tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61472686737878136522024-03-12T21:40:43.102-07:00Justin Sterner Samoa Apia MissionElder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-53720888476321937162017-08-08T21:28:00.001-07:002017-08-08T21:28:20.660-07:00Last blog post from Samoa...it's going to be so hard to leave this wonderful place!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'll be home in 2 days...well, actually three days for you!</div>
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I can't really believe I'm actually coming home. These past
two years have been the best of my life. Sharing the gospel every day and serving
others 24/7 has blessed me more than I could have ever imagined. It's crazy how it works that serving others blesses our
lives so much, even more than the people we've served. I'm truly grateful that
Heavenly Father found me worthy enough to represent His Son and Church for the
past two years. Leaving this beautiful place and these incredible people is going to be very difficult.</div>
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This is Togilau and his baptism went really well. On Sunday he even showed up to
church in a suit and then bore his testimony. He's a really humble guy and we've
been able to get really close to him.</div>
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The other photo is from yesterday's fafaga. It was the first time we were able to meet the family
and they had just learned that I will be finishing my mission on Friday. So after dinner, they gave me two ulas
and a fan. Just a perfect example of how loving the people here are, especially to
plagai missionaries...ha! ha! I am going to miss it more than words can express!</div>
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Note from mom: We can't believe he's coming home either and are so excited! For anyone that is interested, Justin will be giving his "homecoming talk" and report on his mission this Sunday, August 13 at 11:00am.</div>
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<span style="font-family: calibri;">Our church building is located at
28291 Alicia Parkway, Laguna Niguel </span></div>
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<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-67322563467003759392017-07-30T21:42:00.000-07:002017-07-30T21:42:29.790-07:00July 18th & 25th - In & Out please!!!<br />
July 18th<br />
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<i> A baptism</i></div>
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<i>Fafaga - Family dinner Samoan style</i></div>
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<i>This meal was so good! I haven't had pig like that since Savaii.</i></div>
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This week was good! Our baptism went well and we have another
one this Saturday. We also found a couple new investigators who we will be
starting lessons with this week. One of them is an older lady and she's so funny...a classic old Samoan woman and she's great! Right now we are in a "trio" because our other companion is waiting for his Visa and will be leaving for Africa on Monday.<br />
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JULY 25th</div>
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This is a cool guy in our ward. Both my companions are gone now. Elder Faaofo got his Visa and is in Africa and Elder Gomez got transferred to a different area. Now I'm companions with Elder Alaga.<br />
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<i>Chilling with the kids...they are AWESOME!!!</i></div>
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<i>Matagi's baptism</i></div>
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We have a baptism set for the 5th which is my last Saturday so that
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Note from mom: Justin has requested for his first meal back home to have In & Out..."of course" he said!<br />
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He flies in on August 11th and will be giving his "Homecoming talk" at church on Sunday, August 13th at 11:00 am. All friends and family and anyone else who would like to come is welcome to attend. <br />
The address is:<br />
28291 Alicia Parkway<br />
Laguna Niguel<br />
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-14399947169662061242017-07-11T22:48:00.002-07:002017-07-11T23:15:27.856-07:00July 11th - One month from today Elder Sterner will be home!!! :)<br />
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One month to go so we didn't really get an email today but just a couple photos. We are all getting very excited for Justin to be home!<br />
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He did buy a conch shell and is pretty excited about that. He's trying to figure out some things he can bring home, but things he wants are pretty expensive.<br />
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Elder Brooks and Elder Wolz go home this Friday</div>
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<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-1829684362652040112017-07-04T19:54:00.001-07:002017-07-04T19:54:32.473-07:00Happy July 4th!!!! All wet again...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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All wet again...</div>
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Back to Upolo means...no more car & no more being dry. We do have bikes though so that
should help a bit with getting my legs in a little better shape...</div>
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This week was pretty good. I really miss Savaii...a LOT! But it is really nice being a regular missionary again and being able to focus
on our area. We have a baptism set for next week. Spent a lot of time getting
familiar with the area and visiting members to get referrals. We got a lot of
referrals and have contacted some. We're hoping to have 4 baptisms this month.
Things are going good!! </div>
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alofa atu</div>
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-elder sterner</div>
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Note from mom: I mentioned to Justin that he might want to push back his "homecoming talk" date at church since he'll have such a long couple days traveling to get home. He's been planning on August 13th and I said that he might be too tired. His response was, "e manumalo le fiafia i le fiamoe". When he finally translated what that means, "happiness will beat tiredness", I figured that pretty much says it all. So it looks like his talk will be Sunday, August 13th at 11:00 am. We can't wait!!! :)</div>
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<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-61241096585176547972017-07-01T21:34:00.000-07:002017-07-01T21:34:25.486-07:00June 13th, 20th, 27th bits & pieces & RETURN DATE AUGUST 11th!!! :) :) :) :) :)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Late on Tuesday 6/27, we finally got Justin's travel plans for his return date!!! YAY!!! He leaves Apia, Samoa on Friday, August 11th (yes, 8/11) and flies into Honolulu after a five and a half hour flight August 10th. After a 7 hour layover there, he flies into San Francisco, and then onto John Wayne on August 11th... We are so excited and can't wait to see him!!!</div>
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About coming home, this is what he emailed, "Pretty crazy. I don't think it will register in my brain until I'm on the plane. So many times I've thought, oh, after this then it will feel close but it doesn't. Getting the flight plans makes it feel close. I don't know, it's just hard to believe it's all coming to an end. Really weird."</div>
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June 13th</div>
