March 28, 2011

Why hello there everybody!!!!
 Guess what that Tsunami hit us!! haha just kidding! Sorry mom and dad!! :) Were pretty safe here don't you all worry! I know how scared you all are for me! haha Well I'm glad to be writing you all again!! Hope that this week has brought many blessings and that you've all been able to see the hand of the Lord in your daily life!! It's there so look for it if you haven't! Something that I've seen lately that I'm sure all of you have as well is how this truly is the "last days"...Seems like it's just disaster after disaster.  Continue to have that hope and faith in our Savior Jesus Christ and everything will be okay! I promise!!

This week was fun!! Haven’t had single lessons!! Where before we'd have 20-30 a week! Definitely a different mission out here! Serving like crazy! Never been so tired!! But I love it, I love the people here.. They're are absolutely amazing.. The population keeps becoming less and less.. All the members seem to be moving to! We have two branches.  Ones really good it's got 60 or 70 members.  But they're all related! haha the other branch has 12!  If it wasn't for us missionaries that branch would suffer greatly!! We pick everyone up to church with our massive van, we give talks a lot, bless the sacrament, we do it all there! haha It's funny we are definitely the representatives of the church here. 

Our "mission home" is on the same grounds as one of our chapels.  We look after all the chapels and keep them clean and do the repairs.  We do a lot here so we're pretty busy! It's fun to! I'm learning many different things!  The people here are incredible; it really is like that island we all think of where people are living by their own efforts.  They all have their own plantations in the bush which we go help a lot with.  They all hunt and kill a lot of their own food.  The island runs out of supplies a lot because the boat comes once a month.  And the plane once a week but that just carries people not supplies.  Most people here are really old and a lot of them only speak Niuean.  The young families move to New Zealand.  There are still a lot of great families here, but it just keeps decreasing.  You get to know everyone here on the island really good.  See them every day!! haha.  In the mission everyone wants to come here but they don't know what it's really like! Probably the hardest area of the mission.  Just the two of us here and no one to really teach! But I know there's someone out there, there has to be. So we're doing our best to find how we can fulfill our roles and our sacred calling of a missionary.  I love it here! But as well it's a trial! But I welcome this opportunity to learn and grow! In the end it's just an incredible adventure that I get to be a part of! Not much else to report!

 Just living like an islander! Taro, fish, pig, chicken, corn beef, all of that all the time!! haha we ate raw fish, oysters, clams, etc straight from the sea again on Saturday. Played volleyball with the villagers on Friday night again.  Just a different world out here! Very hot! Soooo humid and hot!! It's rough! Our van is really nice though and has awesome A/C so that's a huge tender mercy from the Lord! Still getting used to it all but I'm settling in now finally! haha It's crazy we cut, or mow lawns, if you call them lawns here all the time! When we're thirsty we'll just climb a coconut tree and drink from a coconut! haha that's out it is here!! It's absolutely beautiful here too.. I've never been somewhere more beautiful.  Sunsets are incredible, never seen stars like the ones here.  So all of that sort of stuff is awesome! But the missionary work side of things is hard.. To be honest I'd rather be back in ugly South Auckland or something being a missionary! haha Teaching and talking to everyone is in reality easier than this! haha But I'm grateful to be here and I know it's for a purpose.. It's just different is all!! The Lord wants me here so I'll do everything in my power to serve and do all I can within my power for the people here.. The Lord will take care of everything!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!! I love and miss you all SOO much!!!!! :) 

