Monday, June 12, 2017

6-11-17 All we need to do is walk, and as long as we're on the Lord's path

Kaise parivaar julum hamaar??

Nice fact about Fiji-Hindi: There is no set structure, I don't think there's a wrong way to say any particular thing. We will go to the store, for example.
Haamlog jaega dukan ke
We will-go store to
Haamlog dukan ke jaega
We store to will-go
Dukan ke jaega haamlog
Store to will-go us (my preferred structure)
Jaega haamlog dukan ke
Will-go us store to
Jaega dukan ke haamlog
Will-go store to us
All these are grammatically correct, the structure goes according to personal preference. This is actually the hardest thing about the language. I can communicate what I want to people preeetty freely, but it's difficult for me to understand people because everybody structures their sentences different ways. It usually takes me a moment to register what they've just said, take the individual parts of their sentence, and piece it together in a way I can understand it. It's alright though, the language IS progressing well and I learn new grammar rules/vocabulary every day.
Fiji-Hindi is also a phonemic language, meaning that there's no set spelling for any word. You literally just spell it how it sounds to you, which is why you'll find a lot of Fiji-Hindi-speaking people or RMs who'll spell words differently than myself. If English were a phonemic language, ai kud spel mai werdz laik this end it wud be perfikly fain.

Anyways, the last week was good! We went on two exchanges, during both of which I stayed in my area. The first was with Elder Albert from Suva 1st. We pretty much did finding all day because every single one of our set appointments fell through. At one point, we sat down on someone's driveway with a bag of chips and drinks for a small lunch break. As we sat and talked, a man walked by and kerekere'd some food. We gave him the chips and drinks and got to talking to him. He's been living at a bus stand for about a year now and hasn't been able to find work. He told us he gets harassed by young men every night who take every coin he was able to scavenge throughout the day. One thing he said that hit me particularly hard is that nobody knows his daily struggle until he tells them. People see a man walking on the street, but not the way he lives his life. He expressed his gratitude to us for having shared our food with him as soon as he asked. 

It reminded me of prayer, and how the Lord is always there to assist and guide us. However, there are blessings that we will never receive if we don't open our mouths and directly ask our father in heaven for them. I shared this with him, and he agreed. 

He was muslim, so we couldn't really get a return appointment with him or anything, but he was a good man and it was nice to have spoken to him. It was also pretty sad when he asked us for two dollars as we got up to leave, but we had to bese (reject). 

That was a good day with a nice reminder from a humble man. The next day, we were on exchanges with the zone leaders. Elder Miller and I approached the front house of a property with two homes, and asked the resident if the second house was Indian. The man (obviously Fijian) called the old Indian lady out of her home and she invited us in. We had a good sit-down with her and got a return appointment for tomorrow. 

When we left her house, Elder Miller suggested we go and teach the family in the front house. We Hindi elders aren't allowed to teach Fijians, but since we cover the same area I just reckon Elder Miller wants to find for their own companionship (which I"m fine with). As we approach the door for the second time, Elder Miller said he heard someone speaking Hindi inside. I listened, and that was NOT Hindi, nor was it Fijian (which explains why the guy looked confused when Elder Miller spoke Fijian to him). The man came out again and warmly invited us into his home. The first thing that caught my eye was a big Vanuatuan flag hanging from the wall.  We learned that they'd moved from Vanuatu to Fiji a year ago because his wife is schooling in Suva, and that they speak Bislama. We had a great lesson with them and got a return appointment for tomorrow, right after the Indian woman. 
After them, we went and saw Danya and Jayden (who came to church again yesterday! Honestly, getting people to church is the hardest thing, so seeing investigators in church is like gold). Awesome visit, committed them to pray about the word of wisdom and the law of tithing. Those kids were a golden find, they already talk about one day becoming Sister and Elder Prasad! 

The rest of the week was good, Elder Mo'unga and I pretty much just did finding and visiting the people with baptismal dates. It's transfer week, which I guess marks the middle of 'Io's last three weeks! Hoooly smokes, that's crazy. Can't wait for those pictures! Also, since it's transfer P-day and the zone leaders put us in charge of a transfer-finale-game, we need to head out and buy some stuff then be at the chapel early to set up our relay. 

In closing, I read 'Io's (awesome) letter from last week so I think I'll bite off him and share one of my favorite spiritual thoughts to share out of the scriptures at meetings or dinner appointments. 
Matthew 4:18-20In verse 18, Jesus Christ is walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where he finds Peter and Andrew casting their nets into the water. This is at the start of Christs's ministry. 
In verse 19, he tells Peter and Andrew: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
In verse 20, they "straightway" left their nets and followed the savior. In those times, you didn't leave your family profession. If your father was a brass worker, you're gonna be a brass worker, and your children's children will probably be brass worker. You make pots because your grandfather made pots, just like his grandfather. Because of this, we can pretty safely assume that fishing was in the blood of Peter and Andrew. They were brought up fishing, just like their father. Fishing is probably all they knew. Here comes the savior to these fishermen, saying "Follow me". They immediately left their nets and followed. They dropped their professions, everything they knew, and followed Him. They didn't know exactly where they were going or what they were going to do, they just followed in faith.
How blessed we are as we forget everything we think we know or need and follow the savior. As we exercise our faith by putting our lives into the hand of the Father, he will carry us through the worldly wars of our lives and lift us through the depths of our miseries. All we need to do is walk, and as long as we're on the Lord's path, it will lead us back Home. 

Mom, thank you SO MUCH for your letter! I gained a testimony of what Bro. Watson shared about before I came out. I remember being overwhelmed with this and that and not having time (or the motivation) to work on my Sunday school lessons. I'd go to my class on Sunday, teach the youth, and leave drained and disappointed because I felt that my lesson was poorly prepared. I remember YOU telling me that if I put in a even a little bit of time to study the scriptures prayerfully, that more time would open up for me to prepare my lessons and the motivation would come. As I applied that, I saw the blessings pour in. I felt more comfortable/confident in my teaching, and I felt like my lessons were more fulfilling. I also had more time/motivation to be more productive. I gained a testimony that if we do everything we're supposed to be doing to grow spiritually and closer to heavenly father, He will bless/enhance us in every other aspect of our lives. Yes, it does require our efforts as well to be successful and have happiness, but I know that TRUE success and TRUE happiness comes by no means other than obedience to the Lord and His commandments.

We're heading out now, glad everything is going well back home! Keep up those consistent FHE's and family scripture studies! I look forward to those!

I actually gave a talk in Suva 3rd yesterday about the importance of scripture study as individuals and in families. I know I didn't really pay attention to the scriptures when I was 11 and had to wake up at 5am to read difficult words, but I'm SO glad that mom and dad set that awesome example for us. Though I didn't pay much attention, those mornings brought us closer together as a family. The scriptures are such a blessing, don't take them for granted.

Haam aaplogke bahut pyaar karta, bahut dhanyavaad saabchiij ke liye hamaar mahan parivaar! Have a blessed week!

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY FIA and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! MALAMA PONO!

Elder Ishibashi-Fiji




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