"This is really happening"

Malo Soifua ia latou! 

O a mai outou?! Manuia? Lelei!  Ou te fa'amoemoe atu i outou lelei!!

Sa bisi Lenei vaiaso!  Sa alu o ia vave!

First off, Happy late Birthday to Miss Emily!  Wish i could give you a hug!  Sorry i'm a day late. :)  

Mom, thanks for the moving info/update!  I'm so happy to hear even though your days are all so nuts-o, you're able to have smooth sailing through it all!  You all are in my thoughts and prayers, especially this week!  It'll be hard, but we can do hard things!

Loved seeing Isaac as Jase... SO FUNNY! and SO PERFECT - ato'ato'a!  thanks for sending those pics!  I like seeing your faces! You all are too cute! :)

Thanks for the letter this week, Isaac!  I love seeing your handwriting!  Its getting really good!  and I like the stories about the fall festival! sounds super fun!

Travel plans.... for now our teachers know more than we do, but they spread the word to us the other day.  So sista lasike will be going to Hawaii next wednesday, and the rest of us will be leaving on the 11th to either Samoa or NEW ZEALAND!!!! you guys.. .this is REAL LIFE.. I'm ACTUALLY going to NEW ZEALAND! there IS LIFE after the MTC!  (dont get me wrong i love it here, but i also want to invite REAL people unto christ!)  Thats as much as i know... i will keep ya updated as much as i can! Time is tickin'!

BRYNN SEND ME PICS OF MISTER MASON AND YOUR CUTE NEW HOUSE! Thanks for the Dear Elder this week! Loved hearing from ya! Glad you all are happy!

Thank you, Gramma Linda for the Halloween package!!! We all enjoyed it!  But we will definitely NOT NEED any more sweets or food for the rest of the time here, i still have lots and won't have room to keep it all in my suitcase here pretty soon! :D Love you and pap! 

Gramma Doris, how is uncle Dean doing?!?  That sounds so painful, i hope he and his family are doing okay, and i keep them in my prayers!  I hope he has a successful recovery! Tell them i love them!  I love you and granddad too! NEVER FORGET THAT! =D  and yes it IS beautiful here! got to love the fall time!  it is finally starting to get chilly here, but thats okay because i only have 1 1/2 weeks left until i fly into summer time :) congrats to stephanie! she will be a wonderful momma!

hope your business trip went well dad! :)  happy to hear you came home a day early!

LOGAN! keep updating me on the AFA stuff, school, your life okay! miss you and mitch and 

isaac so much!

Mom, I'm so glad you got to spend so much time with jill, and people at chruch, and your work friends!  YOU ARE SO MANY PEOPLE'S FAVORITE PERSON! :) Definitely one of mine! :)  and I GOT AN EMAIL form JUSTIN!!! Thanks for spreading the word to Dani, tell they hello if you have the chance!!  It was good to hear from him, so thank you!

Okay now, on to my week....

It was busy as usual, but things are starting to click more and more each day with the language and i love it!  We set some goals yesterday all leading up to being able to teach by the spirit and not with notes.  Its been easier this week for me - when i go to teach "tasi" or "toe" i just take my scriptures and my 1 notecard with english bullets, then form my sentence in Samoan!  Its kinda fun... okay okay, i love it! and i canNOT wait til i can teach without any notes, and speak more fluently so i can express my excitement and love to these future REAL investigators! AH!

On Saturday night I was able to listen to 2-3 conference talks in Samoan, and it was awesome! remember when i freaked out this summer and said, there is no way... wellllll there is! No i didnt understand it all, but i did understand pieces! and i call that, a success! wooop!  

With the language, on sunday i worked on memorizing a few articles of faith... here is number 1!

"Matou te talitonu i le Atua, o le Tama Fa'alelagi, ma i Lona Alu, o Iesu Keriso, ma le Agaga Paia."   =D

Sunday night was great.... sister chammings fell asleep right away, and i was still up writing in my journal a 1/2 hour later and noticed she got up and almost ran into the door, left for a few minutes, came back, told me, "I think my dog is lost" i chuckled, then just told her to go back to bed... she said okay and did, but then it continued.. she said, "oh nevermind he isnt." then time goes on and she starts telling me about frogs and then sits up in bed criss cross then lays down over her criss crossed legs... you had to be there, but i seriously died, it was so funny... i had to go inthe hall way because i didn't want to wake up the other sisters i was laughing that hard.... oh man, and she didn't remember a thing in the morning... loved it.

