JANUARY 26, 2014

not sure what to title this week's email...

Talofa Lava!

okay so this week wasn't as successful, but still improvements happen every day!  It was rainy and W I N D Y this week!  I really hate the wind... especially with flowing skirts.... :/

FYI... flea bites suck... i know now what its like to be a dog.  Our flat is clear of them as far as i know, but i do know we get them from the homes we visit.... i dont have them bad... but the few i do have arent fun.

Pepa (if things continue the way they are now) is looking fabulous for her baptism day of feb 8!  We are so happy and excited for her. :)  She loves the plan of salvation and thinks resurrection is the coolest thing she's ever heard of.

our other sets (sam, rena, upu, robin, andrew) are no longer set only because they didnt come to church. we want to reset them for the 22nd. but honestly we can't get our hopes up until their parents (rena and sam's parents) hearts to soften. their dad is very strict, and we've never met him, he just sits inside when we are there and yells at the kids from inside to go do things. so we are tryng to find ways to soften some hearts. if the dad's heart changes we will be all good to go because in the samoan culture the mom does whatever the head of the house does/says... i have problems with that..... but things out of my control.

papa solomona is a 70ish year old man who is less active, but starting to come back to church.  he is also an alcoholic because he is lonely all the time. he has no  one to live with and so he drinks.  he was doing well for a few weeks, but was drunk many days last week when we saw him.  we dont meet with him when he is drunk, don't worry mom. :)  but that is papa's story.  he also thinks he is the leader of a gang... its quite funny some times.

lui is another old guy - 68, but is is always out and about. we hardly ever see him at home. we did find him yesterday, but he was again on his way out to visit family so we didn't talk long.  very nice guy!

on tuesday... we were given cash for dinner from the members so the 3 of us (me, soa and sophia) went to ollie's - a burger and icecream place.  we sit down and these two guys were looking at us and wispering. one had a utah jazz shirt on - i should have known, but didn't want to make judgements so i went along with it all. they asked if we were mormon, we said yes, they then asked what we taught so i started on the first lesson in breif with them, i get to the part about joesph smith and they start laughing.......... the turds were RMs! It was pretty funny, but i hate being so gullible sometimes. haha! they were very nice about it and ended up talking to us for about a half hour.  nice guys. one was tongan, the other was half samoan, half niuean. 

we had interviews with president lekias this week! (this happens every 3 months). it was good! president told me to chill out with the language. to work hard and diligently, but to not worry so much. don't stress.... yeah right. i'll try!

funny moment for thursday... we were door knocking and a Maori man answers and says i'm not dressed" and closes the door..... (WHO ANSWERS THE DOOR WITH OUT PANTS ON??) luckily i only saw his leg..... phew! yuck.

satuday it was beautiful and sunny...i got burnt on my neck. the samoans laugh at sun burns... haha. oh well.

Mom, YES i have had palusami.... twice this week actually straight from the island of samoa! bishop's parents fed us that and they got back from sa the day before. it was prety good...i managed the texture for most of it. it has good flavor tho!  definitely give it a shot!  i also had this nasty stuff called "su'afa'i" look it up.... its so nasty. bananas, with this tapeoka crap... and other things....it was served warm and i could NOT do it.

ummm... not much else for the week, other than we are hoping for sunnier skies so we can have success talking with people and as always... and improvement with the language.  i love yous all so stinking much! send my love to all the fam, near and far!  and i sent something to dad and mitch on saturday so they should get it soonish!

enjoy the pics!

alofa fa'avavau!

Sista Camilletti

1. i am getting the foot tan lines already! haha dont mind my toes....
2. check out the back board! it looks like a stolen restraunt breakfast menu! ha!
3. typical laundry day for people in our neighboor- HOODs haha
4. me and papa solomona! him and his bob marley shirt....
5. me when it was POURING.... probably couldn't re-make that face even if i tried. :)
6. we were soaked for the 60 seconds we ran out in the rain. it was fun!

