Tausili

Lo'u Aiga,

This week was awesome!!!!

Little to no door knocking this week which is optimum!!!

Heaps of referrals which we contacted and got lots of new investigators, many of whom like coming to church, which is basically a dream!!!

Taught an awesome lesson yesterday to a Tongan guy named Jason (the lesson is in English)(his partner is in our ward so he comes to our ward every week) The lesson was amazing!! His partner was crying the whole time!! He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would be baptized if he came to know it was true!! The only problem is he lives out of area... so we see him once a week!

Taua wasn't able to come to church again on Sunday... 2 weeks in a row... Satan is pushing them hard with emergency hospital visits and such... She didn't progress this week.  Her lessons are done though, so hopefully she will still make the 20th!!

Tausili Is the man!! He told us that he wants to go on a mission!!! YAY!!!!! He is ready for his baptism on Saturday and I just finished the program like 10 minutes ago *killing it*!!

We have appointments every day this week, which hasn't happened since I left Alema Ward in Redoubt!!! ITS BASICALLY CHRISTMAS MORNING EVERYONE, I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

I'm trying to think of anything else I can tell you... I dunno!! Our obedience and dedication is paying off... we are finding the people prepared for us which is such a miracle! The days are sliding by so fast.. I feel like as soon as one day starts the next day is beginning already. I was so sad that I hit my year mark in the mission this last week... I feel like I just got here and I just barely figured out how to do things properly... The last 6 months will be a blink of an eye I think and I'm not too happy about that... I love my mission.

Hope all is well with yous!!
Alofa tele atu!
Manuia tou vaiaso!!
Sista Peo

Mom can you please add these emails to the list please?? Thank you!! alofa atu!!!

Me and Sis Taugaele
How Tausili dressed from his program picture!! LOL that kid!!

Tausili's program picture

Oka Oka

26 May 2016
Lo'u Aiga,

This week has been busy as! 

 

It has been raining like crazy!!! Like blue sky for ten minutes and then torrential random down pours sporadically throughout the day! So we were leaving Steven and Geoff and Merina's house on Monday night and Lualua falls and hits her head and it knocks her out. We get home and she can't walk right, and she is having trouble remembering where she puts things and talking in English, and got so mad at me when I wouldn't let her go to sleep. Just a side note Sister Lualua NEVER (never never never) gets mad at me. SO this is really weird for her!  She wouldn't let me call Sister Rudd. She kept saying, "I need a blessing, I need a blessing" but would get so mad when I tried to call the elders. 

So in the morning i helped her find her shoes, bag, brush, and we went to district meeting where she acted like a wacko and I talked to the zone leaders about giving her a blessing. We told them the situation and they told me to call Sister Rudd no matter what she said or did!! LOL!!! I called Sister Rudd, she said take her to the hospital. We went to the hospital, Sister Lualua couldn't remember what we were doing. 

The doctor didn't even do a scan or anything, they tried to ask her questions but when they realized she was crazy and couldn't remember anything they just talked to me. They told me it was a concussion and if she couldn't remember me the next day bring her back! YOU ARE JOKING!!! 

Lol we drove home, and she kept trying to convince me to go other places rather than the flat. That made me laugh and then she got mad at me for laughing!! She refused to leave the car. It took me 30 minutes to get her out of the car and then another 3 to get her to lay down in the bedroom!! We had to spend 3 days in the flat... it took her that long to act normal again!!!

(Side note before the next paragraph, There aren't enough sisters in the Samoan program anymore so we have been trying to guess which area President Rudd would close for the sisters... okay go)

I was worrying about our investigators and about our ward so I called President Rudd during companionship study on Thursday (since my companion was sleeping off her concussion I just had personal study all day). We talked things over and he said to me "well stop worrying because both you and Sister Lualua are being transferred. You are going to Manurewa 1st to be with Sister Puaina and Lualua is going to Alema ward with Sister Ete. So get all your investigators taken care of" BAHAH!!! President Rudd!! 