Monday my soas and i had the BEST lesson with "Toe" (aka bro. duke as our investigator) ever!  It was so great, speaking to someone and not reading off a paper feels so good, and i could actually feel the spirit!  What made it even better was that i noticed yesterday in class Bro duke was doing our "invitation" which was to read a handful of scriptures i wrote on a sticky-note all regarding the plan of salvation.  it just felt good and made me hopeful for what i'm about to do in a few weeks!

So i'm pretty sure the MTC hires people, members, to play the role of strangers and their job is to talk with us.  out of the 5 weeks i've been here..Twice this week we have run into random "investigators."  They both went really well, and it made me realize how easy it'd be to preach in english! haha, but they were both great experiences for me to participate in preparing me for the real world.  they had challenging questions for us, but we were able to work through it with the spirit's help.  cool stuff!

The last thing i wanna talk about was tuesday night Devo!  Elder Carlos A. Godoy spoke, and just told us of his conversion story. (by far my favorite talk yet)  he is from brazil and was baptized at 16.  the story in and of itself is awesome but this is what i took from the talk...

-don't worry about the language!  (elder godoy struggled with the lang throughout the talk, but i was able to feel and understand his message with the help of the spirit) so if i trust in that, then i know i will have success myself.

-there are 2 parts of the convert's conversion... the spiritual and the social....members are super important to the new convert's because they need friends and support, especially if they themselves don't have support from their own family.

-i have no idea the power of just ONE conversion.  i have the chance to bless generations before and to come of the one person i touch. and THAT is awesome.

WELP. i think that is if for today. gotta go grab dinner then off to class with bro duke.  i'm hoping to get a pic with all our teachers before i leave so i can show you them! we will see....

Have a great week my family!  this is a big week ahead, but i know it's all gonna be goooood. :)  miss you, love you, talk to you in a week. :)

Ou te Alofa ia outou fa'avauvau,

Sista Kamileti

(sweet translation eh? don't worry its still pronounced the same.)

enjoy this last little gem, just because i love you.... =]

October 31, 2013 pictures

Palagi - Pictures of the white girl

4 weeks out!!!

TALOFA LAVA LO'U AIGA!  DID YOU KNOW I LOVE THURSDAYS?

As usual, I have a ton to write you all about... so bear with me another week as you read this disorganized email. (:

-Mom, can you see if you can talk to Dani Ritchins for Justin's mailing address while he is at Basic Training?! I wanna write him, but dont have any address or email for him!!!! thank you in advance!

-got a package from sister smith last week with popcorn and m&ms! needless to say they are gone, and i thank her so much!!!

-Mitch, Isaac, Logan... be looking in the mail in a few days :D

-Tell Gramma Doris I got the Dear Elder from her!  it worked, just so she knows, and i cant wait to see what she and granddad up to these days! i bet she is excited for next week or so when the move happens! I think of her and granddad a lot!

-Last friday Bro Blaser was the "missionary" and our calss was the investigator... it was great to see how he would approach a first meeting and the lesson he gave was great and just what the investigator needed.... BUT i realised i cant speak the lang with emotion like he did, and kept thinking... HOW in the world are people going to feel what i have to say is true if i recite memorized lines?! ugh... i was frustrated with myself for that.... but i've gotten better from that- if anything it is pushing me to keep working and i know it wont come over night.