Hi there everybody!!! :) This week was a fun week! Some more crazy fun
experiences! I hope you all are doing well and always my prayers are
with you!  Well all we do here is service service and more service!!
haha since I've been here we haven't taught anyone.  There's no one to
teach here! haha the population is down to below 1,000 people now.  It
used to be 60% LDS, but all the members have moved! Still most people
here are members.  So we're with members all the time now, mostly
eating cause that's what they love to do! haha you know Feki, Elder
Groberg's companion on Other Side of Heaven? He used to live here, and
he spent a lot of the day yesterday with a relative of his! haha They
call this place the real other side of heaven.  The "rock"of the
Pacific.  A tiny little island but it's lifted up from the ocean with
huge cliffs.  The way to the ocean is through caves.  There's only a
couple of beaches.  The caves and the ocean are absolutely beautiful!
It's incredible here.  The bush and trees are amazing!  So green, it
looks like jurassic park out here.  The people are amazing and
absolutely love the missionaries.  We get special permission to eat
with them every day. haha.  In New Zealand it was only 4 times a week.
Here it's as much as we want!  So hopefully I don't come back fat! We
burn it off with service trust me!  We helped one of the big families
that are members move this last friday.  The mom actually flew with me
here and sat with me.  She's the prime minister of Niue, and she's
moving to do government stuff in New Z.  So another big hit on our 2
little branches.  We do everything here! Bless and do the sacrament.
Run the chapels and all the supplies.  Pick up and take the people to
church in our van.  So it's a lot of fun!  So we are blessing lives
just in a different way!  It's definantely very peaceful here, and
there are breathtaking sceneries everywhere you look.  Just a humble
little place set apart from the world.  The other day we were at the
sea with the people and they were spear fishing and we ate the fish,
crab, and all sorts of stuff just raw right there! haha The people all
live off of the land here, it's just amazing that there's a world like
this! I thought this stuff was in the old days! haha it's been a lot
of fun! Language barriers with a lot of people though! They do speak
english just most not that good haha same with my companion! It's been
an adventure and it will continue to be! :) I'm excited and I know the
Lord has me here for a reason.  So I'll continue to give my all to
these people and I know the blessings and miracles will come!! :) I
love you all so much!!! And hope you all have a wonderful week!!!
Manuena Aho!! :)

March 14, 2011

Falofa Atu!!! :) Hey everybody!! Wonderful as always to be writing back to you all! Hope you all had a wonderful week and that everything is going just spectacular for you all! This week was a great week here! A lot of fun things have happened! A new adventure! I'm here on Niue Island right now! Don't know if much of you have heard of it I sure hadn't before the mission! A tiny little island! There's about a little less than 1000 that live here.  Little villages scattered all throughout the island.  We have the nicest vehicle on the island that's for sure with our van.  I have lots of cool pictures of it all but today during pday we went through all these caves and i kind of dropped my camera! So hopefully I can get it fixed than I'll send all my pics! But for now you'll just have to wait! So we'll go back to where I left off last week!  So the last week we had the last of everything, my last seeing any other missionaries besides my new companion for 6 months! haha Anyways it was pretty fun because everyone was so excited for me and the journey that lays ahead.  I worked until the end in my last area.  Never before had i worked that hard, prayed that hard, and sacrificed all to the Lord.  And after all was said and done the very last night in the area we were blessed enough by the Lord to have one baptism.. Clayton!! :) That was a really fun incredible experience.. At the baptism I had a remarkable experience.  I got this overwhelming confirmation from the Lord that he was pleased with the work that I did in Tauranga.  That moment meant so much to me.  And I know that God let me see that one baptism as a gift so that I felt and saw that my hard work did bring salvation and happiness to some soul.  That literally made it ALL worth it.. So the next few days was just chaos until I finally got to leave to Niue!:) I came on a tiny plane that was packed because of some meeting in Niue.  But a plane only flies there once a week. 

When I got here I just saw heaps of bush and cliff faces and just ocean as far as the eye can see!  When the plane door opened felt like heat just explodes on ya!  Since I've been here it's just a constant sweat! It's so hot and humid here it's unreal!  I left New Zealand right when it was starting to get cold again.  So I won't have a winter for 2 years now!  I saw Elder Halavaka for just a sec as we passed each other and he took his one way back to nz! I guess I'm the senior comp and driver even though I don’t know the language at all! Elder Losalu is a Tongan that I came out with and he's got the language down and knows and loves the people very much. So it's a completely different world here!  I mean we've killed a pig and cleaned and ate it and it's head!! Climb coconut trees, catch and eat crabs, the list goes on and on!! Just living an island life! 

