Suva Temple dedication trip

We call the group in the 1st picture the squad.... during the Suva trip we were stuck in the flat with 14 missionaries because 3 different flats had ankle deep flooding. We were without power for alot of time because of the hurricane. So we found heaps of things to do, such as rap battles, would you rather questions, card games, working out, and Mcdonalds... man it was a good time! hahaha

Me making out with a Dr. Pepper that I found...no big deal

Traveling by boat to Suva

Traveling to Suva

Aftermath of Cyclone Winston

These are pictures that my comp took because my camera was dead most of the week. Just some crazy stuff!

Elder Alonzo said, "So if you don't live under a rock, you probably know that a cyclone just hit Fiji the other week. Word on the street is that it was the strongest hurricane to have hit the southern hemisphere with winds at 200mph. Crazy stuff. Many trees fell. Farms ruined. Roofs got torn off. A lot of people here just have wooden houses and I saw in the newspaper that one family got their house picked up and thrown a few meters! They're alright though in Suva, where we were at the time.  There wasn't any power for 4 days. I think 20+ people died? But yeah, just keep Fiji in your prayers!

Tyler is safe!

Elder Tyler Robert Mumford is safe and accounted for here in Suva.

Power is out throughout Fiji and there is a State of Emergency and curfew being enforced.
We originally planned to send the missionaries back to their areas tomorrow morning.
However, because of the storm and restrictions on travel, we will keep them here until we
know it is safe for them to travel. As I write this email we have not had any contact
with the Saints on Vanua Levu and Taveuni, good or bad. All communication lines are down.

Today there were three sessions of the Suva Fiji Temple dedication with President Eyring
presiding. They were all wonderful spirit filled events. Because the power is out
throughout most of Fiji some of the Saints were not able to watch the dedication services
as planned. President Eyring announced that the dedication services will be re-broadcast
next Sunday.

With the power out we anticipate the Internet shops will be closed on preparation day.
Your missionary probably will not be able to send you their weekly emails. Please know
that we are watching thing close and I will try to keep you updated on the conditions
here in Fiji, until we return back to normal.

Warm regards,

President Layton

Fiji Suva Mission

Cyclone Winston

I am sending this email to inform you that Elder Tyler Robert Mumford, who is
serving in the Suva Fiji Mission, is currently safe and accounted for. We are currently
experiencing Cyclone Winston, a category 5 storm, which is passing through Fiji as I send
this email. The power is out through most of the island and we are experiencing high
winds and rain. The missionaries have been trained on how to handle the storm. They are
all either in their flats or at their Stake Center.

As you may know the temple is scheduled to be dedicated tomorrow with three sessions.
President Henry B. Eyring and Elder Quentin L. Cook are with us here in the mission home.
Earlier today we participated in a Cultural Celebration where the youth of Fiji performed
dances celebrating the culture of Fiji and the surrounding islands. It was beautiful with
a lot of energy from the youth. It was so exciting to have our missionaries in
attendance.

The main part of the storm is forecast to pass us by in time for the dedication sessions
tomorrow. Plans are to proceed with the dedication and have our missionaries participate.

We sure appreciate your faith and prayers in behalf of our missionaries as we pass
through this challenging weather.

Warm regards,

President LaytonFiji Suva Mission

RABI LIFE

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Well hey guys so just like every other week there is just way to much that happens to write it all but I will try my best to put some good highlights in this email!

So I will just tell some good stories that have happened recently. First just to get you guys a picture of things that happen on our usual days, last week on our p-day, we were on a run to go lift some weights at a members house that have them. Its like 3 miles of hills so its a pretty hard run, and about half way through the run we hear barking which is never a good sign, and we see a dog just hauling as fast as it can at us from probably like thirty yards away. We knew it was going to attack us so there was only one thing we could do. TURN ON THE JETS. We were just sprinting as fast as we could trying to outrun it, and right when it was about to catch me a guy we knew came from around the corner with a stick and hit the dog. Literally that guy was an angel. Haha but as for dogs, we get attacked and chased all the time, but luckily I haven't been bit yet!!! But ya dogs suck. I'm definitely never having one in my house. So that's a fun thing we deal with but hey at least I'm getting faster with the sprints I'm doing to get away from the dogs! hahaha #brightside
 

The next story I have is of a less active lady who we are working with who is my favorite lady ever. But she wouldn't take the sacrament because she didn't think her records were in our branch yet. So we worked forever to get a list of all the members of our ward so we could show her her records so she would take the sacrament. We got the list and finally when we showed her she just broke down in tears of joy saying how she felt how much God loves her now. She said that she has told past Elders her problem but they have never found her records, but because we put in the effort to find them, she felt as if it was God telling her she needed to be back at church taking the sacrament! Such an amazingly spiritual moment of being able to help someone come closer to their Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I love this Work!
 

