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

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