Week #79

Bula Vinaka y'all! Pretty awesome week to say the least! Good news is I'm still in the bush out in Naitasiri and get to enjoy another transfer with all the amazing people here. I'm way stoked about that! My "son", Elder Payne, is also now in Naitasiri but his situation is a little different. He'll be spending 3 weeks with us and then he's going to be on his way to TUVALU! I'm way pumped for the kid! It has been fun having him in the flat this past week. Elder Willoughby and I got to do transfers this whole last week and somehow still were able to manage going on an exchange and have a baptism! Which was a miracle. I actually had a way good time on my exchange with Elder McKee. He's from Washington and a very smart guy! While I was out with him in his area we had some guy walk up to us on the street. To start off the conversation he said, "Hey, I want to join your church." After some additional comments we figured out that he was really looking for some direction in his life and felt like he needed to join our church. We shared with him the story of the restoration and he was excited to hear more. I'm looking forward to hearing how it goes for the Elders teaching him. Being a missionary is so awesome. For some young adult man to come up to us and tell us he's looking for direction in his life is peculiar and normally I wouldn't know exactly what to say.......but that's okay because the gospel of Jesus Christ says it all! That is the greatest thing I have learned on my mission. There LITERALLY is nothing more important than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It answers every question and solves every problem..... I just want to teach it to everyone! If you're not currently happy refer to the gospel: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and then endure to the end. I can testify that there is no other way to find true happiness. ONLY by following the gospel of Jesus Christ. Sometimes even as a missionary I have to refer back to these steps to make sure I'm happy and it works every time. Elder Mckee and I also had a cool experience in helping a less active family. We shared with them the importance of the Sacrament. If we think about the Sacrament as a feast to remember our Savior....we will never EVER want to miss a sacrament. He made it so we can ALWAYS remember Him. The next Sunday we saw the family come to church and we could tell how excited they were to come break bread with the Savior. Later that night I had a pretty funny experience! Remember the scene on The Grinch when he gets the fudge shoved in his mouth till he is sick?!...I had a similar experience. After coming back from a dinner appointment where they made us tons of food we went to one last appointment to visit a man named Wame. We walked inside and he was playing some christian songs on the guitar and singing pretty loud. In between his songs he would add commentary...like, "Honey, make these boys some dinner!" We told him no thank you but then he'd ignore us and continue on with his song. His wife came out with a huge plate of eggs, rice, sausage, and ketchup. I was already so full but ate it anyway. Now I was really full and my stomach hurt. He then made us eat hot chocolate and pie and I literally almost popped. I was trying not to laugh as he was stuffing my face with all this food and singing these christian songs and then I realized just how happy this guy was. We shared with him the restoration and he said he would be baptized on March 5th! We'll see how it goes! This last Sunday Save Naca was baptized and so that was awesome. He was super pumped and when he came up from the water you could just see the change in him. He could not stop smiling. I just want you all to know that I cannot nor will I ever deny the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the MOST important thing in this life. I love you all and look forward to telling you more next week!

Love, Elder Jonacani (someone tried to call me that the other day hahaha)