im.... dreamin.... of a stress free..... christmasssssss

Sent: Sunday, December 17, 2017 6:41 PM (MST)
         Monday, December 18, 2017 12:41 PM (Vanuatu) 

hello friends. 

this week has been pretty great! we're doing a lot of planning for the things that will happen for the christmas party of missionaries and people flying in from outer islands and working out the kinks of skyping families from cafe's with wifi and all that jazz! it's been and is a lil stressful but also a refining experience as i realize more fully conflict resolution skills and the importance of clear communication and life skills in general. hopefully changing and growing for the better!

some fun experiences this week: the family house night we showed up to 2 hours late... we had a district activity that ended in the afternoon and we were so focused on doing laundry and other p day stuff that we completely forgot the fhe until 1.5 hours after it was set to start... sped safely down south to the fhe and had a pretty good experience! learning the importance of writing things down and putting reminders! 

went on a exchange with the fanafo elders! i went with elder villianulva who was a zone leader in santo for 7.5 months so. it was great to be able to have one on one time with him and ask him some details and how to handle this or that. a great learning experience! 

another cool thing. we went back to rata on the request of the 2nd counselor of the branch(we stopped going to rata cuz everyone is always busy and no one wants to talk to us.. not that we don't love the people there but other people need us more) and i got to reunite and catch up with my first convert! se! he and his mom are still coming to church every week! and his older sister wants to be married and baptized! im so happy about those people because that family was like. 100% my (and elder atuake's) sickle that was thrust. and seeing them happy and strong in their testimony. just makes my day that much brighter.

taking the church to places it hasn't really been is so cool. like. being one of the first impressions that people have of the church. a big responsibility but also the reason why im here! to represent the savior jesus christ and invite all to come unto him! the only thing is we're kinda low on books of mormon at the moment and so we don't have enough to give to our investigators... :'( but the ferry is coming on tuesday. hopefully we'll have enough to fill our whole truck!!! 

that's all for now!

(i have... misplaced. my camera. there's like 3-4 places it could be and only 1 or 2 of those i can hope to recover it. so. pray that i'll find my cameraaaaa please i really want it back and i need your prayers pleaseeeeee thank youuuuuu)

elder hyatt vi

there and back again again

Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2017 3:04 PM (MST)

         Monday, December 11, 2017 9:04 AM (Vanuatu)

that's right folks. i got to go back to the promised land. The paradise. GAUAAAAAAA man it was so sick.

like honestly im at a loss of words. i dunno what to say! ok i'll just try and say a few lil experiences whilst there and then you'll see. 

i went on exchanges with elder albao and elder child! elder child was just born on the mission and his womb is gaua! what a lucky punk! but he's really chill. elder albao went with elder toaniuea to south east gaua (a villiage/area called kwition) and i stayed with elder child in airport area! 

things that are dope about gaua: 1) the rain water tastes delicious. like 10/10 best rain water in vaunatu. 2) the members here treat you like actual family. like. coming back and seeing mama algoresom and mama christine! they're like my straight adopted moms. 3) the missionary work is going amazing in gaua! there's so many people who like. walk up to the missionaries and ask them. hey. why are you guys here? *missionaries relate their purpose* yes please come and teach me now. 😍😎 4) it's fetching paradise! like look at dem pix! google gaua pictures! whattttttt

but! whilst in gaua i was no longer elder hyatt i was zone leader hyatt and had to try and pass every single thing i've learned to elder child. and it was kinda funny cuz at the end of the exchange, elder child said. i feel like i've learned more in the past 2.5 days than i have in the past month. 😁 mission as a zoneleader accomplishedddddd sickkkkk

man i love serving in the bush so much. i hope i die in the bush. no offense to being a zone leader and dying in town but dying in the bush is so much more peaceful and stress free. but alas. i'll go where you want me to go dear lord. if im meant to die in town. so be it. 

also transfers came! and surprise surprise, im staying as zone leader! but it's gonna be sick cuz im probs gonna get to go to ambae next transfer along with perhaps kula or gaua again so it's p sick to be a zl in santo. whence i go to ambae i'll have been to 5/6 provinces in vanuatu. but the chances of me making it to the last one are quite slim. 

that's all for now. lil short story not quite a book.

elder hyatt vi

Pictures

1.      proselyting with smith and elder child! back in the day smith proselyted with elder naikasau and i! oh the memoriezzzzz

2.      elder altarejos is a freakin beast at drawing and drew every elder in our zone!

3.      oh the vivid colors. oh the breeze in my face. oh how i missed you gaua....

4.      that fish was only 100 vt(about 1 dollar)

5.      this was the squad back in the dayyyyy didn't know alta drew us but look it's me!

