week 42

Mi'au Bula Rei!

How is my amazing family doing huh? Hillyard is the man. He was not happy

the whole week before he left because he couldn't get off the island. Haha.

He is funny man! Yeah Fijian is awesome! You need to hear Fijian songs! They

sound so much better than English! well...some of them. Haha. I still have

not heard about the box! I have no idea! I just got Grandma and Grandpas

Christmas card but no box yet! I don't know what the deal is! I received a

good email from President today. He thanked me for being such a dependable

missionary, to allow him to use a ward missionary for a while to wait till

new missionaries come in and that he has great confidence in me to keep the

work going in the area. So I felt good about that! We have a zone conference

the first week of March so it's coming up! I am not sure if you guys have

heard but they are splitting the Fiji Suva Mission. Before it was Fiji,

Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. Now it's only the Fiji Suva mission. New

Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Solomon Island will all be one mission now, under

the Vanuatu Mission. It will be good though so President can stay in Fiji

and focus on Fiji and not the other two islands. So yeah, I am not sure when

the change will happen, but yeah. That's the fun fact for the week. Another

fun fact is I weigh 185 again. The work is still going good. We haven't seen

Alfred since that day unfortunately. I heard he is at the farm though so I

don't know. We taught the family again this week and will probably commit

them to baptism this week. We had a less active family, well just the wife

and 2 of the kids. They walked from Naduri to the church Sunday! It was

ridiculous! I saw them and was like "What the heck are they doing here? They

woke up at 4 and walked all the way there and got there around 8-9, church

starts at 10, ha ridiculous! The parents haven't worn garments forever

either and this really made me happy that she was asking how to buy

garments! I don't know what has happened but I like it!! Its good! Now we've

just got to get the husband to do it! I have also had some learning

experience with records this week! I have learned that records are sooooo

important!! The Sr couple is going through Labasas records and trying to get

them accurate because they are out of whack! I was looking at ours and this

week we are going to meet with the clerk and go through all the priesthood

records and make sure everyone is ordained and see who still lives there but

doesn't come to church and what not. Try to get all the records straight.

Some will say that they are sealed and not endowed or that they are an elder

but no ordination date and what not. So yeah I have learned a great deal

about how important records are! Here's another fun fact..Labasa  has 600

members and only 70-90 active every Sunday!!! Haha crazy!! Dad how many

members are in our ward and how many are active? So  yeah. So the companion

thing. Yes he is with me 24 hours. There are a lot of missionaries leaving

the mission especially in April and June there will be around 20 total but

not that many coming in you know. So sometimes we have to have ward

missionaries fill in until the missionaries arrive. So I will only be with

him for a couple weeks probably. He is a recent convert of 6 months but has

been around the church for a while. If he stays on the track he is on, he

will be a very good missionary. So yeah that's about it, a couple weeks then

I will get a legit missionary. A lot of people think I will train this next

transfer but who knows well see. So yeah that's about all I can think of

this week! So I am glad all is well! Oh yeah I forgot to tell you guys about

how these Indian girls asked if me and my comp (who is Fijian) if we were

brothers. Haha, they thought we were brothers! Oh and trying to teach him

how a washing machine works...that was an interesting experience too! So

funny! Ok that's all! Moce! Well love you all! The church is true...plain

and simple! Amen!!

Elder Hansen

Shane has gained 8 pounds. This is what he is currently eating. "Tuna and

noodles ha that's about it! Every Sunday we go to the Terry's house, Sr

couple, and eat American food haha but my health is good!"

Picture:

We got a ride in the back of a truck to Labasa from Seaqaqa. Haha it was

fun.

BTW -Elder Hillyard just got home this week. He was Shane's zone leader for

a while. He lives in West Jordan and we went to his homecoming today.

Love you all.

Joni

week 41

Ni sa bula vinaka!

What's good family? How are things? Yeah, I saw Houston on the front page

when I got on. That sucks! Happy Valentines too! Sounds like all is going

good! Yeah, Hillyard is not happy! He was suppose to be off the island a

couple days ago but because of the weather he hasn't been able so I don't

know if he is there today or not. His mom is here already though. He is a

crazy kid! Well this week was a little slow. We didn't get to see some of

the people we wanted and transfers were this week too! Yashko has been

transferred to Burewai now. Haha funny huh? I am now with a ward missionary

from Savusavu. Elder Myer, my last comp, baptized him about 6 months ago. So

he is a recent convert and I just met him this morning. He seems really cool

though. It will be interesting. I don't know how long I'll be with him but I

just want to help him learn and show him how fun the mission is so he wants

to serve. So we'll see what happens! Like I said, not a whole lot happened

this week but we did have a cool experience though. We went to this house

and there were like 7-8 people there, not of all the same family,  and we

were just going to share an intro lesson. Well, the Methodist preacher was

there sitting in on it. Haha it was funny. We didn't really worry about him,

just focused on the people.  He ended up not saying ONE word the whole time.

