Samabula - Week 3

Bulofa

Bula!

Wow this week went by so quickly!  It's been another busy one here in Samabula.  We had a few meetings, an exchange, a sacrament meeting talk and a lot of fun.

We started out this week by heading out to my previous area, Nausori, where we got to go to a district meeting and have an exchange with the elders there.  I got to go with Elder Lautogia which was basically just moving back three weeks ago for a day!  It was fun to be back in Nausori and see the elders there.

Another big thing we had this week was our Mission Leadership Council which brought in elders and sisters from all over the mission to meet in the mission home with President and Sister Layton.  It was a great meeting and I learned a lot as usual!  Elder Condie and I did a training on Preach My Gospel which was really fun.  We did a trivia game with some pretty hard questions that got everyone a little competitive and excited, and then we ended off spiritual!  It was super fun to be with all the missionaries!

We are having a lot of fun in our area.  Everything is built close together so it's pretty small, but there are so many people here we have no problem seeing lots of people!  We have 3 baptisms scheduled for next Sunday!  Bruce, Sister Rajendra, and Joshua.  We are pretty excited for that.  Also we have started teaching a few Tuvaluans!  We met one family who I spent a lot of time with in Tuvalu but are now here for school.  So I got a few of the kids to come back to church.  And one other investigator who is Tuvaluan but his wife is Fijian so we just speak in English.  My Tuvaluan is pretty weak, but I can still communicate decently.  There's a few other families that we know of that we're going to try and go talk to this week.  

Us and the sisters all talked during sacrament meeting this week.  We were just assigned to speak on General Conference talks so I did "Always Retain a Remission of Your Sins" by Elder Bednar.  President and Sister Layton were both there(pretty rare) so I was a bit nervous, but I think it went okay.  I tried to crack a few jokes but only like 3 people laughed:(  I'll have to work on my humor!  

Love,

Elder Harris

Samabula - Week 2

Gade mada i Savu

Bula re!

Wow I can't believe how fast this has gone by.  We have been pretty busy and been doing a lot of travelling and meetings this week, but it has been fun.

We started off the week just working super hard and fast in our area, because we were only there 3 days - Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.  We were able to still see a lot of people and get them going on their road to baptism and confirmation.  

Our top investigators here in Samabula are Bruce and Sister Rajendra.  Bruce is a 17 year old kid, a referral from his returned missionary sister, and he has been taking lessons and coming to church for a few weeks now.  His baptism is scheduled for the beginning of August so we are super excited for him about that.  He is enjoying church and is super smart in remembering the things we teach him.  We always teach him at the LDS Primary School (elementary school for all you Americans) which also doubles as our chapel, so it works out pretty well.  Sister Rajendra is an Indian lady we are teaching whose husband is a member.  She has been an investigator for a while with Elder Condie, and right before I got here she finally decided to be baptized.  She will be baptized in August as well, and each lesson we have had with her has been very spiritual. 

I'm still loving the diversity here in Samabula ward.  We had dinner with a Kiribati family on Monday, a half French/half New Caledonian family on Tuesday, and a half Fijian/half American family on Wednesday.  All super fun!

We had a few meetings this week called a Leadership Training for the leaders in our mission.  We had one on Wednesday for all the Suva areas, and then we flew up to Savusavu on the island of Vanua Levu on Thursday for some exchanges and the Leadership Training on Saturday.  We have some awesome leaders in the Fiji Suva Mission!  We learned a lot from President Layton and Sister Layton and hopefully can use that in our individual positions.  I think the main thing I learned was that as long as we are following Christ's example we don't have to worry about all the little aspects of being a leader because he was the perfect leader.  

While in Savusavu I was able to go on exchanges with both the zone leaders there.  Elder Amai is from my intake so we had a lot of fun together getting the work done and reminiscing on the MTC in between lessons.  And Elder Willioughby is from none other than Delta, Utah so we had a lot in common.  Savusavu is beautiful and a great place to be a missionary!  

After the meetings we stayed in Savusavu for church on Sunday which was a big conference for the North Islands getting a new district presidency.  President Layton is over that district, so he spoke as well which was really great.  Sister Layton also spoke and spoke about pioneers since it was the 24th of July.  That afternoon we traveled back to Suva, but we had to fly to Nadi first for some reason.  So we did a little circle all around Fiji in a few hours.  Anyways, it was a fun and eventful week!

Love,

Elder Harris

In the Savusavu Airport

This is the little plane we rode in up to Savusavu.  It fit about 15 people.

Samabula - Week 1

iLesilesi vou

Mauri!

Well this week has been one of the craziest weeks of my mission.  New calling, new area, and a new level of being busy.  But I am excited for this new opportunity to serve.

So yeah I got transferred this week.  My new area is the Samabula 1st Ward.  The temple and the mission home are in my area, which is pretty much right on the edge of Suva.  Our ward is the English ward of the area, but it is probably one of the most diverse wards in the mission.  There are a lot of Fijians, Rotumans, Indians, Kiribati, Palangis, and even a few Tuvaluans!  It'll be fun.  The work here is really good and we are looking at a few baptisms within the next few weeks.