There was lots of drama with the ward and the elders this weekend as well... I won't explain it here... It sufficeth me to say that the elders were very disobedient and  are being taken out of the area as well. So our ward will no longer have missionaries in it. We will have to refer all of our investigators to the English elders.

Thank you so much for your prayers... they were really needed this week!!! I know that trials come and sometimes they seem completely impossible. But Heavenly Father gives them to us so that we can expand ourselves and become more like Jesus Christ. For every situation you can either respond in a  Christlike way or an unchristlike way. If you think of it that way and break everything down small like that, I find it's easier to take on challenges. I know Heavenly Father loves us and through all of these challenges he is standing right beside us. Look for miracles in your week!

Manuia lou vaiaso!!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo

Le Faleese o ma'ua

Lo'u aiga,

JULIA'S BAPTISM WAS ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHE WAS CRYING THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!!! THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG, IT was AMAZING!!!

She was baptized with a little boy in our ward so she watched him be baptised right before her. She was so nervous she said "nah nah I can't do it!!" And Lualua just turned around and said "you're going to hug me and then you're going to go" BAHAHA!!! She hugged Sister Lualua and then Elder Patea baptized her!! It was awesome!!! She got the Holy Ghost yesterday and took the sacrament!! It was so exciting as!!! 

I was thinking about the special spirit baptisms have this week. The only thing I can compare it with is the spirit I feel when I am in the temple! Then I had a realization!! In the temple you perform (oh no, please help me I cant remember the word, promises with Heavenly Father... HELP HELP HELP) Ordinances... covenants, and baptism is the first covenant you make with Heavenly Father so it makes sense that it has that same special spirit as the temple!!

That was the really exciting thing that happened this week!! That's the only thing that really fills my mind to tell you about...

Sorry, I'm trying to look back on my pictures to see what else happened this week and it looks like there's a virus on my card... ugg... these computers are terrible eh??

Oh!! Steven (investigator) and Geoffery (less active) came to the baptism and to church on Sunday!! That was really great!! Steven accepted the invitation to be baptized but we have some work to do before he has his baptism!!

What else? I'm on my 5th sty in my eye... They always show up in my left eye... this one doesn't hurt, it's just itchy as, so that's fun.

When I got into this flat our toilet seat was broken in half so you had to be careful how you sat on it. A few weeks ago sister Lualua broke it into thirds... A few nights ago it gave up and just shattered... so we had to go find a place that sold toilet seat today.... that was awkward!! BAHAHAHA!!!

Love you all so much!! Thank you for your love and prayers!! They are definitely needed and felt!!!! I didn't plan my time very well today so if I don't email you back, I am so sorry but know I love you!!

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

ua ou galo mea uma

Lo'u aiga,

I just forgot everything. (That's the title.)

Smooth. I really did just forget what happened this week.

OH! I remember a funny story!! The Elder's baptism was on saturday!! The bishop said he'd fill the font!! He showed up 5 min before the start time of the baptism and couldn't find the key to turn on the water!! OH SOLE!!!! So the Zone leaders called another bishop and he came and saved us!! The baptism eventually started at 6 instead of 5. Lualua and I will call the Zone Leaders to fill the font for Julia this Saturday!! LOL!!!

Lualua and I did the missionary presentation at the Elder's baptism... It was good until I tried to do a paper activity about the Book of Mormon... The tape I brought wouldn't hold up the pieces of paper so everything just fell apart!! BAHAHA!! Oops!! All goods! repent and move on right? ;)

There is a family who lives in our area but goes to the other Samoan ward. This is going to be confusing I'm so sorry! Other sisters referred them to us because they are living with non members. We went and visited and the non members aren't interested yet, which is all goods!! But the daughter keeps wanting to come out proselytizing with us which is great since no one in our ward wants to!! Then we discovered that they are related to one of our family investigators!!! SO we did fhe with them all last night and taught the plan of salvation and played the snoring game!! So that cool!!

