CHOGM week and 28 new missionaries

Talofa Lava!

CHOGM finally happened this past week!  They've been planning and gearing up for it for so long, I wondered if it would ever happen.  But it finally did this week and turns out it made the traffic lighter than usual because many of the locals stayed home and off the streets. They closed all of the schools for three weeks in October and this was the second week of school break.  The meetings were held mostly downtown but the streets and stores downtown were not even that busy.  The people from other countries were bussed from their hotels to their meetings in big tour buses.  They brought in a cruise ship to the downtown wharf to house people because there weren't enough hotel accommodations in downtown Apia.There were policemen everywhere directing traffic and escorting government dignitaries.  That was kind of annoying because they'd have their sirens on and would honk to make cars pull over for them.  King Charles was even here for one day!  

 Our week started out with Doctor's appointments and follow-up from our crazy weekend last week. We had a zone from Savaii come over for a temple trip Monday evening to go to a Tuesday morning session.  I gave them their flu shots when they got here Monday evening and then we housed 2 of the Savaii Elders overnight.  Guess who we were assigned to have stay with us?  Our Cache Valley missionaries, Elder Clark from Wellsville and Elder Christensen from Nibley!  We fed them pizza for dinner and then had fun talking to them about all of their interesting mission stories!   

We said good-bye to 12 awesome missionaries at Outtake dinner and zoom testimony meeting on Tuesday night. Most of them flew out of Samoa on Wednesday afternoon and evening, a few others on Thursday and Friday. 

On Thursday evening, we also welcomed 24 new missionaries from Provo  and New Zealand MTC's and 4 more local missionaries from Samoa. It was the biggest intake group since we've  been here!  We helped fix their breakfast Friday morning and then we did little mini workshops to talk to them about healthy habits and taking good care of their MQ's.  We'll see if any of it sinks in! Haha.  Friday night we went to dinner with them at Rose's place, Saturday, I helped fix breakfast again and Elder Godderige had to go to the wharf twice to pick up missionaries from Savaii and bring them in to meet up with their new companions and then take those missionaries who were transfering to Savaii to catch the ferry.  That took up most of the day.  When he got back, we had to go to a couple of MQ's and finish getting them ready for missionaries to live in them.  We only have two more of these 6-week transfers to deal with before we come home.  I'm counting down--cause it's a LOT of work! 

This morning we drove to our zone for church--Tiavea ward.  Tonight in an MLC zoom meeting , they announced that the mission is going on a 'vehicle fast" for one week.  The mission vehicles and vans are to stay parked-- the vehicles that the young missionaries drive at least.  So it's going to be an interesting week.

Elder Godderidge is in charge of the spiritual message for you all this week.  He wanted to share a couple of quotes from Sister Kristin M. Yee's conference talk:

"Like my painting, the Lord is not done with us when we make a mistake, nor does he flee when we falter.  Our need for healing and help is not a burden to Him but the very reason He came."  "Repenting allows us to feel God's love and to know and love Him in ways we would never otherwise know." 

SO don't feel too bad when you make a mistake. It just allows the Savior to lift us back up, this is what he came here to do!  He's just waiting for us to ask for his help and healing power.

Manuia le Po!  ( have a good night! LOVE YOU!

Mission Gophers

 Talofa!

Definition of GOPHER: "A low-ranking employee who is made to do the bidding of their superiors.  So-called because they are often running around doing various tasks."

This is how we feel sometimes. HAHA!

This week has been a little different.  We've had a few extra jobs and "favors" dumped

on us over the last few days.  But the weekend has been somewhat quiet because the Mission Leaders, AP's, and Sister Schofield all left for Tutuilla Saturday morning. We actually took most of the day off yesterday after we took the AP's and Sister Schofield to the airport to catch their plane.  So we're pretty much the only one's here in the compound from the mission. WE didn't have church today because of General Conference being televised in Samoa this weekend. And it's another Samoan holiday this weekend--"White Sunday".  I looked it up and it says it's a holiday to celebrate children.  Anyway the stores are going to be closed tomorrow (Monday). I guess it's like America, if the holiday falls on the weekend, the employees get their work day off on Monday..

Last week started off with an early rise on Monday morning to listen to Sunday morning conference session.  The mission leaders were in Savaii for Zone conference so we didn't have our Monday morningoffice meeting.  On Tuesday we went to our District meeting and then came back and took care of the  medical needs of some missionaries. Wednesday rnorning I had my ZOOM Health Council meeting and Elder G. went to deliver needs to the Central Zone which is on the other side of the island. Wednesday after language class, we fed dinner to Elder Amituanai and Elder Lemalu at our apartment.  SIster Schofield made Lasagna, and I made a cabbage salad and garlic bread.  We bought them a cookies and cream cheesecake for dessert.  It never ceases to amaze me how much food these missionaries can put down in one meal!  I would be so sick if I ate as much as they did!

