coincidence or the spirit?

Sent: Sunday, June 26, 2016 5:39 PM (MDT)

         Monday, June 27, 2016 10:39 AM (Vanuatu)

so. wowie. this week was really freaking busy. in a good way.

we had 3 elders who were waiting for their plane to santo arrive on wednesday. and their plane didn't leave until saturday. so for those 3 days we got to be their interim trainers, trying to help them get a little taste of bislama, teaching a lesson for the first time, etc.

annndddd we got a whole heck ton done in our area this week. at some point we kinda ran out of people we had already met and talked to, to go visit, so we focused on finding new people to teach. we found 10 new investigators, and taught 25 lessons. here's some of the really awesome experiences of those 25 lessons. 

so on thursday, we went and visited one mama who can't really progress due to a family situation. and it's kinda hard to find time to teach her because she works a lot a lot. but we passed by her house, she was there, she had the biggest smile on her face when she saw us and she invited us in to teach her. turns out she had prayed that we might come by that night. and right after she prayed, and walked outside, we were walking up her driveway. coincidence or the spirit?

and then. on friday. i was with two of the santo elders, and we had run out of pamphlets and books of mormons so we were headed back to our apartment to get more. on the way home i had the impression to go down one street that winds up and behind our apartment. went and got more materials, and then went up that road. we met, or rather, re-met someone we had given a pamphlet to a month ago. while contacting a referral from a member, who wasn't home. but! we gave pamphlets to the referral's neighbors. and now back to today. this person had really been prepared to hear us teach as she had read the pamphlet we left her over the course of the month. in addition, the place we re-met her was about a mile from her actual house. coincidence or the spirit?

in general, this week just felt much more spiritual and guided by the spirit than previous weeks. why? maybe i changed something that was blocking me spiritually. or maybe it was the santo elders and their exuberance. i dunno but it was p great. 

ok one last experience. so on sunday, i met with a Deacon of the Seventh Day Adventist's church. we had been teaching his wife for a week or so but he was always at work. anyway. so we went to teach him. and as is the usual when trying to teach someone who is very active in another church, he had a lot of things to say whenever we asked questions. but near the end of the lesson, something finally clicked for me. the reason im here. the whole reason i am on this tiny island in the middle of the ocean. the one thing i have that no one else has, is My testimony. and when i shared it at that point, man oh man i felt it. 

sorries the usb ports on this computer don't work... no pictures this week.

that's all for now. 

Elder Hyatt VI

highs lows and endurance

Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2016 7:28 PM (MDT)
Monday, June 20, 2016 12:28 PM (Vanuatu)

this week went by really quick.

so i forgot my planner when i came to email so i don't know exactly what i did this week but i'll try and remember. sooooo my companion feels that he is gaining weight and therefore putting himself at risk of death. which is false anatomically speaking for the most part considering our age and amount of physical activity. but anyways. he doesn't want to eat rice anymore but 'good' food. such as kumala and island cabbage and taro and such. because islanders here just naturally have almost 6 packs so he's envious and changing his diet to match the islanders. 

we went to the freshwota market and all
that food was about 700 vatu. or 7$ USD

anyway. we went and bought some stuff and some mamas who had lots of charity for us gave us a bunch of radishes and we still haven't eaten them all. radishes are in a way, spicy. also kumala is basically sweet potato. blessings and blessings. 

we have one investigator who has really been progressing. his name is bryan and he's really awesome. all other missionaries should be jealous of my investigator. he's amazing. im so grateful that i get to teach him. 

so this week was also stake conference. in america that doesn't mean that much. as far as who comes wise. cuz there's stake activities all the time. but here, the stake is all of vanuatu. so... stake conference means general authority(s), mission president, and all that. it was super super amazing. felt the spirit in every session i attended. met a elder Johannsen(idk if that's how you spell it) of the 70. another spiritual giant i've met to look up to. everything he said in every session was so powerful and awesome. everything that is taught here is super simple and powerful. partially because the people need the simple and powerful, and partially because that's what they're struggling with the most. making me reevaluate what it means to be a member of this church and how to become a better one. my investigator bryan came to the last session and it was so awesome. i think he took some really good notes and i hope and pray that what he heard answers and helps to resolve his concerns.

in alma 18? it says that the father of king lamoni was astonished at how much love ammon had for his son. and so ammon=missionary. lamoni= investigator. goal, love my investagators so much it astonishes their family into wanting to hear our message. 

working on being more faithful. working on doing my best to ask heavenly father for what i need. if i need a stain to come out of a shirt, pray for that. and have faith enough for it to happen. it's really hard but i'm trying. 

thank you all for reading my letters. i don't know all that much about what's going on in the land of stars and stripes but thank you for your support. 

that's all for now. 

