November 9th,2011- Faith is the Power, Obedience the price, Love is the Motive, Spirit the Key, Christ is the Reason...

Ok. Here I go again with a random listed in my daily planner letter. But first off thank you so much for the letters! I smile so big when ever I get to read them and laugh out loud like a "krange man". Ok ,I'll answer some questions I saw in your letters. First, I don't use sunscreen that much, just a base haha. I use it on some days when I go to kuition (explain later) because it's a super long walk in the sun. Also, yes ,I rock the sulu from time to time. The unit leader here, Charles, gave it to me, it's nice and breezy. I charge my ipod whenever paul saaky uses his generator haha. And Elder Gashler! I met and got to know him reasonably well. You should know this mission isn't very big and it's easy to know everyone, especially in Vanuatu. I think there's around 36 now, so you get to know and befriend all of them. When I was in Fiji before I got here the missionaries in Fiji were talking about how Vanuatu is cool because of the small numbers and unity. I can't believe your posing for ensign! haha I must see this asap. Ok letter time. So first off I'll say from the last letter I wrote until now I've experienced the worst time of my mission with the greatest time. First we'll get the bad over with. So I can't remember if I mentioned Kolombas. We had some great lessons with him and we were helping him to prepare to be baptised. His wife is the most stubborn lady in the world. We came and shared a great message with him about cleansing yourself through repentance before baptism. The spirit was so strong, I cried a little. But then D+C 40:2 explains what happened next clearly. First his wife, Anna came out and was SO mad! At him and at us. She could barely even breathe and she didn't blink. She said he'd been baptised already and that he's already repented before. Kolombas stormed off and I talked with Anna. I was able to help her calm down and I was trying to help her out and we were making some progress but then, Kolombas came back. He came back and started destroying their house. After  this he beat Anna in front of us. Elda Bacon and I were shocked beyond belief. Unfortunately Elda Bacon wasn't able to speak the language yet so it was on me. I straightaway reprimanded him and tried to help them but it was a bad scene. All the people who lived around came and watched. We've continued to try to help him, he's a good man but he's not there yet. After, later that night we got a call from the Zone Leaders saying that Elda Potrie, (best friend with my companion) was hit by a car in Luganville. All time low. It was hard not to get very down. Luckily it turns out after being out for a good while he's fine except for extremely sore and some bruises and scabs. But I did gain something out of the hardship. I had been praying that I could grow in my faith and I didn't want to be affected by anything. I got my answer in this one very bad day. I was very sad but I knew our fasting would help Elda Potrie. Faith is so important. In our mission motto it says: Faith is the power, Obedience the price, Love is the motive, Spirit is the key, Christ is the reason. I think about that a lot. Faith is the power. After that it gets much better and climaxes. Sorry, it'll be random and non chronological. So on a P day Elda Bacon and I went down to Gudfala Stoa (Good store) to buy some soap to wash our clothes. When we got there and bought our stuff we met a man named Winston. He said he's been wanting to hear the message of the missionaries. He then showed us the road to his house and met his family. I know without a doubt we were led here. He and his wife are elect. We went and shared the message of the restoration with them and it went so well. They recognized us as servants of the lord. Last week we went again to share the plan of salvation. He and his wife are the greatest. They both expressed how glad they were that we were coming and sharing these true messages to bless them. They said they knew every bit of it was true. They even recognized blessings that came after our first lesson. Winston said that he and his wife would argue a lot. Ever since we had came they hadn't once and everythings great. They said they would never pray before. He said now,"now we're praying as a family and at meals." They are so prepared. Also, at the last conference President Klingler talked about DO'S and BE'S. The church did a study to see if any DO'S such as going to mutual or getting duty to god led to any BE'S such as an active member. They found that DO'S are good but they didn't necessarily always lead to BE'S. The best DO'S they found are the ones when no ones around and it's not an outward observance such as personal prayer, and personal study and the scriptures and reflecting. There is so much truth in that.  This would be my advice to sierra in these years and you too mom and dad.
