April 23, 2018 Ii haafta saab se achcha ra

Hello! This week has been really good and has really gone by so fast! Probably because we were able to spend the entire week in our area and didn't have to run around doing so much administration like in the past two weeks because of the floods and so forth. Ministering is much more enjoyable than administering. 

Oh one funny/awesome story from this week! So up until now I have been driving on my American driver's license, but I am at the point that I needed to transfer into a full Fijian license. This process requires going to the LTA which is the same as a DMV in America, and taking a written and driving test. This process can take a long time because they almost always fail you a couple of times before you can pass the test! They are very particular at the little things and so it really can take such a long time. For example when I was with Elder Christensen he took the test 5 times and never passed. Even though he has been driving his whole life. Well this past Friday was the day I was set to go take the test in Suva and I show up and see that it is an Indian man who is going to be doing my test. We start out by going to the car and doing the driving test. He was pretty cranky for the first few minutes and I was just speaking English to him. Then he asked a question about missionaries and I took that as my opportunity to start speaking Hindi and to explain to him that we are the Hindi Elders and can speak Hindi. He got such a shock, like most people do, and became super interested and happy! We were planning on driving around the whole tip of Suva all the way to Suva town and so forth, but less than one minute after I started speaking Hindi he told me to take a right turn and then another and then to pull back into the LTA. His whole whole demeanor had changed and he was laughing and smiling and we were having a great time. The driving test only lasted about 10 minutes total!! He called me to the back room and said that I was finished and I was surprised because I still hadn't taken the written test! He filled out all the paperwork and then said,"Well you're all finished Samuel! Go get your license at the front desk!" I was so surprised!! I have heard from other missionaries how it is a nightmare to try and get their license finished but it only took me 15 minutes total!! And then the coolest part is, when I was leaving after I had grabbed my license he called from the back room saying saying loudly,"Samuel, Samuel, Have you already eaten lunch? You should come have lunch with me today." I wish so badly we could've gone with him, but we had to get back to our area for some lessons, and so I explained that to him. The funny thing is that this whole conversation was in Hindi and there were a ton of people sitting in the LTA watching the whole thing, they were all looking way surprised and funny because they'd never seen a white kid speak Hindi before! It was just awesome, because what I thought was going to be a miserable day turned out to be one of the favorite moments of my mission! 

Tomasi and Fatulia both got confirmed this Sunday which was just awesome! Marica was picked up by her uncle the night before to go stay at his house for a celebration going on there and so she wasn't able to be confirmed. But their mother is awesome and we pray everything is going to work out next week:)

The investigators are doing so good right now. Like I said the past two weeks were crazy busy, but this past week was awesome because we got to spend a whole week with our investigators just teaching lessons and being real missionaries. I love this work and am so happy! 

Love you all!

Pictures: 

1-7: At Navua beach yesterday as a zone! It was so much fun! The one doing the splits is my companion Elder Ishibashi! He is such a good guy and we have so much fun together. HAHA that one is such a quality picture lol! 

8: This is Violet our recent convert. She is super cute and really smart. She reminds me a lot of Sadie! 

9-12: Found this beetle at our house haha! It was HUGE! 

April 16, 2018 Ii hafta bohut jaluum ra

Sorry it has been so long! Things have been crazy! We have had 2 cyclones in the past week and a half and with that we have had 3 areas in our zone get flooded out! That is what most of these pictures are from! We actually had to travel back up to the village 2 days after the cyclone to get the stuff that so that Elder Haderly could catch his flight the following morning because of an emergency transfer! The APs told us that we couldn't reschedule the flight and so we set out to find a way to get to the flat which was still 5 or so miles away due to water flooding the roads!! We ended up getting a boat ride from the police to a point where we could walk for an hour until we got to a point we couldn't go any further. We tried to build a raft but that didn't work out and so we said a group prayer and then just started wandering out into the water because we all felt like we should. Once out there we saw a boat in the distance and called it down. He took us up to a side of the hill where we then got out some machetes and hiked a crazy hike up the backside of the hill while 2 elders stayed behind and made sure the boat didn't leave us! Ahh it was a crazy day!! One thing I learned is also taught in Moroni 12 when we read that we do not receive the witness until after the trial of our faith. We said a prayer, but then we didn't just sit back and wait. Even though we didn't know what we to do, we did the only thing we could do even though it didn't make sense, that is walk out into the water knowing very well that it would get too deep soon. But that is the moment that we saw the miracle:) 

We had 3 more baptisms in the past couple weeks! Marica, Tomasi, and Fatulia. They are all from Waila ward and just are awesome. The hard part is that they got baptized now 3 weeks ago, but still haven't been able to be confirmed. The day after the baptisms the cyclone came and church got cancelled and then we had General Conference the week after, and just yesterday we had Ward Conference and so they weren't able to be confirmed then either. They are patiently waiting for next week when they will finally receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost! 

Another amazing experience has happened recently! I don't know if you all remember Justina. Jason, Mohini and the rest of their family, but they were a family that me and Elder Shin found during my second to last week in Suva. Before me leaving they had told me that their family lived in Waila and were members of the church, but we never knew who they were. Well just on Saturday we got a call from a really awesome family named the Singh's who live on the street over from us. They needed a blessing. We went and found out that they were members but had not been to church in over many years. They had asked for us to come over so that we could give them a blessing to have the strength to come back to church and make it back to the temple. They mentioned how they recently found the desire to come back to church through their family who had actually just recently started to investigate the church in Suva. I didn't even make the connection until after we had given the blessing. I mentioned how I had just come from Suva 1st ward and they interupted and said that is where their family is investigating the church!! When I found out it was Justina's family I was so overcome with happiness. We all gave each other hugs we were so happy! Justina and Jason, as well as Mohini who is Jason's mom and 2 others in the family will be baptized next Saturday on the 28 and I am so happy!! Who would've thought that by knocking on one door the ripple effect would do so much visible good that we would be able to witness even in just 2 months. Not only the 5 in Suva but a whole family who lives the street over from where I didn't even know I was going yet! And yes, the Singhs came to church all together yesterday and it was so amazing to see them get welcomed right back into the ward family with love. God is in control and it is so cool to see:)

Their is so much change happening here with missionaries getting shifted around! It keeps us really busy along with a lot of other times consuming things that are going. 

Oh and just one funny slash sad story before I need to go.

Right now their are 3 missionaries being trained in our mission and all 3 of them are in our zone here in Nausori! They are all doing so good and probably much better than I did at adjusting to Fiji and all that that comes with. But one of them this week instead of brushing her teeth with her toothpaste accidentally used her cortisone cream instead. It was sitting right next to where here toothpaste was and had been using it for all the bed bug bites she had been getting. She was throwing up blood for the next 3 days and she didn't tell anyone!! We finally found out on Friday and then took her to the hospital right away. She is doing way better now. To her credit she is handling everything like a champ. For all the things she is going through she has never complained once.

Things are so awesome! Sorry I just wrote a bunch of random things and stories going on here. I love it here so much!! Life is so good!! Love you all! Have a great week!

-- 

Elda Hess

April 8, 2018 random pics from throughout the week