Sister T. Takes Fiji: Faith in Jesus Christ!

How is it December already? Just yesterday I was going into the MTC, and now I've been out 6 months. And it's funny, it doesn't even feel like December at all since it's SO HOT HERE! I keep thinking it will start getting a little cooler since it's the end of the year...that's a no. Haha so it's going to be a nice, warm, sunny Christmas season this year!

This week had a big theme of 'Faith in Jesus Christ’ It was a Christlike attribute that I was working on this week from PMG (Preach My Gospel), and it was a good thing that this was the attribute because I definitely relied on my faith this week. Since we're still new in the area, we've been going out each day with a tentative plan, and usually ending the day with nothing that we planned at all, but better!

We had the chance to go to the temple on Tuesday with our Zone, and it was such a needed temple trip! I’m always so grateful for the opportunity we have to go into the temple and feel the Spirit and peace that we can find inside. We're so lucky that we have temples here on the Earth for the spiritual recharge!

Wednesday was exchanges with the Sister Trainers! They came from Samabula, which is like 5 minutes away from us. They slept over Tuesday night, and Wednesday we went on splits to go and work in our area. Good thing we had them because since our area is so big, we were able to cover a lot of ground. I had the opportunity to go with Sister Alagaelua, and we actually had some GREAT experiences! First we went to do a baptismal interview for a family that was baptized on Saturday- two moms, and one son. Their husbands are both members, and now they are baptized! Next stop- the temple! After we did the interviews, we took a prospective missionary from our ward with us, and we drove to the farthest part of our area, and started walking. We decided to say a prayer really fast before we went out, and we asked for the Spirit to guide us to a house that needed us to come visit. I was a little nervous, since I've never door knocked before (back in the bush there wasn't much door knocking haha). But we had faith that we would be lead somewhere, AND GUESS WHAT...WE WERE! His name is Ravuana. When we first started walking to his house, we heard the TV on and it was all this gun shooting and yelling and more guns. We were really nervous and we almost didn't knock on the door, but we finally did and this man comes to the door, and he just smiled right when he saw us. He invited us in and we started to share a spiritual thought about the gospel. We asked him if he had any questions, and all he said was, "Thank you so much for coming to my house today. I've been praying for the Lord to show me a way to direct my life, and I am so grateful for you coming to my home. I think this is my answer.” WOW talk about a huge testimony builder right there!!! He was so grateful for us to come over, but really he was the blessing for us! It was a good experience with the Sister Trainers, and I'm so grateful for their help and love!

Thursday was Sister Faasalafa's and mine's favorite day of the week. We saw SO many tender mercies, and at the end of the day we were so grateful for our loving Heavenly Father who blesses us with the things that we need, all in His timing. On Thursday, we were out all day. We had service in the morning, making a door mat for a member in our ward, and then we came home, quickly got ready, and then headed out. We made it in time to see a less active in the ward. We talked to him about faith, and how with our faith, we can have the strength to make changes in our lives because we know that it's the right thing to do, and it can help us grow closer to Jesus Christ. Although he didn't come to church yesterday, no effort is wasted! We'll continue to visit him. We had a few other lessons throughout the day, and took with us another girl from our ward. She was really helpful, and even helped us find some secret, hiding, less actives. One day we'll find them all...one day...

But Thursday night was when the real miracles happened. We were coming home to prepare to head out to a dinner appointment when our neighbors came to say hi. They are 12, and 10, two little girls. They asked if we were LDS and we said yes and gave them a pamphlet. We didn't think anything of it until about 20 mins later they came knocking on our door, asking us questions! We told them a little, and then invited them to church on Sunday. And they came! We are really excited about them, and hopefully they are excited to learn more about the gospel!

AND THEN-- So we went to the Seniwaitui's house for dinner. Sis Seniwaitui is a supermom. She has 5 kids, two are twins, and she cooked dinner for everyone and us, all by herself. Not sure how she did it, but she is amazing. So we were sitting in the room eating dinner, and she tells us this story--The light in the room where we were sitting hasn't turned on for like 3 years. Earlier Thursday morning, she told her son, “Just try to turn the light on, maybe it will turn on. The sisters are coming and I don't want to use candles, let's pray the light will turn on.” GUESS WHAT THE LIGHT TURNED ON!!! She just kept saying what a blessing we were to her family. Little does she know, that SHE is the blessing to US! The Spirit was so strong that night in her home, and I could feel the immense love that our Savior has for Sister Seniwaitui, and each of her children.

We also were able to help with a baptism on Saturday. The Elders before us had taught them, but since they were in our area, we were the ones who got it together! It was a great day! Sister Laveti, the mother in law of the two women who were baptized, was so full of emotions. Watching her watch her daughter in laws be baptized was such a sweet experience, because it just reminded us of how important it is for our families to be in the gospel together. Families really can be together forever. THEY CAN!

Now that I've written a novel, I think I'll be going now. Thanks everyone for the prayers and love. I could definitely feel it this week, and the prayers were very much needed. Thanks again! I love you all!

Loloma levu,

Sister Tram