4-8-13

Wazzup in the hood familypants!  Sup Z????

It's all good.  This week has been a lot like the duck who walked into the pharmacy to buy some ointment for his beak.  "Please good sir," he said walking up to the counter.  "I would like to buy some ointment for my beak.  It is very chapped."  Acknowledging the duck, the pharmacist then replied cooly, "We have nothing for ducks here."

That was a lot what this week was like.  So definitely a good one.  The mission president recently approved all songs from the band, "Binky", so you know we've been playing all the biggest hits.  The only bummer thing is that they're all just holograms--what a bunch of phoneys.

But nah, it's good.  This week my comp finished his mission.  I was really sad to see him go.  We were comps for like 5 months.  I learned a lot from that dude.  So now I'm splitting with some elders in the zone in Malaela.  It's alright.  I always hate going for prolonged splits though.  It's like you have to start getting used to everybody all over again.  Plus, I'm anxious to get back to my area cause there's good stuff going on in Lotofaga.  But is has been good, nothing crazy exciting.

I still don't know who my new companion is going to be.  I'll let you know.  The APs were saying the transfer is probably next Wednesday, so I don't know if that is Mom's "next" which means in like 2 days or if that actually is next week.  We'll see, I guess.

This past weekend was conference.  It was the sickest ever like always.  You always feel the spirit way strong and learn lots of new stuff.  They had it in English so we split up and all the English speakers got to watch conference on the comfy chairs in the air conditioned high council room.  So it was nice.  I was stoked that they had it in English too cause the Samoan translation is always super bad and has like long gaps where there's no words.  We had to get up super early to watch it cause our stake was having it on live which was sweet cause I watched it the same time you guys did--so that was sweet.  

Also this week I hit my 6 months left mark.  That's nutso butso man.  It's going by really fast.  Mom is probably stoked.  (Mom says--you got that right, honeyboy!!!  Woot!  Woot!)  I''m just trying to make the best of it--trying to do as much good as I can before I have to leave.  But that's still pretty far away so I'm not too worried.  

However, despite my awesome prank on April 1st, I'm going to be finishing in October, so go ahead and sign me up for Snow.  I was thinking BYU, but it's way too expensive.  I'm pretty sure I have college credit from my AP Psych class in 11th grade, but I'm not sure where it floated off to cause I haven't been to school yet.  

Things are good though.  I'm loving the mission.  It's the best thing ever.  There's a lot of good things happening in Samoa and I'm glad to be a part of it.  

Lovingly and longingly (with girlishly drawn hearts dotting the "i"s),

Elder Johansen

PS:  I was pleasantly surprised to see Andrew Howden's handsome face smiling out at me from the TV screen when I was watching conference...just wondering it it's just me that noticed?

PPS:  And yes, we do have water now.  It was only for like three weeks we were without water so don't worry.  And never call the mission office--I would be highly embarrassed in front of all my cool friends.  Really though, everything is good--don't worry.

3-31-13

Hey there,

This week has been double dank for sure.  Sorry I don't have tons of time.  We have been busy to the bones.  Last week we had an awesome FHE with a bunch of people from a village called Matatufu.  We had it at a members house.  They're way strong and super cool.  Our investigators, Faafuti, and his wife, To'e, came and this recent convert couple, the Tongan woman, Uila, who we helped bring back to church and her kids who we baptized last week all came as well.  And this old woman named Tsapeka who has started to come back to church that we have been working with.  There was probably at least 25 people that showed up.  It was mega sweet.  It was awesome though and the spirit was strong.  So I was stoked on that.  It went over really well.

Also this week was freakin' the sickest too.  So we finally got to go to the temple with that family that my trainer and I baptized in my first area.  The grandma--Fonoea and her daughters, Faasegia and Mata--all got their endowments.  It was so freakin' sick.  I was crazy stoked on it.  Fonoea is going to get sealed to her husband who is passed away--hopefully in May when they have their stake temple trip.  She was planning on being sealed this trip, but they haven't done his proxy baptism yet.  (I think that's what it's called.)  But it was so cool.  And it was awesome to see all the people from my first area.   It was just crazy.  I had been looking forward to this time for like over a year now, so it was crazy sweet.  It's been super awesome seeing the changes in these people's lives.  This was sort of like the pinnacle of my mission.  I feel crazy blessed to have taken a part of these people's conversion.  And apparently Faasegia and Mata's husbands have started going to church, but haven't been yet baptized.  But for sure they will, and at some point they're all going to be sealed.  So that's the only bummer is that  I'll miss out on that.  And also I just got the news that we have a trip to do baptisms for the dead for the family Faitau and I baptized in Lepale--sometime at the end of April, I think.  I'm stoked for that.

