Maybe this was a sign that the Church is the path for him too

Dear Family,

Malo le soifua lou susuga! O a mai outou? O lelei le vaiaso uma!

For you English-speakers out there, my week was good!!

So I'd like to start off by telling you my funnies for the week. Like I told you guys before, everyday brings new laughs with my companion. He is just so funny!! So, yesterday by itself we had two great laughs.

"I smash my pants"

The first one happened around 7ish last night, as we were driving to go visit some families. There was an old couple standing outside of a small, red car in the act of attempting to change a tire, which we could tell they were struggling. They were on the opposite side of the road and in between us and them there was a concrete barrier, so we turned around eventually at a gas station and made our way back to the car that was parked. We got out of the car and approached the couple and we noticed that they had the jack under the car already, but they seemed to be struggling to turn the jack. We asked if they needed any help, and the man said "We're right, thanks" following which his wife interjected "That would be wonderful!" Hahaha. Us men are stubborn!

So we offer our assistance. They were a super-nice couple. Turns out they are Jehovah's Witnesses! They thanked us when we finished, and we returned to our car. My soa was reaching behind him, and feeling his pants. "What's up, soa?"

"I smash my pants."

"You did what?" He turned around and showed me a nice, 5 inch tear right down the seam of his too-small pants. Hahhahaha!! I busted up laughing! Apparently as Elder Tuua bent down to get the ruptured tire off of the car, his pants ripped! Poor guy! So we had to turn around and grab some different pants for him. What great luck!! :)  I still tease him about it:).

Do Aussie lizards taste better than our lizards???

The Car of Karma!

The other funny we had yesterday was as we stopped by Sh*lly's house to follow up with her about the Book of Mormon. I don't think I told you guys about the last time we tried to follow up, but long story short, some men were in a station wagon in front of her house (probably her partner and son) were giving us some not-so-nice gestures and using some choice language towards us. My soa wasn't happy about that. Last night we noticed the same car in the driveway, half-covered by a blue tarp, and with a nice collection of dents easily visible from the uncovered part of the vehicle. Hahaha! Karma! Elder Tuua told me that it was because they do mean things to the missionaries. Heavenly Father looked after us. So my soa took a picture. I will see if I can borrow his camera and send you a copy:).

There is the car of karma!:)

Maybe this was a sign that the Church is the path for him too

We had some good opportunities this week to share the gospel and meet new people.

We met these two 19 year old boys outside one of their houses on Wednesday, who were super cool! They were pretty keen to talk about religion. They are friends with most of our youth and YSA (young single adults) in our ward. So we are looking forward to how we will be able to get the ward involved in their teaching! We taught them briefly of the Restoration and set up a follow-up meeting for a couple days latter, which went well! We hope to have more success in the future with them. Will keep you posted!

Another neat opportunity that we had came about as the Young Men's pres in our ward (who served in the ward as a missionary 8 years ago) took initiative and said that he would like to spend some time to go offer service for some families in the area, including active members, investigators, part member families, and former investigators that he knew of from when he was ward mission leader. That was really cool. So our Saturday included 5 hours of mowing lawns, pulling weeds, and tending to 6 different families yards. That was super cool! It was definitely inspiration to go and visit the former investigator that we did the lawn for. While we did the lawn, Bro S*lia (YM pres) talked to the father. Apparently, the brother of this man in Samoa just got baptized. He has been wondering for a while what is the right path for his family. He had also been wondering why missionaries had stopped visiting (bad record keeping was the problem, which we are trying to fix). He told brother S*lia that maybe this was a sign that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the path for him too! Choice! We are excited for follow-up visits with them.

We need to take action after we pray

Our follow-up with J*nior and K*lloni went well; we simply taught about receiving guidance from the Holy Ghost, using an object lesson with my watch. Essentially, the message was that we need to take action after we pray to God for God to answer our prayers. We need to show Heavenly Father by our actions that our prayer was sincere. The family is committed to continue to pray together as a family to know whether or not they should embrace the Gospel. Next week should be pretty great, because we are hoping to teach them the Restoration, which will really fill in some gaps in their understanding of the Gospel. It should be great!

I finished the Book of Mormon for the 6th time yesterday

I finished the Book of Mormon for the 6th time yesterday. I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but this time around, I wanted to study and underline 1) Where the Book of Mormon says one of the names of Christ 2) Where the Book of Mormon talks about the doctrine of the Atonement, and 3) restored doctrine through the Book of Mormon. As I flip through the pages of the hardback copy I used, it is incredible to see how pure and simple the doctrine of the atonement is in the Book of Mormon. I will have to show you guys this copy when I get home. It is pretty incredible how much of it is underlined in red (meaning the atonement).

Today I started over, and I will be studying and looking for Christlike attributes that characters of the Book of Mormon exhibit, as well as scriptures that teach the doctrines of the missionary lessons. I am excited!!! I love the Book of Mormon, because of the Spirit that I feel as I study. I have said it over and over again. I love sharing the Book of Mormon. It is soo great!!! Ahhhh!

You guys asked what Elder Tuua and I talk about as we travel. Well, I guess it depends! A lot of the time we talk about lessons or families that we are about to see. We share about our lives before the mission. Sometimes, in the car, we sit in silence and listen to the music that is playing, which really helps to focus on our calling. I love hearing about the conversion and hardship that my soa went through to get on a mission. He is truly an inspiration to me.

Wheeelp! That's pretty much my week at a glance!

JJ: To respond to your question, [I've baptized] just as many as Heavenly Father wanted me to baptize:). Hopefully more in the future!

Ezra: A funny thing is that my companion ripped his pants!!! Haha!

Grandma: [We teach] probably about half and half, English and Samoan. I only really bear my testimony and pray when it is in Samoan. But I definitely feel the spirit as my companion teaches!

Love you guys heaps!!
Elder Loseni

We were weekly planning at our zone leader's flat, and it started raining. Their flat is so nice!!