Merry Christmas From FIJI

So we had a great conversation with Elder Stu Jakins on Thursday morning, it was 6:30 Friday morning for him when we called.

Dad asked what he had for Christmas lunch, he said baked beans on toast (he was kidding).

He is known as the "Whiteboy" on his island of 8000 people and only 14 LDS members. One of the investigators of the church kept asking where "White-boy" was from, he said he's from America.

Stu said that there are some random tourists on Levuko, his island, he said their fijian sounds funny and when he asked his companion (a native) if he sounds that bad, his companion didn't say anything.

Go ahead and email me any funnies or insights from your conversation with Stu on Christmas.

Email From Stubot

Yeah im definetely on an Island.

I'm being shaped for my future whether I like it or not :D But im not going to give up on because I know that in the end it's going to be good and if I give up now i give up on the next hard thing. The members here are really nice and so is my companion ^-^ there was a worm in the bathroom today and my first thought was uch gross then my second thought was of Dale haha. My apartment is nice it's like a mobile home and it's in Levuka.

If you google earth Levuka my companion and I go up the hill behind Levuka a lot that's where most of the members live and what not. I definetely don't have your problem here. I sweat even in the night time =P and when it rains I also sweat because the clouds raise the tempterature or something to that affect.

By the way did you think of Sister whatsherface saying it wouldn't last a year today?(yesterday) haha +1-679-995-4086 It will be easier for you to call me on your Christmas day, I worked it out and Im pretty sure if you call me at like 11:30 your time it'll be around 6:30 here or maybe 7:30...either way i'll probably be up.

Oh and one more thing there was a storm the other night lighting would flash and the whole room would be white and then a few seconds later thunder that shook the house would follow. It was quite the adventure.

Oh also I have no scriptural evidence but im pretty pretty sure that Satan actually controlls mosquitos so if you could send some deet in the next package that would be great. ^-^ ok now to get back to work.

Luvemo,

Elder Jakins

Is It Ironic That It Started Snowing On The Day Stu Goes To Fiji?

Posters From Mom and Dad

Bye Bye Stu

Good luck Stu!! You'll do great, have fun in the beautiful Islands of Fiji! Bula!!

Elder Jakins to Depart For Fiji on Monday

My latest email from Stubot:

Hey thanks alot, Im glad the kids enjoyed the presents :D You should totally tell Bro. Egberts brother how amazing Bro. Egbert is he was like the teacher that I learned the most from ^-^ but only tell him this after I leave the MTC k? Anyways the MTC has been pretty fun but im more excited to leave :D so yeah I should be able to email in Suva but if I get sent to routuma or something then no internet there :D Thanks for the prayers Big Bro :D

Stubot Likes Chicken

Stu continues to impress his teacher Bro Egbert. The missionaries think Stu is funny. He's known as the missionary that likes Chicken. I thought this was new information, but apparently, as Janae pointed out, Stubot has already sent letters that involve some Fijian regarding his love of chicken (the food or the animal??) The missionaries think he's pretty funny when he says things like that in Fijian.

Anyways, funny story.... after I got off the phone with Rob, Janae said, "Did Rob visit Stu in the MTC?"

Funny funny funny.....

Thanks for the Letters

Mom and Dad;

Thanks for posting the letters on the other mission site, they've been fun to read.

Dale

Publish Post

I've had 2 letters

I've had 2 letters in total, and I think I've writtent he master missionary about 5

But, who's counting right?!

Anyway, last night my letter through dearelder.com went something like this:

stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot,
stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot,
stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot,
stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot,
stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot,
stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot,
stubot, stubot, stubot, stubot.


I did this only because he would have had the courtesy to do the same...

Of course, I wrote a few more things to him... :)

Tuss

Elder Jakins to Janae Jakins

"haha I've come to the conclusion that my companion is like Dwight from the office just not as cool haha but yesterday I had the inspired thought that I didn't choose my district and i didn't choose my companion but i DID choose to serve a mission and if my district and companion are a part of that then so be it :D so my parents should have my MTC address getting a letter from the kids would be pretty sweet. Thanks for the email too! but I can only check email on thursdays and only for a half hour <.<

anyways I hope everything is going well, I have a picture on my phone that I took for dale and so when i get my other memory card back i'll send it home and hopefully they'll upload it to facebook and you guys can see it because its awesome ^-^"

Elder Jakins Wants Letter From Kids

Stu said it would be fun to get a letter from the kids, that's what we'll be doing for FHE on Mon.

Email from Stu

Sorry, this is a few days old.
So this is my email address for my mission, I can check my email on P-days which is thursday, so getting letters is fun but emails are also fun too :D I love you guys I've recovered from the seperation anxiety of last week and i'm enjoying the MTC im also enjoying the uh....experiance of having a companion <.< hahaha anyways until next thursday!! <3
-Elder Jakins

Update from the MTC

I just got off the phone with Rob who spoke with his Bro, Jesse, Stu's Fijian teacher. Sorry if the details aren't what you hoped for, you know men and their lack of details, i.e. the birth weight, baby length, length of finger nails, skin tone, number of hair follicles...etc.

Stu introduced himself as "Hi I'm Elder Jakins, and I like to play video games" everyone laughed.

Jesse said Stu is doing a stellar job, humble, just as good if not better than all the groups of missionaries that have come through before.

Said the whole group is doing well, no contention, no clicks, no drama, etc. Said they're a really good group.

When Jesse went to Fiji, he didn't use the language he learned for the first year he learned a whole new language, Rotuman or something like that....not to be confused with Romulan...

Rob said Jesse was just raving about Stu and it sounds like he's doing awesome. I asked if it gets frustrating at some point learning the language... he didn't say if he knew. I just think that's a miracle, these missionaries really are guided by the Lord in learning this language that will bless ALL people from ALL nations.

From Tamaqu

Au na lako ka kitaka na ka sa vakarota na Turaga. (Nifai wasa 3:7)

MTC

So my friend Rob's brother is the Fijian teacher in the MTC. He said there are 11 missionaries in Stu's group that are going to Fiji (the largest group in his 3 years that he's been teaching there). Rob said that these teachers get really close to their groups and each one is more amazing than the one before. I think they also mentioned that in the family meeting yesterday.

Anyways, if I get any snippets, I'll post updates.

October 1st, 2008

So, people. The Stubot has been delivered, safe and well not really sound to the MTC because mom, and sisters were in tears!!

Anyway, here are some pictures of the eventful day. Milo wore his "theme" shirt to celebrate Fiji Suva Mission, and the other nice chap in the photos, well, that's Sam.