All I Want For Christmas Is.... WATER

Bula Vinaka!

This week was ZONE CONFERENCE! YAY! And our Christmas Party!  It was so fun! But also a little stressful.  Organizing food and a party for 100 missionaries is quite the project.  But it all worked out well. I also had the opportunity to speak about Christ at the Second Coming, which in the end, I was really grateful for. And we had an incredible spiritual experience with the Sacrament that I will never forget.  For the party we got permission to watch Frozen.  It was funny to see 100 18-24 yrs. olds glued to the screen watching a cartoon! 

Last weekend it RAINED. Like really really hard.  For a few days straight.  And all the flooding washed away one of the main water pipes.  So 112,000 of us were out of water for quite a while.  Like 7 days. I've really learned to appreciate running water here in Fiji. Life kind of stops when no one has water.  Everyone just stands on the road and waits for the Water truck to come by to fill up all the random little containers they can gather. They told people it would probably be 2-3 weeks till we had water back.  Maybe a month.  So all week, I just kept thinking...." All I want for Christmas is.... WATER".   We prayed real hard.  Especially because we have a lot of baptisms this month.  And guess what? The water came back after only ONE WEEK! That my friends, is a Christmas Miracle! :) 

This week we also had a really cool experience with one of our investigators.  She has been such a good investigator and was praying for answers and courage to do what she knew deep down was right.  And this week she had TWO dreams.  (I always wish I would have cool dreams that answer prayers, but I just don't. But Islanders..... they have incredible dreams!) One dream her whole family was in a dark room and the only light was her sister, who is the only member of the church.  Cool eh? And the second dream she was walking with a big group of missionaries and this lady came up and asked why she was following them and she said "Because I believe them! I know the church is true!".   After she told us her dream, she said she is 110%.  We were real happy missionaries! I wish all our investigators had dreams like that! 

Fun Fact of the week.......... When I was in China, every Thursday was Chicken Feet day.  And every Thursday we wussed out. I could never make myself eat them.  Scorpions? Dog? Snake? No problem.  But chicken feet? Ugh. Well guess what.  This week at one of our dinners I got a nice plate full of Chicken feet! Yay! And I just gulped em all down.  Without thinking twice.  I think the scorpion and snake and dog were better.  There's no meat on them.  Just cartilage and this weird white flopsy stuff.  And you just slurp up the skin and everything. But I survived. 

We also had a Baptism this week! Hooray! Line and Meri and Junior have been so much fun to teach! I felt the spirit so strong in all three of their confirmations as they talked about going on missions and the other wonderful things Heavenly Father has in store for them.  I think older youth/ YSA are one of my favorite age groups to teach because the Gospel completely changes their whole course of life. They are all going to be fabulous missionaries! 

On Sunday, Elder Johansson spoke in our ward.  It's always a treat to hear from him.  He talked about Christmas and the importance of keeping Christ in this Season.  He challenged each of us to think of a gift for Christ.  To write it down and to wrap it up in a nice little box however we like.  Then on Christmas,  to open it up and share with each other if we would like, and keep the Savior in our lives.  Isn't that just lovely? I hope we each remember the Savior this season.  I hope in all the hustle and bustle that we don't forget to thoughtfully prepare our gift for the Savior.  :)  

Loloma Levu,

Sista Matheson 

P.S. Happy Mango Season! Don't worry, I'm eating plenty mangoes for all of us! :)

Line and Meri and Junior's Baptism yesterday! We LOVE these youth! :)

After the Baptism with some of our Kiribati people!