MORE PICS FROM JAN. 19

1. NO DUMPING! :)
2. me and sophia being goofs
3. still can't keep a straight face to save my life..... zzzzz
4. pepa! and some members from the fireside! (pepa is the one in the front middle.)
5. heading back from the fireside!

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 :)

JANUARY 12, 2014

Talofa lava ia te i outou!

another week here in NZ! it has been great!

the highlights....

-last monday i was challenged by my district leader to invite someone to be baptized by the end of the day. i said i'd do my best... and lo and behold.... we taught our new investigator, Pepa - 18 year old girl - and at the end of the lesson of the restoration i invited her to be baptized, and she said YES! how cool is that! our first lesson with her and she wants to get baptized!?? let me tell you, that is an awesome feeling. :)  sadly... about 4 days later we get text from Pepa saying that her mom said she cant be baptized. now yes she is over 18, but in most Polynesian cultures you still need the parents permission. even if she was 25 or 30 they still, for the most part, respect the wished of the parents.  so we were able to meet with her again yesterday and we taught her the gospel of jesus christ - faith, repentance,baptism, the holy ghost and enduring to the end.  She still has a strong desire to get baptized so we also talked a lot with her about agency, and that in the end it is her choice, not her parents, hers.  she will be doing some praying, reading form the scriptures this week, and we are also going to try and meet with her mom just to establish a friendship/trust, and to explain baptism with her.

-we are finding, with the more and more people we talk with each day, that there are MANY less actives - so many more than i'd every imagine.  white, tongan, samoan, asian... MANY less actives.  its sad to me that they have somehow lost the faith along the way.  i'm learning as i go that it is my job to find those who don't yet have the gospel, but it is also my job to find those who need to RE-find the gospel.  yesterday alone we stumbled across 4 or 5 less actives.

-i spoke in church yesterday. 1/2 and 1/2 samoan/english. it was the missionary sunday so the ward mission leader, the ward missionaries and the missionaries spoke.  i just gave a 5is minute talk about our family's conversion starting with Christine then closed with my testimony telling the ward to be the friend that invites others to church on sundays and to activities.  it is their job to do the social conversion, and our job to help with the spiritual conversion. 

-also yesterday... hahahaha... our fafaga (dinner)... apparently they didn't know they were feeding us until church (we tried to call and confirm the day before, but the number in the ward directory was wrong and no one that we knew had her right number). so we get to fafaga, and we sit on the couch (watching womens rugby because the couch faced the TV....) then the older woman's son comes in with 3 pizza boxes and a thing of chinese take out! ha... i felt so bad... they broke the sabbath to feed us missionaries! ha! not gonna lie, it was a really good dinner. :) hee hee. i'm sure the lord is all good with that, he knows the intentions of their hearts!

-we have only been in our area for just over a week and we went from a handful of potential investigators to having one set for baptism at the end of the month, and 4 other investigators (hopefully set for baptism soon), and MANY potential investigators!  We are striving to have obedience with exactness, and i am seeing the blessings already. we even got a referral yesterday for tonight at 6! we are pumped for that.  it is very hard to stay exactly obedient, but i think that's the point.  the more obedient i am, the happier i am, the less homesick i feel, and most importantly, the more people we meet who are ready to hear the gospel. 

-im still getting frustrated on a daily level with the language. for one thing MOST people we talk with speak english, and they feel bad for me when i cant follow a conversation. mostly i sit there trying my hardest to pick up on key words that i can string together, but even then it is hard with the speed of how they talk. my soa does well understanding the language, but she also struggles with responding sometimes, so that puts us both out of luck many times. thank goodness for sophia(the member who comes with us on a daily basis...seriously SO GRATEFUL for her), she does some translating for us.  what usually happens is we go into a home, small talk for a while, i sit there and laugh when everyone else laughs, try to make coments, but usually don't because i have no idea what the heck is going on. then when there is an awkward silence, i start the spiritual thought because that is all i can do.  it is driving me crazy. and i'm still sorting out how to fix this.  when i try to start a conversation at the door or on the street i usually freeze up and it is as if i didn't even know what samoan was.  bleh!  i know it will get better, and soa says that i have awesome samoan when i give the spiritual thought..... thats great and all, but thats all i do and i want to expand.  we have a goal set this week to spend 2 hours every day speaking ONLY samoan. i am hoping this will help.

