Tuvalu - Week 17

Talofa everyone!  

It has been a pretty awesome week!  The work is moving really well here and I just love being here in Tuvalu!  I couldn't think of a better place to be and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for this amazing opportunity to serve here.  

Right now we are working really hard with our less-active members of the ward, because there are SO MANY.  It seems like every time we visit a member's house they point to a random person who drives by on their scooter and say "Look that person is a member!"  It can get pretty overwhelming, but we try to see all of them as possible.  It really is like Jesus's story in the Bible, and we are trying to rescue the lost sheep.  So we have been really busy this week looking for those lost sheep and trying to bring them back to the herd!  

Also we are having good work with our investigators.  S___ is still off cigarettes, and her husband isn't quite ready yet, so we are going to go ahead with her baptism on the 26th of September!  Brother Niko and his family is really excited about this because she is his sister-in-law and they have been waiting for years for this!  I am way excited about her baptism because she has been through so much to get here!  

We are also working with a guy in his 20s named A____ to be baptized on that date as well.  He has been taking lessons for a few years as well but hasn't made it to baptism yet so we are working hard with him!

Random fact about Tuvalu: it is sinking!  That's right scientists say that in 70+ years Tuvalu will be underwater.  I'm not sure how true this is because I can't google it or anything, but it sounds pretty legit because some of the older Tuvaluans say they have seen the water rise over their lives.  Crazy!  Brother Niko was joking and said we would build a big church on a boat when it happens, and when people start swimming to our church boat he'll say "Oh, you wanna come to church now eh?"  Haha it was pretty hilarious!

Also it is drought season here in Tuvalu because it hasn't rained hard for 3-4 weeks, and people are starting to run out of water!  They end up going to the big Methodist Church here that has big tanks of water to be able to have a bath and stuff.  We're all good because it is only two of us using our water, but hopefully we can get some rain soon!

And because of the "dry season" everyone is getting sick, so we have been doing a lot of blessings lately!  It's funny because a lot of our blessings are to nonmembers, but it is really humbling to see their faith in something they don't understand at all.  But I can't help but admire the faith that the Tuvaluans have and I have seen them get better because of it.

Manuia te faitauga me masei toku gana palagi!

(Good luck reading because my English is way bad!)

Alofa atu!

Elder Harris

Here is a pic of a sunset and a coconut (I think) that just sprouted.  You could probably make an inspirational quote out of it.

I recognized the game Sorry!  except played with rocks and playing cards.