Fafaga

It sure sounds like you had a great week! I'm so glad!! This week was pretty fun mo ma`ua fo`i. WE had a really good time!

The pictures are not enough. We had a bunch this week. One is from fafaga. THe family next door to our dinner appointment had a death in the family so they were doing all the faasamoa type preparations so we got a good picture out of it. Samoan deaths are nuts!! They cook a HUGE pig, make massive fine mats, give away hundreds of pounds of meat, give away money, etc... I don't get it.. In samoan its called a faalavelave or in English a disruption/disturbance. Thats exactly what it is. Samoan dies and no one has time to mourn they just have to get to work in order to be ready for the big ceremony where they give all kinds of expensive things back and forth between the families who are related... O le olaga faasamoa faapena! 

The other one is just a good glamour shot of the two of us. Elder Redd was messings with his camera while I tried to make some repairs on my shoe, its falling apart, and then I fixed it and we decided to do a little photoshoot because all of our plans kept falling through. :) It was a good time!

Here's some more stories for ya!

So at FHE last monday Taeipo told the riddle and it went like this; Theres a Fat guy a skinny guy and a train the fat guy gets on but the skinny guy can't. WHy not? We kept guessing and guessing and guessing but no one got it and then the old lady, Taeipos mom, said in here hilariously FOB english, "It's Ajawas" referring to this HUGE guy in the ward. We all were dying for a good 5 minutes or so and then we gave up on the riddle. The train is the world the fat guy is the Bible and the skinny guy is the BOM. The world accepts the bible but no one accepts the BOM. ata ata. ;) 

Also this week I heard the Be brave song come on. I don't remember where but I wrote it down so I could tell you and commend you on how brave you're beeing. :) I love ya! 

On wednesday we got fala's, Samoan woven mats to sleep on at night instea of beds but we're both waiting till transfers to switch to them because we've got not one mattress each but two. We're pretty blessed in our little house. 

So you know how you sent me a ctr ring while I was in the MTC? well I wear it everyday and I swear every day someone teases about it. THey say its from my girl back home and then Elder Redd just egges them on and I just look like a liar because I always say its rom my mom. It's a good laugh! :) 

We met this new lady this week named Lagi and she started crying when we told her that some people turn us away. hse got so saddened by it and it was so sweet! I thought it was kind of funny too because we've only been turned away like 3 or 4 times total so far. But it sure did break her little heart. :) 

We might have gotten another baby named after us. This drunk guy stopped us on the road and ask us for our names so that He could name his baby. He said He's blend the names. It was pretty interesting. :) 

Also this teenage boy stopped us to take a picture of us and then walked off. It was weird but Samoans make us feel like we're half royal and half celebrities all the time! 

Basically Samoa is just the greatest! I'm so blessed to be here and learning so much. We haven't had much success towards baptism or anything in the last two weeks but we sure are learning a lot. Plus Elder redd and I are just having a great time together. Our relationship has gotten so much better in the last two weeks we're always having a good time! 

I love it mom! 

Elder Jones

General Conference Week in Samoa

So this is a picture from last week shucking a Niu and then one from this week watching conference in Englsh and Samoan at the same time because we didn't have the right cords to get rid of the Samoan and just be able to listen. :) It took a lot of work to focus on the talks with 2 languages going on at the same time. :) I learned so much though! I love the words of Prophets! :)

Also thanks for that little picture of Ammon. Not sure why you sent it but Its home so I smiled because of it. :) Also thats a sweet story that dad sent me about brother millers experience in Europe. :) 

Heres 2 pictures for ya! did you not get any from last week? I attached them..

So heres two more I guess! The first one is of me climbing the niu which Elder redd got videos of but I can't send thsoe so you'll just have to wait and see for yourself one day. ;) I need some practice but I did it . :) Its so cool! One of my overall mission goals is to just climb those suckers like a native! 

The other one is from a couple weeks ago when Elder Redd tried to toss me the keys to unlock our house and he threw them on top of the chapel so I had to go get them. It was a pretty funny moment. I'm still waiting on SD card for my camera and once that day comes I'll be so happy! :) Elder Redd has been a big blessing though

  

So this seems like it was centuries ago ut it was really jjust last weeks family night... We taught the lesson and it was a lot of pain on my part but I learned a lot from it. :) So the lesson was an object lesson. Elder redd has a bag of Candy and I'm on the floor in the middle of the room. He goes to each person one by one to offer a piece of candy. for each piece of candy everyone took I had to do 10 pushups. Luckily there were only 6 people taking candy but Taylor this hilarious guy who lived in America for a while took 3 pieces and I just died. Even if the person chose not to take one I had to do 10 pushups. Every pushup I had to fight for, struggle through, believe in myself that I could do another set of ten. I was making all kinds of sounds as people kept grabbing candy. It took everything I had just to get the job done and finish the pushups so everyone could enjoy the candy. Everyone was satisfied, I was sweating through my clothesand panting, and as I sat down the room kind of lulled. Just the sound of candy being chewed. Elder Redd went on to ask people what they saw and I sat to observe what the answers were. Taeipo our super nice neighbor said that I was a hard worker and made sure to get every single one done without any short cuts. Taylor made fun of me. Paulo the guy in the background while I'm shucking the niu said he felt bad for me but was thankful for the candy. The grandma said thank you. And the little boy Saia said thank you even louder and pointed out how much I was sweating.

