Bula Vinaka from Sister Wayment

Bula Vinaka! Our area is doing really good. We have seen a lot of miracles in it. One of which was this lady that sister 'Aliki and I found a few weeks ago. We shared BOM as an OYM, and when we went back for a return appointment, she had had a baby so we hadn't been back for a while. I decided we should check her this week again to see if she was back. She was and she said she had been waiting for us to come back because she really liked the BOM and had read up to 2 Nephi already. Yesterday we had the opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation with her. We asked her what her thoughts were and she said that it made her happy learning about it and that she wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom with her whole family. She asked us if that was possible because her current church teaches that you will not recognize or know your family members after you die. We assured her that she could. This was a great experience for us because it helped us to realize that people are prepared t...

Bula Vinaka! this week it has been hot, hot, and hot! It seems like at the end of every transfer the work slowly diminishes and then picks up again, no matter how hard we try. True to form, our people were suddenly very busy, not coming to church, and stopped reading their Book of Mormons. so that was pretty discouraging, but it is a new week now :) Thursday and Wednesday were exceptionally hard days, and the sun burned us so bad. The entire night I had a stomach ache and the whole of Friday. with a back ache too. But it is all better now. Transfer calls are tomorrow, and we are looking forward to them :) Loloma Bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! We had our baptism this week! Iva and Elenoa got baptized!!!! The ward was so supportive and about half the chapel was filled. The baptisms went so well and the young women invited them both to sing in a musical number in Sacrament meeting after.  Transfers are next week, because this transfer is 7 weeks long. They would normally be this coming Wednesday. So we will know what is happening in a little over a week. This transfer has literally flown by. Sister 'Aliki and I keep talking about how fast it has gone.  Today I am starting my self reliance/after the mission classes. We do them online so I am excited for that. Loloma Bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! our people are awesome! We have two girls getting baptized this Sunday. They come to church almost every week and they even come play games with us and the other missionaries in our district every P-day. They had their baptism interview with our district leader last night and we were sitting inside the house playing with the younger kids. We usually don't just sit there for a long time and I think the dad felt more comfortable to talk with us. He talked with us the entire time during the interview and then he turned and started asking questions about where we go after we die. We are going back tonight, but after we left the girls told us he doesn't go to church on Sundays but does his own church at home. AND, he gets them up every Sunday so they can be ready to come to church with us. We are going to start teaching him and hopefully the rest of the family. and we are hoping to get them all to the girl's baptism on Sunday :):):) Loloma bibi, Sista Waymen...

Bula Vinaka! we set three more people for baptism! Two sisters we are teaching should get baptized on the 26th of this month, and their parents gave them permission! They also came to church yesterday. Buka Waqa! (that's burning wood in Fijian) Sista Wayment

Bula  Vinaka! This week we have had an awesome week! Some of our people are actually progressing, and we set a Muslim family on date yesterday! They will hopefully be baptized at the end of this month. We found this family my first week here, and it is honestly a miracle that they are so prepared for us. The kids came to church yesterday and the mom will come next week. I feel like the scripture in Alma 16:16-17 is very true in our area right now,  16 And there was a no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their b hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming— 17 That they might not be hardened against the word, that they might not be unbelieving, and go on to destruction, but that they might receive the word with joy, and as a a branch be grafted into the true vine, that they might enter into the b rest of the Lord thei...

Bula Vinaka! The day after Christmas,  t he cyclone was supposed to hit. It didn't hit us, mostly like a bad storm here. We even went out to visit our people during it. We went home right after we finished our appointments and the power was off all night. Nothing else, though just a lot of rain and wind. My last flat in Samabula, though, the window broke! It really hit Suva hard and they had to evacuate missionaries because of flooding. But we were all just fine. Even though we didn't feel a lot of the effects of the storm, they canceled church for us yesterday. For the whole stake, but I am assuming all on Viti Levu. the saddest part was that we couldn't take the sacrament, and we had quite a few people planning on coming to church. None of them were answering their phones in the morning, and so we walked to their houses and brought them church magazines to read instead of going to church.  We are hoping to set more baptismal dates in this area this coming week. Lol...

