Lots of Mud and Muck!

This week has been very challenging, very rewarding, and very motivating to keep going in the work. We had exchanges this week with Rakiraki so that I could do the baptismal interview for a boy in Rakiraki. I went with Elder Patenaude and Elder Driso went with Elder Tay. Elder Patenaude is from Washington D.C. His father is from quebec and speaks french and his mother is of Jewish Descent. He's really cool and we get along really well. We faced a lot of opposition however on the day that we did the baptismal interview. The sky was pretty clear and still quite light when we left on our bikes. Suddenly, rain began to fall and the dirt road on which we were riding became a muddy field. My bike was sliding all over the road and I thought we would have to turn back. However, if we didn't do the baptismal interview that day, it wouldn't have been possible for us to come back to Ba when we needed to for Zone Conference. So we decided to press forward. Soon the mud became so thick I wouldn't ride my bike, but I just pushed it through the muddy street. Elder Patenaude too was unable to ride in the pretty bad conditions. We kept walking but eventually the mud clogged our tires and made it impossible to go any farther with the bikes. So we decided to hide the bikes by the side of the road and continue onward on foot. Dirty beyond belief and sweaty, we arrived at the house to find the boy and his family still awake. I did the interview and I felt sweet peace from the Lord telling me that the boy was ready to be baptized. The mother thanked us for coming and we then faced the daunting task of heading back. I thought, "There is no way we can make it back by nine o'clock and be obedient." Then as we found our bikes, we tried to clean off the tires so that we could ride home. They were so clogged with mud and grass that the brakes clung to the tires and would not turn. Resigning himself to carry the bike that would not turn, Elder Patenaude continued on carrying the broken bike. THe one I had still turned slowly. We were blessed to be able to flag down a truck, that agreed to take us home, even though we were dirty and our bikes were too. When we got home, I looked at my watch and the time was nine o'clock. The Lord really does provide a way for us to be obedient.

 

    One really big success this week is we had a less active man, Bro. Mateiwai, who has been coming back to church. This week the Stake President interviewed him and found him worthy to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. He was then ordained to the priesthood. We have been working a lot with his family. They are such wonderful people and his wife, also less active, is the relief society president. Yesterday we talked to them about keeping the Sabbath day holy and they shared a powerful testimony that they know that they need to come to church. We'll keep visiting them and I think it will be very effective.

 

Mom asked a few questions so I'll now proceed to answer those. First, My companion's name is Elder Tay. He is recently from Pocatello, ID. He has lived in Hawaii, Singapore, and Utah. He went to one year of college at BYU before he came on his mission. He is nineteen years old. He is a really excellent chef, and is actually thinking about going to culinary school after his mission. His father is Chinese from Singapore, and his mother is from the Phillipines. He is learning the language very quickly.

 

Ba is a really interesting area. It is more dry here and hot then the Eastern part of Fiji. There is always something burning around here because there are farms everywhere, but that is why people call this the burning West. The ward here has been struggling a lot. One year ago, their bishop died suddenly. There weren't very many worthy priesthood holders, so the stake took over the ward implementing the high councilman as the leader, although the stake president is really the leader of the ward. There are probably 200-250 members in this area but we only have about 40-50 come to church each week. A year and a half ago we had a really large flood that made it so members had to travel to a far away town for church. Transport is limited here and very expensive, making it difficult for people to frequently come to church. We only have one ward, but the amount of land in one ward is quite large. The work is slow here, because our primary focus in a lot of ways is in helping lift and nourish the ward that we have, before seeking out new people. However, we are still looking for those who are prepared to recieve the gospel as well.

 

The people in Ba are probably the most loving and friendly people I've ever met. Maybe that's why it is so easy for some of them to get offended. They welcome us into their homes and feed us. I just wish their actions always matched their kind words. Many will say they're interesting in learning about the gospel but really they dodge us and won't meet with us. There are a lot of Indians here so maybe I will learn some more Hindi. We'll see how it goes.

 

I am really looking forward to serving in this area because the people are wonderful. I know that the Lord has a plan to build and help this area.

I love you!
--
Elder Paul Leland Hill
Fiji Suva Mission