Elder Jaxson Jeremy Miller - Fiji Suva Mission

Monday, June 13, 2016

NABUA - Week 20

To Bring the World His Truth

Bula Vinaka!

Hello again! This past week good! It was definitely one of the harder weeks of my mission. But that's what makes it so great. You go through a tough few weeks that really test your endurance and faith, but when you come out of it, you're all the stronger!

The main reason why this week was tough was the fact that we couldn't find very many people to teach. I don't know what happened but all of the sudden everyone decided to be too busy to let us teach them. Haha. We'd spend whole days in villages and get only a couple lessons. It's super disappointing sometimes to know you worked as hard as you could, and not see any results in your numbers. But again, as long as you just have a good attitude about everything, it doesn't matter what comes!

Some good news is that we have a some people people progressing towards baptism! They should be ready next month. They're awesome and we'll keep working our hardest to make sure they're ready to enter the waters.

Some more good news is that our District is really getting along! We are so close. It's a blast to be around them. On P-Days we play rugby, soccer, volleyball, ping pong, and anything else we can think of. And it's that kind of bond where you go 100% competitive mode while playing and still have a BLAST. There's 1 missionary from Samoa, 1 from Marshall Islands, 4 from the US, 2 from New Zealand, 1 from Kiribati, and 1 from Hawaii. I've been able to meet so many new people from all over the world on my mission and have formed awesome friendships. Missions bless you in more ways than just spiritually!

This week I've been thinking a lot about the power of the scriptures. I've left mine in Savusavu for 2 weeks so I've been ACHING to read them. I've only been able to use my companion's when he's not. It made me realize just how much they really mean to me, and how important they are in our lives. PLEASE never forget the power of the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon. If you don't have a good habit of reading every single day, adjust and make it a habit! Even if only for 5-10 minutes! Make personal goals and set a time you're going to review them and see how you're doing! It will bless you IMMENSELY.

Ok well that's about it for this week! Thanks again for turning in! I hope you all are happy and staying strong in the gospel! Feel free to email me if you have questions or just want to say hi! I love you all! Until next week, keep on keepin' on!

Au lomani kemuni!

-Elder Jaxson Jeremy Miller

Trying to be artsy....

A nice pathway to an investigator's house

Getting ready to weave a mat

I spy with my little eye ... a fijian

List of investigators and rough plan for the week

I always have your guys' picture up!

Monday, June 6, 2016

Best buddies - Happy Birthday Cameron (Song)

Jaxson sends Cameron a special Happy Birthday song

May 25, 2016

NABUA - Week 19

Staying in Nabua

Bula Vinaka!

So, transfer week is over! As it turns out, both my companion and I are staying in Nabua! To be honest I was kinda surprised, but definitely not disappointed! I love Nabua! I'm stoked to have another 6 weeks here. Also, sorry that I wasn't able to email last week. We were SUPER busy last Monday. Please forgive me! I felt so bad the whole week. I'll try my best to never miss another Monday!

Before I tell about my week, I'd just like to thank my family for being the BEST ever. I've received emails from so many of you and it makes me so so happy. Thank you for remembering me even though I'm so far away! Sometimes I get worried that all my little cousins will forget me and not recognize me when I get off that plane, but your emails assure me otherwise and keep me going! Thank you, I love you all so much!!

As far as my week, it went GREAT! As my companion and I continue to try our very best to hit the goals we set each week, the Lord blesses us 10-fold! We've seen miracles in our area for sure. Something that we've focused on is not being afraid to invite ANYONE (yes, missionaries get nervous to teach lessons sometimes). We promised each other that if even the slightest inkling of a prompting comes to either one of us, we act immediately. I have literally felt God's love for me as I open my mouth! I promise that as you guys try your best to open your mouth, you will feel an amazing feeling inside afterwards, no matter what they say in reply!

A highlight we had was a combined church service. All the churches (a total of 7 different denominations) in the area met together Sunday afternoon for a combined service. It was awesome! It's an effort to try to improve the atmosphere in the area. Try to build relationships, no matter the religion. I loved it. After all, we're all sons and daughters of God. Fijians are just the best aren't they!?

Funny: There's this one girl in a village that we're teaching named Kiesa. Here's the story of the first day we met her: One day we were going from house to house in a new village sharing messages. When we finished almost every house in the village, we heard of a house that was a little ways into the woods. So we walked along the path. When the house came in view, we saw legs run into the forest next to the house. We started laughing our heads off. Seeing that they couldn't be straight up with us and just tell us they're not interested, we decided to make it a game. So we played hide and seek! Before walking in the forest we counted to 10 really loud and then started walking in looking for the person. At one point we heard branches break just ahead of us. So I walked toward it and a Fijian man stood up out of the bushes and acted like nothing was weird. Just said hi and asked how we were. I laughed SOOO hard. I asked if he had a wife and he said that she was home. (We had already looked in the house, it only had one room and there was nobody in there) So we walked back to the house and the wife came out from underneath a blanket she was hiding under...... Hahahaha, the life of a missionary.

Spiritual: We taught a lesson to a girl named Senimili (which for some reason is the name Jane in English). We taught from a picture book we have of the Old Testament stories. After the lesson we asked her if she wants to takes lessons from us and she straight said no. Which I was surprised and saddened at but kinda glad because most Fijians won't tell you straight up. Haha. But anyways, we said alright and closed with a prayer. In my prayer I asked that Heaven'y Father would one day give her the desire to take the missionary lessons. When I said "amen", she opened her eyes and asked if we could come back the next day to teach her the lessons. If that doesn't show the power of prayer, I don't know what does!

For a spiritual thought this week, I would just like to recommend a book. For those of you that are trying to build your knowledge of the New Testament, Christ's life, or of the gospel in general, this book is a necessity. Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. I finished it this week, and I can honestly say that it built up my testimony in this gospel SO MUCH. I learned so much about Christ. As our goal as Christians is to be more like Christ, it is a must read!

Well that's pretty much it for me! I've had an awesome week. I hope you all have too! As usual, thanks for reading, and keep on keepin' on!

Au lomani kemuni!

-Elder Jaxson Jeremy Miller