There are no investigators here though.  You just do service and visit and eat with the members all day and hope for someone to find and teach through them.  So trust and love of the people here is huge and that's the only way it can happen.  No talking to people on the streets anymore, they average like one lesson a week.. It's really hard here actually.  I'm used to where we had a teaching appointment every hour of the day! Now we eat every meal with the people, we're allowed to; they see it as an enormous blessing. President gives us permission to play volleyball with the people to get to know them and try to find people to teach.  So it's just completely different here.  Everything that I've gained and learn feels like it is just getting put in the closet and i don't like it...

But I know this is all for a reason and from the Lord so that I may be able to bless the people here and be an instrument in the Lord's hands... I'm excited but it may be hard! The language is so hard! But I'm trying! The people here are just amazing... There are two branches with 20 or 30 in them each.  But they are such incredible people. This really is like the other side of heaven.. It's amazing but I need to keep slapping myself and letting myself know that I'm not on vacation! Ocean everywhere, beautiful cliffs, just absolutely green, SO green!!! Huge trees, coconut trees, dirt roads and little houses.  But everyone here LOVES the missionaries! I'm scared I'm going to get huge! They love feeding us!! haha So things are going great here! Today for pday we visited all the caves and took heaps of pictures!! Things are good I just don't want to fall to in love with the island too much!! haha I'm definitely lucky and blessed to be among these people.. I'm looking forward to these 6 months! I miss and love you all!! Hope you have a wonderful week!! Love ya!!! :)

Elder Devey

Niue Island!

http://www.touristmaker.com/islands/niue.html

March 6, 2011

Hi everybody!!! :) I thought the next time I would be on a plane or the next time I'd be leaving New Zealand would be to go home! Guess I was wrong! The Lord has something else in store for me! A call to a new land! So next email you get or next time you hear about me will be on the island of Niue.. The adventure of a lifetime!! Buckle up ladies and gentlemen were in for a ride!!! I'm just absolutely pumped that's all I have to say!!

So this week Elder Espino and I really focused everything on consecration.  We studied all about it and this week really went far and beyond to consecrate ourselves as servants to the Lord to a greater and higher degree.  We saw so many miracles!! This week was probably the best week of this transfer.  The whole transfer has been a trial and I've never worked so hard in my entire life.  But our efforts with the Lord's grace and mercy is all starting to pay off.  Right after I leave there will be 5 baptisms before the end of the month.. Answering President Porter's call of baptizing weekly.  I can proudly say that this transfer I served with "No Regrets" though I won't be able to see the fruit of our labors it was all so worth it..Not only will these lives be blessed greatly and they'll be saved, but my soul and my own life has been blessed greatly over this transfer.. I learned lessons that can never be taken away from me.  I was shaped and molded to someone I never thought possible I could become.  I now have a testimony that I know with all my heart can never diminish or weaken.  I know that this event this transfer happened for a reason.  And I have purpose to believe that it was to make me into that person, that instrument, that the Lord wanted me to be going to Niue.. Maybe I wasn't where I was supposed to be so the Lord threw me into the "refiner's fire" to get me to be that missionary that was foreordained to go forth to Niue.  But I can tell you now that I can confidently say that I am ready.. I've never been so excited for anything in my life.. This will be an experience that I will never forget and it's in a few days!!!! :)