-Saturday was better than sunday! we had the TRC again!  taught 2 lessons this week!  1st we taught sisters, one served in auckland and said that president lekias is hilarious and wonderful! yay!

our second lesson went well too!  we taugh an RM who served in samoa.  he is a student at byu, too.  anyway our lesson was on receiveing revelation thru prayer. i shared my mission decision experience in samoan (cool, huh!?) and the lesson went well! i felt really good about it. at the end he gave us tips of how to improve, but also what we did well.  he said we gave of  the most organized and planned lessons to him at the TRC!  He also told me that being a palagi my pronunciation it great for only 3 weeks at the time, and that i sound really good! (sis pe'a said he was hittin on my in the most polite way.. hahaha!) he was pretty cute, i'm not gonna lie :) but don't worry mom, dad, i'm still quite focused... but sis pe'a is so funny... she told me afterwards that once we walked inthe the little room for the lesson with him, he was focused on me and she feld like, "we'd make a good couple one day." ha!  she made me  laugh... i did enjoy tlaking to him after words before we went back to class - he is taking chem 105 this semester... i said good luck, you'll survive - i did, by the grace of god.  he laughed...and sorry, but i don't remember his name. anyway thats my funny story of the week! hope you all are chuckling! :D  

-Sunday in RS we heard from Sister Elizabeth Rose from the General RS Board!  She served her mission in Japan and talked about serving others while staying on the straight and narrow path.  And about climbing mount fuji! sweet huh!? in my personal study i watched some of the bible videos the chruch has recently made and then studied the actual verses in the new testament! i learned so much.. .my favorite one is in Luke 12:13-34 i think we ALL CAN RELATE and find something from it.  GO READ IT! NOW. :)  my favorite verse is where Christ says, "Fear not little flock."  Ah, what comfort!  just go read it and you'll swoon with comfort just as i did. hee hee  it was also a beautiful day and we walked to the temple in the afternoon and sang samoan hymns in the back of the temple.... sounded real good... the spirit is real and strong when i sing in samoan.  DID YOU ALL LOOK FOR THE "AUA E TE MALIU ESE" HYMN YET!?  i should have a version of it on that SD Card i sent! look for the videos! we sang that one in sacrament last sunday as a musical number with the sisters  in my room.. OH i got a new calling! i'm now our branch's music coordinator until i leave for NZ!  so basically i organize musical numbers and pick the hymns... boo ya! 

-THANK the condgons for me! They dear eldered me and i loved it!  so good to hear from that awesome family and all the cool things they do!  

-mom im sorry tomorrow is your last day at work! I know it will be hard for you, but you know its all part of the plan to get back with your WHOLE FAMILY. :)  tell everyone in the office i say hello!

-I'm pretty sure Dear Elder works while im in NZ! however... i wont get them the same day you send them... i think it will be once a week i get a batch of them from the district leaders or somehting.... (crossing fingers!)

-we said goodbye to sista fa'alogo wednesday morning at 3:30 AM! (i wonder what time i have to go to the airport!)  she was so ready and excited, gonna miss her, but oakland, CA is so lucky to have her.

-speaking of travel plans... you know about as much as i do.  apparently we don't get our itinerary until a week before we leave... and i've heard rumors that i won't leave hear until the 11th of november.. .probably due to visas... in my district, elder matua's aunt works for the travel dept of the church and check on his info (hes also going to NZ) and she told him it was the 11th as of last week... so i'll keep ya posted!

CAN I JUST SAY IM P-U-M-P-E-D TO GET TO AUCKLAND?!  i'll be there before you know it! woop woop!

yesterday our district hosted the new missionaries that came in!  I saw the Biggs family! (from g-wood!)  talked to them for about a min b/c thats all we had time for!  I helped 2 sisters get settled and to their class just like another sister did for me 4 weeks ago!  it was a great experience, but hard to watch all the dads and especially moms after  the fact that their missionary was gone.  watching them drive away in tears was a bit hard for me... i just saw each of you 5 in our yukon... bleh!  too hard!

-you people are the best. that's all.  work hard this week, and it'll will all work out.

