general conference! yeah!

Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2016 4:37 PM (MDT)

         Monday, October 24, 2016 9:37 AM (Vanuatu)

hi friends.

so this week we had general conference on saturday and sunday. and a lot of people were pretty interested in it cuz here in vanuatu, all the various churches have 0 central authority and so. they were very curious about it.

we're working more with members now in our area. all the men in vanuatu are generally very strong headed and not willing to change. and so, when we missionaries come and invite people to change and come unto christ, they're very stubborn.. but it's ok. the work progresses at the speed heavenly father will have it and all i gotta do is make sure im doing everything he wants me to so that i don't make the work go slower.

all the talks were really great. like. really really great. and like. one thing that happened. is we were explaining to some of the members about the organization of the church leadership and one of the papas noted that president monson was really old. and he was like. 'his son is gonna take his place soon huh.' and that made me smile. cuz these people have only been members during president monson's time as prophet. and they don't know about previous prophets except for joseph smith. and just. my heart went out to them. and we got to teach them about the modern day prophets a little. very grateful for the picture book thing that has all the faces of the prophets.

mango season is in full swing, i ate probably.. 10? mangos this week. pretty good. for those of you at home who have never tasted a 1/2 ripe mango. it tastes like a apple. only when they're fully ripe do they taste like mango. weird. but good.

been learning a bunch of stuff from a stash of talks i got from another missionary. desiring to improve. to be better. to learn more. to grow and become what god expects me to be. theres a bunch of different ways to study and learn from the scriptures. one that i found out this week is like. old testament=premortal christ. new testament= mortal christ/post mortal christ. Book of mormon= pre and post mortal christ. doctrine and covenants= post mortal christ. they all interconnect and work out because he's the same yesterday today and forever. and like. i've never seriously studied the old testament or the new testament in depth so. im gonna dive into those and hope to come to know christ more fully. and change myself to become more like him.

some of the people we're working with are pretty dope. some really want to find the truth and are working with heavenly father to find that out. and we get to be a part of that! yeah! also something that i kinda found out about is that some people here join the church purely for the fact that the church has the capacity to pay for children's school fees and housing and stuff. and it made me kinda mad that people abuse that tithing money. like. that money is sacred. they don't care about the truth or the gospel. they only care about the fact that the church can give them money. and if and when the church stops giving them money they become insta-less active. sigh.... it's ok. god is a perfect judge and it's not my problem. i just gotta have the worthiness to have the gift of discernment. yeah!

being a district leader is weird. filling out papers and coordinating the work and stuff. my shirts are always dirty. tried bleach. didn't really work. it's ok. pale yellow-brown is the new white right?

yeah! missionary work! yeah! district leader! yeah!

D&C 4 is really great. whom god calls he qualifies. the field is white. i know it with all my heart and mind and i'll testify of it with all my might and strength.

that's all for now!

elder hyatt vi

1. general conference!
2. building our little chapel that got wreck'd by the rain.
3. frying octopus cuz that's how we roll.
4. poor little bird got trapped in the chapel. found him when we went to district meeting. his nails were freakin sharp tho. ouch. caught him and let him out of the chapel. he was probably in there since sunday.. (district meeting is on tuesday)

'you're a district leader.' im a... what?!

Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2016 5:39 PM (MDT)

         Monday, October 17, 2016 10:39 AM (Vanuatu) 

hello friends.

yes. i am now a bouncing baby district leader.

transfers have come and elder atuake and i are not leaving the area of tanavoli but the districts got re-arranged and i am now a district leader of a newly created district! but im more of a relief society president because there's only sisters in my district haha

this week was pretty good. pretty rainy. on tuesday, we went and taught a whole soccer team at the same time! it was really unexpected and really new experience but yeah! we were able to preach the message of the restoration to 12 people! yeah! #purposefufilled!

also we've found and taught and such a mama who has been kinda investigating the church for a really long time but never like. offically talking to missionaries kinda thing. it was really great talking to her and stuff and yeah!

it's been raining a lot lately.  like when we have church we have to like. yell over the sound of the rain hitting the tarp.

we helped a papa in our branch build a floor in his kitchen. by no means good enough to pass american or mechanical engineer standards but. for bush standards it was pretty good. he was happy with it.

i dunno what else to talk about. the internet is really really slow here right now. so. only a few pictures and small email.  sorry.

good dayyyyy

a week of miracles!

Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2016 4:41 PM (MDT)

         Monday, October 10, 2016 9:41 AM (Vanuatu) 

so, so many things happened this week so im just gonna go down the list of really awesome stuff that happened this week.

miracle 1, my camera basically resurrected itself. like. i gave up on it it was fuzzy and had water in it and it was just. a lost cause. but because it can still read the card, i carried it around with me in my bag. and then on thursday i took it out of my bag to use the flash to scare a chicken(i know right) and. IT WORKS AGAIN LIKE WITH GOOD PICTURES i was very very shocked and took some good pix and my camera was alive for the baptism and it was just. a miracle. it was great.

miracle 2, we had a BAPTISM?!? like? what! we had a baptism. it's still kinda surreal. it was such a great experience and even though it rained all day, during the service, it stopped raining for us. it was legit. and i took some great pix and all of the Se 's friends came and he's really welcomed into our little branch and it was the best. and just. life is lookin up despite the rain clouds

also something that's kinda funny. in santo, when ever a cruise ship comes to town, it rains. with out fail. like. it'll be nothing but blue skys and oppressive sun and then the cruise ship rolls up and boom. clouds. rain. it's happened like every time. without fail. white people bring rain. heh.

miracle 3. on sunday, we were hoping the very busy district president would be able to come to our little unit thing. and do a bunch of interviews to help some young men progress in the priesthood. and it looked like he wasn't gonna come but then he did and 3 young men now have the priesthood in our branch and i was the dude that got to do the ordinations and it was really dope experience. and also our district president is really sincere and he started out in a branch smaller than ours in ambae and now he's the district president and a RM and he's just a really dope guy. we had a really good day at church despite the constant rain.

one thing here is that people's drinking water is rainwater gathered by corrugated tin roofs and gathered into buckets and tanks and it hasn't rained in a while and it's great cuz now they all have water again! yay!

also a poisonous caterpillar bit me on my neck. or im allergic to something again.

i dunno what else to talk about now so. that's all for now. i'll send a bunch of  pix now.

that's all for now!

11.      resurrected camera! in the bush! cutting green coconuts for drinking water!

22.      gahhhhhh baptism! the kid getting baptized is named Se and his mom leah and his little sister!

33.      ocean baptisms and cloudy skys!

44.      lots of rain and hiding in our chapel from the rain

55.      bush chapel

66.      baptism pix

why?

Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2016 4:39 PM (MDT)

         Monday, October 03, 2016 9:39 AM (Vanuatu)

hi friends. so this week was. eventful.

on monday we went to district activity. we went to a blue hole (basically a really big deep hole of really blue freshwater) and played some volley ball. it was pretty great. we all (like. 12-14 people) all sat/stood up in the back of the transport truck to get there. it was kinda sketchy but pretty fun. also i tried to use the water proof feature of my camera and. guess what everyone. it's not waterproof. so. sorry guys. few/no pictures now-the future until i can find and buy a new camera.

tuesday we had a specialized training with the mission pres. it was really really great. like. every time he talks i feel the spirit. whether in email or in person. he's such a great dude. one thing that one of the other missionaries said about when disappointments(investigators not keeping commitments) happen, 'sometimes they aren't our souls to save' so we just have to go and find the souls we are supposed to save. really great stuff.

one thing that is kinda annoying about vanuatu in general is the level of patriarchy. like. theres a bunch of young single adults in our area who what to be taught by us but they live with their respective fathers and their fathers have said no. so. all those potential investigators... just barely out of reach.... sigh...

it's all good. we're likely to transfer out of the area in 12 days and the area has a strong possibility of being closed after due to the small size of the area. so we're working in overdrive to get as many people as we can into the waters of baptism before we leave.

I HAVE MY FIRST BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY im super super stoked. it's gonna be so great. and everyone in the villages will see the baptism and then be more interested and then we can baptize even more people! it's gonna be great!

our little bush chapel (now made of poles of wood/bamboo and a tarp tied down over the top) is the best. the new open one is good because now, investigators and non members feel more comfortable being able to sneak in and sit at the back. it's great.

been thinking a lot about what my purpose and how it's why im here. and how every minute of all the time we should be working towards helping someone or hopefully multipule someones come unto christ. it's great. i'm glad that i have this work to do. that i have this small time of mine to labor in the vineyard and thrust in my sickle with my might. it's great.

that's all for now.

elder hyatt vi

1.      blue hole before i dunked my camera

2.      walking with the district to the blue hole from the place we played volley

3.      truck pre trip. #supersafe

4.      walking back from church along the beach and paused to rest and take a pic

5.      us and a coconut crab(really heavy)

6.      coconut crabs are really really big. and can totally break your finger in half.