Thursday, I had an doctor's appointment for one of the missionaries who has had three seizures since he's been on his mission--and after months of trying to schedule Doctor appointments, lab work, CT scan, and having to wait forever for appointments and results,we were finally able to start him on an anit-seizure medication so he can finish out his mission and not have to go home.  Home is Tonga so there's not any better healthcare there.  I feel bad for him and wish there was more testing that could be done.

There's no MRI and no EEG machine on the island, so it's pretty hard to make a definitive diagnosis. We just don't realize how fortunate we are in America to have  modern medical technology to properly diagnose things. 

On Thursday afternoon, Elder Godderidge had to do a favor for President Reid.  His friend from Washington, Tyler Frank, came here to check things out, so he had to drive him around to half of the MQ's on the island so he could look at them. President Reid has this plan to have this Tyler guy come here with his family on a service mission and figure out how to get all the MQ's fixed up with "quality construction work".  I think it might not work out so well, but we won't be here to find out--HAHA!  Anyway, Elder G. got the gopher assignment to show him around.  Then on Friday we attended Upolu East Zone conference with our zone in the morning and Elder G then droveTyler to the other half of the MQ's on the island in the afternooon. I went back to the office and tried to get caught up on paperwork while they were gone.  

Thursday night, Elder G. coached his girl's basketball team in a real game.  It was a bit ugly, we didn't win, but it was entertaining.  I took a few pics.  

Saturday after we made the airport drop-off, we went and hiked Mt.Vaea, then did some grocery shoppping and went to dinner at "Phat Burger". 

  

We wanted to share a couple of excerpts from one of the conference talks we listened to last week. We could really relate to what Elder Hirst had to say about God's love, and we feel exactly the same way about our children!

"Our love for each of our children is pure and fulfilling and complete.  We could not love any one of them any more than another--with each child's birth came the most beautiful expansion of our love.  I most relate to my Heavenly Father's love for me through the love that I feel for my children. "

"Perhaps you feel a long way from the love of God. Maybe voices of darkness and discouragement weighs into your thoughts, telling you that you are too wounded, confused, weak, overlooked, different, or disoriented to warrant heavenly love in any real way. If you hear those ideas, those voices are just wrong---our beloved and flawlless Saviour chose to be 'bruised, broken, and torn for us'---Surely Jesus removes all shame from the broken.  Through his brokenness, He became perfect, and he can make us perfect in spite of our brokenness.---However misshapen we might feel we are, His arms are not shortened. No.They are always long enough to 'reach our reaching' and embrace each one of us."

We encourage each of you to read and study this talk. It is powerful.  I hope you all know

how much LOVE we have for each one of you.  And remember, God's love for you is ever-reaching!j

Have a great week!

Second General Conference in Somaa

 Malo Lava!

It was a great Sunday (your Saturday)!  We started the day off at 2:00 AM logging on to the St.George marathon tracking app to followi Bayli and Ethan's progress! We dozed off after the first 3 miles and when and woke up every couple of miles to check their progress.  

The Saturday morning session of conference started at 5 AM, so Elder G.started watching that while I dozed a few more times, but woke in time to track the last couple miles of the marathon! The afternoon session started at 9:00 AM and the evening session at 1:00 pm.  On Monday,, (your Sunday), we'll watch the Sunday sessions if we can wake up again at 5:00 AM!!  Congrats on running the Marathon, Bayli and Ethan! Wish we could have watched you cross the finish line in person.  Maybe next year!

It was another busy week serving in Samoa.  We had a couple of zones come in for temple trips so it was pretty busy at the office with missionaries coming in and asking me to check out aches and pains. We drove over to our district meeting on Tuesday.  I made chocolate chip cookies for the district and they devoured them in no time! On Thursday and Friday it was MLC so we housed a couple of Elders on Thursday night.  Friday afternoon I went with Elder G. to the West zone to deliver birthday bags and fix a sink problem. Then Saturday, we had to go back that way to take medicine to a couple of missionaries who had medical issues.  So we attended a baptism while we were out in that area. There was a basketball tournament starting on Thursday so Elder G. got called to help coach a couple of the teams.  It was pretty much chaos--they don't have a clue how to play as a team or run any plays. He didn't get to coach the girls team that he had worked with at practices. The lady in charge forgot to call and tell him about their game until it was time to start and by the time we got there, the game was almost over. HAHA I think they're pretty unorganized.  I tried to get some pictures but none of them turned out very good.  

