Week 12

I know that this is how I start every single email, but dang this week has gone by so fast.

SO this week was Zone Conference and it was such a fun time. We had some way good training and I learned heaps!

It was so much fun to have all the other elders here in Labasa. It was really crowded, but I enjoyed it. Sometimes it can get a little lonely up here in the north because all the areas are so spread out, and so it was way fun. There were 24 elders in our flat for two nights, and we all stayed up pretty late just talking, freestyle rapping, and telling stories haha. It was such a good time. 

Elder Mumford is now AP which is awesome! He was a Zone Leader in Suva when I very first got here, and so he is the one I went out on exchanges with my very first night in Fiji. He is the coolest kid!

Elder Afatasi goes home this week. He is the other AP and so we will be getting another new AP this week! The picture below with me in the middle of 2 guys is a picture with those two. They're seriously the coolest. Such good missionaries.

The language is hard. I am trying really hard but it is still a struggle. There are just so little resources it is really frustrating.

The food is still incredible. Now that we are getting to know the members better we have a ton more dinner appointments throughout the week!

The other night we had a dinner appointment with a member named Joji and we showed up at his house and it turns out that it was his grandfathers birthday party! It was so much fun. Because we are missionaries and visitors they pulled us up to the very front of the ceremony before the food and it was a little uncomfortable because I had no idea what was going on, but was still fun:) It was a MASSIVE feed and was soooo good. The picture below is with all of them after the party.

The missionary work here is hard. Me and elder Tony were told by President Layton to try and focus more in the Indian people and so that is what we have been working on these past couple days. It is really hard because most of them don't have a background of Christianity at all and so it is a much slower process, but it is also a really cool experience to try and help others understand the very basics. Even when you focus on the very basic doctrine like that we have a loving Heavenly Father, it is amazing how strong the spirit can be during the lesson.

We found a couple new investigators this week who are awesome. One woman's name is Anita and her and her two sisters are really open to the message. They are super kind and are really excited for our next appointment tomorrow.

The hardest thing about the work here in Labasa is getting people to church. There are so many people that are having amazing experiences building their testimonies, but it is so hard to get them to church. There always seems to be something getting in the way and it is so frustrating.

I am loving it out here. We have seen so many miracles every day.

Life is good, and I am very grateful to be a missionary.

I love you all. Sorry I had to write this email really fast so sorry it's kinda random!

Have a great week:)

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Elda Hess