This week was wonderful!  We had a mission tour/conference with President Porter and Elder Callister of the Area Presidency.  It was amazing, and had great messages.  Apparently all these areas out here in the country are very difficult and hard to baptize.  (Which I've noticed by how the people treat ya haha) But that hasn't stopped us! This area will be baptizing just like the areas in the city this month! So it can be done! With that faith and trust in the Lord and hard work anything and everything is possible.  There are no limits with God!! :) But anyways it was a lot of fun talking to everyone about Niue.  I hung out a lot with an Elder that served there about a year ago.  Some incredible experiences! He got me so excited! Than at the end E. Callister interviewed 5 random missionaries but President wanted me to be interviewed by him before I go.  So I had the privilege of sitting one on one with him and having an interview.  He was the President for the Toronto East mission Ben! haha right after you left though! Anyway he gave some wonderful advice about Niue and we had a great talk.  Some miracles this week I will see a baptism right before I leave! Wednesday night! haha Clayton had stuff in the way this weekend again so we're going to just jump the gun and get it over with! So ALL this hard work and the very last night I'm here I'll finally see a soul saved.. And I know that will make it ALL worth it.. So can't wait for that!! :)

Heading off to a new land and can't wait to talk to you all next week again!! I love you all so much!! Have a great week!!!

Elder Devey

Hey everybody!! :) How is everyone this week?! I'm doing great thanks for asking! haha Just been preparing and getting myself ready for the adventure ahead of me! Sounds like some really fun crazy stuff out there! And I just can't wait! Sounds like a completely different world out there.. The only thing that will be a little hard about leaving this area is we have a lot of good stuff going! These areas in Tauranga and Rotorua are pretty hard to baptize. We've been struggling a bit.  Our companionship has done great on everything else just not that final commitment and step of finally getting them baptized.  And so the week I leave right after we have 3 people being baptized.. All my hard work here and I won't be able to see the fruits!! :( So that's kind of rough, but at least as long as they do get baptized that's all that matters to me.  This whole transfer we've just worked so hard to get this area back on it's feet and rolling again.  Things are looking very promising for the upcoming elder.  Pretty sure Espino will stay haha. It's been a wonderful experience and great opportunity to be training.  I've learned so much about myself and I've grown alot in these last 4 weeks.  It's really weird because New Zealand really feels like a new home and now I'm even leaving here! It's like I got another mission call when I got the news.  It is a whole different mission out there and a completely different experience.  I'm just pumped!

So as a lot of you have heard New Zealand had a horrific earthquake.  That is far away from me though, that's on the South Island.  Add those people in Christchurch in your prayers.  These last days are just getting worse and worse.  Apparently the fault that Christchurch was on there's one that Tauranga is on just as big! haha but I'll be out of here soon so no reason to worry! :)

This week was a great week, just nothing I love more than serving the ward!  I'm leaving to Niue on the 12th I think? So got a couple more weeks here! Sounds like I'll be missing conference! And wingers even worst!! I don't know if they do a broadcast in Niue probably not.  So all I really know about Niue is that I'm driving an old van, one of the only cars on the island.  Everyone loves missionaries there.  They do celebrations for them.  A lot of seafood and fruit! Takes 40 minutes to drive from one side to the other.  You'll know everyone there.  You play a lot of volleyball and do a lot of service.  Not much actual "proselyting" like here.  I do try to pick up the language as I go.  They do speak some english as well.  It's for sure 6 months.  The people just sound amazing! And it's just this beautiful little island where we're the only missionaries there!  Those are some of the things I've heard and some other little things but it just sounds like it's going to be an amazing adventure.  Niue is inbetween the cook islands and Tonga I think.  It's further away from New Zealand than Tonga is and it's just a puny little island.  So it will be just like the Other Side of Heaven! :) haha They call me Kolipoki here! just kiddin!  But this will be a lot of fun! I talked to some Niueans this week who visited our ward and they just freaked out hearing I was going there and they said they'd be visiting me when I get there.  So not much more news just getting a deep breath before the plunge! It's just crazy to think that how long i've been out already that's how long i'll be there.  Feels like i've been gone forever!!! Also feels just like last week I was home.  It's a time warp! But anyways this will be my home soon.. Niue.. Can't beleive it it still hasn't hit me! But it still hasn't hit me that I'm even on my mission! Crazy how things work!! haha :) Pretty sure I'll still be able to contact everyone just fine and it will all work out I havent heard anything like that so nobody has to worry!! :) I love you all so much and I'm grateful for all your support! Hope you all have a wonderful week! I love you!! :)

