Lo'u aiga,

This week is awesome!!!

We were so crazy busy getting ready for Iona's baptism!!

Heaps of people came to his baptism on Saturday!!

We also had our ward missionary activity on Saturday, which was also super awesome!! It was just volleyball, basketball and a BBQ because it was so stormy outside but everyone really enjoyed it!!

Also we had a missionary meeting with the Stake President on Saturday! Oka oka busy as!!

Napolean and Beverly came to the missionary activity, and we recruited Napolean to play the piano for our missionary presentation while Iona changed his clothes after his baptism!! So that was awesome to have our investigator help us with our missionary presentation!! :)

This week is super busy as well! We are having Zone Conference tomorrow, so President will come up and be with us for that! Our numbers are slowly turning from all member present lessons to less active/recent convert lessons... Napolean is our only investigator right now! We are trying to do heaps of finding right now... yay for door knocking And we are helping the ward missionaries do follow up lessons for Iona (Tausili is done with his!!) and the Folasa family! They were baptised in December but no one ever did their follow up lessons so we are also going to help them with that, as they prepare for the temple!!!

Man I feel tired even writing this letter...

Cool things have been happening in this area and I know its because of the obedience of Sister Taugaele and me... Every blessing we receive is because we obey the commandments of God!!

Oh! I forgot to mention!!! FAGAMANU IS LIVING WITH A FAMILY IN MY WARD!!!!! Fagamanu is my first baptism with Sister Taituuga!!!! He doesn't remember me or Sister Taituuga, and is back to being loku pope (catholic?) right now. But all goods! Now I get to work with him again!! Miracles!!!!

Alofa tele atu!!!

manuia le vaiaso!!

Sista Peo

`pi sua (DELICIOUS Samoan food!!!)

~us and Iona!! Notice his gangsta shaved eyebrow... LOL!!

~me Taugaele, Beverley, Napolean, and our ward missionary at the baptism eating yummy food!!

~me and Fagamanu

 

 

Sooo this week happened...

Lo'u Aiga,

This week has been epic!! Epic-ly what I'm not quite sure but all I know is that it was definitely that!!

Tilomai never came back from Hastings... She got in a fight with her family that lives here and decided not to come back! We tried to call her to ask if we could send the Wellington missionaries to her and she started avoiding our calls.... so sad.

So she is not getting baptized on Saturday but Iona is!!!! Iona is the man, he has changed so much!! His interview is on Wednesday with the baptism on Saturday!!! What a blessing that he is working so hard to change his life! We are so proud of him! He has taken the lessons many times from many other missionaries!

There were a few days this week that were  SO BITTERLY COLD we almost died!! We had planned to do 12 week and language study in the morning, but were sick of the flat, so we decided to go out and knock doors instead.... so cold!!!!! We lost feeling in our arms below the elbows and our legs below the knee!! I was wearing my ugly shoes (they aren't broken in yet) and when we got home I discovered that not only had they given me blisters on my heels but had ripped off and were bleeding way bad!! LOL!!!! So that was not very fun as I got feeling back!! So I've been alternating between ugly and worn out shoes for the rest of the week, waiting for my heels to heal! They are healing way fast though so that's good!!! Miracles!!! Miracles happen every day!!

We have had some cool referrals that we have been working on turning into investigators!!

Napolean asked us to come back and teach him lesson 1!!!!! Tomorrow!! I am so exctited!!!!

We also had two services on Saturday (potential investigator family and Napolean's family), we took the Leapai family (and their lawn mower) me and Tausili took turns mowing the lawn while everyone else chatted with the family!! Yessss! Missionary work!!!!

Sister Taugaele and I are so exhausted... the plan was to sleep today, but we had to take other sisters to a car dealership.. (I'm always the guide because I've spent my whole mission up here!)... maybe we will try to catch a few zzz's before we have to take them back!!

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

Oh and I've eaten heaps of kopai this week!! everyone keeps making it for me because they know its my favorite!!!! That's what that big empty bowl was!! LOL!! And that was a funny bumper sticker I really liked... sorry its blurry!!