Oh yeah, and I finally got to meet my godson, little Eric Jacob Lefoa.  He's the cutest, and is a skux deluxe just like his godfather.  Definite stokeparty to the days.

But yeah, not much else happened this week.  My companion finishes his mission in like two days.  I'm going to miss this guy for sure.  We've grown really close and have actually been comps for like 5 months now.  I'm sort of wondering who my new comp's going to be--hopefully not a ranjo.  We'll see, I guess,  I'll for sure stay in Lotofaga.  I think I'll probably be here for awhile actually--maybe I'll even finish here.  I dunno.  It's a good area though.  I'm really loving it.

Also this week my comp and I did a fireside over in Aufaga.  It was alright.  It's actually not our area, but we're covering it temporarily so we got chosen to do the fireside.  It was good though.  

Also our baptism for Arga didn't go through.  Turns out she was wrong about her own age.  She thought she was 10, her mom thought she was 9, but the birth certificate said 8.  She'll probably be baptized under a primary baptism.  I was just bummed cause that was probably my only chance to do a baptisms in the ocean.  Haha, oh well.

Elder Dankness

PS  Enroll me in Snow College if you can.  I for sure come home in October, so I'll be going to school in the spring.  But I'm pretty sure Snow is where I want to go to.

3-24-13

March 24, 2013

This week has been pretty bones deluxe.  We've just been keepin it real, lettin' our mustaches hang low and our dream catchers still fastened to our pants.  Like my good friend Jamal once said, "You gotta get jiggy with it."

We had Sione & Aimoana's baptisms this week.  That went really good.  My comp did the baptizing for the both of them.  I was a little bummed cause like nobody showed up even though we made these cute little fliers and handed them out to everyone.  Usually baptisms are mega awesome if you can get a whole bunch of people to come and the investigator always feels good cause there's all these people there to support them.  So we're definitely going to have to figure out how to prank people to come to our baptisms.  Maybe we'll just lie and say there's pizza or something.  That would for sure get a ton of people to show.  Haha, no jk.  We'll figure something out.  

Next week we have another baptism planned as well over in Vavau.  The missionaries that were there got transferred so we've been covering their area for a little while.  Anyways, so we contacted this girl who's been going to church forever but nobody knew that she wasn't baptized.  So we started lessons and we're going to baptize the heck out of her next week.  Her name is Arga--it means family.  The cool thing about Vavau is that there is no baptismal font and the chapel is on the coast so I get to do the baptism in the ocean, which I am for sure stoked about.  

Also, if you look on the map, where I live is a lot more inland--in between the Sopoaga Falls and the Fuipisia Falls marked in red.  But we cover part of Salani, all of Utulaelae, Sapoe, Matatufu, and all of the inland part of Lotofaga and part of the coastal Lotofaga.  And for the time being, we cover Vavau, Aufaga, Vaigalu, and I think most of Lepa.  Just so you can know the area a little bit, I guess.  

We're still working with Faafiti and Toelau to prepare for their baptisms.  We set the date of April 6th for them to be baptized, which also happens to be the day my comp finishes his mission.  I'm not sure if Faafiti will be ready by that date, so we'll have to see what happens.  He says he wants to be baptized, but he hasn't really kept any commitments or been to church.  But his wife, Foelau, and the kids are totally ready.  They have 5 kids, all young.  We've been teaching two of them, but it might end up being that only one of the kids can be baptized cause they think she might be 8, but they're not sure.  So we'll see once they get the birth certificate.  Either way, I'm excited for this family.  I'm just hoping we can work to help Faafiti to be baptized at some time in the near future.

Really not much went down this week.  There isn't a lot to report on actually.  The work continues to progress in the area.  I'm really loving it a lot here.  We've met a lot of cool people and had a lot of cool experiences.  

Like the old Samoan proverb says, "Un mama i oa mama i taloa."   (It leaks from the gunwale to the garboard strake.)

Elder Johansen

PS  Can you send me some batteries and a good portable speaker?