November 9, 2014
I was pleasantly surprised this morning when I received this lovely email from Sister Lavinia, who is also a missionary mom living in Fiji and who takes a personal interest in the full-time missionaries serving there. She always keeps us parents abreast of any new sightings of our missionaries and offers her insights and helps us understand the Fijian culture better. We sure do love and appreciate her!
"Bula Lori -
I had the rare pleasure of meeting with your missionary yesterday, it was
lovely to catch up and put his name to your emails, I took some pictures of
him and his companion on my husbands ipad and hope to upload and send to
you when he returns later this week. We were at the special Saioko Branch
Conference where for the first time in the history of our Stake we had 2
Stake Presidents in attendance and we witnessed the handing over ceremony
for the Saioko Branch. The Branch has been transferred to the Nausori
Stake and your missionary will now look after instead of the Rakiraki
Elders. Saioko itself sits atop a plateau and the only way to get there is
on foot up a very steep hill, one parks at the bottom on the hill and the
pathway up is rocky and winding, however to arrive on top the plateau to
the branch is such an emotional journey to witness the faith, testimony and
simpleness of the branch, not forgetting the natural beauty of the
mountains around it with the musical noise of a running stream nearby
during sacrament is truly gratifying. I also noted that your missionary
loved the curry that was served, it was turtle meat, for Fijians, turtle
meat is gourmet and eaten only on very rare special or chiefly functions,
yesterday was one such day."
I had the rare pleasure of meeting with your missionary yesterday, it was
lovely to catch up and put his name to your emails, I took some pictures of
him and his companion on my husbands ipad and hope to upload and send to
you when he returns later this week. We were at the special Saioko Branch
Conference where for the first time in the history of our Stake we had 2
Stake Presidents in attendance and we witnessed the handing over ceremony
for the Saioko Branch. The Branch has been transferred to the Nausori
Stake and your missionary will now look after instead of the Rakiraki
Elders. Saioko itself sits atop a plateau and the only way to get there is
on foot up a very steep hill, one parks at the bottom on the hill and the
pathway up is rocky and winding, however to arrive on top the plateau to
the branch is such an emotional journey to witness the faith, testimony and
simpleness of the branch, not forgetting the natural beauty of the
mountains around it with the musical noise of a running stream nearby
during sacrament is truly gratifying. I also noted that your missionary
loved the curry that was served, it was turtle meat, for Fijians, turtle
meat is gourmet and eaten only on very rare special or chiefly functions,
yesterday was one such day."
April 6, 2014
We (Elder Grotepas' parents) received this nice email from Brother Smalls when he found out he would be transferred out of Waila:
Bula again sorry for the late txt... It was great knowing ur son in our ward he was the best missionary that I know because his been here forever and his been [like a] brother to me but we going to see him again when y'all come and pick him up lol well he will tell you all about tomorrow
- sMALLz
- sMALLz
From Elder Gregory's blog January 9, 2014:
Anyone know who this is?????? BESIDES OUR VERY OWN ELDER GROTEPAS??? Heck yes, we are rocking it together in the Nausori Zone! (We've been following his blog for the last several months. Thanks Elder Grotepas and family!!!) |
December 15, 2013
Past companion, Elder Ishibashi's blog:
"....Other than that, things have just been awesome and new. Elder Abs and I have tried Sister Pearson's counsel and have been singing to our investigators. It's been really productive actually! I of course don't have an angel's voice like Elder Abs', but our investigators have really appreciated it. We had our Tri-Zone Chirstmas party on Friday, and there I saw a few guys from my intake and Elder Grotepas! It was SO awesome seeing him again. I also got to meet HIS trainee! Elder Banks. Really tall guy. It's been so awesome, and I really loved that party. Seeing Elder Grotepas again really gave me happiness. I can't wait to take another picture with him. He took one of us...."