Elder Hyatt VI

Pictures:

my companion and one of my investigators,
 mama mary. she's p awesome

i went on exchanges this week to Mele and saw this super awesome little village. complete with garden, chickens, and a makeshift hut. good stuff.

 i met another seventy (A.Johan Johansson).
my hair was p gross but. it's me.

zone conference and related shenanigans

Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2016 5:13 PM (MDT)
Monday, June 13, 2016 10:13 AM (Vanuatu)

so this week was my first zone conference. it was an experience. remember how 2ish weeks ago i had a meeting with elder pearson? this was kinda like that. we went over some of the stuff he covered and emphasized some other stuff. my mission president is really really awesome. like. dang. when im that old i hope im as spiritual and all that as he is. not to diss on anyone else who is kinda old and wants to be looked up to. sorry.

we had a lot of different things happen at zone conference. we went to a fancyish restraunt because apparently the elders on tanna only eat like. kumala and manyoke and that just. gets really old really fast and so every zone conference (every three ish months) so they treat them to a fancyish chinese place. on par with pei wei in america but restraunts here are few and far between so can't be too picky.

we had a field day kinda thing as part of zone conference. did team games involving like. a beach ball. and passing a cup of water over our head in a line to a bucket. eventually everyone got soaked. and then played ultimate frisbee and a little foot ball. really good stuff.

had some elders from tanna stay at our house over the course of zone conference. learned a new card game. 

working on faith and obedience right now and how they are connected. we haven't had very much success baptism wise in our area and in my interview with president he said that if i have enough faith and obedience i'll see miracles in my area. so that's the goal! now just gotta work work work.

after this next week my training period of 12 weeks in the mission field will be offically over. i'll be considered a fully fledged and capable elder. and i might be assigned to be a trainer. or a district leader. and it's exciting and anxious. but also looking back and evaluating what i learned and how i've changed over the past 12 weeks. hopefully im not the same person i was 3 months ago.

sooo uh. spiritual stuff. so we had a really good lesson with a referral this week. the woman’s friend is a member who invited her to meet with the missionaries this week. had a really really good lesson with her. my bislama skills are finally to the point that i can express all i want to when bearing my testimony which is really really good. 

had another lesson with one mama. the one who talked to missionaries 10 years ago. her husband is a deacon in the seventh day adventist's church. aka he's really active in his church and not very teachable. but we're working and working. hopefully he has the humility and faith enough to read the book of mormon. after the lesson with this mama, she said. 'wait just a minute.' so we waited and then she brought out a heaping plate of reallllllllyyyy good food for us. we happened to teach her right before lunch and were planning on going back to the apartment right afterward to eat. really awesome experience. 

that's about all for this week.

here's some pictures from zone conference. the picture indoors with all those people are my district. it's gonna be so sad when we get split uppppp my district is the best. 

ok. that's all for reals this time. 

Elder Hyatt VI

the rains came down

Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2016 5:11 PM (MDT)
Monday, June 06, 2016 10:11 AM (Vanuatu) 

so. it's the equivalent of winter right now. and that means.

really nice breezes. and rain and clouds everywhere. which is both good and bad. cuz my umbrella broke so it's kinda. if you get caught walking in the rain you can either admit you're gonna need to change clothes. or you run to the nearest tree and hope the rain ends soon. i've been more prone to do the first one. it's all good though. i love the weather here. 

so this week we found someone who had been taught by the missionaries on the far other side of the island 11 years ago and she had since moved into our area and when she saw us on the street she basically asked. 'when are you coming by?' it was a really great experience and made me very grateful for the missionaries and the members who have prepared and helped the people i am teaching now to receive the gospel. 