Another fun story has been boils that have started popping up all over my ankle. So here in the Fiji Suva mision everyone gets a boil at some time or another, and this last week was my time, for 4 of them............ wow hahah they are just like these super huge pimples that blow up with puss and swell and hurt and ya it was interesting... haha but my whole foot swelled up to the size of like an elephant, it was so fat... haha but we are all good now!

 

As for right now we are heading to Suva for the temple rededication where we will be able to meet President Eyring in person! We are so excited! I know without a doubt that temples are the Lord's house and with them we can be together with our families forever!:)

Anyways guys I love you all so much! I love this work and I know what I'm doing is right. This is Heavenly Father's work and he leads and directs it every single day! Thanks for all the love and prayers you send me. Have a great week everyone!

Elder Mumford

Showing an old lady how to do peach signs.  Haha

 

Dinner appointment

 

Kids playing in a tree

 

Playing ping pong for FHE

 

 

 

Another week in Rabi

Some of the wildlife of Rabi... hahaha so this is one of the mice that we killed by hitting it a million times with the broom. There are heaps of mice in our flat and since our flat is so small they sometimes have ran over our feet while we are sitting at our desks or touched us.... #fun haha Some other things we deal with on Rabi is we have had barely any water lately so we don't flush our toilet for days at a time which smells fantastic. lol And we usually hang our clothes on bushes to dry after we wash them in our buckets hahaha swag.

 

 

And this is a picture of a horse that kept following me and tried to kick me so I took a selfie with it.... only in Rabi. lol

 

         A way nice sunset!

Me and Elder Alonzo with flowers in our hair and our cute recent convert! ;)

 

 

 

And this is the class at the high school. I don't know if I have told you about it yet! Anyways so every Friday morning we have an hour to do a religion class at the high school where kids can choose what religion to go to and learn a bit of our basic beliefs. So ya we teach our basic beliefs in Gilbertese to a class of thirty high school kids. They laugh at us the whole time but it's so fun! It's cool because there are only 4 or so members in the class but like 30 people there, mostly girls.  Elder Alonzo always jokes it's because they are coming to see the boy with white skin.... probably true;) hahaha

 

 

    A cute little boy in Rabi.

So this is how we were catching water one day. Off of a broken rain gutter into a bucket #swag #inventive hahaha

Life in Rabi

 

So I'm going to do my email a bit differently this week and just tell stories through my pictures! So here is a picture of walking the huge mountains of Rabi. So back story to this is that we were going to do service at a less actives house and missed a carrier but we knew how important it was to do service for them so we just took our bags and hiked two hours over giant mountains on the most humid day ever! Man it was so hard. But it all payed off because they came to church this week! Such a testimony builder on serving people and how loving people is the way you help them! This is like how most of the work is right now. Its so hard but its really paying off. The language is hard but at this point I feel pretty comfortable. Its amazing that it takes people years to learn a language and I feel pretty comfortable in 3 months...... how crazy is that? I will never be able to deny the gift of tongues and how much it helps me everyday! The day to day work here in Rabi is pretty challenging.  We walk miles every single day, but once again we feel it paying off! My first week here we had 4 lessons in this area and this last week we had 18 and every single person we are teaching me and Alonzo found whether they are less active or an investigator.  We are really working hard to build up the area! Its tough but our hard work is paying off and we are being blessed. I love it!!!

 

 

So this is my district leader, Elder Davis, who just got transferred. Since it was his last week in the area and there are alot of way awesome resorts that we have to drive past we went tourist mode for like an hour and took amazing pictures so I will make sure to send them all to you guys! Don't get too jealous!!!!;) ahha life is tough out here..... hahahah oh and these are all around Savusavu! so cool!

Me on a way sick swing and me and a hamburger. Both pictures in my opinion are equally as great but the hamburger is probably the better view... hahaha

The first picture just shows how blue the water is and the second one is a beach in Rabi.

This is the angel that everyone knows just walking through the gates of heaven. Haha  :)

This is just the average group of kids that we walk up to and joke around with in Gilbertese when we are bored sometimes. It's so funny because when they see the white person walking up to them they run up and try to speak to me in super broke English. They usually just know "hello" and then I say something in Gilbertese and hold a conversation with them and they are just floored. The look is priceless every time haha I love it!

 

 

This is our zone leaders who came out and did exchanges with us last week which was nice because we don't get to do exchanges very often! But their eyes were widened at how hard the work is out there so it was good to get on a better understanding with them. It was funny because they brought a bag of food with them and they said they were worried for us at how excited we were because of the food. haha Way funny. Then these are another picture of my last baptism we had on rabi!

 

This is another picture of my last baptism we had on Rabi!

This is some of the jungle like terrain that we walk through when we are visiting people that live farther away from the villages. Isnt it way sick that we are just walking through this all?! haha I love the bush! :) #bushboy