week 103

Bula Vinaka family!

Well times a tickin! Man that sucks everyone is going to be gone! haha oh

well no worries! Yeah anyone that wants to come to the airport can come, no

worries...Man things are too crazy right now I dont know what I want to do

or need to do! Haha I'm just doing whatever comes. We only had a couple of

days in our area this week. I got a great email from Scott, he is doing well

and really enjoys the MTC. I just gave him some advice on things I wish I

would have done at the very beginning of my mission. It was a good one.

My new companion is the man, we have been getting a long awesome. Way funny!

Haha we always say that's what you get for putting two dying guys together!

Haha we are doing good work though. We went to Rabi on Monday came back

Wednesday, then Wednesday night, we went to Labasa and Thursday morning,

went to Suva came back Friday and then had the weekend to work. It was fun

though.

Well it's been busy like I said. We went to Rabi on Monday. On our way up

there, we went to this hotel called "Lomalagi" which is Heaven in English.

There is a sign that says "Welcome to Heaven" haha so we took pictures of

that and all but the actual hotel wasn't very nice haha it was funny. We got

to Rabi and had a way fun FHE with this family and just played this games. I

got a video of it...Its way funny! Tuesday we went down to where the unit is

and we are the first two other than elders who served there so go to this

place. We rode on a boat pretty much all day.  It was fun. We did a few

interviews down there. It was really good. Rabi would be soo fun to serve

on. It's a blast over there and the people there are just funny! Here is a

pretty funny story. So Elder Rasband came to Fiji, and he wanted to do a

missionary only fireside. Well we didn't know what was going to happen, who

would go and all. Well we get a call on Monday right as we are on the boat

to leave to Rabi. APs said they are going to broadcast it in Labasa and go

to Labasa. Well no shot that is going to happen! That's like a 4 hour drive

and interviews had to be done. So we just went to Rabi but all the others

went to the broadcast. So I think we were the only ones who didnt watch it,

but we were sitting in Hammocks at the time of the broadcast and riding

boats haha. It sucked we couldnt watch it, but it was still fun and we

couldnt do anything about it, because of the short notice. So because of

that the other elders were doing interviews up by where we were and we just

told them to go and we would find a ride to the truck some way. Well it's

like a 45 minute drive between where we were and where our truck is. So we

just took a chance. We waited for like 2 hours until we found a transport

back to our truck. We asked around and all, but if we couldnt we proabbly

would have just slept in some random house in some random village until the

morning bus came haha.  You can easily do that in Fiji and be totally fine.

But luckily one came, this huge carrier truck driven by this Indian guy. The

road is barely big enough to fit one big truck on it, well as we were going,

a bus came and so that held things up a bit trying to make it work. So we

got to Tuakvesi where our truck was around 8 or so and too exhausted to

drive 2 more hours to the flat so we just asked the Branch President if we

could stay in the elders flat there in Tukavesi so we did that and then in

the morning, drove back to Savusavu...Boy! We got back and just crashed! We

were dead! We got a few things done, showing Elder Zajac, the area and

talking about investigators and members. Then that night we had to drive

another 1.5 hour to Labasa, then the next day we flew to Suva...Lots of

traveling!

Our meeting with the sisters went pretty good. They did bring up some good

points. I think it will be good to have them. So yeah that was the last one

of those meetings. I used some money to buy a couple new pair of garments. I

will probably get some more when I go in again. Also that night in Suva, we

stayed in Nausori and right when we were about to go to bed, the other ZLs

get a call and this companionship got in a fight, (no punches were thrown)

so we had to go there and deal with that. They couldn't solve the problem,

so Elder Zajac and I slept with one of them and their flat and so we just

stayed up talking and trying to help solve the problem. We went to bed

around 2 and then woke up about 6 to get ready to go to the airport. So yeah

we both are still pretty tired. I was thinking about how before, I went to

bed so late and man, I can't do it! I want to go to bed like at 9 now! Ha so

yeah Friday all day we were pretty beat. So yeah ha we had a slow weekend,

because school break just started so everyone is gone.