so another thing. so i don't know if i told you guys this story yet but i'll tell it anyway. on the farside of our area, a long way from our house, is a ranch kinda thing. complete with gates, horses, and a lot of undeveloped land. one day last transfer(like a month and a half ago) we walked by the place for the first time not on the side with the main gate but the side with no signs. and the gate was open so we kinda just. wandered in. and wandered around the undeveloped bush for a while looking for people. we eventually found 3 servants/workmen of the ranch and we talked with them for a little bit. offered to help them. (they were clearing a small enclosure of big shrubs and grass so the horses could graze in comfort) learned that we were on private property. we helped them with their work for a while. good service oppurtunity. and we were invited back whenever we wanted to come and help them again. 

so. long story short. we walked by again. saw them working just on the other side of the fence right next to the main road. we went inside and helped them. taught them a bit. and then left again. good relationships. planting seeds of the gospel. and on the way out of the property, we found a wild chile plant. like it was just in the middle of the bush with a bunch of orange and yellow little peppers about the size of the nail of my little finger. so we plucked like 6 of the 40 something peppers. 

made our food VERY spicy this week. reminded me of the good ol' days of cafe rio. 

i have my first zone conference this week and subsequent interview with the mission president. im kinda anxious. like. anxious excited. wanting to learn more. get more advice and such. been reading Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage a bunch. like. one day i think i read 50 pages. im on page 400 ish now. really awesome book. changing my perspective of the new testament. and getting to know more and more about My Savior's earthly ministry. good stuff. 

sorry didn't take any pictures this week. 

that's all for now.

Elder Hyatt VI

spirituality increasing ish

Sent: Sunday, May 29, 2016 5:53 PM (MDT)

Monday, May 30, 2016 10:53 AM (Vanuatu) 

so. this week. 

i got to spend 6 whole freaking hours with a general authority. ohhhhh man was that awesome. he had a lot of training and stories and words of wisdom and connected doctrinal dots and expounded on a few confusing scriptures. definately very spiritually edifying. the general authority i got to spend time with was Elder Kevin W(?) Pearson. he's the area seventy for the pacific and it was great. 

because he came we had all the elders on tanna who are in our zone come and stay on efate for wednesday-monday for the meeting with elder pearson so that was kinda awesome. we played a card game called 7-lock. it's kinda like adult uno. pretty intense especially if you put the punishment that the loser has to drink a cup of water. after a few games we were all very hydrated hah.

i was p sick for part of this week and that put a crink in proselyting time. but we made up for it on saturday. we had 8 lessons. it was super intense. after the meeting with elder pearson we've been a lot more focused on what matters in the lessons and getting the investigators where they can continue their progress in the gospel.

one pretty awesome thing is that one of the tanna elders that came and stayed at our apartment taught me how to make a variety of philipino food so. more recipies in my chef... belt. for when i come back. 

so the pictures. so i got a hair cut last week and there was this little kid that was jumping around and playing and she grabbed my camera. it was kinda adorable. but also i couldn't understand a singe thing she said because little kid bislama is just. i can't. im sorry smallish child but i don't understand you. 

and the other one. one of the letters that i got had like 3 or 4 big rips/cuts in it. and it came in that little plastic bag taped shut. and i thought that was kinda hilarious. maybe you guys could get a laugh out of it too. 

That's all for now! 

Elder Hyatt VI

i don't have a clever title for this week

Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2016 8:17 PM (MDT)

Monday, May 16, 2016 1:17 PM (Vanuatu)

helloooo

so this week was pretty interesting. it was the birthday of one of the sisters in my district on wednesday so at district meeting we had a little celebration ft. food. good stuff. 

last monday after emailing and such, we went to the national museum of vanuatu and saw some pretty cool stuff. a 3d ish (relief) map of vanuatu on the wall and some pretty cool pieces of vanuatu culture that i didn't know about. like. how the circular thing on the flag is a pig tusk. because in olden times. pigs were basically the currency. and trading pigs for marriage and such. good stuff. there was also a dude there who knew and showed us a little how to sand write. or sand draw. like. super intricate drawings in sand done by one fingertip that never leaves the sand. like. cursive writing but. sand. and your finger not a pen... anyway

so this week i got kinda sick. well. me and my companion both. i think we bought some milk that was out of date or something. so didn't do as much proselyting as previous weeks due to that. 

