An Instrument in His Hands: Merry Conference! :)

Bula Vinaka!

So this week was lovely because we FINALLY got to watch General Conference after 2 long weeks of waiting. And it felt like CHRISTMAS! I loved every second of it. And I'm so excited to read through all of the talks again!

Plenty other crazy and exciting things happened this week too! We went on two exchanges in Suva. The first one was with Sister Uate from my intake! She's fabulous. We learned a lot together! Funny story....... we were teaching this cute 10 yr old Indian boy and we asked him to say the opening prayer. He said "Bless Sister Manu and bless Sister Uate and bless Sister............Mat.......Matet.....(then silence for like 2 whole minutes). I thought he couldn't think of what else to say next but then he said with a sigh of complete frustration......"uh, I forgot her name." Oh my goodness. It was so funny. Turns out he was trying to remember my name the whole time.

We also got in a car accident this week. We were on the way to pick up our member present after conference on Saturday. We were turning off the main road with the blinker on and I guess a taxi didn't see us until it was too late. We heard the tires skidding and then he slammed into us. Lucky he was braking so it wasn't too hard. But we pulled over and tried to figure out what to do. We called the police twice and they never came after waiting for over an hour, so we ended up driving down to the police station and waiting there forever to get a simple police report. But we were just fine and the car is only dented. Plus we got a few OYM's. :) So life is good.

We are SOOO excited for our dear Chinese Investigator's Baptism next week! He is such a hoot to teach. Lessons are never boring with Lu. He's totally our best friend. And good thing for technology and translation apps so he can understand what we are saying.

Transfer calls were also this week. Sister Chong is leaving me to train in Lami (lucky it's next door and still in our zone), but still. It's rough. I LOVE that girl sooooo much. It's gonna be real hard to lose her. She has taught me so much and grown to be one of my best friends. But I know she is going to be a STELLAR trainer and whoever gets her is a real lucky girl! But I am really excited for Sister Bauro to come to Samabula too! She is the cutest little bubbly Kiribati girl and I know we are going to be real good friends too! :) We're going to dive in head first though because this week is going to be a bit CRAZY!!!! Plenty airport runs and transfers and new sisters and sisters going home and all sorts of other fun things. Change is scary but good for growing eh?

I just feel so so so spiritually uplifted this week. Conference is the greatest thing. I wish I remembered to grab my study journal. But I'll share more of my favorite parts next week. I really loved all of the talks about Parenting. Weird, I know because I'm a missionary. But as I've been in Fiji and seen firsthand so many kinds of families, I have gained an even deeper gratitude and appreciation for my fabulous parents. And it's something I think about all. the. time. I just wish everyone had parents like mine. You know? But I really think Elder Callister's talk was exactly what Fiji needed. And so many other parts of the world. I loved all the stories about the impact parents had on their children. And the advice he gave for parents. To stick to the basics. And teach the importance of prayer. It's so true what he said about the title of Father and Mother and Husband and Wife are the titles that are going to last into the eternities. I just hope someday I can be a good parent too. And raise a righteous family in this beautiful Gospel!

Loloma Levu,

Sista Matheson :)