I'm feeling quite good this week, it hasn't been perfect but I am feeling pretty good, at least for a little while. Hopefully, it stays or I'm going to consult my mission nurse. But I have a feeling I am going to be healthy for a long time now. I just need to exercise and drink plenty of water and I will be in tip top shape. It was good for me to be on exchanges with Elder Nelson in Lami (a small town like ten minutes outside Suva.) We went running and exercised hard the day I was there and it really made me want to step it up this week. It is always good to be with another missionary too, so that you can learn from how they do things. Elder Nelson was in the MTC with me and so we get along very well. I really enjoyed my time with him, and we got to speak quite a bit of Fijian in that area too. I hope that some day I get to serve in Lami, because it's a very nice place.
After that nice exchange, I came back to my area and we had two missionaries come and be with me and Elder Forbes. Elder Key is a samoan elder who we were with for the week of my mission and then he went to Tuvalu. He came back from Tuvalu but he can't get a flight back from Tuvalu until the 23rd of this month, so He's staying with us until that time. The other elder is Elder Reddy who is an indian from Fiji. He is going to Papua New Guinea but served in Fiji until his visa got approved to go there. This week his visa came in and he is just waiting until the PNG mission calls him to come.
On Thursday and Friday, I again was away from my real companion because he had leadership training. So Elder Reddy and I were joined by Elder Duncan from the Suva 1st ward and I was the "senior companion." It was really stressful to be in charge and to say what we had to do and it made me really appreciate Elder Forbes and all he does. We had quite a few appointments, and the nice thing is that Elder Reddy could explain what we said to the Indi Fijians in Hindi, which is always good, because they don't always understand in English, but they will say they do.
One really cool thing that happened was that we were teaching one of our investigators who is getting baptized soon, Sister Pati. We usually teach her in Fijian, and she understands hindi as well. Elder Reddy doesn't really know Fijian, and I really don't know Hindi, so I taught in Fijian and he taught in Hindi. It was amazing how the words just seemed to flow from my mouth about the things we had to teach her. Through the Holy Ghost I was able to remember the words I needed so I could teach her. And the strange thing was that even when Elder Reddy was teaching in Hindi, I could understand his words. Well, not each individual word, but the meaning so that we could teach in unity. It was an incredible experience! I was really happy that the Lord allowed me to experience that amazing gift that I never knew if I would experience, the gift of tongues.
Another really cool thing is that we have three investigators with a baptismal date and it's pretty much certain that it will happen. The work is going really well here in Suva 3rd.
Something strange that happened this week is that someone told me I sound like I'm from New Zealand, so watch out. I might sound funny when I call for Christmas, but it might take longer for it to happen than that.
The nice thing about Elder Reddy being my companion this week is that he is a super good cook. I'm ok, but this guy worked at some of the hotels in Fiji as a chef and all. He cooked curry for us and man it was good curry. He made Popo curry (Papaya) and Fish curry from some fresh fish we got from one of our recent converts. It was very nice to have him cook for us, and he would cook for me while Elder Forbes and Elder Key would go to the dinner appointments we had. I liked it a lot.
Elder Reddy has a really cool conversion story. He has only been a member for a year, and he is the only member of his family so far. He says that one day he was standing by an LDS church and some power just seemed to pull him into the church. He went in and it was general conference. The missionaries came over to him and talked to him and he started to learn the gospel. When he would take the lessons, his father didn't like it. His father would punch him and beat him after his lessons finished. He kept taking them though, every day almost, and within a month he was ready to be baptized. His father didn't like it, so he locked Elder Reddy in his room. He really wanted to be baptized though and so he broke through the window in his room and climbed out. He had to run away from the people in his village because they were chasing him to keep him from getting baptized. He swam across the river and hid in a sugar cane field. He then had to go to the hospital and get stitches before he was baptized. He then was baptized that day. He had to move out of his house and live on his own, but luckily he had work skills and was working at a restaurant. He saved up his money for a mission and now he is here. His family didn't write him for the first 4 months of his mission, but just last week he got a letter from his family telling him that they want to join the church and that they have thrown out all their idols and everything from Hinduism and that they are learning from the missionaries. They told him that when he comes back from his mission they want to meet him at the temple.
It was really cool to be with him this week! For being so short time in the gospel, he still knows a lot. I will miss him when he goes to PNG, but it will be nice to be with Elder Forbes again! He also taught me some Hindi, so hopefully I'll be able to use a little bit of that while I'm out here.
That's pretty much the highlights from this week!
I love you all! The church is absolutely the true church on the Earth, not only that but it is the church of Jesus Christ restored in its perfect form for the benefit of Heavenly Father's children. Heavenly Father loves us so much! I know he does! I know it! I am so grateful for the atonement in my life, that makes it possible for me to repent and to follow the example and the path that the savior has set for us.
Much Love, Loloma, Bohut Pyaar, Afu 'Atu,
Elder Paul Hill
This is Hill in the languages here. More to come!
Hill: Pahar (hindi), Delana (fijian), Baba (fijian), Mounga (tongan)
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