week 73

Bula Vinaka family!

How's it? This week was a very up and down week! Packages. No I'm good! I'll

probably think of something later but I don't have anything right now. Yeah

garments are so cheap here. I just bought new ones a few weeks ago. They are

like 1.80 for top and bottom. I am good! Vinaka! Elder Gardner is the man!!

He looks like and reminds of Jason Crawford man! Elder Tausiga trained him.

We are speaking Fijian a lot. He is not very confident in his teaching or

Fijian so I have been trying to give him as many opportunities to teach and

like all spiritual thoughts I make him do it. I teach him ways to teach

different things so he really likes just listening and watching he says but

I try to get him to do a lot. He's the man! We get along very well. Thursday

we spent 4 hours cleaning our flat haha. The senior couples in the office

bought us a mop and broom and stuff to finish so there's a big change from

where it was before! Much better!! Boy! We made homemade nachos the other

day!!! I bought a block of cheese and took it to an American family and they

shredded the cheese and bought some chips. I have no idea how to spell that

word...The type of chip we always use for it...but yeah that one! I felt

like I was home after church eating my usual snack! IT was delicious! I have

done better this week stretching too...I am so unflexible! It hurts to

stretch! So Class yesterday in Wailoku was interesting. Bishop and a high

council guy were in the ysa class. The teacher would ask a question and ask

of course the ysa ( it is for them). Then the High councilor would just go

off and talk about deep doctrine stuff and none of the ysa would talk and he

would kind of argue with Bishop and what not and it was just a rough class

and then Bishop just said...Please let the YSA talk. This is their class!!

Haha I learned a lot from that. Your words father to me one day before my

mission....I want to know deep stuff and you said...Faith, Repentance,

Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End...Worry about that! Especially

for the ysa here...Simple things! As teachers, I have learned that you must

teach for understanding. That's how to be a good teacher. You can ask all

the doctrine but if not one understands it, it's pointless. There is a quote

in PMG something like a good teacher can take something so complicated like

the gospel and simplify it so a child can understand it. That's the

important thing...True doctrines understood, will change our behavior and

gain that knowledge. So yeah..Speaking of PMG, Dad look at ch 8 in PMG, the

chapter How to Use Time Wisely! haha.. We were also meeting with a less

active and he was talking about a scripture in 1 Corinthians I think. Talked

about how  a Woman can't speak or preach or something like that. He asked

me...You think that is right? You believe that? I just kind of smiled and

was like Do woman speak in church now? He said yes... then I said, if this

is the true church of Jesus Christ, then it must be ok now! haha I was just

thinking that we need to worry about the things that matter to us to receive

Eternal life you know...but yeah! I do feel I am converted...and that

Heavenly Father is in charge! All these things just make sense and I don't

second guess it! ITs just the truth! I love it! So yeah the bad part of this

week was that the baptism didn't go through! We saw him on Thursday and he

was set...He went to a funeral in the west last week and he forgot his

church clothes. We didn't know this until the day of the baptism. So Friday

morning he had this idea to go all the way out there to get it and then to

come back that night. Saturday morning, I just felt like we needed to go

check on him and the Spirit was right! He was not there! He was not back

yet! The truck got stuck on the bad roads and bad weather. He wasn't back

all of Sunday either...So I don't know! Disappointing! So we need to talk to

him and get things figured out. The good thing was we got 5 new

investigators this week! 3 of them want to be baptized! We have been praying

to find those prepared people and these 3 are definitely prepared!! Our goal

for this last quarter is 6 baptisms. I feel very confident that we will

achieve it! Wait...she needs to get divorced and then she will be set so we

are hoping that won't take long. I will probably be transferred before all

of them get baptized unfortunately but oh well. But one of those 3..Sami, he

is 21 years old. He started smoking marijuana in 5th grade...yaqona, bia,

tavako, all of that stuff, he was doing it. Last Monday, I just wanted an

Ice cream cone from McDonalds and so we got one, walked outside and just sat

there and like 1 minute later he comes and we start talking and he tells us

about his drugs and all that and his dream! He was way high at the time of

the dream. He and his sister were inside the house and there was a frog

there. His sister was telling him to get out because it was disgusting. The

frogs stomach was very big and swollen and so we picked it up and was just

looking at its stomach...he was amazed by it...Well the frog didn't pee for

3 days and that's why it was so big. He pressed on the stomach and the frog

peed and it went inside his mouth! hahaha gross!!! He was just spitting out

and it was nasty you know...Well he wakes up and was like what the heck was

that!!  So he prayed about it. He said the Lord told him...look at what you

are doing, all the drugs and what not...It's all disgusting just like the

frogs pee! Stop!! and from that day he hasn't had anything since!! Haha, can

you say the Lord works in mysterious ways!! He wants to go out with us and

just sit and listen to us. He came to church on Sunday and loved it!! He was

amazed by it!! He said the first few things that he loved....Discipline. He

was shocked that young people were sharing in sacrament and loved the

sharing in classes. He went home and immediately told us uncle that isn't a

member. He is going to institute with the YSA on Tuesday...He loves it! It

was awesome! He just wants to change his life. He said that at the beginning

of the year his friend died and he said that's how I am going to be the way

I am right now. He told himself that he would die in 2012. He wouldn't live.

Well we met and we shared a few things and then he said. What I said is

true...I am going to die this year...the end of my life is coming...but the

beginning of my new life is about start!  I thought that was way cool!! Old

life is going to die! and the new one will be born! So yeah it was sweet!! I

am excited! Good things are happening!! All is well here in Fiji! Oh yeah

the pictures was at a party...a 70th birthday party...one of the biggest

celebrations! This family is well off. They had a DJ a MC and all this

stuff! It was a party!!! Sooo much food!! The picture of the food...that was

only half of the tables. Things would be gone and then refill again...pig,

different kinds of chicken, fish, man so much food!! It was way fun!!

So yeah things are good!! Continue to do well!! Work hard and be the best at

whatever you are doing...do it the HANSEN WAY! Because the HANSEN way in the

LORDS way!! Moce!!

Elder Hansen