 Also, as far as the rat, haven't won yet. It's still up there. We found a cat and put him in the roof but he kept going out. Even when one our friends, Tabi Zock kept throwing it up there repeatedly. We named it Eski after the brand of cordial juice here. Then we let it sleep in the house one night because the rat comes down on the floor in the night. All I got out of it was a failure ,cat snuggling while I slept. Also Elda Fulla gave us Kool Aid! Probably the best thing I've ever tasted. We got red and blue. Send lots in the next package. We also got creative. We tried making spaghetti. We found some pasta noodles, not just ramen-like ones. After some not tomato sauce like prego a sauce kind of like ketchup. After as far as meat it's either tuna or corned meat. We went with corned meat. It looked good. It wasn't good. Also it's watermelon time here in Gaua. We've been buying them like nobodys business. The other day Jansen (Don't know if I've talked about him already) gave us some huge colorful fish. We found a lemon tree and we stoned a bunch of them down to season the fish, so good! So as far as eating meat here, no gat. I think I've eaten meat 3 times with fish occasionaly. It's common when someone feeds us (which is rarely) they'll say "sorry there's no meat in it". The other day we contacted an old man on the road named Juda, an awesome friendly guy. Before we could go find his house we ended up leaving one appointment and following Elda Bacon's false impression? and getting lost. But we ended up in Juda's garden and he was there. We drank coconuts and we ended up teaching him there. Great lesson and he understood very well. Also another cool thing happened. On a P day Elda Bacon dropped his planner and a man named Jeremy found it and he came to return it to us. He's so awesome. He's an albino from Mere Lava. He's come to church every time since we first taught him and apparently he went to seminary yesterday! Also I learned a new area. My first companion didn't show it to me because it's far away and he was lazy haha. Elda Fotukava, one of the Zone leaders served here so he showed it to me. Such an awesome place it's called Kuition. Very far away but the people are so so kind. Everyone investigator and recent convert that we went back to was so glad to see the missionaries again. James said he'd been holding his tithing until we came back. We went yesterday and we got crafty. We went to Gudfala store first and bought 6 Fanta's. On the route to this area there are 4 rivers you wade through. One is a big one so it has a bridge. We buried the Fanta's in the river after making a big stone holder felt them. I felt like Moroni. Came back and they were colder than room temperature! YES! One of the recent converts here is Filip with his wife Delma. Filip is a chief of Lembot. He is legendary. When he was first taught he said 4 times in the 1st lesson I won't be baptised. At the end of the lesson he said yes. After just the first lesson he became a missionary and shared what he heard with a nearby village. He's an awesome member now. We're working with him to start a new unit down in his area because it's so far away. At this conference a seventy is coming, don't know who, and we'll be giving a presentation of Gaua. I've got all the information to present this for a new unit. In front of a seventy, yikes! Also I gave a talk the other week about family. I read out of the Family: Proclamation. (translated because I couldn't find one in bislama to read out of) and when I talked about you guys I cried. Miss you all. Also on a funny note I delivered the sad news of Michael Jackson's death to Gaua. They didn't know! They have some T shirts of him and listen to him but had no idea haha. But I am glad to report I am having a blast. Elda Bacon is the bomb. It's not like some where it's putting up with them but I have one of my friends who happens to be my companion. We have a blast and were very unified. The spirit is undoubtedly with us. I feel like I'm growing so much and learning tons. I have a favorite scripture as of now Alma 29:9 It's in my head a lot. It's so important to be humble. Especially on a mission. If you're humble you'll continue to grow. The second you stop being humble you stop progressing. I am seeing answered prayers so often here. It's unmistakable. Anyways ,hope you don't fall asleep reading this novel, maybe divide it into chapters on the blog haha. Anyways love you all SO very much and I pray for you often. Take a hug out of storage again.