The key here is that I was representing Christ, the candy was the blessings of His atonement and gospel. I'm sure you can all see the parallells and meanings now. The coolest part for me was thinking about my role in the midst of the work I had to do. I new my duty and I was set on doing it no matter how much of a weenie I sounded or looked like. Each time the bag got to someone I looked the in the eyes and they'd grab what they wanted tell me the number and I'd put my head down and go to work. Each time i thought "please only take one" but they always took more. I loved them for it though. I was happy that I got to do all the work and they simply enjoyed the blessings. I really felt a lot of love for them as I suffered on their behalf. It was a powerful experience for all of us. I loved it. :) Please just tell everyone to partake of the blessings of this gospel. THey're already payed for just grab them. all that needs to be done is extending your arm and grabbing on. Just do it because I promise that it will always be worth it and that if we don't we are wasting the Saviors atonement.

That was a powerful lesson for me to learn and be a part of. especailly when I got to bear testimony at the  end and invite all of them to come unto Christ. I really felt that invitation coming thorugh the spirit as I shared from my heart.
Love
Elder Jones

4/3/16

So first I wanted to start with a dream that I had earlier this week about you. :) It was very very fun but then I got bery sad... Let me tell ya!

So that day before the dream we had gotten a total of 8 Niu (Coconuts) given to us to dring and man I loved it! Those are like my favorite thing in Samoa! Plus today we learned how to climb them but thats a different story for ya! ANyways!!! So I don't really rembember what was goiung on in the dream but I remember just having a great time and chatting it up with ya! Then I said wait right there and I'll go grab you my favorite piece of Samoa, a niu, and I came back. Ps we're in Samoa... ;) I came back popped the top off all native like and was so proud of what I had just done for my mommy! I climbed a coconut tree, its basically like fighting a dragon for a princess, carefully picked the freshest niu, just like like jack stealing golden eggs from giants, and then presented the winnings to my mommy, the queen. I was so stoked to see your joy after drinking it! Then I was gonna give you a spood to scoop out the pe`epe`e to eat. I was on the moon! you grabbed it gave it a look and refused because you thought it was gross.... I was heartbroken!!! My own mommy wouldn't accept my greatest life accomplishment?!?!?! I was devastated. Then I woke up. So long story short when we get to come back here someday just accept the Niu even if you don't like it else I might cry. ;) I told elder Redd about it too and He try to play Joseph and interpret the dream telling me that I'm scared of my mommy not accepting me. My thought about that was, "thats dumb" but ya never know I'd be pretty sad if my mommy didn't like Nius because man do they make me happy! In fact theres two in the fridge right now waiting for us after tomorrow mornings workout! :) So remember You need to like Nius for my hearts sake. ;) 

I did get your package this week which was AWESOME!!! Thanks for all the notebooks! They'll come very in handy! :) That box was destroyed though! it looked like a bomb went off and then it sat in the rain for 2 days. the contents were alright though except nutella was all over everything. I'd recommend some tighter packing and putting any kind of liquid in ziplock bags... THanks so much though! I was so stoked!!! :) 

Holy giggles from your letters this week! Please don't stop learning Samoan!1 I love what you come up with as you speak to me! Plus byt the time the two years is up maybe we'll be able to have little conversation in Samoan! :) Sorry to hear about all the sad boy stories wearing on your poor little mommy heart. Is there any way I can help besides keep writing you? 

Also I just tried to pay tithing on here and I don't know if it will work so if not will you pay 7.50 for me. Just check LDS.org. Also did you make contact with any of the teachers I used to work with?

I don't really have a Samoan name because the people can Say Jones pretty well. Maybe one of these days when my Samoan is better I'll earn myself a Matai name. Its basically just a name for the high chiefs. So no name but ALL THE TIME people call me Michael Jones!!! I'm pretty sure they mean michael Jordan but man do they get a kick out of that when ever someone calls me that! It's hilarious! :) Samoans are so goofy! :) 

So the phrase vevela tamaloa I haven't ever heard before but holy smokes do you crack me up! also FYI it would be Tamaloa vevela. I just figured you'd like to know for how often you'll use it now. ;) It was great too because then I got to explain #lookwhatidid to Elder Redd! It was great! I don't know hwta he thinks of you to be honest but I don't know if my other companions along the way will understand you either. Thats okay with me because man do I love ya! You're so fun to listen to and each week I read the little letters or big ones I hear your voice, picture what you're doing, and how you say things. It's a blast so don't change it! Just keep writing me whatever way makes you the happiest because thats all that matters to me. I love ya mommy! Also no conference this weekend because the technology in Samoa isn't the best so the church sends CD's to all the stakes to watch conference on the next weekend so thats this coming weekend! I'm pumped!!!! It'll be great! 

Love Elder Jones!

Happy Easter

Okay so picture number one is what elder Redd did for me for easter last night. I went to take a shower before bed and came back in to all those limes and paper balls all over the house. He put samoan cents inside the paper and we used it to buy pankeke this morning. Pankeke is my favorite too! It's basically a pancake but thinner and they fry it. Or they make it into a ball. So we got a whole ton of those and dipped them in sugar for breakfast this morning. Then we hung out with the primary all day playing all kinds of games and things with them. It was blast.

Picture number two is of us next door at Taeipo's house. She's basically our mom for the area. We love here to death and she's from here but lives in Utah. At least thats where her family lives is in Utah. She's here taking care of her mom until she dies. She's a saint and we do alot with them the best of which is in and hour and half when we will be doing family night. It consists of us, her foster son from Savaii, a guy named taylor from the ward( they group up together and are really good friends), her mom, and the guy who does all the yard word named Paulo. It's heaven on Pdays ! Anyways we were over there for dinner and she made us spaghetti which was amazing. WE were very greateful.

Long story short is that we are being taken care of so well. Heavenly father has given us two Palagis a lot of expectations and we can hardly speak the language. But Every day is filled with tender mercies to always remind us that we're not alone in this great work. I love everything about Samoa. Its the place for me. 

Love elder Jones

Picture number 2

                                                                                                          

Samoa is the best!

So the picture with Sprocket faasamoa is your proof. The boys name is Tau and he is just a little whirlwhind always disrupting during lessons. But we love Him. One time he was running around with a little minion themed squirt gun and Elder Redd politely asked for it on our way out and then sprayed Him in the face. It was hilarious and the family was dying. another time I was playing catch with Him while we waited for Lia, his mom to come in and talk, and I hit him right in the nose with the ball which had everyone laughing again. There are like 12 kids total at that house and He's the second youngest so in Samoa that means you get all the crap until the baby grows up a little. Also you have to do all the little errands. Grab the books, bring the food, bring the Fala, take away the dishes, go pretty much anywhere and do anything someone older than you tells you to do. It's a hard life. The worst part is that everyone older than you parents you. So if you do something wrong then you hear from everyone about it.

The other one is a nice little Samoan bed i guess... It was in front of a members house under a mango tree and I needed a picture under it. Its just a coconut tree cut into 3pieces forming a T with a Fala on top of it. Plus a pillow. It was pretty cozy actually I might make one when I get home. ;) 

Other news from this week. We met with this lady we had met once at a members house during fafaga. She was interested in the church and had just gone through a lot of change in her life so we taught a little bit and then set a return date. It had been 2 weeks so we assumed she's forget but she didn't. The cool stuff is that she'd been going to church and ward activities with the family she's staying with and was even more intrigued by the gospel. She had so much more hope and happiness that day than when we first met her. It was obviously the light of the gospel filling her heart. I was so pumped until she said that she was moving so we gave her a book of mormon and the Elders Number where she'd be living. I don't doubt she'll become a member and I was blessed to meet her this week and see how much affect this gospel can really have. What I really wanted to share though was this. She's thinking of naming her son after us. So she asked for our first names right before we left and then said shes deciding what to name her son and wanted to give Him a palagi name. I'm pretty stoked! So there could be a new baby Robert or Parker in this world when 4 months is up. 

So another very foreign thing about the missionary work in Samoa is the proselyting. So in america or most other places i've heard door to door kind of work is a harsh little world with door slamming, name calling, and little success. Well here in Samoa when you first walk up to a house theres not much of a question of getting inside. All you have to do is give a little respectful speech about how sorry you are for walking stupidly over there land and ask if they have the time to talk. It's that easy. This week for instance we walked up to a random house and chose it only because they waved at us earlier. As we walked up to the fale we saw all the people inside but the old lady clean everything really fast and then run for the kitchen to make us some food. Then we say the little speech we're invited in we give another respectful speech about how righteous and holy the family and the house is they reply with the same kind of blessings for us and then the real talking begins. It's great! Then 10 minutes into to chatting with this old lady, the youngest of the family come in with 2 plates of barbecued chicken and some fa`i. We eat the food say another thank you speech and then leave. Its pretty great! we never go hungry thats for sure. 