So I left Nausori on Tuesday after saying goodbye to all of our recent converts and a few members.  I heard that Jack and Gloria were baptized this week so I was way happy about that!  I'm going to miss Nausori a lot.

This week we had to take care of all of the new missionaries coming into our mission, all of the missionaries who are leaving the mission, and at the same time coordinate all the transfers that are taking place in the mission.  It was the busiest week of my life, but it had a few perks: we got to eat at the mission home a few times which were some of the best meals of my mission!  My old companion, Elder Pomate, went home this week, so that was hard saying goodbye to him.  

Right in the middle of the week we were lucky to be able to attend a temple session with the departing missionaries.  That was the first time I had been through since the MTC, and it was SO nice.  I have missed it so much, and the Fiji Temple is so awesome inside.

My new companion is Elder Condie, from American Fork, and this is his last 6 weeks on the mission.  He's a fun guy and I have a lot to learn from him for the next 6 weeks!  

Anyways I am excited for this new area and new adventure.  I have so much to learn and apply in my life and missionary work.  I hope that I can get the most out of it over the next few months!  

Love,

Elder Harris

Elder Condie and Elder Johnson (the one I'm replacing) visiting a family in our area.

Nausori - Week 18

Sa qai qai

Bula!

Man it has been a great week in Nausori!  I have come to love this place and the members so much.  I've seen so many amazing things and work with so many great people here.

This week we have just been trying to focus on all of our investigators and moving them along in the teaching process.  It's been really fun, especially with all the kids that we are teaching.  Jack and Gloria are all set to be baptized this weekend!  It's been great teaching them because they are super talkative and want to learn.  Temesia and Suli are hopefully going to get baptized this week, but we might have to push it back a week so it works with their families schedule....we'll see.  They're all way fun and love coming to church and learning about Jesus Christ!  Elaitia, the old man whom we met a few weeks ago, finally came to church this week!  We weren't sure if he was coming or not, but then we arrived at the chapel and saw him pacing back and forth outside!  We took him inside and introduced him to Brother Biu, and they became great friends really fast.  He loved church and is excited to learn all of our hymns!  Lot's of good things are happening.

This week I also went on an exchange with Elder Dunn up in Saioko.  It was pretty fun to go up there cuz it's pretty bush and out of the way.  There is one branch and two groups up there, each with less than 40 people in them.  It's all Fijian villages so when the elders go up there they just sleep in the chapel.  It was a fun experience and we were able to see a lot of people up there!

Another highlight of this week was going to do baptisms for the dead with Brother and Sister Rokodali.  It was their first time; you should have seen their faces when they walked inside!  It was a good experience for them to do work for those who have passed on, and hopefully it will give them motivation to do their family history so they can be baptized for their ancestors.  

Transfers are this week, so we'll see what happens next week!

Love you all,

Elder Harris

At the Temple with Brother and Sister Rokodali

Nausori - Week 17

Bubakau

Ni sa bula maleka,

Sa wananavu sara na macawa qo!  Au sa marautaka.  It's been a great week here in the now cold and muddy streets of Nausori!  Sa tau ga valailai na uca, ia sa batabata sara.  I'm kind of cold, but then I looked at a thermometer and realized it's only like 70 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Oh yeah, Happy America day!  I may have been singing God Bless America this morning and also may possibly be wearing a red tie with a blue sulu.  All the Aussies and Kiwis are going down in touch rugby today. 

So this week we had a lot of meetings.  We had the usual meeting with our district, and then a meeting with our district leaders, and then a meeting with President and Sister Layton.  They were all good!  We are really excited for our zone right now; everyone is having a lot of success, and we are seeing heaps of people whom the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel.  It's great to see the Lord's "elect" and be able to share with them what they have been searching for.  In our meeting with President Layton, we learned a lot more about finding those elect, especially with referrals, and how to help them feel the Spirit in the first few moments speaking to them.  We also learned how to help people see the importance of coming to partake of the sacrament on Sundays.  I always love learning from President because he always has awesome insights and ideas for us to use.

Our area is blowing up!  We have so much going on and so many people who are prepared.  Misiviliame was baptized on Saturday and confirmed yesterday.  His baptism was amazing!  He told the story afterwards of how he had been a very influential person within the Pentecostal church and how certain things had led him to decide to not go to any church anymore and just stay home and take care of his family.  He had been that way for about 5 years and then Brother Biu introduced us to him!  It's been way fun teaching him and helping him learn the fulness of the gospel.  His wife also came to the baptism and he says now we can start to teach her and their kids!  It's going to be great.  Jack and Gloria are doing well and loving church in general.  They're way ready to be baptized we're the ones struggling to keep up with them and get all the lessons taught!  But the plan is two weeks from now to have them baptized with two other kids, Temesia and Suli who are the kids of the less-active guy we found a few weeks ago.  There's lots more but those are the ones we are focusing on right now.

It's been great learning so much and serving the people here in Fiji.  There is no where else I'd rather be and nothing else I'd rather be doing.  I'm so grateful Heavenly Father sent me here to be with these amazing people.

Kalougata tiko,

Elder Harris

Misiviliame"s Baptism

This boy fell asleep

This is the meeting we had at the mission home