Dancing in the Rain Pictures

This is Sister Tugaga! 

We have service every thursday and this thursday we had it at Anas house!(:

It started pouring and within 5 seconds we were soaked! This is Sister Seru! She is a RM and she is seriously crazy! haha we take her with us juist to make us laugh! Haha she is seriously insane! But we love her! 

These are some of the kids from a village called Navoci! Seriously the kids are what I love so much here! I sit and pay with the kids all day long if i could! I was walking the other day and one of the kids from a villagae called Namotomoto came up to me and gave me a hug and a flower and wanted to put it in my hair! haha I seriously loved it and wore that flower all day long! Their the cutest thing! I love them!(: 

I let the kids in Navoci play with my camera while we taught a lesson and when I got home I went through the pictures and this is just one of the many pictures they took! haha their seriously so cute!(: oh and they love to dance! I have the cutest video of them dancing! You guys would laugh so hard!

It was Elder Tekes birthday yesterday so we asked a member to help us make a cake for him and this is what we made! hahaha(: GO US! 

Dancing in the Rain

Another week has past and I finally get to email you guys again! Your emails made me cry this week! You guys are all SO awesome and I miss you all so so SO much! I can really feel your guys' prayers for me each and every day and you guys are all so amazing I hope you  know that!(: 
This week was kinda a hard week for me.. but still a good one! A lot of good things happened! So Monday we had Sister exchanges! Where our sister training leaders come and we go on splits with my them! So I got to stay here in Nadi with Sister Tugaga! She is from New Zealand and she is seriously the nicest person i've ever met! She is super mellow though! Especially compared to Sister Lavaka..  But it was great to experience different people and I learned so much from her! So what we do is Sister Tugaga comes here and stays with me and then Sister Lavaka goes and stays with her companion in her area for a day! So she came Monday evening and left Tuesday evening! And since I'm the new missionary in my area I get to show her around, we get to go and visit our members, and investigators and I teach everything.. Which was so hard on me at first! But once I got going it was a real confidence booster because it showed me that I can actually teach lessons and I know more than I think I do! And I know it is all from Heavenly Fathers help!  I definitely learned ALOT from her and she even told me that in January, when the other training sisters leave, I'll become a training sister.... I hope not! haha But it would be fun! We even went to Mcdonalds with our district.. haha But don't worry! I didn't spend 15$ on a hamburger! Haha(: 
As you can tell by my Subject, it rained SO MUCH THIS WEEK! Like I seriously am so surprised it hasn't flooded! So I can just imagine when it does flood how hard it must rain! haha it is going to be crazy! We had fun running in the rain and playing though! We walked to our investigators and less actives in it and oh man, I literally felt like I jumped in a swimming pool! Literally I was soaked! haha and the roads were like rivers and we could hardly see in front of us! When it rains here it RAINS HARD! It is seriously like sheets of water just pouring down! Everyone keeps saying a big storm is coming because the weather has been so bad and when they say "big storm" here it isn't just like a Southern California winter storm warning kind of rain storm.. they're talking about cyclone kind of rain storms!!  oh man! I might cry if we get a cyclone or typhoon!!! So that has definitely been in my prayers this week that it wont come! haha(: 
OH I GOT MY 1ST LETTER!! It was so fun to get a letter! An actual hand written letter! haha it was from Carolyn Bogh! It was so fun to hear from her and about her family! And she sent me a poem! Mom, if you get a chance ask her to send it to you because it is so good! You'll probably cry just like I did! Haha(: 
Oh I got told that I am getting fat... haha which here is a good thing! It is actually a compliment!!!! Haha But, I don't want to get fat! So I have been working out! I talked Sister Lavaka into going running the other day and I loved it! I missed running! But she said we are never going again because she was so sore! Hahaha so now, she just sits outside and i run up and down the streets like a million times it feels so good to just be running!  She usually falls back asleep on the side walk! haha But I refuse to get fat! haha 
Yesterday at church, I guess the missionaries are just the go to people when they don't have any one to speak! So guess what?! I got to give a talk! I had 5 minutes to prepare and it was on missionary work! So I talked about having the desire to share the gospel! I related it to Lehi's dream and the tree of life and how when he partook of it he wanted everyone to have it! and he called for people to eat it! So I related that to them! I told them that as a member of this church, we have all partaken of the fruit from the tree of life and we should want to share this gospel with everyone! We should want them to partake of the Tree of Life! So it was kind of a simple subject, but for 5 minutes to prepare I was totally proud of myself!(: 
Okay so let em explain who this girl is that added you on facebook! Her name is Ana and she is Milas' sister, our ward missionary, we are super close to her family! The Mataitogas! They have become like my family here! They are the sweetest, most amazing people! But Ana is married to a non member! Who we are trying to teach! We always go over there and she always feeds us!! haha.  She is so nice! I love her and her boys are adorable! She has 2 kids! Junior and Tukai!(: I love their family so much! We were just over last night and we were talking about you guys!(: 
Anyways, sorry this weeks letter was kinda boring and lame! It has kinda been a hard week for me! But The up coming week will hopefully be better and I will have more to write next week!(: 
I can't even begin to tell you guys how much I love you all! you are all so awesome and I can seriously feel your guys' love even when I am thousands of miles away! ILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOU!(: 
THE BEST FAMILY EVER!!!!(: 
Have such a good week! 
Au lomani va levu iko! 
-Sister Rich