LOGAN TELL ME HOW YOUR INTERVIEWS went!!! i've thought about you all week and especially today! ...and i'll see about the LORDE conversion for ya... ;D

mom. you are a rock star.  dad. you are a rock star.  way to go with finding an awesome house so close to the church house and to work and you will all be together!  that is so good to hear!  i'm happy things are going as smoothly as possible, at least that is how i see it from my side.  wish i could help out!  but just put some norah jones (who i MISS TERRIBLY listening to) on  and i'm there with you all. :D

my heart goes out to you all each and every day.  i AM focused and love this work.  but i am mindful of you 5 as well as grandparents, cousins (TELL BRYNN TO EMAIL/D.E. me!!!!!),and  friends each day!

who knew so much love could fill my heart!?  honestly, my heart feel as if it is to burst any second here... there is so much good here!  i'm almost scared to go back to the real world...even if it will be auckland, nz!  i think that is all i have to tell you all for the week... i gotta go to the temple now (what a blessing to go each week!)

know i am always with you!

'ou te alofa ia outou lava! 

ou te iloa suafa a Iesu Keriso. i know that Jesus is the living Christ, and the the atonement was not only our sins, but also our every feeling emotional and physical - pains, afflictions, temptations, sorrows... he knows it all. he is waiting for us to come unto him and partake of the atonement each day so that we never have to go thru trials alone!  he is always with us!  i know my redeemer lives.  i le suafa o Iesu Keriso, `amene.

alofa fa'avavau.... Love forever....

Sista Camilletti

 This was Day 2

 Uh, good food?

 Samoan lessons are going ... well?  :)

 Cousin! Lucky guy! Austin works at the MTC as a Spanish Teacher.

 Soas! Sisters! All beautiful ladies!

 Thanks Gramma and Pap!

 Thank you Logan! It's like home!

Still has those cute little dimples! LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!

ASK and You SHALL RECEIVE!!!

Talofa lava lo'u aiga!

FA'AFETAI LAVA MO MEA ALOFA!!!!!

(Thank you so much for the gifts, idk how to say package haha.)

Seriously, ask, and ye shall receive!  I had a request for pistachios, and i get two packages on tuesday with pistachios from mom, AND gramma and pap! haha pap wrote a note saying, "From one nut to another." hahaha!!! SO THANK YOU! my comp(anion) and i have been enjoying them! and thank you gramma and pap for the cinnamon rolls too! they were gone too soon! haha but really i think i'm good on food here for a while, they keep the vending machines well stocked too. :)

Thank you, mom for fulfilling all my requests in the package!  I think i'm good for a while, so hopefully i wont be a burden to ya for at least another week, haha!  LOGAN, those cookies were the BOMB! thank you thank you thank you!  I feel at home when i have one. also my roommies were all impressed you made them! ;) keep that skill and you'll have a lady in no time... after your mission and you graduate from the academy of course! hahaha.... ;D

i also had a surprise from austin and ashley in my classroom sunday morning! that was nice!  got some healthy snacks and the printed version of the pic of me and austin from a few weeks ago.  so thank you to them! love them!

i hope you all are healthy, well, happy, and... smiling!  we are here on earth that we might have joy, so BE HAPPY DANG IT! =D  glad to hear the house stuff is going smoothly!  have fun packing and such, i'll be thinking of ya while i sit on my bum and try to learn Samoan. :D  

I saw Elder Loertscher twice yesterday!  He looks great, like a missionary! :) tell Sis. L he had a big smile on his face!  

random thought: mom, i miss your meals.... the food here is good, but you just can't do a "home-cooked" meal for thousands of missionaries at one time.  darn.  haha, boys... NEVER take mom's food for granted.

now for the weekly update!

-Saturday was great! we had a zone meeting in the morning, all (of our) teachers took a turn to talk about things they've noticed we, as a zone, need to improve on.  what it came down to was obedience to the mission rules, even the ones that seem silly.  I, personally, felt good that i was being obedient, but there are definitely things i can do better at, always room for improvement.  i am thankful they did it though because it got the point across to the elders that they need to stop messin' around when the teachers aren't there and when we are (supposed) to be studying.  i've seen a little improvement, but mostly soa (Sis. Pe'a) and i just study in a separate room away from the obnoxiousness the teenage boys make.  :)

after lunch on Saturday we did our first TRC lesson.    *(The TRC is a training that they do were they invite people from the outside of the MTC to come and pretend to be investigators so that the missionaries can practice teaching one of their lessons.)        well i did that! but in samoan! sis pe'a and i taught a RM *(Return Missionary) who used to teach samoan here at the MTC named Ka'i.  we taught about (Fa'atuatua) faith!  and how to use his faith to help build others!  it was a really good experience, and i tried memorizing my sentences, and was semi successful!  but he gave us good advice at the end so that helped!  We will be doing that every satuday until we leave!  so many lessons to prepare.... 