-interesting quote from a maori lady this week after we introduced ourselves..."Mormons should be shot." and then she walked away.... that was a new one for me, ha ha! needless to say we will give  her some time before we say hello again. :)

-2 of our new investigators, a brother and sister - sam and rena - we found when they were on their porch. we said hi and it ended up leading to a jam session where they sang a lot of their Assembly of God hymns/songs and then in return asked for us to sing some of our hymns... it was pretty fun! and i'll do whatever it takes to reach out to people! :)

i think that is the majority of the highlights of my week!

 here is some things just FYI:
-mom, i am so sorry to tell you this, my heart dropped when i found out... BUT we cannot skype in this mission.  with all the islanders that are in the mission, many don't have the opportunity or ability to skype home, so they just dont do it here. :(  we will only be telephoning you.... it makes sense... but definitely a huge bummer. atleast we got to skype at christmas when i was in AZ!

-can one of you update my facebook privacy settings so people can actually find me and add me as a friend? you don't need to add any one, but i do want people to be able to find me. please and thank you!

hey how is scripture study going??!  I am loving reading the BOM! 

can i have austin's email address please? wanna see how they all are doing!

well now all i have time left for is pictures! :)

1.me, soa, and sophia
2.view walking down the street
3. i can see auckland in the distance!
4.an ominous sky and lots of wind, but that is what most of the neighbor hoods look like where i'm serving.
5. there is the cool pine tree pic i promised! they are huge!
6. the trio!
7. a picture from one of our spiritual "jam sessions"
8. me and soa at the end of a day. tried to get the cool sunset...
9. me and soa
10. me at the top of a hill... the only reward... the view!

i hope these all went thru! enjoy your week and i'll talk to you all again next week! :)

ou te alofa tele ia te outou, lo'u aiga!

until next week, fa soifua!
Sista Kamaleti

ps, i might get a new badge that says this. how cool! (all the L's and T's throw the samoans off haha)

Jan. 6, 2014

TALOOOOOOOFA!

Hey-o! okay lots to type so lets get started!

After i got off the phone with you all in LA, we got on the plane pretty soon after.  So i get on the plane... 1st of all the 1st class is super nice, and the seats look like giant eggs haha. even my seats were super nice! they all had tv's with TONS of MUSIC an MOVIES... oh the temptation.... but i just used them to listen to classical music. that was nice.  also... I ran into elder merideth!!!! that was a happy reunion! once i saw him things got excited and it all started to hit me! the flight was good... LONG, slept off and on, but not really super comfy. the fed us really well! fancy foods like chicken and pasta then an omlet for breakfast. oh, the video was awesome! super funny and entertaining!  total distance? 10697km (yeah... i have no idea how tall i am or how much i weigh, or what the temp is anymore... i should have paied attention more in science and math class.... haha... why doesnt the US use the metric system??)

the coolest thing about the flight?  definitely seeing THE VERY FIRST SUNRISE of 2014! so beautiful and cool to watch it from the plane!

we were picked up from the air port then went to the mission office for some orientation... then they graciously let us go sleep for a bit at the motel.  i showered then slept and my temporary soa slept and neither of us heard the alarm go off... so when they knocked on out door when we were supposed to be ready, we jumped up outta bed then ran out the door.... oops! haha

then more orientation at the mision home... pres and sis lekias' home is super nice! then after dinner we went back to the motel and i was out and slept for a solid 10hours... the most i'll ever sleep the next 15ish months! :D  We had transfer meeting thrusday morning and i got my new soa!  Sister HengeHenga! (just like it looks) she is full tongan, and has been out for 6 months. this is her first time training, so she said she was happy i've already done some training.  i really do love her, she and i get along really well. she is really laid back and goes with the flow. (oh, and i got to see sis pe'a real quick at the meeting, that was nice!)

