Alafua

This week was a pretty solid. Lisa's baptism did not work out which is not good. She told us many times that she was already married, then we talked to the boyfriend and figured out she wasn't married. And the husband needs a divorce, so I am not exactly sure when that marriage is going to happen. Jim is for sure getting baptized this Saturday, so that is good. We have been working with Whita and Ivi and we went and did an FHE with them and brought there whole family, long story short either 5 or 6 of them are getting baptized next week, so that is super exciting. The only problem is we need to figure out when the marriage is going to be cuz stake president super busy. They are such a golden family for reals. There are still others in the family we haven't even met yet! We had Elder Allen with us for one day on Friday. The office elders drop him off and I ask him how long he has been out, he says he goes home tomorrow. I was like dannggggg, wonder what it feels like haha.

We had an FHE with President again at the Mission office with like 15 people in one family it was pretty hype. The kids were being sooooo crazy though it was hard for the spirit to be there. We did get McDonalds afterwards cuz Pres is clutch. We have a whole ward from Savaii staying with us again, they are here for some Volleyball tournament. 

We got a call on Monday from the Zone Leaders saying there was a change, I thought I actually might be getting transferred...nope. They just gave us another ward to cover. The Alafua ward. So now we cover 3 wards and our area got bigger so yay. I am excited for more to work with, even though there was only one investigator in the ward when we got it. I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Elder Roberts

Chickens are so hard to catch

Alalafaga and Rosa

 S'cute

Whita and Ivi and Fam 

Solid Week

This week was a pretty solid week. Not a whole lot of exciting things happened. Just a lot of walking and talking to people and teaching. Honestly, not a whole lot exciting. We did take Filifili to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, so that is always a good experience. We just tagged onto another ward like we usually do, but the ward didn't bring enough priesthood so we had to witness for the whole entire ward, so we were there forever, but airconditioned so I was down. We have been working with this new couple Whita and Ivi, they are sooooo good. We just met them on the road and testified to them, ended up taking them to the Visitors Center, they accepted baptism. They came to church and loved it, and they read the Book of Mormon AND Prayed about and they know its true! They are honestly such a miracle. They will be getting baptized on the 9th of June most likely. We have 1 baptism this week with this lady named Lisa, and then we have one next week with Jim.

Jim has been so hard to work with because he is just a 18 year old. But we finally got around to him and we have had some really good lessons. We helped their family put in some PVC pipe so they could get running water to their house, honestly a very humbling experience. They way they used to get their water was collecting the rain water in giant buckets. Love that family.

My companion got a boil on his pinky finger, poor guy only been out 1 transfer and has a boil.

I hope everyone has a good week! Alofa Atu

Elder Roberts

First Soaaaaaaa

 Family Picture

Temple

 Teaching Jim

Soa's Boil

Happy Mother's Day!

Manuia Le Aso Tina!! I am so thankful for my wonderful mother. Not a chance I would be here in Samoa if it wasn't for her. Also thankful for all the other mothers out there, it ain't an easy job. Also, talking with the family at  home was very good, now just another 7 1/2 months to call home again haha.

This week was awesome! Ipu got baptized, it has been amazing to see the change in her whole family from her baptism. This is someone we just talked to on the side of the street, the Lord truly did prepare her for us to teach. This gospel changes families and I am sooo lucky to be able to witness it. That professional rugby player got a baptismal date for next month, he is super cool and is the definition of a giant teddy bear. He was soo happy when we told him he could keep his Book of Mormon. The problem with him is he works for a whole week at a time and then gets a whole week off, so just have to be patient. Unfortunately we dont have any baptisms this week, but we should have one next week and then more the come in the weeks following. All is well here in Lotopa as always!

I think the hardest thing I have done here has maybe been sasa le vao. Which is basically mowing the lawn with a a machete.  The natives are so good at it and I think they just laugh every time I do it. It is super hard though and my arm was sore the next day. My goal is to master it before I leave. Also, we did the concert again this week and then President fed our whole zone and it was amazing. I dont have a whole lot of time this week, but I hope everyone had a great mother's day! The Church is true!

Elder Roberts

Jeff

Damion 

Ipu's Baptism 

                                                                Feast at President's House

Sasa le Vao

Visitors Center

This week was a truly amazing week. We had all 7 baptisms on Saturday! We went to do the baptismal interview for the 3 kids and the youngest one who everyone in the family thought was 9 years old was actually 8. We didn't know until we got the birth certificate for filling out her paper, so that ended up being a primary baptism. Faavese and his wife and children got baptized as well. It is amazing how much ward support we get in that ward. Member-missionary work is sooo important. Our bishop got up in Sacrament and told the members to start doing FHE's with us haha. I also did my first confirmation on Sunday, and yes in all Samoan. So all is well with those baptisms. Ipu and maybe her husband are getting baptized on Friday this week! We are still not sure with the husband but we will see probably today. The Lords work is always going forward!

