Week #34

Bula Fam and friends! This week was a tough one and probably one of my biggest adventures yet! I've been sick the whole week and am still doing my best to recover. Despite being sick, I still worked as hard as my physical self would allow. I don't even know where to begin this.... So last Wednesday Elder Bond and I went to another island called Moturiki! It was about an hour boat ride in a pretty small boat hahaha.....but we're still alive so all is well! It was pretty funny how we got there! On Tuesday night we felt like we just needed to go to that island and start finding people there! We found a phone number of a guy who lives there and gave him a call and he told us to meet at this village and he'd come and pick us up in his boat at 8:00 in the morning. So we woke up and headed over there. We were looking off out at the sea trying to see where the boat was when we saw this dinky, small thing barely coming into vision. We had to walk out into knee deep water to get to the boat and then we hopped in. Next thing we knew we were headed to Moturiki. Since it's a ways out we packed clothes and supposedly there is a member who lives out there and we'd be staying with her and her husband for the night. When we got there the guy who was driving the boat stopped pretty far away from the island because the tide was way low and the water was too shallow for the boat. So we had to walk in ankle deep water for about 30 minutes until we arrived to Nacabecabe. It's a small village in Moturiki. When we stepped into the village it was way awkward. I think it had been awhile since the people there had seen a couple of white guys because they all just stared at us haha! We had no clue where to start until this guy came up to us and said, "Mai, Au na liutaki kemudrau ki na vale ni Turaga ni koro!" Which meant, "come, I will lead you to the chief of the village." It was kind of scary not gonna lie haha! So we followed him and the chief ended up not being home so he took us to the chief's brother's house and we sat down with him and they fed us lunch. The lunch was interesting. I've never eaten raw corn beef and leaves before so that was fun. We were able to teach him a lesson and he seemed to really be interested. After about 10 minutes we had walked around the entire village. Like I said, it's pretty small hahaha. We literally talked to everyone. To be honest, when we first got there I was pretty stressed about where to start and what we were going to do with ourselves until the next day. The family we were supposed to stay the night with was currently gone and we were lucky they showed up later that day! Despite our lack of knowledge of this brand new area the Lord showed us what to do! He helped us to find 5 new investigators! It was a miracle. The people in this village are my favorite. They have a little bit different of a dialect but it wasn't extremely hard to pick up. Later that night we had to go fetch firewood for the family we'd be staying with. The Vuki family is awesome. Sister Vuki is a recent convert and is one of the 3 members on Moturiki. She is so obsessed with the gospel it makes me way happy! When we went to gather firewood for them her two sons went with us. Long story short...going to gather firewood meant going to a hidden beach and having her two sons climb coconut trees and cut us up some coconuts! It was pretty legit. We had a way fun time with them and their family and Moturiki is literally my favorite place. That night we shared a spiritual thought with them and their family and the spirit was so strong. I was sad to leave but we had a lot more work to do back in Levuka! We have a Baptismal Date! Sakaraia! Right after we got back to Levuka we went to go help him build his house and he committed to baptism. I’m way excited for him! This week our district leader is coming out to the island to give him a baptismal interview! We got an unexpected call from the AP's and our mission president is sending them out to Levuka with us because Elder Johnson served here and he's going to go help us open up a new village in Moturiki. So these next two weeks are going to be insane. Levuka is about to catch fire in the gospel! On Sunday ALL of our less actives came to church and even some of our investigators from Moturiki....It was awesome! This week I learned a lot about how we can't run faster than we have strength. I've had a pretty bad cough and migraine this whole week and it was hard for me to force myself to go back to the flat and rest. I love this work too much! This morning we had to catch a boat to Nausori and the sea was pretty stormy. There's supposed to be another cyclone coming so keep Fiji in your prayers. We're hoping it’s just a rumor. I've seen miracles this week. I see them every week. I just want to be more like the Savior. This week my ponderizing scripture was 1 John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light. We have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin." The gospel of Jesus Christ is the light. When we follow him and bring ourselves closer to him our lives are filled with his light love and peace. It's not always easy to walk in the light because sometimes we can't even see it. But I testify that He is the light. And if we search for it and live every day in need of it eventually we will find the light. The Savior is my reason I serve and cannot sit still. I'll never come close to what he suffered but I will do my best to help all that I can realize this life doesn't have to be so hard. He went through it all for us and I want to devote my whole life in Gratitude of him. I love you all and miss you all. I hope I start feeling better so I can work for him harder. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Love, Elder Jonati