we have a car! woop woop! and they drive on the left side of the road.... so very different to experience that!  we were given the street to our "flat" (what they call apartments here).  sis H and i are both new to the area (Mt. Roskill) and so we found the street via the map, but no idea what flat was ours..... so we tried to make a call... our new phone was dead..... so we borrowed an outlet in a random car port/garage on the street (sketchy) until the phone was charged enough to turn ON. found the exact address and found our flat. 

the flat.... well lets just say the my apt in AZ was an 11 and this place is a 4.  it hasn't been inhabited for prob 3 months and it is in extreme need of a DEEP CLEAN.  Too bad as misisonaries we can only do the deep clean on mondays.... so that is what i'll be doing the rest of the day. :)  the place is tiny, but works for the 2 of us. the humidity causes mold to be a problem here, so we have a lot of scrubbing to do. :) none the less, i am so grateful to have a place to live and i do feel safe with the area it is in. all of NZ is stinking BEAUTIFUL!

Day one, we put our stuff in the flat. found out we are splitting the area with another set of samoan speaking sisters because the area is seriously HUGE and HILLS EVERYWHERE.  there is one samoan ward for the zone/stake, so that is why our area is so large.  we cover the east side.  we also didn't have an area book or even a list of ward members at the flat... so we learned what it literally meant to START FROM SCRATCH. haha!  We ended up getting permission to meet with the other sisters for a few min to get some directions and info, then took one of the ward missionaries (sophia, 18 years old - AWESOME girl, she goes out with the missionaries almost everyday all day! talk about dedication! we are so grateful for her!) we met a few people, not many, then got some basic groceries that would last us til monday and dopped sophia off. that was day one, can you believe it!? so much!

Friday we tried meeted more people... not much success... we did end up picking a neighbor hood then walked around looking for samoan families.we had our first "fafaga" which basically means "feed" here. so dinner. haha. it was pretty good! i ate a little crab salad (not a huge fan of that), taro, potatoes, flounder, chicken, and cornbeef. then icecream after. okay the ice cream here... so good. :) they put fruit salad ontop of it which i found kinda gross.... and the dinner was very tasty... the taro will be an aquired taste but i like flounder!  The members all speak english as far as i've seen, but they do go back and forth between the languages.  what is hardest is that they speak in the relaxed "k" form a ton, and so its super hard to follow. they all smile at me and i smile at them and its all good. i do what i can in Samoan, but i do get scared and nervous! its my goal to talk a lot more this week.  mostly i just give a short spiritual thought at dinners so far.  (they feed us 4 days a week, which is a blessing so i don't get too fat. haha)

saturday we went out again with sophia and talked to a lot of people. they called it OYM (open your mouth) in arizona, but here they call it TWE (talk with everyone). talked to a jehova's witness that day... that was interesting. hahah!  we visteded a very less active lady also.. turns out there is this thing with the culture that when you come here form the island, if the people that bring you are another religion, you also join that religion. so this lady maria was baptized mormon when she lived in samoa, but years ago turned catholic for that reason.... and still won't be mormon agina. we will work with that.

yesterday was the my first sunday in the samoan ward.  i liked it because they use the formal way of speaking with the "t", but they all still talk very fast and i can only follow for so long.  sis h and i had to introduce ourselves and bear testimony over the pulpit in sacrament....  needless to say i was so nervous saturday night i couldnt fall asleep for awhile.... but to all my surprise i got up and said what i wanted and wasn't even nervous!!! i basically told them this was my first area, i was still learning the language and asked for their patience. they all nodded their head and smiled. then bore my testimony.  all three hours was hard to get thru... i got so tired in sunday school. man, trying to follow lessons in samoan is tough, exhausting even! :)

the members seem really nice so far tho! Sudnay for fafaga (said: fa-fa-nga) we had more flounder and weird cornbeef and onion spaghetti like dish, and taro, and chicken with a gravy.  pretty good, but i can not tell you HOW STRANGE it is to eat dinner in front of the whole family while they sit there and watch you eat! even the head of the house, the dad, didn't eat while we were there. sis H says that she has yet to get used to that...