7.      more pix of the blue hole (thanks to my comp's camera)

our purpose.. 1.. 2.. ready.. go!

this week tho. every week tho. mission life tho.

this week was pretty awesome. we had a split with the district leader. it was a pretty good experience. i went to tanavoli with elder samante and my companion left me!!! ahhhh separation anxiety of my child leaving meeee. it's ok it was only for 2 days(woulda been one day but transport is rare and expensive) learned a lot of stuff. spent a lot of time in the area. i learned how to give someone a tattoo from one of the dudes in our area. cool stuff. if you wanna get a tattoo all you need is a sharpie, a needle and some charcoal. good stuff.

so we have one really progressing investigator we have. even before we started teaching him he was coming to church. and we've been teaching him and he knows a lot of stuff about Christianity(he's like 11 years old) i think he went to some sort of church school before we met him. but he's really dope and his date is next week!!!! ahhhh!!!!!!!! which reminds me.. i need to talk to my district leader about coming to do the interview... anyways.

our little branch is so great. we got a double en(basically a tarp) and this week they're gonna cut some wood to hold up the double en and make some benches to sit on and we'll have a little tiny bush chapel of awesomeness! yeah! we've befirended like all of the people in the village where the chapel is so. now we have a bunch of potential investigators and apparently one of the papas in that village has been praying for a long time that all of his friends in his village would be able to become members and it's just. so dope to be able to help answer someone's prayer.
we have a district activity today im stoked about. we're gonna go to a celebration for a province of vanuatu. torbati day! it's gonna be so great!

there's a bunch of elders standing around wanting to use this computer so.
that's all for now! 

elder hyatt vi

1.      some cool WWII era ammo a dude in our area showed us

2.      lap lap banana (w/ coconut milk on top)

3.      cool new fruit i ate(apparently called sakk)

4.      usa river when it was super cloudy and still and like a mirror #dope

 

keep going!

Sent: Sunday, September 18, 2016 6:16 PM (MDT)
         Monday, September 19, 2016 11:16 AM (Vanuatu) 

this week felt really long but in the end, looking back it was a p dope week.

so the branch that im serving in is kinda getting moved, like the epicenter of the church used to be in a village called tanavoli(really far from downtown luganville) to the new epicenter berol! (only kinda far from town) and because of that we've been doing a lot of establish-a-branch work. it's cool though. all the members are really excited that they don't have to wait for a truck that will maybe come to take them to sacrament! they can just walk to berol!

all our progressing investigators are really busy and hard to get a hold of so we're doing a lot of finding and contacting. which is met with lukewarm success. some people are like. *whispering to their family member but i can still hear them* just say yes so they'll go away... while others are like. yeah i've seen you around a time or two! yeah! i wanna know more! it's super great. on sunday we contacted a family of 7 and it was a really great lesson and the mom is good friends with a member mama so. hoping and praying that they follow through on their commitments to read and pray.

something i've learned this week is... don't refuse food. so. guess whos gonna be nice and plump. in 18 more months. this guy. it's ok. we've been doing a lot of service lately. helping people carry fire wood from the bush. helping cut firewood at their house. help get water from the spring(20 mins from the village) to their house. as a result, i've been sleeping really well at night cuz im really tired. missionary work! we've had some setbacks this week. some previously progressing investigators we now have to drop cuz... but it's all good! keep going!

1.      first mango of the season(not really ripe yet but it still tasted really good)\

2.      found a new beach in our area. nooice.

3.      the inside roof of the place where we hold sacrament

4.      service in the bush!

5.      another pix of my district

knowledge and growth

Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2016 4:41 PM (MDT)
         Monday, September 12, 2016 9:41 AM (Vanuatu) 

this week seemed really really long. the area that im serving in got cut in half and so. we've been staying in the small villages that we'd only visit for like a hour or two before, for a whole day now. finding some new investigators and building relationships with people. 

the members here really really like us. like. whenever we come by, they feed us whatever they have on hand. such as, coconuts, naloat (roasted breadfruit cooked with coconut milk), nungai, carrsol(soursop) or gato(basically sugar free donuts). right now the branch im in is getting split because the geographical area it covers is ginormous and the cost of paying for transport for all the members to come to sacrament is a lot so the branch is getting split. and we as missionaries are like. the one constant that knows all of the members and the district presidency has been depending on us for help through the change and it's been good. seeing the positive changes. less actives getting excited about coming to church, good good stuff.

i’ve become good at peeling coconuts. like. coconuts when they fall off the tree have like a 1-2 inch thick covering of fiberous stuff. and inorder to harvest the kakai inside, you gotta peel that fibery stuff off. basically using a big stick of rebar or a carved root sticking out of the ground and then impaling the coconut and using torque to break it off bit by bit. small bits of service that i can do. 

found another issue of general conference Liahona in my apartment. #loving studying the words of the prophets. this week was kinda hard but approaching the difficulties with prayer and obedience, i really saw the influence of God in me and my area this week. my testimony grows every day.

im grateful for the chance i have to serve. im grateful for my lil branch i get to look after and be the representative for christ to. life is good

that's all for now.

Elder Hyatt VI

pictures:

1.      crushing some nungai (kinda tastes like almonds) open with a pikinini

2.      selfie with some kids in usa (oosha)

3.      my district before transfers

4.      SQUAD (aka p day boredom)