3-26-20 Third Update From Pres. Higgins in regard to Covid-19's impact on the FIji Suva Mission

Update #3 Fiji Suva Mission: 26/03/2020

Dear Family and Priesthood Leaders,
We are so grateful for all your wonderful and valiant sons and daughters who continually strive to be
dedicated servants of the Lord, especially during these uncertain times. I know that you are anxious
and concerned for their welfare and safety, therefore I would like to update you on the current situation
here in Fiji and an assessment of what we might expect over the coming days and weeks. Please
remember that all of the Church Areas in the world are operating in a state of constant change around
them. The Pacific Area is in a like position which is further complicated by the multiple nations, and
islands within it. It is important to remember that changes are going to occur and that we are adjusting
our plans daily as new information comes to hand.
Latest conditions:
  • Fiji      Government has announced the closure of the Nadi Airport, however it is      allowing
  • Fijian citizens to return home from overseas, they must self- isolate upon entry for 14 days
  • Foreigners      in Fiji are allowed to return to their home countries and the government
  • will work with embassies to help this happen.
  • All      passenger shipping and flights between islands will cease from Sunday 29th March
  • until further notice.
Current situation with missionaries in the Fiji Suva Mission:
  • 9      missionaries from New Zealand and 3 from Samoa were able to return home     
  • yesterday, the first group to depart.
  • All      missionaries from the outer islands will arrive in Suva by tonight, these
  •   include all from Vanua Levu and the remaining Elders from Kadavu.
  • Therefore all missionaries will be located in the Suva quad zones and     
  • those that will remain in Nadi District and our 8 missionaries currently
  • in lockdown in the town of Lautoka which has 7 days remaining. The    
  • Rakiraki District missionaries will remain in their areas at the present
  • time. Therefore all missionaries will be situated on Viti Levu (the main     
  • island) and prepared to travel within 24 hours.
  • Communication      will be limited as many areas have or will close internet shops. I have     
  • asked missionaries to communicate with their families twice a week( on
  • P-day, Monday and Thursday) so that you can receive updates from them. If   
  •   communication is difficult by way of internet I have invited the
  • missionary to share with you their contact phone number so that you may
  • call them directly on those 2 occasions if they are unable to use the internet.
Latest information from the Pacific Area Presidency:
  • With      the rapidly changing situation, It is now certain that some foreign     
  • missionaries are not going to be able to return to their homes in the  
  • immediate future. The Missionary Department announced this morning that if    
  • a missionary is in a country that has closed its borders that missionary
  • will remain in their current mission for the present time. Secondly, if     
  • missionaries have to be transit passengers to reach their home destination
  • then a ticket will not be issued unless we have certainty that the transit    
  • nation is open to transit passengers. These missionaries would also remain
  • in the mission for the moment. If there is any travel arrangement that you
  • are not comfortable with in terms of certainty of arrival, please send an     
  • email to your reporting member of the Area Presidency explaining the situation.
  • Our      travel people are working very hard and progress is being made. Some     
  • missionaries have already left for their homes.

 Invitation to our mission:
  • Amidst all the uncertainty around us, I feel now is the time to strive even more     
  • diligently to increase our faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and to center
  • our lives on His gospel. Today I will invite all our missionaries to start     
  • a 40 day New Testament reading challenge, and as we read together to mark
  • scriptures that help us identify the attributes of disciples of Jesus Christ. I extend this
  • invitation also to you, so that you might read along  with your missionary and discuss
  • together in your twice weekly contact the scriptural insights you both are blessed to discover.

  • Below is our Daily Reading Plan

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