Serving the Lord in Samoa: Happy New Year

These past two weeks have been pretty fun. I got my ringworm checked out by the mission nurse and she wanted to show President. President just looked at me and told me to do whatever I need to get rid of that asap. He said to stay inside unless we had an appointment already set up but not to be just walking around. He also told me I didn't have to shave, not that I grow much anyways haha. Overall, the ringworm is gone from my face and neck. It's still on my back and armpits a little bit but It's a lot better. So we were basically inside for a week, then I was ready to go out and my companion got a massive boil on his foot. His foot got super swollen and he was on crutches because he couldn't walk. So basically we were inside these past two weeks, except the occasional visit. The mission nurse did this cool pressure thing on his boil to try and get it out. She lit a match in a bottle and put it on his boil to suction it out, it didn't work. They just put him on antibiotics and he can almost walk normal now. Luckily, we have been able to be out the past couple days. It was so nice to be out of the house. I was pretty sick of studying PMG, the scriptures, and playing card games/farkle all day.

We are now out of the house and in full force which is awesome. We have 2 baptismal dates set up for next week which we are really excited about. One of them is Penny's niece (We baptized Penny in November). Bishop also set up 3 baptismal dates for us, they are all kids over 9 from the Bishop Action List and they are all for later this month. The work is progressing here in Samoa. We had a goal of 2,000 baptisms as a mission last year and I don't know the exact number we hit, but we got our 2,000 in November so we hit the goal. Speaking of New Year, I set my alarm to wake up at 11:57 to be awake for midnight. So that was cool.

I was sad to hear of the passing of President Monson. I know the people of Samoa have a special love for him, as he visited here and talked of Samoa often. Fast and Testimony meeting turned into a love for President Monson meeting. I am thankful that our church is set up in a way where we can have another President and Prophet. I am so thankful for Prophets that lead and guide this church. I know they are truly Prophets of the Lord.

I am absolutely loving it here in Samoa, its nice living in a tropical island and it is below 0 at home. The mission is awesome. I am thankful for everyone's prayers and support, and hope everyone has an awesome week.

Elder Roberts