it was pretty rainy yesterday... so much that in the afternoon we walked from the car to the house and we were soaked! its all fun though! i love every experience!

okay here are some random thoughts and impressions i've had about NZ
-it SMELLS beautiful here -at least it did when getting off the plane
-they say things like.... fellas instead of guys, heaps instead of tons ("there are heaps of people over there!") and "yous" instead of "yall." and "cheers" instead of you're welcome
-everything in america is either huge or everything here is much smaller. even the minivans are very narrow. the roads and garages are all def. on a smaller side.
-MANY people are very healthy-always running and out walking. (except the samoans haha!)
-there aren't as many samoans in this area as i thought there'd be, but sis H says there are heaps more in south auckland so not too worry b/c i won't be here for tooooo long. :) i like it here tho! so grateful to be in NZ and serving the Lord.
-They have it a goal in our mision to baptize 4 people per month per compationship! so i better go get to work! :)
-for the most part i serve in a lower income area, but its hard to say b/c sometimes there are nice swanky homes inbetween not as nice homes. i like it b/c it keeps it interesting. :)
-everying its PRICY here! very expensive.
-i LOVE the accents here :)

2.  Isaac wants to know if you like the palm trees?
yes, isaac, i DO like the palm trees, but i actually like their pine trees better! they look awesome ! i hope i have a pic. if not i'll send one next week!

3.  Tell us if you are in a Samoan speaking area?
i am! but i do use a lot of english unfortunately
.
4.  Where is everyone from in your district?  Some of the elders look very native?  Aborigine?
well in my district i think they are all white kids from the states, but there are a TON of islanders in the mission as a whoel.

6.  What city are you serving in?  Is Mt Roskill a suburb, english speaking?
it is a suburb, mostly english speakers, but there are actually a TON on togans here.. .too bad i don't speak tongan... good thing sis h does!

8.  Have you seen any coconuts yet?
nope!

9.  Describe  the wildlife (flora & fauna)?
VERY VERY GREEN!

10.  Do you like your bicycle and helmet?
yes i do! we use it currently for morning exercise!

11.  Are there any straight streets in Auckland? :)
no! :( i'm getting great at reading maps tho!

12.  So whats it like driving on the wrong side of the road?
weird and everyone drives wild here
13.  Send us pictures of the Temple if you go.
we only go ones a year! :( sad eh?!

14.  Do your mission president and wife speak English?  I think they must!  They are from Australia right?
yep they do! super nice! love them! they def know what they are doing!

15.  Mom wants to know if you had any problems going through customs?
nope!
16.  How would you describe your constantly perfect weather?  BTW it was 1degree this morning when I went to work! :) BURRR that is COLD! it is pretty nice here, i won't lie... :)

17.  Food?  Good?
yes! i had a"meat pie" at mc donalds the other day... not bad!


18. How different is the missionary support (to you all) by the wards and members?
not sure yet... i'll let you know.

okay well thats kinda it for now! now time for pics! more to come! 143 always!!!!
-sister camilletti

1. view from one tree hill (look it up! that is in my area!)

2. the mission home... super nice eh?

3. my bike is the white one

5. our beds

6. the kitchen...... yeah... see what i mean? needs to be cleaned.

7. sis h with  the map of our area! huge eh?

8.selfie. :)

9. we ran into cows yesterday. :)

That's it for this week!  I love and miss you all!!

Dec. 23, 2013

hey howdy hey!
i will reply to the questions first...

1. Yes i DID get the letters from you and mom! they printed out the emails from you two, and we all got out Christmas letters at our Christmas party!

2. i got my package with my gifts last Monday after noon! so excited for Christmas to open them!

