Families Can be Together Forever

Well this week has turned out to be a good week(: 

Break is coming to an end here, so that means everyone is coming back from their different villages!(: Which means this week we will be able to see everyone we haven't these past 2 weeks! YAY!!! 

We didn't have any trips to the hospital this week! But, we did get to go to the temple, which is WAY better than the hospital! haha! But Sister Vereivalu had one of the families she brought back to reactivation, get sealed. It was so awesome and so cool to hear it in Fijian. I just love the temple and the blessings that come from the temple! They were so happy and the kids were so cute and so happy. You could just see the glow in their eyes as they were sealed for time and eternity! To me it just shows how true this gospel is and how lucky we are to know that we can be together with our families FOREVER! So i hope you guys love me because you're stuck with me for eternity!(; haha! 

We also had an awesome service for a family who the elders just baptized. They live up at the top of this mountain.. and when i say mountain, i mean mountain! haha! They are so awesome. We had to hike up there and then we helped cook and clean. And I even started the fire so we could cook the lolo buns(: I was pretty proud! Kai viti!(: haha! And besides doing service we were able to see how beautiful Lami is. Since they live on top we took a little while to take some pictures(: All i could think of is how amazing this place is and how much Heavenly Father has to love us to give us such a beautiful place on this earth. Heavenly Father really did make Fiji on one of his Happiest days! 

We had an awesome Sunday! We had our investigators who are getting baptized this week coem to church and even better, they brought their mom!!!(: I was so happy because i just love that family so so so much they are so awesome and i was so so SO happy! Especially because we had a senior couple talk in church, and they talked all about temples and family! It was so awesome. I loved the talks and I LOVED what they said. And she said after the lesson how much she loved the talks especially about families going to the temple. YAY!!!! It was the perfect Sunday for her to come.. we are hoping that the older brother and father come this week for the baptism and for their confirmation. 

i cannot even tell you how much I love this work. Last week I heard that Pita recieved the priesthood and blessed the sacrament and this week the family gets sealed. This work is the best work int he whole entire world! It has its challenges, but we knew that when we volunteered to come. We just finished reading the beginning of the New testament, and something I really learned was how much our Savior did for us. And when things were hard, he didn't give up! Like it says in Luke 22:44 "And being in more agony he prayed more earnestly..." He never gave up and just like he never gave up in anything or anyone. I think that, that is the greatest thing. We should'nt either! We should give up on anyone or anything!! So i guess the point of this letter is to not give up when things get hard, because in the end, nothing will happen. 

I LOVE YOU GUYS SO SO SO MUCH! You guys are awesome and the best people ever!!!

LOLOMA LEVU!
Sister rich

Letter From Sister Peterson

This is a cute letter we received from a Senior Couple, serving in Fiji.  Courtney Loves them and Talks about them all the time.  It is such a blessing to have people there that love her and reach out to us!!

Bula to the Rich Family,

My name is Sister Peterson and my husband and I are serving a CES mission here in Fiji with your darling daughter. We have had the opportunity to get to know her over the past several months. What a darling girl she is. She is so positive and hard working and loving. Every time we see her, we are welcomed with a huge smile and hug.

Elder Peterson also had the opportunity to baptize Lario who was taught by Sister Rich and her companion. This was such a honor for us to be a part of this great day. He was taught well and we have seen such a strong testimony grow as he continues to search and read the Book of Mormon.

You can be very proud of your daughter. We were at church the Sunday that Sister Rich was transferred and it was apparent that the ward was going to miss her very much. We are excited however, because she was transferred to Lami and that is were we attend church so we will get to see her a lot more often.

I have attached a few pictures of the baptism day. Her and Sister Tramell got ahold of my phone and put their picture as my screen savor so ever time I turn on my phone, her cute smiling face appears. I love it and it makes me smile every time.

Thanks for raising such a beautiful and faithful daughter. Heavenly Father is very proud of her and the work she is doing.

I hope we have the opportunity to meet you some day.

Moce,

SisterPeterson
Fiji Mission
Paulap@xmission.com

Pictures 08/17/2014

OK!!  This girl has been sick so much!!  She was told that it is still the effects of the Dengue Fever she had 5 months ago.  Her immune system is so low!!  Strong Prayers That she can get that immune system boosted and some strength and health her way!!  NO MORE SICKNESS!!!

Bula Vinaka Family!!

Bula Vinaka family!

School has started already?! WHAT THE HECK! Time is going by WAY too fast! You guys just started summer break didn't you?! man! totolo na gauna! But, Carly you are going to LOVE 8th grade! I think it was my favorite year ever!! So many different things to do and being secretary for ASB is AWESOME!! You're going to LOVE IT!(:

Well this week has gone by WAY fast! Which is weird because now that I think about it, nothing has really happened. But, its always good when time goes by fast!(: 1st of all I will start with the best story... But before I tell you... I am ok and everything is fine!!!!(: Monday me and my companions went on an adventure to the hospital because I was still sick... haha! I couldn't keep any food or fluids down and Sister Limburg was worried.. so she sent me in to get some meds. So i did! I went and it was way fun! I just got an IV and some medicine. But I am 100% better now! So no worried!(: I did get to get a shot to help me too! So with all the meds I got better(: and am completely better!(:
Ok so next story... Its a funny one! We were sitting in church yesterday and I was sitting next to Api. Our investigator who is 8 years old. And he was looking at his A iVola I Momani and the picture of Moroni burying the plates is in the front and i asked him "o cei oqo?" "Who is that?" and he replies "O Thor!" Me and Sister Vereivalu were laughing so so so so so hard! It was so cute! It reminded me of Russell and something he would've said when he was 8!!(: I laughed!

