Area 1, Week 18 - Nasinu, Fiji 7/7/13

Elder Nawaqasema with Rosi. One of our investigators' new baby daughter.

Ni sa bula vinaka na noqu matavuvale,

Sa vacava tiko? Vacava na nomudaru macava sa oti?

Hello there back in Utah. I hope that everything is going good. Here in Fiji it is going great. I have some pretty big news this week. Elder Nawaqasema is finishing his service this week.  I believe on Thursday. So, I am going to be getting a new companion this week. His name is Elder Moulton. I don't know really much about him yet!  l do know is that he is from the intake just before me, so he has served for one to two more months than me. My district leader Elder Ohlsen, said that he is a really cool guy. He is really funny and has a good personality. So that is good news!

Well this week has been a really good week. Elder Nawaqasema and I have had a very full week with a total of 19 lessons. I think that that is pretty good. The standard is 15 each week. So we have gone well over that!  Elder Nawaqasema is finishing strong!   

First of all, I want to tell you some stories that have happened to us this week. 

Okay, starting with Monday, after we were done emailing our families, we went to qito (play sports) and there was this lady at one of our chapels that we qito at. She would not leave us alone!  She was trying to hit us and take all of our stuff. Me and Elder Nawaqasema were changing into our qito clothes and she walks around the corner and she would not leave us alone.  So we patiently waited for her to leave. We thought she was finally gone, but then noticed she had come back again! She started banging on the nearby car windows then came up to the church and started to bang on the windows there.  We finally had to fake that we were calling the cops to get her to leave. She finally left and everything was back to normal. There are lots of people like that here in Suva. We see them frequently just walking down the street acting in this manner. It is really sad.

Another thing is that happened this week is I got complimented on my Fijian! We contacted a lady and she said that my Fijian was pretty good. I told here that I have been out for 4 months and she was amazed at how fast I have learned it. Maybe it's just me thinking that my Fijian is not that good and I think that people cannot understand what I am trying to say. But, it must be moving along pretty good. I also have to remember that I have not been out that long. So I guess that my Fijian is better than I think that it is. So this is a plus!

Also remember the woman named Joana that is from Kadavu? Do you remember her? Well Elder Nawaqasema and I went to see Violet this week. We asked her about how Joana was doing. She said that she had just called a couple of days ago. Violet asked her if the missionaries have made it to her island yet and Joana said no, they hadn't. She told Violet that there were some other ministers from a different church that had been there. Joana refused them because she said that she is waiting for her missionaries (the LDS missionaries) to come to her and baptize her. When she was down here in Nasinu, she attended a baptismal service and she liked the service/baptism very much. She really wants to be a member of the church. I am going to see this week if the Elders will be able to go there. Man if they can, they might be able to get the whole island because even the chief wants them to come!  Man that is going to be so cool if they do get to go because me and Ishibashi will get to say that we started an island!

E dua tale, something that was funny this week, we were riding the bus home in the evening. The bus was packed. I was walking to the back of the bus. When the bus driver started to go, I was still in the middle of the bus. We were going up a hill and he had to switch gears. When he did he did a crappy switch. It lugged so much that I fell backwards onto another woman passenger.  I fell right into her lap!  Another lady that was in front of me grabbed my hand and was helping to hold me up. After I got back up, everyone was laughing and staring at me and I was so embarrassed.  Man I hated that and felt like a weirdo after that. But now I look back to it and think that it was actually funny. So that is a pretty funny thing that has happened to me this week.

We also had a ward baptism this week. It was for a 8 year old little boy named Andrew Starkey Vunidakua. They had Elder Nawaqasema do the baptism because it was going to be his last Sunday and they wanted him to do it.  Man this kid is awesome. He is so cool. Every time he sees us, he yells "Elders" or he comes up to hug us. He is so cool and a nice kid. The baptism went great.

We have also got a couple new invesitgators. One of them wants to go on a mission. We have only met him once but I think he is going to be great. I will tell you more next week. Another one is from Kadavu also. The couple are going back to Kadavu this week. We met with them twice and on the last visit at the end of the lesson, she expressed to us how grateful she was for us coming. She said that this was the reason that she had come to Suva for. She said she did not know before, but now she knows why she came here. I thought that that was pretty cool. I hope that the Elders there are going to be able to see her also.

This week I have been reading in the Book of Mormon. We as a mission are reading the Book of Mormon in 10 weeks. This week we read in the book of 2 Nephi. Man, there is so much to learn in this book.  I particularly like the last six chapters. It talks a lot about the importance of baptism, enduring to the end, and all about the Book of Mormon. Man it is so great. I know that this book is true. Everything in it is the word of God and we should all apply everything that is in it. I know this church is true and Jesus is our Savior.

I want to tell you all that I love you all and miss you lots. Have a good week.

Your son/brother,

Elder Grotepas 

Elder Grotepas, Elder Nawaqasema (Top Center), Elder Ohlsen (Top Right), Elder Rainsdan (Bottom Left), Sister Jonathan (Center), Sister Su'a (Bottom Left).  Elder Rainsdan's Birthday.

Some pretty cool looking clouds

Our dinner list for the month!  Awesome Fijian members!