to my last topic, haha. Last week on Monday we visited with one of our less active members, he’s the type who has all of these problems with the church and how it’s run and has all these ideas of how it could be better.  I would like to relay to you some of what I learned just from sitting down with him. A couple things that he brought up were the new missionary age and the Word of Wisdom.  About the age he said "I think it’s a horrible idea" (about the age for men), and "it’s about time the brethren realize the women can do stuff too" (about the age for sisters). And then about the Word of Wisdom which he doesn't follow by drinking coffee he said "I don't feel the Spirit but do you really think it is that simple, just giving up coffee?". May I try and offer some advice that has sort of struck home to me: The Book of Mormon. This book was translated by divine powers, and within its pages we can learn a couple things, 1-that Jesus is the Christ and that we must follow his gospel, and 2-God works the same yesterday, today and forever. He calls prophets to show us, His children, the way to eternal life. If this is understood, and we begin to walk by faith in a world governed by sight we will feel His heaven-sent influence in our lives and we can have the sure understanding that doesn't come from any other source but God Himself, a sure understanding that he loves and cares for us, and that His son died for all of us and that if we follow His plan for us we CAN LIVE WITH HIM AGAIN. So if we will humble ourselves and let go of the pride that we carry in our hearts and have a true desire to know, then read and pray about the Book of Mormon, we will know. Then all doubts will fly and all desires to do what man wants us to do will disappear. Another comment this man had was this, "science has proven, that we need two things in life in order to be happy, one, some close relationships with other humans and two, something good to look forward to." God has provided those things long before science was ever established. He gives us our family relationships as well as an opportunity to have a relationship with Him, and He has also given us something to look forward to, life after this one, a perfect life free from sorrow and pain and sickness. He sends prophets to deliver this message, and what is the prophet’s declaration today? Love at Home.

I love this gospel, I love the feeling I get when sharing it, I love the feeling I get when I live it.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke 

Thoughts and prayers with Diana… and Jeff… and those 5 K’s. J

What’s up, Bula Bula Bula

Some crazy awesome news, as well as not so awesome, so thanks for it, haah.

Anywhobiwhatey, our week was pretty crazy, no updates on those people other than, we didn’t get to see them.

We did quite a bit of work with less actives and then just enjoyed Conference. And what a time it was, I love conference on the mish.  So it’s like taking an adrenaline shot of inspiration, I learned so much and felt the spirit so strong.

I only have time to share one experience this week. so we listened to the talk from Pres. Monson yesterday about following promptings from the Spirit and he always has the best stories about him doing that, well yesterday we had our own like that. This is a testimony to me about how much God really does care about all of us. So yesterday we went to Hayward across the Bay to visit some of our investigators we went and neither of them were home, so we went to visit a less active family that stays in Hayward. We usually don't go because the father works 24/7 and we can’t go in without another man home, but we figured we could just stop by and say hi. Well let me tell you, we showed up and the Dad answered the door which threw me for a loop first then as we came in and started  talking to him and learned that he had just lost his job the day before and that their rent was due in two weeks and about how stressed he was over the whole situation until he watched Conference.  While watching it he had a good feeling come over him just letting him know that everything would be alright, and then when we showed up he said it was like a seal of approval for him, knowing that God was watching out for him and letting him know that he knows exactly what each person is going through and will send help. We were able to testify to him that God prompted us to go there because He knew what he needed.  I’m very grateful for moments like these on my mission, they are a great strength and I hope all others can follow the same promptings and then feel the same feelings of gratitude and love as I have come to feel.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

I have to presume the "not so awesome news" was BYU's win over Utah State - that was a bummer! 

Enjoyed Conference this weekend, below is a quote from one of my favorite talks.  :)

Bula Bula,

So for the week, haha finally.

We had a pretty good time that’s for sure haha, let me tell you about Tuesday.

I went on exchanges with another Elder from my district in downtown Frisco on a bike. Haha i have sooo much respect for those guys it’s some pretty tough cookin up and down those hills, especially when i was on a bike made for someone 10 inches shorter than me and about 80 pounds lighter, haha! We had to tighten the brakes a couple times because that sucker just wasn't gunna stop me goin down those hills, haha. But anywho, that’s the least of the worries they have there.  The people are so full of Prop. 8 that really nobody wants to talk to us. There are very few occasions when someone will talk to us and it’s usually to yell at us and tell us all the things they think is wrong with what we are doing and why they don't believe mixed in with some cuss words and some waving of hands. It'll be a good story for the grandkids though for sure, haha.  And at least I’m not getting punched in the face like Isaac, haha.

