Papatisoga!

We had our baptism this last weekend! It didn't go exactly as expected but it all worked out in the end. It was supposed to be Saturday night and we went to pick him up like 10 minutes before the program started and he was just doing chores in front of his house we were like uhhhhh. Turns out his mom made him do all this stuff. He lives with his mom because she is super old and always needs help. He couldn't do the baptism that night which was a bummer. My companion and I had to go to the chapel and tell everyone it wasn't going to happen which was not fun either. Anyways, we did it at 6:30 am on Sunday morning. It went super well and he was super excited. I am so grateful we could be instruments in the Lord's hands.

The rest of the week was also super awesome. Elder Pu'efua and I were having a super slow day and all our appointments were falling through so we went up this massive hill that was a part of our area because we hadn't been up there. It was such a grind. It took so long to bike up and it was the middle of the day and the Sun was just destroying us. It was a cool view from the top, ended up not being a whole lot up there though. Going down the hill was sooo great though with the breeze.

I can honestly say that yesterday was the most food I have ate in a day in my life. Usually we don't have breakfast but for the first time we did yesterday. Then at every single home we visited they made us soooo much food. I felt like I was going to die it was just ridiculous. I ate pig for the first time and it was a struggle. It was basically a piece of skin that still had the hair on it and a ton of fat. It was super chewy and every time I would finish a piece they would put more on my plate and say "You are Samoan now, keep eating". It was horrible. I was afraid I was going to throw up all over their table. I remember growing up and having to eat something I didn't like and my mom would always say "Just eat it because on your mission you will have to eat food you don't like". Mom always knows best. 

Oh my gosh on Monday we were talking to this family and they just brought out a bag of Tootie Fruities! I was sooooo hyped! It felt soo good to eat cereal. I ate like 6 bowls of it. I asked where they got it, because you can't buy it here. They got in over on Pago Pago. I also learned how to do everything you can think of with a coconut. The coconuts here are so good, they just climb the tree and take it off and eat it right away it's awesome.

The work in this area is really progressing I am super excited! We have lots of promising investigators, and I am really enjoying my time here.

-Elder Roberts

 

This kid loves carrying my bag around, and there is a fly on my face

 Andrew's Baptism

Andrew's Baptism

Lakeville Representin' with the Tootie Fruities

Carving a coconut, and Elder Pu'efua

View from the Massive Hill, on the right side of the electrical pole you can barely see the temple

Random Funeral 

The member we stay with climbing a coconut tree

Sandal Tan/Burn lines

Funeral

On Saturday we went to a funeral for a guy in one of our wards. It was probably the most cultural event I have ever been to. The high chief and the representative of the family were like yelling at each other the whole time in Samoan and exchanging pigs/food/money. It was super hectic. Then random people would just shout stuff it was all just crazy. It was super cool though. I didn't understand anything that was going on either because it was all in Samoan. Also, they buried the guy without a coffin just straight in the ground. In Samoa the people get buried right next to the house. At the members house I am staying at the graves are just outside my window. I wake up every morning and see their dead parents graves. "It's da best"-Nacho. 

Sunday night me and my companion get back to our house and there were 3 random guys there. We asked who they were and they are friends of the member we are staying with. 2 of the guys play professional rugby for Samoa. They just got back from a game in Ukraine and are staying with us for 2 months. They are super cool guys and help me with my Samoan. One plays for the 7's team and one for the 15's team. So ya, I am living with some professional rugby players.  They said they would teach me how to play rugby sometime if I taught them how to make brownies. Good trade.

One of the wards on Sunday had their primary program. All the kids dress up in all white for the primary program it was awesome. We also had an investigator come to church with us so that was cool. His name is Andrew, and he is the one investigator we teach the lessons in English for. It is super nice and my companion has let me take the lead on those lessons because I actually know what is going on. Andrew is getting baptized this Saturday so we are super excited! Our mission president really stresses bringing them to the temple right after they are baptized to do baptisms for the dead. We have been trying to get some of his family history figured out and we have an appointment set up at the temple for next week. That will be a super cool experience as well.

The mission president's rule here is the members can't feed us dinner unless we have an investigator there. Last night we were going to do an FHE at someones house and we get there and she is like "ya we aren't having FHE, I just wanted to eat a ton of food and talk with you guys." So me and my companion ate a ton of food with this old lady. Every single house we visit they give us food and Cocoa Samoa. We usually don't really eat a breakfast because we just get fed throughout the day. On Monday we had an actual FHE and I ate a ton of food but forgot I had to bike up this massive hill to our next appointment after.  That was not a fun time at all. Then we got there and she brings out these cookies and noodles and cocoa. I was dead, I felt like I was going to explode. It is super rude to not eat the food when they already made it for you though. I would say half the food here is super good and half of it is going to take some getting used to.