Bula Vinaka! This week we have had 4 exchanges, more than I have ever done in a week. I was able to go back to Toga, my first area, one more time before I get transferred out. We were able to see a lot of people I used to know so that was a blessing :) on Friday and Saturday we exchanged with two different companionships. The Kuku and nausori sisters are in a 4 person flat so we just through mattresses and had a big sleepover and split in each area so double work was getting done. We were out of our area for 2 days so it was hard on our area, but it gave both of their areas a boost! Transfers are happening tomorrow, and I am pretty sure I am getting transferred. I am ready to move on, but I am really going to miss some of the people in this area. the best thing about being here is that for outtake when we get ready to go home, I will be back in this area for a few days so I can go say goodbye to the members and recent converts in march :) Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! One week until transfer calls, and then I will be transferred to probably my last area in the mission. We just got back from a hike. The elders and the locals called it a hike, but it is literally climbing a mountain. Literally on the way up we were climbing straight up the side of a mountain, holding onto roots sticking out of the ground. the way down was the actual fun part. I didn't think I could make it most of the way up. It is not a hike. It is a free climbing a mountain for 1.5 hours. the view was way worth it! Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! This week we have lost our car, the elders needed it to go somewhere, so we were on foot. It is good practice for my next area, because I am not used to walking so much. So I actually feel pretty good with the extra movement. We had a baptism of a little Indian girl, and it went really well! The members are very supportive and the mom even showed up to the baptism and asked to give a speech at the end. She said that she really likes the church because it makes her daughter happy and she likes the values it teaches.  We have an older Indian man I have been working with since I got in this area getting baptized next Sunday! So excited to see that! Oh, also we witnessed our baptism this week :) Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! Elder Rasband came to visit, and we had MLC and two exchanges. That Kiribati sister we had with us left us on Thursday. We were supposed to drop her off after the devotional with Elder Rasband, and we were also supposed to start an exchange. WE didn't think to check the time after the devotional, thinking it was 2 or 3. The sister was supposed to be at the airport at 6:00. we were on our way in very heavy traffic to get to the other sisters' flat to do the exchange and glanced at the clock, realizing it was 5:24 and we didn't have the Kiribati sister's luggage or passport or anything. We quickly tried to turn around in the terrible traffic and headed toward our flat, with the other two sisters we were trying to exchange with still in the car. When we finally reached our flat we raced inside the flat and took a backroad to get to the airport, making it in plenty of time, thank goodness! After that we started our exchange late in the night. As I was pullin...

Bula Vinaka! WE almost had a baptism this week! It was a 10 year old Kiribati girl who is going back to Kiribati this week so it had to be Saturday. We had heaps of ward members there, and everything turned out perfect until she got in the water. She went under twice but both times her hands came up. She had had enough and would not get back in the water. Her aunt wanted her to try again later at some of the elder's baptisms and we tried again but she wasn't having it. I never expected fear of water to be an issue here but it is a very common issue!  Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! Transfers are this week, but I probably won't leave, I would be surprised if we get a call. we have three sisters coming in, one of whom we have to accompany to her appointment with the US embassy to get her visa for another mission. So that will be interesting, and a lot of busy work. But I guess someone has to do it. we have gotten a lot of referrals one of which came to church yesterday and we set on date for baptism yesterday as well :) Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! I forgot all about Halloween except someone said something.  We gave trainings in 4 zone conferences this week so that was exciting. They all went well, and the good news is that we got pizza at everyone! We also had a baptism this week. Our little 8 year old investigator Ronny got baptized and confirmed! He was so excited that he was a little noisy in church. oops.  I think it turned out great, though! We had a great baptism service and his older brother and sister participated as well.  My companion and I are still doing well, we have three more exchanges this week, and then transfers the next. Next transfer will only be 5 weeks because the church doesn't do transfers on Christmas so that will go by really fast. Loloma Bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! This week was crazy and hectic. we went on 3 exchanges and we were so tired. We went to Makoi, Waila, and Toga areas. I went to two and stayed in for one. The reason we have to do three exchanges this week and the week after next is because we have four zone conferences in a row that we have to train at this week and we can't be on exchanges during those, and so we have no exchanges this week. We saw a cool miracle yesterday in our area. We have a car but we are not allowed to give investigators rides in it. We had stake conference yesterday and had told all of the people we are teaching about how we had to go and meet a bus at 9 at the chapel and then go to the stake center to see the conference. We were waiting with our two people and then two of our recent converts came! They haven't come for a couple weeks so we were very happy to see them. Then, as the bus pulled up, three of these kids we are teaching came running up just in time! We weren't planning...

