JANUARY 19, 2014

Malo Soifua, lo'u aiga!  O a mai outou?  Sekia, Ou te fa'amoemoe! :)

Wow this last week was awesome! But random things to tell you first. :D

-I eat bananas now. like... a ton. probably 2-3 a day if i can! who knew...?
-there are HEAPS of cats here! just all over the streets. its gross really.... last week we drove by a TRUE cat lady.... probably 20+ cats in the front yard and she was feeding them all. (*shivers*)
-did you all know that I AM THE FIRST 100% WHITE/PALAGI SISTER MISSIONARY IN THE SAMOAN PROGRAM HERE!????!! how cool is that? everyone else has atleast some pacific islander in them... except me! can you feel the pressure i feel now? ha!
-the Mt. Roskill stake i'm serving in is the oldest stake in the history of the church outside of North America/Canada! we have some faithful people here........ aaaaaaaand some that lack a bit of faith we hope to kindle. :)
-its gloooOOOOoooomy here today, and it was so windy this past week. i nearly had freakout moments i got so grumpy with the wind. :(
-i only have 5 pages left in my first journal! cool as, eh? :)
-good news! I weigh the same as i did when i left FOUR MONTHS AGO!!!!! (ALSO. can you believe i've been out 4 months THIS WEEK?) time is flying and i'm calling it an accomplishment to be the same weight after 3 weeks here... hahaha! on the down side its only been 3 weeks... hahaha
-i really like taro... looks super funky, like a root, but tastes good!


okay now for the week....

-monday for p day we, as a district, wanted to have a picnic.... so we went up to One Tree Hill in Onehunga (look it up! its a sweet as park! with sheep!) we got there after doing the shopping and it was SO WINDY AND STORMY (see pics below) but we ate pizza there anyway then called it quits. so we went to grab icecream then go to the chapel to play basket ball and touch rugby.... we came out of the store from getting icecream not even TEN Minutes after leaving the park and it was a brand new day with sunshine and literally ZERO clouds. riddle me that? i was grumpy. BUT we ended up playing touch rugby outside at a field near the chapel and that was a blast! :)

-tuesday we met with out investigator, Lui, 68 but doesn't look it - he is like a teenager always out and about! He was late and we thought he forgot... but he was just late because he drove to Manakau to grab us chicken and fries takeout! Sweet guy!  He was really concerened for me the whole time b/c i don't understand the conversations.... he is doing well, but will be a slow cooker when it comes to conversion. saw papa today... he was soooo drunk. dang it.... hopeing to get him back on track this week.

-wednesday. all 6 appointments we had set with people fell through! tough day, but still good!

-thursday. we had trade offs/exchanges. so i went to south auckland... THE HOOD... aka- East Tamaki with Sister Aisa (pronounced "eye-sa"). she is full samoan from samoa originally but australia too. needless to say she is awesome, and i learned HEAPS.  Her samoan is flawless... natural by-product of growing up in Sa. And there are HEAPS upon Heaps of islanders in south auckland! i honestly was the ONLY white person i saw the entire time there, ha!  People looked at me like i had 3 heads or something. :)  we had a few lessons, in full samoan. i had NO idea what was happening. i knew we were talking about the book of mormon, but didn't know if the investigator was mad, happy, or just arguing with sister Aisa.  I nearly cried many times throughout the day, even in a lesson.... i was so stressed. and after each lesson i think sister aisa thought i knew more samoan than i do because she didn't ask me if i understood... she just asked, so how do you think that went? and i'd say, i don't know - i couldnt tell if he was happy or upset. :/  At the end of the night just before bed we talked about the day, and i got some gread advice/remionders. 1. be out-going and see EVERYONE as my long lost best friend when i talk with them. 2. talk Talk TALK in any language, just TALK. 3. memorize 2-3 phrases i want to know each day and say them all the day long.    i also saw elder matua, he is serving in east tamaki too! that was cool!

-friday. a day full of laughs. they have these things called check points the police do randomly. and so we ran into one and they check your license and do a breath test. we got lost and sister hengehanga as the driver ended up doing this 3 times! it was hilarious. she was clear all three times. haha! :)  THEN they decieded my samoan name was gonna be Kamaleki then sophia thought it sounded like chocolate - sukalaki - and that evolved to me being WHITE chocolate, so now i'm sister sukalaki pa'epa'e..... only to sophia though haha! :) she is funny. also we were walking on a sidewalk and a low tree branch caught my hair and i kept walking but the tree didn't let go of my hair. ouch... but i bet it looked funny as it panned out. :) OH! and Pepa is reset to be baptized FEBRUARY 8! good day, eh dad?! ;)  she is so pumped!

-saturday was a favorite day thus far.  we had our first appointment of the day with Sam and Rena (the jam session family).  The cousin flew back to samoa, but other cousins have moved in from wellington (who just HAPPENED to be meeting with missionaries there). so we picked up some new investigators!  We now teach... Sam (19), Rena (16), and their cousins: Andrew (10), Uputa'ua (14), and Robin (16/17), and their mom Tauvaga! WHAT? so cool. we also may teach the dad when he moves up too.  So we taught all of them on the porch the restoration, and they all loved it. we intived all to be baptized and ALL SAID YES! 4 of them (sam, rena, robin, and andrew) are SET for Feb 15, and the others will be set after they talk with the dad from wellington! TALK ABOUT A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!! not gonna lie, rena is my favorite. she is so solid. she reads form the BOM DAILY and is always so excited to see us when we come. :)

-Sunday... pepa came to church! so did Val! for fafaga.... they had some good yummy food... then i tried muscles DOWSED in cocoanut milk... yep. about gaged. not my fav. hahaha... later in the afternoon we were walking some streets, walked to a park and talked to a mom of 3 from ireland! i still LOVE that accent. made me think of kelsey larsen! how is she!? she has been out for almost a year now, what!? how does that happen!? :) tell that family i say hello!  then we had a come and see fireside (like the one that was in AZ for investigators) it was great, we got pepa to go, and she loved it. :) heaps of missionaries and even MORE investigators.... let me tell you. the sight of all these people making a change to better their lives is AMAZING. so motivating. keeps me going. :)  and i say sister pe'a, and was really happy. love her so much. she is doing well and says her samoan sounds like a gorilla, makes me feel better. definitely a great day.


well i think thats it! now just some pictures. :)

1. selfie at the top of one tree hill for our 'pleasant' picnic.
2. the district... it was raining obviously, hence the rain drop covering me hha
3. view from our front door of out flat on a beautiful day this week.
4. a friend i found in my room
5. They emergency transferred me to SAMOA! (psych! just someones beautiful yard!)
6. so funny!


I love yous so much! Enjoy your week! 
alofa atu,
sista kamaleki :)