Area 2, Week 3 - Waila, Fiji 9/29/13

How is everything going this week? Sorry that this email s going to be short this week. I just accidentally deleted my whole letter that I have been typing for the past hour. I don't know how to get it back.

This week has been a really good week. I think that lots of changes are going to be taken place in the Waila Ward.

This week we got to ride on a boat! We had to get to the other side of the river and we ran into a member from a village called Navatuyaba. He swam across the river and got the boat for us and took us across. It was just a metal boat with a long stick to move us across the river. It was so sweet.

This week also was the first time that I have been offered e dua na bilo ni yaqona, one cup of grog. When we were walking through this village, everyone was watching the rugby game and drinking grog. A man invited us in and insisted that we had a cup. We told him that we could not and he was fine with it.  Most everyone drinks lots of grog here in Waila. It seems it's more common the further you are from Suva and more into the bush.

We were able to do exchanges with the Toga Elders. I was able to go with Elder Tukia from my intake. We had a good time and still cannot believe how fast our time is going. This week has gone by so fast that I cannot even believe that is already Monday. Elder Banks learned a lot from our district leader Elder Tamuera.

Well everything is going great. We are picking up some more investigators. Sorry Dad that I cannot write much about them. I did but I deleted them all. I will let you know next week.

Everything is going great here with me and I hope that everything is going great with yous. It sounds like it is. But I want to let yous all know that I love you all very much and look forward to next week.

Love, 

Elder Grotepas

P.S. Look for a letter within the next few weeks.

Area 2, Week 2 - Walia, Fiji 9/22/13

Lomani Family,

How is everything going back there at home? Everything is going great down here with me in Fiji. The new area Waila is going along great. We are starting to find some people for us to teach. Most of this week we have been contacting. Lots of contacting and lots of visiting new people. I think this is where I will get most of my stories from. I think it is pretty fun meeting a lot of people and getting to see lots of different things. For the most part in Fiji, everyone will let you into their homes. You will hardly ever go up to a house and have them tell you that they do not want to hear a message. It is kind of hard for us because we have to kind of decide if they really want to hear something about the gospel or if they are just doing it because it is Fijian culture to let us in to share something. Usually we can tell if they are really interested and really want to hear some more.

But this week we had a couple really cool things happen to us. Well first of all, I am training so we have an extra 5 hours of companion study a week. It is really good for Elder Banks because he gets to learn more about how to be a good missionary. This week in my letter from President, it said something along the lines, I am glad to hear about how well Elder Banks in progressing, keep him studying the language every day and follow the training program. This really meant a lot to me because I know how important it is for me to train him properly. This is going to set his pace on his mission. If I am slack with him, he is going to be slack the rest of his mission or it is going to be harder for him to get back to being focused. So it is putting lots of pressure on me to train him the way my Father in Heaven wants me to train him. President also told me that he has lots of trust in me to train him and teach him the right way. Also Heavenly Father has lots of trust in me also. So this makes me feel pretty good about training and knowing that I will be able to do it. It is all part of His plan.

Like I said, this week we have done a lot of contacting. I think that we went up to about 50 to 70 houses. Some were not there and some, just a couple, rejected us and told us that they did not want to hear a message. Most of the time it is really hard to tell if they really want it but we can usually tell. We have had some really cool stories about contacting. One story is about a little old Hindu lady. This one is kind of sad for me because it was the hardest thing that I have had to do. We knocked on her door and she came out. I started out in Hindi and she seemed happy that we knew some Hindi.  Elder Banks started to talk and after he was finished, she started speaking Hindi and said something in Hindi and I knew what she said. She said she did not know English. Se we were just standing there and I did not know what to do. All I could do was just point back to the road and walk away. It was really hard. After we walked away, I felt really bad and told Elder Banks that that was the hardest thing that I have had to do. It was a little bit embarrassing also. I felt really bad.

