Week 23 - Great Week!!

Well this has been a good week for us here. With Christmas being this week a lot has happened. I guess the big highlight of the week would be getting to skype my family and see them and actually talk to them. They are all doing great!!! 

Elder Paki are getting along great and I love working here with him. My language continues to improve. I love being able to understand and ask and answer questions that people have. Right now we are trying to get to where we can build off of what other people say to focus our lessons rather then what we want to say.  

We had a couple of investigators come to church and they loved it. On Saturday, Elder Paki and I were asked to speak in sacrament meeting the next day. I think we did a good job. I gave my whole talk in Tuvaluan. It was way simple and to the point but i made it through and people said I did good!! We are getting really close with some investigators and have at least 3 that I know will be baptized on the 9th. We taught a lot of people this last week but we had a lot of fall throughs too. Christmas was like a 3 day celebration here. The night club that is normally only open 2 nights a week was open all week long and blasting music. Christmas Eve there were a lot of different party's going on for different organizations, and we could hear them as we where trying to go to sleep that night!!! 

We have heard that the entire government will be shut down after today for a week to celebrate New Years so I am excited to see how that helps/hinders us with lessons. Most of the time when people get free time they sleep and that makes it hard to teach them!!! 

That is about all I can think of this week!!! Happy Holidays and have a great week!!!

Alofa Atu,

Elder Brown 

So this is the impound of Tuvalu. All of these are people were driving drunk so they said toget off and made them walk to whereever they where going and took the scooter. They have to go pay to get it out. 

Here is one of us doing service. We are mixing milk powder to make something called Paloka. It is milk, sugar and flavoring then they put it into like plastic pouches and sell them for like 20 cents each they are way good!!!

No caption :)

Week 22 - Merry Christmas From the Best Island in the Pacific!!!

Well it is almost Christmas time and it is a great time to be a missionary!!! The last week has been busy. A lot of people are more willing to listen to us because of the season. A lot of little miracles have happened as well. 

We had an amazing week and taught the most lessons Elder Paki or I have taught on our missions... 30!! It was amazing to get back to the flat at the end of the day and know that we did a lot and helped a lot of people come closer to Christ before Christmas. Throughout the week we tried to focus on our investigators and bring them closer to baptism. Well, it paid off and we should have some baptisms coming up very soon after the New Year. One in particular Falili, just got married to a returning member and she wants to pick the lessons back up and be baptized before she goes back to a different island to teach at a school. She is really good and loves the lessons!! I love teaching her and that leads me to the next thing that was great about this week. 

My language has improved so much. I was getting really discouraged and I felt like I was behind the pace for learning the language. Then I was reading in Moroni 7:42-43 where it says "wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope... And again, behold i say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek and lowly of heart." It reminded me of something I read in the New Era about a girl who was diagnosed with cancer. She was praying that the trails would go away. Nothing happened, but when she humbled herself and and started asking that she would be able to bear the trials, they didn't seem so bad anymore. This was the same for me. I was just asking to simply learn the language in my prayers but when I read those scriptures, I changed my prayers to "please help me know what to study for this day or please help me to remember the things that I have studied". Things became easier to me and I was able to start saying things in lessons. Just 3 or 4 sentences at the beginning of the week, but now this morning Elder Paki and I took turns explaining things about the Plan of Salvation and everything I said made sense!!! I'm not fluent yet but with hard work and continued faith I think I can get there before we go back to Fiji at the end of January. 

Well that about wraps it up for my week. Merry Christmas everyone and have a great week!!!

Alofa Atu,

Elder Brown 

Logotaus hat finally came in last week. Elder Harris got him this because he loves cowboys and country music!!! Its an authentic Brad Paisley hat!!! 

So Elder Paki's shoe got stuck on the runway heading to a visit. It was so hot that it melted the runway!!!

 Teruka and his pigs. He was feeding them and we came to watch.

Week 21 - Catching Fire

This was an amazing week!!! It is so hot here!!!!! Walking down to a lesson Elder Paki's shoe got stuck on the road because the tar was melting!!! But the work is heating up too. People are finally used to us being back and keeping their commitments!!! We had less fall throughs this week and ended up teaching a lot of people!!! And we had a lot of good lessons. Thanks to the members finding people, we gained 6 new investigators this week!!!! 