6.      it's my dog! PJ! but it's also really sad cuz he's getting old and he isn't nearly as playful as he was the first time i came to gaua a year ago....

7.      the exchange squad! (child, hyatt albao toaniuea!)

8.      it's my family! including (in this photo cuz some went to the garden and weren't there for the pix) mama christine and my rc's morian and sarine! 

9.      elda naikasau! look! it's elder welegtabit! now unit leader of the kaska unit!

10-13.    and some cool island photos on the plane to gaua(i had the aisle seat on the way back so no pix on the way back... :'(

that island in the foreground is called mere. (pronounced mary) and the one in the background, mere lava.

malekula! and a marriage!

Sent: Monday, December 04, 2017 2:57 PM (MST)
         Tuesday, December 05, 2017 8:57 AM (Vanuatu)

dude zone leader life! well. santo zone leader life can be really busy at times. really busy but really fun. i just wish i could spend more time in my areaaaaa all my investigators are getting sick(spiritually) cuz we can't visit them that muchhhh

so we went to malekula! and we did a lot of stuff! including checking all the missionary houses! and meeting the district president of malekula! and going on splits with elder clark and elder gundaya! (elder gundaya came this transfer and elder clark came last transfer! lil babies who desperately need training! so we spent a big chunk of time while in malekula trying to pass a year and 9 months worth of experience to them in 2 days. 

when we actually went on splits we went to one of their areas called norsup. (i went with elder clark and elder toa went with elder gundaya to a area called wala/rano) anywho. we went and there was this one area called tautu in which the whole community/ the pastors of the community have decided that they don't want any missionaries of any other faiths coming into their village. which made me really sad! cuz those people are never gonna hear the message of the restoration! they're never gonna be able to be baptized by one holding the priesthood authority of god cuz they too dang strong head! 

but it was good cuz we went to the other village/community (smol tautu) where there's a number of members and we found some people who are ready to be baptized among those! huzzah! helping elder clark and elder gundaya have success in their areas! cuz they both so young in the mish they just had almost no idea what they're doing... how to contact or how to answer strong head questions. but hopefully they all good now! 

then we came back! and we had a marriageeeeeeee!!!!!! sickkkkkkk oh my good golly gosh it was so great. so matan and joy. started investigating the church like over a year ago. but they were waiting on joy's dad to return from mota so that they could have the custom marriage and then the church marriage after with subsequent baptism. and they got custom married last month and they got married and baptized on fridayyyyyy so greattttt i was like literally smiling the whole fetching time and my cheeks hurt. wow. 

other cool stuff that happened/ is starting to happen! a area of ours called crossroad. has never really had missionaries go that deep into it like contacting or teaching wise. but! we started some and theres a bunch of people who are completely down to hear and understand and perhaps eventually join the church of jesus christ of latter day saints! like even pastors and elders of other churches are asking us to come and teach them. it's so sick oh my goodness. it's so great to be able to testify about christ and the story of the restoration and the book of mormon. i've felt the spirit these past weeks (if possible) even more than ever before on my mish. wowowowowowow life is so good but so short omg im almost going home. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

the ban on district activities was lifted this last week! so we had a district activity yesterday! (emailing today cuz of a public 'holiday' yesterday, everyone gets a day off work to watch football....) we took a bunch of pix and climbed a nabanga tree(so grateful i've been doing exercise every morning cuz all that exertion was really hard for some of the others in my district!) and played a little volleyball! and hopefully we'll have another this next week! gahhhhhh next week is the end of the transfer! whhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaattttttttttt

and on wednesday i go to gaua until saturday to train and help the gaua elders! and revisit my old area! im so stoked to go back to gauaaaaaa but i also want to work in my areaaaaa

too many stuffs. sorry for another book. a gold star to you if you read the whole thing. lavem yufalalalalala alllleeeeeee

Pictures:

1.      elder hales. what a legend. look at that face. 

2.      malekula squaddddd

3.      cool pix taken from the planeeee 

4.      just walkin to the next appointment 

5.      the old airport. got wrek'd by a cyclone. now they use a lil shack.

6.      the new airport

7.      it's pineapple season!!!! so many pineapples! they sell them at the market for no joke. 20-200 vatu. 200 vatu ones being the size of my head. that's matan cutting up a pineapple when we were waiting for the baptismal interview!

8.      the big book of marriages!

9.      pikininis love the selfie (at the marriage!!!!!)

10.  AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

11.  TTTTHHHEYYYY BE MARRIEDDDDDD

12.  wedding cake with no plates!!!! i made a banana cake too! 2 cakes! yay!

13.  cuttin the cakeeeee gahhh they so greatttt

14.  the little rain pond thing that we had the baptism in!

15.  the baptism squaddddd!!!!!!!! Wooooootttttt

16.  district activity pix! big food!