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Leaving for Apia today for a zone leader meeting and we also get to go through the temple which I'm hyped for. I'm still a zl. I haven't gotten my travel plans yet but I should have them by now...we have a baptism this Saturday and three scheduled for next Saturday. It's still hot and rainy but the nights are really cold because it's the winter now over here.</div>
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As far as what we've been eating lately...Monday we had chicken and taro with coconut cream, yesterday we had a pig lu'au and taro, and then Sunday we had pisupo which is this beef stuff in a can which I really don't like. I can't really remember the rest but I'll try to write it down this week so I can tell you next week. We don't have time today though so I have to go! (<em>the menu rundown is from a request from dad. He wanted to know what the meals are like</em>.)</div>
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June 20th</div>
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Hi, can't send photos today because I'm using the senior couple's mac and it's not working but we had a baptism this week that went well.</div>
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June 27th</div>
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So, I'm getting transferred which is kind of a bummer...I'm going to Solosolo, Upolu. I'm sure going to miss Savaii!!! This week was good. We found a lot of new investigators that have potential to be getting baptized but it just stinks that I won't get to see them through their lessons. I'm going back to regular missionary life. Being a zone leader was really fun and I learned a lot in so many respects. But now I'm excited to have more time to work with investigators and help them progress towards baptism. It's been a very busy and rewarding time and I've grown so much in so many ways.</div>
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Crossing the river to get to the other side of the village in Sili.</div>
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<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-89315257722079477662017-06-08T10:08:00.000-07:002017-06-08T10:08:35.197-07:00June 6th...about 2 more months to go!<br />
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From mom...a random person texted me this photo on May 23rd and I just now saw it on my phone as I was deleting texts! I love getting photos of Justin and appreciate people sending them along! If you ever have a chance to take a missionary's photo and send it to his mom or family, they will be very grateful just like me! :)<br />
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<em>Samoan kids are the best!</em></div>
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<em>Another Samoan sunset...they don't ever get old.</em></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><em>This last picture was after Stake Conference on Saturday in my
last area, and right when it finished the "sa" started (that's the 30 minutes where everyone in the village has to do
prayer time with their family that I emailed about before). Just about everyone got stuck on the chapel grounds
waiting for it to be over which was pretty funny.</em></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;"><em>This is Elder Bickmore, the Savaii king who is finally leaving for Tutuila. Elder Bickmore was on Savaii his whole mission and his last transfer he got transfered to Tutuila.</em></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 9.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: small;"><em>This is where we did our zone meeting
with president</em></span></span></div>
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So...I was kinda surprised about getting transferred. They called Sunday afternoon and said I was
gonna get transferred to the backside of Upolu to be a zone leader. So I was really
excited for that. Then they called again around midnight and said I'm going to
Sili, which is where I am now. It's the zone right next to my old one. We
only have 4 companionships but we're having a lot of success with the work, which has been great. Hopefully we
can get at least one more companionship at the upcoming transfer to add to the numbers in the zone. After this
week, my last full transfer begins. Crazy. <br />
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I'd be shocked if I got transferred again and think I'll
for sure finish here. I'm not doing the Sunday </div>
school anymore since I'm in a new area. That was a really cool
learning experience, though. If I got one thing from it, I gained so much respect for
Bishops and leaders of our church. I was dealing with 50 people so I can't imagine
having to deal with 500!<br />
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My new companion is a native and he's great. I'm glad I get to
finish with a native to make sure my Samoan is good. It's pretty funny...Yesterday, we visited a recent convert and she was trying to set me me up with
her husband's sister who lives in Apia.....hahaha. Then at fafaga, the mom was
kinda shocked at how good I was speaking Samoan and was like, "I know the reason
you have good Samoan. You have a Samoan girlfriend! Now you need to find a new one
since you switched areas!" Obviously, that's not true, but everyone always asks the white missionaries
if they have Samoan girlfriends. I'm pretty used to it by now and I've come up with some pretty good come-back
answers to give... ha ha.<br />
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We cover 5 wards and a branch so we're pretty stretched. I feel like I'm always busy with zone leader stuff and teaching lessons, so it's good. We should
have at least 4 baptisms this month which is exciting. We live in Sili and cover Satupaitea, Satufia, Papa,
Gautaivai, Gataivai, and Sili. I live in the area I was talking about before
where if you don't go to a church on Sunday, you get fined. But in Satufia, Papa, and
Gautaivai, if you want to change churches, you get fined $300. In Gataivai, our
church is 100% not allowed and if we try to proselyte there, the chiefs in the
village chase us out...<br />
Very interesting. Life is great in Samoa.<br />
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Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-65511458260864976762017-06-01T18:47:00.002-07:002017-06-01T18:47:20.882-07:00May 21 - translation & some random answers, May 30th - not much
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">May 21 - Here is the translation we got from Justin which was about all we got!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">papatisoga (baptism) i (in) le (the) sami (ocean)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Malo Soifua (hi). Faamalulu atu (sorry) ona (because) leva
ona (its been a while) le (haven't) toe faia (done) se (a) imeli (email) umi
(long)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Also, here is some random information that Jeff got to some questions he had...</span></div>
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We live at the chapel grounds in a little house in the back. If you look back at the picture I sent of the chapel you can see our house in
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We have a few investigators, but it's good. We met a new couple this week. The
husband is a less-active member and his wife is not a member of the church. We
did a lesson with her Monday and invited her to be baptized next
month and she accepted. </div>
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Baby Justin and his family are doing well. His dad blesses the sacrament almost every
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My comp watched me do the P90x and kinda made fun
of me jokingly and then he did the yoga one with me and didn't even make all
the way through so he knows now it's legit. I go with the schedule it says to do
and I try to do the yoga one as often as I can when I have time at night. I
really only care about trying to get as flexible as I can and I've improved
somewhat.</div>
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I still haven't gotten my flight plans yet for August. I feel like when I get
