Elder Tevita Vimahi: Nashville, Tennessee Mission

  Whats Up everybody!!! Lot has changed in the past 2 weeks. I am now serving in Bowling Green, Kentucky!! Crazy part is I was told before my mission that this was my Uncle John's favorite area when he served here over 25 years ago. But not only have i switched areas...I'm doing Swahili work! Im called to this area to do ONLY Swahili work. Bowling Green is what they call a sanctuary city so apparently they have people from Africa coming to live here all the time. As a missionary normally we are supposed to talk to everyone that we possibly can. People walking the streets, taking out their trash, telling them to roll down their window at stop lights to invite them to church, gas stations, getting out of their cars at apartment complexes, everyone. But this area is different. I asked my new companion Elder Jensen whos been in this area almost 6 months  "So i know we're doing Swahili work but do we still talk to everyone and just send their info to the other missionaries ...

  What's good everyone!! Long time no see haha It's been crazy out here but crazy is normal. This Transfer has been super fast and we're already on the last week. I've been out in Tullahoma, TN with my companion Elder Crapo who's awesome. I also have been a missionary for over a year now! At the beginning of my mission the days were long but the weeks were short and now it feels like the days are short and the weeks are shorter. Kinda puts into perspective how short a mission is. Everytime I think about it I feel like I hit an awakening because I realize that I have a little less than a year left and it feels like I'm running out of time. I'm trying my best to make sure that I'm constantly improving each and everyday so that I can know by the time I go home that I've given it my all and did everything I could to be better. I refuse to go home the same person that I was when I came out. I was definitely not impressed with who I was when I came out💀🤣...

Elder Tevita Vimahi has been doing well.  They have been working as often as weather permits and doing a lot of walking.  He says he has been working at being more disciplined and forcing himself to do things he might normally hesitate doing.  As an example of this, he told us about an evening this past week when they decided to call former contacts.  These are phone numbers previous missionaries had left of people they reached out to before.  Sometimes on these contacts is a bit of background information.  On one contact Elder Vimahi noticed the background information said the gentleman was Jewish.  He thought to himself that a Jewish man probably wouldn’t be interested in hearing about the gospel and planned to just set the name aside.  But, remembering his goal to do things that he hesitates doing, he decided to call anyway.  When he called, a man picked up and said, “Hello!”  Elder Vimahi was a little surprised at the joy that seemed...

Elder Tevita Vimahi is doing well!  He was transferred 2 weeks ago from Clarksville, Tennessee to Elkton, Kentucky.  He is now a District Leader (DL) and held his first district council.  This is a meeting where those within his district get together and discuss about their goals and data, share problems they might be having in the area about some of their people and then everyone counsels together to help resolve issues or come up with possible solutions. This week Elder Vimahi has not been driving much because of the icy roads.  Their mission president, President Galland counseled them to refrain from traveling on the roads for safety.  So, they have been walking a lot.  Elder Vimahi mentioned that they had stopped by the gas station to get a drink and as they continued on their way, walking to their next destination, his drink started to turn into slush while it was in hand!  Pretty crazy! I check the weather often where my boys are serving and took...

 What's up everybody!!!! How's everyone doing?! Everything's been good out here in the field. It's finally 2024! I feel old now because the missionaries coming in were born in 2005 haha. It's crazy that I've been out 9 months! Almost at a year! Sorry, it's been so long since I've written an email. My mom tells me to write one every week but I just keep forgetting but I told her I should be a little less selfish with my time and update everyone on how I've been doing as often as I can. As You can tell by the title of this email. I'm now in Elkton, Kentucky. I've been here for only a few days. But I really like it. it's deep in the country. So it's a very, very small town and everything is walking distance. The church is literally 2 minutes away and I don't mean a 2 minute drive. It's a 2 minute walk.  The Southern hospitality is real down here in the country. Because we'll knock on someone's door that doesn't know u...

The last 2 weeks Elder Tevita Vimahi has been busy “in the service of his fellow men”. Tornados came through a good portion of Tennessee and did a lot of damage.  Elder Vimahi and his companion were out working when they got a message from their Zone Leaders that they needed to return home immediately.  They were alarmed at the message but were obedient and did as they were directed.  Both he and his companion made it home safe and only lost power for just an hour or so.  In fact, all of the missionaries in their area were safe and accounted for.  A few of them lost power for longer periods of time but that was the extent of the effect the tornado how on the missionaries.  This week has been filled with opportunities to serve by cleaning up the aftermath of the tornados.