Weekly Pictures

Oh! I forgot to tell you! We hosted this week! We hosted some Sisters from Kiribati! They brought fish so we cooked fish at like midnight when they got at our flat! Haha.. that was a long night but the fish tasted so good!  

Family in Sobeto!(: Love them! Ma and Bui and the little brother!(:

This is the YSA dance! haha(: Notice all the missionaries there! haha(: 

Wonderful Wonderful Conference Week

Oi lei! It is Monday again!(: I was so excited for today to email you all about conference and what happened this week! I feel like so much happened, but now that I think about it, nothing exciting really happened! haha(: But I'll start from just talking about conference! 
OH MY GOODNESS! Amazing! Every session was so good and there weren't any talks that were like funny talks! Every talk was really serious and really inspiring! I love how President Monson said at the end of the morn ing session on Sunday that this conference has been the most inspired conference he has ever been too! Which I think everyone was thinking at the point! Because it was so true! I just sat there and soaked every word I could in! Haha(: They talked a lot about families and having the priesthood in your home and trials in your life! Oh boy did it make me miss you guys so much! I cannot wait to talk to you guys on Christmas!(: You guys are seriously so Amazing! Thank you for all you do for me!(: I love you guys! I also loved how President Eyring talked about the families and how we were put in this family because we knew we would be able to love eachother no matter what happens or what we do in this life! Which is SO true! Because no matter what happens we are always going to love eachother! That isn't going to change! So I love you guys, if you guys don't know that already!(: Just all of conference was good! it was such a good reminder! And President Holland totally had me crying on the Saturday session! Oh man! He is amazing!(: So conference was good! I loved it! I am going to get the talks from the relief society broadcast and read those because i heard those were good too!(: But i can't wait until April for the next conference!(: Oh and I loved the quote "Doubt your doubts, before you doubt your faith!"
Lets see what else happened this week...Tuesday we had Zone training! So all the missionaries from Sigatoka to Rakiraki got together and we had a training with our Zone Leaders! It was really good! They asked me to conduct the music.. haha I have no idea how to conduct music so I got up there and just waved my arm! haha I looked so retarded! but oh well! Then Elder Smith, the zone leader came up to me after and said thanks for your effort Sister Rich! haha At least I know i'll never get asked to conduct the music again!(: But training was really good! As missionaries, one thing we do for training is role play... haha i hate it! But it is the best thing! Because everyone is horrible at the role play, but then once you get the bad time out of the way, you know not to make that mistake again! So we did alot of role play! And we learned a lot about including our members in our missionary work! Which we are trying so hard to do but our ward doesn't want to help at all! So make sure you are helping the missionaries anyway you can!(: Give referrals, go with them to lessons, ANYTHING!(: SO zone trainign was good! 
