Wednesday, November 23, 2016

November 21st - Fun kids & creepy red contacts








The kid standing up is one of the kids of the family we are teaching.  
His name is Atamu (Adam) and we always ask him where Eva (Eve) is.  haha


We love and miss our missionary.

This week had a lot of potential but didn't end up as we hoped. The family we are teaching is really excited to get baptized.  They were set to get baptized this week, but she said she first needed to get released from her responsibilities in her past church. She's going back to Upolu next month and coming back and then she will be baptized..  It is a big decision for her and her family and we want to make sure she is comfortable with her decision and the timing. 
The 18-year-old young man who was set to be baptized the 12th of this month has been reset for the 3rd of December.  He hasn't smoked for over a week since we gave him the blessing so hopefully he makes it to church this Sunday so he can get baptized!!

D&C 15:6

And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth 
unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls 
unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.



The thing I really like about this scripture is how it says we'll rest together with the people we bring into the gospel together with our father in heaven. That sounds pretty good to me!!



Have a good week everyone!  alofa atu



Also, for Thanksgiving, I will probably have McDonalds for Thanksgiving dinner since the family that has fafaga on Thursdays usually drop it off for us.






Bought some red contacts at the store and wanted to try them.  (Mom says creepy!!! )


I thought this sign was funny... No eye won inc.
(Mom & Dad aren't sure why)

November 14 - We finally got a package from Justin this week!!!! :) And...more frogs.






We had a district meeting this week with the mission president
(President Hanneman), his wife, and the assistants.

This week was awesome!



We have a baptismal date set for the 26th. It's an investigator we've been working with for a long time and she's about 50 years old, I would guess.  She finally had the courage to make this commitment to her Heavenly Father.  She also has kids at the house that want to get baptized too, but they have just been waiting for permission. Now that the mom has commited to get baptized, I'm pretty positive they'll follow. 



We also met a lot of new people this week who seem really interested in the church so it will be great if we can teach these great people about the Savior.



We also had an interesting encounter with another lady. We sat down and she started rambling on about her church, how perfect the Bible is and that she only reads the Bible.  She said she won't even read the newspaper - so I knew we were in for a fun lesson.  I tried to share a verse from the Book of Mormon that talks about how the Book of Mormon is all about Christ and another testimony of Him. But she stopped me and said she doesn't care because she only reads the Bible. One thing that most of the Samoans often claim is that we all go to different churches but we all worship the same God. So I shared the verse in Ephesians 4 that says, one faith, one baptism.... Then I asked her how they do baptism in their church and she said the same as the Mormon church. So then I asked if after she got baptized if she received the Holy Ghost. She said no. So then I shared the verse in Acts 19 when Paul teaches that baptism must be followed by the laying on of hands to get the Holy Ghost. So then she changed her answer and said she did but she received it when she said the baptismal prayer. Then I read the part in the scriptures when it says laying on of hands and she tried to dodge it but couldn't. So we felt like we proved our point, but it's hard to really have a good lesson when we're just going back and forth like that.  Needless to say, we don't plan on going back. It seemed like a waste of time.



I also just have to say that the gift of tongues is so real. 



Oh and we did a split with the zone leaders so they came and we all proselytized in our area. We visited this one family that one of the elders knew from his village in Upolu.  She apparently had gained some weight since he last saw her.  He said, "Wow, you got fat!!  You've been eating too much Carl's Jr.!"   I could not believe he said that!  If we were in America, he would've gotten slapped and no girl would ever talk to him again!  But in Samoa, we all just laugh... I thought the it was great!



Hope you all have a great week!!




This is what came in the package that Justin sent us.  We enjoyed the Samoan cookies and hope to make the "Koko Samoa" soon.  He also sent a bunch of ramen type noodles that look interesting.  "Uso" on the shirts is the Samoan word for brother or sister...just an  FYI since we weren't sure what that meant so we looked it up.


more frogs

(note from us - Transfers came today but Justin did not get transferred this time and will stay in the same place for the next 6 weeks.)

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Monday, November 7th - flooding..."Mormon Lake"








 "Mormon Lake"


There are a lot of frogs in tutuila. and when they find a big puddle, they take advantage

(Mom asked what it was a picture of and his response was "They are the
product of when a female and a male get together and there were sooooo many.")


This week was pretty boring. We've been visiting the same investigators for a while and they seem to be progressing but VERY slowly. 


The one investigator planning to be baptized won't be. We gave him a blessing Thursday for his challenge with smoking and he seemed so sure he was gonna come to church. We stopped by his house to pick him up but apparently he wasn't home, which was a total bummer.


The past couple days the weather has been crazy. Really rainy and windy. When it rains a lot, a big puddle starts to build up right  in from of our chapel. People call it the mormon lake. 


Transfers are next week so we'll see what happens. Kinda hoping for something new, but I know I'll be where I'm supposed to be!




Saturday, November 5, 2016

Happy Halloween








Throwback to Fagaloa


On the boat ride to Tutuila

This week was pretty good.



On Tuesday we ran into Elder Fano's family including his dad.  That was funny.



We've started lessons with an 18 year old kid who did lessons with the other missionaries.  He wants to get baptized but he just needs to stop smoking. We talked to him and I can sense his desire to join the church and be baptized.  We planned on going over yesterday to give him a blessing but he wasn't home so we're gonna try later today.  We have him set to be baptized on the 12th so pray for him that he can stop!!  We also are gonna try to get him a CTR ring too.  He's doing the Marine program they have here and he's going to Camp Pendleton after high school.  He's never left Tutuila and it's a small island so he asks me a lot about it and is super excited to go. 



The investigators we invited to the ward activites showed up to the ward party we had Friday night. They also made it out to church on Sunday. The family that lives next to them are members so we're going to try and get them to fellowship. If we help them get to know each other, I think they will continue to want to learn more. They seemed so happy at the activity and church so we're gonna try to build off of that.



On Thursday we were walking home late from the chapel and we could've asked someone for a ride but I just had a feeling we should walk and see what happens. Not too far from the chapel, this lady pulled over and offered us a ride. We talked for a bit and turns out they aren't members but one of her son's moved to the states, got baptized, and is now serving a mission. Her other kids were in the car and they all seemed really interested. So hoping to start lessons with them this week.



Other than that, a pretty average week. We're still working with the ward.  Missionary work is always easier when we all work together. Trying to find people to fellowship can be challenging.  We're all busy. 



That's all I got! Hope you all have a good week!! Alofa atu!