-sundays are awesome.  7.30 church, then breakfast, then the sisters watch music and the spoken word followed by a giant RS (Relief Society) meeting where people in the church come and talk to us. this sunday sis bonnie oscarson, the YW (Young Women's) gen. president came!  She talked about Jacob 5 in the BOM (Book of Mormon) with the parable of the Olive Tree.  It was awesome!  Us missionaries are talked about in verse 61! and the lord said, "bring in the missionaries!" haha!

sunday night's devotional was from richard i. heaton. he works for the MTC as the admin head something. basically he coordinates food, dorms, teachers/classes... everything.  he spoke on the gift of the holy ghost and how we can take it for granted.  think about it - if we didn't have the HG (Holy Ghost) there would be NO CONVERSION. at all!  i don't have enough time to go on about it, but definitely read 2 Nephi chapters 31, 32, 33 in BOM!

Tuesday we had class with Bro Tolley and we went in depth with the plan of salvation so that we could better teach the plan of salvation simply to our investigators.   When we know/understand (malamalama) topics in depth, we can teach them simply and effectively!  it was an awesome lesson that lead right into our tuesday night devotional with..... ELDER DALLIN H OAKS!  who also spoke on related things.  Sister oaks was my favorite tho.  she only spoke for 10 min or so but it was great.  the main thing i got from it was what connected to what i learned in Bro Tolley's lesson earlier that day.  when in the pre-earth life, i told very specific people that i'd come to them when on this earth and i'd help bring them back to christ.  MOM, DAD, BOYS... THAT IS WHY I AM MEANT TO BE ON THIS MISSION!  it even ties back to what Justin told me a few months ago!  i may not NEED this mission, but other people need me!  how humbling!??!!  then in sis oaks talk she said this, "Go out there and find those people you PROMISED to teach prior to this life!"  after she said that a light bulb went on in my head! man this is so motivating to me, i just hope i can find each person i promised i would find!  It is my goal to do what elder oaks said to us and that is to ACHIEVE and BECOME what the lord wants us to achieve and become. 

I love you all so stinkin much! most days my heart is so full of love for you and the people around me and the people of NZ that it wants to explode!  keep sending dear elders and letters (by hand!) those are way better than email!! enjoy the pics! love you all infinity...

I Love Conference!

MALO!!!!!!!

I hope you can feel how happy and excited I am to email you all!  I can even feel it in my finger tips. =D

How are you all!?

I'm great.  the last few days have been awesome and i'll get to why in a bit, but lets start back at last Thrusday. :)

-The temple was good, the Provo temple is BEAUTIFUL!  i really enjoyed doing a session there, and today we are going again, probably doing initiatories though. :)  i like doing those.

-Firday evening's class we had lesson on stress, how to recognize it, and how to manage it without exploding. :) Bro Blaser and Bro Tolley had us run outside for about 3-5 min in  a circle to put our bodies under physical stress, we then wrote down how our bodies reacted to it to start the lesson. good idea huh!?   anyway the lesson was helpful and made me feel like i wasn't the only person freaking out. so that was good. :D

-I LOVED CONF!  especially saturday!  i know you all got the letter i sent home, but definitely elder bednars talk on tithing, and elder dube, and elder uchtdorf, and bro holland and bro ballard. :)  i dont know about you all, but before conf they had a slide show of info going, and one of the slides had hashtags i thought it was hilarious... we missionaries dont have a need for hashtags, but it was funny to see - #ldsconf #RS #GenCon #MoTab hahah!

Sunday nights we always have devotionals then a "movie" 

-for the devo, BYU's VOCAL POINT (their acapella group) came and each member of the crew gave an uplifting thought followed by a favorite song form their mission.  VERY WELL DONE. i thoroughly enjoyed it.