Another pretty cool story is that we were walking up to this house on a dirt road. The house was quite a ways up the road. As we were walking up to the house, a dog was following us up to the house also. Once we got up to the house, one of the dogs that lived up there started coming at us. This dog was all messed up. The leg was all broken and going every direction. I think that it had broken it's leg and it had healed weird. It was going the opposite direction. But the dog that followed us up there was a stranger so the other dog wanted to attack it so it was coming right at us because the other dog was behind us. It was pretty scary because I though that it was going to come right at us and eat us. But we had God on our side. It ran past us and when it was coming back it was barking at us. So I picked up a rock and it ran away. It was a really crazy experience. I think that lots of missionaries have lots of stories about dogs. An elder in our zone just got bit by a dog yesterday. Lots of crazy dogs here. I miss good looking dogs and dogs that you can hold, just like Bella.

But this week, I think that we have contacted a lady that will be really good. She is form the Seventh Day Adventist church and she has always wondered about our church. She has always wanted the missionaries to come and talk to her but they have never come up to talk to her. She said that she has some questions for us and we are going to see her this week on Wednesday to answer some more of her questions. Next week I will let you know more about her. But I think this is really the only really good investigator that we have gotten this whole week. We can go contacting all week and sometimes we will get only one or two investigators out of it. It is going to take a little bit of time for us to build up our investigator pool.

I want to let you all know that I love you all and miss you tons. Today is my 8 month mark. One third of my mission is  done. Time is flying by.

Thanks for everything you do and I love you all.

Love,

Elder Grotepas

Flower

Sunset

Us at a baptism. Left to right: Elder Olmstead, Elder Tausiga, Me, Elder Banks.

Tis a little bit of the Waila Young Men

Area 2, Week 1 - Waila, Fiji 9/15/13 New Companion Elder Banks

Our hike today at the top of the mountain

Dear Family,

Sorry about this weeks letter, it is not going to be too long. We do not have very much time.  This has been a really good week. To start it all off I had to say all of my good-byes to all of the people in Nasinu. I have built up such a good relationship with all of the people over there and also with all of the recent converts that we had. 

I told Bishop that I was going to be leaving this week and he replied "Oh, since you are going to be leaving, will you be willing to talk today in sacrament meeting for 8 minutes?" So, of course I did and it went great. I was all stressed out because I was going to have to do it in Fijian and I did not have that much time to prepare for it. But Elder Moulton said that it was great and that I did a great job.

But another sad thing that I had to do was say good-bye to one of the best companions that I have had, Elder Moulton (he says that about all his companions, he truly has loved each one). I miss him so much because we had a good time together and did a lot of fun things together.

On the other side of the the rainbow, I have a new companion, Elder Banks and he is from the same city that I am from, Syracuse! He is great and his Fijian is coming along. We have not really been together much this week because we have been on splits this whole week. We have been together now for only two days total out of five. But he is really good.

We dont really have any stories this week. Next week we will have some good stories.

Sorry I cannot write alot. I am about out of time. I want to let you all know that I love you all very much and hope that you all have a good week. I know that I will have a good week. I love you all and miss you tons!! :)

Love, 

Elder Grotepas

Area 1, Week 27 (my last week here) - Nasinu, Fiji 9/8/13

Dear Family,

How is everything going there in Utah? Everything here in Fiji is going great. I know that I say this almost every   week, but these weeks are going by so fast. It felt like it was just yesterday I was just talking to you. These weeks are going by so fast it is unbelievable. Well the past week has been a little bit crazy. We have had a lot of meetings and another way cool thing that we were able to do is to go the the Vale Tabu (temple). It was an awesome experience. It was so good to go through the temple again. I know that once you are farther away from the temple, you don't go that much. I have been way close these past 6 months and I have been able to go twice.

Well this week we have had some good and bad news. I am going to have to leave my "greenie" area and go to another area. I found out on Saturday night that I am going to be transferred to an area called Waila. I am opening this area.   We have 22 new missionaries coming to Fiji.  Actually, as I speak,  they are on their way down here. That is if they have not already made it to Suva.  Another thing about the area is that I am going to be training there too. So that means that I am going to be a "father" in the mission. I am so excited to be a father. I remember about 3 months or so ago and I did not have the desire to be a trainer at all. Now I am really

 excited to train! I think that it will be a good experience and I will hopefully be able to make an impact on someone elses life as well. It is going to be a good time over there in Waila.