them it's gonna really hit me that I come home soon. Still doesn't feel like
it'll really happen....</div>
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Love you</div>
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-justin</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike><br /></strike><br />
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May 30th - I got transferred to be a zone leader in the zone right next to my old one. That happened on Monday but we are doing other transfers in our zone today. I don't really have time to email but just let people know I'm finishing strong and very busy! I forgot my camera cord at our house, but hopefully next week I will have more time to email and send pictures. Have to go...love you!<br />
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That's all we got today...:(Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-24643225884769980382017-05-18T22:26:00.000-07:002017-05-18T22:26:19.070-07:00Happy Mother's Day!!! We finally hear from Elder Sterner!!! May 14, 2017
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Note from mom...So we haven't heard much from Justin in almost 6 weeks, but I was trying to be patient knowing we would get to have our phone conversation for Mother's Day. It was so wonderful to hear his voice and he sounds so happy and busy! We all talked with him on the phone for about an hour and a half. It was great to get an update of what he has been up to and also look ahead a bit to what needs to happen when he gets home. As much as I miss hearing from him each week, when I heard how busy he's been with the work he's doing, I now totally understand. I couldn't be prouder of him for how hard he's working and all that he's doing. Then when I think about him only having 3 months left, I know he feels a sense of urgency to get all the work in until the very end. He also mentioned that he doesn't have any time to sight-see and explore on his "P"day (personal day) since he has too many things to take care of. I guess he gets to see and appreciate all of the beauty around him each and every day. He and his companion usually have to get up at 3am and drive to the harbor to pick up or drop off missionaries, take care of paperwork, do their laundry, shop for food, and take care of other things. He's using that as his excuse as to why we don't hear from him as regularly as we would like. That just makes me think that we will definitely have to find a time to get back to Samoa with our family and explore it together! Justin mentioned that he just got his 3rd companion in this area as a zone leader and the focus in this more remote area of Savaii continues to be the Sunday School class on the beach. He was pretty happy that they had 51 people there last week and usually Justin and his companion are in charge of leading and speaking at these meetings each week. He says it's pretty stressful, but when he sees how the numbers are growing, he knows they are making a difference. He said he's taken lots and lots of photos and has been pretty good about keeping a journal. He also said he's eating healthier which was nice to hear and often it's fish that fishermen pull in right off the shore. He said it's orange season and there are oranges everywhere and that everyone is always giving them more oranges, so we know he is getting his vitamin C. We hope he will be getting his travel arrangements for his return in August in the next week or two...so we will keep you posted!!!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">And I've put in a request for him to translate the Samoan when he puts it in his blog posts, so hopefully he gets back to us on that!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>A little dark for the baptism...</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Malo Soifua. Faamalulu atu ona leva ona le toe faia se imeli
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Life is busy. We had a marriage for our investigator, then
her baptism right after. It all went really well. The wedding went a little late so
that's why it was dark for the baptism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Sunday School is going well. My companion and I are
still leading it. I have a new companion too, Elder Tua from Utah. Mother's Day
at church was an interesting Sunday. We invited 3 men to give talks about mothers...but
let's just say it didn't go how I expected and was kind of interesting. A story for another day..... The Sunday School is close to becoming a branch and that's pretty exciting. There were 51 people at church this Sunday so it's so awesome to see the numbers growing. We are still working to help build our numbers....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Life is good and time is going too fast. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">alofa atu</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">-elder sterner</span></div>
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<em> Chillin on the boat</em></div>
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<em>Sweet kids. I love the Michael Jackson overalls.</em></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eFAa79QhFeI/WR0AVI1LUYI/AAAAAAAAAj4/UnK9Em-1OO8ad9um18hJEA8C81TPQLZbQCEw/s1600/DSCF22631%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eFAa79QhFeI/WR0AVI1LUYI/AAAAAAAAAj4/UnK9Em-1OO8ad9um18hJEA8C81TPQLZbQCEw/s640/DSCF22631%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<em>Teaching</em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><em>Island Paradise</em></span></div>
Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-24045371787352761312017-04-28T09:12:00.000-07:002017-04-28T09:12:18.238-07:00April 25...3 weeks since last email...but great photos!Well...we haven't heard from Justin in 3 weeks so we figured the internet connection has been bad or he has been really, really busy. Today he emailed that he has no time once again and he is headed to Apia for a zone leader conference. We sure loved getting these really awesome photos though!<br />
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<i>Baby Justin</i></div>
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<i>vacation</i></div>
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<i>The classic Samoa Apia Mission pic</i></div>
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<i>Papatisoga i le sami!!!!!! (whatever that means?)</i></div>
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Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-60492353121291749042017-04-11T06:46:00.000-07:002017-04-11T20:12:36.175-07:00April 4th - Last weeks photos and new email from Tuesday, April 4th <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(Mom is pretty proud of herself for figuring out the computer/photo issue. I was about ready to call in the big guns for help...but with a little prayer and pleading...problem solved!!! :) So these are the photos from the last few weeks...)</div>
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<i>"An elder in my zone carved a Samoan design in my name tag. Pretty cool!"</i></div>
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<i>"One of the kids in our Sunday school on the sand"</i></div>
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<i> "Teaching"</i></div>
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<i>"Samoan sunset"</i></div>
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Email from Tuesday, April 4th...</div>
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This week was good. Pretty busy.</div>
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Sunday at church went really great. Almost 50 people were
there. The Stake Presidency was also there and the stake president challenged
the Sunday School to have 6 worthy Melchizedek Priesthood holders and then they
can become their own branch and stand by themselves. After church they made
food and first came out with the ice cream followed by a massive fish head.
