Talofa
everybody! This is Elder Record and today is the 13th
of November. Oh and I found out that if you really want to impress
Samoans, and really want to
say hello in a respectful way instead
of just “talofa,” you
can say, “Malo soyfua.” That's a very respectful way to say
hello, and it means a lot to them. Anyway,
we just
had a blast this past week.
The Samoan people are awesome! They're super nice, super friendly,
and they treat us like family. It is so much fun to be able to talk
with them and meet them. It's awesome, it's like we are starting to
pick up Samoan and get excited about learning it. It's hard, but
after a while, and with the Spirit, you start to be able to pick up
the sounds – the vowel sounds – and things like that. So, it
becomes easier to remember
what they say instead of just hearing a bunch of vowel sounds.
It is
kind of different here because the Polynesian ward is spread out over
a bunch of different wards. Tracting is really not effective, kind of
like it would be in Utah because you are trying to pick up
non-members out of a bunch of members. Here it is like picking out a
Polynesian out of a bunch of non-Polynesian people. A
lot of stuff is done through referrals. The Polynesian people are
amazing at that. It is like they found the truth and then
they tell
you, “now this person
needs to know the truth.” They
are very gung-ho
about sharing the gospel
with others because they care about them. I'm so excited to continue
to work with them. It was awesome having Church in Samoan. I have to
admit though towards
the end – I
was already tired – in
Elder's Quorum I started to get a little sleepy.
Earlier
in this
week we went to the Canada Game Centre again on Monday and played
football, basketball, and later
did some singing with
Brother McDonald. He used to be a professional singer. We had our
last dinner with the Terperfields. They were awesome and gave me a
super cool hat. It's solar powered and has lights on the cap and
charges itself. Apparently it can last for days without being charged
again. It's pretty cool – and it's a comfortable hat (haha). So I
have to use it at some point. They also wrote me a letter, like a
farewell card. That was nice.
On
Tuesday we did a bunch of cleaning and packing. We listened in on the
transfer meeting at 12:30, because we were not going to be
transferring until Thursday, so we just listened to them (haha). We
had to go searching for a bunk bed, because our bunk bed is not
sufficient to hold two big guys above six feet. I'm little and pretty
nimble, so I was able to get on the top bunk, but they are going to
have to rip it down and get a new bed or they are going to have to
rip it down and resize it (haha). [That
will be interesting when they get up there. They
left this morning to go back to Whitehorse.] On Tuesday night we had
dinner with Sister Brown, and
a lesson with some
investigators. They were at
the dinner with us. We talked about 1
Nephi chapter 8, and shared Elder
Bednar's follow up article
in the October Ensign,
which was pretty good.
On
Wednesday we did more preparations and opened up the Family History
Center and did a little with that. We were able to have our last
lesson with a different
investigator. We read the
Book of Mormon with her and encouraged her to
read more on her own.
Thursday
we drove all the way to Anchorage. It
… yeah, I don't like driving (haha). That was a long ride. I was in
Brother McDonald's car, so we sang pretty much the whole time. It was
pretty fun (haha) to sing to my MoTab CDs and stuff.
We
were able to go to the temple. I will be sending in a letter some of
the names I wasn't able to finish. It was kind of neat. For Daniel
Owen, I was able to get the baptism and confirmation done, and I was
able to get the initiatory and endowment done all in that one day. I
really felt the Spirit when he was being baptized. I just started
bawling (haha), and I've never felt that before in the temple. So
that was really cool, and I
really think he is going to accept the gospel, and I'm excited to see
how he does. Well, excited
to not to see how he does
because I won't see it until after I die (haha),
but excited to think about it more and do more family history work on
that side. Probably not on
my mission, but we'll see.
I
love missionary
work. I love the Samoan people more than I have ever loved a
group before. They treat me like family, and I love them with all my
heart. I am so thankful to be able to serve with them and bring
others to a knowledge of the goodness of our Savior.
I love this work. I'm so glad I am able to be a part of it. I know
that the gospel
is true, and that our Savior,
Jesus Christ,
provided the way for us all to return to live with our Father
in Heaven
again someday.
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