Last week we were walking home from the Mission Office and my companion is like lets go talk to the temple President. Apparently he was my companions old bishop, and actually the bishop that started his mission papers. So we showed up, and I know I talk every week about walking into a house and feeling like I am in America and getting fed good food, but this was to the max by far the nicest house I have been in. Temple President was really cool, and he shared a lot of cool experiences. His first cousin is going to be our new mission President, and I told him to tell the new Mission President to let us go in the temple on P-Days. He said he will try haha.

On Monday we got a call from out Zone Leaders at 5 pm saying President wanted to do a FHE with us at his mission office in an hour and for us to bring as many investigators as possible. Classic. So we are scrambling to find people and we got a family and another investigator and a ward member. It was such a good FHE, the spirit was so strong. President asked us what we were doing for the lesson and he is like no,no,no lets read Moroni 7. Yup whatever you say. Us and the Zone Leaders did a special musical number at a baptism and President was there and is like ya do that at the concert tomorrow. All I did was share the First Vision in Samoan with one of the Zone Leaders, cool stuff.

Yesterday we talked to this guy on the street named Damian, he was super cool. Seriously the biggest traps I have ever seen in my life. His traps were up to his ears no joke. This guy is huge. We got talking a bit and he told us all these countries he has been too and I asked why he has been around the world so much. He said he represented Samoa in Rugby. He played for the Manu Samoa 15's until he injured his wrist. But we are taking him to the Visitors Center tonight. Hopefully things work out with him. I am just excited to be teaching a Pro Rugby Player. Also, I bible bashed for the first time yesterday with this lady from Seventh Day Adventist, I was getting so heated because all she would talk about is how Saturday is the Sabbath. The Spirit wasn't there so we just left her, and I gave her a Book of Mormon.

Everything is awesome here in Samoa. I hope everyone has an awesome Mother's Day also, I can't wait to talk with the fam! The Church is True!

Sorry not a lot of pictures this week.

Elder Roberts

Still climbin

 Faavese and his family

Vasa, Tavita, and Eta 

I HATE DOGS

I used to love dogs before the mission but as each day goes by and my life gets threatened by them my love for dogs is much weaker. BUT yesterday I saw this puppy that was probably the smallest dog I have seen in my life it was sooo cute. So I picked it up and started playing with it, then I hear barking from around the corner of the house and that is when I knew it was allll over. The momma dog comes around the corner and as I quick try and set the puppy down and yell HALU (That is what you say to dogs here to tell them to leave) The momma bit me on my shoulder. So yay.  It was literally as we were picking up an investigator's family to do a FHE at the mission office together with Mission President. So here I am with a torn up shirt and my shoulder is bleeding about to go see my Mission President and do an FHE. I was not hyped at all. Good news: President ended up being busy so he just stopped in for about 5 minutes and I think I hid it all pretty well because he didn't see anything. The FHE was really good also.

So our two baptisms last week were awesome. Talalelei and Filifili got baptized and confirmed, all is good with them. We are currently working on doing Family History with them so we can hopefully bring them to the Temple next week and do baptisms for the dead. We have SEVEN Baptisms this Saturday. I am super stoked. Fa'avese, his wife and two of their kids are getting baptized, along with Vasa, Tavita, and Eta (the Family with the kids). We got the other brother on baptismal date but he hasn't come to church enough times so he will hopefully be baptized in the near future. We had a really cool FHE on Monday at the big church school here in Samoa with an investigator family and a member family. Me and my companion taught the kids how to play basketball, then we played a couple games. One of the better FHE's we have had. The Lord's work continues to Progress here in LOTOPA. 

We live across the street from this really nice complex of super nice houses, it is owned by the church and it is basically all senior missionaries that live there. We play basketball on p day with Elder Cameron and the zone leaders in the morning, and then after he brings us over  to his house and his Wife has a huge breakfast for us. It is probably the best thing to ever happen to me in my life. We walk into an AIRCONDITIONED home and eat Bacon, french toast, breakfast sandwiches, etc. Then I washed my hands and they had hot water also. I haven't felt hot water in like 8 months besides when we go to their house. They are from Canada and Elder Cameron is actually super good at Basketball, it is weird. His daughter was the number one college player in Canada I guess so it must run in the family. Anyways good food almost every Wednesday morning.

Our district now consists of me and my companion and the Zone Leaders haha. The mission is running super low on missionaries, so areas got closed in our district, but we are still here. We used to have about 200 and now it is just under 130, so a lot of areas don't have missionaries. Our Zone Leaders are covering 7 wards right now also. Hopefully the Apostles start getting more revelation to send people to Samoa. Next month we have an intake of 25 missionaries leaving together with President also haha. We had a Zone Conference this past week and we literally talked about Faith for like 6 hours. Then ate a ton of pizza. It was a good day.

It has been an amazing week and we are seeing miracles every single day. It is absolutely amazing how the Lord prepares people for us to teach. This is the Lord's work and this is his church. I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Elder Roberts

I hate Dogs

 This kid is fun

 Marriage

FiliFili (wasn't able to get a pic with Talalelei) 

 FHE at Pesega