KADAVU - Week 7

Bound for the City!

Bula vinaka!

It's been another amazing week here in Kadavu! I'm writing this while waiting for my plane today, we'll be flying back to the main island for a few days for Zone Conference! So this'll be quick!

We had another week of trying to find people to teach! Still not a lot of success, but we'll keep going! We're opening up a unit of the church about an hour and a half walk away from the chapel, so we're hoping people will start going to that! There's also talks for us to get a truck in Kadavu! I'm so so so excited if it works out, since I haven't driven since I left the states!

This week we had an interesting run-in with a drunk... So we were just walking one day when a man called us over to him. It was obvious that he was drinking with a friend, so we just said hi and went to keep walking. Then he ran over to us. He grabbed my hand and shoved a beer towards it and said, "Take a drink brother." After I respectfully said thanks but no thanks, he said, "No, you can't say no to me brother, TAKE A DRINK." After I declined again he got really angry and asked, "Why are you here in Fiji?" I responded, "To preach the gospel of Jesus Christ." He then tried to argue with me saying that if I didn't drink, then I couldn't preach the gospel. He said that as soon as I took a drink, he would go to church. I laughed SO hard. I couldn't hold it in. His friend had smirk on his face too. I've never heard such a bogus argument. He said that if I drank, THEN I would qualify to preach the gospel. So after he went on and on FOREVER we finally kept walking. Oh boy, the things that Satan puts in the minds of people. Don't worry, my testimony got all the stronger from it!

Alright that's about it! Love you all! Keep on keepin' on!

Au lomani kemuni!

-Elder Jaxson Jeremy Miller

KADAVU - Week 6

Rain rain rain!

Bula Vinaka!

It's me again! And holy cow has it been rainy. It feels like it's rained all day, every day this month, save 2-3 days. It's crazy. We have to hike pretty far to get to investigators houses, so we've been slippin' and slidin' everywhere in the mud! But I can proudly say that I've only fallen on my butt ONCE. Haha. 

The work is picking up! It's definitely not on fire, and we don't have tons of people to teach. But as we're working our hardest every day to find people to teach, we can definitely see the Lord's hand in helping us find people! Thank you for your prayers and your thoughts about me, I can literally feel them and it keeps us going! Thank you!

Today is a National holiday in Fiji! It's in honor of Fiji's first ever Olympic medal, and it happens to have been a Gold. This year is the first year that Rugby was featured as an Olympic sport, and Fiji won! So the Prime Minister declared a public holiday. Everyone is going crazy. Everyone's wearing blue, there's music playing everywhere, and there's a festival thing going on at the high school here in Kadavu! I can't even imagine what the celebrations are like in Suva. Haha. Go Fiji!! (And USA for winning the medal count... Haha)

For a spiritual thought today I want to share about the Book of Mormon. It has been so useful in bringing people to the truth on mission because it is just that - the truth! But you can't know that if you don't continually read it! So.... Read it! Again! If you read it with true intent, it well NEVER lose it's power. I promise. 

Well... That's about all I can think of for now! I hope you're all doing well! I love you all so much! Keep on keepin' on!

Au lomani kemuni!

-Elder Jaxson Jeremy Miller

A Fijian-style dinner

Some of Yavulu village

The chapel in Yavulu (a room in someone's house)

KADAVU - Week 5

Kadavu 

Bula Vinaka!

Another week another dollar! Except not because we don't get paid... Another week, more blessings! Haha. Life is just great out here on the lonely island of Kadavu! 

I never know what to write about on these! Hopefully I kind of help you guys feel how happy the life of a missionary is! Because it's great. I'll try to describe life in Kadavu a bit. 