3. the missionary party was awesome last Thursday! we went and did a session at the mesa temple AS A MISSION! so many missionaries in white... president and sis Nattress wanted a "white Christmas" haha. that was really nice... then we went to a stake center in Gilbert, one of the wards from the area served us ham, potatoes, and corn for dinner/lunch. the entire set up honestly looked so nice - probably nicer that what my wedding reception will look like haha!  after we ate, we cleared the tables and did minute to win it games... so like eating an oreo from your forehead with out using hands, emptying a tissue box as fast as possible, and using a straw in your mouth to move m&ms from one bowl to another (that is the one i participated in... i lost. haha)  then each zone did a skit for everyone... they were all hilarious! our zone did a reenactment of nephi and the brothers getting the plates from laban... but it was from laman and lemuel's point of view!  the sisters really just wore scarves on out heads... but i was okay with that. ha!  to wrap up the day, we got our Christmas letters, then had a devotional in the chapel. president's big surprise was that we all got balloons for each baptism we had as a mission this year (just over 200) with a mini light on the end and sang silent night then let them go outside... SUCH a cool thing to witness! and we got gooey cinnamon rolls and i was happy. :)

4. i have my language study for an hour each day and i usually do it from 8-9pm. some days i feel good about my productivity during it, and other days i don't... last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday i wanted to cry... actually i did cry because i was so stressed i was losing the language. i ended up talking to president last Friday during a training meeting about it and he told me not to stress, and that it would all work out (this was BEFORE i got the call Saturday obviously, its so funny how the lord works, isn't it!?)

5. with skype... it'll be anywhere between 10 and noon. we haven't heard back from sister Davis yet... but we are going to her house at 9 or 9:30 for breakfast, then we will skype after that. i will have her either text or call mom's phone that morning so we can get it all set up! yay! so pumped!

6. I GOT MY VISAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED, but also VERY BITTERSWEET! i was hoping to stay here for the temple open house! :( and I'll miss sis K a ton! the crazy thing with this situation is that after I leave sometime next MONDAY at 5 or 6 pm... they aren't doing an emergency transfer with sis kemmerer! apparently president Nattress wants sis k to go on splits/exchanges (with the members of our two wards) all day every day for the rest of the transfer (first week of feb!) =O have you ever heard such a thing!? needless to say she is stressing about it... bad. and I'm stressed for her as well! I'm sure it will work out fine if president wants it, but definitely a huge curve ball for sis k. as for me i have a lot to do before i fly across the world! there is a to do list at the end of this for MOM to get done for me....

7. the temple open house is jan 18- feb15! I'm so bummed i won't be able to help with the tours now!

8. Christmas will be an all day p day. so NO proselyting. :) a true day off. we will get up open presents then skype! then hang out, nap of course, and then watch NARNIA as a Zone at the stake center! :) woop woop!


let me fill in the gaps that i haven't told y'all yet....

-DAD, MITCH!!! how did your talks go!? Mitch i got yours in the mail, it was AWESOME!!!!! i actually studied hope this week in personal study! cool huh!? we are all on the same page!
- I'm speaking in montelena ward next Sunday on the light of Christ! pumped for that! :)

that's all for now! I'm saving stories for skype! :) merry Christmas!

love forever,
sister camilletti


Pictures from the Mesa Temple:

 Sis. Kemmerer and Sydney

 MMmmm! Pie!

 Those are slippers, Sis. K, not mittens. :)

 They are so soft!

 These are the other two sisters that share the apartment.

 No Sis. K, they aren't ballet slippers either!

 Sis. W was so surprised to see that someone had a left a Christmas tree on their doorstep!

 How nice!

Hi Everyone!

Sounds like you all had an awesome thanksgiving! well a whole week of it!  Sweet pictures you sent!  The Nat'l Guard jump thing looks super fun! Everyone looks awesome!  All the Aunts and Uncles!  I Like the beard, uncle scott!  And Aunt Louise Looks Great!  Okay, and Logan, Mitch, and Isaac have grown a ton already!  Y'all are gonna be huge when I get back, i dont even know if i'll recognize you!  That's okay though. :)  Man, I miss you boys.... write me letters when you can! :)  I'm happy school is going well for everyone!  Logan, 12 days of highschool left...  YOU CAN DUUUU IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT! ;) push through it all!

