Area 1, Week 24 - Nasinu, Fiji 8/18/13

Family Letter:

How is everything going this week?  Everything here is going great. The really big news this week is that I do not have that big boil on the side of my face anymore. It took a couple of days to get rid of it but now it feels great. Now I get to say that I am a true missionary in Fiji because I have gotten a boil. They say that every missionary in Fiji gets at least one boil their stay here, if not more than one. I do know that they really suck and I do not want another one. But everything else is going great here. Me and my companion are getting along great and there is nothing to complain about.

I had a couple things cool things that happened to me this week. I got my Fiji Drivers License!  I am now an official Fiji driver. The only thing that I have got to get down now is the "driving crazy" part. I swear there are no rules here and everyone can do whatever they want. The driving is a lot different than Utah Driving. It is a little bit like Utah drivers with a bit more patience.  But I think that I will get used to it here!

We were eating dinner with one of the members in our ward. I think that this dinner has got to be one of the most awkward dinner that we have eaten with the members. I will tell you the story. First of all I need to tell you a little bit about the Fijian culture. There is a drink here, if you don't already know, called Yaqona. This drink is a dried root that has been pounded into a powder and then mixed with water. It is a drink that makes your whole body numb and feel good. This drink was used back in the day for celebrations and ceremonies. Now people drink it just to drink it and for the feeling they get. There is no rules saying that this drink is against the Word of Wisdom but if it is really affecting the family life and relationships, it is advised to stay away from it. So we walked into this house and the father was washing out a "Tanoa" (the bowl that they mix the yaqona in).  Both me and my companion were hoping a praying that he was not going to start to mix some in front of us. Of course, he put the bowl down and started to mix the yoqona.  His wife told us that dinner was ready and told us to eat and then she went over to the tanoa and started to help him also. So as we were eating dinner by ourselves, they were over there drinking this drink. It was a bit weird for me because I have never seen a member do this.  After we were done, we shared a spiritual thought with them. We wanted to share something along the lines of how it is bad for us to drink this drink, but instead we shared a message about enduring to the end.  It was hard because the spirit was not really there.  It is hard to feel the spirit when they are all drinking yaqona.  But the dinner was good. We had rice and pumpkin, and Eggplant Curry.

We also had the confirmation of Samu this week. It went great and his friends' uncle confirmed him a member of the church and gave him the Holy Ghost. The sad thing for me is that he is going to be leaving Nasinu to go to a different island for 3 months. My hope and prayer for him is that he is going to stay strong and follow the commandments and commitments with Heavenly Father that he just made. I know he can! The sad thing also is that this week could be one of the last times that I might see him. I could leave this area and not be able to see him anymore. He is doing great and I know that he will be able ot stay strong and do what is right.

Now I want to tell you a story about some of our investigators that we have not seen in a while. We have not seen them in maybe about a month. We were on the other side of the area and we knew that we had to go and see them. When we got there, only one of them was there and he was not doing good. He was really stressed out because him and his wife kind of broke up and they were not living together for the last two weeks or so. He told us to come in. He had to clean up a little bit because him and his friend were sitting in the front room smoking. The first thing he did when we walked into the house was shake my hand and said sorry for everything that he had done and gave me a big hug. He did the same with Elder Moulton. We sat down and he told us that he did not want to hide anything and told us what was going on with him and his girlfriend and family. It was really sad to hear this because it just broke our hearts. He did not know what to do and we gave him some advice. It is hard for us to give him our advice because we are just young adults and they are older adults. You would think being older he would know more of what to do in this situation. I sure do hope the advice we gave him helps him. Also during this lesson, I started to cry. I know that this is hard to say but I started to cry when I talked about how important his family is to him and how it is important to me.  It was embarrassing but I know that our advice will help him out. We are going to see him this week and see how everything is going to work out. I think that this lesson was one of the best spritual experiences that I have had on my mission. It was a really interesting lesson and we all felt the spirit. He told us that when we were not coming around, he felt the spirit leave the home. Everything was good until we stopped coming.  Once we stopped the spirit stopped coming and Satan stepped in and tore them apart. He was so thankful that we came back and brought the spirit back. This was the coolest things that had happened to Elder Moulton and I this week.

But this week, I wanted to thank you and dad. I have been wanting to say this for the past couple of weeks but have not had enough time to say it. Thank you for everything that you have taught me to do. I've got to admit, I am so grateful I can cook food, iron clothes and care for my belongings.  It has been so helpful for me know how to do these things. 

Well that was pretty much my week. Everything is going great and the work is moving really good. Hey I love you all very much and look forward to talking to you all next Monday, Sunday for you.  Have a splendid and 

marvelous week this week. Love and miss yous all tons.

 Thanks for everything.

Love,

Elder Dallin Grotepas

I have now seen a tree that produces the vines in the jungle. There where lots of vines hanging down. Coolest tree ever!

Me on a bridge in Nasinu above some pretty nasty water.

One of the puppies that live out side of our flat. We named her "Gwen" and then the next day, the people that live up stairs ran her over in their van.