Bula vinaka!
Well Fridays are my P-days while I am in the MTC, so I am in
the laundry room writing this right now. We usually would go to the
temple right now, but it is closed just like almost all the stores at the
MTC. Apparently they can't get anyone to work over New Years haha.
The MTC is a really unique atmosphere! Everyone is working towards being
a missionary, and you can just feel the power that is working on making all of
us young men and women into missionaries.
Right as soon as you dropped me
off, I went to the bookstore and got all my materials. They actually have
a lot of Fijian material; I have a Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, a
Bible, Preach my Gospel, and all the missionary pamphlets
in Fijian! I also have 3-4 books that help me learn the language.
After I got my books we went straight to class where I met my teacher Brother
Crump, and he only spoke Fijian to us! That first day we spent a few
hours in class learning the basics of the language like "how are
you?" and "what is your age?'' etc. I love the language
already! We then had a lot of meetings that taught us rules and such, but
that was about it for the first day.
My companion is named Elder Tera,
and he is from Tahiti. His native language is French, but he speaks
pretty good English. I have to help him understand certain words he
doesn't know but he is doing really good! In my district (all the people
speaking Fijian who arrived with me) we have another Elder from Tahiti who is
Elder Tera's cousin. He doesn't know English very well and his companion
is in the Marshallese class so I spend a lot of time with him so my companion
can help him understand. We also have Elder Lemusu, who is half-Maori
half-Samoan from Australia. We have Elder Amai who is half-Maori from New
Zealand. We have Elder Alonzo who is Phillipino from Chicago.
And we have the other palogi (white guy) who is Elder Haines from Idaho
Falls. We are all Elders, so we have a good time haha. My zone is
all the people going to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Kiribati, and the Marshall Islands,
so we have a ton of Polynesians! There is another Fijian district that is
farther along than us, and there a sister from Australia that is the only
palogi in the room haha. But I am learning to love the Polynesian people;
they are very kind (and like to give lots of hugs) and very fun. We have a
good time in the cafeteria haha!
Thursday I learned how to bear my testimony in
Fijian! Au kila ni dina na kospeli i Jisu Karisito! And tonight we
have to teach our first investigator....in Fijian! Not sure how that is
going to work but we will just do our best:)
We had a meeting with our
branch president, President Willes, yesterday, and it was probably the most
spiritual meeting I have been in! He talked about being exactly obedient
so we can draw the powers of heaven to bless us as a missionary. It was
very cool; he is a neat guy. Apparently he was President or CEO of
General Mills and a mission president in Hawaii, so he has had a lot of life experience.
The first counselor is Brother Muir, who was the 16th missionary to enter Fiji,
and apparently his ancestors lived in Beaver! So it was fun to talk to
him! I see Schyler all the time! The first day it seemed like our
districts were always pretty close together so that was cool. I am doing
well and working hard at learning Fijian. I love the gospel, and I know
this is where I am supposed to be!
Love, Elder Harris
P.S. I will send pictures next week. I only took a
couple and I forgot my camera today.
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