-the "movie" is usually a recorded talk from apostles that have spoken at the MTC years past of the Joseph smith movie, etc... so sunday we watched a tlak from elder bednar titled, "How do i recognize the holy ghosy??"   it was awesome, needless to say, but i loved his answer. SO SIMPLE.... QUIT WORRYING ABOUT IT! stop fussing.  just be a good boy/girl, keep the commandments and your covenants, and any good thought you have comes from god, so just ACT ON it, and you will see (sometimes years down the road) the effects of you acting on those thoughts, so quit worrying!"  :D  pretty self explanitory, no?

this past week i've also learned a lot more from my soas.  by learning more about my soas, i've gained an even greater respect and love and tolerance for them.  i love how everytime sis lasike shares her testimony, she smiles, BIG! you can see the light of and love for christ in her countenance.  She is one STRONG WOMAN.  I love Sis.  Pe'a's love for everyone! She is so friendly and gets excited about anything!  she makes me laugh, and teaches me how to love more and to be honest in all things.

Monday morning we did our bathroom cleaning service hour, which i love because it changes up the week a bit.  we did toilets this week (:  then during gym time this week i've been running stairs and it makes me happy.  if only it were at my spot at the westminster rec, but i'm happy about it nonetheless.  each day goes by so FAST HERE!  i'm greatful for my journal entries otherwise i wouldn't remember a thing that happens!

SO.  as of sunday i "turned a new leaf" with the language.  i realised i hadnt been pushing myself as hard as i should, so i am tyring and actualy DOING BETTER! WOOT WOOT!  So much prayer and faith has gone into my studies this week and i am starting to see P_R_O_G_R_E_S_S!  yesterday it was my turn to meet with brother blaser (Who BTW reminds me SO MUCH of austin, it is almost ridiculous.  basically is austin spoke samoan, they'd be the same people - mannerisms and everything) we do one on ones with the teachers to check in and see how it is all going.  so we sat down yesterday, and all the sudden i started to cry. (shocking, i know) but i really didn't feel like i was that stressed or upset until i stopped and thought about it.  it was good to get it out, and bro blaser is so patient and just listened to me.  we talked about the lang struggles and how to fix my studying.  i told him of my frustrations of when there is no teacher, and we are supposed to be studyign, all the elders (almost 30 of them) hang out and joke around, and it gets SO LOUD that i had a hard time focusing.  so we came up with solutions  and it was mostly nice to have my voice be heard.

in both classes yesterday bro duke and bro blaser spoke ONLY in Samoan, and i understood a lot of it!!! WHAT???? :D  and in one of our "lessons" to TOE (pronounced TOY) i came up with a question and statement ON MY OWN WITH OUT NOTES! IT SERIOUSLY WAS A MIRACLE.  it still is a ton of work, this samoan language, but i do love it, and am SO THANKFUL i can see progress in myself.  light bulbs are flickering in my head people! =)

yesterday we also got a new sista comp!!!! her name is sis. Fa'alogo! (in samoan= sis. listen) she is from sydney australia! and her comp left early b/c she new samoan already, so she is with us for 2 weeks so technically me and pe'a are soas and lasike is with fa'alogo.  she is wonderful and i lvoe listening to her speak.  she is in a pic i will attach. 

well imrunning low on time.  i'm trying this whole OBEDIANCE Thing, were i follow the rules.... so i have 10 minutes left in my hour.  i'll attach some pics, and hopefully they will be smaller ;) oops... hahaha.

thats all for now!  I LOVE YOU ALL DEARLY! this gospel is true, the atonement is real and god knows each of us BY NAME, what we are feeling and if we BUT GO TO HIM in prayer with REAL INTENT, he will answer us, but we have to be willing to listen.  i've learned that this week.

talk to you soon! enjoy the pics!

LOVE from provo,

Sista Camilletti

Not sure why, but I can't get the address bar on the side to let me update anything, so here is Sydney's current address for while she is at the MTC:

Sister Sydney Camilletti
Nov 04 NZ-AUC
Provo MTC
Area 51
2007 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84602

This address is good for handwritten letters, small packages and if you want to use DearElder.com.
For those of you not familiar with DearElder.com, it is a website set up to help turn email into real mail. Just go and set up an account for yourself and use Sydney's address above, type up a quick letter, and then the good folks at the MTC print the letters out once a day around noon and hand deliver them to the missionaries.  Makes for some big smiles!