Bula Vinaka! his week has been a great week. We had two exchanges with Tamavua sisters and Kuku sisters. That was my first time being in a trio my whole mission during exchanges with the Tamavua sisters so that was very exciting. It was also fun to go back to my old area and see some people I used to help teach. This week we are going to have three more exchanges so we will be really tired after that, but I am excited :) The following week we are giving trainings in 4 zone conferences. The missionaries have never been there before. It was way fun to use any Chinese words I remembered and they all started yelling when we brought out the book of Mormon. They said, "we read that! we read that!" the little 8 year old ran into the house and brought out a book of Mormon her teacher had given her from school. She says she loves Jesus and she knows He is happy whenever she listens to her parents. The coolest thing is that my last area is literally down the road from this area. t...

Bula Vinaka! This week we had a great week, we found a lot of really good people who are prepared. I am so excited to see them progress and see who will come to church and get baptized. Something exciting that happened this week was that we were in a lesson in this little settlement area with a lot of bushes and trees around Throughout the lesson we kept hearing something that sounded like a real baby crying. After the lesson we took our flashlight and shined it under the shack/home were in and we saw this tiny tiny little newborn puppy. It has been missed somehow and the mom left it. It's eyes were still closed. We asked the owners to bring us a plastic bag and we carried it home and got some flea powder to get rid of all of the fleas that were swarming it. Then we cleaned it's eyes and fed it baby formula. It was doing really well for a whole week but we think it is sick. It might die, but We gave it a really happy life for the bit that it was with us. It loves to just sn...

Bula Vinaka! We had transfers and........my new companion is my old MTC companion! Can you believe it??? I honestly love her so much. It has been one of the best and fastest weeks of my entire mission so I am in a very good spot.  We had a lot of transfers this week and then hosted the intake who are awesome, and then hosted the outtake, one of which just left last night so we are finally finished with that. one of them left a lot of really nice clothes too, so we are enjoying those! Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! We have had a good last couple of days. We had 2 more exchanges this week that went well, and did a lot of finding. It was a really productive week, and we have 2 more sisters coming in so we are also looking forward to that! Loloma bibi, Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka! We have been good this week, we had three baptisms! Two sisters we found, and then another girl that has been taught for a while, but hasn't committed to baptism and she finally got baptized! It was really cool too because her uncle who raised her showed up. I had never met him before and I went up to shake his hand. He kind of looked like a member but I found out he wasn't so we were able to meet with him yesterday. He is really sincere and has a lot of Faith in God. He grew up Catholic and almost went to school to become a Catholic Priest, but his father died when he was 14 and so he started to work at that age to support his mom and his other 5 siblings. He became an electrical engineer but retired several years ago. We just hope he will be willing to try to change and see a need to change. Other than that we are doing more finding, and staying busy. Next week is the last week of the transfer! loloma bibi Sista Wayment

 

Bula Vinaka! I have had a great week this week. We had  2 exchanges and they both went well. One sister kept hinting not so subtly that she hoped to be in this area next transfer. Haha I don't like people vying for this position. It really isn't that fun! It's an opportunity to grow and learn and be humble, but not to get accolades or praise or to be better than everyone else. She even told some of our investigators that she might see them again soon! So anyway I wasn't very happy about that. We had an exchange with the Lami sisters and I got to go to their area. It was beautiful! They are on the shoreline and it was low tide and we walked out unto the ocean floor while it was still dry. Just gorgeous!!! I wish you could see it. We are teaching a family ( mom and kids) and they came to church yesterday! The cool thing is they live so close to the chapel. Actually right next to the AP\'s flat so that was funny. Too bad they missed them! But good for us!!!!! L...