Group of missionaries shot from facebook post

front row- Sister Teihotu, Sister Taugaele, me,  Back-Sister Suk, Sister Capili, Sister Kearon and Sister Urgel
Last Monday it was a sister's birthday so we sang happy birthday at the email shop because we aren't allowed to gather together anywhere else on p-days!! LOL!!!

front- me, Sister Urgel, Sister Capili, Sister Hazlet (STL) Elder Matthews back- Sister Kearon, Elder Rogers (he's in the Tongan program but white), Elder Fesola'i, Sister Taugaele
We just finished District Meeting! That's almost all of our district!!

okaoka auleaga lo'u seevae

Lo'u aiga,

The struggle was real health wise this week!!!

Sister Taugaele was recovering from her flu for the first half and the second half I was having foot problems!! I guess we just walk heaps and my shoes just got all worn out! It was causing me quiet a bit of pain! I was expecting it to be something much worse than an old pair of shoes as the cause for all of my discomfort but there we go!! So now I have had to switch to my ugly shoes... :(

I have only worn them for I think 6 days in my entire mission... and I think 3 of those days were in the MTC... oh ugly shoes.... why are you so durable? 

Despite being stuck at the flat for so long this week, we still managed to get some good work in with the investigators we have!! 

Tilomai is killing it getting ready for her baptism on the 17!

We taught Iona the gospel of Jesus Christ, Word of Wisdom, and Law of Chastity!! He came to church yesterday a different person!! He was happy and laughing (normally he just sits around and doesnt have much facial expression) and participating in class!! We were shocked!! And he came up to us after class and told us he wanted to be baptized on the 17th!! Okay then!!

So now we have two people preparing for the 17th!! We are so excited!!

We have to get the program all planned out, and invitations for the missionary activity all passed out this week!! Hopefully we will not be stuck in the flat like last week!!!

Beverly and Napoleon came to games but no one talked to them and they only let Napoleon play volleyball once but he didn't touch the ball... *sigh*. People just get crazy into volleyball...

We are still working with the ward on learning how to  fellowship 

They said they didn't want to come this week... we will see if we can bring some people to their house and meet them... get them some friends!!

I was going to write that its finally getting warm outside but then all of a sudden a torrential downpour just started.... oh New Zealand... I honestly have never seen more rainbows in my life than I have in this time on my mission!! Probably because the people here need that reminder of God's covenant with Moses (edit from Mom: I think she meant Noah) that he will never flood the world again... some of these rainstorms it sure seems like we are going to have flood part 2!! BAHAHA!!!

Oh speaking or natural disasters, was there an earthquake? I had no idea! We didnt notice anything! No one has said anything to us about it either, so weird!!

I hope everyone is doing all right! Granddad I love you so much! You are in my prayers!!!

I know Heavenly Father knows all of us, he knows exactly what we are all going through. We are in his hands, we just have to trust that he knows the best thing to do!!

Alofa tele atu!

Manuia le vaiaso!!

Sista Peo

All of my books!

Me and Taugaele being silly

Me being sad wearing my ugly shoes...

How long my hair is now

Email from President Cummings

Dear Parents and Family,

You may have heard news reports of a 7.1 magnitude earthquake that struck 100 kilometres off the northeast coast of New Zealand with possible tsunami like activity and aftershocks.

I want to assure you that all of the missionaries in the New Zealand Hamilton Mission in the affected areas have been spoken to and are safe and well and in no immediate threat of danger.

We will continue to monitor the situation with the appropriate Civil Defence authorities and take any further action that may be necessary.

We have a great love for all of our missionaries and are thankful for their dedicated service.  Thank you for your love and support.

Yours sincerely,

President Jeffrey D. Cummings

New Zealand Hamilton Mission President

I have a problem...

Hi. My name is Sister Peo and I am a bookaholic....

I'm not really sure when it started but I have a fascination with books. From a young age I've always really loved them. Even if I never get around to actually reading them I love to have them sitting around, occupying space. Because I moved myself, I could take as many trips as I needed to move all of my stuff, the last time I was transferred... I have lots of stuff... but mostly just lots of books... Boxes and boxes of books... and basically I have two of everything! One in English and one in Samoan!! Good thing I wasn't transferred this last week otherwise I think I would have lost my mind!

