Today was really one of those surprise great days! I started off getting over to the office and working on some projects before going to a 10am baptism. Jan had taken Sister Dakuiboca to the 8:30 am temple session and wasn’t expecting to be available early enough to get to the baptism on time and I was to go on my own. This was the baptism of a man named Leone. The entire baptismal service was held in Fijian. Elder Dowda conducted and Elder Chlarsen was to baptize the brother. It was for a different ward from the ward we normally attend but the service was held at the building we go to which is very convenient to the mission home and office. They had the words to the hymns printed on the program so I was able to participate some by singing along. (It is fairly easy to sing in Fijian once you learn how each letter is pronounced since each letter only has one sound.) I love witnessing the baptism of a convert. It is always so moving to feel the Spirit at the time of the baptism. Afterward, Jan had joined us and we sang a few songs while waiting and then heard testimonies of the man and one other individual. Although I couldn’t follow a lot of what was said, it was obvious from his voice and the words he said, that this testimony was heart-felt and he had spoken these words before. He was well prepared. After the baptism, we had some refreshments and Jan and I got to speak with the man for a few minutes. He spoke very good English. We learned that he was a fisherman by trade and had passed up his turn on a 7 week fishing trip in order to be baptized. He told us that he first began taking the lessons back in February but didn’t really get excited about the Church and what it meant to him until June of this year. He felt badly that the two missionaries who first began teaching him were no longer there to witness the baptism. I told him they would be so proud to learn of his decision to be baptized. We encouraged him to be regular at attending Church and to continue to pray and study the scriptures every day. It was a great way to start the day.
After we had come home, a Sister from the Tacoma area stopped by with three of her daughters to say hell-o. Jan had helped her figure out some things to do to get to Suva to have her daughter’s injured finger get examined by a specialist. She and her daughters had spent the last 3 weeks in Kadavu where they had brought a lot of school supplies that they had collected as donations in the U.S. This was the second time they had done this. A good friend of theirs in Kadavu had a son who was boarding with a man here in Suva. The man let them stay the night there as well as they came to get her daughter some medical attention before they made their way back to the states. After we visited with them for 15 or 20 minutes, we went outside where the man who had helped them was waiting in the car. We had learned that he was the music director for one of the most successful student choirs in Fiji. He had told this sister that he loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and had all their CD’s. He got out of the car and was very friendly as we spoke with him. After a few minutes we took them into the mission office to show them around there. One of the security officer at the front gate went with us. As we were talking in the mission office, the security guard (who is a member of the Church) explained that he and this man had gone through grade school together at a Methodist grade school where this music teacher’s father was a Methodist minister. He commented that his father is still a very well respected Methodist minister in Fiji. Jan had asked him about whether he knew of any piano tuners. He said that the only one he knew was from Australia and he came here once or twice per year to tune a few of the piano’s owned by state run schools. He said he didn’t think there was anyone on the island who did piano tuning. We gave him a copy of the most recent Ensign, and a pass along card with our name and phone number. We had asked him to let us know the next time his choir was going to perform and to also let us know when the piano tuner was coming to town. Both Jan and I were struck by how interesting it was that this member family came to stay with him, they then had him bring them to the temple grounds to see us and here one of his good friends from grade school was a member of the Church and worked at the temple grounds. We gave him a hymn book in Fijian and one in English and he asked that I sign each one. He told me that a number of his LDS friends would be impressed and jealous that he had an autographed copy of their hymnalJ. What a fun encounter of a very nice man!
We then had the opportunity to go to another baptism. This time it was a baptism in our home ward. Timoci and Lagilagi were husband and wife and were baptized along with a young woman named Alumita. Even though this service was conducted by our English speaking ward, the service was conducted in Fijian. The Bishop baptized the couple and Elder Malo (one of my assistants) baptized the other young woman. This service went very similarly to the first service of the day. Afterward, we shook the hand of each new member and gave them some words of encouragement. Just as with the morning baptisms, I really felt a strong spirit as each was baptized. This is truly a special event!
After this baptism, I hurried over to the office to do some work for a couple of hours before our 6pm dinner with Sister Viramu and Sister Dakuiboca who were both finishing their missions. At dinner we had these two sisters, the two assistants, and Elder and Sister Barfuss. Dinner was wonderful as usual and we enjoyed telling stories about our missions as we reminisced. Following dinner, we had a brief testimony meeting. We started with a song and a prayer and then each of these sisters bore their testimony. Sister Viriamu is from Tahiti and speaks French and asked me to interpret for her during her testimony. She seemed very comfortable, however, listening and laughing at stories told in English throughout the night. Both these sisters had served very well. Both had a strong influence on the other missionaries and had found success on their missions. As it came time for my counsel and testimony, I commended them both for the wonderful powerful influence they had been and told them how much they would be missed. I told them also of what a great blessing I had personally had by having a returned sister missionary as my wife and the mother of my children. I told them they would be a great blessing to their family because they had served a mission. These two sisters will be sorely missed here in the mission but will be a great addition back in their home ward and stake.
We closed with a song and a prayer and then had some final photos. I love these meals and testimony meetings with missionaries who have completed their missions. It is always a strong spirit felt and a mature testimony heard. Similar to my delight in receiving returned missionaries home from their missions, this has to be one of my favorite parts of this calling.
I didn’t realize at the beginning of this day, just how fulfilling and rich this day would be.
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