District Conference and another transfer

All the Branch Presidents from the islands of Santo, Ombae and Gaua

 This week felt super long and I don't even know why, we were busy all week!  On Tuesday night we got a phone call from the zone leaders informing us of an emergency transfer.  I will be leaving Sista Manatau and will be going to Showground (in Santo—same island) and training a new sista from New Caledonia as well as be in a trio with Sista Jeppson from the U.S.A.  I'm  super excited to go to Showground because that means I am back in the Banban branch!!  I get to see all my investigators and recent converts again!!  I had a lot of mixed emotions, but I think it will be good.  I will miss Sista Manatau like crazy!!  She is so much fun, and has taught me so much in the three short weeks we have been together.  It's a good thing we're still on the same island and that we live so close to each other back at home in Utah.  We will for sure be lifelong friends!

Saturday and Sunday of this week was district conference.  We spent the majority of the week hunting down less-active members and inviting them to come to the conference.  We started by showing them the Mormon Message "Because He Lives" and then bearing our testimonies of Christ.  Saturday night a few people came, but on Sunday morning there wasn't enough room in the church to hold everyone!!  We had two less-active families show up:  Charity and Anaple (a family that Elder  Matthew Thurbur, my Dad’s cousin, taught while in one of his first areas) and Mama Salaine and Papa David as well as another Sista, Marilyn.  I couldn't stop smiling the whole conference because I was so happy that they all came.  Papa Anaple even came up to me and said that he hasn't come to church for months and months but that today was a new day and he wasn't going to miss another one.  We'll continue to work with them and help them so they can reach that goal.  Ugh!  I'm really sad to be leaving Second Canal!  I've only been here for three weeks, but I already love the people and consider them family.  While we were at conference they reorganized the District Presidency.  President Tarahati is the new District President!!  The former Banban branch president!  I was super happy because he is one of the most humble people I know and will do a great job.  Now we just have to wait and see who will be our new branch president in Banban.

Anaple, Me, and Charity at District Conference

We taught Zino the Plan of Salvation this week and he read the majority of the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon.  During the lesson he was bringing up part of his reading such as Alma chapter 40 while we discussed the spirit world.  He is so interested and knowledgeable.  However, he never showed up to church on Sunday.  We had members go to pick him up.  We also called and texted him, but he never replied.  I hope he didn't move or something!!  We'll try to track him down tomorrow and see what happened to him. 

We found one new investigator this week that has been waiting for the fullness of truth in her life.  Her name is Mary Klode.  She is in her 40s and has heard about the church from a previous neighbor, but has never been taught by the missionaries.  We taught her yesterday, along with her two little boys.  They are so sweet and are so prepared to be taught the gospel. 

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

Visiting Mama Angela at the hospital

Second Canal (the name of my new area)

Sista Manatau at Champagne Beach

This week has finally felt like an actual week of being a missionary again.  The last two weeks have been crazy so it was good to get back into our area and get back to work!

We've continued to work with Zino this past week and he was able to come to church!  A family was married and baptized this past week.  They were confirmed during sacrament meeting. In between their confirmations, Zino leaned over to me and asked when he could get baptized.  He is now set to be baptized on my birthday, August 27th!!  We're super excited!  He loved church and found out that he knows a lot of people there as well.  As an only child he's grown up following his parents, but now he wants to help his parents follow him.  He's amazing and such a blessing to Sista Manatau and me.

The marriage of Marta and Harry
this past week- one of Sista Manatau's
 previous investigators in Pepsi

 We had some great visits this week with quite a few less actives in our area and we thought they would come to church. . . but not one of them did!  On Sunday morning we walked around the area reminding and inviting all of them to come to church.  Some said they would come and others didn't answer when we sung out to them.  One man even told us that we were forcing him, and he was going to call the police because we were forcing him to come to church (that's a first ever here in Vanuatu!!).  We put together some plans for this week and have dubbed Saturday our "Rescue Day."  The areas of Second Canal and Sharpi are full of less active members so we have a lot of work to do!  The members in the Luganville branch are a huge blessing.  We have two members teaching with us today and another one teaching with us all day tomorrow.  They are so supportive and willing to help our investigators.  I've never had that in a branch before, so I am very, very thankful!

We just finished having zone training at the chapel.  We focused on the five steps to reach miracles:

1. Be obedient

2. Be faithful

3. Work hard

4. Achieve the goals you set

5. Never give up

The zone leaders taught the first two steps and then Sista Manatau and I taught the last three.  We finished the training with the Bible video called "Because He Lives."  If you haven't watched it yet, look it up.  It is amazing and teaches us that we can do all things with the help of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know that this is true and although I don't know the meaning of all things, just as Nephi, I do know that God loves His children.  He is constantly there to help us if we accept him.