Another elder has a picture of it so I need to get it. So big.<br />
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It's
annoying when missionaries who don't want to work take away time from
those who do. One thing I've learned being a zone leader is that the more responsibilities, the more time you'll be spending helping others. Also, as a
regular missionary you spend almost all your time working with investigators
and helping them, but as a zone leader you spend a lot of time working with
missionaries which has been fun.</div>
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So we got a referral Thursday for a girl named P***we went to try and find P**** but we accidently got her name mixed up
and were asking for the wrong person... Sunday after church we went to go visit a
companionship in our zone to pick up baptismal papers and then I remembered
there was a fireside happening in our area and for some reason I felt like we
should really go but I didn't know why. We showed up and one of our recent converts
was bearing her testimony and then P*****, the lady we've been looking for,
bore her testimony and said that we'll probably be seeing her face more often
cause she wants to come to our church. It was pretty sweet. After, we talked
and set an appointment for this Friday. We're hoping to set her for the 15th to
get baptized.</div>
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Oh and we get to watch general conference this week so I'm excited for that!</div>
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<i>The district before my companion got transferred</i></div>
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<i>Faiaai</i></div>
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<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-3121343241205298972017-04-04T07:07:00.001-07:002017-04-04T07:07:15.690-07:00March 14, March 21, & March 28 - bits & pieces and technical difficulites with the photos...<br />
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Last week from Justin was brief except for wishing Morgan and Luke a happy birthday. </div>
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Here is what we got on 3/14... I have no time to email today and had to get back to the wharf to catch the 4pm boat to go to Apia for a zone leader meeting. The week was good, we had a baptism & marriages, but since we've been super busy, we haven't had any time to teach people. One baptism is scheduled for this week and one next...but things are really good. Oh and we started a Sunday school at the village of the photo I sent last week of the sand and the ocean. That is where we have our Sunday school right on the beach! It's less people than a branch but 31 people came. The only thing we need is worthy priesthood and we're close. I presided and my companion conducted...pretty cool! But I have to go....</div>
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(We are having some technical issues with getting the photos posted on the blog for some reason, so hopefully we can get that fixed.)</div>
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3/21/17</div>
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So this week was good. </div>
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We didn't have our baptism because someone he's related to passed away Saturday morning so we rescheduled it for this Saturday. When someone dies in Samoa it consumes everyone's time for a whole week. In Samoan a funeral is called a Fa'alavelave which translates to a disturbance or interruption.</div>
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We have another investigator getting baptized this Saturday and our whole zone will have a total of 7 which is pretty good for our part of the mission.</div>
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The Sunday School we're doing is going well. There aren't a whole lot of people who come but it's a really awesome experience. My companion and I spoke. I gave about a 15 minute talk on repentance in Samoan and I prepared it the night before and it went pretty well. The people down there are super nice. My companion conducted again and I presided. This Sunday I think it's my turn to conduct. I think we can get it to a branch before my mission is done if I finish here which I would really like to do.</div>
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Sunday and Monday we did a split with the new AP's - Elder Tai Lesa and Elder Reid. We spent time visiting the missionaries in our zone and doing visits. We found some new people that we hope to baptize in the next month.</div>
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Next week is General Conference but we probably won't get it until the week after...</div>
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Things are going great here backside Savaii. Alofa atu ia te outou uma!!</div>
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3/28/17 - no email, only a couple photos but we can't figure out how to get them on the blog...still working on it!!!</div>
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(We are really hoping we get a little more information from his emails in April!)</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-48082085828241534772017-03-09T06:07:00.000-08:002017-03-09T06:07:54.080-08:00March 7th - an awesome week & a baby named Justin Sterner
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<i>Where we proselyted on Friday</i> </div>
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This week was really awesome. We met a lot of new people who
seem to be pretty interested in what we're teaching, so that's exciting. We called the bishop
in a ward we haven't been able to meet with yet and he told us there are three
people who want to take the lessons and learn about the gospel... so we'll be on the look out for
them tomorrow.</div>
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Tonight we have a dinner/meeting with President Hannemann,
his wife, the APs and the two stake presidents in our zone - so that should be
really cool.</div>
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Our investigator "P" who is going to get baptized next weekend, well...his wife just gave birth to a baby boy. His name??
Justin Sterner Pika. They wanted to name him after me because he sees this as a turning point in his life. I've heard of
people naming their kids after missionaries but I never thought it would happen
to me - haha. I'll just have to make sure I live a life that makes him happy he shares my name.</div>
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<i>Justin Sterner Pika......</i></div>
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We have three marriages this Saturday for people we are teaching. It's really cool. </div>
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We have high goals for the zone this month and we're all working hard to achieve them. I'm having the best time. </div>
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Have a great week. Alofa atu!</div>
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<i>sunset</i></div>
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<i>This is our chapel. It's probably one of the nicest in all of Samoa. As you can see, it's beautiful</i></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-14602245107419194902017-03-05T20:36:00.000-08:002017-03-05T20:36:23.250-08:00Tuesday, February 28 - Q & A with Dad...