Monday and Tuesday were kinda uneventful but Wednesday is when we took off!! We planned out for 9 lessons and a lot of walking. We went off to go see 2 recent converts, Tema and his cousin Tion (Sean). We had great lessons with them. We finished off Tema's lessons and next time we see him we can start reviewing. Then we went to go see are best investigator Omeli. We invited him to baptism and he accepted the 9th of January!!! He is a way good investigator!!! Then we walked to the bottom of the island to teach this women named Seni. We have just shared bible verses with her but we decided it was time to teach the Restoration. She liked it all the way until Joseph Smith, then she got quiet and started to tell us that their where no other prophets after Jesus and that the bible is the only book of scripture. We got into a little mini bible bash and ended up getting her to commit to praying about Joseph Smith. After her lesson, we went back up to town and saw a couple more people. We had dinner with a member at 3T's then closed out the night teaching Teruka (Logotau's brother). That was by far the best day I have had here. 

The rest of the week was uneventful. We have our youth conference this next week and it should be fun. We have been invited to help with that and play some of the games too so that should be exciting. But that's all I got. Love all of you guys and hope that you guys have a great week!!!! 

Alofa Atu,

Elder Brown

Week 20 - Another Great Week!!! (and Baptism :)

Well this was a great week. Like the last, we didn't teach a lot of people, but we had quality lessons. We ended up with 3 new investigators this week!! Now putting the total of investigators to 15. All in all with the LA's and RC's we have about 40 people to teach. But when we go to teach them, everyone forgets or is gone or lives so far out of the way that when we go see them it takes half the day. But a lot is happening! All of them have great potential!!! 

One of the new investigators is named Omeli but everyone calls him Owen. He's the brother of 2 members and is very excited. We have seen him a couple of times and I love teaching him. It was in his lesson on Saturday that I spoke the most Tuvaluan since I have come here. The language is coming slow but I can start to see how it is going to come. I still speak way slow though.

I guess another thing is that we had a baptism!!! We baptized Tema Elijah Peleuila on Saturday!!! It was great!! I conducted the service and Elder Paki baptized him. We did it in the ocean again. :) Way cool! On Sunday, I confirmed him. We had some people show up to the baptism but there was a lot going on around the island. His mom came who is another investigator and she was very happy. We are teaching his entire family, except the dad and they all want to follow him and be baptized but have some problems in the way!! But they are making progress. 

We had a lot more rain this week and I have given up on trying to keep myself dry!! But the rain feels nice when it is so hot. On Saturday night we found that our water pipe had burst and drained 1 of our 3 tanks of water. We don't know what happened, but we have to replace the pipe sometime. That night we just went without water and planned how to get some to the flat the next day. The next morning we ended up rigging a plastic bag and some string to temporarily fix the hole. But it burst again this morning and so we went and got some glue. They were out of the piece we need (shocker) so we just glued it before we left oday and hope that it holds. 

The trade fair ended this week so hopefully people will start being able to see us more. On Friday, they had a concert to end the fair. It had dancing and a band performing, The band was called the Undercovers and one of our members is a lead singer. They are surprisingly really good for the small island. 

That about ends what happened to me this week. Hope all is still well back home have a great week!!!

Alofa Atu,

Elder Brown 

We made chocolate lollies for service on Thursday. This is Sala. Our hands got all brown from rolling them into balls but they where way good!!! 

Well this was a great week this week mainly because we had a BAPTISM!!!!

This is our washer. To wash clothes, we move the washer into the shower fill it up with water then turn on the pump to wash, drain, fill it up again, rinse, drain, then move to the spin side, then hang it up to dry. It takes me 3 or 4 loads to wash all my clothes each week.  