Elda Sias

And here's what it's all about.....

Baptism last Saturday with new companion, Elda Bacon from Idaho
Marieta, Joji and Felix

And on to Gaua, pronounced "Gow-uh"

Jansen arrives at the "airport in Gaua"

His new home and friends...
From left to right, returned missionary Danson, sometimes companion Charles and soon to be married Tabi

The outhouse

Shower

Jansen "rockin the sulu," gifted to him by Charles...

Jansen learning to use the bow and arrow with church in background

Jansen in the kitchen, laundry preparing the staples ( corned meat, noodles and rice)

The inside of the outhouse with books- used as toilet paper

Farewell to the old.....

Farewell with Waet + Marta, Sean Claude in Turtle Bay



Fareewell dinner with Rachel and Marta



Food was scarce....

Memory of a few of Jansen's feliine friends in Fanafo

"Nani" or goat in Bislama.  Jansen and his companion used to wave and talk to him every day....

Radion

Bus, another island friend, who likes to eat ties...

News from Gaua!

Family!

Ok so I just read the beastly amount of letters in my inbox, took forever but it was a blast. Smiled really big and cried a little. Dick is in a much better place and I will miss him a lot. Ok, so as far as my letter it will be very jumbled and sometimes not in chronological order because I've just been writing down random things when they happen in my planner. Ok we'll start with day 1. Out of santo in the smallest plane ever to banks. First landed in Torres and Mota Lava, then to Gaua. The landing in Gaua was pretty epic. The runway is a grass field and it had just rained. We came in on one side of the runway and ended up on the other side nearly into the bush haha. There to greet me was my companion, Elda Namariel from Tanna.His mind had already returned to his house, haha. After 2 weeks with him I was with Charles, a returned missionary who served in Fiji and Vanuatu and is now our Unit President (bishop) and a very close friend of mine. The church is pretty awesome here .It's a nakamal or a small meeting space for chiefs. The house is....... good. Very basic. It's basically cement walling with wallpaper thrown on the floor ,haha. After a unsuccesful battle with massive spiders, milipats (massive centipedes), mosquitoes, flies, cockroaches, and worms we finally spent hours DEEP cleaning the place and sealing the open windows with mosquito net that we cut. All that's left is the stupid rat in the ceiling. We tried a trap but it didn't work. Next, natuarally I found a cat and threw it up in the ceiling crawlspace where it's living, VICTORY! But all that aside, I promise it's safe and I won't get any diseases ,haha. So as far as bathing its pretty sweet. Fill up a bucket of water, grab a cup and go! We've also just bathed purely in large rain storms.It's kinda like a shower right? Ok, here's where it gets out of order ,please pardon. So here the main social gathering is the airport. Planes come monday, wednesday, and friday and on all of these days it's packed with all the 'manbus' (bush men women and children) coming to watch the planes land and go. One time a plane was taking off and this dog chased it barking the whole way and the plane had to turn around and start again. The owner of the dog was so mad that he threw a huge piece of wood in his direction.We laughed so hard, haha. Also ,you're allowed to bring chickens on the plane. They bring them in rice bags and thier heads stick out the top all the time, haha. Ah yes, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR MOM AND SIERRA (for next month)...... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. And sorry for all the withdrawals, I'm trying my best to budget but stuff keeps coming up. I will be withdrawing again, hope it's alright. Next month Tabi and Elizabet are finally getting married and we've been asked to contribute a 18 kilo pack rice. Also, I got to give my first baby blessing. Bartholomew (if thats how you spell it) Clement Asao.It was really awesome, besides when he farted really big during the blessing when I was holding him. Also one week was pretty slowed by another celebration, Torba day. There were over 20 soccer teams competing for the prize. At the time, my companion Charles was on a team so I ended up watching the whole tournament. Charles' team asked me to bless them to be able to perform ,haha. I just prayed that they could avoid injury and brought it back to the savior. Also another good friend of ours here, JANSEN! same spelling! He's so awesome, he always catches fish for us. Unfortunately, he's somewhat less active. Before we went to visit him I said a silent prayer in my head asking for what he needed. After Moroni 7:47-8 came to my head we  went and talked about charity and the pure love of christ. I shared you experience mom, of how you prayed to be able to see everyone as a child of god. The spirit was so strong. He teared