Safe and Sound, on Rabi... Nov. 14,2018


Fear not I am safe and sound in the beautiful island of Fiji! We had 22 new elders and sisters come in with me it was very big intake for a little island! We stayed at our mission home that day and then we went out to give out a Book of Mormon in all Fijian. It was great and very scary experience, but I did it, and got a new person of interest for the Samabula elders. In my prayers that night, I thanked my Father in Heaven for the strength and I had the craziest feeling that he wasn't done with me yet.

 I foolishly thought he meant in Fijian... we opened a letter that gave us our first area and I have been called the serve on the island called Rabi!  This would be a good and a good story... however; the thing about Rabi (pronounced Ram-be) is they don't speak Fijian... They speak a language called Kiribati (sounds like kira bass) (weird right) it’s crazy difficult.

I have been on Rabi for over a week and this means I am fluent i Kiribati... psych, it’s still crazy difficult, but I realized that i just need to go to work... I am literally living the movie, “The Other Side of Heaven” so fingers crossed that I don’t experience all that happened in that movie.

Anyway, my comp is another white guy that is an interesting fella. Rabi is a crazy place. We can’t email every week so once every three weeks... hopefully. In Rabi my flat is crazy as, (that is a thing we say here "as"). In Rabi we only have 2 hours of power a day, cold showers, and we wash our clothes by hand... now that I got the negatives, wait, we also have rats and crazy big spiders... crazy.

Anyway, I am the happiest I have ever been! I am where my Heavenly Father needs me to be! There is so much in Rabi I love! We have small little geckos everywhere. Plus, some pretty good beaches. The language is a struggle but if there is no struggle there is no strength! This is my home... for 6 months at least. Also, I am the only Simatang (white guy) that has ever been trained on Rabi, so either president has big plans for me or hates me! Hopefully it is the third. Third being that Heavenly Father realizes that I have the ability and training, from my parents and siblings, so that I can bless the lives of wherever he needs me and will send me there no matter where it is. 

           Doubt not fear not is the scripture that comes to mind. every second of my mission so far, and trust in the Lord either on an island in the sea or in the safety and comfort of home. Doubt not fear not! I love you all very much and I don't have a lot of time...so more details will follow in 3 or 4 weeks. Also, if I don’t have an email that I need just send it to me. I can’t get pictures right now, I am very sorry the computer is being weird I am so so sorry...next time.
-Elder swallow





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3-22-20 First Update From Pres. Higgins in regard to Covid-19's impact on the FIji Suva Mission

Image
John Higgins shared a link . Conversation Starter · March 22 at 2:20 AM To families of missionaries currently serving in the Fiji Suva Mission. Tomorrow (P-Day Fiji time) your missionary will receive information which I am also sharing with you to keep you updated with the rapid changes that are effecting our missionaries and their sacred work here in the Islands of Fiji. Please freely discuss the counsel and instructions with your missionary and encourage them to follow these recommendations. Bula Vinaka Sisters and Elders, My dear fellow servants: “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life”. (3 Nephi 5:13). This scripture is a powerful reminder to us in the Fiji Suva Mission of whom we serve, who’s message we share, and what He desires for each of us. As events change dramatically day by day let us trust in the Lord and His servants, moving forwa...
Read more

Noqu yaca. Transferred from the roots to the shrub.

Image
This was a crazy week. I've been transferred. I got transferred from nawaka (the root) to nasinu (the shrub). This was the first time I've been way sad to leave. I learned so much from my family in nawaka. They helped me grow and become the missionary that Heavenly Father needs me to be.  Now I'm in nasinu, right next to Suva. My companion is Elda Harding from Niue. It's going to be a really good transfer. I want to share a story that really touched my heart this last week. We found out that I was leaving on Tuesday and left Wednesday. So didn't have a lot of time to say good bye. The first house I went to say goodbye to was the pregnant lady I talked about last week. When we got there we found out that she had giving birth on Monday. We came and met her and found out that she named her  Danele...that's my name! (if you know the movie line you win.) It was way humbling and way cool. It's amazing to see that the restored gospel brought us together a...
Read more

Nausori for the win

Image
This was a great week here in Fiji I hope you all had a great week as well. This week we had three of our family members enter the water of baptism on Saturday. It was the best ending to a great week!  We had so much stuff happen this week. On Thursday this week we had the opportunity to help an elderly lady in our ward. She had us "fix" her floor with reused boards and gave us one hammer and a broken shovel to do it. it was super funny and just started the fun. The next day we had exchanged with the AP's and it was way fun because both of the AP's are from my intake! so we've known each other since the MTC.  I had the opportunity to go with elder madsen and it was super fun! we went and did a lot of teaching and elder madsen is a Hindi elder so that means every fijian we teach i would take the lead. It was such a good experience to realize that Nomatter who or where we are teaching the gospel does not change! I lear...
Read more