Well, there was a lot that happened this week. So I guess the best way to do this is just start at the beginning . Monday and Tuesday were about the same. Tuesday night, we decided to change the exchange and move it up to that night, Wednesday and Thursday. Elder Barnaby and I were going up to his area, Matei. So Tuesday night we went out and saw this girl named Ella. She is a Recent Convert (RM) that stopped coming to church right after she was baptized. We went and talked to her and she told us that she had a plan to sleep over at the branch presidents house on Saturday so that she could go to church with them on Sunday. We were pumped!!! (but we found out later she didn't go)
On Wednesday we had a run in with the JW Missionaries. They came and knocked on our door and tried to talk to us. We just deflected their words and kinda taught them and shared some scriptures. It was fun. Then we went down to the very edge of the Matei area and walked up this big huge hill to get to an investigators house. After 30 minutes of walking pretty much straight up, we got to the house and they weren't there!!!! So we rested and then went back down the road and stopped at some less active and investigator houses. All but one were gone. So after teaching her, we went down and went to 2 more villages but everyone was asleep. So we went to some members houses and talked with them. That took up some of the afternoon and then we walked the hour and a half back to the flat.
Thursday was an amazing day!!! We did our studies and ate lunch in the morning/early afternoon, then we went out finding. We were trying to find a guy, Banz, that Elder Barnaby and Elder Jonutz had street contacted. We walked up to the village that he told them he lived in and called into the first house. We waited like a solid minute until someone came out. We asked the lady if she knew where Banz was and she said that she had never heard of him. (in Fiji that is weird because everyone in the village knows everyone, just like Blanding) but she said that we could talk with her. Her name was Roberta and she was 20 years old. She was staying at her parents house in Matei because she had just had a baby. She used to live in Suva where she saw the elders a lot. But she had never sat down with them. She told us that her dad and mom were both in different churches (Catholic and 7th Day) but they both went to the Methodist church because it was middle ground. She didn't like any of them but she said she reads her bible everyday and she believes in God. We started to teach her and it was crazy. When I spoke I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying. Words were just coming out of my mouth and I was surprising myself with what I was saying. It was amazing!! The spirit was like a bomb and it was everywhere. We had to cut it short because she had to go to somewhere but she was very excited and wants to know more. She wanted us to come back the next day but that was when we would be changing back from the exchange, so they are going back tomorrow night to teach her. After the lesson Elder Barnaby and I were talking and the same thing had happened to him. Words just came out. We were in awe and said a prayer of thanks right there.
So, after that we started walking to a baptismal candidates house. Earlier we had tried to call another member lady (Sister Koroi) to go and teach her and her Catholic husband but she didn't pick up. So as we were walking to this other house, she came down from another village and walked right in front of us!!! So we talked and set up an appointment for later that day. Well, after that we were on cloud nine and we walked up to her house. The girl is 8 years old and has been getting taught for about a year. No one in her family are members but they are always happy to let us in. Well, we got there and didn't even get inside. The mom came out and very bluntly told us that she would no longer be taking lessons and that we did not need to come over anymore. Then she walked away and yelled at us to leave. So we walked away and Elder Barnaby was pretty down. He was supposed to baptize her this next week. But as we were walking back up the road, a car pulled up next to us with two Indian lady's. The older one driving started talking to us, she told us a story about how in 1999 she was way sick and she couldn't get better. So she asked so two missionaries to give her a blessing. Within a week, she was fine and she said that she has hardly ever been sick since. So she has made it a point to stop and talk to every pair of missionaries she sees. We talked to her and she lives in Suva. We got her info and were about to send it to the Hindi elders in Suva when she said that she was a member of the Muslim religion!!! :( (we cant teach them because it is very dangerous to convert Christian, some have been killed for doing it) so we thanked her for her story and delete the info.
We then decided to head over to the Cheep's . They are an older white couple that own a house in Matei. They come and live in Matei from time to time. Never very long though. But this time they are staying for 6 months and had their records transferred to Matei branch. We went over to their house and had ice cream and talked about different people in Matei. They really want to help with the work. They both have callings now and there are plans to resurrect the dying Matei Branch. After, we headed over to Sister Koroi's and waited for her husband to show up. After about an hour of waiting we were about to just get up and leave and head back to the flat, but Elder Barnaby and I both had a strong impression to teach her. So we ended up talking about 1 Nephi 11 about how the angel uses Christ's life to explain the story. The spirit smacked us all in the face and she started to cry. During her testimony, she shared how she had had some trials and had been praying for some answers and during our lesson she got her answers. She bore a strong testimony about how the church has helped her and it was amazing!! After we said goodbye to her we walked back to the flat and talked about the day, just to make sure we didn't dream any of it. it was amazing!!!! Even the words I have written don't really explain the full feeling of this week. It was a huge answer to my prayers.
The rest of the week was good. Today we finally found the Tagimoucia flower and it was awesome. We got all muddy!!!! Well, sorry for writing this huge email. But I felt like I had to have all of it in here. Hope all is going good back home. Congrats on the W football team!!!! Go kick some SS butt!!!!
Moce loloma bibi,
Elda Brown
The whole group at the top of the mountain
One of the cool sunsets we have.
This is the flower, Tagimoucia, that we have been looking for!!!!!
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