up a little and after our message he said I know I have to come back to church. He came the next sunday :) After Elda Bacon and I went back and shared another message. (I'll get to him) We talked about repentance and the power of forgiveness. We shared the story of Alma the younger with him. As I was relating the story I really began to cry. Forgiveness is such an amazing feeling. Since then he's been giving us lots of deep doctrine questions that take time to find but are really enlightening and fun to find. Last time we went we just chatted and as we were leaving he asked, "Elda Sia , can I ask you something?" I said yes. He said "we've been wondering, are you related to George Bush? You look so much like him" haha Also I tried octopus for my first time in laplap way good! Also here they have turtle! Its actually really good!They chase it in a boat until it gets tired and when it comes up for air they jump on it haha. There isn't a thing I won't eat ,haha, especially if it's meat. Ok, Elda Bacon. "Pikinini blong mi." A tradition here is when you train someone he's your boy. Elda Bacon is so awesome! He's from Idaho Falls, Idaho. We get along gloriously. It's not just a putting up with each other, but it's a genuine friendship. Even more importantly he's a hard worker. The work is really going ahead with us two. Our studies and planning are so great. We've planned for certain lessons for 2 hours a few times, haha. One time we were joking around about how I was a seer and revalator because of my name badge, Elda Sia. He then proceeded to stop on the road (luckily just us 2) and say a prayer aloud thanking for my wisdom and the privelege to be with me. I was blown away , a little over board ,haha. One time in our companionship study we came to the section, "how to begin teaching" we were being sarcastic to each other and it was his turn to teach in role play so I gave him the topic of Kolob. hahaha It was so funny "our message we have for you today is very complex and I'm not sure I grasp it fully myself". So last saturday we had 3 baptisms. Marieta, Joji, and Felix. We held the baptism in the ocean next to the chapel. Great day. So our house is in a small area owned by and eccentric man named Paul Saaky. He's so funny. He always yells to us at all times of the day because of the big open windows. The Saaky family is so awesome. There's a boy here named "Fanson" but we just barely found out his name is VINCENT but pronounded in french. He's always comes and hangs out with us. I asked him what do you look forward to or what do you want to accomplish in life? "I want to be a missionary" he is sooo awesome and really knowlegable in the scriptures for a 12 year old. So when we get back we're going to be way busy. First we have an area 6 hours away walking that we'll go to and sleep at a members house. After we'll go to all those who have been waiting for us and teach for a week or so. Oh yeah, and by the way, we are in charge of 2 islands haha. Gaua and Mere Lava. We'll also be going there. For some reason the missionaries haven't been there in a long time so it'll be good to get over there and help out. There is a missionary house there but it isn't finished . I think it's just a floor. We get to take a very small boat, YES! The owners name is Kamwell. He's the owner of the small store we get all our food at. He likes us a lot so he gave us an amazing price to go. His wife always runs to the garden to grab tomatoes or kumala for us when we come. Golden family, we're going to begin teaching them soon. Ok, Kolombus. He's a man who's been taught for a decent amount of time. We had taught him before but didn't seem to get to him. Elda Bacon and I went back and planned to talk about the plan of salvation. I felt prompted other wise. I skipped to "Kolombus, what do you think your purpose in life is?" He said to live a life good enough for God and then he said, but I don't know how to be saved. After we talked about baptism as a necessary ordinance. At the end of the lesson he said he wanted to be baptised. So aweosome. Later that night Charles told us he drinks kava and smokes. We adjusted and prepared a lesson to help him grasp this big choice and really change. We sat down with him and I asked, "Kolombus, why do you want to be baptised?" he said "because I want to give up kava and smoking and let go of worldy things and all the hardships that come with it. I didn't even ask for those! This was after fervent prayer by the 2 of us the night before and that morning. Heavenly Father truly had prepared him. So for the time being it pretty interesting teaching by myself. Elda Bacon isn't quite there yet ,so it's definitely new, but it is helping me. So this time has been hard and very rewarding at the same time. I am learning so much and learning how to love others more. Anyways my fingers hurt .Love you all so much and I pray for you often!

