December 12, 2011
Sup from Slamoa! Hey dudes! Yeah it's me here in Samoa! Freak, it's so sick. It's way cooler than I even thought it would be. But yeah, we're just kind of chillin' right now, today's Monday. I think we're gonna go do some service or something later. But yeah, so we flew forever to get here. We arrived in Samoa at like one in the morning and got picked up by the mission president and the AP's. We took pictures and chilled for a second and then we drove over to the mission home and went to sleep. But yeah, we spent the next day at the mission office doing training in the morning, and then we went to the temple in the afternoon. That was pretty sick. So then we spent that night at the mission home again and then in the morning we met our companions and found out which area we're going to. But yeah, all the guys from my (MTC) district are in Upolu, which is the middle island in Western Samoa, and then me and one other guy are in Savaii, which is like the real Samoa. Upolu is a lot more Americanized, and Tutuila is way Americanized cause it's American Samoa.
But yeah, nobody speaks English--it's awesome. Seriously, Savaii is freakin crazy. There are pigs and chickens and dogs running around everywhere. For real though, we'll be doing a visit, and like six chickens will run through the middle of the house. But yeah, everybody lives in these hut kinda things. It's kind of like those things at all the churches in Utah where everybody eats all their ward picnics and stuff--like that thing by the bowery at our stake center? Yeah, but without the tables and chairs. There are just mats that they lay down on the floor. SO that's what all the people sleep in. And instead of a pillow, they use a block of wood.
But yeah, the work is really different than I thought it would be. We mostly just go to member's houses and visit every day. But we've taught a couple investigators too. But yeah, you don't really do street contacting or anything, you go to people's houses and eat their food and then they let you baptize their friends or family or whatever. So it's really chill, but it makes me feel like I'm not doing anything. But it's freakin' tight for sure. But yeah, the people are really helpful, they're all freakin' nice. It's so sick. They're all really keen on helping me with my Samoan. My language has gotten way better just in a week being here. I still don't understand a lot of what's going on, but I can communicate with the people, which is good. Everyone's really stoked on my Samoan. I think being here in Savaii, I'm gonna pick up Samoan way quick. So no worries there, the language is gonna come for sure.
But yeah, what else...my companion is dope. His name is Elder Nansen. He's a big Samoan dude from Australia. But yeah, he's only been out on the mission for four months, so we're both fairly new. But he grew up speaking Samoan, so he doesn't have to worry about the language. But yeah, so it's good, he's really helpful with everything.
The food is dope for sure. The first night I was here they fed me lobster. But every night we go to a different member family for the fafaga, which is like the evening meal. But it's like an ordeal, they come out with like tons of food. At my first fafaga, I just kept eating cause they would pile more food onto my plate. I was seriously worried that I would puke. Haha, it was tight. But yeah, they feed us lots of meat, they're all stoked on what they call "size two" which is a small pig. I've had it a couple times, it' pretty good. They rank the pigs from size 1-5, fives are the really big ones they use for big feasts and stuff. But yeah, so the food's good. I guess a lot of the white missionaries don't like the food, so everyone's stoked that I like it. And pretty much everyone feeds you at every visit. And they always give you cocosamoa, which is this coco drink--everybody drinks it. It's loaded with caffeine. They serve it hot like coffee. But it's not against the Word of Wisdom, so we drink it like nine times a day. But it's good for sure. They haven't fed me anything especially weird yet. The food is different, but it's good.
I haven't gotten sick or anything yet. I think I'm doing pretty good. I guess missionaries usually get sick from the water, but I've been doin alright. I've got plenty of rashes and sunburns and mosquito bites and stuff, but none of that bugs me. It's the dopest all the way. But yeah, what else...When we visit, nobody really has furniture, everybody just sits cross legged on these mats on the floor. SO my knees are getting shredded, but I'm starting to get used to it.
It's crazy here, everybody respects the missionaries a ton. They immediately put us at the same level of respect as the high chiefs, it's crazy. There is a higher level of speaking when people talk to a high chief, so the people always refer to us as "lau suruga", which is sort of like "your majesty." The whole culture is all about respect, it's crazy. When we eat meals, we always eat first. Even before the head of the household or anybody. We'll be sitting there, the only ones eating, and someone will be sitting there fanning us so the flies don't get on our food and to keep us cool and then they always come and refill my glass, and give me more food, it's crazy. Even if a family has next to nothing, they always give us the best of everything they have. It really puts things into perspective, and it just makes me want to pay back that charity and that respect twice as much. The people here are freakin' poor, but they're happy as heck. They're awesome, never once have I felt nervous to try to speak Samoan or to do or say anything, they're all super nice and helpful. I remember in the MTC, I'd always get nervous before we'd go teach a lesson or whatever, but here it's the exact opposite. I like to speak Samoan, cause all the people are way stoked when I do. Samoans are really stoked when white people try to learn their language. So no matter what I say, they're freakin' stoked. So it's cool, it can only get better.
