Bye, bye Banban!

Shadrack (He baptized Sabrina in French), Joshua, Edwina,
Mary, Sabrina, Me, and Sista Tonga

This week was fantastic!  If you take a look at the pictures you will know exactly why!  We had a miracle week and the baptism on Friday proves it.

Sabrina:  After speaking with her on Wednesday and using the help of the sisters in Showground, Sabrina decided to get baptized.  She realized that she was denying herself the blessing that her Heavenly Father had in store for her because she was scared of her own weaknesses.  She has come to realize that she can only become who she ultimately wants to be through the Atonement and the help of a loving Heavenly Father and older brother, Jesus Christ.  She is a miracle and she will forever have a special place in my heart.  We have been through major ups and downs together, laughed and cried together, and I will miss her so much. Her goal moving forward is to prepare to enter the temple in a year from now and then go out and serve a full-time mission.  She has taught me so much about humility and true desire.  I love her so much!

Joshua finally got baptized!  It's so amazing to see someone I have worked with for so long finally make that step and get baptized.  He was so happy and shared a great testimony at the end of the baptismal service.  He says that he wants to serve a mission as well, but that will have to wait until he is married and is a little older.  He's a great guy and couldn't have been happier to finally get baptized.

Mary:  after waiting for years and years took the step to get baptized on Friday.  She was so shy and quiet during the program which is really unusual for her, but she was smiling the whole time.  God does answer prayers.  She is the one Sista Tonga and I prayed and fasted to be able to find someone that day that we could teach and baptize.  God sent us the most prepared woman in the world- Mary.

Edwina, sweet little Edwina was baptized as well.  Her mom, Netty, cried and cried when Edwina bore her testimony which made me start crying as well.  Oh man I wish so bad that Netty could be baptized.  She wants to so much, but she has to get married first and her man, Edward, doesn't want to get married.  She either has to separate from him (get divorced) or marry him to get baptized.  She has three children with him and she feels like they need a father.  So until “her man” has a change of heart she’s stuck.   I trust that God will bless her as much as He would if she could be baptized.  I love their family very much and they have taught me more than they know.  

Sista Manatau and me in front of our new house and car

Transfers came on Saturday and Sista Tonga and I are both out of Banban.  They will be putting two elders in our place because the mission leaders have decided it’s too bush (too remote and too much of a jungle) to have sisters in that area.  For now, Sista Tonga will be going to another area in Santo called Pepsi and I will be serving in Second Canal with Sista Manatau (from West Valley City) . . . . who is an AMERICAN!!!!  I freaked out a little when I found out.  I just don't know how to deal with Americans anymore! J  She will be my first American companion.  But the last few days have been a blast, and she will be able to be a great STL as well.  We go to Port Vila next week for a mission wide MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) again so we'll have lots of time learning together.  For the first time on my mission I have air conditioning, hot water AND an oven . . . so that means I’ll be able to bake myself a birthday cake at the end of the month! 

Well, that's it for this week!  I love you all and hope you have a great week.

Bagem Wok

“Bagem Wok” in Bislama means to work hard and to get a lot done.  We say it here when you are doing and having success in the work.

One more week of July and I can't believe it!!  This week has flown by and a lot of neat things have happened!  This week Sista Tonga and I killed it!!  We taught and taught and taught!!  And every night we came home and all we wanted to do was sleep and it was the best!

We went to visit Sabrina on Tuesday and she said she wanted to talk to us about her baptism.  She said she wants to be baptized with all her heart but she wants to stay clean from alcohol, smoking and Kava for at least 3 months before she gets baptized.  We talked with her and even had the branch president’s wife at the lesson to help us talk through things.  In the end Sabrina decided that she wants to wait.  We asked her to pray and see what Papa God needs her to do, but she continues to say He isn't giving her an answer.  So as of now she is waiting for three months until she gets baptized.  But she is staying very active!  She started going to seminary and we started teacher her Mom, Lisa, this past week.  I love Sabrina with all my heart, and I know that whatever she ends up doing it will be the right choice.  She has changed and never, ever wants to go back.