I was having personal study this morning and I found a scripture in Hebrews 12:1-2 that made me think of enduring till the end of the challenges we are given.  It says, "let us run with patience the race that is set before us."  My thoughts were then pulled to D&C 122 where we are asked, "He (Jesus Christ) descended above all these things, art thou greater than he?"  This hit me really hard because I have been struggling a lot with WHY Heavenly Father has given me this challenge with my ears. Even after doing all that can be done I still am in constant pain.  I have been on my knees praying for an answer and asking why over and over again.  But I've come to realize that it's not time for me to know the why.  It’s just time for me to trust.  And so that's what I'll do.  I'll continue trusting, and in God's time- not mine, I will know why.

I love you all.  Have a wonderful week.

Elder Hyatt at the clinic after he sliced open his wrist
with a bush knife.  He got five stitches. 

Mission Leadership Conference

Sista Monatau and me

This week has been another week that I have learned many new things.  I have also recognized how well my Heavenly Father knows me, and how much He wants to help me grow.  I have spent the last three days in Port Vila with the 19 other peer leaders in the Vanuatu Port Vila Mission, as well as President Granger and his wife.  I have been taught and have felt so much and hope that I will be able to convey a little of what has happened.  

Sista Norton, Lemus, Manatau and I at Cafe Vila for the MLC dinner

We flew from the three different countries included in the Vanuatu Port Vila Mission (Solomon Islands, New Caledonia and the islands of Vanuatu) into Port Vila on Sunday and all the sistas stayed in the Ohlen house.  Eight sistas in one house is quite the party!!  Three of the four STLs (Sister Training Leaders) in New Caledonia were the same.  So it was fun to see them all again.  We reviewed a lot of basic things on the first day such as housing, vehicles, preparation-day and the unwritten order of things and then finished off playing team games outside the mission home.

All the leaders of the great Vanuatu Port Vila Mission

Tuesday we went back to the mission home again for more training for the better part of the day.  We were introduced to a "mission map" that the assistants and President Granger have put together with the help of the spirit.  It pretty much just covers everything we need to do to become a tool in the Lord's hand.  One thing that stood out to me was the "destructive D's."  The destructive D's include: discouragement, disobedience, doubt, disbelief and distraction.  When we let these thoughts creep into our minds we give power to Satan to destroy our purpose as missionaries.  He knows that if he gets us to disbelieve, we won't be able to teach with convincing power.  He knows that if we get discouraged we won't have a desire to work hard or serve others.  He knows that when we get distracted with worldly things our full might, mind and strength won't be spent doing the Lord's work.  He knows this, and so he works overtime to smuggle these thoughts into our minds.  But here's the thing: We have the light of Christ!  And because we have that light we have power over Satan.  He only has power over us when we give it to him.  When we feel discouragement, doubt, and disbelief creeping in and start to become a little disobedient and distracted we have to immediately apply the "Positive B's".  The "positive B's" are to be positive, be happy, be clean, be ready, and be busy.  When we do those five things we take away Satan's power.  In the MLC (Mission Leadership Conference) we continued to discuss how our attitude, combined with our efforts, can help us reach miracles.  Last week I sent an email all about miracles that I have seen.  I know that those miracles will continue if I continue to do my part.  The work will move forward, and we can choose to be a part of it or be left behind.  

Sistas Norton, Draper, Lemus and Manatau

Another thing that President Granger said that really stood out to me was that it is better to offend others than it is to offend God.  That hit me hard because I have noticed that as one of my weaknesses.  I "fear man more than God" and realized that I need to have more courage and faith.  During the MLC, I was talking to Elder Fidow, the previous AP (Assistant to the President) and currently a zone leader in Solomon.  His mother passed away the first week of July.  He set aside the feelings of doubt and discouragement and complete anguish he was feeling and threw himself into the work.  During the month of July he and his companion were able to baptize 20 people.  Twenty people is a lot of people, but I believe that the true miracle is that he was able to put aside his own worries and doubts and trust God completely.  Elder Fidow said that he fell to his knees many times at night crying out for help and ALWAYS felt a confirmation that God would not give him more than he could handle.  He knew that he was not going through this alone. I know this to be true.  I have experienced times when I feel so discouraged and completely in the dark, but through the grace of God I find light--every single time.  Just like Elder Holland said in last conference, "God will not leave us alone; it is not in his nature."  His whole purpose is to help us.  He will never desert us. A scripture that has and continues to help me is found in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."  All things!  Despite how hard we may see it, we can do it through Christ and His power. 

I hope that what I have shared can help each of you.  Apply it. Live it, and that's when the miracles happen.  I know this is true.

Check out our mission facebook page:  Vanuatu Port Vila Mission 2015-2018

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.