I want to say thanks to all of you that have shown our girl so much love and support.  She needs you all to keep her going.  Love to you all!  -Heather

MTC Pictures....

The Palagi white girl! (1st Letter home)

Talofa lo'u aiga!!!!!!! (hello my family)

So obviously this is the first email and first Pday i've had! My grammar and spelling and capitalizations will be bad today because i have a TON to tell you all (and i think i've forgotten how to type) so here goes, and try to keep up :)

-I LOVE YOU ALL!

-I miss you guys a lot, but i am happy doing what i am doing.

let's start with my soa (companion/s)  I have TWO awesome comps!  Sis. Pe'a, and Sis. Lasike!  sis pe'a is from cali and sis lasike is from southwest idaho.  sis pe'a is Samoan, and sis lasike is 1/2 tongan!  So i'm definitely the Palagi-white girl! (Said: palangi)  i've learned so much already from those two, and im sure i'll continue to.  

my room/residence has 6 sisters.  the other three are sis chammings (from Australia and has a BEAUTIFUL SINGING VOICE), sis. tafili from Samoa, and sis Temou from Kiribis (not sure where that is, but i think it is close to all the Islands like Samoa, tonga, etc.)  They are great too!  those 3 are serving in the Marshall islands speaking Marshalise (Spelling?). SO COOL HUH!?

the food here is pretty good, we have meals at 7.00, 11.30, and 4.30 so all pretty early but its all good - i enjoy it enough.  Definitely not a homecooked meal tho!  they always have good varieties too!

i am100% busy all the day long.  (for DAYYYZZZZ)  typical day is as follows:

6am wake up get ready by 7

7am, breakfast

7.30 study lang

8.30 personal study

10. gym time! (my soas and i usually go to the gym and play volleyball with my district, it so fun and we all laugh the entire time.)

11.30 lunch

12.15-3.15, classroom instruction

3.15-4.15 lang study again

4.30 dinner

5.15 another classroom instruction or study the lang on the computers with a program that you can record your self and listen back - its really helpful!

then more studying and planning for the rest of the day til 9.30  then we go back to the residence and  shower and get ready for bed by 10.15 where we are supposed to have quiet time to write in our journals and read scriptures and pray personally, and lights out at 10.30.  This is the hardest part of the day because i feel so rushed to get it all done and ready for the next day but then run out of time to read and write in my journal.  its stressful when i know it shouldn't be! but i am TRYING TO BE obedient and still get the lights out by 10.30. :/  its a process...

for the last week things have been CRAZY.  A TRUE emotional roller coaster if there ever was one.  generally speaking ive had good and bad days.... but i've noticed that each day is better and better.  they told us once you get past sunday, its smooth sailing.  i thought, "okay sure..." but it is TRUE!  SUNDAY was AWESOME! (btw we didnt watch the RS broad cast on saturday, we will watch the recording while the elders watch priesthood session this saturday. and no i was not in the choir b/c we got there too late for rehearsals).  back to sunday - it was awesome, started with church at SEVEN THIRTY (just sacrament meeting... not awful... but early.  testimony meeting was good then we just studied until mission conf. then more studying then dinner finally at 6 pm (a true full fast) and then a devotional that evening.  ALL the meetings went well and i have never felt the spirit so strong.  its awesome to be living here and to be surrounded by the spirit and others who are there to lift you up.  

i'm sorry this is all so random, seriously the last week was a lot of info and new things and i want to tell you as much as i can so hang in there with me.  

let's talk about the language....

first'a all... I LOVE THE SAMOAN LANGUAGE! It is so beautiful when my teachers speak it.  I dont understand most of it, but it is beautiful.  that alone is enough motivation to try and learn it ASAP.  I have three teachers that teach my class regularly on a rotation.  They are Bro. Blaser, Bro. Duke, and Bro. Tolley.  All very funny and love their job.  Bro blaser is on the BYU RUGBY TEAM and knows kyle and amanda!!!!!!! (AH, i was so pumped when we found that out! so amanda - say hi to bro blaser when you can! idk his first name...  but kyle should be able to figure it out.)

