Bula!
Holy wonderful week! Nadi
is the bomb. I just really love it here! Especially with a fabulous companion
and a car and so much work to do! We saw a lot of fabulous things happen this
week. We were able to find three new fabulous investigators and we gave
two of them baptismal dates for February. One of them is a little girl named
Loata. Our district leader gave us a casual referral for her after
district lunch then we happened to meet her. And we decided to go back to
her house and meet her family right then. She will be baptized in three
weeks. It was a great reminder of the power of NOW. Sometimes I have a tendency
to procrastinate. But there are blessings in doing things NOW.
I love Nadi. But I am
REAL sick of the cockroaches here. We killed about 15 or so (no
exaggeration) before lunch time today. And some of them are barely
insects. They should probably be classified as animals because they are
HUGE! But I'm getting real good at killing em. The nice thing about cockroaches?
You just flip em on their back and they can't flip back over so they die.
(Deep Gospel insight about cockroaches coming soon!) But it's all part of the
adventure eh?
Last night Sister Kaititi
and I were adding up our numbers and all of the sudden..... No
electricity. It was SO pitch black dark. Like a little bit
scary. And we were helpless. We started feeling around the ground
for the phone to use for light. But no luck. We crawled around
looking for it for what seemed like forever- bumping into all sort of random
objects. The thought came to my mind..."Man, I wish someone would just
happen to call us right now. Then we could find the phone and have some light.
We can't find it by ourselves." Later, when the issue was resolved I
was reflecting back on the experience. I just imagine how many less
actives are out there feeling around in the dark for some small source of light
because there has been a temporary electricity outage in their lives.
They need to be called. Visited. Reached out to. I feel like
Heavenly Father has sent me to Nadi to gain experience working with Less
Actives. Because I feel like that's something I haven't had much
experience with. And I'm so excited to bring em back!
This week we were also able to witness the beautiful baptism
of Connie and Gru. Our favorite Chinese investigators here in Nadi! They
are so precious. And teaching them has been such a blessing! I was so
touched by their testimonies. Both of them. Sometimes they struggle
to express everything they feel in English, but the Spirit is so strong.
I know they will be strong members for the rest of their lives. We are so
proud of them!
We had the chance to go
to Ward Council yesterday. And I was really impressed with our
Bishop. He talked about how it is his goal to "vabula" or shake
hands with every member of the ward each Sunday. I started thinking
about it. Can you imagine the power that would come into a ward if every member
of the ward council reached out to each new face that stepped in the building?
They would immediately feel welcome and comfortable. They would keep
coming back. But we can't reach out to each new face if we don't know the
people who are there every week. We have to know our sheep. Each one of
them. Individually. Talk to them often and just LOVE them. Then we can know who
is attending for the first time. That's my goal. For the rest of my life. I'm
so excited to serve in the church. And to build up the Lord's Kingdom
little by little in whichever ways He wants me to. :)
Loloma Levu,
Sister Matheson :)
Connie and Gru's Miracle
Baptism! Are they not the cutest thing? We just LOVE them.
My favorite time of
day. I'm going to miss Fiji Sunsets.
Happy Birthday to Mama! She's the most
adorable two year old.
Companions! :)
Exchanges with Sister Moe! And our Member Present - Seta! So fun!
The wilderness of Fiji. On our way to find a Member house that lives in the boonies!
.JPG)