Wednesday was kinda a slow day! We didn't really do anything and no one was home so we walked and tried to talk to people but they wouldn't.. so that was a bummer day! but Thursday was Fiji day!(: We took our investigators to the ward picnic at Wailoaloa beach! I took my camera.. and it died.. so I sadly don't have any pictures! But it was so fun! We taught lessons on the beach and just kinda relaxed and had lunch with the ward! That made me miss you guys too this week! If you couldn't tell I missed you guys alot this week! Haha(: But it was fun! We went home and then went to see some less actives and give a blessing to an elderly lady with the elders and she made us dinner! So that was nice! We hardly got fed this week.. which is weird! haha Friday was good we went to Sobeto! Only one of our investigators was home and them our recent convert was home! But Bui, our recent convert, and her sister, Ma, are so cute! It is starting to be Mango season here! Oh man, I am LOVING IT! Mangos here are so good! Oh and Pineapple here tastes so good too! Lets just say fruit here is better! Haha Except for apples and grapes! Those aren't that good here! haha But, sobeto was fun! I loved it!(: Then saturday we went to Conference! So good! Then we went and visited our less actives and no one wanted to see us really.. haha This week has kinda been slow! Because we didn't teach that many lessons, but we were super busy it felt like! Haha Oh saturday night we also took our investigator to a YSA dance! hahahaha Oh man it was so funny! It was a going away party for one of the YSA's she is going to Ghana on her mission and leaves on Sunday! She is so funny! Her name is Meme! So we went for the party and then left once the dance started, because you know.. as missionaries we aren't allowed to be there.. haha but we left our investigator and everyone said she had so much fun! She loved it! haha so that was good for her to be with all the members!(:
Then Sunday! Ward baptism in the morning and then conference!(: SO GOOD! Then we went out to visit our less actives and all of them let us in! One of them, Sister Lala, i think i've talked about her before! Well we have gone to see her the past few days and she kept saying, oh im busy, come back tomorrow! But everytime we came back she just kept saying "i'm busy" So yesterday she finally let us in! She told us why she hadn't been letting us in and she said she went to this guy and I was kinda confused, but she went to some preacher guy and he was going to fix her leg for her! (She had a stroke so her right side doesn't work very well! She is the one who got the blessing last week and was totally walking the next day!) So anyways, she went to see him and he told her someone did black magic on her at the church and all this stuff and talked her into not coming to church anymore! So thats why she had been turning us away! And then Saturday night she was super sick and her leg was hurting again, she said she thought she was going to die.. and when she finally fell asleep she had a dream! And she said an angel who looked just like me came and picked her up and helped her get up and then she said when she woke up she was bawling! Of course me and Sister Lavaka were crying too! She said after that she got down and said the longest mosty sincere prayer she said she has ever said! And she said, when she saw me in that dream she knew that I could help here! Me and Sister Lavaka are angels sent to her from Heavenly Father! The spirit was so strong! And at that moment all I could think was that this is the reason I am here! Who knows what would've happened if Sister Lala didn't have that experience.. I am here to help people! To bring them unto Christ! It was definitely an eye opener to me at how much I can effect one persons life! It was definitely a moment I will never forget!(: 
This week was a slow but busy week! I have noticed Heavenly Fathers hand in his work m ore and more everyday as I continue to do what HE WANTS us to do! I am so grateful for this gospel! I have no idea where I would be without it! We need to remember that Heavenly Father loves us! And i love you guys so so so much! I am so lucky to have you guys as my family and in my life! I can't even begin to tell you how m uch I wish you guys were here to experience this all with me! But, I hope you guys are seeing the miracles in your life too! 
AU LOMANI VAKALEVU IKO NOQU MATAVUVALE! 
YOU GUYS ARE SO AWESOME! I LOVE YOU!!! 
Keep being so awesome and working hard!(: 
-Sister Rich

