Googly eyes for my handsome soa

Hey family! Hope all is well!!!

My week was pretty good, all is well in Aussie.

Middle man in a massive drama between two Samoan wards

What was my biggest challenge this week? Hmmmmm..... I think that my biggest challenge was being the middle man in a massive drama between two Samoan wards. That was fun!! Hahahaha, I will tell you guys about it, but I don't know if it is a great idea to put it on the blog, your decision though! [Parent note: We chose to exclude most of the details.  Sorry.  :)]

So I had fun trying my best to solve all of the drama... Luckily it is all solved now! No more worries! No issues! The family is happily baptized. Another fun curve ball, I did the baptismal interview because our DL doesn't speak Samoan, and Elder Tito, the only leader that really can speak Samoan, was going to be on traveling assignment. So Elder Tuua was my interpreter as I conducted the interview for those three kids. Hahahaha. That was probably the most difficult experience of the week.

The biggest blessing that I received this week? I would say that it would have to be a tie between the laughs and the increased knowledge and spiritual power that has come through my studies. This past week was a week where we did not have nearly as many opportunities to teach as we would have liked to. But the experiences that we did have made up for that, I would say.

Googly eyes for my handsome soa

The laughing moment: Elder Tuua and I received a referral from our flatmates who told us of a Samoan family they had seen (not talked to) the previous week. We went to see the family one cool summer evening. As we walked up the driveway, we saw that there was a man and a woman, both Samoan, probably in their early 50's, sitting outside of their house, staring back at us. We greeted them, and introduced ourselves as missionaries. Long story short, the family invited us in, and one of the daughters (probably 17 years old) had googly eyes for Elder Tuua (my handsome soa). Hahaha that was pretty funny. It was obvious.

Turns out the man is a minister for the Samoan LMS (London Missionary Society) church, kinda like Methodist. Also known as EFKS (Ekalesia Faapotopotoga Kerisiano Samoa). Super nice family. We shared a brief message, and asked to be able to come and teach the family more about the Restoration, our unique message which they accepted kindly. I offered the closing prayer in Samoan, and right as I said "Amen", there was a loud "click" in the silent room. Elder Tuua and I looked to where the noise came from and saw --- the daughter! With her phone pointed at Elder Tuua. She just took a picture of him! Bad timing, too, when everyone could hear what happened, as I had just said a prayer. Hahahahahaha that was crack up.

Koko Samoa provided by my wonderful soa.  Yumm indeed! And heaps of caffine! Wow! My soa loves his koko hahahaaha. He got a package from home and in it was a solid rock of 5 kg's of koko, probably the size of a regular cheerio's box. Wow!!!

The stadium where we did the athletics carnival for the Stake.  We had a stake athletics carnival over here on Saturday that the missionaries got to run in. I ran the 2000 m race for our ward, right after eating heaps of pizza that the stake provided for the missionaries (because we were the marshalls for the events). I ran it in 8:28, then rolled over and died. Bad idea to eat the pizza! Hahaha!!!

The Bible is soooooo precious!

Some of the insights that I have been having from my studies: My entire mission, I have always given preference to the Book of Mormon when teaching. Sure, I have known scriptures in the Bible. I have had somewhat of an understanding of what is in there. But I have always had this little prejudice in the back of my mind where I have thought that the Bible is somehow inferior to the Book of Mormon. Huge mistake, that I have realized just over the past few weeks. Preach My Gospel teaches that we should use both testaments hand in hand, and I have seemed to have failed to do so.

I have been reading Jesus the Christ side by side with the New Testament (and other books of scripture) and I have begun to realize that the Bible is soooooo precious! It contains written account of the Lord Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. I have been gaining a greater testimony of how Christ is Master through his teachings in the Bible. I have previously shared experiences with you all about how I have experienced the Atonement in my life, and this week my knowledge and understanding of Christ has expanded to know him as more than the Savior. He is the Exemplar, the Master. The Good Shepherd who has taught and continues to teach and guide His sheep back to the fold. I am grateful for the writings of Elder James E. Talmedge that have given me a greater love of all scripture.

Probably another slammed door...

With that being said, I did have an awesome experience with the Book of Mormon this week (in teaching, not to mention all of my personal studies, where half of the time I am enveloped in the Book of Mormon). I had read a quote by Ezra Taft Benson that says "The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon...God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way. We have the Book of Mormon, we have the members, we have the missionaries, we have the resources and the world has the need. The time is now!" So one of my goals, and prayers over the past week was to be able to move the Book of Mormon and use its power to help someone who has not had an opportunity to drink from its waters. We found that opportunity!

We were walking through one of the areas that we work in, doing a bit of finding by looking for the signs of a Samoan house (refer to the picture I sent last week). Heaps of doors we mistook to be Samoans that were actually uninterested Aussies. Sweet! We got to one particular house and knocked, and there was a lady in her 50's who answered the door. Aussie. Dang it! Probably another slammed door. We told her that we are representatives of Jesus Christ, here to share a message about Him. She was pretty open, which was good. Eventually she invited us to sit down outside her house on the stairs to have a bit of a talk. And boy, could she talk!

Her name is Sh*lly, and Sh*lly has had a hard life. Very hard. Early in her adulthood she was very involved with drugs and crime, her health currently is pretty poor as a result of it. She is spiritualistic, meaning that she believes in Spiritualism, due to some inexplicable experiences that she has had with her life. After talking for almost an hour, she had asked sooooo many questions of the soul (see PMG Chapter 5) that we were not given the chance to answer. To list a few, "What is the purpose of life?" "If there is a God, why would he let bad things happen to people?" "Why isn't there world peace if God is so powerful?" "What would God expect of me if he were real?". And more. She also mentioned in glancing that she had never been given a book that could answer her questions, with a bit of a laugh.

We jumped on that lead. We were given the opportunity to testify. We asked if she had read the Book of Mormon before which she responded in the negative. We told her about how the Book of Mormon can answer the questions that she has, and she was really pleased and surprised that our claim was so bold, that the Book of Mormon could answer her questions. We gave her one example (Why does God allow bad things to happen? Alma 14, 60) and she was intrigued. She asked us to come back after a week, so that she could have time to go through the Book of Mormon. So we will be meeting with her tomorrow! Looking forward to the impact that the Book of Mormon will have on her life! Because it surely has changed mine.

Wheeeeeelllp... That's my week at a glance! Next week will be interesting with transfers, but I am not worried.

Love you guys heaps!!
Elder Loseni