Ya that is pretty much it!! I hope everyone is doing well!!! I love you so much and Heavenly Father loves you even more!! Look for miracles!!! Manuia lou vaiaso!!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo

Here's a pic of Julia again!!

Peo and Lualua

Pictures from last transfer when Sis Taituuga (trainer) finished her mission last transfer (April 2016):

  Peo, Taituuga and Lualua

 Taituuga and Peo

 Taituuga getting on her plane (haka face)  :(

 <3

Pu'upu'u

 Sister Peo's testimony in Samoan

Description of the fo fo treatment for her eye





Lo'u aiga,

..... Pu'upu'u means short...

describing the length of this email!!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Julia's baptismal service is going to be on the 21st not the 14th I think.... she couldn't come to church  yesterday (Mom edit: investigators have to  be at church 3 times before they are eligible to be baptized)!! Bummer!!!

Not much other news... leaves are falling!!! Not nearly as colorful as in the states though!!!!

Here's a picture of the THIRD STY!!!!!! Man, I need to stop rubbing my eyes eh??

I know The Book of Mormon is true and can give us direct personal revelation every single day if we study it prayerfully!!! That was random but I felt like I needed to add it!!

Love you all so much!!!

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

faamanuiaga (benefits)

Lo'u Aiga!! (family/loved ones)

Yesterday Julia's baby was blessed in sacrament meeting!! Here are some pictures!!! Sister Taotua (lady in our ward) bought the dress and everything for her baby how nice is that??? 

And a family in our ward brought their friend to church!! So we went to their house afterwards and begin teaching and will go back and teach him lesson one later this week!! A lady got up and bore her testimony in aualofa (relief society) and the lady I was sitting next to nudged me hard and told me she wasn't a member!!! so while Sister Lualua was playing the piano and as everyone was leaving I ran over, introduced myself and asked if we could visit her this week!! YAY!!!

We have had some complications with Julia's baptism... She didn't tell her parents... So her and Lualua talked to them about it last night (I sat there and tried to keep up). They said they didn't want her to get baptized and if she did, she was no longer welcome in their home. hmmm. As you can imagine it was a rough night last night. We are going to go spend p-day with Julia... watch the long restoration, eat french fries and kopai and decide what to do. Her parents want to talk to us (and by us, I mean LuaLua) again tonight... so hopefully their hearts will be softened!! I am not worried. I know this is all part of Heavenly Father's plan and He will take care of everything.. Whether that means Julia lives somewhere else, or she isn't baptized yet, it's all part of the plan!

Have a great week everyone!! Love you all so much thank you for your emails and love and prayers!!!! Look for miracles and pray for missionary moments!!!

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

PS (from Mom) last week right before she finished emailing, she said I'll send you pictures of my eye next week and then was gone...here is a picture story of her eye problems from last week.

Sore sty in her eye.  Got some medicine and that didn't work...

So...she went and had a Samoan fofo...when I asked what that was, she said is a type of Samoan healing, sometimes a massage but they didn't touched her eye, she took a video but it is too big to send home, we will have to wait to see it until February.

After the fofo...looks better at least!  Poor girl, said she couldn't even wear her glasses it was so sore.

Then this morning (May 2nd for her) she woke up with this...

"Here's the rash I woke up with this morning.... isn't that annoying.... Sister Rudd made me go to the doctor... they said it was an allergic reaction to something... to what?  my deodorant???"

Today will be interesting

Lo'u aiga,

Faafetai i ke atua mo lenei avenoa mo imaili!! 

This is going to be fun... its a national holiday so everything is closed except the hospital and airport, so we received permission to email at a members house.. so here we are at Kalala Chan's house... I let my soa use the computer and I'm using her tablet... so if my English is worse than usual we are just going to blame it on the tablet eh?  

This week has been... interesting.