It really surprised us! It was good though, there were a few that were very

interested. There was one kid, 20 years old, named Alfred. He came to the

house just to hang out, didn't know what we were doing there. He just sat in

and listened and became very interested. After the lesson we were just

talking about stuff. I was answering his questions. It was just 1 on 1 with

me and him, just chilling and talking. He all of sudden said, man I want to

be like you! I want to preach the gospel. I told him that he could have the

opportunity if he read the Book of Mormon, prayed, and continued to learn.

He promised he would come to church this next Sunday so we'll see if he

comes. He was a way cool kid. I think we could have a great potential

investigator with him. Oh yeah, also at that house, the wife's mom stays

there and she is 99!!!! She came out laughing and shaking our hand. Haha it

was crazy!! So funny dream! I had a dream that dad and the whole bishopric

wore sulu's at my homecoming and then after that, it was the cool thing to

wear and I came back to Fiji and bought a ton more so all the young men and

elders could wear them. Haha it was funny! This week I have been doing a lot

of thinking about mission, life, and what not and I have been watching these

church movies multiple times every day, Treasure in Heaven: The John Tanner

Story and Only a Stonecutter: Story of John Rowe Moyle, and I absolutely

love them! Especially the John Tanner one. If you guys can find them, I

highly recommend them!! They are very short but powerful!! Just about giving

their lives to the church and truly living the law of consecration. I was

thinking about how I am doing at that. I really want to give my all and my

life to the church. It's awesome! I love it! So yeah that's about all for

the week. Oh yeah, we taught the young women's class last Sunday too. The

pictures are some of the best I have taken! A lot of sunsets. The pictures

can't get the real view of it, it's different but the ones here, were

exactly how it was! Haha it was sweet!! Yashko is the one with the goofy

face. So yeah, love you all! Try to watch those two movies! Peace n

blessings!!

Be who you are designed and capable to become!

Elder Tukai (Hansen)

week 40

Ni sa Bula Vinaka!

How are those amazing 2 mile walky talky's? Haha camping huh? Thats sweet!! You guys need to come do it fijian style!!! Haha It is still raining a ton and supposedly another big storm is coming soon but I don't really know so well see! Mom, yes swimming is not allowed.  Don't worry, we don't do it.  The members wanted us to do it but that thought came to my head.  Man this could be one of those bad stories you know, so don't worry mama!  The elders are some of the main reasons why this area is so dead. Some of them are known for not keeping the rules!  Sorry I am so late today.  It's a public holiday and EVERYTHING is closed today but this shop opened at 3, so I apologize!  Pres. Klingler has not told me his plan for this area but I have asked him a few times what he wants us to focus on and what not. The unit is approved and the family is very good! We just got 2 family referrals yesterday that we are going to see in that same village! We are excited for that! Our goal is to have 10 investigators in 3 weeks. So things are picking up and so we just need to OYM (open your mouth, we had to ask) a lot and start focusing more than we have been on finding new investigators..So yeah we are still being patient and we are doing all we can to help the members and find new people to teach. Dad that is one thing I have been trying really hard to work on, is relying on the Spirit and then following it. I was reading in PMG and that it is something that just doesnt come, that you have to work on it and so it's been a goal of mine to be very good at listening and working by the Spirit.  It's definitely tough but I am trying! So yeah things are going good so far, I think now that it is officially approved to be a unit, it will make things much easier and we will see how the members in that village really are because they have no excuse to miss church now that it is in their home and what not. So yeah, really strengthen the members and find new people to teach! We are kind of starting over and its definitely a lot of work but nothing is too hard if we rely on Heavenly Father. So funny story! School started last week and we didn't have the truck so we are getting on the bus but its with a bunch of Indian school girls, hahaha.  A couple of them see me and start laughing as I was walking to the bus stop and I get on the bus......SILENCE !! I walk to my seat in the back, everyone is staring at me and I am just smiling and saying Hi to them and I sit down and all of them are just giggling and looking back at me and what not. Haha its sooo funny man!! Its so fun to be the only white people around! Yeah, we killed two more rats the other night.  I have no idea how many there are! Our water was off for three days too.  We smelled soo bad! Ha I brushed my teeth in orange soda and milk this week! Ha, that's what I am talking about!! I also found my new fijian name! TUKAI. It means grandpa like the football team called me and also if a grandson has the same name as his grandpa, he can also be called that too...Grandpa Hanley...Richard, Me...Richard..I was stoked when I noticed that so yes I am Elder Tukai! I was studying Jacob 5 the other day and I was reading the student manual and it talked about the language and the allegory and all and I never thought about it really until I read it but it said that Jacob 5 alone can testify that Joseph Smith did not write the Book of Mormon, I just started laughing as I read it because it is so true! The Book of Mormon is true!! Plain and simple! Also Jacob 2:1-11 is now one of my favorite passages now.  It's Jacob apologizing for his language and what not.  Jacob is the man!!! He tells it how it is and its powerful!! I love it! So yeah ha pretty good week! The weather isn't the greatest  but its all good at least this week, we have the truck. Well I am glad all is well! I heard the Giants won the super bowl...Good game? Well take care family! Party hardy in the camping grounds! Take care of my baby! ( truck) Love you all!! Peace N Blessings!

