"Excuse me the sky and the sky"

Talooooofa!

Tuloga le lagi ma le lagi

Tuloga le lagi ma le lagi..... Ou te faafetai atu mo lenei avanoa e tusia lenei tusi ia te outou. Sa ma iai se vaiaso lelei! Pisi feololo. Ae fiafia! Sa lagona ma'ua le Agaga Pa'ia i ni lesona. Ma te faafetai ia le Atua mo le avanoa e tala'i ma faasoa atu le talalelei.

I will translate this for y'all English speaking ppl of the world! The first phrase apparently is how the chiefs start off their speeches in Samoan. Literally translated means "Excuse me the sky and the sky". Huh? I then said I am grateful for this opportunity to write y'all a letter! We had a good week! Kinda busy. But happy! We felt the Holy Ghost in our lessons, and we thank God for the chance to preach and share the gospel.

Constant and consistent optimism

Sooooooo..... What to say... What to say..... This week honestly was fantastic! So much good! Lots of great teaching opportunities that I don't even know where to start!

I guess first I will do my best to answer your questions. What will I take away most from Elder Naidu? Well, I think this may answer more than one question asked, but I would say his constant and consistent optimism. He is just happy all of the time! Literally! Pretty much all day, every day is filled with laughing and making hard experiences easier. It truly has lifted burdens to be with him. Such a blessing to be able to "thrust in [our] sickle[s] with [our] might" and to do "cheerfully all things that lie in our power" so that even when "the very jaws of hell...gape open the mouth wide after [us]," it has no power to "drag [us] down into the gulf of misery and endless wo". Wow, that was a lot of scriptures I just quoted right there... But seriously, what a blessing to be with him!

"Excuse me the sky and the sky"

A funny highlight for the week kinda relates to my opening statement (Tuloga le lagi ma le lagi). Whenever Elder Naidu sneezes he always says "Excuse me the sky and the sky", and I was sooooo confused! Man, who taught you that one, Naidu? That's not very good English.... So, I asked him about it. And he started laughing! Hahaha. He then demonstrated a chief's speech by sitting on the ground Indian style and chanting off this speech where I literally understood 5 words of what he said (chief language is crazy!). Hahaha it was a "you had to be there" experience, but hopefully you get the gist of it. :)

The Spirit bears testimony to ALL who are present

Okay, well I better tell you about my week, or I will run out of time! So we had a couple excellent lessons this week, where the Spirit was present so strongly! I think I mentioned last week about M_ and her family? The one where we taught the Restoration to? I can't remember... Anyways, M_ is a single mom with like 1200 kids (8) that we were able to teach again this week. It was mostly in Samoan, so I didn't understand everything that was going on. My companion and I were teaching "O le Ata o le Faaolataga", or the Plan of Salvation, answering 3 of life's deepest questions "Where do I come from?" "What is my purpose in this life?" and "Where am I going after this life?".

There is great power in bearing testimony of truth. I mentioned it in previous letters about how despite the language barriers, when the environment is right, and the Spirit bears testimony of truth, it bears testimony to ALL who are present. God loves all of his children, no matter who they are, where they are in their life, what their goals, personality, language, or character may be. He wants all of us to know that he is there, know that he loves us, and know that he has a place prepared for us after this life to dwell with him and our families eternally. What a sweet spirit can be felt as we teach, learn, and bear testimony of this great Plan of Happiness, centered on Jesus Christ. That is what was felt in our lesson.

It was really neat, because M_ and her daughter asked lots of questions, not in an accusing or challenging way, but out of a sincere desire to know truth. Questions are good! Great! In fact, they are essential to our spiritual growth! Because of that, I was able to respond to some of the questions asked by the daughter, because they were in English! Yay! Hahaha.

The Spirit is the most convincing evidence of truth!!

We had another wonderful lesson with some new investigators. They are a Samoan couple with 2 kids. Their kids are grown up and in uni (university to you Americans), so I would guess and say that they are in their late 40's or early 50's? The brother's name is Amosa and his wife is Lepisi (Don't mistake for "lapisi", that means rubbish, or garbage for you Americans). They are a very kind couple, who have both had some exposure to the church. I think that the wife used to be a member, born in the church, but she left with her family when she was quite young. They currently attend a Samoan Methodist church. Because of their exposure to the church, and all of the rumors that they have heard about the "Mormons", they had some sincere questions that they wanted answers to as well.

They asked these three questions "Who was Joseph Smith?" "What is the deal with the nickname "Mormons", and where does it come from?" and "where does your church come from?" Wow, those are the questions that we answer the most as missionaries! We explained (in Samoan) how because God loves us he created a plan, where we would come to earth and gain experience to become more like him. God sends his representatives, Prophets, to teach His children His Plan. These prophets are taken away with the disobedience of His children, and we call this disobedience "Apostasy". We explained how Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth to suffer, die, and resurrect, so that we can all likewise do the same. We taught how after Christ, His representatives (the apostles and prophets) were rejected and killed, pushing the world into another apostasy, we call the Great Apostasy, because no one had the authority to minister in the name and in behalf of Jesus Christ. That all changed when God reached out to His children once again, as he promised he always would, through calling a modern prophet to guide God's children in the latter days. That was Joseph Smith. God provided convincing evidence called "The Book of Mormon" that His Church and Gospel were restored. And that's how we answered the questions:). It was neat how the things we taught answered specifically, in detail, their sincere questions. They are definitely interested in more of what we have to say. We just hope and pray that we can do it by the Spirit! Because that is the most convincing evidence of truth!!

We have a special dual-mission conference tomorrow with Elder Cook, one of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I am so excited! It will be super cool. I am so lucky! 3 Apostles over the course of my mission!

Answers to questions

Okay, now to answer some q's........

Kaysie: You can't graduate high school, until I finish my mission, just so you know that...
Mojo:Great work! That's awesome that you earned so many great awards. Too bad you ditch school too much! :)
JJ: you da man!!!! That's soo cool. Cub scouts is fun, huh?
Ezra: My favorite thing in Australia is kangaroos:) They are so cool!
Aunt Joy: I actually haven't had Koala! I don't know if I want to try! They look pretty cute on TV, but the Aussies tell me that they are vicious, good-for-nothing animals. I have yet to form an opinion of them, because I still haven't seen one, but I will let you know! :)
Chase: The people here are awesome! They have weird accents, and it was hard to understand them when I first got here. But I love the people!!
Cameron: Vegimite isn't that bad! Unless you put waaaay too much on. Then it is disgusting! You have to spread a very small amount on top of buttered toast, and then it is great!
Aunt Kim: The best thing about being a missionary.... That's a hard question. I would have to say that it is seeing the influence of God in my life, and so obvious in the lives of others! God is real, and he loves us so much!
Brian: I have seen a few massive spiders. But none lately! I think they are more prevalent outside of the city.... (Amen, Uncle Ken! Hey, that rhymed!)
Brenn: The toilets here are different. They mostly just flush straight down. No rotation at all. But if they do rotate, then yes! They do actually go counter-clockwise!
Advice for Moriah: Enjoy the beaches! Because apparently Brisbane has the nicest of all of Aussie. And take your summer clothes, even for winter, because I have heard it is hot all year round!
Grandma and Val: Thanks so much for the Birthday letter, and all of the other letters of encouragement throughout my mission! I will try my best to respond with a letter (I have been pretty bad in the past at finding time to write letters!)

Hopefully I didn't miss any questions! I love you guys heaps! Hope you have a great week!!

Love,
Elder Loseni