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)

mehhhhh

Sent: Sunday, September 04, 2016 4:57 PM (MDT)

         Monday, September 05, 2016 9:57 AM (Vanuatu)

i don't really know what to talk about here so we'll see how this email turns out

this week was really short and really long. we got some more people on date for baptism.

we went to the deep bush on thurday and met a really cool family. we helped the mama collect and cut some firewood and then took it back to their house and then they gave us some fresh papaya and mercot and we taught them and it was great. like really great. working in the bush is amazing.

one of our investigator families came to church and it was really awesome.

on sunday it was fast sunday and it was really really nice and breezy and cloudy and not that hot but the fact that it was fast sunday made it feel really really long. also like 3 seperate families that we went to on fast sunday offered us feast level food and we had to decline... it was tragic.

also this link is a video that we took one day. it was too big to attach so i hope it works
cow video

i dunno this week was kinda eh. some people are progressing and some people are being really stubborn and refusing to keep their commitments but they still want to be baptized. kinda frustrating.

also a mama in the bush gave us like. a tonnnnnn of cabbage. like. it's gonna go bad before we eat it all. but it's good cuz we haven't been eating vegetables at all cuz..... i dunno. laziness and stuff. we eat coconuts. does that count?

someone is borrowing my sd card reader right now so. sorries no pictures this week.

been studying about charity and prayer.

that's all for now.

elder hyatt vi

zone conference and milestones

Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 4:41 PM (MDT)
         Wednesday, August 31, 2016 9:41 AM (Vanuatu)

this week seemed really short and really long. time passes weird in general as missionaries.

honestly i can't remember all that much that happened this week and the journal that i recorded it all in is at my apartment so.

we had quite a few new investigators this week. relatively. it was kinda great. like one time we went to a return appointment but she wasn't there. and when we were asking her husband about her and such, her coworker's husband was standing nearby and it started to rain. you people in america don't know what rain is. anyway. he(our investigator's coworker's husband) invited us to go and hide in his house and wait out the rain! and that was a really awesome teaching opportunity. and he had a lot of really good questions and we had to be like. 'good questions. good stuff. that question is answered in lesson 2, different section of our doctrine. we'll talk about that next time.' really great stuff.

the truck to take all the investigators to sacrament actually came this week! we had 40 attendance at sacrament! it was really awesome. like. dang son. i also taught sunday school and priesthood. had a really good lesson with a investigator that can now be deemed progressing! his name is also matthew and he put on his only button up shirt to talk to us. he's p awesome.

hey guys. don't forget that the book of mormon is the most important thing in our religion(a religion being a system of beliefs-thanks dictionary). its truthfulness and feeling the holy ghost is basically the whole goal of missionary work.

zone conference!!! my mission pres is better than your mission pres! he is really awesome and i got a lot of revelation and application points of how i need to and can improve to become. 'remember who you are and what god expects you to become'  -thomas s monson

oh yeah. parents/all others who can and want to look at the fb page. i found out that the mission president's wife maintains a facebook page of the mission. vanuatu port vila mission 2015-2018. look it up and maybe find more pictures and videos of yours truly? i don't know i can't go on it. but you can!

theres other stuff i could talk about but. eh. live is good. life is looking up. zone conference pumps me up to be a better missionary. to try new things. to be better. to work harder. yep.

that's all for now!

elder hyatt vi

1.      a spring(river?) thing next to the road that we got some much needed refreshment from

2.      it was so cloudy and rainy you couldn't see aore.(the other island across the bay channel thing. i failed geography)

3.      cool beach picture

4.      zone conference lunch

5.      zone conference

6.      zone conference

7.      zone conference

goals and productivity

Sent: Sunday, August 21, 2016 6:28 PM (MDT)

         Monday, August 22, 2016 11:28 AM (Vanuatu) 

hello one and all. welcome to an email!
how are you doing? are you good? ya happy? i hope so.

anywho! my week! lots of stuff happened! missionary work! i don't remember all that much but just stuff that happened on saturday and sunday so. anyway.

zone training at the beginning of the week! yay! got some more liahonas and some books of mormon and announcements!

wednesday it rained and rained and rained. it's the equivalent of spring right now? i think? so theres a lot of rain and a lot of clouds. which is actually kinda nice. we waited out the rain for a bit with one of our investigators leya. good stuff.

over all this week i've been taking stock of my teaching powers/abilities and it's the 1/2 way mark of my first born and he's so great. on thursday we went to crossroads, the farthest little village thing from our house(i think like a 12 hour walk? if we walked? thank goodness for trucks!) that village is like 2 hours walk from the chapel and theres only like 2 or 3 members of the church there. we had some really spiritually intense lessons. p good. we only spent like 2 hours there because we really needed to get a ride back before dark. but it was really awesome.

on saturday, we went on splits with the zone leaders, one of whom worked in our area before us. i went with elder harding and elder 'atuake went with elder thomas. really good stuff. learned a lot and got a whole heck ton done over the course of the day between the four of us.

sunday was district conference! all like, 700ish? members from all the northern islands of vanuatu came and it was really awesome. some of our investigators came and some of our less active members who haven't come to church in like forever, came and i was super happy. after, we went to kevin anderson(plantation/village thing named after the dude who owns the plantation) and had a really awesome lesson with mama dayla. my branch, well, it's actually a unit right now, is really awesome and im super grateful to be here and be able to grow every day.

that's pretty much it,

Elder Hyatt VI

yep. pictures.

1.      cool sunn clouds n stuff while we were waiting for a taxi

2.      selfie with some missionaries at district conference before it started

3.      like 10 minutes before it started, more people kept coming in

4.      looking out the back of my apartment at 2 animal friends