9-9-13

Sup Family,

This week has been pretty good.  We've been crazy, extra busy lately.  It seems like every day we had a lot of stuff going on.  Mostly just a lot of lessons and other good stuff, so it has been good.

We did a service project for this part-member family we're working with--the mom, Maiu'u, is getting baptized this upcoming week.  We have high hopes for this family however, only the one daughter is a member--the rest aren't.  But the service was good.  We just helped them build the foundation for their home...mostly just digging a ton of dirt.  It was nice to do some manual labor. However, we definitely enjoyed it.

We have 7 investigators working towards baptismal dates right now, with 2 of them getting baptized this weekend.  We also have 3 marriages planned for this upcoming week, so it's going to be great to see all this stuff go down.  The work is definitely picking up a lot.  We're way excited for this upcoming month.  And we're hoping to commit a few more to receive as baptismal date.

Also this week I had the chance to go to a legit Samoan funeral.  One of the elders in our zone had a grandfather die, so we did a split and him and I drove to the other side of the island to Fale'ula to go to the funeral.  It was really interesting, and of course pretty sad.  They have a lot of interesting cultural stuff they do at funerals which was kind of cool to see.

We've just been pretty much just nutso busy busy lately.  I'm stoked for P-day so we can chill a little bit.  But that's all I got for this week.  The miracles are getting better and better as the time goes by.  I can tell the Lord definitely has a reason for keeping me here a little longer.

Elder Johansen

9-2-13

Sup,

Hey hey hoo all you guys.  This week has been crazy.  It seems like a lot of stuff has gone down.

First--at the beginning of the week we had a ZL meeting with the mish pres which was actually really good.  He focused on the importance of inviting people like crazy.  So pretty much we took it to heart this week and saw a ton of success. We were actually able to get 9 investigators at church this past Sunday just cause we invited the heck out of them.  And now we have 5 investigators with baptismal dates for this month--only cause we invited them.  Being a bold inviter is an important skill that will carry on into the post-mission life.  I think next year for my birthday I am going to invite people with boldness to come to my birthday bash in order to reap the reward and be bathed in gifts and gift cards to fancy restaurants.  

Also this week was the greatest because we had the best temple trip ever.  Since we're not allowed to use the mission vehicles for non-mission related business, we had to figure out a way to get from our area to Apia, which is about an hour away. Because all the busses had left already, we just walked up to the intersection up the road a ways and tried to spunk our own ride to town.  Eventually a truck stopped and we rode in the back with this kid.  He was telling us all these stories about how he's gotten in all these gnarly accidents while riding in the back of pick up trucks.  Haha, it was funny cause it reminded me of Seinfeld when Kramer is riding on the back of a motorcycle and the guy is telling him about all the crazy motorcycle accidents he had been in.  However, we got there safely, so it was all good.  

The temple was awesome.  The reason we went was because this guy named Tasiiva, who I baptized in my first area, got sealed to his family that day.  It was the coolest thing ever.  It made me super happy.  The other thing that was crazy nuts to me was when we were sitting outside the temple talking after the sealing, he told me that since January of this year he has been 1st Counselor to the Bishop!  Haha, I was so surprised.  He is doing way good and is super strong now.  He had only been a member for about 9 months when he got called in the bishopric....haha nuts.

Also, another interesting thing that Tasiiva mentioned to me was that he actually is from Vavau, one of the villages that I cover right now.  And then when he was explaining where his family's house is, I realized that it was the same family we had just contacted for the first time that very morning.  I don't believe in coincidences, so I have a good feeling Tasiiva's family is being prepared because none of them are members.  One of the reasons I feel like his family is being prepared is because they had a fight with their minister and stopped going to their church.  The other reason is because when we shared the Book of Mormon with the old man, Tasiiva's grandpa, he goes, "I will read it every day...When can you two come back?"  Haha, cool guy.  When I told Tasiiva I'm serving in the village he is from, he got way stoked and told me he wants me to bring his family into the church.  So we're definitely going to try with this family.  That would be awesome.

Our Fijian boys are doing good.  Doni still hasn't received his answer, but he said he is praying.  And Junior agreed to be baptized on the 21st of September, but we just have to help him quit smoking.  But they've been going to church every week, so we're stoked on them.

The work is going awesome, and as we increase in faith and work harder, we see even greater miracles.  This week was the best though.  I'm way excited to see all our investigators progress toward baptism.  

Elder Eric R. Johansen