We had everything ready to go for Robson's baptism on Sunday morning starting at half past seven.  At seven a.m. we got a call from him telling us that his older sister had died earlier in the morning and he had to take a ship back to Malekula (another island in Vanuatu) that morning with her dead body and wouldn't be back for a few weeks.  When he talked with us he seemed very distressed.  Please keep him in your prayers and I'll keep you updated on what happens once he gets back in a few weeks from Malekula.

We went and visited Joshua this week as well.  He has permission to get baptized!!!  His daddy never actually came to Santo, but he got permission from one of his uncles, so it's all good!  He was so excited when he told us that he stood up and started slapping my back with a huge smile on his face.  He's been waiting for so long, and now he can finally take that step this Friday!

Having a car here isn't as great as I thought it would be.  The roads here are awful and because Sista Tonga doesn't drive, I have to deal with it.  She does love to complain that I don't drive smoothly enough . . . but really she needs to take a look at these roads!  There are pot holes everywhere and no lights on the streets.  So at night I drive with my brights on when we have to go somewhere, but most of the time we stay inside once it gets dark. 

Yesterday was Children's day here and so everything was closed.  This week will be kind of a dead week because it's independence day and everyone is gone.  Sunday was a joke.  No one was home.  Hopefully it's not like that the whole week like everyone says it will be.  Pray for a miracle!  

We've continued to teach Edwina, Netty's little girl, and she is drinking up everything we have to teach her.  I love teaching pikinini because I can really see why we are commanded in the scriptures to be as a little child.  She will be baptized this Saturday with Joshua and Mary if all goes as planned.

I am so thankful to be a missionary and to be serving here in Vanuatu.  I love it.  I love every day and I love the people here more than anything.  I know that this is the true, the one and only, true church on the earth today! After weeks like this I feel like Alma, wishing I had the trump of an angel and could tell everyone in the whole world about this gospel!  It's true!!!

I love you all and hope you have a great week.  Sorry there are no pictures.  The computers here just don't work all the time!

Back to Banban!

Sista Norton, Bedilia, Me, Sellesin, and Lemus

I'm back in Santo with Sista Tonga.  It has been a good, but very exhausting, two weeks and I am glad to be back at “home.”  

On Monday I went and saw the physiotherapist in Brisbane, Australia who gave me lots of jaw exercises and massaged my face, neck and head; and then gave me a list of exercises to do while I am in Vanuatu.  She asked me to stay in Brisbane for another week so she could have a few more visits with me.  She wanted to make sure what she was suggesting would actually work, but my flight couldn't be changed.  So she gave me a big list of exercises to try, and then said to email her if they didn't work and we would try something new . . . so pretty much I went and they told me to exercise my jaw!  

Me, Sister Oraa and Whatcott at Bounce Inc. in Brisbane, Australia

I spent the last little bit of my time with Sister Oraa and Whatcott going to Bounce Inc., a trampoline park in Brisbane.  We had a lot of fun and enjoyed a good night’s sleep that night!

Flying over Vanuatu

I flew back to Port Vila, Vanuatu on Tuesday morning and stayed with Sister Norton and Sister Sellesin while we tried to figure out how else we could fix my ears.  Sister Norton and Sellesin make me so happy.  I love those two so much, and I just can't be sad around them!  It was a blessing to be able to stay a while with them.  Wednesday my ears hurt like crazy so I had Sister Norton call Sister Hill (the mission nurse) again.  She canceled my flight back to Santo and got me another doctor’s appointment with the ENT specialist educated in France.  He said my ears were not okay and that the doctor in Australia was crazy!  I now have four different medications to take including an antihistamine, a heat pack, two mouth guards and lots of people praying for me.  They got me a sports mouth guard to help me not grind my teeth when I sleep, but I tried it last night and it was too big.  It fell out sometime while I was sleeping!  Eventually the pain will go away, but for now I am leaning on something President Granger told me, "Sometimes God will send you through things and places you don't understand, just to get you to where He needs you to be.  Trust his plan, not your pain."

Sister Sellesin and me

The new car for the Sister Training Leaders

When I got off the plane here on the island of Santo on Saturday afternoon I had a beautiful Hyundai Tucson waiting in the airport parking lot for me to drive home!!! It is beautiful and brand new!!  Sister Tonga and I literally took the plastic off the seats!  It was just like Christmas!  J  It only had 118 km on it!  Oh we are loving it!  It will be such a big help to our zone!  We’ll be able to assist the zone leaders a lot because we now have two cars on Santo instead of just one.  

The best part of my week however, was after church when we finally got to get out and teach!!  I haven't been in the area for over two weeks and Sista Tonga was only able to work in the area one day in the two weeks I was gone.  So we taught as much as we could and miracles happened!!!  Sabrina is set to be baptized this coming Saturday at three o'clock in the ocean!!!  We went and taught her yesterday.  She has been coming to church almost every week and we taught her a few commandments and she started crying.  She told us that she wants to change because she is seeing how her actions are affecting her family.  She recognizes that she needs to change now.  The spirit was so strong!!  It was one of the most amazing lessons I have taught on my mission.  She also told us that her mom wants to hear the lessons as well . . . so we will be teaching her on Tuesday!  Sabrina is already a missionary!!

After our lesson with Sabrina, we committed Thomas and Roseline to baptism on the 29th of July.  We will continue to work with them because they aren't married yet.  While we were teaching them Thomas' Uncle Lolo sat down and asked us to teach him as well as his nephew, Kiki.  THEN we went to visit Robson and before we started the lesson he told us that he had fasted and prayed to be able to convince his chief to let him get baptized.  He talked to his chief last week, and the chief said he can join any church he wants!  We told him we had a baptism day this week and next week and he said he wants to get baptized this Saturday!!  July truly is a month of miracles!!!  Sista Tonga and I are going to keep working like crazy and find, find, find!  We truly are in God's hands and he is helping us.

Brisbane, Australia!

Brisbane, Australia

It's p-day here in Australia because they have the chance to go to the temple once a transfer.  I just happened to be here the day they switch their p-day to Thursday because of the day they go to the temple.  We just finished a session in the Brisbane Australia temple and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!  It was wonderful to go back after over nine months in a mission without a temple.

 I flew from Vanuatu to Brisbane, Australia on Monday night and was picked up by Elder and Sister Callahan.  They drove me to the mission home where I stayed with the brand new mission President Mark E. McSwain and his wife, from Farmington, Utah.  I guess Peter Vidmar is president of the Melbourne mission.  I stayed in the room where General Authorities usually stay and it was amazing.  I literally slept on a cloud!  J  The next morning the Callahans took me to a hearing doctor and then to the ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist.  They determined it wasn't my ears but my jaw (TMJ pain syndrome) causing my ear pain and headaches.  I will go to a physiotherapist on Monday and then back to Vanuatu on Tuesday.  No mouth guard because that takes too long to do . . . but you already got an email on that!  So I will spend my time telling you about Brisbane.

Email from Michael Callahan: Sister Sarah Draper was seen by Dr Christopher Que Hee in Brisbane yesterday. Just prior to her visit with him she had a hearing test performed and it was completely normal. Dr Que Hee did a thorough exam of her ears and it was also normal showing no signs of infection and no fluid behind the ear drums. His diagnosis is TMJ pain syndrome and she has been referred to a physiotherapist who specializes in treatment of TMJ. I personally spoke to her and she will see Sister Draper next Monday for an hour of treatment and training in exercises and other modalities to help control her symptoms.

She is a lovely young woman and is going to be staying with two of our sister trainers in Brisbane. I anticipate her return to Vanuatu next Tuesday as scheduled.

Sister Oraa in a mall!!

Who can identify this Australian animal??  

Back to Sarah's letter:  Brisbane is just like living in the avenues in downtown Salt Lake City.  The houses are old and quaint and cute.  It's freeeezzzziiinnnnggg here right now!!  It’s winter in the southern hemisphere.  I have to wear 3 jackets, and I sleep with a bazillion blankets.  I feel like I am back at home and it is October or maybe November haha!  Last night we even made the curry that Mom used to make!  I am staying with two sisters, Sister Oraa from the Philippians, and Sister Whatcott, from Minnesota as well as a girl from their ward who is doing a mini-mission until Friday, Sister Grammit.  They have been very sweet, but it sure has been a shock to come to a normal mission and see what most of the missionaries across the world do every day!

