What would Elder G do without his DEW

 

Elder Hemmert and Elder Grant

Sister Tuifua and Sister Johnson

 Malo Lava!

This week Elder Godderidge has received two very large shipments of Diet Mountain Dew.  The Senior missionary who picks up the packages from the Wharf, Elder Blankenship, is quite jealous and always asks when Elder Godderidge is going to share some of his Diet Mt.Dew with him!  Well this week, our two young social media Elders caught wind of this and decided to play a joke on Elder Blankenship and film his reaction!  They set up two cameras in their MQ. so they could film themselves on one camera and Elder Blankenship on the other. It was kinda funny seeing his reaction!  I threatened Elder Godderidge NOT to order any more!  We're running out of room in our apartment to store his stockpile! I think he should have enough by now to last him the remainder of our mission!  He might even have some left to give away to poor Elder Blankenship! 

 It was a busy week for us last week with some challenging things to deal with. I hope we don't have another week like this one again.  Despite challenges, it's  amazing to see how the Lord opens a way to accomplish things when we think it's probably not going to be possible.

We had two missionaries who had to be flown home for medical reasons this week. One was a Senior missionary  and the other was a Sister Missionary who only had 4 weeks left on her mission.  It was a crazy week getting Doctor's appointments, blood work and EKG's done, It was also a little emotional having to see them go. When everything finally got worked out for them to be released, the missionary travel department was able to book them all on the same flight home so the young Sister Missionary didn't have to travel by herself. That was a little tender mercy for sure.  She was able to travel with a sweet senior couple. Both of these missionaries will have some health challenges to face when they get home.  The senior Missionary has heart problems and needs a pacemaker, the Sister missionary will most likely need to be hospitalized for Anorexia. Not Fun! But it's comforting knowing they are now in a place where they can get the medical treatment they need.

It was also a busy week for the mission with lots of missionaries coming into the mission office for MLC,  temple trips and PPI's.  When they come in for things, I always have missionaries stop by my office with medical concerns and Elder Godderidge always has requests for MQ stuff. I'm still trying to finish up the influenza vaccines so I had a few of those to do also. On Saturday, we went on our longer run and then headed over to the other side of the island to attend a baptism in the Zone we're supposed to be mentoring. It was an interesting baptism!  There is no font at the church where this ward attends, so they had the program before the baptism there, and then everyone loaded up in vehicles and drove a few miles down the road to another church building to do the baptizing.  Then we all loaded up and drove back to the other church and finished the program.   It would have been a lot easier to just walk across the road to the ocean and do it there, haha.  I've been hoping I might get to witness one of those before our mission ends. I took a picture of the motorcade because we were in the back and one little pick-up was loaded with half of the congregation at the baptism! HaHa, only in Samoa!

I asked Elder G. to help me out with a spiritual message to share with this email: 

  In Priesthood meeting today, The teacher asked the question, "What can we give to God that is not already his? "  The question brought a quote to mind that I'd heard before, so I started looking to find it.  Neal A. Maxwell taught: The submission of one's will (or heart) is really the only thing we have to place on God's altar...However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God's will, then we are really giving something TO him!"