We had a pretty cool experience yesterday, Noma who is one of our

investigators, surprised us. We first started teaching her step daughter and

focusing on her. Noma would always sit there and listen but she said he

wouldnt do anyting because she follows the husband (a culture thing here)

but the husband is a drunk and crazy, so we thought man, that will take some

time. He's a way cool guy, but kind of hardhearted. Only what he wants type

of thing. Well they have been having problems and he told us everything

pretty much and just said its not good, and we tried talking to him about

what we do and how the gospel blesses families. He said to come over Sunday

so we were hoping that this could be a time to change, so we went yesterday

and we see Noma and said that Joti (the husband) is in jail, he beat up some

guy when he was drunk the other night...SAD! Ha that's no good. So we were

just talking and she was saying how she wants to move on, but she cants if

hes like this so he wants to divorce and all, but then she said something

that was news to us! She said that she is going to tell him, that she wants

to move forward and she is going to move forward in this church, the LDS

church. That's the first time she has ever mentioned anyting like that and

we were just like what? Haha and she is really wanting to learn more and

come to church here. So it was sweet! Unfortunately I want be able to see

what all happens, but I am glad we have a really good relationship with them

and I felt like Ive done my best to help them learn about the gospel. So it

was sweet!

So yeah that was the week! We have our Zone Training Meeting in Labasa

tomorrow and then Wednesday we will be going to Taveuni. So once again

another week where we will only be in the area for a few days. But we are

excited for our training, we are talking about helping our Investigators

gain a firm understanding about the Book of Mormon and its purpose in our

testimony and its use in our lives. I think it will be good..

It's been weird, we were talking about telling all the missionaries to set

up their Mother's Day call and I was like I won't have one! Haha that will

be face to face! Its exciting! Its definitely gone by way too fast! A member

from my first area Burewai called me the other day and we talked and he was

like man you speak good fijian now! Haha I really wanted to go up to see

them before I leave, but its not going to happen. It feels like I've been

here so long, but yet soo short. It's weird. I have definitely learned a lot

and want to continue to learn! I am no where near perfect, but the blessings

we are promised, its totally worth trying your best to be perfect. So yeah

it's been a good two years! Very different than I thought it would be, but I

think a part of that is just the work here in Fiji and your surroundings.

Sometimes it just feels like a party everyday haha. But it's been good, I am

grateful for many things in the states.

We dont realize how easy or how simple things are to us. It's been a

challenge to help others here understand in the way that we understand, but

you need to go even simpler. It's been a very good learning experience.

Well hope you guys have a great week! Smile, laugh, be happy! Life is good!

I will be continuing to work hard until the end, still things to do and to

improve on! love you guys! moce!

Elder Hansen

week 102

Bula Vinaka my family! Hows things going? Things here have been pretty busy

this week! A suprise transfer came in and I now have a new companion...Elder

Ledoux got transferred to be AP! Haha! He was not happy!!! I am now with

Elder Zajac who leaves in July so both of us are dying and soon there will

be two brand new missionaries in the area. So unfortuntely it will only be a

short 2 weeks or so with him, but we are both very excited and ready to

work!

 About the farewell...yes tell them to sing a Fijian song! Can you ask them

what song there are singing? I want to see if I know it. Also, can you ask

the Bishop what he wants me to talk on? How I can help the ward in whatever

topic? So have you received the flight plans? Thats news to me! Sounds good,

night time eh? Yeah it's going to be weird being in normal life again. Man

that sucks all of those guys will be gone, but that's cool though. I heard

you can make a lot of money doing that. I can't think of anything haha

whatever works. I just bought a table cloth thing too this week.  We are

going to need to cut it and sew it to make it a square, but then you will

have extra to use in whatever you want. That's sweet about all those

missionaries. Scott Fotheringham emailed me this week. Max is going to the

mission where LeDoux lives.

