Baptism

Ace got baptized this week! That was a super exciting day, he is 21 years old and the whole YSA showed up which is good he has so much support in the ward hopefully we can get his family history done so we can take him to the temple next week. We are taking Penny to the temple tomorrow so that will be a really good time.

We have been talking to this huge family. The parents have I think 12 kids. The mom is especially interested and the kids love us. We bought all the kids CTR rings. We are seeing some progress from them so hopefully things continue to work out. Other than that we have been trying really hard to find new investigators. The members don't really give referrals so we have been doing the good old door knocking. We have been giving out a ton of Books of Mormon. We definitely have some potential.

I hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving! They don't celebrate thanksgiving here obviously so I bought a box of Reece's Puffs that was pretty expensive. It was worth it, for sure one of the better decisions I have made. Good news is that Elder Pu'efua's boil went away, bad news is that he woke up yesterday with a fever of 103.1. He had to go get tested for dengue fever. Hopefully he doesn't have it. The results come back tomorrow but he is a lot better today. I think he will be fine. 

Sorry the computer here isn't letting me upload any pictures, so I'll try again next week. But, I do have this picture from Penny's Baptism that I had her son send me. Her son baptized her.  Also, here is a picture of Ace's baptism that was sent to me. Hopefully I will have more pictures of it next week. 

Elder Roberts

Pennys baptism

Aces baptism

Rejoice in the Struggle

This Monday we had a district meeting and the zone leaders walked in towards the end. They read a scripture with us out of 3rd Nephi 11 and then broke the news that an Elder in our mission had passed away the night before. Elder Patiole and his companion were walking on the side of the street Sunday night to an investigators house (whose baptismal date is this weekend). They were walking with a bunch of kids and saw a car swerving and going super fast. They tried running and Elder Patiole got hit and died shortly after. It was a drunk driver. When they broke the news it was super sad but I am so thankful to have a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. Everyone in our district shared their testimonies and it was a really special experience. My district leader had just been companions with him so that was really sad also. I did not know Elder Patiole since I have only been here a month, but his area was really close to ours. I know Elder Patiole is continuing his missionary work on the other side. I am thankful for Jesus Christ and his Atoning sacrifice that makes it possible to all live with our Heavenly Father again as a families. 

Also this week, my companion got a boil right next to his eye. That boil turned into a couple more boils. So we have had to stay inside for like 5 days. It has been super hard just sitting inside and reading. Yesterday we were able to get back outside at nighttime so that is good. He has like 3 boils near his eye, a fever, and a tooth problem. The good news from this is we went to the hospital for him and on the way back the Senior Sister brought us to McDonalds. I was soooo happy. Double Quarter Pounder had never tasted so good. Unfortunately, we had to go to the hospital during Penny's baptism. I felt so bad we were not able to make it. She told us the next day at church that she cried really hard because we couldn't make it. All that matters is she got baptized though so that is exciting, I don't have any pictures though since I wasn't there. The hospital here was so sketchy. As we were walking out the power went out to the hospital and I wasn't surprised at all haha.

I know the Lord always shows tender mercies when it gets hard. I know miracles truly do happen. Even though this week was tough I am really looking forward to this next week. Also, I saw Elder Pangai this morning so that was super exciting. Sooooo good to see him.

Elder Roberts

McDonald's

Pure Beauty

 This kid is obsessed with my helmet

 Beginning of Boil

More Boil

Earthquake

Sorry we didn't have internet connection last week but this is my update for two weeks. Last Saturday night my companion wakes me up at like 11:30 telling me we need to go, and I was pretty mad honestly I wanted to sleep. I went back to bed then he woke me up again saying we legit needed to leave right now. I was like what the heck is going on. Right as I walked outside our house a mission van pulls up. It's one of those 12 person vans but there were like 20 missionaries packed inside. I still had no idea what was going on. Then everyone in the van was talking about how it was a pretty big earthquake and stuff. Apparently I slept through a 6.8 earthquake. I was so mad, I have always wanted to feel an earthquake. President wanted to evacuate all the missionaries near the coast because of the threat of a tsunami. So we went to a chapel more inland and stayed there till 6 am and then I had 7:30 church. That Sunday was a grind I was soo tired.

When we got home from church our house smelled super bad, and it had been smelling bad for the past 2 weeks. Elder Pu'efua and I always joked there was a dead rat, then we found a dead rat under my bed. The only thing left was the bones and some fur. It was pretty gross and smelled horrible but once we got rid of that it was all good.

Last week I ate a ton of fish at someone's house and got super sick from it. The next day was pretty bad. I was at someones house and they gave me some medicine to drink so I did. I asked if I could look at the bottle after I drank it. It ended up being a laxative. I just looked at my companion and told him this is not at all what I want. So ya I felt a lot better the next day though.

We have a baptism this week with Penny. It has been such an honor to teach her. She has been meeting with missionaries for two years and she is finally getting baptized this Saturday. We got to teach their family how to do family home evening and that was really special. I taught the lesson in Samoan so hopefully they understood what was going on. She has a daughter on a mission that she is keeping her baptism a secret from her till it happens, she will be so excited. We also are teaching a guy named Ace. He is 21 and super cool. I have never seen someone so excited about the gospel. He is getting baptized next Saturday. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and the next day we go to check on him and he was asleep with the Book of Mormon open to second Nephi. We were super excited. 

Elder Roberts

Fresh coconut

I need to watch how much fish I eat

About to try Sea Urchin

 Going to temple with a recent convert

 Straining Coconut

Elder's ballin because we aren't allowed to play volleyball

Ace asleep with Tusi a Mamona

 The Rat