           

Bula Vinaka! This week has been good for us, we had 2 baptisms! Bui and Sam. It was a really good service and we were able to get a few more members there so that was good. We had our mission tour with Elder Yamashita and his wife. It was so good. Something funny they did was something called "happy companionship". We are supposed to do this often: Using words that help building a happy companionship (Let’s practice our word usage as a companionship) Elder/Sister …! Yesterday was great! Elder/Sister …! Yes, yesterday was fantastic! You are awesome! You are awesome, too! You did it! You did a good job! You’ve been getting better! You are doing well! You are smart! You are outstanding! I can always trust you! I’m always proud of you! You are my favorite! I love you! Thank you for all you do! I respect you! I’m happy we can serve together! I’m happy, too! We’ll have a great day today! Yes, we’ll work harder, hard...

This week has been really busy and somewhat challenging. We had three exchanges, and I had my first fender bender. But they went really good. I was able to go back to Tamavua area so that was fun going back to my old stomping grounds.  We were supposed to have a baptism but the person getting baptized, we went to pick him up, and he said he was going to change, and then jumped out the window and is still missing in action. So that was pretty discouraging. We have another one this week, though, so we are excited for that :) loloma bibi Sister Wayment

Bula Vinaka! Exchanges went really well, and I am learning my way around pretty quickly which is a huge blessing. I am also still enjoying driving the car. I am still tired a lot, but I am still holding up :) We got this referral this week from some people who are here for a visit from America. Their hostess is an indian from Australia, and she is awesome! The sad thing is that she is going back to Australia in a week and a half but she told us that she is going to go right up to the first set of missionaries she sees and ask them to teach her. She is a Christian, but she is looking for more. It was incredible to share the plan of salvation with her and all of the people she is hosting. The spirit was so strong and she told us that she has a lot of questions still, but it just feels right. She said she feels like she has always known this.    I love doing missionary work so much, even when it is tiring. much love, Sister Wayment

Ni Sa Bula Vinaka, I am doing well, And this is honestly a really good area. Even though one of us is gone half the time, the work is still going well. I love exchanges, even though they are draining. my goal for each of them is to "be interested, not interesting". I ask them questions until they go off about themselves, their culture, the work, anything so I can get to know them better. I have worked my hardest about putting the spotlight on them for the most part of the exchange, and then complimenting everything good that they do in the work. I have seen miracles and I have also been able to love the sisters with more of an understanding of where they come for and an appreciation for them. I have also learned a lot about cultures and just about them as people. They love feeling understood!  I really do like being STL, and I hope to keep going strong, and eventually get used to it:) loloma bibi Sister Wayment

We had our Mission Leadership conference last week which was really good and insightful. kindof like a zone conference actually so I enjoyed that. Plus we got a good lunch so it was worth it. One thing that we talked about was "finding friends" instead of doing finding. We tried it and we found this awesome lady that wants to be baptized! She even came to church yesterday! We also had 2 exchanges in 2 areas. it was really fun, but so exhausting! I loved gettiing to know that other sisters better and I really learned a lot from them and their attributes.  Monday we went in to get my Fijian drivers liscence, and you are supposed to go in and book an appointment for a driving test and then possibly wait for up to 2 weeks to take the test and get the liscence. We really needed the car for exchanges, and so a senior sister went in with us to try to get it (myself driving there). We went in and a very nice young man called us up. We were very nice to him, and guess what? He we...

Bula Vinaka, This week has been eventful. We got transfer calls and I am now an STL in Samabula. It was not much of a move, though, because I am 5 minutes away from my last area so that is funny. I love my companion she is from Tonga. I hope you all have a great week, more news next week loloma bibi Sista Wayment

Bula Vinaka This week has been a great week! We set Noa on date to be baptized!!!!! His mom gave us permission this week and is excited to attend his baptism service. The Lord truly worked a miracle in softening her heart. We met this Indian family that is progressing really fast and came to church yesterday! They are excited to be baptized as well. That investigator Noa has been bringing his friend to church so he just gave us a new investigator. We went to Colo i Suva again today with members from New Caledonia. So that was a cultural experience! I have Shingles. So that has been a crazy week! I hope you all have a great week! loloma bibi Sister Wayment