on saturday, we had a really intense lesson. so we walked past a little like. pavillion thing? made of concerete and wood and such. and there was 20 or so dudes sitting under it in the shade and they were cooking something. and me and my companion both got the impression to go talk to them but niether of us really wanted to because we knew how it would turn out. anyway. we walked a bit slower and waved and the leader of the group beckoned us over and told us to share something with them. so. we sat down. these are all 20+ dudes smoking and such and we walk over and sit down. 

we start the lesson and they have quite a few questions. some of them the same questions that everyone here asks. and trying to address them and get the constant attention of all of the people there. but i think it went pretty ok. hopefully when we come back we'll be able to answer all their questions without bible bashing them. woot~ our area is pretty small so at times it feels like we've already talked to everyone but it's all good.

my bishop said that he's gonna dedicate every 4th sunday sacrament meeting to missionary work. which is really great because member missionary work is by far the most effective.

oh yeah. also i got a haircut. and so i took a selfie in order to show you guise how i look now. i dunno. that's all for now

Elder Hyatt VI

just relax.

Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 6:33 PM (MDT)

Monday, May 16, 2016 11:33 AM (Vanuatu)

so. this week. well every week.

goes by both really slow and really fast. like. on tuesday it feels like it's been forever and then all of a sudden it's saturday. 

so this week we had quite a few happenings worth mentioning. so one old guy this week. like the land lord for one of of my investigators. we went to visit our investigator and the old dude was waiting at the edge of his property and told us emphatically that he didn't want us there and that we weren't welcome. but in really fast bislama that i didn't pick up all of it. but yeah. that was an experience. and it woulda been mildly discouraging but the thing is we ran into our investigator on the street a day or so later and she was like. ''he's old and catholic he doesn't like any missionaries. but i don't care. you guys come back next week on my day off but come from the other side of his property and i'll be waiting and we can talk just off his property.'' :) that was p funny and encouraging and such.

so my apartment is really close to the mission office compared to other apartments of missionaries and so whenever there is a elder or elders that are traveling to a different island, or just arriving from the mtc or just finishing their mission, they stay at our house for a night or two and then leave. so we had 3 travel elders who were brand new from the mtc and we hosted them for two nights. it was weird. and fun because. they didn't know a single bit of bislama and it's like. realizing how much of bislama i actually know and can teach a little bit. 

'nother happening. the pictures. so there was a couple in my district's area that the husband is a amputee and the wife had a stroke a while ago. so it's really hard for them to do yard work. so we (most of my district and some of another district) came and helped cut grass, weed and such. and then after piling it all up and burning it because the trash service here costs 100vatu for one trash bag and a lot of people can't afford that.  anyway. the pictures. were all of the people that were there helping and also a picture of me being a pyro and using only a coal and a dead coconut branch to light a fire. good stuff.

 another thing! you can get fresh peanuts here! for like 100 vatu! so  that picture is how they come when you buy them from the market. they taste kinda like less sweet sugar snap peas if you don't cook them at all. but i cooked half of them with some oil and a little sugar and made a really basic peanut brittle of sorts. it was p good. 

so as far as the whole 100vatu for a trash bag. me and my companion didn't know about that and we didn't know how to throw out the trash so it kinda just accumulated in our back yard for like. a whole transfer(6 weeks) and then we bought some of the special trash bags and it was super gross throwing it all out. tied grocery bags around my wrists so i could grab the stuff without it touching my hands. filled 3 really big trash bags. but now our apartment is really clean so. it's all good.

and for those of you at home who want to learn a bit what it's like to learn bislama. one house we visited had those hung up. like kindergarten level stuff but bislama. 

spiritual stuff. so i now have 6 investigators that could be progressing a ton. but they are always busy or out of town or some such and never come to church. so. yeah. one thing that i've really learned in my personal study is that all things that we make in the gospel. this church. going to church. following the commandments. praying. are all acts of faith. and greater faith brings greater blessings. so. faith. important stuff. 

and lst but not least. i asked one elder who has been on his mission for a long time. for 20 months already. and asked him what one piece of advice did he think i could benefit from the most. and he said "don't be strict. just relax." and i've been over-analyzing that for a while. 

that's all for nowwwww

Elder Hyatt VI