Sister Taituuga (my trainer) finished her mission and flew back to Samoa on Wednesday!! But she got to stay with us Tuesday night and we drove her to the airport on Wednesday afternoon!!! I don't know if yous know this but I LOVE SISTER TAITUUGA!!!! I HAD THE BEST TRAINER IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!!!!!! It was so nice to see her again and hug her and hear her voice!!! Not only that but she served in this area before she came to train me so she was able to give me and LuaLua some advice about the area! 

Sister LuaLua and I are both staying in Manuwera 2nd ward (much to LuaLua's dismay! She wants to go back to the English program) which I am very happy about!! 

Julia is doing well!! She came to church yesterday!! She is very excited for her baptism on 14th of May and we are going to try and get her to come to FHE with the Tuilimu Aiga tonight (shes busy today because of the holiday but we are trying). 

We are still struggling a lot in this area.... how badly do we need a miracle on a scale of one to ten..... 100000000000000000000000000000 

But we are pushing forward with faith!! The Lord put us here for a reason!! He knows his people and he knows what we need to do to help them!! All we have to do is have faith and stay worthy to receive that revelation!! 

I hope everyone is doing well!! Thank you so much for your love and prayers!!! They are very much needed and appreciated!! Sorry for the lack of pictures. ... I'm on a tablet...

Alofa tele atu,,,

Sista Peo

Pili, papatisoga, faamalama, galuega fafeautalai

Lo'u Aiga,

This week has been sweet as! I feel like everything is kinda crashing around my ears... but the end of transfers always seem to be like that! This one must be especially "crashy" because it was 8 weeks not 6!  Does that even make sense... eh. Sorry if it doesn't ;)

"Lizard, baptism, windows, missionary work" is the email title today before I forget!!

We did service for this 88 year old lady who lives by herself about a month ago. She wasn't interested in the church but we saw her working by herself in the yard so we went and helped her for about an hour and I left our number in case she needed help again. Well she called us this week and we went and did some yard work for her! She is hilarious because she loves to talk to us about the church and then right as we finish she's like "Don't teach me any lessons though! I'm stuck in my ways and I don't want to change!" BAHAHAH!!! It's seemed like she studied up on Mormons so we had plenty to talk about while we gardened lol!! She was hesitant to call us because she felt bad that we wouldn't accept money. But her daughter had a best friend that served a mission and told her "Call those sisters! They don't want to be paid! Their church is just kind!" How profound... our church is just kind. Thank you everyone for the examples you set for your friends that are not members of the church. It sure makes our job a lot easier.

We set a date for Julia to be baptized!!!!!! May 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so excited for her!!!!!!!!! She is very nervous so we are trying to encourage her to get a blessing but she is just nervous as!! It will all work out for the best though!!

This week we broke into Sister Lewis and Sister Freddie's flat and heart attacked them.... it was a fail though because they came home right as we were about to finish... *face palm*... I don't remember if I told yous this but I am very good at jumping through windows... we've gotten into their flat countless times by me climbing up the shingles(?) of their house and through their window!! HAHAHA!!

The work is going slowly right now... but we are working hard trying to get the ward to wake up and get excited about the work!! I love you all so much!! I hope everything is going well for everyone!! Look for miracles this week!! They are everywhere I promise!!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo

 Peo, LuaLua and Kalala Chang: whenever we don't have fafaga she tells us to come over and we can make a fry! Fry is just oil, some sort of meat and "vegetables.

South Auckland neighborhood.... this is by Julia's house... there's never much to see in New Zealand besides the sky and whatever you are standing next to ;) its not like Utah where you can see the mountains

 Sisters LuaLua and Peo selfies

Oh this is a lizard we found while doing yard work...yes I caught it... I hope grandpa is proud of me eh? :)

Little lizard

Seki ah le konofesi!!!

O a mai lou vaiaso?

Wasn't conference the greatest?

I went in asking 4 questions and all of them were answered in the Saturday morning session! So sweet! I even thought of a fifth one half way through the Saturday morning session, and then the whole last talk answered it! Heavenly Father must love me or something eh?