Ok so now for the cool stories about misisonary work!(: When I was in Nadi, me and Sister Koto brought this Less active to church a few times and by the time we left she was way active. But, I guess a lot had happened and she is less active again. Well I didn't know this until we were walking to appointments and it was all fall throughs.. so we decided to go over to Qauia where we had dinner and just OYM and visit less actives and members. So we went over there and we went to a members house and she was just going to work but there was another girl there named Vuli. And she use to stay with Vika in Nadi. And now Vika and Vuli are staying wiht this member in Qauia!!!!!(: Vuli isn't a member but Vika is a member.. just less active. Vuli was so happy to see me and she gave me a big hug! But the reason this story is so cool is because when we were in Nadi we invited her over and over again to take lessons and everytime we shared something with Vika she would sit with us! But, she never really clicked.. but, this time, things were different. She was really excited and happy. It was one of those moments where i felt "thats why you're here". She hasn't agreed to take lessons yet. But, i hope she dies and I hope we can bring Vika back to church!(:

Other than that, this week was fun! We are preparing some of our investigators for baptism next week and we are super excited for them. That family is one of my favorite families here in Lami! I just have so much love for them! Like I do with everyone here in Lami! Today we got to go up to the office to get some things and I got to see Elder Peterson! I WAS SO HAPPY! We sat there and talked for like an hour! haha! Sister Limburg said she can tell I am so happy here in Lami. She said some people just aren't made for Suva and I am one of those people. haha(: But she said she can just tell I am happy and I am getting over my sickness, which is helping me get back to me! Which was so awesome to hear. Something I have been waiting to hear for a long time!(:

This week we have Zone conference. So I will talk to President about School and you guys coming to visit me!(: I am so excited to hear about w hat the new things are! I can't wait! Hope you guys have a good week at school and getting back to the normal routine of things!(: Time is just going to fly by these next few months. Before we know it I will be talking to you on Christmas!!(:

LOVE YOU GUYS!
Sister rich

Pictures 08/10/2014

Some funny sign in Lami koro! 

Yes I call this paradise!((:

swing!(: 

niu juice!

I have arrived in Paradise!

I am in PARADISE!! 
I cannot tell you guys how amazing this place is! Lami is the BOMB!! Literally the best place! It is the dream place for sisters. Because we are out of the city. It is safe. But we are still in villages and settlements. So it is a dream. And it is right on the beach.. so that makes it even more of a paradise!(: 
I got a little bug this week. Not sure what it was from. but just a little 24 hour bug. Went away the next morning! But, it is all good. And I learned a very valuable lesson from it! So, I guess Heavenly Father needed me to get sick to learn this lesson! haha!(: Isn't he funny? 
So we had such an awesome lesson this week! We are teaching 2 girls. Joy and Toga! Their teenagers and their so so SO cute! It has been so much fun being with them! And I just love their family! They are seriously the best and one of my favorite families here!(: Anyways, we were teaching them and every lesson the little brother sits in on the lessons. His name is Api and he is 8. He participates sometimes. But, not that much! Anyways, we were talking about sincere prayer and we asked him if he would say the closing prayer. And in Fiji everyone says just recited prayers. But, this was the cutest prayer from a little Fijian i have heard. And the spirit was so strong! I just love kids! the spirit they hold is so STRONG! I think kids have strengthened my testimony on my mission more than anything else. But, thats not even the cool part of the story. So after the prayer. We asked him if he wanted to be baptized with is sisters and he said YES!(: So now he is going to be baptized with his sister by the end of the month! We are so happy and excited! We are trying to get the parents to start taking lessons. They listen to all the lessons. But, we have to figure out what will help them. So hopefully we can get the whole fam baptized by the end of this!(: 
Lets see, what else happened this week. We had ZTM. And it was awesome! So now we are counting RM's... Returning Members... and they are counted like baptisms. They have certain requirements they have to meet. And now we are increasing our work with Less actives and members! Our work with them is even to investigators. And our mission president will report them with baptisms. as a "returning soul". Isn't that awesome!!!(: I think it is awesome!(: 
So this week, we are studying how to teach in the Saviors way. I have learned a lot fromt he bible read we are doing. but I cam eacross a scrpiture that was shared a few months ago from sister trammell actually. Its in thessilonians chapter 8 i think. and it is when converts are talking about their missionaries. It talks about how the missionaries didn't just give them the gospel of Jesus Christ but they gave their WHOLE SOUL. I was thinking about that and I hope that my Recent converts can say that about me! That I gave them my hwole soul. Because I have tried really hard to!(: i thought about what my whole soul is and it made me think about sister trammels insight again, my Time, my Talents, and my Testimony. That is so true! The 3 T's. But i just though that was super cool! and thought i would share it with you guys!(: 
Well we had a good week. Sick or not, it was a good week! I hope you guys can feel my love! 
LOLOMA LEVU! 
Sister rich