Elder Roberts

 I gave this kid my mango

 Funeral

 Exchanging of Pigs

 Our bishop has a ton of kittens

Some of the food

Beautiful Samoa!

This place is amazing! It is so beautiful and the people are so friendly. It is so dang humid though it has basically been a sweatfest for the past 24 hours. The first breath off the plane felt like I was drinking a glass of water. I was the first missionary to get through customs and when I got out some guy was like "are you lds?" So I said yes and he told me to go with him.  He starts loading my bags in the car and he told me he was going to take me to the mission office and stuff he sounded legit. Then my Mission President comes up and is like "Elder, what are you doing?". It was a taxi guy trying to rip me off. Good first encounter with President though haha. President Hanneman is really cool though, he is really down to the point and doesn't mess around. He has some unique rules for the mission like the first thing we do when we wake up is read the Book of Mormon for an hour. He promised us if we devoted the first hour of everyday to God then he would be with us the next 23 hours. We also do our companion and language study throughout the day instead of in the morning. We spent the first night at the mission house, there was 15 of us Elders because some visa waiters got their visas and came with us. 

The plane ride here was so long. When we were in San Francisco one of the Elders we were traveling with had his aunt who lived there bring us all In n Out. Basically the clutchest thing that has ever happened to me. My last meal in America was 2 double doubles and a shake. I was hyped. I slept most of the plane ride. New Zealand was super cool, when we were up in the air it was such a sight. Then we flew to Samoa and as we could start to see the islands I was getting SO excited. It looked beautiful from up in the air. I feel so blessed to be serving here.

My trainer is from Utah but he is full Samoan. He has been serving for 11 months and knows the language really well. I have only been with him for about 5 hours but he seems pretty cool and hard working. My first area is here in Apia. It is pretty close to the mission office/temple. We get bikes in our area which is super nice, we don't have to walk much. I also placed my first Book of Mormon today so that was cool, I am not sure if the guy understood everything I was saying in my horrible Samoan but he accepted it. We live with members in the ward in this little "house". It is actually super nice compared to most places the missionaries live in this mission. 

Elder Roberts

Auckland Airport

 Samoa

Our Plane

 Welcoming Party in Samoa Airport

 Last time with my Soa

New Group with President at Temple

 Our Room

WE ARE OUTTA HERE

2 Days!!  I AM SO EXCITED TO GO!  Samoa is going to be the absolute best. I am also super excited for the long flight, hopefully I can catch up on all my sleep. This last week has been amazing, lots of spiritual experiences.

Elder Christofferson came to the devotional this week! I was super excited to see another Apostle. The spirit that they bring with them is just so special. He gave an awesome talk on the Book of Mormon and the history of it. It was super interesting. He brought in the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith's mom used, so that was cool. I love hearing the sure witness of Jesus Christ from an Apostle. Today we are blessed to have members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 come to dedicate the new buildings here at the MTC. I am super excited for that.

I am going to miss my companion so much. It is going to be weird having a different companion. Elder Pangai and I have gotten really close. He works really hard and has such a good heart. I know he is going to be a great missionary. Maybe we will be future companions, who knows haha. 

My new P-days I believe will be Wednesdays, so I'll be emailing then from now. I think that would still be Tuesday here in American though. 

LET'S GO!

Elder Roberts

Me in 3 days 

Minnesota Squad, Elder Woodson, Me, Sister Flake 

Elder Christianson, Me, Elder Pangai​​

Cousins!  Elder Damiano and Me

General Conference + Chick Fil A = Hype Week

General Conference was so awesome! My favorite talks were Elder Cook's on Humility and Elder Ellis' on how hard things are good. How about Samoa getting a little shout out! We had some district discussion time on Conference and that was really good. General Conference has never meant so much to me that it has this time, it seemed like every talk had something that pertained to me and what I needed to hear. Also, I got to spend a lot of Conference with one of my friends, Tanner. We grew up together in Minnesota. 

Monday is fast food night and rumor was going around that Chick Fil A was coming and I was getting soooo excited. I had 5 sandwiches. It was the best food we have had here by far, especially because the food here isn't that great. We have 4 Elders in our room and we took back 10 sandwiches for that night. We had them all laid out on the table about to feast and then someone yelled from the hallway "Clarke is coming!" He is our branch president so we HAULED to get those hidden under my companions bed. He walked in like 10 seconds after we got them hid, it totally smelled like chicken though haha. It was close but we still feasted that night.

I leave in about a week and a half and I can't wait! Samoa is going to be so awesome!

Elder Roberts

Me and Tanner 

Chowin Chick Fil A