Week 9-November 22, 2015

Bula Vinaka

This week was awesome!  I got food poisoning, which stunk, but all is well in the world. 

We got have three new investigators this week, which was under our goal, but it's still pretty good. Introducing myself is so funny. Dawson, for whatever reason, is SUPER hard for Fijians to read and say. Like super hard. So I spend like 2 minutes just trying to teach them my name. They end up just calling me Elder, or Elda. Elder Visawaqa said that there is a way to spell it so it would be way easier and I'm going to try to get my tag changed. Well see.  The spelling is Tosana.

I'm pretty happy it's P-day today. On P-day we do the same things we did in the MTC; email, laundry, shop, play sports, that sort of stuff. It's just more refreshing and relaxing when you're actually in the field. Having P-day in Ba is way sweet. 

Ba is pretty big, it's like if Suva is Denver, and Lautoka (my zone headquarters) is Boulder, than Ba would be Longmont. It's not big but it's not small. There are lots of shopping markets, restaurants, and stuff like that. Shopping is an experience here. 

There are a lot of different foods here.  Not very many different fruits and veggies. Lots of mangoes. There are mango trees literally everywhere. They eat a lot of kesava and rourou which are both pretty good. Kesava is a root and it's kind of like a crappy potato but it's good. Rourou is dalo leaves that are boiled and it's basically just eating boiled spinach.

I really like the food here. I can't really say what my favorite food here is, but I can tell you what my least favorite is. There is this small fresh water clam that they call nakai. I don't really know why, but I am just not a fan. All the other food here is really really good though. I think if I had to pick a favorite it would be Dal and rice. Dal is this like yellow mushy soup stuff, I'm not sure what it is but it's way good. 

Another thing they love here is Giblets. Giblets, for those who don't know, are the insides of animals.  So we got takeaway from a members house and we were sitting down to eat. After the prayer we all just started to dig into this food.  I thought to myself "this is like the grainiest chicken I've ever eaten." And Elder Visawaqa looks at me and says, "You know what that is right? It's Giblets." Than I here Elder Ogden form across the table, "This is straight up a kidney." This wonderful sister, had made us chicken kidney curry. We all kind of lost our appetite for curry that night. We all ate it, but none of us went back for seconds. So we went and put it in our fridge.  

Elder Ogden said he was still hungry so we decided to make French toast, because they made some that morning and I didn't get any because I was like way sick. So we beat some eggs, added cinnamon, some milk powder and water, and some vanilla extract. We were stoked.  It was going to taste way good. I had accidentally grabbed the wrong loaf of bread though and when I pulled out the first piece I quickly became aware of the ants that had colonized the half loaf of bread. My heart broke. I wasn't going to get French toast. I told Elder Ogden about the ants and after a pause he looked at me and said "I WILL get my French Toast." We reasoned that the ants would just be added protein and we cooked up the whole loaf. It was the best French toast I have ever eaten! My time with Elder Ogden was basically that. Just try our hardest to make American food that we miss. We made No-Bake Cookies, twice, and they were the bomb. 

We get fed here a lot. Like sometimes two or three times a night. The Ward is way awesome. My area, all of Ba, only has one ward. The ward is small but the members are the best.  My Bishop is so cool. He's an older Fijian man and he is covered in tattoos. He's way cool. 

So something I've learned this week, is that in Fiji there are not gangsters. Only dogs. At night we will see packs of dogs just chilling in the road, or fighting other dogs, like it's the Wild West here in Fiji if you're a dog. 

I love Fiji and I love Ba. I love being in the Lords service. He is truly always with me and I can see His hand in my life. I'm so grateful for my loving Heavenly Father and His Son. I'm thankful for the Atonement and the ability that we have to be forgiven of our shortcomings. I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon and the truthfulness of it's words. I highly recommend reading it. I'm grateful for my wonderful family, and all the support that I receive from them. I love this Gospel and I love my Heavenly Father.  I love you and I miss you so much. 

Much Love 

Elder Dawson

And this is a note that my Mission President asked me to send out!  I would add that I miss American chocolate and Swedish Fish.

Mail

·  Ask family and friends to follow the guidelines below and to address your mail and packages to:

Your Name (Example: Sister J Jones)
Fiji Suva Mission Office
GPO Box 215
Suva, Fiji

This will prevent getting mail lost when you are transferred. Mail will be delivered to you by other missionaries traveling to your area.

·  The package label should be a general description, such as “missionary supplies”, “confections,” or “missionary gifts.”

·  Packages are opened at the time of arrival by Fijian Customs Officers for inspection and a fee charged based on the contents. If you receive package in the mail, you will be assessed $5 per package if Customs processes your package. This will be done in $10 increments taken out of your support money. (i.e. 2nd package at no additional charge)

· If you are sent packages less than 4 pounds and a very minimal price declared ($10-50) they generally do not go through Customs. They are delivered directly to the office with no fee charged to claim the package.

· You should not be sent packages valued at $100 USD or more because Fiji may charge an additional $100 or more (the value of the package plus shipping) that you will need to pay to claim the package.

· Inform family and friends to not send any of the following products because they will be confiscated and you will be charged a fee:

·         Any meat products, including jerky, noodles, ramen

·         Any dairy products, including noodles and macaroni with milk and cheese products

P.S.  My spider-bit foot.  It's totally fine now!

-- 

Peace Be Still

Keep it Real