What an interesting week it has been for the Nausori South Zone!
My first note is this bit of exciting/saddening news: I have a new companion!
President Layton prayed long and hard over how to deal with my companion, and how to address the accident. We received a call on Tuesday from President Layton. The decision had not yet been made, but one of two things would happen to my companion He would be transferred to Nadi and serve in Lautoka with Elder Howard. That, or his missionary service would end, and his next transfer would be to go home. By another of the Lord's tender mercies, my companion was able to be transferred to Lautoka on Friday. It was honestly really hard to leave him, for a combination of reasons. One being that he was just so homely. He was like a brother to me. He's my mission dad, he showed me how awesome the Hindi program is and how awesome the Fiji, Suva mission is. He loved the people, and everyone seemed to love him back very dearly. Wednesday and Thursday sucked, going around saying goodbye to all our families and being around crying members all day. I saw the mark he left in the Nausori zones. I'll miss him heaps. I felt inspired to, and I did, loloma Elder Mong Yen the Fiji hat. ( a loloma is a parting gift ) The day prior, a member asked for my companionʻs facebook, so as to maintain contact post-mission. As they crept through his photos, I saw that he was a hat guy. Usually, the trainer gives their trainee a parting gift upon transfers, but he did much more for me than I ever did for him. He was an awesome companion, trainer, and brother. Yeah, he made a huge and foolish mistake, but we all fall short. I claim him as my mission dad, but now I guess technically I have three dads: Elder Sinden, him, and my new companion, Elder Mo'unga.
I replaced Elder Mo'unga in Nausori, so Elder Mo'unga had to be emergency transferred from Labasa back to this area to finish my training. Elder Green replaced him in Labasa this transfer. Anyways, Elder Mo'unga is the man. He's way funny, has a great spirit about him, and is an awesome teacher.
BECAUSE it has been such a weird and stressful week, not much work was able to be done. However, Elder Mo'unga and I were able to go out teaching yesterday and saw some awesome people. We visited Eta and Mere and shared about the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. They're onst saraga, they grasp everything well. Given the shortage of time and number of lessons we have to cover, however, we'll have to postpone the baptism for the next day, Sunday the 16th. We tell them that tonight, hopefully it's not an issue.
It's been a little tough without the truck, but good news! The mission had just purchased two new trucks, due to areas being opened and expanding at this great rate. Elder Mo'unga and I will almost definitely receive a used truck from another area, which would overjoy me because our area is just so big. We can't rely on bus fare and bus schedules to get to appointments and reach out to families forever. We need a vehicle, and it will likely come in at soonest a full transfer. Unfortunate, but we just have to do with the resources we have. I know that with obedience, a way will be provided for us to see the people we need to see, when we need to see them.
That's pretty much been the last week. New batch of greenies came in on Thursday! Funny story, our batch stressed the heck out of the transfer squad of Suva missionaries and President Layton because our bus arrived at the check-in point an HOUR late. This, because of the heavy traffic from Nadi to Suva due to several accidents along the way. Also, the airport missionaries got us to the wrong bus terminal and on the wrong bus.
Funny thing about this last transfer is that the bus didn't show up at all. Apparently, these missionaries missed their flight and spent the night in LAX. Our zone leader, now Elder Carlson, was in charge of transfer transportation, and he came over and slept over that night because he was too stressed to drive to his area. It was pretty funny. ANYWAYS, I see a picture of the new intake and they look good and healthy. One of them, Elder Christensen, was called Hindi. Hope the guy's alright.
Alright, well that was my week! I'll take some time now to write the people I haven't been able to get back to for several weeks. And months. Oops.
In regards to your letters:
Conference was AWESOME. Mom, I think I know which talk you're talking about but I don't remember the speaker. If it's the one where he related the baskets, yes! I loved that one. The scripture in 1st Nephi never ceases to sneak into my head when I hear talks like that, which says that the Lord will never give us afflictions without means of overcoming them. He never gives us more than we can handle, and these trials are always for our benefit. To some people, Jesus doesn't seem to have achieved anything from bleeding in Gethsemane. After ALL that suffering, he was spat on, beat, mocked, and crucified. Because he loves us SO much, HIS reward for his suffering was OUR ability to achieve eternal life. He even asked the Lord, IF it be possible, to "remove [that] bitter cup", but he was still willing. We should all endure to the end, but I like the way this speaker put that principle. He said to endure to the "very last drop". Life has its challenges, absolutely no doubt about it. Life isn't supposed to be easy, but we CAN overcome ANYTHING through. I've been out four months, and I've already faced countless challenges in my mission. However, this knowledge has made everything so easy and absolutely worth it.
Dad, I'm glad I wasn't in the car too haha. I've been so blessed by this, and despite missing my companion, there are already many things Elder Mo'unga has taught me that my last companion couldn't. His English deficiency limited what he could teach me with clearance, so most of our language study was finding Hindi words we could liken to Fijian. Elder Mo'unga is Tongan and was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, so he can explain things more clearly which I'm grateful for. Yes, our work will be hindered by the loss of the car, but we'll just have to work extra hard. We'll need to go finding more in OUR area. Most of our work is in the North zone, which we cover, but we live in the South zone boundaries. Elder Mo'unga and I got a return appointment for today as we OYM'd a young man on our way home from Eta's yesterday. They're maybe a good ten minute walk away from the flat, which is awesome! So yeah, we just need to find more people nearby to teach. We're working hard this transfer!
U'i, I love hearing about the kids! I can't wait to see your sassy little babies again. Also, tell Mikel to keep it up! Critique is the best, honestly. When you know what you need to work on, you know where that next step is to greatness! Can't wait to hear and see it when I return, haha.
ALRIGHT I have to go. Give my aloha and hugs and kisses to the whole family, kerekere! Know I'm in perfect physical condition, still strengthening my body, mind, and spirit as well as possible! I love you's all so much, AHRE give me love to 'Io, haven't written that guy in like three months. But yeah, again, I love you guys so much, and thank you for everything!
Aaplog ke julum larkaa,
Elda Ishibashi
P.S. please tell Elder Fong, when or if you can, that he's missed haha. Apparently, he was the man. Also, Kai sends his aloha!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.