Well that is pretty much all of the big news of the week. We were really busy this week with meetings and going to the temple. First of all, on Tuesday we were able to go to the temple and that was a great experience. Every time that I go it seems like I learn something new. It is really a blessing for you in Utah where it only takes like 30 minutes to get to a temple. We are so blessed that we are able to do that there. Here in Fiji, there is only one in Suva and people save their money for years to come down to Suva to attend the temple. That might also be their only time that they are able to make it to the temple in their lifetime. The temple really is a great place!

This week, we were also able to have a Zone Conference for the Suva Zone. It was a great meeting and we had a good time. Of course, everyone was excited for lunch because we got to enjoy Sister Klingler's cooking. We had sandwiches and potato salad. It was so good and it was a good change from noodles, curry and rice. But I know that is not what we are in Zone Conference for!  I learned a lot on how to improve my teaching and to be a more effective worker for the Lord. They had a training on how we need to help the investigator understand. We are not to force the things down their throats but we need to gently help them.

A couple weeks ago, we asked a member from Nasinu 2nd if she could make us a dish called Palaou for dinner. She said she would!  This is Elder Moulton's favorite Indian dish. It was so good. It is kind of like a chicken casserole but better. It had rice, chicken, and cinnamon. It was so good. The really cool thing about this is that when they gave it to us, they did not give us a spoon. All of the family sat down with their plate and started to eat with their fingers. They asked us if we wanted a spoon but we wanted to be like them and eat with our fingers also. It is so laid back here in Fiji. If we would do that back home, our parents would get mad and tell us to use a fork or something. Oh, and another thing that is funny about Fiji, is that forks are not as common. Back home, I remember using forks all the time. Once you get here, all you use is a spoon or your fingers. Back to the dinner, it was so good. Then after dinner, we were able to have cake because it was one of their kids' birthday the day before. We got to celebrate his birthday with him.

Another thing that happened it that we had to drop one of our investigators that I really liked alot. We had to tell them that if they were not going to start to progress that we are going to have to stop coming over as much. It was really sad because it looked like one of them was going to cry when we told them this. When we were leaving, he came with us up to the top of the road. He talked to us for about 15 minutes and told us that he does not know what to do. It is hard for him to get married to the other investigatior because of some problems that they have come across. We told him that he really needs to talk to her and also talk to his Father in Heaven. I hope that this kind of pushes them to do what is right and come into the church. This was one of the hardest things that I have had to do here in Nasinu. I loved this family so much and I wanted to see them baptized. I know that the Lord has a plan for them and I know that someday they will be baptized and live together after this life. It is all in the Lord's timing and in his plan.

That is pretty much our week this week. I am doing fine down here in Fiji and I will keep myself out of danger.

Thanks for everything and send my love to the family. I love you all very much.

Until next week,

Love,

Elder Grotepas

Us at a birthday party for a member in the Nasinu 2nd ward.

One of the members made us cupcakes.  Reminded me of America.

Birthday boy eating his cake

Me ready to go proselyting.  What's missing?  Oh ya, my tie!  Elder Moulton luckily noticed this before we left!  New haircut and I have lost 40 pounds since being here.  My shirt collars are a bit too big!

Temple trip for the Suva Fiji Zone

Area 1, Week 26 - Nasinu, Fiji 9/1/13

Bula Vinaka Matavuvale,

Well first of all, I want to wish Dad a Happy Fathers Day. I think that it is Fathers Day back home today. Everyone said that it was Fathers Day at church yesterday, so that makes it Father's Day today back in Utah. I hope that you have a great day!  So, how is everything going in Utah? For me down in Fiji, everything is going great. There is nothing to complain about. As for me and my companion Elder Moulton, we are getting along just perfectly. I could not ask for a better companion than him. He is teaching me lots and we have a lot of fun together. I really liked Dads' advice that he gave about companions, some you will like and some you will not as much. Thankfully, I have not had to deal with the second part of that advice. I have really liked my companions so far. Lets hope that it stays that way for the rest of my mission.