Steven came to Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon, I think 10 am was too early on the weekend for him... Which is a bummer because he missed the prophet. All goods. We have FHE with him tonight so I will download it on my flash drive and we'll watch on their TV. (Sorry for my spelling I'm pretty sure I'm not catching all of it... please bear with me ;))

Faleata wanted to come but twisted his ankle and was house bound for the weekend. That was a bummer. 

Conference was the best eh? Go to the temple, prepare for the sacrament, humble ourselves, serve and teach each other. Follow the spirit, remember the Lord, do your best. That's my 5 second synopsis on conference. 

I loved Elder Uchdorf's talk (ya ya ya architecture)!! and two people really stood out to me as teaching with power and authority from God... 1 is of course Elder Holland. the second was Donald L. Halstrom. I really enjoyed his talk. OKAY FINE!!! I loved all of the talks :)

I think that's about it! Have a great week! Look for miracles! Pray for how you can be a miracle in someone else's life!! 

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

Sisters Peo and Lewis (Sister Training Leader)

Washing the car? 

Sis Lewis

The night sky

The John Family

Me and my beautiful companion!

 Here's a picture of our new car, someone tried to sell it for $2 while we where in district meeting! ;)

What do I even put here? I dunno....

Lo'u Aiga,

Man... crazy week this week! Let's just say that the temple week had great timing because as far as I could tell if we didn't go to the temple this week, everyone was going to self combust and die... Okay maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit  But we all REALLY needed the temple! We went on Friday! Man it was so good and so peacefully calm. It rejuvenated and soothed my soul. Why didn't I go to the temple every single day wen my church parking lot was the same as the temple parking lot? I feel if I had I wouldn't have been so stressed or worried. I LOVE THE TEMPLE!!! 

Let see was it Saturday morning? yes! NO Thursday? I don't remember but for one of my personal studies I decided to take the Christlike attributes test in preach my gospel (page 126 in English for those of you that care) you know... just to see where I was at! I had guessed what my strengths would be correctly, but I was completely surprised by my weaknesses.

 My weaknesses are:

1) Patience - yous are probably laughing at me eh? That has always been my weakness! BUT I have really improved since I came on my mission I felt like, so to see it be so bad was surprising to me!

2) Hope- .... what? how can my weakness be hope? 

So naturally on Sunday you can guess what my study was... Patience and hope ;)

"But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." -Romans 8:25

But when I first read it my brain recognized it for the opposite:

But if we hope not for the things we see not, then we do not with patience wait for it.

That made me stop and think eh. I know I hope for things!!! Why am I not constantly remembering the things I hope for?? I learned that I am harming myself by not constantly remembering the things I hope for. That is why when we take of the sacrament we promise to "always remember him", because we have hope that we can be made clean through the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

So what do I hope for?

1) I hope to become like Christ

2) I hope to have a successful mission

3) I hope to receive the blessing promised to me from the Lord

4) I hope to return to my loving Heavenly Father

I would like to bear you my testimony. I know this church is true. Jesus Christ paid the price for us to return to the Father, all he wants us to do is prepare for heaven. Prepare ourselves so when we meet our Savior and our Heavenly Father, we will not only feel comfortable in their presence, but also at home. Heavenly Father knows your thoughts, he knows your actions, especially when no one else does. He knows everything you do wrong... but he also knows everything you do right. He knows every good quality about you, even the ones you might not have discovered for yourself yet! He knows exactly who you need to become, and exactly how to get you there. But you can't do it, you can't even come close if you don't have hope and constantly remember the things you hope for.

I am so jealous that all of yous are watching conference right now. I am starving for the wrods of our prophets... but luckily I only have to wait another week!! I hope you all went into conference seeking on what you need to do to more fully align your life to God's will. If you didn't... Do it now and rewatch it ;)

I love you all so much! have a great week!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo

Lualua and I in front of the temple,

The CA Peo's Valentines Day card for me!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I just got it on saturday!! Check out where it was missent too!! LOL!!!