My week was pretty good! Crazy as usual!  Tuesday we had district meeting and b/c i was new the zone leaders told me to introduce myself.  We were talking before and there is a Samoan in my district. Get this.  He was born in American Samoa, lived there for 8 years then moved to Maryland. You'd think he'd know at least a BIT about his heritage... but no.  So b/c of this, the ZL told me to introduce myself in Samoan. And i did. it was hilarious. no one knew what i was saying, and the elder was rolling his eyes at the ZL b/c he knows everyone teases him about how i know more about his culture than he does. Kind of funny :)

Tuesday we were also surprised to find out that we were being handed another ward!  So now we are over the Stone Crest and the Montelena Ward.  No, they aren't 'near' each other. they are about 3 miles or so apart.  Sis. Kemmerer and I are what they call "white-washing" the ward.  basically it is just whenever both missionaries are new to the ward at the same time.  we are both figuring it out together.  The Montelena ward is great actually. and the reason we got this ward is b/c they did ward splits (meaning they realigned all of the boundaries of the wards in this stake) last week - our stake now has 11 wards! WHAT?  I'm sure there will be a stake split here within the next year.  Anyway the Montelena ward is definitely more wealthy than the StoneCrest ward, BUT both wards have their pros and cons.  Both Bishops are great, poor bishop alleman of the montelena ward. he was called a week ago to be bishop, and he starts a new job today! talk about a lot going on! oh and he has 6 kids ages 17-3! We told him if there was ANYTHING We could do to help to just give us a call. great man though!
 
THANKSGIVING.  i'm not gonna lie. it was probably THE MOST AWKWARD THANKSGIVING I'VE EVER HAD.  We had to proscelyte (spelling?) that day. so we sent out a sign up of members that wouldn't mind having us stop  by for a half hour or so b/c we didn't want to interupt their thx-giving. We had several stops throughout the day visiting various members of the ward.  Some had out-of-town, non-member families that we tried to talk with.  It was pretty awkward for us because we are both new to the mission field and new to this ward so we don't really know anyone.  Everyone was kind and let us in so that was good.  We did have a nice Thanksgiving dinner at noon that lasted for three hours! Talking, eating, talking, eating... you get the idea. Overall it wasn't a bad day, just different.

SO much happened this week i can't fit it all in with the time restraint.... so here is the highlight of sunday..... we had church form 9-3 then prepared our lesson for one of our investigators.  long story short... we get there last night. he has a ton of questions, we go in cirlces because he isn't understanding that he has to read the BOM and pray about it to know it is true, and then he can know that JS is a prophet... so we go in circles all night. THEN he asked sis kemmerer if she was married b/c of her CTR RING she said no. then he  asked me, i said no (no CTR ring) and during the lesson we caught him staring at me and wasnt listening when sis kemmerer was testifying to him!  (we had suspicions before but they were now confirmed.)  and when we left he gave both of us hugs!!! (Mayday mayday mayday!) we both tried to avoid it, but it was so awkward. WE get to the car and both freak out a bit. sis k said -He has a crush on you! i said, i know! then we tried to figure out what to do. in the long run we handed him off to the Zone Leaders.....! AH! what? how does that happen!? i was telling him to read the BOM and to pray! man, what a mess.... i'm glad you all don't have moments like this!


miracle for the week: Another of our investigators, Adam... we were thinking of dropping him because we didn't feel like the desire was there. he works a ton, and is hard to get a hold of.  BUT friday night we get a call from the lady (LessActive) he lives with - he calls her mom. she calls us and says that next friday we are going to see the xmas lights at the mesa temple and that he still wants to be baptized!!!!!! he needs time, but the desire is still there! woop woop!
 
so out of time.... :(

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!
-Sister Camilletti