ई हफ़्ता

Sonu got confirmed yesterday! We were nervous we were going to be late because we were coming from Navatuyaba ward and only had a few minutes before Naulu ward started, but we said a prayer and then when we got there we saw Sonu same time getting out of a taxi with the Rakatia family who gave him a ride. He had on a new white shirt he had bought the day prior, and a new tie. It was all perfect timing and we were so happy and thankful. Throughout church Sonu kept taking my namebadge and putting it over the pocket on his shirt and just saying,"This will be me soon." Love him so much!

We were able to be a part of some really good lessons and to be able to really see the hand of the Lord in the work this week! The picture below of us with all the fijian family is right after our lesson on Wednesday night with Josefa and Timoci! They are so humble and prepared and we are really excited for their baptism coming up this next week on the 9th! It has been a long road, but to be able to witness them at this landmark in their life is a really special opportunity! Woohoo! 

We also had MLC this week which was really awesome! We went to the temple together as a group the night before and it was such a big uplift to me personally. I love the temple so much and it's such a blessing when we are able to go inside. It reminded me of the promises shared in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple from Doctrine and Covenants 109:22-23. 

Me and Elder Lee Chip Sao have been practicing our sanskrit recently! It's really fun to learn with each other. The whiteboard written in sanscrit is from our weekly planning this week. We have started doing it in sanscrit for language practice.

I love you all and am so grateful for the love. I love this work! I know God lives! Have a great week:)

--

Elda Hess

Baptisms, translations, sickness, and more!

This week was full of so many stories that I don't have time to tell them all, but here are some highlights.

The number one highlight of the week was definitely Sonu's baptism!! It was such a good day! It was early in the morning because we had Stake Conference the same day. At the baptism Sonu bore his testimony after the ordinance and it was so special!! He has a powerful testimony of the Restorations and prayer! Next goal... MISSION:) He is 23 and so he definitely has time to prepare to serve!  He is such a good guy and I have grown to love him so much! He is the Indian boy we are with in a lot of the pictures. Elder Ishibashi got permission to come back to the area and baptize Sonu just before he left to go back home! He was at the baptism and just a couple hours later caught his flight back home to Hawaii! It was sad to see him go! Really loved serving with him! 

At Stake Conference we had a really cool thing happen. So Stake Conference is done is English, but they have a translation department that translates the conference into both Fijian and Hindi! They have a back room set up with a bunch of cool equipment and a headset so you can hear the talk being given, and then speak the translations through the speaker which then gets send to all the different headsets that have been distributed throughout the audience so that they can understand what is going on the same moment it is spoken! Technology is pretty dang cool!! They were short on help for the Hindi translations and so someone recommended me to help with the translations ahhahh! Well I didn't feel super qualified and was a little nervous because it was so 'on the spot', but I did 2 talks in the Saturday session that first day and then the second day they asked for help again and so I did the translation for about 4 out of 9 talks given during the Sunday session! It was a really cool and fun experience!! Definitely it was a first for people to see a white kid doing that haha! They also are going to talk with President Higgins to see if I can go in a week or two to go help them at the Suva Zone Conference as well. Speaking Hindi was really hard for me to adjust to, but now I can say with my whole heart that I love it!! I only got 2  pictures from the first day! But I'll send them below! 

So my new companion is Elder Lee Chip Sao, and he is awesome!!, But the reason we are on a little late today is because we just came from the Hospital. He is so, so sick! It is actually pretty scary because they don't know what is wrong with him. He was in the hospital in the West for 5 days last week and then when he got transferred here to Nausori things haven't been getting better! He has been throwing up blood and not able to eat anything for a long time. They said today that he has an infection in his bloodstream, but they have no idea where it is from or what to do to help him, and so we are all a little nervous! So if you guys could all keep him in your prayers please! I'll keep yous updated on how the things are going. 

Well because we don't have so much time today we've got to head out now. I love you guys! Hope everything is going well for yous all! God is good and has a plan for us all! We just need to keep faith. Have a great week!