This Week in the Lord's Vineyard

Lo'u Aiga,

Man... this week was ''fun''

After we left emails and went back to our sister training leaders flat, Sister Lualua stepped out of the car wrong and hurt her ankle. So all of us stayed in so she could rest it and played phase 10... I won just in case you were wondering ;)

The next day after district meeting Lualua was still limping like crazy and trying to pretend like she wasn't in agonizing pain (She thought she was being sneaky but I'm not blind). This is the second time she has hurt her ankle so I was very worried and she said it only hurt when she put weight on it... to me that sounded like a fracture but what do I know about medicine? NOTHING!! Bahahaha!!! So we called sister Rudd and got permission to take her to the hospital. We were there ages! Man socialized medicine is the pits!! They said no fracture, just a bad sprain and told her not to walk on it for 3 days. Neither of us were very happy about that...

After the doctor, we went and checked on our flat which we were supposed to move back into on monday but definitely didn't. IT WAS SOPPING WET AND SMELLED LIKE WET DOG!! HECK NO AM I SLEEPING IN THERE!! AND THERE WERE DEAD BUGS EVERYWHERE!!! THE WINDOWS WERE SHUT THE WHOLE TIME!!! WHERE DID THEY COME FROM!!???!??!?!?! I vacuumed them all up and we went back to Sister Lewis and Sister Frederick's flat.

To make a long story longer, we didn't move back into our flat until friday. Sister Lewis didn't want us to leave so threw my favorite yoplait vanilla yogurt at me while I was getting into the car!! LOL!! this is the picture after we got half of it off already!!

Speaking of cars! We will get a brand new one on friday!!!! YAY!!!! Friday is our temple trip!! So after we finish and are about to leave we will go to the mission office and switch cars!! I AM SO EXCITED!!! 

Investigator updates:

Faleata- between our crazy week and his daughter getting married we were only able to see him once, and very briefly :( but he's still progressing so that's good!1 As soon as we teach him word of wisdom i think that's when he will have problems progressing..

Kika- is crazy busy still... is she avoiding us? maybe..

John- John is the man! We couldn't meet with him this week but we were texting him!! His girlfriend (our less active) says that he just always wants to talk about the plan of salvation and prays all the time now! Then she told us that he asks her so many questions about the gospel that she has started to ignore him.. *facepalm*

Tino- met with him on saturday, hes good! Taught him lesson 1. He recognized himself that he was feeling the spirit! Agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith but didn't want to come to any of our wards activities this weekend.

Those are the main progressing ones.

Benjamin is still trying to get used to the English ward. He keeps trying to just keep coming to our ward and activities... we get dirty looks from the ward council every time they see him. He came to an activity last night and he told me that he just loves the people in our ward even though he doesn't understand. BENJAMIN! GO TO THE ENGLISH WARD!!

Yup I think that's about it eh? Have a great week!! Look for miracles!! Happy Easter!!!!

Alofa atu,

Sista Peo

This is Sister Lewis with the yogurt!!

She is from Southern Utah! We spent the whole week trying to figure out how we know each other, but we definitely don't... that's embarrassing eh!! But we both felt like we knew each other before hahah!!!

My favorite Sister Lewis quote from while we stayed with her:

She was reading a letter from home and she said "whelp I'm glad my mom thinks we got the flat bombed for fleas! I'll just let her keep thinking that!"

LOL!!!! She's a crack up!! I'm so blessed to have her as my sister training leader eh?

2nd email....

Man sorry I'm such a crazy emailer eh? My thoughts are all scattered!!

I finished the tusi a mamona on the 16th of March!! YAY!!!! I'm now trying to read the New Testament but it is so hard! 

Since its Easter over there I will also bear yous my testimony.

I know God is our Heavenly Father.

I know Jesus Christ is his son, our brother, and suffered for our sins. He waits for us with open arms. He wants to help us. All we have to do is turn to him. 

Please turn to him. Run to him. "cleave unto him as he cleaves unto us".

The tomb is empty. He has risen. Happy Easter!

Alofa atu,

Sista Peo