the language is HARD. and that i think is an understatement.  i've come to gain a better testimony of "faith without works is dead." because i DO Have the gift of tongues with me but i also have to WORK at it. haha.. i've been grasping that lately.  what helps me the most is repetition.  we try to do prayers, testimonies, spiritual thoughts, scriptures, as much as we can in Samoan.  We also teach an "investigator" (played by brother duke) every day except sundays.  It IS IN SAMOAN so that is the hard part b/c we have to understand what he says back to us when we've arranged a lesson based off of the script we created in class.  So each lesson gets better i think but i've learned a lot of what to do and what NOT  to do in lessons.  I wish i could recall all the things i want to, but it is hard to be specific of a time crunch.  

I SAW AUSTIN ON MONDAY!  monday was a GREAT DAY.  my best day so far.  started as a basic day then during class we watched a video from the district show and it really touched me. I was SLAPPED IN the face by the spirit.  i knew, right then and there that I WAS A MISSIONARY.  I WAS TO BEAR JESUS CHRIST'S NAME WITH HONOR AND RESPECT.  What i am doing is not to be taken lightly, it is serious, and of eternal worth.  It is my purpose to bring others unto Christ through faith in the lord jesus christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, the gift of the holy ghost and enduring to the end.  with out missionaries our family would NOT BE where and what we are today.  We all should be eternally grateful for that, and my heart was full durring class when i felt all of this.  I shared most of it with my class after the video becuase i couldnt keep it in.  (my class = my district so me, my soas, and 6 other elders.)  i mostly cried,  but i know they all felt the spirit and what i was trying to say.  i've been so humbled lately and it has taught me a lot.  after class we were at dinner and i got the TWO dear elder letters from mom and i was so happy! ( i was saying my personal prayer for dinner and they were on my tray when i opened my eyes - the District leader picks up the mail and gives it to us each day)  So i cried happy tear when reading them, then my soas and i were sitting out side our classroom building after dinner enjoying the nice day when AUSTIN walked out of my building with a big smile!  I instantly cried b/c it was such a surprise to see him and i was so happy.  Heavenly Father works in funny ways, and know what we need when we need it. I honestly have been so stressed and busy that i havent been THAT homesick - or so i thought. but Heavenly Father knew i needed to have all 3 of those things happen on Monday.  And i am grateful.

the language is taught during class room instruction at least 1, 3 hr class a day, some times 2 classes a day. and we teach out investigator at the start then we learn sentence structures and/or vocab. then practice.  seriously so hard - the Samoan language kicks my butt most days. :D

i love the people that i am surrounded by, and the things i am being taught language wise and spiritually.  it is stressful, but it pushes me to be better and to learn and grow.  i love what i am doing and i'm starting to feel a love for the people i will serve, i just hope and pray i can get the hang of this language.  i'm gonna try to upload some pics too!

Thank you for your words and prayers of encouragement!  I love hearing them and your testimonies as well!  Thinking of you all makes me happy and full of love. i wish i had more time, but i'm kinda pushing it already.

testimony:

'Ou te iloa o lo'o soifua le Atua ma Iesu Keriso. 'Ou te iloa e iai le fa;amoemoega mo fanau 'uma a le Atua. 'Ou te iloa fa'atau'nu'uina e Iesu Keriso le togiola mo i tatou 'ona o lona alofa mo i tatou.  'Ou te talitona o le Talalelei e suia ai ologa o tagata. 'Ou te iloa e molimau le Tusi a Mamona ia Iesu Keriso.  'Ou te fa'afetai i lo'u Tama Fa'alelagi mo Ana fa'amanuaiga. I le suafa o Iesu Keriso, 'amene.

(also. when i am in class, i can not tell you HOW MUCH SPANISH comes to my brain - i feel near fluent in spanish with how desperate i am for words in another lang. hahahaha it makes me laugh so hope it make you all laugh too. :D)

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOO STINKIN' MUCH! MISS YOU, talk to you soon. enjoy the pics. :D

Love you forever,

Sista Camilletti