I think that I mentioned last week that we were going to have a baptism this week. It did not go through as we had planned. Last week on Saturday, our bishop had scheduled out this baptism as a Ward Baptism. When he was interviewing him, he found out that he was ten years old and we as missionaries needed to teach him. He told us that he had to be baptized that day but we knew we could not do that. They kept on pushing us that he would be ready in a week and they had planned that baptism for the Saturday after that, so yesterday. We did not want to make them mad so we did that. We taught him everything.  Every day of this week, we went over there and taught him the lessons. I think that everything that we were teaching went right over his head because he did not want to be with us inside the house, on his school break. All his friends were playing outside and he was watching them the whole time. He said that he got everything. So we planned a interview with out District Leader and he came over and interviewed him. They went into a different room and 45 minutes later came out and he said that he did not pass. He did not really know answers to any of the questions.It was a bummer to us and to his grandma. He was not going to be baptized. So it shows, that a person cannot be baptized in 5 days unless they are really touched. And also that everyone needs to understand the basic doctrine about the church and what it is about. The sad thing is that on Sunday, he did not even come to church. I don't know what happened there. But we are still going to be working with him for the next couple of weeks to help him understand and grasp the teachings.

Another really cool thing that happened this week is at church last Sunday.  We got a referral from one of the members in our ward. She told us that they lived pretty close to them and that he was really interested in the church and had many questions. She asked him if she could arrange to have the Elders come over and answer his questions and explain more about the church to him. I guess that she had lots of trust in us to give it over to us. We have built a good relationship with the ward and they are trusting us enough to give us referrals. The next day we called him to see if we could go over and see him. The first visit we gave him a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. We asked him to read and pray about the book and our message. We set up a time to come back to see him and he wanted us to come over to see him the very next day!  So when we went over, we asked him if he had read the passages we gave him and is he had prayed about them. He told us "yes," he had and he liked it very much. The first thing that he said was I like this word "Kosipeli". He really liked the definition to the gospel and asked if he were to join, what is it that is going to keep me in the gospel. What is this gospel going to do for me? We answered his questions by talking about families and how important they are, and then our conversation moved over to the topic of temples. He really liked the idea of how families can be together forever, even after this life.  We showed him a picture of the Salt Lake Temple and really loved it. He asked, "How can a man like I go through this temple?"  We told him that he had to be a member to go through. He then said, "How do I become a member?" Through baptism and confirmation.  We asked him if he would like to be baptized and he said "YES!" He did not want to move too fast because he wants to make sure that it was the right decision before he makes this step.

This lesson was probably one of the best lessons that I have had. We could feel the spirit so strong and he was really into it. He was asking questions and really understanding everything. The spirit has really got a hold of his heart and is really working with him. I think that he will be baptized in the future.

And another way cool thing this week is that I actually got to do some manual labor. We did some service for a way cool member, Brother Colata. He is way cool. We got to mix concrete for him. It was way good to actually do something different.  It felt good to do that. I really miss working with my hands and doing stuff like that. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera to take a picture. I thought that is was funny because I was working with no shoes on! I thought that I would never do that. I was mixing cement with bare feet! I thought this would be way funny for dad to see me without by shoes and he would wonder what the crap am I doing!

Those are the highlights of my week. I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time this week and it was great!

I know that the church is true.

I love you all very much and send my love to the family. I hope you have a stupendous and lovely week. 

Love,

Elder Grotepas

Cute little Dilsi with my backpack on!

Elder Moulton protecting his head from the rain with a container. Crazy Elder!

Elder Moulton and I

Us with one of our members, Sister Suguta, and her daughter, Princess.

Elder Moulton and some Fijian kids