This weeks pictures!

Me and Sister Lavaka walking to one of our investigators house(: It takes about 45 minutes to walk on a dirt road through the bush pretty much! No houses, no road just this dirt path! 

Okay so funny story! We were walking home the other night and these kids were just sliding down the stairs so i wanted to try and all the kids were laughing at me and the old fijian ladies across the street were dying laughing at me! haha(: It was fun!

This is at the Dam!(: And the back of Nadi! 

Me and Sister Lavaka! The front of the Dam!

This is my district! Elder Nemrow, Elder Maiwiriwiri, Elder Teke, Elder Peterson and me and sister Lavaka! We are like one big family! haha(: 

My first lesson in Fijian

Week 3 went by faster than I could've imagined! haha The weeks are going by so fast! This week was so so so good though! We had so many good lessons and good experiences! Sister Lavaka and I are getting along so well and we are having so much fun together! She has the same personality as me so we joke around all the time! But, she does talk WAY more than me! So, thats a good thing too!(: Haha 
So this week in my training, I had to start taking the leads in the lessons we teach to our investigators! So this week I have been teaching all the lessons! I even had to teach in Fijian! Which is rare here in Nadi! Usually we speak more of the Fijian language when we go deep in the villages  because a lot of the people we teach are hindu or indian.. so they speak english! Haha But Teaching in Fijian was so amazing, and the lesson went surprisingly really good! haha I thought I was totally going to fail! But, I didn't! Haha(: Heavenly Father was definitely on my side for that one!(: Training is going so good! I am loving all the info it gives us! Me and sister lavaka made these little things for an object lesson when we teach about the apostasy! We just cut out a house on paper and then we made it so we have Jesus Christ as the foundation, prophets, apostles, and power as the middle part and then the room is the church! And we talk about how when Jesus died, we still had the apostles and prophets who had the power, so the church could still stand! But then the prophets and apostles died and no one had the power.. so then the church can stand by itself! It makes the lesson so much easier to understand! Especially for the little kids to understand! It even helped me understand it more! So that was a plus! Lets see what else happened this week?! We mostly went to visit alot of less actives! And when we do that we just share a spiritual thought and talk to them! Some of the speak Hindu and some speak Fijian
Okay my funny story of the week! We went to Sobeto again this week! Which by the way, our area got split and so we don't have Sobeto anymore! but we have some really young girls who are our investigators and we introduced them to the elders that are now in Sobeto, but they told them they didn't want to talk lessons from them! So we got permission to go and teach them! But, once we are done teaching them, we can't go up there anymore../: Anyways, we were teaching a girl named Oli! She is 10! She is so sweet but super quiet! I got to teach her in Fijian! haha that was interesting! But, anyways.. so we were in the middle of the lesson and her little sister comes out! Her little sister is 2 and so chubby! Like she weights more than Carly! She is huge! And calling people fat here isn't an insult! haha its a good thing to them! Haha! But anyways, this little girl is so fat! She is so funny! She kept saying to me in the middle of the lesson "Vosa lewa" Which means like stop talking! And it was so so so funny! And then after we just ignored her she sat down with us and just started going "Vinaka.. vinaka.. vinaka" Which means thank you.. haha so she was trying to get us to pay attention to her the whole time! It was Hilarious! This little girl is so cheeky and talks so much! When we asked her questions she would respond so funny! We were dying! The elders were laughing so hard! Haha!(: 
My distrist is so much fun! We are always laughing and having fun! We always joke about how we need to be a united district! But when we are all together we get nothing done! Haha on Tuesdays we have district meetings and so we all meet together and we talk about our week and talk about ways to help our investigators and it should take like an hour but it takes us like 2 1/2 because we all talk so much! but, it is good because we really help each other! On thursdays, we have missionary service! We go and do service for members and we always go together! haha we call ourselves the Moku siga district, which means "waste of time" hahaha it is so funny! We have so much fun! We have become so close like a family!(: 
So cool story for this week(: We were talking to this family! Less active mom and the dad is a methodist! so we were talking to them with the kids and the little girl, mikayla, wanted to bear her testimony after we were done! And she was bearing it and then she goes, "I hope one day I can become a missionary, just like you guys!" Me and sister lavaka looked at eachother and, I feel like grandma saying this.. but our hearts just melted! That was a proud missionary moment! And one i'll never forget! 
Okay so another funny story! I had been holding my pee all day long because here it is weird to use other peoples bathrooms! Haha but anyways, so i can usually hold it but for some reason the other night, i couldn't! I had to pee so bad! Soo... we were at the chapel and we went to get bread because we didn't have any in our flat and the chapel is just across the street from our flat. so we went to get some for the next morning and i couldn't even walk because I had to pee so bad! haha We had to sit there for like 10 minutes until i could move because I had to pee so bad! Sister Lavaka was Laughing so hard! So in Fiji at night time there are a TON of frogs! so i was just standing there and sister lavaka was laughing because i couldn't move and then a frog jumped on my foot and i screamed and totally started to pee my pants... haha yep! I was so scared of that stupid frog and Sister Lavaka was just sitting there DYING LAUGHING! And then I started laughing and we were just dying! Good thing it was like 9 oclock so no one was at the chapel! But oh my gosh! It was the funniest thing! haha(: 
Well that was my week in a shortened version! I wish you guys were here with me so you could all have this amazing experience with me! I can't even begin to tell you how much I am loving it here! I am loving the people and this place and the ward! Sister Mataitoga told me to tell you she says hello and she sends her regards to you and the family(: She is the lady who is like my mom here! She is so sweet!(: But, anyways, I love you guys so so so so so much! you guys are so so so so amazing! Don't ever forget how much i love you guys and how grateful for you! I love you guys so much! Be safe this week and don't forget to feed the missionaries and give them referrals if you can(: It makes our job easier! haha(: 

AU LOMANI VAKALEVU IKO! 
-Sister Rich

A family from the ward!

Sunset walking into town

Walking around! Haha 

This is Hiro! We had his baptism this weekend!

Waiting for the buses! haha