Tasi

Family, Friends, everyone else,

FRIDAY IS MY P-DAY!!!! WWOOOHHHOOOO!!! My first week at the MTC has been very exciting! I have seen Elder Isaac Smith (he was hosting on my first day), Sister Caroline Howell (I saw her yesterday and today!), and Elder Tate Vandmwere... vandemyre... Trombone/tuba/baritone tate (I saw him at lunch right before i came here!)

My Companion is Sister Corrigan, she is from washington, and is really awesome! We only have one other companionship in our room (sister Garvin and sister fitisemanu- who we call sister fiti-) and we have a HUGE room. Actually our floor is the one that was just cleared out a few weeks ago because of a bat infestation!!!! Bahahah!!! I already told my sisters that if we find a bat we have to name it!!

Sister Corrigan is also called to hamilton New Zealand Samoan speaking!! So we will probably fly together in 6 weeks!! Sister Fiti is going to Aukland Samoan speaking (and in case you are wondering she is from Hawaii). Sister Garvin is sydney south Samoan speaking, she is also from Utah!

Samoan is really challenging... the first day our teacher brother kinnison(?) talked to us in samoan the whole time... Ya i didn't understand most of it... Today we are teaching our first investigator in Samoan.... definitely not ready. Brother Kinnison had us write out what we wanted to say in english and then translate it into samoan.. I'm trying not to stress about it.. But i will let you know next week how it went!

My branch President, President Willes, is absolutely AMAZING! He is so cool! He recognized me right off the bat from his son's (president Willes from my home ward's stake presidency) picture he sent me. The first time we met he he told us that he loved us. Last night we had a meeting with him and he gave us the most inspiring message about following with exactness. He said, " If God can't trust that you will get up at 6:30, how can he trust you with the salvation of his children? he can't." He is so cool! something else he had us do was read Alma 13:2-3 (That's off the top of my head so sorry if it's not right) and replace the word priests with missionaries. The effect is really cool and brings my mission to a whole new light. Also just a side note, President Willes is president Hinckley's nephew!

Our district is the coolest! All the sisters get together at 9:30 every night, say one thing we are grateful for and then one person says a prayer in their mission language. We have 5 languages being spoken in our mission: Samoan, Tongan, martialise, mauiri, .... and something else... Also if we are walking together we do this thing where you pretend to walk into poles and see if you fake out other missionaries walking by! BAHAH!! Also the samoan speakers are awesome because if you see each other you yell TALOFA (hello) and give them a big hug (only if they are a sister of course!!)

When we say prayers, even in class, we kneel on the ground together. I think I will learn how to pray in Samoan tonight. OH!!! by the way!! Tasi means one!

Our district went to the temple this morning and did a session there. Sister Corrigan has the tendency to misplace things (even more than me!) and couldn't find he temple recommend. So we ate a tiny bit of breakfast and went back to look for it. i suggested we say a prayer to find it and she found it almost immediately afterwards. we then said a prayer in thanks and ran back to our district1 I think that made my temple visit all the more special. I felt so much peace and love, it was amazing.

One more crazy thing happened... Maxi skirts arent allowed in the MTC... and i have two!! BAHAHAHAHA!!! I might need to go to the MTC store and buy a new skirt!! LOL!! Right now I have 3 skirts and 3 dresses... I think I can make it work!! 

Mom... I'm very sorry... We came straight over from the cafeteria (where we arent allowed to have bags) and so I dont have my camera with me.. I'm really sorry!! But i do have a picture of me wearing my name tag with the dork dot!! and of my classroom!! I will send them next week!!

Thank you padre for your note to me!! It was very sweet! I havent gotten any other mail yet.. Our District Leaders hand them out to us, and we only just got ours lats night! So if you sent me mail i will probably get it tomorrow! THAT REMINDS ME!!! TOMORROW WE HAVE 11 HOURS OF LANGUAGE CLASS!

Alofa (love),

Sister Peo

P.s. for those who were wondering sister is not different on my name tag because in samoan there is not a set word for sister! there is a word for opposite gendered sibling and same gendered sibling. So I'm just Sister Peo

XOXOX

(Mom's note: received this photo from her first day and put it with her first post.  Name tag with the dork dot.)