Man I heard about the bombings, ha that's messed up man! Way sad! Being in

Fiji and on a mission has honestly opened my eyes to know how corrupt the

world is and America. Fiji is a way safe place, no guns, nothing. The only

thing that is really bad in Fiji, is rape. Which is really bad.

So yeah its been a pretty good week. Elder Zajac is the man. I wish we had

longer time to be with each other, but no worries. I told him I would go

visit him in San Diego. The zone had a good week this week. Rotuma is an

island in the zone where they are wayyyy out there. The island is running

out of food ha so they are struggling right now. We are going to Rabi today,

after this, and going to do last exchanges and interviews. We are going down

to their unit area, and I dont think any other missionaries have been down

there and so we will go there tomorrow. I am excited. Then we come back

tomorrow, and Wednesday night we will sleep in Labasa and then Thursday we

fly to Suva for our Zone Leaders Council. Well, now it's Mission Leadership

Council or something like that. It's worldwide now, that there will be

Sister Leaders. We'll see how that works.  Then next week, we will have our

Zone Training Meeting in Labasa and then go to Taveuni. So the last

travelling here in Fiji will be done.

We watched conference this week. We just need to watch the Sunday Afternoon

session. It was way good! We watched President Monsons talk on obedience

with an Investigator. It was really good.

Investigators are going good, we are trying to get a couple of them

baptismal dates. They are close. We just need to find more investigators

too. So yeah.

Boy! Sister Terry made a dang good cheesecake! She had her daugher send her

those circus animal cookies and she used that as the crust and made a

cheesecake with it. It was soo good! We have an oven now in our flat, haha

way lucky! I made a red velvet cake and took it to our family home evening.

They loved it! It was a success!

So yeah that's about it this week, its been busy with a lot of small things.

Sorry it's a bit shorter this week. Oh yeah haha the picture with the bed

and the DVD player...sorry this was probabaly one of the highlights of the

week... we were sleeping and it was about 3:30 in the morning. Ledoux always

goes to bed watching a movie (church movie that is) and it was charging at

the same time. So it was on his bed and still on. All of a sudden, boom!!!!!

The DVD player explodes!!! We have bunk beds and I was on top, but I didnt

wake up to the explosion, I woke up to the big flash. Elder Ledoux shot up

out of bed and the bed was on fire and he put the fire out. We both were

like what the heck just happened! He was lucky his face didnt get messed up,

because it was right next to it. I am blind of course so I couldn't see what

happened.  I had to put my glasses on and I was was shocked! haha there was

a big burnt hole in the mattress and the DVD player was just destroyed.

Hahaha it was crazy! We stayed up till like 4 talking about it and then i

went back to sleep, but he couldn't sleep again. So he stayed up and then

about 5:30 I woke up again and we went to town around 5:45 and at this small

little store, we went to buy an ice cream cone and went to go wake up the

other elders because we were doing our wash there, but now we have a washer

so it's all good. So yeah haha that was crazy. Thats all for the week! Love

you guys! Have a great week! Moce!

Elder Hansen

week 101

Hello my family. How's things going?? Well, we had a pretty good week this

week. It was a slower week, but it was good. Crazy eh? 3 more sundays left!

JACE.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! YOU ARE A QASE!!! (OLD) how was the birthday? oh

yeah and did you know you can listen to conference in Kekchi?? I was

listening to it today hahaha. We went to the chapel and listened to

conference for studies. BTW My patriarchal blessing is finished! I just need

to type it up now. So I will be doing that now. I feel pretty confident in

the translation. I am sure there are a few things that could be said better

or differently, but for the most part I think it's pretty good. Like I said,

writing in FIjian is much different than speaking. Not a lot of missionaries

really learn how to write very well.

Well rememeber how I told you about our mile limit...Tuesday we hit over

1100 kilometers out of 2000, haha, so we will for sure be going over! We had

to go to Labasa again. So yeah, also the Howards who are the new senior

couple here, but they are in charge of the humanitarian, came to check

things out. I think they will be coming to stay in a couple weeks. They were

shocked about the roads in Suva and how bad they were then they came here

and drove on the roads here and said man you guys got Suva beat by far!! We

were like uhh the roads we just drove on our probably the best roads you

will drive on, it gets a lot worse! So I was just thinking about how

different the perspective is from brand new people from America to one whose

been here forever...saying that, I dont really remember been way "culture

shocked" but I could be wrong, I don't remember haha. It's going to be weird

going back to America and that lifestyle.

We spent some time in Vunivesi this week. We have a lot of potential

investigators!!! There are a ton, but we just need to get things going with

them! That's the frustrating thing, because the members say just to wait and

wait but then we are just going wait for another 2 years! We have been

trying to teach them that it's not forcing them to take lessons, but just

getting them to move especially when some of them come to church every

single week. So we did just started teaching one new one yesterday. He's

another kid, he is a little brother of a member, and his two best friends

were the two that got baptized last week. So he should be good too.  We are

trying to get them to be a little more organized and working together more.

Most of them were just baptized last year, but we want all of them to work

together and to have a part in church, not just for the unit leader to do

everything. So we are working with that. I have thought about multiple times

just what if I came back here for a few months and just worked in the branch

or the unit and helped them move... haha it would be pretty fun, but very

stressful at the same time. I don't know.

I do feel like I have grown as a leader for sure...One thing I have learned

about being a leader is you just need to be a good friend to everyone. You

need to love them and not just tell them to do this or not to do this. So

yeah I have for sure seen the growth there.

The zone is doing pretty good. We have 20 Baptism dates now and we could get

more because we had 28 people at church last week. Other than that, things

are going well, just keep on moving forward, just really trying to get the

branch and unit to be on a steady schedule and organized. It's tough! But we

are doing our best. So yeah that's about all for the week! Hope you guys

have a good week....Love you guys! I will try to let you know more about the

flights and all.

Moce toka!

Elder Hansen

week 100

Hello family, hows it?

Well this week was a crazy week! Ha it was ridiculously busy! We only had 5

lessons but we had 2 baptisms and one new investigator! Haha yeah Fiji isn't

too big with holidays! Some churches celebrate Good Friday, but they still

dont do a whole lot on it. Yes, sorry Mother, I dont even know what the

flight plans are. I know May 11th is when we leave. No idea what time or all

that jazz. How was conference? Sounds like a good one! Yeah we didnt watch

or listen to it yet. We will probably watch it this next week but I am

tempted just to go to the chapel and watch it online. So well see about

that.

So yeah we have finally moved in and got things situated! Our new flat is

awesome!! I love it! Especially because our Branch President and his family

live right below! Its way fun! We got everything brand new too! The other

elders took all the old stuff and we got hooked up with the new stuff!

Seriously like everything brand new.  We were supposed to get most of it on

Monday and Tuesday, but like everything else in Fiji, they move and get

things done very very slowly. So we didnt get it all until Saturday. But

when we did get it, it was like Christmas! So yeah we are happy and stoked

for it. We went to clean the old flat twice this week. Thursday we cleaned

from like 9-3 or something like that but luckily there were a lot of us,

like 8 of us that helped. We had our Zone Training Meeting and there was

another meeting that President came up to do so we decided to make it a

combined meeting so it was like a mini zone conference. It went well, we did

our training on Diligence, and so we are just trying to get everyone excited

and go to work! We are the only ones who can stop ourselves. We need to go

get whatever we want. If we are prayerful about it and rely on Heavenly

Father, he will help us reach it. He will show us, just how much or how far

we can go. So it went well. But with all that it was hectic! We had to take

care of 20 missionaires so it was a pain trying to find something for all of

them to do. Some were supposed to go back and their truck got all messed up

on the way so they had to come back at like 11:30 at night and then we had

to take the truck the next day to Labasa and there was a leadership training

with President for all the Branch Presidents so we had to take the Distrcit

President also...ha it was crazy. We drove 259 kilometers in one day. We

have a limit each month of 2,000 kilometers. Right now after one week...we

are at 830 something. Haha we have been driving everywhere!! Saturday we

were pretty much driving and doing things non stop from 8 am until 8 pm. But

man once we got everyone back to their areas, and did all of the stuff we

had to do, I went home and just crashed! We had to go to Labasa earlier in

the week to do a baptism interview for them. So yeah we did a lot of

driving..