That was definitely the highlight of the week for sure and other than that it went pretty slow besides the weekend. We didn’t get to see Bill or Michelle this week so that was a bummer, hopefully we can set something up this week though, that would be good. We did a bunch of finding as they call it, or just spending time each day to find new people to teach which wasn’t very successful at all haha. Another day in the life.

 And as for the weekend it was boss!  So we went to the eating at around 5 knowing that if it was supposed to start by 4 then the food wouldn't show up until 5 but we were wrong it came at 5:30 and (Elder) Chapman and I got sucked into spending a couple hours preparing it to be served.  And you know how it is in the Polynesian Community, everyone doesn't just get a slice of pineapple, they each get a whole one to themselves, so prepping food for that many people can take a little bit of time. But oh boy was it worth it!  We ate sooo good, I think I gained five pounds right there. So much good stuff, haha, can’t wait until the next one.

Other than that everything here is the same. Thanks a bunch for the package, the cups are sweet. All I gotta say is they  (USU) better beat BYU or else I’m doomed.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

Here are a few explanations…

 “At least I’m not getting punched in the face like Isaac” = Garrett has a friend serving a mission in Russia, who happened to get in the middle of an escalated conversation and – you got it – he got punched in the face.

The “eating” (Poly talk) was a huge meal held after a missionary farewell in the Fijian Branch last Sunday.  The girl leaving on the mission is the daughter of the very sweet lady that will email me once in a while with updates on and pictures of Garrett.  She sent a couple of emails yesterday – very sweet, as always – and included pictures, which I’ve added below.

We sent Gar some USU cups that we got at a football game… so I’m sure the pressure is on, because I think that all of the Poly’s in the Bay Area are serious BYU fan.  USU and BYU play this weekend… go Aggies! 

Hope everyone is doing well, we love you all!  Continued thoughts and prayers are with Di, Jeff, and the kids.

Elder Hanke, Sister Sherry Tagilala, and Elder Chapman

 Elder Hanke and Elder Chapman supervising?

(Not sure if Gar has a sucker in his mouth, but I'm pretty sure he's drooling over the food.)

And now... time for the "eating". (And eating, and more eating!)



I’m late posting again…. Sorry everyone!

Last Monday I was able to “chat back and forth” with Garrett – haven’t done that for quite a long time, it was fun! Anyway, I’ll just somewhat re-create our chat… 

I told Garrett that I figured from his credit card charges that he’d gotten a new suit:

I’m sorry for having to do that but the one I got should last for a long time so I’m not really worried. And it seems like I’ve kinda reached the top of the ladder, haven’t gained any weight in a while, kinda just flatlined here at 230, haha.

Thank you so much for the support.

I told him it was fine that he got a suit, but that I hope it’s the last one he needs to get! (i.e., don’t gain any more weight! 230??!), and asked if he needed anything else.  We also sent a few pics we’d taken up the canyon that weekend, before church we ran up to see the leaves and ended up taking (attempting, at least) some pics of us with the ipad.  (I only agreed because Steve was actually in a suit jacket with a tie, and I needed proof of that.) 

Awesome, haha. No I don’t need anything.

How’s work going?

PS I printed out the pic of you two and I’m gunna slap it up on the wall to see every day. (nice tie eh?)

Oh please we all are lovin’ it over here, haha, I’m gunna paste one up in every room in the flat so everyone knows whose parents that is haha.

We’re going to Frisco again today, my comp is addicted to cars and there is a huge Ferrari dealership downtown so I’m going to let him roam around in there for a bit so he stops buggin me about it. Anything you all want from Frisco that I could send you? T-shirts? anything?

Us two and one other companionship will be going just to walk around I guess. I am not a fan of doing this, haha, but they are, so whatever, right?

Then I asked when he was going to send the “real letter” for the day…

Haha, it’s a work in progress and it will probably be sent around 4 when we get back into town. Itss sweet to chat though, haha, it’s been a while.

 I suppose then that they left to go to Frisco to check out the Ferrari dealership, etc.,…. Then several hours later Steve got this email:

Thanks for the emails, the past couple they are really good and it reminds of a year ago receiving the football updates, it’s the best.

Hahaha, no test drives today, we went and they only had one car there. It was really just a store, we went there and a bunch of other stores, it’s so much walking and the only store that’s worth going to in my opinion is the downtown Nike store. Other than that it’s just a bunch of walking for me, but Mom and Kyndra would love it though. So many stores it’s ridiculous and then you get to the mall and it’s like four stories tall and jam packed with people, it’s really annoying.  And we have to wear our proselyting clothes and so everyone asks us the price of things or for directions because they think that we work there. Ha ha, it’s so crazy!