I'm glad my mission call is to Vanuatu, but this has been a great experience to come to Australia. We don't teach a lot but do a lot of street contacting and people are not very nice!  We also ate dinner at a member’s house and knocked doors- two things I've never done before on my mission.  I've only been here two full days but it has been an adventure.  Today we went into the mall and I about died!!  They have a real grocery store!!!!  And it has everything!!!  I can go get mac and cheese and peaches and chips and fresh milk and yogurt and I could go on and on!!!  AND  they have McDonalds!!!! They drive on the left side of the road here and one of my companions is an awful driver and so it has been terrifying!!!  Everything is huge here!!  Huge buildings, houses, even this library we are emailing in is huge and there are lights everywhere and everyone here is white!!!  I’m in the majority and not the minority like I was in Vanuatu.  We street contacted a guy yesterday and he was black and I automatically started talking in Bislama to him.

The photo on the right is Elder Derhak from upstate New York.  He is the son of Stacy Neilson Derhak who went to pharmacy school at the University of Utah with my dad.  Stacy’s younger brother is married to my mom’s sister.  So Elder Derhak’s uncle is married to my aunt and we share four of the same cousins!  . . . And we’re both serving in Brisbane Australia.

Miracles in July

Enet, Wendy and Cindy after being confirmed on Sunday

This week has been a week of up and downs for sure!  I found out on Monday I would be flying to Brisbane, Australia to have my ears fixed at the end of the week.  I have had almost continual double ear infections for the last eight months.  I fly out today and if everything goes as planned, I will be back here in Vila on the 12th of July.  My doctor’s appointment is tomorrow, so please pray that things go well and that they can fix the problem quickly and completely.  On top of that, we had four exchanges we had to fit into one week as well as continue to help out investigators and our area progress.  It's been crazy, but God has taken every opportunity to teach me all He can and now that the week is finally over, I can say I am thankful for what I have learned.

An update on our investigators:  Flafi and Takame will be getting married this coming Saturday (July 9th) by Flafi's father who is flying in from Kiribati to perform the wedding.  Flafi has been taught by over four sets of missionaries and will be baptized the following Saturday (July 16).  It truly is a miracle that things have finally fallen into place for them to be married and Flafi to be baptized.  Hopefully Takame will be able to perform the baptism.  I can't wait! 

Sabrina is scheduled to be baptized on the 9th of July, this coming Saturday.  We taught her about a few of the commandments this week and she bore her testimony to us at the end.  She said she knew that she has a lot to change, but because she knows that what she is learning is true, she is willing to pay the price.  I love that girl so very much!!

Saturday night I flew into Vila and got to spend Saturday and Sunday with two of my favorite sistas in the whole wide world:  Sista Sellesin and Sista Norton!  When I got to their house, I jumped out of the car, threw open the door and gave Sista Sellesin a 5 minute hug haha!  I was so happy to see them again and these last two days have been a blast with them and being able to see all the people in my old ward and area.  Going to church on Sunday was just what I needed.  I have been really struggling because Banban is not as open to the gospel as the people in Ohlen, and even though I feel like I am working harder than ever I don't see a lot of results coming from our hard work.  Going to church on Sunday helped me remember how blessed I am to have had the chance to work with the people in Ohlen and how much the gospel continues to change the lives of those I had the privilege to teach.  It was also super exciting to see how many of the people I started to teach before I left have been baptized.  I even had the privilege to see Enet get confirmed.  We worked with her family for a long time to get them reactivated so that she could join the church with an active family at her side.  This past week it finally happened.  God is a God of miracles!!

I love what I am out here doing.  I love, love, love it!!  There are definitely hard times, but the Lord has a way of making things work out and making all the hard times worth it.  I love you all.  Have a great week.