We have been really busy too trying to help finish two mission forms for

these two girls who are getting ready. We are helping them finish and their

forms are now with President Klingler. The one who already had his

interview, Kima, is now a ward missionary for Tacilevu...Its awesome! He

replaced the one who went to Papa New Guinea. (PNG)

Our baptisms on Sunday were awesome! We went to the church early to help

President Vatu fill out the Aaronic Priesthood certificates and update the

records.  We then went to Vunivesi for the baptism. Masi is 10, his family

are members and Driu is 9 and his family is not. His whole family came to

the baptism though. These two kids are awesome! They love learning the

gospel and going to church. The meeting was so simple, but the spirit was

way strong! We sang Come Follow Me for the opening hymn and I look over to

Drius older sister, who is in her 20s and she is crying. We continue, I talk

on Baptism, Sis. Mela, the wife of the unit leader, spoke on the Holy Ghost.

We went down to the water...Did the baptism. I baptized Masi and Elder

LeDoux baptized Driu. It was awesome. We came back and they shared their

testimonies. We started the sacrament meeting but in the closing prayer of

the baptism, the mother of Masi was praying and she started crying and then

we all said amen, and I look up and everyone is crying! Even Drius sister

and mother. It was awesome to see. True we are just meeting in a small

little house in the middle of the forest, but the Spirit was there and the

true gospel of Jesus Christ was being taught. So we are really hoping to

begin lessons with Drius family. He is only 9 years old, but he is such a

good example! He truly loves the church and wants to learn. He wouldnt pray

at the beginning but we taught him how and now he always wants to pray. Its

awesome! We had sacrament, did the confirmations, I confirmed Masi and the

unit leader Peni confirmed Driu. After the sacrament we had a feast!! We

always have a feast over there! We ate pig, fish, chicken, and all of this

other delicious food that you guys don't know yet, but I'll explain it all

when I get home. Weird...that's like 5 weeks! ha We left Vunivesi and then

on the way back stopped by this guys house who is our new investigator,

Timoci, he is awesome and I think he will be a good investigator. After that

we went to the chapel and counted tithing and do all the deposit stuff.

After that we had to go out to Nabua, about 45 minute drive to pick up the

elders because their truck is messed up..

So yeah that was the week! We are hoping to have at least one more baptism

this month...maybe 2, so we'll see, hopefully we dont have another week like

we did this past week where we had no time! So yeah I believe that is all

for this week. So have a great week! Love you guys!

Vakaukauwa tiko!

Moce toka!

Elder Hansen

week 99

Hello family! Once again sorry I am late! We have been cleaning and moving

today. We still have some things to move and clean, but we are excited for

our move! Its very small, but we feel its going to be very nice! I also

forgot my planner that has things I want to tell you so forgive me if its

kind of short today! Thats sweet you went with the Muirs, haha they are just

being nice! They are good people! I am glad to hear you got tickets too from

Tremea.  I told him thank you for you. I am excited to meet his

parents...hes the man! Uhhh what day is/was easter?? None of us know...haha

shows you how we celebrated it! The package was good! The eggs held up

really good. Haha I was surprised. Well, like I said today is moving day, so

we have just been doing that.

Tupou leaves for Suva tomorrow. She will be going to school, we are very

excited for her though. She is doing good!

We will be having 2 baptisms in Vunivesi this week. We are excited for that!

They are awesome! 9 and 10 years old. Our zone had 4 baptisms this last

week. So its going pretty good, one area is giving us a headache.  We have

talked to them 3 times and 3 weeks in a row its been the same thing with

their numbers so I think President is just going to call them. We also had a

great Sunday in Vunivesi, we have 2 receive the priesthood! Aisake who is 15

and Semi, the one I baptized before...our 2nd baptism here...big hair guy.