Anywho…  I heard the USU -BYU game is on the 5^th, ha, that’s gunna be crazy because all the Tongan Young Men are all BYU fans and then I always talk about USU, so if we win I will be able to hold it over their heads all year.  But if they win they will never let me forget it so I’m actually getting kinda nervous.  Haha, it should be a good time though. And mom told me that you both ran into some missionaries at the football game and she asked if we would be able to do that, haha, there is no way, our Pres. would never allow it, but then again if I did I would probably not be able to regain focus so it’s probably a good thing that we can’t.

Anywho, that’s all from this week.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

That’s all folks!  I’ll try to be more on the ball with next week’s update! 

 I only have time for a short letter today.

Sounds like a lot is going on at home lately, that was one of the best emails I have received so far, haha. Not very many questions, but a lot of info, very nice, haha.

Our week went pretty good as for the people we are teaching. Bill hd skin cancer removed from his nose on Tuesday. We were still able to see him this week a couple times, but he wasn’t able to make it to church which was a bummer.

Beta and Sita came here for one day this last week.  The operation went fine, it must not have been a very serious one because she looked fine and didn’t have any sort of bandage. I think they were trying to stretch the bone, because if they do the whole operation then it would stunt her growth, but she is good.  Such a sweet little girl.

And as for Michelle (the lady Garrett met at the bbq place – he wrote about her last week) and her husband, we stopped by for our lesson last night and only she was home so we had to set up another time for this Sunday.  She is way awesome. Anyway, her sons sound sweet - one is the catcher for the University of Kentucky and the other a nose tackle for the University of Sacramento, they sound huge, haha, but we are looking forward to teaching them.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week.  Every once in a while we go on exchanges just for 24 hours with other missionaries in my district and 1 set lives in downtown Frisco, haha, and they are on bikes, haha, and they are both like 5'9 and 150 pounds.  So while I was there I was trying to keep up with him goin’ up and down these huge hills on their little bikes, haha, it was classic!  And I'll be doin’ it again next week.

Peace and blessings, til next week,

Elder Hanke

First off I’m super duper jealous of that game, geez, that’s awesome.

Haha, and I will try and muster out a good email now, haha.

So the week went pretty good, didn’t have a whole lot of appointments so all we could really do is hit the streets and knock doors. The thing with our Fijian Branch is that the only way we can find Fijians is through referrals and if we receive no referrals then there is no work there and since we got only one referral this last week we don’t really have new people to teach so when we have no one to teach then the only thing to do is find and the only real way to do that is by teaching members, street contacting, and tracting. So that is what we did this week mostly on the tracting side of things. There is something weird about tracting, to me it’s almost the most ineffective thing that we could possibly do besides doing nothing, but something about it brings blessings. We tracted a ton this week and were able to find some new people to teach which we are really excited about.

I think it also brings blessings to our investigators that we already have as well, we had some awesome lessons this week.

First Bill, who is the Bishop’s brother, we stopped by this week and talked about the Plan of Salvation, the great plan for our happiness. He liked what he learned but his only concern was that he didn’t like the idea of having to pay for someone else’s transgression (i.e. Adam’s transgression). We then explained that we are not accountable for his transgression, that we don’t believe in infant baptism, we are not born in sin, but that we are all only accountable for what we do. That we need to fix any wrongs that we have done in our lives to the best of our power and allow Christ to fill in for the rest. He readily accepted what we shared and he said that he wished someone would have told him that 50 years ago. Haha, what a great guy. The Bishop keeps on telling us that this is the most important part of our missions, haha, to teach his brother, haha, great guy.

Little Sita had her surgery last week on Tuesday and we haven’t heard from them directly but from what we understand it went well so that is good. And other than her we still have quite a bit of potential. Last week on Thursday we had a lesson during dinnertime so we had to snag something to eat after so we went to go get some bbq.  When we walked in Elder Chapman was ordering and I started talking to this lady she was really nice and sounded like a member but when I asked her which ward she went to she told me that she wasn’t a member, but that her last husband was Tongan and his family was mostly members and that missionaries had stopped by to their house a lot before. She asked us where we served and we told her the Fijian Ward and she got all excited and said she had remarried to a Fijian fella so we will go there either tonight or on Wednesday to meet them.  I’m super pumped for that, haha, blessings out the wazzooo this week.