Foki’s Daughter Returns–August 2, 2013
Brother and Sister Jackson, from Syracuse writes this entry on their blog:
Foki, our office helper’s daughter, Mariaha returned home from her mission to Sydney, Australia this last Wednesday. Foki was so excited. She flew into Nadi and then on to Suva and got in at 10pm. So we were sure Foki wouldn’t be in the office the next morning, but there she was, but by afternoon she left early and she took the rest of the days off. She planned a big party for her on Friday night and we knew it would take a while for her to do all the preparations.
And so we were in the office alone most of the week and we did great. Well, maybe okay and not quite great yet.
Friday we ran out to pickup the picture that we made for Mariaha and discovered that custom framing in Fiji costs about the same as custom framing at home – big bucks!
Friday evening was the party and when we arrived it was such fun. The aunties were all in the yard finishing up the cooking and they had large mats all laid out outside. We went inside and there were mats on the floor and a huge tapa cloth hanging on the wall. It was beautiful.
We were given places of honor and all the food was placed on the floor and everyone sat around it. I was shocked by a few things – first the women did not eat until the men had all filled their plates and eaten and then they ate – and they ate with their fingers. We were given sissy forks, and used them proudly.
The two young missionaries were invited as well and given the other place of honor and we discovered that Elder Grotepas was from Syracuse and that his mother works for Dr. Coleman! Such a small world. And the other elder, Elder Moulton was from Draper. They said they loved it here and especially in this ward.
It almost took a crane, but Elder J. made it down on the floor, but when it came time to eat he opted for a chair. It was very fun to try the “authentic” Fijian food, some I liked, some I did not – enough said! They must have cooked for days to have it all ready and it was fun to see how easily they could sit around on the floor and eat, and to discover that if you don’t do it all the time, it’s hard for some of us!
There were about 80 people in attendance and they all had their fill and more. I don’t think I’ve seen that much food at most of our ward dinners. It was amazing. And yes there was even a U of U fan at the dinner.And so we were in the office alone most of the week and we did great. Well, maybe okay and not quite great yet.
Friday we ran out to pickup the picture that we made for Mariaha and discovered that custom framing in Fiji costs about the same as custom framing at home – big bucks!
Friday evening was the party and when we arrived it was such fun. The aunties were all in the yard finishing up the cooking and they had large mats all laid out outside. We went inside and there were mats on the floor and a huge tapa cloth hanging on the wall. It was beautiful.
We were given places of honor and all the food was placed on the floor and everyone sat around it. I was shocked by a few things – first the women did not eat until the men had all filled their plates and eaten and then they ate – and they ate with their fingers. We were given sissy forks, and used them proudly.
The two young missionaries were invited as well and given the other place of honor and we discovered that Elder Grotepas was from Syracuse and that his mother works for Dr. Coleman! Such a small world. And the other elder, Elder Moulton was from Draper. They said they loved it here and especially in this ward.
It almost took a crane, but Elder J. made it down on the floor, but when it came time to eat he opted for a chair. It was very fun to try the “authentic” Fijian food, some I liked, some I did not – enough said! They must have cooked for days to have it all ready and it was fun to see how easily they could sit around on the floor and eat, and to discover that if you don’t do it all the time, it’s hard for some of us!
June 2, 2013
Companion: Elder Ishibashi Now... onto the biggest news... I'm moving!! It's actually really sad news because I LOVE it here in Nasinu, and I really didn't want to leave. I've been here for 6 months, and I've gotten so close with the members and our investigators. It'll be tough leaving, but I know that Heavenly Father really does work through the President and puts people where they need to be. I also have GREAT confidence in Elder Grotepas and Elder Nawaqasema, his new companion, taking Nasinu into their hands with love and care. I'll be moving to a place called Rakiraki where I'll be serving as a District Leader there.
If Elder Grotepas' family is reading this, I want to thank you so much for raising an AWESOME missionary. I love your son and he's become a really great friend to me. He's going to leave Nasinu better than when he found it, and when he does, how lucky will the members of his area be when he moves there. Thank you for your son's awesome example to me. He is the Bomb.com.