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<i>The Zone Leaders of Savaii...heading to our meeting...</i></div>
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<i>This week Justin decided to take the easy way out and just respond to some random questions from his dad.....</i>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;">·</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;"> <span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: blue;">How
is the work going there?</span><span style="color: black;"> </span> The work is good in Savaii. It's a little slower just cause of the culture. In one village we cover, it is against the rules to proselytize and in other villages, we can't build a church so people have to walk pretty far. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;">·</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">How
do you cover 5 wards?</span> We're currently covering 6 wards out of 8 in the stake. We use the car to get some places and then walk around mostly. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;">·</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">Are
the wards pretty good sized?</span> <span style="color: blue;">What are the ward buildings like?</span> The average attendance at church is under 100 and the chapels are sooo nice here. I'll take a picture of ours and send it next week, but it's super nice. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;">·</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">Are
you spending a lot of time with administrative stuff as a ZL or do you still
have a lot of time to teach?</span> We have a baptism this Saturday, one set for the 18th and we should be able to get a couple more this month if everything goes smoothly. We do alright. Today we had to get up at three am to get to the 6 o'clock boat to drop off baptismal papers... </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;">·</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">Do
they drive on the left-hand side of the road?</span> We have to drive on the other side of the road so I'm trying to learn to drive stick with the wrong hand. In Tutuila, it's like America and I drove the car for one day and it was a struggle to drive stick. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Symbol; margin: 0px;">·</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">When
you talk about a “village”, how big is that? Is it more like a really big
extended family, or is it like a small town?</span> It's a pretty small town but mostly everyone is related somehow...</div>
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<i>The kids are great!!!</i></div>
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<i>A baptism....</i></div>
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<i>View from our house</i></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-40780190427352651102017-02-23T21:07:00.006-08:002017-02-23T21:07:52.736-08:00TUESDAY - February 21, Surprise...emailing one day early this week!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Beautiful Savai'i</i></div>
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Emailing early this week because we have to go to Apia later today and the boat leaves at 4pm.<br />
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This week was good.</div>
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Thursday was pretty funny. Our fafaga was an older couple, probably late 60s. We sat down and the wife is half blind, and she says,
"That's a good looking white guy in front of me." My companion and I
couldn't stop laughing.<br />
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Friday we did two baptismal interviews for missionaries. We
got home around 8pm. The culture here in Savai'i is very strong and each night
they have 30 minutes where you're supposed to sing a hymn and say a family
prayer. No one is allowed to be out on the streets. A bunch of elderly men in the
village come out on the street and patrol. Cars are not allowed to pull in or out of anywhere and they
have to keep going straight or stop and pull off to the side and then wait for it to be
over. So we pulled into the chapel without realizing it was the "sa" (the
prayer time). We got in trouble, but thankfully he just let us off with a warning.<br />
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Another example of the culture in Savai'i happens on Sundays. In
one village, if you aren't at church you get fined $10. Even if you're on the
chapel grounds but not inside the chapel, you get fined. Pretty different, but I'm sure that would help us at home.</div>
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Tomorrow we have a meeting with all the zone leaders in the
mission in Apia so that should be interesting...<br />
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<i>My laundry</i></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-46669105703794139772017-02-15T21:15:00.000-08:002017-02-15T21:15:48.562-08:00An unexpected transfer and now a zone leader in Savaii...Tuesday, February 14th<br />
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<i>"Just thinking about how cool Samoa is..."</i></div>
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<i>From mom: Yeah!!! We finally heard from Justin again. He was transferred to Savai'i and now has his "p-day" (personal day) on Wednesday, which is Tuesday for us. It was great to get so many photos and read about how happy he is in his new area.</i>
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Since this last week has been so crazy, I'm just gonna start
from last Wednesday....</div>
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So we got the transfer calls last Sunday and I was going to
stay in my area and train a new missionary. Wednesday we had the training
meeting and things were going really well. Then, president called me and another Samoan
elder who I'm familiar with and he sat us down. The first thing he did was invite
Elder Sa'u (the elder next to me in the photo of the two of us) to say a prayer. When that happens, hearts usually
start pounding...After the prayer, president says, "We're gonna make a change. We need
zone leaders in Savai'i. Savai'i West Zone. Faiaai is your area." We were
so excited! Elder Sa'u (now my companion) is from my first area which I served
in for 8 months. Then later, we were together again in Tutuila for 4 months. </div>
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After that happened, we rushed to my house and cleaned up my clothes
and got things ready to pack up and leave. We had to hurry to get to the last boat that goes to Savaii.
Luckily, it's only an hour boat ride.</div>
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<i>"How we do transfers in Samoa"</i></div>
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We got there and found out that the zone leaders who were there before us and were
getting transferred crashed the car pretty badly. Our area is super far away from
the wharf so we took the other zone leaders' car and did transfers for two
zones. It was a very long day.</div>
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The next day we had to get up at three in the morning to
take elders to the boat that leaves at 6 in the morning. That's just one example
of how far away from everything we are. Then we had to wait for the elders coming to Savai'i
from Upolu. The boat was supposed to get to the wharf around 1p but didn't arrive until
4. So we were stuck at the wharf all day which was pretty boring. Then we finally dropped the
missionaries off, got home, and slept.</div>
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Friday we once again had to get up at three in the morning to take two
elders to the wharf who were finishing up their missions. Then we had to go do baptismal
interviews for the zone. We ended up setting up a marriage to take place
the next day on top of the baptism.</div>
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Saturday we did more interviews, got the wedding done, and attended the baptism all of which were really great. A very productive day!</div>
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Sunday was church and I got the opportunity to introduce
myself to the ward. We are currently covering 5 wards which is over half the stake. So
I'll be introducing myself a lot more this upcoming month...<br />
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Monday, before we were able to
go do some lessons, we had to do another transfer that ended up taking us around
all of Savaii. It was super sweet and incredibly beautiful, but pretty long and took us about 4 hours. Then we finally had the opportunity to get out and do some visits.</div>
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<i> "Our Zone"</i></div>
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<i>"Me and the Prez"</i></div>
