Best Week So Far

This week was awesome. Elder Pangai and I made it a specific goal to work super hard and be more diligent. It really paid off, we have seen so much improvement. Samoan is coming along pretty well and I am really enjoying my time here. Just over two weeks till I go to Samoa though, I seriously can't wait. 

For the devotional this week Elder Bragg of the Seventy came and gave a great talk on missionary work. I always love the devotionals. They always get me so excited to do the Lord's work.

Not a whole lot else happened this week, just still lot's of class and sub-par food. I am so excited for General Conference these next couple days though! It is will be such a great experience hearing from modern day prophets of the Lord. I hope everyone takes advantage of this time to feel the spirit and listen to the words of the Lord. I am so thankful for all the Prophets and Apostles, I know they are men called of God to be special witnesses. 

In our residency we have some people on the floor below us that will come around every night at like midnight and knock on everyone's doors. It is so annoying. All the Polys got together and went to their room and chewed them out super hard and lets just say they haven't done it since haha.

Tofa!

Elder Roberts

Me in front of a snowy mountain because I had no cool pictures this week 

One of my good friends from BYU, Elder Pearce.

My Companion was sick of wearing dress shoes so he wears flip flops now haha

ELDER COOK CAME!!!!!

On Sunday at choir practice our director told us an Apostle was coming on accident so word spread pretty fast and everyone was talking about it. Tuesday comes and they don't really tell us until we are already seated who the speaker is and they told us to all stand for Elder Cook. It was amazing, right when he walks in the room you can just feel the spirit he brings. He gave an awesome talk on missionary work and it got me SO excited. I just want to get out to Samoa and start. He bore his testimony and it was by far the most powerful testimony I have ever heard. Elder Cook coming was probably the best thing that has happened here so far. 

Not a whole lot else going on this week.  On Saturday a lot of missionaries went to the top floor of the new buildings to try and see the BYU game. The language is coming along ok. We had our first lesson with someone who wasn't our teacher. She was a native and we had to use all Samoan.  It was rough with the language, but it went pretty well overall. 

My companion got what he calls a "Poly Package" and it was a huge box like 3 feet by 3 feet of just food from his family, our whole district feasted it was great.

Elder Roberts

 Me and Elder Pangai

All the Samoan speaking missionaries

Parachuter coming down before the BYU football game

Time is Flying

This last week has really started to pick up. My first couple days were really slow but now time is going by fast and I am really enjoying it here. The devotionals are by far the best. We have devotionals on Sunday and Tuesday. Chad Lewis spoke to us on Sunday. He is a former Tight End for BYU and the Eagles. He was such a good speaker. In the NFC Championship game he made 2 touchdowns, including a game winning touchdown to go to the super bowl, but when making that catch injured his leg and he wasn't able to to play in the Super Bowl. His coach was Andy Reid is also a member and he shared some times he had with him also. His talk was super good though. At the Tuesday devotional Elder Kearon of the Presidency of the Seventy came. He was way good also and had a sick British accent. The spirit is so strong at the devotionals they are by far my favorite times here at the MTC.

On Monday I walked in for dinner and they had Taco Bell I was soooo hyped.. Haha my companion who is from Tonga saw a Helicopter for the first time and he was soooo excited. It was so funny, he is a great guy. All the people in my district are awesome and we all get along super well. 

My classes are pretty good, we have 6 hours of class a day. I have a couple teachers and lets just say some of them are better than others. My Samoan is actually coming along pretty decent. It has only been a week but I feel like I have already learned so much. I can't wait till I get the language down but I think it is going to take A LOT of time. I don't have any classes in the new building which is too bad. We have 14 of us crammed in a small room and the new buildings are so nice I am super jealous of the Missionaries that get to use them. We still go in them a lot for study time and stuff though. Haha I was on the first floor like 20 feet away from the street outside and I saw my friend go by on his Motorcycle, literally 20 feet from me. I got super excited and realized I can't do anything about it though and he didn't see me. Oh well. 

I love the MTC and the spirit is strong here. My testimony of Jesus Christ has grown so much. I can't wait to get out to Samoa and share with them what I know. 

Audios - Elder Roberts

Me and Elder Pangai

My district in our classroom 

My companion fell asleep with a towel on his head 

 A couple nights a week the zone gets together and sings this traditional poly song it is kind of like the Haka

Just another pic 

First couple of days!

These first two days have been absolutely crazy. Right when I got here I went to my class with all the other missionaries that speak Samoan and our teacher only spoke Samoan to us. He would ask us questions and things like we knew the language. I was so confused but I am super excited to learn the language. 

Honestly, Wednesday was kind of a blur for me there was so much going on. Yesterday was my first full day and it was such a long day. So many classes. The food here is kind of disgusting, it reminds me of elementary school lunch, but it's ok. The all you can drink Chocolate Milk is worth it. We have our first "Lesson" tonight and it is supposed to be all in Samoan, I don't know how that is going to happen haha. I'll just start with Talofa Lava and go from there. 

My companion is super awesome. His name is Elder Pangai. He came here straight from Tonga. He has a huge heart and a great sense of humor. We get along really well it is never a dull moment. There are I think 10 people going to Samoa, but we have two Samoan speaking districts. There are some missionaries going to Australia, New Zealand, and California all Samoan speaking. Our zone is all Polynesian speaking and there are a ton of Poly's. The Polynesian people are sooo fun. These are my people. Our whole floor in our residency is my zone and the Poly's get super loud at night and it is just a good time. My zone has Tongan, Samoan, Marshallese, Fijian, and some other language I have never heard of and I forgot. I love all the missionaries here everybody is super nice and we are all here for the same reason which makes everything all the better. My companion already knows some of the language which is a huge blessing, he helps me a lot with it.

My companion got an infected cut so me and him were allowed to leave and walk over to the Health Center by campus to get him his prescription, and it was the best 20 minutes of my life. I have only been here a day but it was just nice to get out of the gate and walk down the street and see the "real world" again. It was weird seeing my old dorm building haha. It was nice seeing people that weren't wearing name tags.

The MTC is a lot of work and it has been kind of hard but it is also the best place. The spirit is so strong here and everybody is willing to work super hard, it is a great atmosphere. I know this is where I am supposed to be, and I am soooooo excited to be here. Missionary work is the best work. Elder Oaks came the day before I got here which is a bummer that I missed him but supposedly Apostles come all the time so hopefully I will be able to see one. 

I wish I had more to say but it has only been two days, and it has all kind of been a blur. My P-days are Fridays while I am here in the MTC for the next 6 weeks. I appreciate all of the support.

 Tofa Soifua, 

Elder Roberts

 Classic picture in front of the map

 My Name Tag in Samoan

 Me and Elder Pangai

My District