Love,
Elda Sia

It's a small world...

Vince and Michelle,

I listen in on the LDSMMPacific group. I'm excited to see your post today! Our son, Jacob is in the Fiji Suva mission, speaking Fijian. He's been out just over a year, and has been in Suva, along with a few small towns (Kuku and Sigatoka) on the main Island of Fiji. 

For Michelle, your husband was my fellow-shipper and best friend when my family first joined the church in Carpinteria. I actually knew him a little bit from the Presbyterian Community Church there, but when his family joined the church, he "disappeared" for a while. It was funny to see him at the "Mormon" church in Santa Barbara the first time I went, and think, "oh, of course, that's why I haven't seen him a the Community Church for a while!"

Jacob is our youngest. His big brother went to Washington, and I was grateful that we got eased into the "distance" aspect of them being so far away. Fiji still seems so far to me (even though I went to New Zealand on my mission). Vanuatu is pretty remote--even compared to Fiji. Bless you guys for being able to do that with your first.

I like to sail, and one of the sailing magazines I used to get had an article from a couple that visited Vanuatu. They talked about Bislama, and how a lot of it is based in English. One of the funniest Bislamic words they encountered was the word for pianos. Roughly translated it was "a big fellow box, it has teeth, some are white, some are black, you bang on it, it sings".

Fun to see you guys online. Vince has always been one of my heroes. Good luck with whole Vanuatu experience. 

--Dave Duncan

A few words about Gaua

The letter to follow is the kind response I received after emailing the mission president for details about how we are to continue to stay in touch with Jansen while serving on Gaua. 

Included you will note that mail service will be irregular for Jansen while serving on Gaua with no email access.  It sounds as if he will be in for a zone conference to a more developed area  every 6 weeks at which time he can read emails and access letters so blog posts will be more sporadic during this time.   This said, I know that the emails and letters he receives lift his spirits greatly, so please continue to send them, and just know that it may be a while before they reach him.

Dear Sister Sears;

Your email has been forwarded to the us, the Warners who are the missionary couple in Port Vila,  Vanuatu. Elder Warner serves as 1^st counselor to the mission president who resides (when they are not traveling) in Fiji.  We are from Bountiful. Elder Warner and I have been in Vanuatu for a year now and are loving being with these lovely people and the young missionaries. We lived in missionary housing on the Island of Ambae (which is next to Gaua) for 3 months at the first of the mission.  What a choice experience living closer to the “people”.  Scrubbing laundry by hand, reading by candlelight and taking “cup” showers (pour water from a bucket over your head) was like being on a camping trip. We felt spoiled because we had a little gas cooking stove so didn’t have to cook over a fire.  The Elders usually hire a Mama member of the church to do their laundry but I didn’t feel like it was right for me to.   

Elder Sears is a fine young man and you can be proud of him. We love him.  He will have a wonderful experience on Gaua.  His companion is one of the most experienced missionaries who is a district leader and is Ni-Van (Native of Vanuatu)from the island of Tanna, so no worries, he is familiar with living among the people. We love Elder Namariel and he will look after your son well.  He speaks French, English, Bislama and his village as well as other village languages so he is very comfortable with the people.        

We are able to contact the missionaries at most anytime by telephone and they can call us if they need as they carry a mobile phone.  They are also able to keep in contact by phone with their zone leaders in Luganville. The Zone Leaders in Luganville talk via telephone to the Elders in Gaua several times a week getting reports and checking on them. The Zone Leaders also go to Gaua regularly and meet/teach with the Elders on Gaua. There are flights to Gaua twice a week from Luganville. (I can think of a lot of places in the U.S. that don’t have that kind of service.)

