Glory to God (Samabula 2nd Area, Week 14)

She knows He is listening!!

First of all, I have to say Skyping my family last week was fantastic! The internet was spotty, the conversation wasn't long and was cut short, but it was so worth it. That was the last one - next time I see them will be one of the most bittersweet days of my life! But, let's not think about that - let's talk about this past week.

Raijeli C may be the cutest

 little girl on the face of the planet.

We had exchanges this week - I went with Elder Tairua to his area and we just smashed out the work. I love Elder Tairua as a Zone Leader because he really cares about me - during language study, he just had me tell him stories about my life (in Fijian of course). He really loves these people, and they love him for good reason. One of the appointments was with a less-active family who had been given the challenge by Elder Tairua and his companion to teach them a lesson. It was way cool - and I think they learned a lot by preparing it (the amazing part is that they actually were prepared, with written out questions and everything). Super fun exchange.

On Thursday we had a special Leadership Training Meeting for the Zone Leaders and District Leaders (including me) in Suva and Suva North Zones. It was fantastic - we learned so much from President Layton and the Assistants about becoming better leaders, dealing with certain situations, and performing our different responsibilities effectively (I'm not entirely sure if that made sense in English).

One of the areas we go to is called Lovonilase, which is a small settlement in, well, a graveyard.

 It's kind of sketchy, but hey, who else can say that they proselyted in a cemetery?

One of our new favorite investigators is Rosiana, who is engaged to Brother Matanatabu's brother, Jeri, who is less-active but coming back to church. They live with the Matanatabus, who have gotten their eviction extended as they are waiting on the wood to build their house. Rosiana is, as they say here in the mission field "way golden" and really wants to embrace the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized. We're working with them to get married first but we're praying that all works out well for both of them! Rosiana has come to church two Sundays in a row (Sister Sofaia

Matanatabu, the one Elder Ta'a and I baptized, is a big help in this regard). This Sunday, we were surprised to see some other potential investigators who live with the Lord family at church on Sunday. They're from Tavua, so I always get pretty excited to speak in Tavua dialect to them. To top it off, we had over 75 people at church today for the second week in a row - an amazing change since I first got here to Samabula 2nd! When I first got here, the average Sacrament Meeting attendance was maybe in the 30s or 40s, but now we're getting into the 70s and 80s and it's just really nice to see the Lord's hand in His work.

Brother Vuidreketi is one of my favorite people - 

this was at our Ward FHE last Monday

This is Errol Qaqa - the man himself (honest)

I'm going to skip back as I close this letter - on Tuesday, we had District Meeting and I had been trying to come up with an object lesson to use for my training, which I'd titled "Glory to God". Finally, that morning it came to me, and I know for a fact that it was from the Spirit because it had a powerful impact on us. I pulled out a bag of Doritos (yes, we have them in select stores in Fiji) which had been mostly eaten down to the last few chips. I then dumped them on the floor and had the members of the District then race to see who could collect the most chips. After counting them up, we determined who was the winner and the winner began to eat his chips - off of the dirty floor! We talked for a little bit, and I asked if they really wanted to eat the chips off of the floor. I then gave them an alternative - to give all the chips to God. At this point, the winner had eaten all of his chips and had none to give, but the other Elders and Sisters put theirs back in the bag, and I rewarded them with a fresh, unopened bag of Doritos. The object lesson was that when we give what we earn (the glory) back to God, He will reward us more than we can know. I asked the winner, who had eaten all of his dirty, slightly stale chips off of the floor, which he enjoyed more, and he said that he liked the fresh chips a lot more. That's the kind of joy we can have when we return the glory to God - so much better than if we take the honor and praise for ourselves. It was super powerful, and the Spirit was strong as

Now that's what 

I call a full dinner calendar

we discussed the concept.

I love you all - hope you have a great week and always give the glory to Him whose glory it rightfully is!

Elda Barnaby

You don't know life until you haven't eaten Cap'n Crunch for a year and a half - and then you eat a whole box.