Elder Tukai

week 39

What up family!? 

Yeah major flooding man!! It is on Viti Levu in Ba, Nadi, and Lautoka! We just saw pictures in the paper today.  The whole Ba chapel was flooded, its trashed now. It was crazy! We had a little flooding up here but in the west was all the bad flooding. I guess those towns are in a bad place and always flood but this one was really bad. No worries here though.  Its been nice and sunny the past few days. I know the missionaries in all those areas were not able to go anywhere. They were stuck for a few days. It was crazy. The rats are ok. Haha. We haven't had a problem in a while but we still think there are a few left. Yeah man, I hate dirty flats!!! Thank you Mom!! I wash my sheets about every other week. Yeah, I haven't been sick at all. It has been very suprising, like Yashko said he has thrown up in every area. I haven't been yet so it's very nice! Anyway, yeah things are good! I honestly have worn my sandals like 5 times. I always wear flip flops. So anyway lets talk about the work now. This week was very up and down.  Our two investigators who wanted to be baptized both moved away!!! FREAK MAN!!  They were our only two investigators and wanted to be baptized.  But we got a referral and for once it was a good referral! This family of 5 (3 old enough to be baptized) want to be baptized and know quite a bit about the church. The husbands uncle is a very strong member and helps builds church buildings all around Fiji. He is currently in Vanuatu. So we are starting lessons with them this week. They are in Naduri, which we need to teach people there because guess what? They are becoming a unit next week!!!! Freak yeah!!! We can actually teach people there now which we hear a lot of people want to hear about the gospel because they can go to church now! Also, it gives the priesthood no reason not to come to church!  So we are happy because of things we are seeing and hearing, once Naduri is a unit, we think work will pick up very fast there. The leadership will definitely be shaken but he will get the training he needs. Elder Yashko and I also set up a little 12 week program. We always do little short spiritual thought to all the less actives and it does nothing but now that they are becoming a  unit. We made this program where we are teaching them all the missionary lessons again so they can get back in the learning the basics of the gospel and hopefully reignite their memory and feelings from when they got baptized. SO each time we visit them, we are teaching the lessons and also mixing in things from PMG about the importance of members and how to share the gospel and what not and commit them to give a pamphlet or something to one person each week. So they can help us find people to teach and help strengthen them you know. We ate dinner with the Senior couples for the 4 time in a row!! They love us, haha.  We  told them about it and we were talking about things to change or make better and what not so we are working on it and kind of testing it out. We are planning three firesides, 10th of FEb in Saivou and one in Seaqaqa and one in Naduri. So we are getting things ready and prepared and hopefully we can find quite of people very soon! So yeah ha that's the scoop. What do you think!? Its definitely a lot work. The branch president is very frustrating.  I have a higher expectations from him. So we are being more straight up with him and letting him know that the members are his responsibilty and not the missionaries. Anyway we are trying to strengthen the members and the president and to get him to do the things he should be doing. So yeah, its good though, I am happy and loving life! Oh yeah and yes I have thought about being a MTC teacher but Im not sure if you have to be a student at BYU or not, because I do not want to go to BYU, haha just saying! But yeah I would be game with that. Well thats the week this week! Hope you all have fun!! Enjoy life! I hope the packages get here soon! Well, love you all!! PEACE N BLESSINGS!!!

Elder Hansen