week 89

Bula my family!

Sounds really really cold...I don't like it. Good thing I come home in the

summer! Man you guys are getting all high tech on me now! Being on the

mission, my technology knowledge has gone out the door! I dont even know how

to burn a cd or do things on the USB thing! Ha too complicated! WE had a

good week this week. We only had 2 days of work this week. All this

traveling is a bit annoying.  We are never in the area! But thats how it is,

so we just adjust! We had some good things happen though. Suva was good.  I

saw a bunch of people from Tamavua...I miss that place!! That place was soo

fun!  We were in Suva and Labasa from Tuesday-Friday. So pretty much Monday

night, Saturday and Sunday were our working days this week. We go to Rabi

today, come back tomorrow, Wednesday we go to Suva again for our Zone

Leaders meeting, and comeback Thursday so it will be the same thing but

luckily this week we will have more time in the area. We were supposed to go

last week, but didn't work out so we are going today .We only had 3 lessons

this week  but we were able to get some good things done though. We sat down

with our Branch President and went through the whole member list and he

wrote down less actives for us to go visit. So we will be going with him in

the next couple weeks to visit them. We have quite of few people we will be

contacting from OYMs next week. We also went out to Vunivesi where the unit

is.  We helped them with something's out there. We went to church out there

too on Sunday. We spent a lot of time talking with members this week. Trying

to get members going in the missionary work. So we are hoping to be pretty

busy this next week. One thing we were way happy about was one area in

Taveuni, Somosomo...We did our training on OYM and  two of our missionaries

are very very shy and quiet. They would always get the lowest OYMs in the

zone. Well this week they got the highest!! We called them and praised them

for their work and asked about their experiences with OYMing and what

inspired them to do so many and what not. They both were really happy and

excited about it. They both said just once you start doing it, it becomes

easier. I was really proud of both of them.  We really try to encourage and

inspire them to get out of their comfort zone. They showed it this week and

so we challenged them to keep it going every week. We are improving in the

OYMs but now its just to make it consistent. So we will continue to move

forward with them. Today I studied a talk from President Eyring he shared

this past conference I believe..."Help to Aim High".  I really love that

talk, something I felt I have learned in my mission is this...really just

trying to help missionaries and investigators realize the things they can do

and potential they have. Through the gospel, we are able to reach that

potential, because why?? God is on our side, he will be there to help us! I

definitely saw that with these two elders in Taveuni.

Here in Savusavu, we are in the finding phase. We do not have a lot of

investigators, we have dropped quite a bit lately. We have a had a lot of

OYM in the past few weeks, but not much has come from those. We received a

few referrals this week.  We will be going with our branch president to see

them when we get back from Suva. We were very happy with one this week that

came to church for the first time. He was being taught before I got here and

he works late nights. He is always very excited when we come and agrees with

everything we say. Its been tough to judge whether its from the heart or

just saying it.  We have committed him to church for weeks now, but never

came. So we were thinking very soon to drop him for a while. Last week,

Elder LeDoux and Elder Naivanawalu went to go pick him up  but he said he

just wanted to sleep. That has been tough  because his "sleeping time" is

during church hours. So we decided this last lesson we would be the deciding

factor to drop him or not. We decided to just ask questions and really

listen. He mentioned before we met, he was always angry, but from the

lessons, his anger is gone. So we helped him to recognize the blessings he

has received and as he continues to act on the things we share, he will

continue to see the change in his life. Well, Brother Jimmy really did come

to church this time! He really enjoyed it and said he will be there next

week! We really saw the Spirit work with him and just help him know he will

be blessed for putting the gospel first. So we will be moving slowly with

him  but it was a huge step for him to come to church. We were very happy

for him! We still have a couple we are working with but we haven't been able

to see them since we have been gone..So hopefully things will start to pick

up.

One really cool experience that I am not sure if I mentioned already or not.

When we were on exchanges in Nabua, Elder Olsen and I blessed this man, who

wasn't a member. His nephew is a less active member and his wife is taking

lessons.  His toe was all messed up and they said that he hasnt been able to

walk  for a year now. It wasnt healing at all, and so they are pretty sure

something cursed him, like witchcraft...yes still happens here. So we

blessed him, and I was the voice and just said, if there is anything

involved with the devil,I command it to go away and that you will be

healed...along those lines. I keep on thinking how I said it Fijian and it

would not make sense to you guys! ha (if I wrote it how i am thinking right

now, it would not make sense at all, so sorry! This still might not make

sense to you guys).  Anyway a few days later, they all told Elder Olsen that

he walked to some far place and then just yesterday they said its healing,

and he is walking fine now...Power of the Priesthood! We taught the lady

about the priesthood the day before that and now she saw what it can do. I

think it really helped the less active too because him and his wife both

were at church on Sunday.There was a different feeling around him.  So Elder

Olsen is going to see that  guy we blessed this week and try to teach him.

It was really cool though. After a year of his toe being in pain and not

being able to walk very well...It shows how strong the power of God is and

how weak Satan is! Hearing all these witchcraft stories is pretty crazy, but

to Him from above...to those who have faith...it's nothing! So yeah,  that

was a really good experience...

Well all this well here. I was asked  which airport I want to fly home

to...that's not a good sign...but not going to worry about it, just keep on

working hard! Love you guys! Continue to read the scriptures and pray

everyday! More than once! multiple times...

Loloma tu yani!

Elder Hansen