Other than that nothin’ really happened, we ate a bunch of food and had some good times with some members.  My suits aren’t fitting all that well these days and it’s not the stomach really because my waist isn’t really changing. But because I’ve been squatting like crazy my thighs and calves are just getting bigger so now my pants are like skin tight on my legs (haha i look like Justin Bieber hahah).  Good thing I have a jacket on when I wear them because my bahooki (buttox) is getting bigger as well, haha.

So just so you know a new suit might be in the forecast, but I dunno, we run a lot as well so I just don’t know what to do, haha.

Love ya'll, peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

We sent Gar a video clip of the end of the USU-Utah game, along with a little update on how the AGGIES took it to the Utes. :) (Yes Mike, that jab was for you.)  Go Aggies - what a sweet win!

And really... another suit? My goodness... a little TMI there.  Gar should have enough suits for every possible body size by the time this mission is done.

Hope everyone is doing well... our love to everyone! And our continued prayers are with Di.

Love,

Nova

My apologies everyone… I’ve really been slacking! Here are the letters from the last two weeks. 

August 27, 2012

Garrett’s note to Dad:

Dang how did it fall?  That sounds rough, how long will you be down for? I just read mom’s email after yours and it sounds like she isn’t too upset so it must not be too bad. Seriously though thank heavens for the boots, ha, man crazy. So will you get some sort of medical leave from work or how does that work with the company you’re at right now? Haha now I have the 101 questions, ha. Will you be able to go back to that same work when it heals? And  does it hurt pretty bad to walk on?

Anywho ya, I havent heard from Malo (Elder Malo that served in Fiji, now going to USU and on the football team) since leaving so I hope he is doing good. There is a Fijian boy from my branch here that just signed with Utah State, he is about 6'5, 300 lbs., good kid. I hope Malo finds him up there and gets to meet him. I can’t remember his name because he goes to the singles ward mostly but  I’ll try and get it for you.

Let me know about the foot, I’m interested.

Garrett’s note to Mom:

Well sounds like you have had a crazy week that would be very opposite from us haha im just glad to hear that everything is going better and that everyone is doing ok. Definitely could look at this as a blessing for you two to be able to spend some solid time together. I’m looking forward to some good stories from both of you because of this haha.

As for our week looking back we had a very slow week probably the slowest on my whole mission thus far so it was very stressful and very frustrating, but there really was nothing we could do but just go out and work it out. We did have some good lessons with our investigators though we are teaching the Bishop’s half brother from the English ward and he is doing well. He was able to make it to church and feel the strong spirit that was present as the speakers gave their talks, so that was good. We also had a couple of our Fijian investigators at church, their names are Beta and her daughter Sita, they are very humble and great people.  Sita was born with some physical disabilities but she is the cutest little girl ever. Someone sponsored them to come over to America to get her back fixed and so that’s why they are here. Unfortunately we will miss them this week, they are going to LA for a surgery so we won’t be able to meet with them. But we did wish them the best . From what I was told they are going to stretch the bones in her back somehow, I don’t know how that works but that’s all I know. Other than that nothing really happened. We don’t have enough miles to make the trip across the Bay so we couldn’t see those investigators that stay there.

This upcoming week we have zone conf. so that will be good. Some Elder Gay is coming to the mission to preside so I’m pumped for that

Hope all is well, talk to you next week.

Peace and blessings,

Your baby boy

September 3, 2012

Garrett emailed around 9:00 a.m. on Labor Day saying he was going to Alcatraz and didn’t know how long he’d be there but he’d probably write again in a few weeks if he could.  (Yes, I was my typical gullible self.)

Several hours later we got this email:

Hey there fam,

So I’m pooped from walking all day long I feel like I could sleep for hours right now, haha.  Alcatraz was cool but the walking to and from was just up and down thoseF risco hills which is crazy haha. We also went to Lombard Street. and we were riding (the trolley cars?) with some other missionaries, so we got out before it started because there was a line to go down and we just said to pick us up when you get to the to.  When they got there we were just gonna hurry and jump in but the traffic police told us if you get in then I’m gonna give you a ticket so we had to walk down the whole thing while they drove, haha. Good  times but I’m gonna pass out.

Love you all.

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

This week was pretty solid. We had not very many appointments, but the ones we did have were solid and we did a ton of traveling, geeze-la-weeze haha.  On Wednesday we had a dinner in Hayward which is across the Bay from us at five oclock, thinking that if we left at 3 we would be fine. Haha, I was wrong. We hit rush hour and were in the car waiting to get across the bridge for three hours. Finally got to the house at six, haha.  The worst experience of my life, haha, but I learned my lesson.

