Elder Tyler Mumford: Fiji Week 2

Fiji Sunsets aren't so bad ;)

Wow another great week just flew by. I am so blessed to be in such an amazing country surrounded by so many amazing people. I love this place and can just feel it is the place for me. This week we didn't have too many airport duties because they're really trying to pull back on what we do here for the airport and let us focus on missionary work which is way nice because that's what I'm here for.

So for this week. Well last Monday we got to play some rugby in the rain which was way fun. We invited a bunch of kids to our game today so it should be way good but we will see! We also had two other elders from Sigatok (about 30 minutes away) come in and stay the night with us because we have district meeting on Tuesdays. One elder from Australia talked either in a Scottish accent or Sméagol, from The Lord of the Rings,voice the whole day. Like he didn't speak normal at all... What....... That was ummm interesting... And the other one is like a child because he is obsessed with guns. Toy guns, real guns it doesn't matter. He talked about guns all day. Wow it was just an interesting experience. They are the only other 2 elders in our district so we will be spending a lot of time with them the next few weeks...haha We went on splits and had lessons with the Saumandusa,an investigator family. The husband lost his job and they should have been kicked out of their house this week, but through lots of prayer they didn't luckily! Then we had a family home evening with a HEFY group from America who are on a service trip here right now. It was way weird to think that these kids were going home in a few days and I was just there... Idk haha

Tuesday we had a joint district meeting with the other district here in Nadi which was fun! And then at like 10:30 that night we had to pick up Elders from the airport and also drop off some Elders. We were there for like an hour and a half because an Elder going to the Christmas Islands had THREE overweight bags.... What in the world.. haha

Wednesday we had a great day. We are really feeling the blessings of planning your whole day then following through with your plan. We went to teach a 14 year old kid who was recently baptized but he wasn't there. So on the way back to the car, we walked by a sweet classic Fijian mud hut house thing (picture attatched) and just started talking to the guy and have a lesson with him tonight so that will be good!

classic mud hut house

Thursday we went and did service for a family in our ward. We debarked wooden posts for a fence and then after we all ate raw sugar cane together. SOOOO GOOOD There are fields of it all over and you can just cut it out and eat it. Way good!

Friday we had another lesson with the Saumandus and we heard that he had found a job. So at the beginning of the lesson I asked and found out that they hadn't. It was so awkward it just made me cringe and feel soooo bad.

Saturday we found a few new investigators that we will hopefully teach this week. We are so blessed! Then Saturday night we had a lesson with Sister Persad who fed us as well (what a blessed soul) but we are hoping to get her back to church soon.

Sunday for church we had to plan sacrament meeting once again. One of our speakers didn't show up at all.. So after the first two speakers spoke Elder Moore my companion looked at me and was like "You're up" Oh man... RUTHLESS.. haha So I had to give a whole talk in Fijian last minute with like 5 lines I scribbled down. Man that was way rough.. So I stuttered a 3 minute talk about faith and wow it was tough. The people are so nice here though and said I did so good. Hahah ya right...

Where we have church

At most houses I hang out with the kids most of the time because they are the most fun and on my maturity level haha. But when they talk to me I barely understand anything. So basically I have a kid level of Fijian. So imagine a big 19 year old kid like me coming into your house and teaching to you in a kid level of language... haha rough but the lord helps me everyday and I am so grateful for that. So ya that was our week. We taught a total of 21 lessons this week which is unreal for the area. That hasn't been beaten in this area since October of last year which is great! I can just feel the blessings piling onto us as we work our hardest everyday.

In other news we have heard a bunch of rats running around in what we thought were our kitchen cupboards in our flat, but we figured out last night after some investigating they are living somewhere in our oven, we just aren't sure where... haha But we don't really use our oven so as long as they don't come out no big deal. right? hahah

The Fijian food is way good, but we don't get fed much, and we live off of about 35 dollars a week for food. So we are pretty limited on what we eat. Lots of noodles and cheap canned meats.. YUM haha No but its good. I've just come to be so grateful for how we live at home, its truly eye opening out here. We live in a pretty nice place but where we go and teach is pretty much a 3rd world country. Just one room houses with about 10 people that live in there, and usually some running water. Amazing how lucky we are.