17.  taking aesthetic pix with the name tags on the beach. sick.

18.  piece of drift wood? i think you mean a cool place to put your nametag on!

19.  and i tried to take some good timed shots like this but none of them really turned out well. *shrug*

20.  messing around on the beachhhh ahah

21.  so many pix

22.  and hand stands

what a great time. i also ripped my shirt while climbing the nabanga. but my camera had already died at that point. so. sadness. i'll try and copy them from sister meyer.

thanksgiving? and another book written by elder hyatt

Sent: Sunday, November 26, 2017 3:27 PM (MST)

         Monday, November 27, 2017 9:27 AM (Vanuatu)

did thanksgiving happen? i don't even know cuz that's totally not a thing here. i told my comp 'it was Thanksgiving yesterday!' and he said 'thanksgiving for what?'

this week seemed quite long and short at the same time. life is odd like that. well. mission life. 

we had a lot of good experiences this week. we didn't put any appointments for this week cuz we thought we were gonna go to malekula for our zone leader-district leader exchange but the flight got pushed back and such and now we will be going this week! but it was a challenge this week to have meaningful stuff to do all day everyday with no appointments planned. 

sister tucker (the mission nurse) came to santo! she really likes me for some reason. like always saying. oh elder hyatt you're so organized.. it's so good that you're the zone leader here now...ect ect... and i just stand there like heh.. heh.. 😅 yeahhhh....😓 but we spent a good while this week with her cuz the senior couple here just came and they don't know where all the missionary houses are but i elder hyatt former maintenance elder of the santo zone knows all of the missionary houses and their various problems. which was great cuz i was very helpful but also not so great cuz it took us out of our area... the ups and downs of zone leader lyfe. you get to use a truck! but you gotta fix people's houses. you get a nice big house! but people come and stay in it periodically and trash it. ups and downs. good stress! i just wish i could work in my area more than i can at the moment. 

sister tucker gave me/us in santo conference liahonasssssss!!!!!!!!!! oh my g wizz this is amazing. do you fellows realize. how fetching amazing our church is. do you get it???? good gollllly gosh im glad to be able to read the words of the lord and saturate my thoughts with that prophetic council. i hope you fellows do the same!!!!

we went contacting in this beautifullll place. they call it crossroads cuz all the houses are quite close to a major crossroads. but it's also quite close to the ocean where there's a little island off the coast called tangoa and so we just followed a lil path from the main road to some of the houses and bam! scenic visa, black sand beach, wind in your face, ocean smells and sounds. man. but! that's not why i went there! we found 3 families while there! one of which being the pastor of another church! it was odd cuz they welcomed us so readily and then as a side comment 'oh yeah my husband is the pastor of...' heh.. invite all to come unto christ! and missionaries had never contacted in that area before!!!

it's kinda funny cuz like. in vila right now it's super dry season like people be #strugglin for water but here in santo it rains like every other day. so our poor lil truck that doesn't have mud tires is stugglin in some of these bush roads. but! i haven't gotten it stuck yet! 

we're working with a lot of couples at the moment. like couples who whence they're married it's a insta baptism. cuz one of them or one of their parents is members and they love the church it's just. gotta get married. and to get married you gotta pay for your wife. so your wife's dad has to be on santo. and you gotta get all the money or if in the bush and no gat money. get ready the pigs. and then take all that from the grooms house to the father of the bride's house. and exchange. wife for 90,000+ vatu or some pigs. and then comes the marriage feast. and everyone gets drunk. all in all. marriage is a pretty pig deal here. heh... get it. a pretty. pig.. deal... (cuz she be pretty and gettin traded for some pigs...) heheheheh puns are the best. 

this upcoming week is gonna be superrrr busy! we goin to malekula tomorrow! and then we have a marriage/baptism on friday(church married. they already paid for her with the pigs and such on the 11th so no drunk people just people dressed in whiteeeee) hopefully i'll have some doooooppppeeee pictures to show you fellows in a week! 

this is probably the most responsibility and stress i've had my whole life. but! it's all good! planning and goals and writing stuff down takes away like 75% of the stress! and also my comp likes/has taken upon himself some of the most stressful things (like weekly reports of key indicators for conversion) so life is good! 

that's all! make every moment count!(for good!)

elder hyatt vi

my comp and i were talking about it and I ONLY HAVE 14 MONDAYS LEFT BEFORE I DIE GGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHATTTTTTTTTTT NOOOOOOOOO *the last lap music speeds up even more* 

Pictures:

1- the baptism of steven david fari!!! i baptized his mom mayna (she's in the picture too!) back in my time in banban! steven has down syndrome so teaching him took a long time and baptizing him was a lil scary but it turned out good!!!!