We didn't really have much time to take for ourselves this last week so I don't have any new adventures to report on. Our mission is definitely NOT a vacation, but we are happy to serve and help move the Lord's work forward in this small way. It's good to feel needed and like we're making a difference here.l

Hope you all had a chance to watch conference, or at least some of it.  There were so many good messages, I can't pick a favorite one. Here's a few things that are standing out in my mind though:

-Finished painting/Made mistake/Mended/Better than before

Repentance allows us to feel God's love, he can heal our souls,make us better.

-Repentance is JOY

-BOM was written for OUR day

-Mortality Works. God's Plan of Happiness is designed so that we cannot fail.  Because of the Savior's Atonement, mortality works.

-You've got this because Jesus Christ has got you!

-Don't let the world change you when you were born to change the world.

-In moments of crisis, children will remember the words they were taught--teach them the doctrine of Christ.

-Focusing on Christ and his gospel brings us JOY, regardless of what is or is not happening in our lives.

-Now is the time to prepare for the second coming of Christ.

-Regular temple work and attendance brings power, protection, pure love, and peace.

-Help to gather scattered Israel. Talk of Christ, testify of Christ, rejoice in Christ.

-THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

What's standing out in your mind from General Conference?

Alofa atu  (Love you!!!)

I'll try send pictures in another email this week.

Missing the seasons!

 

Another week down! We're on the downhill side of our year-long mission here in Samoa so I think the time is going to fly by. We've been here almost 7 months now!  We've seen a few pictures of the fall leaves turning at home and that's something we don't see here.  It always looks pretty much the same.  However, we've been seeing a LOT more bright colorful paint lately since all the villages are really sprucing things up for the Commonwealth meetings coming up in October so I guess that's what we're going to have to appreciate since we can't appreciate the changing seasons here like we do at home. We got a couple days of rain this last week and the humidity has been noticeably higher so maybe that means we're heading into the hot/rainy summer season soon.

It was a little slower this last week, so we didn't feel quite so busy.  Monday we had our office meeting in the morning, and then I had to see four senior missionaries with medical issues--I had to email the Area Medical Advisor for advice on a couple of them because I don't feel that knowledgeable about the more complicated health issues of Seniors. HaHa, I guess I'm one of them but I feel pretty healthy compared to a few of the senior missionaries that are here.  On Tuesday we went to our district meeting and delivered needs to the northeast zone on our way back so we were gone most of the day.  Our new district leader, Elder Leinbach, had us play Jeopardy.  Each companionship was a team and Elder G. and I took second place with the most points for correct answers.  The only category we didn't do so well on was the Scripture reference one where we had to know what the scripture reference was.  I'm good at recognizing the scripture, just not good at knowing where it's found. We did pretty well with the trivia category and the 3-words to identify a scripture story, and missionary planning and goal-setting.  I was just glad we didn't come in last!

On Wednesday we took a couple of hours in the afternoon to go grocery shopping. We went to three different stores and still didn't find everything on my list.  That's one of the annoying things about the supply chain here in Samoa.  There's always things that you can't get, and different stores get different things so it's not a one stop shopping excursion.  It's that way for Elder G too when he's trying to find things for the missionary's housing.  He spends more time shopping in stores than I do now!  Bet you never thought that would happen.HAHA

Thursday we got a pretty good soaking which was needed here.  It rained almost all day.  Friday and Saturday there were a few cloudbursts here and there but plenty of sunshine too.  We drove around the island quite a bit on those days to fix things, check on sick missionaries, and move some missionaries to new mission quarters because they are remodeling the MQ they were staying in. We had an entertaining phone call from Chanse while he was trying to figure out a water issue and got sprayed by a skunk!  Sorry about that, Chanse!  But we're sure glad you're there to help keep things in shape back home.   Sunday we drove to the Southeast Zone for church, then came back home and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  

I've been reading all the conference talks from six months ago over the last few weeks to try to prepare for the General Conference coming up next weekend. Looking forward to hearing new messages from modern-day Prophets!  I hope you'll all take time to listen in.  There's always something there for each of us to learn. 

We're going to miss watching Ethan and Bayli run the St. George marathon next Saturday.  Good luck to both of them, We'll be anxious to see some pictures!  We kinda miss that tradition.    

I found a quote from Mother Teresa that I saved to my photos a few years back--2013 to be exact.  Don't remember where I got it from but it's a good one so thought I'd share it with you.

"People are often unreasonable and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.  Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway."

--Mother Teresa

Manuia le aso!

More pictures of COLORFUL Samoa