Week #8

BULAA Family, so once again I don't even know where to start! Sorry if this letter is shorter than usual, I had to travel all the way back to vanua levu!  We had to take the same bus ride and boat ride that I took to get here. We had to come here because it’s a “train your trainer” meeting. So, where do I even start....The first day after I emailed you guys I went teaching.  All of the older ladies here love me because they say my fijian is coming so fast and they say “isaaaaa” which is basically like “awww” in america. Elder Barnaby the other day asked this kid to hand me some of the food he was eating and i took it and ate it! It tasted so good and then he told me it was octopus!! Way weird! He was mad because it was supposed to taste gross and he was hoping i would be disgusted! Who knew I’d like octopus!!! We've  been teaching so many lessons!  But this week i went on transfers! I went on transfers to a place called Vuna with Elder Brown. Vuna was all bush. No stores. No running water. Soooooo.....we bathed in the ocean. I didn’t really get to much because i was tired a lot at night. Every day there we'd walk for 7 miles for 10hrs a day.....so i just showered by dumping a bucket on me me. It was tiring but fun haha.... Nobody spoke english there so it was hard to teach. It's really weird though, Elder Brown would speak in Fijian and then look at me and I’d just start talking and the people actually understood my fijian and the elders here think I’m doing awesome because I already understand this complex thing in the language that takes awhile to get. But it's definitely not because I’m smart it’s all because Heavenly Father has a work for me to do.  My fijian has improved a lot the last week. This next week I told elder barnaby that I want to teach a lesson in fijian so wish me luck hahaha! 

So, back to my exchange in Vuna! THE MOST TIRED I HAVE EVER BEEN. We got there on thursday and i had a huge duffle bag that i bought to put all my stuff in for exchanges and we didn’t stop at the flat first for me to drop it off so i walked around all day with this giant duffle bag and my back killed that night! Elder Brown thought it was funny... So we walked for days and days and days! I have bad blisters but it has been all worth it. We had some amazing experiences teaching lessons. One guy named wasiki was my favorite lesson. He has been less active for a long time. So we went to teach him about why coming to church is important! I poured out my heart on why the sacrament is so crucial and we talked to him about what his Savior did for him!  And he just sat there in silence and was like, thank you so much...i want to be a better example to my children and you guys have reminded me of the importance of coming to church. He almost made me start crying i was so happy i was like bullllaa our lesson and what i said did something for him. It feels so good to help someone feel the spirit! The next night we had a member dinner...... All i have to say is when i walked into that house i knew i was about to have a very hard time. Let’s just say heavenly father has a sense of humor. They scoop me up this plate of...i have no idea. It looks like cabbage pasta and these purple slices of...also i have no idea. I start to eat and i cant even swallow it.....I gagged and had to make it silent so i wouldn’t offend them. Dad...I guarantee it was way nastier than anything you ate on your mission.... This family was poor.  Like soooo poor. I didn’t want to offend them! I prayed that heavenly father would help me eat the crap i had been served hahaha ugh so nasty! So each bite i gagged. The mother looked at me and said “kana kanaaa!” Which means “eat more” so i laughed and smiled and then I’m pretty sure i cried... I looked over at elder brown and he had finished his whole plate and i was like NOOOOO! HOW? WHAT? WHYY!!  So family, friends, people.... I proceeded to eat this food. Every bite i took i wanted to throw up.. That family would feel so loved if they knew how hard it was for me to do that! MOM....... i miss chinese food.  THAT’S SAYING SOMETHING! So i don’t know what else to say. Thank you for all your prayers! Mom maybe if you could send me a sweatshirt! Fiji has been way cold and it’s so weird cuz it’s supposed to be hot. I left all my sweatshirts in suva :'(  My love for fijian people is starting to grow. It will probably take awhile to ever love their food though haha.... But yeahhh! I’ve been living and sleeping on the floor! It honestly feels like I’m camping everyday in the jungle! Cockroaches and mokos (lizards), and rats all live in our flat. Oh and spiders bigger than my hand hahaaaaaaa! They are so scary i want to flip out and run away every time i see one. I miss the small tiny spiders back home! Anyways all is well. Mosquito bites hurt and i have weird rashes but apparently everyone says that’s just my body adjusting here. I feel my testimony grow everyday and i miss you guys everyday! Till next moniti (monday)!

LOVE, Elder Jonuti

Taveuni Beach

Moon lit night after teaching a lesson and walking home

Bus ride to Vuna for exchanges for four days

Hiking to teach this investigator who lives in the jungle. Wasn't even home when we showed up!

A Fijian norb spider.  That spider is bigger than dad's hand btw

Had to hike with this duffle bag all day :(

Inside a fijian home.  

An abandoned fijian barn   ooooooo

The five mile walk begins......

Crazy scary ocean place. The water was way choppy

Sunset

A fijian family that we taught

Cool view

We'd walk through this palm tree forest every night in Vuna in the pitch black to get home and it was way scary.  Look closely! There's a spider in that pic haha....

Boat ride back to Vanua Levu

Drinking out of a coconut