Anyway... I have 5 more weeks to procrastinate figuring out what to do with all of my books 

This week was busy! Iona didn't get set... we are working on it! Tilomai is doing awesome!! (she is 18 by the way! she lives with her Aunty and Uncle (recent converts in our ward) while she is attending university)!!! Taua's partner's divorce paper was declined because the x-wife is not being cooperative... so that makes that situation that much more fun... BAHA!!

Sister Taugaele got super super sick yesterday!! We missed church and I almost took her to the hospital because she was just sobbing!! But we got the Zone leaders to come and give her a blessing and she started eating again last night.  She woke up this morning almost completely fine!! She just has a little cough and a sore throat now!! Much more manageable!!

I think Tausili blessed the sacrament yesterday... but we missed it so I'm not sure. But he's the man!! We are doing his follow up lessons as a role play! So I'm the investigator so he and Taugaele teach me the lessons!! Right now, I'm set for October... BAHAHA

This weekend I have been really thing about this primary song:

1. Dare to do right! Dare to be true!

You have a work that no other can do;

Do it so bravely, so kindly, so well,

Angels will hasten the story to tell.

 

2. Dare to do right! Dare to be true!

Other men's failures can never save you.

Stand by your conscience, your honor, your faith;

Stand like a hero and battle till death.

We have a hard job in these last days...

But we need to stand like a hero. Stand by everything that we know to be right and true.

We have to be as exactly obedient as we can and hold to the iron rod as tightly as possible. Whatever you believe, live it. If you don't know what you believe, find out. There is no middle ground. Do what you know to be right and never look back!!

Love you all so much!

Alofa tele atu!

Sista Peo

Sorry I didn't take any pictures this week... *fail*

Another week gone but it seems like no time has passed!!!

Lo'u aiga,

This last week was pretty challenging because EVERYONE kept cancelling appointments!! It was driving us bonkers!!! The only one who didn't cancel was Tilomai so thank heavens for her!!!

Tilomai is going to be baptized on the 17th of September!!! She only has one more lesson left: Tithing and fast offerings!! We left her a huge chapter to read before our next lesson the next day and she read the whole thing!! I love her so much! She is always willing to do everything we ask her to do!! She is a little worried about her baptism... She is really tall (probably 6'0" or 6'1") and is convinced she is going to hit her head on the wall of the baptismal font (our font is really small). So I have a funny picture of her measuring herself to see if she would fit in the baptismal font or not!!

We just finished (like an hour ago) teaching plan of salvation to Iona!! He is going to pray for a date to get baptized and we have a return appointment tomorrow where we will set a date for him!! That is so exciting too!! 

Taua is avoiding us now, I think... I say I think because she isn't very good at it if that is what she is trying to do. We don't really know what to do for her anymore... so we are praying about it... If she tries to give us the slip again, we will just give her a little bit of space for a while and see if that changes anything.. 

In other news:

Sister Hazelet cut my hair for me last week!! I took a picture of how long it was but I forgot to take a picture of how short it is now... LOL one job!!! It is just below my shoulders!

Tausili blessed the sacrament on Sunday!!

We went on exchanges with the missionaries in the mtc on Wednesdy!! That was really fun!! We door knocked the entire time!! Sister Vea was my companion! She is going to Australlia, her mission comes from Tonga!

This week I was trying to study a talk by Elder Bednar and I honestly couldn't understand what was happening... I had to use an English pocket dictionary.... how embarrassing is that? My Samoan isn't even good and my English is gone!!!

We only had 2 people in our missionary class on Sunday- Tausili and Sister Galu (Relief Society 1st Counselor)

I think that's everything... OH! and we ate kopai at the Leapai's house this week!!!

Ia!!! Love you all so much!!!

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

 Pre Hair Cut

 Peo and Vea

 Peo, Taugaele, Tausili and Vea

Tilomai measuring herself to see if she fits in the font.