So yeah Samoa is the best. I love you i love you i love you i love you! 

-Elder Jones

So to be honest I really have no clue what to say about this week.... I'll just go for it though..

So this week was very very rainy. I think I'll just give a little pro and cons section about the rain in Samoa...

-Pro: It's not FREAKING HOT

-Con: Somehow 75 degrees feels cold...

-pro: Its very peaceful for studies

-con: Not when it rains really hard though. then its just hard to hear.

-pro: rainbows!!! (see images below)

-pro: everyone gets free water

-pro: I don't sweat

-Con: You're wet and then you never get dry even after it rains...

Con: it puts a X2 multiplyer on the damage done to my shoes...

Con: everyone just sleeps because its raining. 

Con: showers are freezing because the water tanks don't get any sun

Con: everything gets moldy

Con: you don't want to take a shower because you don't feel dirty at the end of the day but you actually are.

Con: you still have to proselyte

Con: no one is out side.. no one...

Con: Cars splash you as they go by.

Con: The bikes fling dirt onto your shirts if you go too fast...

Con: Nothing every gets dry

So that was the week in a semi sweet nut shell. We still were happy the whole way through though. It just took some little things to keep us smiling. 

Example 1: On the 2nd day in a row of rain we both didn't really want to be wet again but weren't going to sit inside because... well we're missionaries and we have to do our job. But Elder Redd did talk us in to walking over to the store to but some rainy day comfort food which consisted of cookies made in India... and Jam from Egypt... WE still got very wet and stayed that way all day long but Heavenly father rewarded us with a great visit that night. We were able to sit down with a new investigator named Vito and help him set a plan for how he would live the Word of Wisdom. 

Example 2: After a long day of visits in the rain we came out from inside a jungley path that blocked our view of the sky and saw a beautiful rainbow! Infact it was double rain bow! :) 

Example 3: I had forgotten my umbrella at someones house and the next day the rain was light just long enough for us to get my umbrella and stay kind of dry. 

Example 4: Today we were sent Nua!!!! A little boy who speaks  some english who became our slave for a few mintues as he mopped the shower room. His mom sent him away because He was disturbing her while she was fulfilling her calling and helping someone with family history. 

God was defintely blessing us this week and trying us all at the same time. I have no doubt that He's with us every single day and I love the time I have each night to write in my journal about the hand of God in my life as we worked. 

Sorry I didn't reply to what you said very much.. I promise I did as I read it. I love you mommy Jones!!! Samoa is the place for me , at least for 2 years!!! :) 

Love Elder Jones!

Week 8

So heres I quick story about dogs for you all. So that week when I didn't get to eamil because the power was out for P-day, we were walking around in the rain and doing a little exploring, or as Elder Redd called it "creative finding activity" which it wasn't but still a good time regardless. Anyways after we did that we were on the way to the relief society presidents fale and the rain had stopped so both our umbrellas were put away. As we walked passed the first of their 2 buses dogs start barking and they come flying at us full speed. It's pretty typical for this to happen here in Samoa but its always a little bit more scary when the sun is already down. So these two dogs are running at us and Elder Redd lifts the umbrella from His shoulder, and lands a solid swing on the first dogs head and then they both just took off. They didn't want anything to do with us. everyone awake could hear that dog yelping pain and we both started laughing especially after he held up the pretty well bent umbrella. That was good night.

As far as the work goes we had 2 baptisms this week. both seventeen year old girls. I got to baptize them and that was a special treat for me. My favorite part of this week though was the weekend because first we baptized Agnus and Evelini, then helped confirm another primary baptism. Then on Sunday we each confrmed one of the girls which was a treat, and right after that a recent convert had us take part in his baby blessing. I've never been more happy as used my priesthood for the work of Salvation. I glimpsed into the future when I'll be called upon to do more wonderful ordinances within the priesthood and the joy that would bring. The priesthood is no doudt the power of God, and we get it at twelve because it's a journey of trust. A loving father always gives his children jobs, responsibilities, chores, and as he grows He is trusted with more and more till he recieves all the joy that the father hath. Thats why a mission is so important for us young priesthood holders because it's our chance to show God how much he can trust us and his chance for Him to teach us the way to earn His trust. It's through living a consecrated life. The mission is so cool. 

So I was curious about this. Do you see my ties all over the place at church or no?

Also I'd love to know more about Grandma's mission in Hawaii. What do you know? 

Love, Elder Jones