 

Elder Devey

 

Feb 20, 2011

Aloha everybody! So a lot of fun things and exciting news this week! First off, just like that the Lord has given me another big calling and a challenge! As you saw in the heading! I think the family already has heard because the President called them. But he needed to find out exactly how obedient and trustful I am because I'm going to be all alone soon! So our mission covers all of the North Island of New Zealand, and a random island 1400 miles away close to Tonga and those Pacific islands.  It's a tiny spec of land and every once in a while they'll send two random missionaries there.  Out of the 200 something missionaries in our mission somehow I was lucky and blessed enough to get this call. President called me earlier this week and just started asking questions about my worthiness and how obedient I am.  He's like, “alright cause I'm going to need to know I can trust you, I won't be hearing from you for 6 months” I was like “what?!” He tells me you're going to Niue! Not only is this very rare but I feel it was very inspired. 

Growing up I always had the vision that I would serve among people like that on a small island and I kid you not! I just started crying when I heard the news.  I've never been more excited for anything in my entire life!! Not only is New Zealand amazing but to get to have an opportunity like this.. It will change everything about my life. It's still going to be hard to though.. New Zealand has come to feel like home, and now I'm leaving that too.  Background from what I've heard of Niue! Don't know much maybe you guys could tell me more.  But a couple months ago they ran out of toilet paper haha.  The van the missionaries use is one of the only vehicles on the island so people are always interested. (I get to be the designated driver by the way haha.) Only a tiny airplane will land there once every couple weeks and everyone goes to watch it.

 I'll have to learn Niuean as I go! So I do get a language! haha :) I hear they're wonderful people but it's hard to baptize there, so I may not be seeing the success that I've been able to here.  Doesn't mean anything though! I'll just go out there with the same mindset of saving souls!  There’s not much people that live there, you apparently end up getting to know everyone.  Do lots of service and you literally get to have a mission like the "other side of heaven!" haha except the island's smaller than Tonga!  It's really sad though because a lot of the missionaries I've come really close to or even President and his wife will be gone when I get back... It will be a whole different mission.  By the way we found out our new President this week! They'll be coming in July! So a lot of that will be really hard.. But I'm so excited.. Right away I got a confirmation from the Lord that this was right.. That the Lord needs me there for a reason.. I can't wait to go and be a representative of Jesus Christ on that island.. It's going to be so exciting.  My comp is going to be Elder Losalu, he's a Tongan that came in with me.  Apparently the language is really similar to Tongan so they always have a Tongan and a palangi (white person) that go.  I'll definitely be the only white person there! haha Kolipoki! haha :) It's sad I'm leaving this area so fast.  Just got here now I'll be going.  We finally have gotten the area rolling again and I'll be taking off! So that's kind of hard! It's going to be a whole new world there.  This will definitely be the furthest away from home I've ever been.. News with this area, our baptism we were going to have this week is being pushed back 2 weeks.. So I may not see one in this area.  At the end of last year we baptized weekly! But the first 2 months of my "full year" on the mission we've had nothing.. But I know my efforts haven't been in vain.  Though I don't get to see the fruit of my labors I'm satisfied and comforted with my efforts.  I truly have been giving my all, I feel I have been serving with "no regrets".  So maybe this is my miracle and my blessing from my labors is preparing me for a new adventure on Niue..:) It's hard to not get excited or think about it! Trying my best to focus!!!  I love you all and I thank you for the support!!! :) It's amazing to see the blessings and miracles back home!! I love you so much!!!

Elder Devey