Malo Lava!
It was a wonderful Sabbath today for us as we started it off at 4:00 AM watching our sweet granddaughter Reyah get baptized! We are so happy that she has chosen to be baptized a member of the church and make that covenant with our Heavenly Father. It will be a great blessing in her life. It was nice to hear other family members who gave talks and prayers and priesthood blessings. Thanks for letting us
be a part of it from all the way down here in Samoa! Hope Reyah had a wonderful birthday!
Last week was a sad week and a happy week for the mission. We sent off 14 missionaries back to their homes. It was also sad to send Bayli and Ethan back home after their week with us. It was fun to have them with us for the outtake dinner on Tuesday night and the morning outtake devotional on Wednesday morning. They got to hear the testimonies, musical numbers, and even watch a HAKA send-off! We also started the day off with a sealing session at 6:15 AM with Bayli and Ethan. We were able to do 30 sealings with the help of some Samoan patrons. Wednesday afternoon we took a couple of hours and went on the hike to the Robert Louis Stevenson gravesite and then went to dinner at a restaurant called Cocobananas. Thursday morning at 2:15 AM we took Bayli and Ethan and two of the sister missionaries that were going home to the airport and sent them on their first leg of their 3-day journey back home. It would have been a big letdown if it hadn't been for the fact that we had no time to miss them because we had to get ready for the new missionaries coming in on Thursday and Friday. There were a total of 17 new missionaries for our intake. One of the new sister missionaries saw my nametag at the airport when we greeted them and said "Are you related to Britton Godderidge? He told me to look for our guys!" Her name is Sister Jensen and she is friends with him and went to school with him at Layton HS.There were 12 new sisters and 6 new elders. So more girl power this intake!!! One of the new Elders is Elder Bernard, 26 years old, and brother to the Utah Ute football player Micah Bernard.Any of you football junkies know who he is? They did the intake a little differently than in the past. They just had them gather for a short welcome meeting instead of the overwhelming training that probably doesn't sink in very well on the first day after you arrive ! Then we all went to dinner at the same place we went on Tuesday night with the outtakes and announced where their first areas would be and who would be their trainer companion. Saturday morning was transfer day and all of the missionaries who were getting transferred came to a church near the mission home and were then taken to their new areas. This was a big transfer and there was a lot of movement throughout the mission. So we spent our Saturday driving all over the place helping missionaries get settled in their new mission quarters. Sunday morning started off early with Reyah's baptism, but then we went back to bed for a few hours and went to 10:30 church, We had potluck "break the fast" dinner with the mission leaders and senior couples.
During our language class Elder Godderidge introduced himself and shared a scripture with everyone ALL in Samoan! The scripture he shared was 1 Nephi 3:7 "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments untot the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them to accomplish the thing which he commanded them." He's doing so much better with learning the language than I am!
It was so great to have some family spend a week with us here. I'm sendng another picture overload so get ready! LOVE you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment