How is everyone doing this fine Sunday night? I hope that each one of you are doing good and having a great time. I know that for me, we had a really great week!. I was able to see many blessings throughout our week and also the hand of the Lord in our work. I will tell you a little more later in the letter. I want to let you all know that I am doing good. I am healthy and I am loving it here in the island of Vanua Levu. I like it alot better that Viti Levu because it is not as fast of a life here. It is a little bit more relaxed and calm. It is kind of like home if you compare the country to the city. There is just a different feeling about it. I am loving it here in Naduna. Me and my companion, Elder Fonua are doing great and getting along just great.
Well to start the week of, I was able to do my first District Meeting. I was a little bit nervous because I have never given a training and I have had no one really look up to me with questions. I have always looked up to my District Leaders. But now the roles have changed. Now I am the one answering questions and addressing concerns. But it went really good. I did a training on how we can better improve our language study plans and what we can do to make them more fun. We played a game that I think is pretty fun. It is kind of like that game where you say something in someone's ear and they have to continue telling what they think they heard in the next person's ear on the side of them. Then by the end, you see what it could have changed to. So we drew a picture and had to describe it in Fijian. Then the next person had to write about it and so on. It was so funny because none of the pictures ended up close to the same. Yeah, the District Meeting went really good.
We also had the chance to go clear down to a village called Nakawakawa. It is an area where two Elders in the Labasa District stay. I had to go down there to do a couple of baptismal interviews. It took us about three and a half hours to get all the way down there and the same coming back. We went down on Wednesday morning and arrived back home on Thursday home around noon. I have to admit that this area is the how I pictured Fiji when I first got my mission call. It was BUSH. The Elders did not have a house of their own. They stay in the home of a member named Pita. No running water, no electricity, and no shower. We bathed in the river that is right next to their house. It kind of felt like we were swimming but we were not, we were showering. But it was sweet. That is how I pictured Fiji. BUSH, and KORO.
It seemed strange that we live in the same house as the member. We all slept in the same room. We, the missionaries, sleep on the floor, and the couple sleep on their bed that is behind a sheet. I just was not used to it. I am just used to me and one other companion in the house. But, I have to admit that it felt more like home. It just felt kind of normal. Elder Johnson and Elder Golson have gotten so close to the family that they jokingly call them both mom and dad. They also have a daughter that is three that plays around with them. It is like a having family again. Your mom, dad, and even a little sister. One big, happy family!
But we had a good time up there in Nakawakawa. By to end of the trip, the truck was pretty muddy. The interviews went good also. I was able to do two interviews. I was way nervous before but when I got into it, it was all good. I relied on the Spirit to guide me and he did. They went great and they were not as hard as I thought they world be.
The rest of the week was good. The whole week, we had fall-throughs every day. Every lesson that we planned did not go as planned. But we ended up getting quite a bit of unexpected lessons with lots of new investigators. We got more new investigators this week than I have so far on my whole mission. We were able to get 21 new investigators just this week! Yesterday we got 16 alone. We had our Branch President come with us to a few of the lessons and help us out. Each family we saw had at least 6 members in each that we counted as new investigators. Every single lesson we taught yesterday had at least 12 persons sitting and listening to what we had to say. Some of them were not really focused so we only counted those ones that were listening and accepted an invitation. Heavenly Father really blessed us with these investigators this week. We had a tough week trying to get lessons and finding people. We did not lose the faith, we kept going and did not give up. Me and Elder Fonua knew that this was a blessing because of our hard efforts. Yesterday when we got home after seeing all those families, the first thing that we did was kneel down and thank our Heavenly Father. He blessed us with these investigators and we thanked him valevu.
This was a big testimony builder for me. I really have learned again that we have to rely on the Lord to help us. All we have to do is have the faith and be obedient then Heavenly Father will bless you. That is one thing that me and Elder Fonua are trying to do. Do everything that we can so that we have to spirit with us. That is the key to missionary work. Without that, it is dead. Obedience is the price and Christ is the reason.
I have to tell you all one thing that I really learned this week from my companion. I think that throughout my whole mission, I have been missing one thing in my teaching. I really learned what it was this week. It is being bold. I have to admit that Elder Fonua is probably one of the boldest missionaries that I have seen. He is not scared to talk to anyone let alone tell them what we believe. Every single lesson we taught last night was with power and authority. We told them up straight exactly what we believed. After we told them straight, that is when their ears perked up and they started to listen. They were really interested and wanted to learn more.
But I know that being bold can also have a downside. You have to be careful to not offend by being too bold. Relationships can be ruined or they could have negative thoughts about the church. That is why we have to be careful, and be bold only through the spirit. You have to be bold and loving at the same time and that is the tricky part. You have to find that balance on what level you can teach your investigator. Some need more and some need less. I know that I am really going to work on this. Be bold and don't be ashamed to stand up for your beliefs. Just like the talk that Elder Holland gave in conference about the man throwing mashed potatoes at the sister missionary. Stand up and don't be scared to tell what you know.
Everything is going great here with me. I am loving it here. I cannot believe how fast these weeks are going. It is already almost half the way through the year. It is going so fast.
I want to let yous all know that I know this church is true. I am being bold here, this is the only true church of Jesus Christ and the apostolic keys can only be found in this church, The Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know this for a fact. I know it has been restored through Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson is his successor. I am doing the Lord work and I know that you are being blessed heaps and heaps.
I love you all very much and miss you all tons. Send my love to the whole family; Mom, Dad, Holly, Austin, Trevor, Kyle, and Heidi.
I want to let yous all know that I know this church is true. I am being bold here, this is the only true church of Jesus Christ and the apostolic keys can only be found in this church, The Chruch of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I know this for a fact. I know it has been restored through Joseph Smith and Thomas S. Monson is his successor. I am doing the Lord work and I know that you are being blessed heaps and heaps.
I love you all very much and miss you all tons. Send my love to the whole family; Mom, Dad, Holly, Austin, Trevor, Kyle, and Heidi.
Thank you so much for everything that you have done and are doing.
Love,
Elder Grotepas
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