Week 19 - Blessings, Rats and Cyclone's

Well this was an amazing week!!! We didn't really get a lot of "numbers" but we did have a lot of fun and had some cool experiences!!! On Monday, we found out what was happening on the island, there is a trade fair!!! It is basically 2 weeks of music, food stands, and performances. It's kinda like the fair back home but lasts a lot longer. We have eaten there a couple of times and it is way good. Most of the time we have BBQ chicken, pork, sausages and rice of course!! 

Wednesday morning we woke up at 5:30 am by knocking on our door. We answered it and it was Sister Eritepa, one of the members asking for a blessing. She had some stomach pains and other stuff and drove over to our flat for us to give her a blessing. We gave her a blessing and she sat there for a while then said that she felt a lot better. She thanked us and then drove back home. The rest of the day went and taught some lessons then went to our dinner appointment. We went to a local restaurant, 3T's and had a feast!!! Sister Teikawea, the lady who was feeding us, it was her husbands birthday that day so they reserved a room and brought out 10 or so plates full of food. We had chicken, pork, fish, squid, fresh jumbo shrimp (my favorite) and then a cake after. I was way full after!!! It was fun because they don't have thanksgiving but I still got a feast, haha. 

The next day we got up to go do service at the very top of the island. We walked all the way up there and the guy was gone!!! Then it started to rain. Then the wind picked up and soon we where drenched and getting pelted by wind sped rain drops going sideways!!! But it was a fun walk back to the flat where we studied and made some mashed potato's in honor of Thanksgiving. The rain stopped when we went back out to do some work. We went all the way down to the bottom of the island to meet some people but no one had time for a lesson. So we walked back up and taught some English classes to some kids to finish off our service. At dinner we were warned that a cyclone was coming our way that night and as we went to bed it hit us. Hard. It was raining and way windy and thunder cracked about every 5 minutes. The thunder was so loud that it sounded like a bomb was going off. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep that night. When the morning came, it calmed down and we were able to go out. 

Friday night we walked into the flat and started our nightly planning when Elder Paki looked up and ran to the kitchen with his shoe. I turned and saw him chasing a rat!!! We had seen this rat a couple of times but it always managed to escape. But we cornered it in the kitchen and for the next 10 minutes we tried to kill it, me with my sele and Elder Paki with his shoe. Elder Paki got it a few times but it was still alive. It tried to run out of the kitchen but it ran right into my blade :) We think this was the only rat that was in our flat so now we won't have any more problems. 

On Sunday, we had the primary program. It was really good!!! The chapel was packed!!! We did not have an extra chair to spare!! The kids sang songs and said scriptures just like in America but it was in Tuvaluan. In church, we were asked to talk to the youth class about setting and keeping goals. It went way good and it was easy to talk about because we set goals each night as missionary's!!! After church we went to the prison and taught Brother Vi and his kids. They have a lot of questions for us. Ben the oldest was given a video by a priest from another church and it talks about the bible and how we know where Jerusalem is but we don't know where Zarahemla is and all of the other city's in the BOM. We tried to explain stuff to them but they just kept pulling stuff from the video. I think we are going to get it and watch it for comp study one day to see what it is about. 

That was my week i think. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!! Love all of you guys!!! Good luck to all of the people playing sports and stuff!!! 

Alofa atu,

Elder Brown 

One of the English classes we teach!!!  

So I had a feast of my own!!! This was what one of the members fed us on our Wednesday night. This was at 3 T's restaurant one of the best on the island.

We had a full building this week for the primary program!! They all wore matching blue shirts to it was way cute!!! 

Just about the narrowest part of the island!! 

Week 18 - First Real Week in Tuvalu

Well, this was a great week but a challenging one too. It was my birthday this week and since I was in a new area not a lot of people knew. Even my comp forgot until halfway though the day but, its all good. Logotau, one of our RC, and his brother got me a tub of ice cream!!! It was half melted by the time we got to the flat but it was way good. But that day started a week of a lot of fall throughs. We had set up appointments with people and they were either sleeping, fishing, or just gone. But we did a lot of OYM (open your mouth, basically knocking doors) and found a couple potential investigators.  