2,3,4- my area parts 1 thourgh 3 (taken as i was driving down out of narango back towards town. that island down there is tangoa!)

5- it's my district! elders hyatt and toaniuea(Kiribati!), (elder toa acting as district and zone leader at the same time)

and sisters pamande(Philippines!), meyer(Cananda!), koroso(Vanuatu!) and lealaiauloto(Samoa!)!

sis pamande came this transfer and her trainer meyer and sister lealaiauloto came just last transfer! so many babies!!!👶im so oldddddd 👴 

throwwwwwbbbbaaaacccccckkkkkkkkkkkk

Sent: Sunday, November 19, 2017 3:13 PM (MST)
           Monday, November 20, 2017 9:13 AM (Vanuatu)

hello friends. 

im sorry i didn't email for the past 2 weeks. some people were stupid and the email privilages for the whole zone got taken away. but! they have been given back! so here i am!!!!

as you can imagine a whole crud tonne of stuff happened these past two weeks. some highlights as they come to mind:

re uniting with old investigators! back in the day i worked this area for 4-5 months with my first child elder atuake. and now im back! but this time i have wheelz. so that makes everything fasteeerrrr!!! but also a lil more stressful cuz as zone leaders we get called on to do stuff all the time and we have a limit on how many km s we can use a month and it's just a little stressful. but it's kinda paradoxical seeing how many things have changed and many things have stayed exactly the same.. for example some of my former investigators who never really progressed were super happy to catch up with me! but still wont progress.. haha 

another really cool thing that happened. right before atuake and i got sent out of 1/2 of our area before we had just contacted this one family that was super stoked to hear the gospel but their house was supppeeerrr far from our house and without wheelzz it was really hard to go to them then pres sent us out and it was kinda sad... but! we came back and they(mama may and papa moli) are still super enthusiastic about the church! and now we're teaching them! and they feed us ridiculously good and ridiculously healthy island food everytime we go! because they live in the middle of a huge garden and ripe and delicious food is literally all around! 

zzzzooonnnneeeee conferenceeeeeee yep. we had a one day zone conference as as a newly assigned zone leader i had a large part to play to make sure all the missionaries were where they were supposed to be. and everything was set up and conducting the program.... ect. but it was great! and at the end of the night dropping president and sister granger off at their hotel, they were quite generous with their appreciation for the work that we did. which is odd for me. but all in all setting up and doing zone conference and all that reminded me of the days when my father. was the stake young mens president of the richmond stake in texas and we always set up and took down for youth conferences and stake dances and such. so i guess i was prepared for this assignment a longgggg time ago. 

transfers happened! and guess what! im staying!!!! and from some hints heavily dropped by pres during the time that we spent with him in conversation, im probably gonna die zone leader santo!!! mixed emotions! but along with transfers, my buddy ol pal elder gray sent me a whole squad of lil baby missionaries! fresh from the womb!(mtc) and since the zone leaders have a fetching mansion of a house, we got to keep all of them in our house! until we could put them in their areas at least. and then for zone conference, all the elders from malekula(a squad of 6) came to our house and stayed too! it was super dope getting to spend so much time with new people and old people and all that but with that when 10+ people pass in and out of your house. it doesn't stay very clean. so for better or for worse. the life of zl santoooooooooo

i literally have so many pictures i want to send but i can't choose. 

exchanges!!! as a zone leader one of my responsibilities is to go on exchanges with all of the district leaders in my zone! and guess what!!!! there's 5 district leaders! 3 of which are on different islands!!!!! so guess who gets to play tourist while doing very serious very official zone leader stuff?!?!? it me. i get to go to gaua againnnnn and also malekula and ambaeeeee sicccckkkkkkk but on siad exchanges.i have to try and pass on every bit of wisdom and experience to these lil baby missionaries in <2 days. so all in all zone leader life is much busier and much more stressful than district leader life. but! i hope im learning and growing and becoming more christ like through my service to these other missionaries! 

also im just a little bit afraid of the computers here that they'll eat my sd card and ill lose all my photos... but here it goooooeeesssss

aaannnddd that's all for now folks. have a good dayyyy

1.      most of these are broken. #zoneleader gotta work that out

2.      my area. 

3.      my area pt 2

4.      it's a birb!

5.      that moment when someone steals your camera and takes pix when you sweaty and gross setting up

6.      selfies

7.      for 

8.      dayzzzz

9.      the thing at the end of zone conference where everyone crowds together and does a chant thing

10.  vanuatu take away boxes

11.  lots of photos at the airport. missionaries coming and going.. these two my pikininis are both going to mota lava. a small island that justtt opened up to missionary work like last month. 

12.  it's mah wheelzzzz well. not mine but it is under my stweardship now. 

13.  also it's the wet season now so. non stop rain either drizzle or down pour. basically non stop.