My week was fantastic for the work! Lots of opportunities to teach people, and meet those that we haven't met before! Blessings from Heavenly Father for sure!
Places to go with people waiting to receive us
In response to your questions to how the work runs here, yes, it is a bit different now this transfer. Our teaching pool has expanded rapidly over the course of the past couple weeks. We have more investigators to go see, part-member families to visit, and more, all from the sisters' area being shut down, referrals from other missionaries, and blessings in being able to meet new people through our own efforts. Now there is not a whole lot of time to GQ (General Questioning) or tract or anything, because there are so many people to be visited and contacted, many of whom we have not yet met! It is nice to have places to go where you know for certain there are people waiting to receive us, but we still have to be careful to remember to open our mouths and talk to those whom the Lord puts in our paths.
There have actually been increased opportunities for missionary work through offering to cut hair. We found a few new investigators--a family--this week and my companion offered to cut the father's hair, which he accepted gladly.
The Holy Ghost is undeniable, no matter what language
Over the course of this week, my testimony has grown of the reality and the mission of the Holy Ghost, that when the Holy Ghost is present, it is undeniable, no matter what language that it is conveyed in, and whether or not one fully understands.
A spiritual highlight for this week happened last night at the home of Brother and Sister C_. This man has been slowly progressing for the past 8 years as an investigator--literally! My companion and I decided that it is time to take action, and to do everything in our power to be able to convey the Spirit and convince him that he needs to be baptized, and not "procrastinate the day of his repentance". We did some careful planning in our weekly planning, and then relied on the Spirit for the rest.
Simple testimony and promised blessings melt hearts
We arrived at this family's home just as they were finishing up the last few minutes of a rugby game (New Zealand vs. Australia). When it finished, the TV was switched off and full attention was paid to us. We began our lesson with a prayer, offered by my companion. And that initial prayer invited the Spirit into our meeting. The lesson was taught in Samoan, mostly by my companion. I was happy to be able to participate a little bit, by reading scriptures, and bearing testimony. But there were three things that struck me most:
- The testimony of a [Church] member (particularly a spouse) is much more meaningful than that of us missionaries.
- I felt the Holy Ghost so powerfully throughout the lesson, and that in itself is a manifestation that everyone could feel it, because I could understand only about 15-20% of what was being said.
- Simple testimony and promised blessings melt hearts.
I definitely felt Heavenly Father guide my words as I bore testimony in that lesson. It came out smoothly, and confidently. There were some things I said in English, but I know that Heavenly Father has been blessing me immensely with the language. Thanks for the advice to keep studying hard! I really want to learn to contribute more in our lessons. We will see how we go!
I have a Samoan appetite, or have adopted one
Yesterday, we were fed 3 times between 2pm and 8pm. So, needless to say, I have a Samoan appetite, or have adopted one. The food still is great! One of my favorites (I can't remember if I told you about it already) is Luao, coconut cream-seasoned meat, wrapped in taro leaves. Mmmmmmmhhhh..... I want to learn how to make it!
I have a bit of time to tell you about Mose from last week. Our visit last week was really great, we were able to get acquainted with him, and share our testimonies. But our experience this week was heaps more spiritually intense! We met with him on Friday evening, with our ward mission leader, and it was our mission to go in and to help him to understand the Restoration of the Gospel. The lesson was great because despite the fact that differences in belief prevailed, there was no contention. We have moved closer to helping this brother and his family to embrace the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. We were not able to get to the juicy stuff, the actual Restoration of the Church and Priesthood Authority of the Primitive Church of Jesus Christ, but he asked some solid questions about our belief in the role of Baptism and the Holy Ghost in our lives etc. He himself bore powerful testimony, and we all felt the Spirit strongly. We were invited to come back this coming week. Will have to give you an update next week! (or Mothers Day).
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| Need a hero? Call the missionaries! |
Ezra: The beaches in Aussie are waaaaaaay better than America! The water is clean, and warm, the weather is nice! A great place for swimming, not that I would know. :)
JJ: Glad to hear that you had fun! Are you excited for summer? For no more school??
Mojo: That's awesome that you were able to demonstrate to all of those people playing what a disciple of Jesus Christ would. "We believe in being honest...." You da man!!
Kaysie: When are your mission papers being submitted? :)
Cami: Hope you are enjoying the beaches in SoCal, because if you ever get to come to Aussie, you will be blown away! :) (See note to Ezra)
Mom: That's awesome that you got to do names for family in the temple! Was it difficult to find the names?
Dad: The pics from your trip remind me of the Mexican food back home.... yum! Oh and Elder Naidu loves the pistachios from my most recent package, so thanks for the pic of the orchard that I was able to show him!
Love you guys heaps!!
Elder Loseni
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