Elder Zachary Harris—Fiji Suva Mission: Somosomo, Taveuni Island

Bula vinaka na noqu matavuvale!

Sa! It's been a crazy week. It has been good work, but not a lot of it because we had a few problems getting sidetracked. So first of all, on Tuesday we had district meeting in the morning, and then we did a few things until we could catch the bus to Vuna later that day.

In Vuna

Vuna is on the south part of the island; the reason we had to go there is because Elder Hosea is the district leader, and the Vuna elders needed him to do a baptismal interview for a couple that they had been teaching. So the plan was to catch the bus down to Vuna, stay the night, and then do the interview the next morning so we could catch the bus back to Somosomo. Se caught the bus down to Vuna (another sketchy bus on a sketchy dirt road), and I went with one of the Vuna elders to a dinner appointment with the ward mission leader.

The people in Vuna are super nice! All the kids were running around saying, "Eldas! Eldas!" and wanting to play with us. Haha it was so cute. Then the people were telling us about how like half of their kids were named after missionaries who had served there before! It's crazy! So I was excited about how cool that was, but then I found out we had an hour and a half walk back to their flat..... But all part of the adventure:)

Apparently Vuna is one of the most bush areas in Fiji. Their flat is okay, but they don't usually have running water, and electricity is only for a couple hours. They are really close to the shore though, and it's super beautiful! Their area is huge, so they have a lot of walking.

But we stayed there that night, and then we went to do the interview in the morning. But the interview took longer than we thought. We missed the only bus back to Somosomo! So we went with the Vuna elders that day, and went back to Somosomo on Thursday morning. We got back okay, but we missed a ton of work in our area while we were gone, so I was pretty bummed about that.

My Companion Elder Hosea

But the last couple of days we did really good! We didn't have very many investigators to start out with, and the ones we did have weren't keeping their commitments like we asked them to. So this week we did a lot of finding. Finding is kind of hard in Fiji. Everyone will let you in the house, and they love to talk about the gospel, but getting them to keep commitments is hard. So that isn't very productive. We got a lot of referrals from members and less-actives, and now we have about 6 new investigators:) I'm super stoked about that!

Also, we have been trying to bring back a lot of less-actives, because the goal of Taveuni and Vanua Levu is to become a stake, and they need more people in church.

So we have been visiting this one lady lately; she feeds us twice a week, and we have family home evening with her and her kids. Her kids all come to church every week, but she hasn't been in awhile. We decided t o share the scripture that talks about how the stripling warriors didn't doubt because their mothers knew. I started talking about the importance of mothers in the gospel, and I felt prompted to tell her about my mom. I told her that my mom was an incredible example to me, and that she taught me the gospel and how to help others and follow the commandments. I told her that without my mom, I don't know if I would be on a mission. The Spirit was really strong, and she started to tear up a little bit. And she was in church on Sunday:)

Anyways, the work is good! I love being a missionary. I've never felt more purpose and more happiness than helping other people come closer to the Savior.

I am improving my Fijian, but every time I think I am doing good we go to a lesson and I have no clue what is going on. My hips are so sore! Haha halfway through the lesson I have to lift my legs up because it hurts so bad. But it's getting better. Fiji is gorgeous, and the people are awesome! It really is a super poor place, but the people are all content with what they have. It doesn't seem real that I am actually here, sometimes I look around and wish I could capture the whole moment for you to see (imagine us in our sulus sitting in a little shack teaching a Fijian lady surrounded by jungle/palm trees). Haha I love it so much.

I hope everyone is doing well! I love you all.

Loloma,

Elda Harris