Our flat is up on a hill that overlooks the whole bay. It's nicer than our last one in Nabua, surprisingly! It has electricity (when the village generator is on, which is usually from like 6 am - 11 pm). It's just the house of a Fijian family that moved out, so it's just like a Fijian house. But the church buys us a washer, stove, and fridge. So it's pretty nice. TONS of mice. So we borrowed 2 cats from some members, and they're having a feast on the mice. Haha. Eating is a lot better than in Nabua because we have a fridge now. Haha. Some eggs, some bread, butter, tuna, noodles, crackers, and even peanut butter some times! Haha. Not gourmet meals or anything, but it works. Our members feed us WAY well when we eat with them. We have to walk a LOT. One village we go to is a 4 hour walk one-way. Haha. Yeah. But it's such a beautiful island! The water in the bay is a beautiful light blue. People go diving all the time because the coral reef is massive and there are so many fish. There are 4 species of birds that are only found in Kadavu, out of the whole world. The parrots are beautiful. Needless to say, I love it here!

I passed my one-year mark for my mission!! I can't believe how fast time is going by! It is flying. For my year mark, we had a nice dinner with some members. They cooked me a WAY nice dinner, including brownies at the end! (courtesy of Grandma Miller - THANK YOU!) It definitely doesn't feel like it's been a year. I still feel like a new missionary! But I am so thankful for my mission. I have learned so many things and continue to learn every day! If any of you reading this are not sure whether or not to serve a mission, just pray about it! Have the humility to ask Heavenly Father what He wants, and be willing to do whatever he says. Just know that if you serve, you will NEVER in your entire life forget it.

Well that's about all for now! If you have questions just email me! I love you guys so much! Until next week, keep on keepin' on!

Au lomani kemuni!

-Elder Miller

KADAVU - Week 4

Where in the World is Elder Miller? 

WE FOUND HIM! 

"Hello from the Other Side!"

Bula Vinaka! 

Wow it feels like it's been so long since I've written for this blog! I'm sorry! It's SO hard to find internet on this island. But I'll update you a bit on what's been happenin' in the life of Elder Miller! (I only have a few minutes so I have to go as fast as I can)

So as you know, I got transferred to Kadavu, where it is only my companion and I and our area includes 4 different islands. There are members spread out all over the island. We spent the first couple days in the main village, Vunisea. But then we took a fibre-glass outboard motor boat to the other side of the island to a village called Yavulu where there is a Unit of the church. We spent 2 weeks there, teaching as MUCH as we could in what time we had. We also got to baptize 4 people!! Their names are Joji, Jone, Mere, and Loata. They're all 14-17 years old, and way fun. The baptism was amazing! We just went to a little river in the jungle/forest/whatever it's called and baptized them! Hopefully I'll be able to upload pictures someday soon! Unfortunately I won't be able to today. But rest assured, this place is BEAUTIFUL!

But now we're back in Vunisea. It has been raining, raining, raining, all day every day for the past week, and doesn't look like it will end any time soon. But I love rain so it's ok. The work here on this side of the island isn't moving super quick, so we're working our hardest to find people to teach. We had an attendance of FOUR people at sacrament meeting this week, including us. It was a little disheartening, but it kinda just kindled the fire that we have to spread the gospel, so we can fill that chapel! 

As for how I'm doing. Haha. I am doing so so good. Kadavu is so beautiful. There are tons of parrots! Way pretty colors. They fly around everywhere, sqwaking. The water is an amazing light blue. The people are so friendly. I am absolutely in love with this place, and with life in general!

Thanks for all the love and emails! I love you guys so much! I'm sorry if I'm unable to email you personally, as you know, internet is very limited. But I'll do my best. Anyways, that's about it! So until next week, keep on keeping on!

Au lomani kemuni! 

-Elder Jaxson Jeremy Miller

I googled for pictures of Kavala / Yavulu, and this is what I got:

Kavala Bay! Photo Credit: Cyndi and Rich 

"Dark Nights"  The skies black. Photo Credit: Cyndi and Rich

"View looking West across Kavala Bay towards Kavala Village" Photo Credit: Jeremy Schierer

Kavala Bay (for Reals Jaxson???). Photo Credit: Nancy Thompson Mahler

Crimson shining parrot

Collared Iory