And it's freakin' beautiful here. No matter where I go, I can see the ocean. And there's tons of coconut trees, and banana trees everywhere. This morning we did some service for a family who owns land right on the beach. All the missionaries in the zone were cleaning out all the weeds and overgrowth. But when we were done, this little kid just climbs a coconut tree and grabs me one, fresh munch right off the tree. It doesn't get any doper than that. But yeah, then we played volleyball all afternoon. Everyone loves volleyball here, people are playing it constantly. So that's sick. Hopefully I get real good. But yeah, I freakin love it here, it's so amazing.
Our area covers five villages, so we do a lot of walking. One of the villages only allows Methodists to live there, so it sucks cause the people can't be converted. We're supposed to have bikes, but they haven't given them to us yet, so it's hard to get to some of the far villages. But it's dope for sure. All the people are so nice, people in the American culture freakin' suck. In Samoa, you wave to everyone, or if you pass someone in the road, you stop to talk to them for a sec and ask them where they're going or how their day is or something like that. Everyone is bombin nice. And even if they don't want to hear about the church, they still show you tons of respect--like if people here had doors, nobody would slam then in your face. You can pretty much just show up at any person's house at any time and they'll invite you in and feed you and give you cocosamoa. So it's dope--I freakin love the people. I'm really keen to learn the respectful culture so I can pay the respect back to the people. Everything in Samoa is about respect. But yeah, the work is good--it's a little slow, but I'm gonna try to focus more on service. I think that's key cause I can't really serve them through my words, but I can definitely serve them through my actions. So that's definitely something I want to do more.
I got your packages today. by the way--thanks a bum load. They're dope for sure. I put up all the ornaments. Haha, they're way tight. It reminds me of home. The necco one broke, and the leaf fossil too, but everything else is still intact. I made my own addition--haha--so every night at our house, I turn on the porch light and wait like ten minutes, and eventually like seven or eight of these gecko lizard things will come crawling out. I don't know what they are in English, we just call them pini in Samoan. But yeah, it's freakin tight--they're everywhere. So I snatched one of them and tied it to one of those ornament hooks and made a special Samoan Christmas tree ornament. It's sick--haha. It's wriggling and writhing right now. It reminds me of something Dad would be stoked on. Maybe I'll send pictures sometime. I don't really get the chance to go anywhere where I can print off pictures of anything. I'm out here on the backside of Savaii, super far away from anything. It's freakin' tight. I'm in the most wild of all the islands, on the back side in the middle of nowhere. I freakin love it. We do our wash in a buck and shower with cold water. But it's awesome, I love it. And we actually live in a real house. Most of the missionary homes are on the chapel grounds, just a tiny one room thing with a bathroom. W ehave a fridge though, which is nice. We might move in with some members in another village, further down, just so we can be closer to the heart of things. But I hope we do, then I could sleep on the floor in a hut--get the feel for the real Samoan life. Dang, but I love it here so much, it's freakin' amazing. Everything I see is either super interesting or super pretty. There's always something crazy going on. I really love it a lot. This mission is perfect for me. I don't know if there is any other mission that matches my personality better than Samoa.
The first night I get to my area, we visit this family. And the dad is the second counselor in the bishopric. He's this huge guy with all these tatoos--he's way funny. All the people here have tatoos. Seriously like everybody. It's just a part of the culture. And a lot of the members are recent converts. But yeah, this dude takes me out back and he's holding this '22, and then there's all these pigs running around and Bam! One of the pigs just drops, starts squealing and writhing. Needless to say, the next night we had pig for dinner. It was good, too, haha. He was gonna let me shoot it too, but he was afraid I'd miss, I guess. Maybe next time I will. Oh yeah, but tomorrow, they're gonna give me a chief name. It's like a big ceremony and stuff--I guess the people are stoked on me--it's definitely an honor. Haha, the name the chief is going to give me is "swallow". Haha, I think because I like to eat all the Samoan food. I forgot what the word is in Samoan. I'll have to get back to you on that. But yeah, I'm freakin' stoked for that. Haha, the people are so funny, they love to joke around. They're always asking me weird questions and giving me a hard time, it's tight. It's like being back at home. But it's all good natured, the people are freakin' awesome. But yeah, I'm goin to bed. I'll write more tomorrow and tell you how the chief ceremony goes.
