Week #19

Bula Vinaka! Dear Family and friends! Well...Before I start explaining my week, I need to get some things out of my mouth. You’re all probably curious about what happened with transfers. Well, we got the call from our mission president on Tuesday of last week. We were in the middle of one of our lessons with our investigator, Dipika, when all of the sudden, the phone rang! Elder Barnaby answered the phone and took a step outside on the front porch. I was pretty nervous not gonna lie.... Elder Barnaby walked in and said he's going to Nakelo! Which is back on the main Island in Viti Levu. Welp...as for me...my new companion is FIJIAN! A 6'3" tall Fijian!...... His name is Elder Vitiarai! You can only imagine the thoughts that went through my head when I found out my new follow up trainer is FIJIAN! I am staying in Matei and Qeleni which I am relieved and happy about because I've grown to love the people here. AND MY COMPANION IS FIJIAN! He is going to teach me how to be a native hehehe;) I have high hopes he'll help me become fluent in Fijian. Wednesday was my last day with Elder Barnaby. It was tough to say goodbye...He's taught me so much and I'll forever be grateful to him. We spent his last day saying goodbyes to everyone. One of our members Naus (the two old nice ladies) gave him this sweet fijian shell necklace! They gave me one too haha SCORE;) On Thursday morning we sent Elder Barnaby off and Elder Tera off on the boat back to viti levu. Elder Barnaby and Elder Tera were the last two original elders from the original district when I first arrived here in Taveuni...Which means I’m the only elder left from my first district here. Which also means I’ve been on Taveuni longer than any of the other Elders serving here which MEANS. I’m currently the KING OF TAVEUNI :) hahaha...just kidding! Thursday through Saturday I spent with the district leader Elder Afatasi waiting for our new companions to arrive. To be honest it felt like forever! Finally on Saturday afternoon my new companion arrived. He's massive... and he doesn't speak english that well. I kinda miss Elder Barnaby right now hahaha! Elder Vitiarai is the man though. It's going to take some getting used to to have a Fijian companion. Since his english isn't all that good it's almost easier to talk to him in Fijian...Which I think means my fijian is going to get a lot better from here on out. I am super excited to have him as a companion YOU HAVE NO IDEA. All the Elders are way jealous of me because well ha my companion is Fijian. He is from Nausori in Viti Levu. He's um....He's 24 years old hahaha...I feel like a kid! He is a convert. He's been a member of the church for about 5 years! His mom is working on an island resort right off Taveuni and she isn't a member. She is coming to Taveuni and we are going to teach her the lessons and Elder Vitiarai wants me to baptize her. I told him if anyone is baptizing your mom it's you hahaha! This week has been pretty hard. My trainer is gone and all of the sudden I’m in charge of making sure matei and qeleni stay strong until Elder Vitiarai gets the swing of things. He doesn't talk much and he is constantly singing in Fijian. On Saturday we went and delivered a package of food and presents to the family in Fiji i LOVE. Taubale and Paulnia! We showed up to their house in santa clause hats and gave them food and presents and they were so happy! The kids went insane! I wish elder barnaby was there with me to give it to them but all is well. Saturday night was my first night in our flat with Elder Vitiarai. Let's just say it was interesting.....He didn't talk to me for like 2 hours and then when he did the first thing he asked me was "Do you want a candy?" - in his fijian accent. I was like Sure haha... Sums up the past few days haaaa! Yesterday was church and after church I started feeling really sick. But I didn't want to stop working because I’ve hardly been able to be in my area this week and it drives me crazy when we don’t get enough work done. So I tried to push through and well it made it worse so we had to go back to the flat and I had to rest. This week has been really hard on me. I've been praying for comfort like non-stop. I feel good when I’m sitting down and teaching lessons. I love sitting down with people and sharing my testimony with them. That’s when I feel comforted. On Sunday at church I was so anxious to take the sacrament. The meaning of the sacrament has changed so much for me since I’ve been out on my mission! It's become a need for me. During sacrament this christmas I sat there and thought about how much the Savior has done for me and how close I’ve come to him. I realized how much I depend on him and how he truly is my Savior. How do people get through this life without that knowledge, I HAVE NO IDEA! But that’s why I’m here! Because there are people who don't know that. Christmas is going to be so different without all of you guys......But so far I’ve had the most unique christmas ever. I am just going to make this week the best and serve people till I feel the true spirit of christmas. I got your package mom! I loved it...I was going to wait until christmas but I couldn't wait. I had a hard night last night so I just opened it and it made me feel so much better. Someone ate the Reese’s peanut butter cups again though ahh hahaha! I’m so excited to skype you guys. I’ll be skyping at 9:00 in the morning here on fiji on the 26th. That way I can skype you guys on your christmas day. I think that means it will be like 2:00 for you guys when I skype! I hope you guys have already made a skype. I don’t know if like I need to know your username for skype so if you guys could email it to me so we can be all set up for it! I’M SO EXCITED! I miss all of you. I am looking forward to sharing stories with you and I loved it last time when everyone had questions for me! I hope your christmas week is good and looks like I'll be having a merry fijian christmas with my new fijian companion. I love all of you. The church is so true. Can't wait to see you guys on Friday! Your friday! haha

Much Love, Elder Jonati