Pictures:

1-3: Baptism

4-5: Translation 

6: Devi/Sami family

7. Dinner with Aaji

8. Tuinamoala family last week

9. At the chapel

10. At Sonu's house with his mom

11. Two cute kids I met

12. Josefa and Timoci who's baptism will be in a couple weeks woohoo

13. Levai's family

14. Lunch at Priti's house

15. Jone is the MAN

16-17: More with Levai

18. Tradition

19. Send these two off from the airport to Rotuma. So jealous.

May 6, 2018 Dher ahirvaad dekha ii haafta me.

This week has been really good! We have seen so many cool blessing!

The pictures of the baptism are Justin, Jason, Mohini,  and the rest of the family! They got baptized!! They are the ones that me and Elder Shin found while we were proselyting in Suva soon before I got transferred to Nausori! The whole family got baptized on Saturday and it was one of the best days of my mission! We got permission to travel back to Suva to be able to see the baptism! Crazy to think if we hadn't just said "hi" and start talking to Mohini that one day then none of this would have happened! Thankful for the Spirit to guide us to prepared families like this!

The boy wearing the green shirt in the 4th picture is Sonu!! He is the man! We set a baptismal date for him this week for the 19th of this month and he is excited and preparing great! He came to all three hours of church yesterday and then attended the YSA fireside afterwards! He is on fire and really just so prepared and learning quick! We are especially excited for his baptism because it will be Elder Ishibashi's last day in Fiji and we have talked with the AP's and we are planning on doing the baptism early in the morning so that Elder Ishibashi can be there for it just a couple hours before his bus ride to the Nadi for his flight back to Hawaii. How cool is that going to be!!

Last Monday for P day me and Elder Ishibashi went to Claudius and Violet's house along and with the rest of the family we made "Big Pancakes" with them:) It took a little experimenting but they turned out really good in the end and it was super fun! We wanted to get one picture of me flipping the crepe in the air and the pictured turned out nice, but right after this picture was taken I dropped it onto the floor haha:(

There is a branch in our Stake called Navatuyaba, and this week we were contacted by President Higgins to go down there because there are 2 boys interested in taking the lessons, but because of a shortage of missionaries we don't have any elders in that branch right now. Well the boys names are Josefa and Timoci! We got a hold of the bishop and went down there for church yesterday! It was so cool! It is a Fijian branch and I actually got up and bore my testimony in Fijian! Haha it has been a long time since I have spoken much fijian, but it was actually really special to be able to do that because I haven't ever had that opportunity in Fiji during a fast and testimony meeting. We sat down with them during second hour and got to share a message. We really focused on 'How to Begin Teaching', and it went really good! We had an idea of what we wanted to teach but first just started asking them their background and some questions they have. They were and are so prepared! It was one of the coolest first lessons I have been a part of on my mission. They had the perfect questions and were so excited to learn more about the church and where it came from. We felt the spirit so strong that we even decided to invite them to be baptized that first day(yesterday), and set a baptismal date together! They have been coming to church for a while now, they have just been waiting to hear the doctrine and so we are really excited for them. Also I didn't know this, but President Ratuvukivuki's younger brother is in that ward and knows the two boys really well, and so it is a great connection we were able to make because I knew the Ratuvukivuki family really well from my time in Suva! He was in the lesson with us yesterday and it was awesome.

We have also received a really cool referral this week! Her name is Christine and she is a hindu girl who recently got engaged to a less active member named Edwin. Her family are very strong hindus, but her father this week decided to let her become Christian!! Woohoo! Our first lesson together with her will be tomorrow night and so we are so excited! I am especially excited for two reasons, 1. We are going to be teaching her at her house and so her whole family is going to be there for the lesson, and 2. The less active family she is going to marry into hasn't been to church in a long time and I think this is going to help them get the fire back inside of their testimonies! I'll keep you guys updated, but we are really excited!!

Life is good and busy here! Sorry for my inconsistency in writing a weekly letter, but I do love you all and am thankful for the support that is given to me:)

Have a great week!!

Elder Hess