Talofa Lava Everyone!
It's always been a good feeling when the month of January comes to an end--especially at home because it's usually cold and wintery and a little depressing because of the letdown after the holidays. It usually seems like the longest month of the year. I didn't notice much difference this year from any other month since the weather hasn't changed since we got here in Samoa and everything looks the same all year round. But the most exciting thing about this month ending is that we are now officially in the last month of our mission and can look forward to coming home to our family! So we feel like we can start counting down the days now! It's been a blessing to serve a mission here, and we're happy that we've had this opportunity. But it's great to be coming home.
Last Monday was spent mostly at the office working there. I've been going through all the missionary's immunization records because we're finding out that many of them are past due on their tetanus boosters and didn't get them before their mission. So the area medical advisor asked me to go through them and try to get them updated. Most of the ones that aren't current are from either Tonga or PNG or Samoa. On Tuesday, our Zone came to the mission home for their district meetings and temple trip so we spent the afternoon with them and did a temple session with them. Wednesday morning we drove to the West side of the island to have breakfast with some of the other Senior couples to say good-bye to the Barkdull's. They have been the senior office missionaries in Savaii and they flew home later that day. They are the first of a pretty big group of Seniors who will be going home in the next 3-4 months. Later that day, Elder G. cut his finger on a saw while he was trying to fix a drawer. He tried to put sutures in it and had me help tie the knots but the next morning his finger had swollen so much that the sutures didn't hold ( he said I didn't tie the knots very well) so he ended up just taking them out and we've been cleaning and re-bandaging it every day. Hopefully it doesn't get infected!
On Thursday afternoon, Elder G. delivered needs to the northeast zone on his way to the Southeast zone to attend a district event for youth and non member friends that one of the districts in our zone organized. They had a little presentation in the chapel and then had games set up for them to play. Elder G. put up two more of the basketball nets at the church there, so now there's only one more net left. The youth always get really excited when they see nets on the hoops! The missionaries had Book of Mormons and pamphlets to pass out. Elder G. took a box of apples and water to share and he took a few videos so I'll send those.
Our weekend was a little slower than usual.. We decided not to go to our zone area for church today because Elder G. did a LOT of driving during the week and his back needed a break! We had a "Break the Fast" potluck this evening with the senior couples and went on a Sunday walk with Sister Schofield after that was over.
In this week's "Come Follow Me" studies I read a talk that reminded me that it's important to always remember who's side you want to be on and when you have challenges or temptations or fear of men, you can overcome it if you've already decided "Which Way Do You Face?" In his talk titled "Which Way Do You Face?", Elder Lynn G. Robbins gave the example of how this fear of men or peer pressure can be a stumbling block to some young missionaries: "...some young missionaries carry this fear of men into the mission field and fail to report the flagrant disobedience of a companion to their mission president because they don't want to offend their wayward companion. Decisions of character are made by remembering the right order of the first and second commandments.(Matthew 22:37-39). When these confused missionaries realize they are accountable to God and not to their companion, it should give them courage to do an about-face."
Unfortunately, I've seen this happening in our mission, so I know it really can become a problem for some missionaries. It takes a lot of courage to stand up to our peers sometimes, but if we "always remember whose disciples we are, and which way we face, we can have the courage we need to do it!
Have a great week and LOVE YOU ALL!
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