But yeah, it's tomorrow now. Today was pretty sick. We didn't end up doing the chief title ceremony today. I think that's tomorrow or something. But I have to give this letter to the ZL's tomorrow morning. So I'll let you know some other time. But my chief name is Kaufolo, which is better cause nobody here can pronounce 'Johansen'. Most people just call me "Cho." Mamma loves you Cho! Yeah that's me. But yeah, it's freakin sick. My companion's way chill. He helps me out a ton. I guess he played rugby in Australia for a team that's like the equivalent of the NFL in the states. He's a pretty big dude. I guess he's put on a bunch of weight too. But yeah, I don't think I'm gonna get fat in this area. I only eat like once a day and maybe some fruit in the morning. Oh yeah, so today we went up to the plantation of the members next door to help them with some service. But dang dude, they were picking guava right off the tree. That stuff's freakin good. And the pineapple is freakin amazing. I can't even describe how good it is. The pineapple in America sucks compared to here. Pineapple in Samoa is super sweet and delicious. And the papaya is way good. I freakin love the fruit here. So that's dope as ever. Let's see what else....
We have an investigator that wants to be baptized. We're teaching her today, actually. My companion wants me to do the ordinance so I can see what it's like. Almost all the chapels here have baptismal fonts, but I want to see if we can do it in the ocean. So I guess I'll let you know how that goes. Yesterday they just brought us these brand new bikes. They're way sick. I'm stoked cause it's hard to get from one side of the area to the other cause we cover a bunch of villages. So the bikes are gonna help out a lot.
But yeah, now it's like the third day since I've been writing this letter. I thought I was supposed to give it to the ZL's on Monday, but I guess they pick up the mail on Thursday. So you guys get an extra long letter--lucky you. Today was freakin dope. We taught two lessons today. The work in this area is kind slow cause most of the people are members and the people who aren't are like the pastor's family and stuff. But my companion's already been in this area for like four months, so he knows everyone. But yeah, we taught two lessons today. Both the first lesson. The first was a girl who's like 12, her name's Ulia. And at the end of the lesson, I asked her if she would be baptized, and she said yes! So that was sick. And then we went to this other girl later on. She's about the same age as Ulia--her name's Angela. But yeah, we taught her the restoration too, and at the end of the lesson, I asked if she would commit to be baptized and she said yes too! Dang and that ws sick. Today was freakin sweet. But yeah, for real, the work here is dope sick. I love it so much. I can't even convey to you how every part of it I love.
The food is awesome. I got fresh fish and lobster and crab and size two and tons of good fruits. And there's pigs and chicken and animals running around everywhere--I love that. Like seriously, outside our house there's always tons of chickens and pigs running around. I don't really know who owns them or where they come from, but they're always there. We'll be cruisin' on our bikes and a dog or a pig will run run out in the road. Haha--it's funny. But yeah, Dad would freakin love it here. It's like Mexico, but like ten or fifteen times better. For real though, I've only been in Samoa for a week, and I spent a week in Mexico. Samoa tops Mexico by miles. You would freakin love it, Dad. We sat around and watched these guys diving down and spearing fishes for like fifteen minutes today. They're freakin good. These guys here are mad fisherman. And the fish is delicious. It's so good. Even the Oka, which is raw fish--I like it too. Today I had a big bowl of raw mussels in coconut milk. It was pretty good. The texture made me gag a little, but it was pretty good. The people here love oka. I had raw crab legs too. It's pretty good. But yeah, Samoa is freakin amazing. Every part of it is so tight. You have to see it to believe it. Ma and Pa--you guys should really start saving your money and come here. Cause you always talk about doin' stuff and then you never do. All your kids are moved out, you're starting to have a little extra money--save it and come to Samoa. It's ten times better than anywhere you've been. The fishing is amazing. The sun shines constantly. The people are freakin nice as heck. For real though, you guys waste your money on dumb stuff. Why buy a new car or get granite countertops when you could be kickin it on a beach in Samoa, drinking a fresh coconut, fishing and enjoying life? The people here have next to nothing, but they're happy as heck. Man, you guys would love it--at least consider my offer--cause it's freaking expensive, but I would pay three times the cost to fly here now that I know what it's like. For real though, you guys would love it. Everything here reminds me of Dad. I think Dad is actually a Samoan at heart. Everyone loves to joke around. The people are freakin funny. The little kids are funny--they're way dope to talk to cause you can pretty much say whatever. The little kids from next door come over like every night. In fact, two of them are sitting next to me right now. They're funny. Haha--annoying as heck too. I love it. They're always begging for something or another. Haha, but for real though, their family is dope. They help us out a ton. So it's dope for sure. They're like our family. We try to help them out as much as we can. But yeah, all is dope here. Good luck!
Elder Johansen
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