Well he's been reading about the priesthood and stuff and read that they

should be clean dressed and all so he completely cut all of his hair!! Haha

man it's awesome!! I gave him the priesthood. I think that was the first

time I have ever done it and especially the first time in Fijian...haha It

was cool! I had to teach our branch president how to do it in Fijian. It was

good though! There is one more we are working with to receive it...Beni who

we just baptized not too long ago. So that was way good!

We had to go to Labasa for interviews last week and we need to go again

tomorrow for another interview. So we have been doing some traveling. We are

having our Zone Training Meeting on Thursday here in Savusavu and then there

is a Trainers/Trainee meeting on Friday for all those who are training. So

back to back meetings. We are doing our training on Diligence...Just having

that excitement and urge to work! To get things done on time...Studies on

time and leave the flat by 1 and dont come back until 9! Planning how to

fill your day with effective activities so fill up those hours. So we are

excited for it, we have some good ideas..

Our Zone Leaders Council was good also. We went to Suva on Thursday and came

back on Friday. Just a short trip. It was pretty good, we talked about

always being positive. So for these meetings all the ZLs pick a topic to

bring up and discuss on behalf of their zone and also the mission as a

whole. Our topic this time was always being positive. Sometimes we try so

hard to find a problem in the zone and then it seems worse than it really is

so we just talked about always being positive! It went good! I really liked

Sister Klinglers training. I think this one was one of my favorites of hers.

She talked about Charity and Love. But one of my favorite parts of it was

from a scripture in Moroni 10:32-33. A phrase that really hit was "deny

yourselves from all ungodliness". We talked about what that meant and what

not and we had a really good discussion! Anything that takes our mind away

from the gospel or that distracts us in our progression just drop it! Dont

do it! We need to have that mind set that we will not do anything ungodly.

As we study and learn the gospel it helps us with this...As we become more

mature in the gospel our view of ungodliness enhances. I have definitely

seen this with me! I think of things back home before and to me they were

not a big deal, oh well type of thing, but now, it's changed. I understand

why those things are ungodly...big things and little things...So the more we

mature and grow in the gospel, those things will naturally become ungodly to

us. It was pretty cool!

I also had a good study out of the Book of Mormon. Sorry Dad, there is no

way I'll be able to finish it again. Haha.  I just read 1 Nephi 16 about the

broken bow. They face a hard time right there, they couldn't get food, they

were all complaining except Nephi, he had faith and relied on the Lord to

provide help for them. What do you know?? Nephi pulls through again and

makes a bow and gets food! Nephi understood what would happen if he

complained like everyone else or if he relied on the Lord. We all know that

the Lords way is the best way so we should not complain. Richard G. Scott

said something like the trials we face in our life that dont come from

disobedience, is the Lord showing us that we have something to learn or an

opportunity to grow. In order for us to grow, we have to be stretched and

that usually includes pain and discomfort (which I am feeling in my legs!)

haha but yeah it was really good! I am still reading it, its just hard

because somedays we dont even do studies and this week we have been studying

for our training.

Uhh, I am trying to think what else I was going to tell you that I wrote on

my planner...my bad! So yeah things are going good! The last 6 weeks just

going to push push and push! Keep trying to get our branch a little more

organized and trained and with our missionaries just get the attitude of

work! WORK WORK WORK! Just finish strong! I really like the scripture from 1

Chronicles 28 i think 8-9 or 9-10 maybe I can't remember. It's when Solomon

was called to build the temple and it says to know and serve God and to know

the we have been chosen and to be strong and do it! Nike..."just do it"

haha. So yeah things are going good! President is good. Our zone is doing

good, we are happy! So yeah all is well here! Have a great week! If i forgot

to tell you anything I will tell you next week. I will try to send some

pictures today too. So love you guys! Moce!

Elder Hansen