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Tuesday we had a zone meeting with president which was
awesome. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how all those we teach have to
be reading it.</div>
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Wednesday, today, P-day, we had to once again get up at
three to take reports and baptismal papers to missionaries going to Upolu. Then
we did some shopping. </div>
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So as you can see...life is super busy but I LOVE IT!!!</div>
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<i> Me and Elder Sa'u</i></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-4955251003173926922017-01-30T21:16:00.000-08:002017-01-30T21:16:06.193-08:00January 29th...FINALLY, we hear from Elder Sterner!Note from mom...we didn't hear from Justin the last two Sundays, so we were anxious to hear from him today. Since he is back out to the more remote areas of the island in Western Samoa, the internet connection is often hard to find. We were so grateful to get his email and read that he has been really busy, and is SO happy. He loves Satapuala! And mom is happy because we got three weeks worth of photos! :)<br />
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<i>Lots of fun with the kids</i></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPkWHxZMnZI/WI7WKGO9RRI/AAAAAAAAAeg/wtn0zT7JEYkW073R7yQRd2AE4aNd35Z6ACLcB/s1600/DSCF50511%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QPkWHxZMnZI/WI7WKGO9RRI/AAAAAAAAAeg/wtn0zT7JEYkW073R7yQRd2AE4aNd35Z6ACLcB/s640/DSCF50511%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>Just a little hot & sweaty...ha ha</i></div>
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Hi everyone! The past three weeks have been really good! I
have a new companion, we have a new house, we just had two baptisms and we have
three more this Saturday!<br />
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The work is really good. Our area is pretty big so we've
been busy getting the people we are teaching prepared for their baptismal dates and not much
time for tracting. This week we hope to find a lot of new people to teach.</div>
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We're baptizing a couple this weekend and honestly, the first
time I met them I never thought they would be interested in our church or getting baptized. The gospel
changes people and the change that takes place is amazing. The Church is the best!!</div>
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I think I've lost weight too which is good...<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_sHPLyk7bZY/WI7WUrdBqAI/AAAAAAAAAek/q7pzOCP-VMcsuQpEp89FYtld1zvNgpphgCLcB/s1600/DSCF50761%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_sHPLyk7bZY/WI7WUrdBqAI/AAAAAAAAAek/q7pzOCP-VMcsuQpEp89FYtld1zvNgpphgCLcB/s640/DSCF50761%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>sugar cane</i></div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JzJu6q-ASCo/WI7Wh-9nRtI/AAAAAAAAAeo/zPDZBJHSmKwnEyV13Ya_6FPrMM1Dxsc0gCLcB/s1600/DSCF50821%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JzJu6q-ASCo/WI7Wh-9nRtI/AAAAAAAAAeo/zPDZBJHSmKwnEyV13Ya_6FPrMM1Dxsc0gCLcB/s640/DSCF50821%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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Baptism</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kg4SfP8MGwo/WI7WpSVasnI/AAAAAAAAAew/S_Ekva5bxMMUSBF7OqzzIa0MfILkCYiYACLcB/s1600/DSCF50341%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kg4SfP8MGwo/WI7WpSVasnI/AAAAAAAAAew/S_Ekva5bxMMUSBF7OqzzIa0MfILkCYiYACLcB/s640/DSCF50341%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>our new house...BEFORE</i></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aaZAYXnu-_o/WI7WxX7GzBI/AAAAAAAAAe0/NwvBciWWeAw-RMEJO3NBLU-qNYORkCZZgCLcB/s1600/DSCF50361%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aaZAYXnu-_o/WI7WxX7GzBI/AAAAAAAAAe0/NwvBciWWeAw-RMEJO3NBLU-qNYORkCZZgCLcB/s640/DSCF50361%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>our new house...AFTER! :)</i></div>
Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-20418308889233909282017-01-11T18:27:00.000-08:002017-01-11T18:27:33.091-08:00January 8, 2017 - Satapuala
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<i>o le au boiz + Sara</i></div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7wOeznN305I/WHMJV1wTnbI/AAAAAAAAAeA/5os5z1kzA7kBcUgdrO2z1QKEEmKEJsPzQCLcB/s1600/DSCF50121.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7wOeznN305I/WHMJV1wTnbI/AAAAAAAAAeA/5os5z1kzA7kBcUgdrO2z1QKEEmKEJsPzQCLcB/s640/DSCF50121.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>Family Home Evening = FHE</i></div>
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Things are good in Satapuala. We have 4 baptismal dates for
the 28th and could be adding a couple this week. This area is kind of a gold mine
right now because the past missionaries that served in this area covered two
other big wards and weren't able to do much work here.</div>
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The ward here is really cool. I think they're especially happy to
have missionaries assigned just in their ward. We've been able to faamasani with about
all the ward members. </div>
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One thing that I love about kids here in Samoa is that they
never know their own birthday but if you ask them who their Savior is, they know
it's Jesus. If you ask them who struck the rock they know it's Moses. If you ask
them who ate the apple, they'll say Adam and Eve. I love it!</div>
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We did a family home evening with a great family. It was really fun and most of them were at
church yesterday. That's one thing that we're trying to do here; every Monday night, have a family
home evening/FHE with a family in the ward and have them invite a non-member to join us if they want.</div>
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The work is super good and we have a young man we go on splits
with almost every day. He's preparing to go on a mission also and he's been super helpful. </div>
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Sorry not so much to share today but will try to get some good stuff for next week.</div>
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Alofa atu!</div>
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<i>o le au boiz + Sara</i></div>
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<i>Family Home Evening fafaga</i></div>
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Question and answer session from dad:<br />
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I’m
anxious to hear about your new place. I’ll ask my questions in simple
form so you can answer them quickly:</div>
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1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;">
</span>Is the city in the boonies, or in a populated area?</div>
I cover the airport. It's pretty populated and we cover a lot
of jungle too.<br />
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2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;">
</span>What is the ward like?
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The ward is good. We have a kid that we go on splits with a
lot. His family is really cool too.</div>
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3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;">
</span>Are you getting to speak a lot of Samoan?
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Yes, more than usual.</div>
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4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; margin: 0px;">
</span>How is P90X3 going?
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I haven't really been able to do it because of our living
situation but we're moving tomorrow to the other house so I should be able to
start this week.</div>
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Mom's questions of the week:</div>
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What is the Samoan translation for "Latter Day Saints"? We had discussed this on Christmas with Justin and Jeff and I thought it was really cool, so we wanted him to clarify it again. This was his response:</div>
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"o le ekalesia a iesu keriso o le au pa'ia o aso e gata ai"</div>
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The "au pa'ia" part is saints, but "au" is team and "pa'ia" is holy, so I like to say it is the Church of Jesus Christ of the holy team of latter days.</div>
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<b>faamasani = get familiar with</b></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-1952286613931167382017-01-01T19:09:00.000-08:002017-01-01T19:09:19.788-08:00Happy New Year 2017!