Wednesday, we went down to the bottom half of the island. We have 5 or 6 people to see down there so we headed down and no one was home. It seems like their is a cultural event or something going on this week or this month, because Elder Paki is saying their are a lot of people he has never seen before. We think this is why a lot of people are gone and summer is just starting and kids are getting out of school so it is getting way crazy. but Thursday was Logotau's birthday!!! He turned 19 just like me. We stayed away from his house so he could do his thing on his birthday, but he was looking for us to invite us to a restaurant to eat dinner with him and his little brother. They said it was for me too because not much happened on mine. The food was good, a lot of meat and rice. 

The members feed us way good too. A couple of times people have forgot or just been busy, so they give us money and send us to the closest restaurant!!! But we get fed almost everyday!! We had a couple of lessons the next couple days but nothing big. We did bump up a baptism date from the 12th to the 5th because he his progressing way good. It is Atema, he knows everything we teach him!! He is like a sponge. Hopefully he keeps it up and sets the example for the rest of his family. We are teaching his mom,and his older brother but they both have word of wisdom issues so they are taking a while but Atema is way good. We wrapped up the week with church and we gave the priesthood to Logotau and ordained him a priest, so that was way cool!!! Well, that's about it!! Hopefully the island dies down a bit and we can have some more lessons but we will see. Have fun this week, and good luck SJ basketball!!!

Alofa atu,

Elder Brown 

PS. If you want to send anything to me send it to: 

GPO 60 

Funafuti, Tuvalu

This is inland. I guess that is one way to keep a pig in!!!

Our church building

This is our front room. The front door is on the left and this is our study desk!!

So this is a grave. They are right out in front of peoples houses and for lessons sometimes they role out an ibe (a woven mat) on top and we do lessons sitting on the grave. We probably give our lessons half the time on them.

This is at the very bottom of the island looking to the top

Week 17 - Welcome to Tuvalu!!

Well, this was another great week!!! I finally made it to my little island safely!!! But before we left on Thursday, we had a Zone Conference that was way good!!! We received a lot of training on how to use our area books and planners more effectively I think the best thing I got was President Layton said to us, "let the spirit do its job and convert people. Don't force conversion on anyone." I love that because without the spirit, we might as well stop working because it is the spirit that converts people not us. But the rest of conference was really good. 

On Wednesday we had our interviews with President Layton. Mine went way good. For most of it he talked about this family here in Tuvalu the Vi family. They have had some trials in their lives. Their mom died of cancer around the start of this year and about that time the dad got drunk and beat up a shop keeper here and got a 5 year prison sentence. His 3 kids Marilyn 10, Lillian 22 and Ben 19, live with different family's but they are all members. He was telling me about how every Sundaythe missionaries go over and see Brother Vi in the prison and how Lily and Ben are preparing to serve missions. He was also was telling me we just need to help them out as much as we can. 

But the next day we finally flew out of Fiji and landed in Tuvalu!!! It was about a 2 and half hour flight to get here. When we got close the plane circled the island so I got some pretty good pictures from the air looking at the island. We had a taxi take us to our flat (one of the 2 taxi's on the island). We just dropped our stuff and then left, going out and teaching people. I can't remember all the names and stuff because it all seemed to go together, but they are all way friendly and really welcoming. The next day we did weekly planning and I found out about all of our investigators and less actives that we are working with. There is a lot of work on this tiny island!!! The rest of the day, we walked around and saw people. We saw this little boy whose name is Atema. He is way cool. He has been being taught for about 3 weeks now and he knows a lot!!! We are working to get him baptized. He is 8 years old and he would be the first member of his family to be baptized!!! But he is way good!!! There is also Laugotau. He is a way good, a recent convert that Elder Harris (the elder before me) baptized. He and his brother are way fun to teach!!! They play basketball almost everyday at a court right next to their house. Today, I will try and play!!! We have ice cream on the game this week so it is pretty serious :) 

But life is good here. Our flat is way better than Vuna. It has 24 hour power and a fridge!!! The food that people feed us here is really good too. There is a lot of fish so normally it is fish and chips or just some type of fish. 

Well I hope everyone is doing good!!!! Love you guys, keep up the good work back on the home front!!!

Alofa atu!!

Elder Brown