Teaching and Birthdays

Sister Tonga and I enjoying birthday cake

Annnnnnnddddd I'm back!!  It's been another wonderful week out here in Vanuatu!! Last Monday we had the chance to have family house night at Flafi and Takame's home with their two little boys Simone and William and Flafi's sister, Cicilia and husband, Abraham.  We taught a lesson about prayer and afterwards while we were eating we brought up the topic of marriage again.  Flafi and Takame aren't married and Takame is a member but Flafi can't become one until they are married.  They told us that Falafi's papa is coming on the 9th of July to marry them!!!  That means that Flafi can get married on the 9th!  We were so happy to hear that news!!  The next two weeks we will be reviewing all the lessons with Flafi again to make sure she is 100% ready!

Family house night at Flafi and Takame's

We've continued working with Sabrina who is scheduled for baptism on the 9th of July as well.  She turns 20 this Tuesday and decided now is the time to turn her life around.  Her family isn't very supportive, but she has two amazing neighbors, Mama Ruth and Fina who are helping her a lot.  They are a huge blessing.  

Sista Tonga and I have been praying and fasting to be able to be prepared to have the Lord send us prepared people to hear the gospel.  This week we were able to find five new investigators!!  One is a mama who is around 30 years old and has been taught by multiple missionaries, but hasn't been able to get married due to her husband.  Now she and her husband are divorced and she can be baptized!  Her name is Mary and she was taught the gospel in Tanna, Malekula and now here in Santo.  She knows so much and is so sweet.  I really look forward to teaching her!

Sister Tonga's birthday

Sunday was Sista Tonga’s 21st birthday.  We celebrated by TEACHING and going to church! J Then we went over to Tony and Pricila’s house for cake because Pricila’s birthday was also on Sunday.  We also gave some training to a few of the auxiliaries in our branch on Sunday.  Hopefully this will help with how smoothly things go on Sundays.  We hope that more of what is supposed to happen will actually happen in our branch. J

I want you all to know that I know that God answers prayers!  I have prayed my heart out this week, even more than normal, and I know that God is hearing me and answering me.  The promise in 3 Nephi 18:15-20 is so very true.  If your desire is good and according to His will, then the Lord will grant to you the desires of your heart.  When His will becomes yours, He will help, no matter what you ask!  He is in the details of our lives.  I know it.  Heavenly Father will lead us and carry us when no one else can.  Someone once said that God gives us a million reasons to believe and then one or two not to.  I hope that we cling to all that we know and don't let the two or three reasons not to believe prevent us from receiving all that the Lord has in store for us.  

I love you all!  Have a fantastic week!

Mama Sarah from Ohlen

Muddy feet after tracting!

I hope you all had a wonderful week! Things here in Santo are going pretty well.  Sista Tonga and I will be staying together for another six weeks and so we sat down on Sunday and set some big goals.  Santo is struggling and so is our area, but we are going to be part of a miracle mission and are going to change things.  

This week we made an exchange with the sistas in Pump Station.  I spent the day in Pump Station with Sista Ardos, from Pompey, a small island in Micronesia.  She is quite the character!  She was trained by Sista Tonga and you can tell!  They are very similar but it was still fun to teach with her and learn from her.  She is a ball of energy and got me fired up!

Sista Sellesin called me last night and told me that Mama Sarah passed away this past Tuesday.  For those of you who don't remember, she is a lady that Sista Tagini and I taught in Ohlen and she just loved me because we had the same first name.  Sista Sellesin and I visited her every week until I came to Santo.  It was really sad news to hear, but she is much happier where she is now and I cannot wait to see her again.  I had the chance to talk on the phone with her a few weeks ago, but she couldn't really speak or answer any questions.  I am so thankful for the knowledge that we have that this life isn't the end.  The next time I see Mama Sarah she will be healthy and happy resurrected person- I can't wait!

The crabs that come out at night.

We invited Robson to be baptized last night.  He says he wants to with all his heart, but he can't because he lives on land owned by his chief.  This chief is an avid member of the Anglican Church and won't allow anyone in his tribe to join another church and continue to live on his land.  Robson is a father of 3 pikinini and can't risk losing his home.  Sista Tonga and I testified that the Lord would provide a way and that he needed to trust God.  We asked him to go and talk to his chief and see what he says.  The spirit was so strong and Robson felt it.  He is a great father and really wants to do what is right.  Please keep him in your prayers.  

Well, that's a wrap for this week.  I love hearing from you all!  Thanks for all you do.