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><i>Upolu</i></span></div>
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Talofa mai Satapuala! This week has been crazy but also
really good. </div>
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Even though I got transferred, leaving Tafuna wasn't as hard as usual. I guess I'm getting used to it and I'm really excited to head back to Upolu. It
was hard to say goodbye to our baptism from last week. She is so cool. I
gave her my facebook so when I get back, we'll stay in touch.</div>
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We flew to Upolu Wednesday and crossed the date line. I am no longer in American Samoa and it was
only a 25 minute flight. Then I stayed with elders in an area for the night and
then the next morning we went to the office to get my trainee. We had training
meetings with the president and APs. Then we headed to our areas. As we were
driving, the APs called and made a fa'afuase'i change. I'm no longer training (after a lot of training) but
I am going to be companions with a native from Savai'i. </div>
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When we got to the area, we went and met with the ward members.
The ward is awesome. There are a lot of youth we've been able to do splits with
who are preparing for missions.</div>
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The area we're in currently doesn't have a house that we can live in because before we got here, the other missionaries covered other wards with
missionary houses. Since we've only been assigned this ward, we are currently working on finding
a house. Right now we are living with a family that is outside our area. There is a small house at the back of the chapel that only has four poles holding it up, so we are really pushing to see if they can get it walled so that we could live there. It's so much better when we are able to live close to the chapel. </div>
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It's going to be pretty cool to be in this area because there haven't been missionaries here for a while.</div>
We got the bishopric action list yesterday and there
are 23 people who aren't baptized in the church computer plus a few others that
are in the area book so LOTS of work to do. Super excited.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6JaP7JMZlLg/WGm5HMHatDI/AAAAAAAAAdo/uuifeE4DZx4EEpr9nKc5mdpYLMTe0jTGACLcB/s1600/DSCF40201%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6JaP7JMZlLg/WGm5HMHatDI/AAAAAAAAAdo/uuifeE4DZx4EEpr9nKc5mdpYLMTe0jTGACLcB/s640/DSCF40201%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><i>Fagaloa</i></span></div>
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<i>T</i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><i>he road in fagaloa that we drove on all the time</i></span><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6JaP7JMZlLg/WGm5HMHatDI/AAAAAAAAAdo/uuifeE4DZx4EEpr9nKc5mdpYLMTe0jTGACLcB/s1600/DSCF40201%2B%2528002%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-83745283393178299262017-01-01T18:17:00.002-08:002017-01-01T18:17:32.522-08:00December 25 - MANUIA LE KERISIMASI<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cjorm-7VMWE/WGm3wF58RSI/AAAAAAAAAdg/ZQQwn6BOQpIZVt8-CgnuV6Z5AyptHbcVQCEw/s1600/IMG_6204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cjorm-7VMWE/WGm3wF58RSI/AAAAAAAAAdg/ZQQwn6BOQpIZVt8-CgnuV6Z5AyptHbcVQCEw/s320/IMG_6204.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
We got to skype with Justin for about 3 hours on Christmas which was the best!</div>
<div>
He's doing great and was waiting to hear if he got transferred to a new area....</div>
Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-44448444489014496492016-12-20T22:40:00.002-08:002016-12-20T22:40:51.906-08:00Manuia Le Kerisimasi - skype in 6 days!!!!!! :)
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MANUIA LE KERISIMASI</div>
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Things are going swell here in Tafuna. This is the last week until
transfers so probably at least one of us is going to get transferred.</div>
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Our investigator getting baptized this week is so awesome.
We did a couple lessons with her this week. One time as we were walking up, she
had the Book of Mormon voice over playing throughout the house which was pretty
funny. She has shared so much about her past with us and she's come so far. She is keeping a journal of everything she has learned and she just loves the gospel so much. It's so cool to finally see someone so interested here in American Samoa because it's been a while.... </div>
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We had Stake Conference and Elder Haleck of the Seventy presided.
He is the Area President here and is from American Samoa. His wife was taught
by our investigator when she was in college and they said they're going to come to
our baptism so that'll be pretty cool.</div>
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One thing President Hannemann has asked us to do differently
when we teach is to really explain the Godhead. Almost every first visit we have
with someone, they'll say, "We all go to different churches but we worship the
same God". Most of the time we would just nod our head and agree. But
President has asked that we say, actually we don't. We worship different
Gods. My God has a body of flesh and bones and they are three separate beings.
It's actually been fun doing that and we have had some interesting conversations
with people.</div>
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Alma giving some food for thought...</div>
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44 For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of
Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was
for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a
straight course to the promised land.</div>
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45 And now I say, is there not a type in this thing?
For just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its
course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their
course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise.</div>
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46 O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the
easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for
them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way
is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.</div>
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Hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas!!</div>
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Alofa atu </div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike><br /></strike><br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yxuaHLW7l58/WFoH12TvOkI/AAAAAAAAAdM/77flSvUKrg8KTSPo6BJNa23vyBa-9XPCwCLcB/s1600/DSCF60018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yxuaHLW7l58/WFoH12TvOkI/AAAAAAAAAdM/77flSvUKrg8KTSPo6BJNa23vyBa-9XPCwCLcB/s640/DSCF60018.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>(mom & dad are assuming this is where Justin lives...??? He didn't give details)</i></div>
<br />Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-62277818977484648282016-12-14T22:03:00.003-08:002016-12-14T22:03:47.629-08:00Double blog post from 12/5 & 12/12
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><i>First niu I've had in Tutuila</i></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;">Taaalofa </span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;">This week was really
cool. </span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;">Our teaching pool is
growing but the progress feels slow sometimes. I've noticed there are many people from the Philippines in American Samoan. We did
finally get an opportunity to visit the lady from India. It ended up being a
pretty solid Bible bash where we just argue back and forth. Bible bashes are entertaining every now and then. For me, I still see them as an opportunity to share what I know and believe, so I don't mind them sometimes. I feel the spirit working and bringing scriptures to my
rememberance to share. It makes me want to study and learn more, and it also reminds me of the truthfulness of the gospel!</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;">Wednesday we had our Christmas
program for Tutuila. We started out with a quick devotional thing with the mission president,
his wife, the APs, and some sister training leaders. It was really good and we
talked a lot about Christ and His life. After that, we got to do some shopping
and I got some cool shirts. Then we ate at this Chinese food place. After that
we went to the Hospital for a service opportunity. We sang to people and I also had the opportunity to
give an elderly lady a blessing. I actually did it in Samoan and it went well!