Many of the islands have very limited electricity so computers, internet, television – all the things we think are part of life, are not available. Surprisingly every remote corner of every island we have been on, we have seen plenty of mobile phones.  In fact, I had to ask a local young man how to program names on my phone. Phones are also used to take pictures, function as a radio and flashlight. All ways that I’ve never even used mine.  A funny experience: We went to a very remote village on south Ambae and a fierce looking young man, in native war dress, blocked our path to the village.  Soon he reached into his pocket and pulled out his ringing mobile phone telling him the village was ready for us.  He then lead us into the village where the village presented us with a custom welcoming ceremony. He was part of the “show”.  I have never felt my safety threatened on the islands but rather protected by the people.

Many of the missionaries on “outer” islands only get mail every six weeks. Oh, how grateful we are for the U.S. postal system.  Vanuatu mail service is slow, slow everywhere in the country as nothing is automated. We have a church office post office box as there is no mail delivery to homes or businesses.  Elder Warner and I pick up the mail every other day.  We hold all the missionary’s mail  at our apartment until we or another missionary is coming or going to a specific island.  Some of the missionaries prefer to have the mail sent to the island they are serving on but it doesn’t seem to be as reliable and often arrives after they have been transferred.  Sometimes boxes are slow coming because of going through customs, I think.  I don’t know what to tell you about a box sent in July if it was sent to Luganville.

We will be having a Christmas Party/Zone Conference/Fireside in Port Vila early in December.  All the missionaries in Vanuatu will be flying and staying in Port Vila at that time.  It would probably be good to send Christmas packages to the office address here: LDS Missionaries  P.O. Box 1412 Port Vila, Vanuatu (no zip).  The largest flat rate boxes that our family have sent, usually arrive in 2-3 weeks and cost just over $50 to mail.  All U.S. mail for Vanuatu comes to Port Vila first as we have two flights a week from Fiji.  Please do not send jerky because there is a charge by customs when it is listed in a box.  Often the boxes are opened in front of us but not before.  Leaving candy in the original package is a good idea too.  One time someone sent a box with peanut M&M’s put in a ziplock bag and the customs agent was sure he had found drugs but I laughed with him and explained – he was from Ambae and so was I so that helped. 

Skype is a free download and we have it on our laptop. I suspect he will  not be using it since he will stay with some of the other missionaries while in Port Vila.  Christmas is not celebrated in the same way here, usually  just some Christmas music. The missionaries do have a party and a big meal and provide a fireside for the members and investigators. 

This is such an exciting, great place and time for young missionaries to be serving.  Please email me anytime with inquiries and we look forward to meeting you when we return to Utah sometime next year.  I’ll take some pictures of your son to share.

Love, Sister Warner

Sister Sears,

My name is President Klingler and I am Elder Sears’ new mission president.  I had a very good interview with him at the beginning of the month.  This was my second interview with him since I started my mission on July 1^st.  He is doing very well!  The following is the mailing address you should use to get mail to Elder Sears while he is in Gaua:

c/o Elder Warner

PO Box 1412

Port Vila, Vanuatu

This is the address of our Senior Missionaries in Port Vila.  They will make sure he receives his mail.  This will be the case for Christmas gifts as well.  We will be having our Christmas Zone Conference in Vanuatu the first week of December so he will be in Port Vila for that event and will be able to pick up items that are there at that time that may not have been taken up to him previously.

Elder Sears and his companion have a cell phone.  All mission leaders will be able to contact them and they us at will.  They contact the Zone Leaders once per week (generally on Sunday evening) to report proselyting results for the week.  In addition, they will be visited by the Zone Leaders once every six weeks.  Elder Sears will be coming in for Leadership Training and Zone Conferences.  Between these two meetings, he will be back in either Luganville or Port Vila about every 6 weeks.

You shouldn’t plan on Skype being available.  We do keep close tabs on our missionaries.

Warmest regards,

Kenneth D. Klingler

Fiji Suva Mission President