March 31, 2013
Companion: Elder Ishibashi
Going into my week, I wanted to talk about the temperature. It was the coldest I've ever been on my mission. And it was only like 78 degrees! I've just grown accustomed to the heat. I was freezing my butt off and Elder Grotepas was chilling back at home like nothing was wrong. He was all "This is nice...this is nice." and I just kept to myself, bundled in blankets. Haha, I love this guy. We ended up making cocoa and eating it with buttered bread. Elder Grotepas has never had it before! It wasn't until I suggested it and bought bread that he tried it. He's apparently taken a liking to it, because now we never drink cocoa before Elder Grotepas checks the fridge for bread, and if there's none, he says "We need bread!" Super funny! Fiji's just so different some times. We love Fiji, it's awesome!
March 24, 2013
Companion: Elder Ishibashi
Another pretty cool thing we did this last week was cleaning our flat! Elder Grotepas and I felt that that flat hasn't been cleaned for about a hundred years, and so we did our best at cleaning the things that needed cleaning, like in the sitting cabinets. For some strange reason, there were huge piles of dirt just sitting in there. Dirt. We couldn't really come up with any kind of explanation except that George and the other rats having been bringing dirt in here for centuries, so we closed up all the rat holes that we found, and then we swept the dirt out. We had to leave all of the doors open because as soon as we touched the dirt, billions of small dirt particles drifted into the air and just hung there if we didn't fan it away. That was an adventure....
That's kind of been it this week! Nothing to out of the ordinary or different. I love Nasinu. I love this work. I love Elder Grotepas, he's so patient with me and really makes this work enjoyable. And I love our God. I'm so happy!!
March 17, 2013
Companion: Elder Ishibashi
Dad, I wanted to thank you for your wisdom. You talked a little bit about patience with myself with everything going on.... it's so true. This week, actually, I did the exact same thing you were telling me about. The situation wasn't as dire, as my companion didn't have to use the bathroom, but I did lock us out of the flat... I was pretty embarrassed with myself. We were able to get our way back in, but we missed the bus we wanted to catch. I'm so grateful for Elder Grotepas, he's really patient with me and just laughed as he waved 'goodbye'' to the bus we needed, haha. I'm really blessed with this guy, and I know he's helping me to be patient with myself as well. I also wanted to thank you for expressing the confidence you have in me... it really does help me push throughout the tough parts of my mission and I really appreciate that.
March 11, 2013
Companion: Elder Ishibashi
Before I talk about them, though, I feel I should introduce my new companion.
Last week, we hosted 2 Elders in our flat, Elder Henniger and Elder Grotepas. They seemed very excited and really ready to get to work. Our first night together might've been a bit weird for them, as Elder Sa'u, Elder Smith, and I began to explore the new gigantic flat that I'd be staying in. We found a bunch of weird clothes in there, and we were taking pictures and really just goofing off, which we really probably shouldn't have done with 2 brand new missionaries here, haha. But, they seemed to grow close to us really quick and accepted our weirdness. On Tuesday, after coming home from a long day of work, Elder Henniger and Elder Grotepas came home saying that they received their first areas of assignment and turns out that Elder Grotepas is my new companion! I really hope he wasn't bummed out by that, haha. He says he wasn't.... I guess I'll have to take his word for it.
Elder Dallin Grotepas is from Syracuse, Utah. He comes from a family of 5 kids, he's the 2nd oldest. Such a humble guy, and I really love working with him. He was in the first intake of Elders to be in the MTC for only 6 weeks, so his Fijian is still coming along. He's really willing to work hard to get his Fijian up, though. He wants to talk, and he feels super bad during lessons because he can't understand what the people are saying and his vocabulary isn't exactly spectacular, but he's such a hard worker, and I know that his language skills will sky-rocket at the rate of effort he's executing.
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