The whole singing thing is not me at all, but it was awesome to be able to
exercise the priesthood and to be able to bless someone else. </span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;">Samoa is good and it's only
getting hotter.</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;">Alofa atu ia te outou uma lava!!</span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><i>a little gecko</i></span></div>
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Hi everyone!</div>
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This week was awesome and we have a baptism set for
Christmas Eve! </div>
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Her name is L... and she is super cool! We met her Thursday
and she's the most prepared investigator ever! She loves to talk so the first
visit was almost 3 hours long. She is from San Francisco so we're teaching the lessons in
English. She's already read almost all of 1st Nephi and is searching <a href="http://lds.org/"><span style="color: blue;">lds.org</span></a> all the time. We did lesson one and when we
invited her to be baptized she said, " I'm down! Let's do this! I'm
down!!" Pretty funny and I'm super excited for that!</div>
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We met another guy who started telling us we're wasting our
time and it was super frustrating. It's amazing how on the mission you can go from super highs and feeling great about things to those types of conversations and feeling a bit down and defeated. Thankfully, there are way more of the great times. It's no surprise that we didn't spend a lot of time talking to him.</div>
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One of our fafagas took us to McDonalds and on the way
home we helped this guy jump his car. We jumped it with copper wire. It was so
sketchy but it worked! I'm learning all types of things.....</div>
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Good times</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-56183223581751386612016-12-02T16:52:00.000-08:002016-12-02T16:52:29.686-08:00Chinese food for Thanksgiving - Nov. 28
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<i>Selfie</i></div>
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This week had its ups and downs...</div>
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On the bright side we found a lot of new people to teach
which is exciting. People from all over the world that settled here - Filipinos, Samoans, and an Indian woman
straight from India. They all seem pretty interested. </div>
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On the down side, we lost a couple baptismal dates. The young man
we planned to baptize this upcoming week couldn't make it to church so we have
to push it back again. Hoping this is something he really wants. I
guess we'll find out this week.</div>
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The elders from Manu'a were on the island for a checkup and
we got to do a split with them. Elder Reid (from Provo) and Elder Brown (he's
from Fagaloa). It was fun and we found some people to talk to and teach. At one house as we were
walking up, we heard, "GO AWAY PLEASE!!" in a very irritated tone. Then
Elder Brown said, ia! manuia le aso! Alofa atu!! (have a good day. Love you!).
It was pretty funny.</div>
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We still have the family committed to get baptized the 14th
of January. She leaves to Upolu next month so we continue to visit her.</div>
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I read something from a conference talk from a while ago that I
really liked. I can't remember who said it but he said, "One of the aspects
that God likes about being God is that He is able to be merciful." </div>
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Heavenly Father wants us to do our best but sometimes we
mess up. He is merciful and is eternal and will always help us even when we mess up. That's comforting to know.</div>
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<i>This baby is the child of our investigators. He is 4
months and so chubby. </i></div>
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<i>Such a big baby but so cute and fun.</i></div>
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<i>Our Thanksgiving meal...a member dropped off some Chinese food.</i></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-29372165226639431132016-11-23T17:07:00.000-08:002016-11-23T17:07:16.939-08:00November 21st - Fun kids & creepy red contacts
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino",serif; margin: 0px;"><i>The kid standing up is one of the kids of the family we are teaching. </i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino",serif; margin: 0px;"><i>His name is Atamu (Adam) and we always ask him where Eva (Eve) is. haha</i></span></div>
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<i>We love and miss our missionary.</i></div>
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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. </div>
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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!!</div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">D&C 15:6</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="border-image: none; border: 1pt windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="border-image: none; border: 1pt windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">unto you will be to declare</span></span></span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="border-image: none; border: 1pt windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></span></span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="border-image: none; border: 1pt windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="border-image: none; border: 1pt windowtext; margin: 0px; padding: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father. Amen.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">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!!</span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Have
a good week everyone! alofa atu</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Also, for Thanksgiving, I will probably have</span> McDonalds for Thanksgiving dinner since the family that has fafaga on Thursdays usually drop it off for us.</div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Palatino",serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: black;"><i>Bought some red contacts at the store and wanted to try them. (Mom says creepy!!! )</i></span></span></span></div>
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<i>I thought this sign was funny... No eye won inc.</i></div>
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<i>(Mom & Dad aren't sure why)</i></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-35604883210618638662016-11-23T13:06:00.000-08:002016-11-23T13:06:57.710-08:00November 14 - We finally got a package from Justin this week!!!! :) And...more frogs.
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<i>We had a district meeting this week with the mission president </i></div>
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<i>(President Hanneman), his wife, and the assistants.</i></div>
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This week was awesome!</div>
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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. </div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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I also just have to say that the gift of tongues is so
real. </div>
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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!</div>
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Hope you all have a great week!!</div>
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<i>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.</i><br />
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<i>more frogs</i></div>
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(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.)Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6147268673787813652.post-83809309506780536172016-11-12T11:53:00.000-08:002016-11-12T11:53:07.403-08:00Monday, November 7th - flooding..."Mormon Lake"<i></i><div align="center">
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<i> "Mormon Lake"</i></div>
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<i>There are a lot of frogs in tutuila. and when they find a big puddle, they take advantage</i></div>
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<i>(Mom asked what it was a picture of and his response was "They are the </i></div>
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<i>product of when a female and a male get
together and there were sooooo many.")</i></div>
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This week was pretty boring. We've been visiting the same
investigators for a while and they seem to be progressing but VERY
slowly. </div>
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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.</div>
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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. </div>
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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!</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Elder Sternerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10940790144268449677noreply@blogger.com0