On Tuesday we had another good day.  We had a lunch and lesson with a part member family, a lesson in downtown Frisco at 1, and then we had a dinner with a part-member family and a lesson in Hayward at 5. So we drove like 120 miles that day which is a ton.  We are allotted 1375 miles a month and we are already at 1000 miles so we are praying for God to stop the Odometer sometime soon, haha. That would be great.  But I’m not worried because we had such great lessons and it was definitely worth our time to do those things.  I’m looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.

Other than that, like you already know I guess,  we had a great Sunday. I was able to wear my sulu to church, which is always welcome,  I love that thing! Haha! And ya, I always bless the sacrament because they are low on young men. But after that the Stake Pres told me to come up and share with all of us “what is a missionary”, so I did.  Then when I finished and was about to walk away he asked me "can you bear your testimony in Fijian?", and I said yes, so he told me to go back up and share, haha, so I did, it was funny.  Then we had a huge eating and had a lot of fun with the members.  One thing that I love about my mission is the young men, they are my favorite. I love messing around with them and making sure that serving a mission is always on their mind, so I tend to spend most of my time with them when I can. I love my job.

God loves us.

Peace and Blessing,

Elder Hanke

I’m glad to hear that Garrett thinks that San Francisco traffic is the “worst experience of his life”.  Everything is relative I guess, right? J 

So… when you read the letter below, Garrett’s email will make a little more sense. When I sent my email to him I was pretty excited because the night before I’d received this email from Mary Tagilala, who I’ve decided to call my “Fijian Angel”. She is so sweet and kind… it is so nice of her to send these emails with updates and PICTURES. I love them!

Bula Nova :)

I hope this email finds you in the greatest of spirits :). I wanted to share more pictures with you. Elder Hanke (aka Elder Tavoi) is so well loved out here in the Fijian Branch. He gets on so well with everybody and is treated just like any other Fijian around here. He knows the Fijian sense of humor (believe me, it takes some getting use to if you're not familiar with it), and our YSA (Young Single Adult) and youth love his easy going attitude and wonderful spiritual sense.

Today, we farewelled our 2nd Missionary from the Fijian Branch and Elder Hanke along with Elder Mapa (Our newly called Missionary) said the Sacrament prayer in the FIjian Language. They were both amazingly fluent. Our Stake President was present in church today and after the Sacrament , the Stake President in his address to the Branch said this : " I didn't know Elder Mapa could speak Fijian, but then I heard him say the prayer in Fijian. Then I heard him (pointing at Elder Hanke) also saying the prayer in the Fijian Language and I was shocked. Does everybody here know how to speak Fijian??. (Everyone burst into laughter). President Havili was so impressed with Elder Hanke that when Elder Hanke was called up again to say a few words about being a missionary and when his talk ended, President Havili (Stake President) stopped Elder Hanke as he was leaving to go back to his seat and asked him to go back and bear his testimony in the Fijian Language. Elder Hanke went back and bore a wonderful Testimony in the Fijian language . (I gotta say this - I am Fijian, but believe me, I would not be able to go up and bear my testimony in the Fijian Language as well as Elder Hanke did today). He is amazing!!. You should be so proud of him :).

 Anyway, here's a few pictures of him taken today at the farewell dinner. He is well, has a wonderful companion. And yes, we hope to keep him forever in the Fijian Branch coz we love him!! :)

 Have a wonderful week :)

 Mary Tagilala

OK here’s the deal quickly.  The work is going great, we do have a lot of people that are really close to baptism and that is great.  We have been very blessed in this area but it’s not perfect, haha, we still have a ton of rough times.  The hardest is that all of our investigators live clear the heck out in the boonies where it takes an hour to get to them so we usually can only see them once a week, maybe twice if we are lucky.  And we have to travel forever for our member dinners, but I’m not complaining because I love the food.

Next topic, here’s my plans for coming home. I think I will go sell that summer and then I think I’m gonna go to UVU for school at least to start, and then somewhere along the road I will go to Fiji to see my people.

Anywho… I’m not feeling much like typing, I’m itchin’ to play some sport.

The gospel is true, God lives and Christ is our Savior.

Love you all!

Peace and blessings,

Elder Hanke

Guess that’s it for this week!  I kept missing the chance to email “live” with Gar yesterday – bummer. But he obviously was focused on getting off of the computer and on to a court, or field… for whatever “sport” was on the menu for yesterday’s P-Day. 

Sure enjoyed a nice weekend in Duchesne and Vernal.  We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends!

Love to you all… and continued prayers for Di, Jeff and the kids.