Sorry for the late one...

Lo'u Aiga,

Sorry for the later-ish email!! I bet yous thought I wouldn't email today eh? Hahaha!!! I almost forgot!! Good thing Sister Tehotu reminded me other-wise I probably wouldn't have remembered until 2 am tomorrow!! BAHAHA!!!

Man today was crazy!! I was the official car for everyone going home so I had to drive to the bus stop in Auckland mission (eep! had to go out of mission!!) heaps today!!! My companion Sister Puaina left, as well as my Sister Training Leader, Sister Nakagawa, Sister Freddy also finished, and Sister Ete (Sister Lualua's companion)(I GOT TO SEE LUALUA TODAY!!!! I LOVE HER!!!!! I MISS HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!)(am I using too many of these() things today?? Maybe! sorry!!)

So now I am in a trio until transfers on Thursday!! I am with Sister Urgel (sounds like your-hell which I really enjoy saying BAHAHAHA) she's Filipino and Sister Tehotu who is Tahitian!! I tried to convince my zone leaders to put me and Lualua together but they weren't game because we are in two different zones... *cry*

I have no idea who my new companion is... But both Sister Lualua and I are training so that should be very interesting! I don't know her name or anything at all actually but I will meet her on Thursday... That means we have to do 12 week again... oh 12 week...

My companion didn't let you down mom... she gave me a very special birthday!! We went to our zone games and in the middle we played "hide and go seek" so everyone "hid" and me and Puaina looked for them... Well they all hid in the Relief Society room where they had bought heaps of pizza, fizzy and chips and set up decorations, and Freddie made a HUGE cake that caught on fire and I couldn't put it out!! It was so much fun!!! I have the best zone eh??

Now I know everyone is concerned about my boils... please don't be!!! I am on an antibiotic!!

It wasn't quite enough because I broke down sobbing because they hurt so bad on Wednesday and my companion was worried about me! She wanted to keep me home!! How ridiculous! pfft! We had a lesson with Taua!! I insisted on going to the lesson (where we set her for baptism on the 20th of August!! SO exciting) which was so cool because the spirit sustained me through that lesson, and then right as soon as we left, I almost couldn't drive home!! BAHAHA!!! My companion called Sister Cummings (mission president's wife) who sent the Zone Leaders to us... they gave me a blessing and then took me to the hospital against my will! Sister Cummings called one of the bishop's in our stake and he was there and waiting for me!! He popped two of them and doubled my antibiotic for a few days (which was so strong it made my skin hot and gave me hives for a while BUT NOW I'M OKAY!!!) and then I fell asleep for the rest of the day! Now I am very much okay except for the one that is deep under my skin.. I might need to go back to Dr Maine for that one... we will see!!

Despite all that ,we were able to have a really wonderful last week and were able to have heaps of lessons for my companions last week!! Which is so good!! Sister Puaina's 21st birthday is next week and for New Zealander's when you turn 21, you gt a KEY! so I got her a key and did Samoan drawings on it!!

Uggg I feel out of breath!! Sorry for the long letter!!

Bottom line:

 ~I'm "healthy"

~We worked way hard this week

~We have a baptism for next month

~transfers are on Thursday

Se that was way easier... maybe I will just do that next week eh?!?!? BAHAHA!!!!

Love you all so much!! Keep looking for miracles!! Choose to be happy~its the only logical thing to do !!!

Alofa tele ia te outou!!!

Manuia lou vaiaso!!

Sista Peo

P.s. I taught gospel principles yesterday... by myself... in Samoan!!! I'm so cool!! ;)

I'm laughing not crying in the birthday cake picture!

Lots of pictures!!

Oh man and we met the Cummings which is so cool! They are awesome!!! We will have interviews in 2 weeks!!!!  We went on exchanges with sister Nakagawa and Sister Urgel!!! It was so foggy that day!! Man heaps happened this week...

I would send a picture of my boils but.... alas they are not in very good places for pictures...

 Birthday Party for Sista Peo with The Zone: Ma, Freddie, Peo, Puaina, Urgel, Mias, Nakagawa, Hazlet   Front:  Tehotu and Vailea

 In the car: Peo, Puaina, Nakagawa and ?

 Key for Sister Puaina's 21st birthday

 This little boy who thinks he's Elsa the Disney princess and likes my braid

 Peo and lola sa'u

 Peo and Freddie

 Peo, Nakagawa and Freddie

Peo and the foggy day

Goodbye to Sisters Nakagawa and Puaina who are headed home.

Manuai lo'u'aso fanau (from July 4th)

Lo'u aiga,

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes!!!

I painted some jumpers for me and my companion that we are going to wear and take pictures at the beach, so yous will get pictures of that next week probably!!! Then we are going to go have a zone basketball game I think!!! Yay!!! My zone leaders and my sister training leader called me and sang happy birthday to me which is impressive because I didn't tell anyone when my birthday was.... someone in my companionship must be leaking information... PUAINA!!!!  All goods... she made me breakfast this morning!!

The baptism was awesome!!! It started island time- 20 minutes late- and had heaps of food afterwards!!! The zone leaders were muttering to each other about how grateful they were for not being in the Samoan program after our members forced us all to get seconds!! LOL!!! 

I finished read the Matthew Cowley book this week!! That was really fun!! In one of his talks he spoke about how he had boils for 7 months of his mission... The very next day I started to get a boil on my side!! Now I have two on my left side and they are HUGE!!! I am really sad I can no longer sleep on that side... but all goods!!! I also have a big lump under my arm (in my armpit but that sounds so gross so I didn't want to say that but there you go) that is also kinda painful!! for a few days I think I probably looked like a duck.. walking around with my arms slightly up so they weren't touching my sides!!! BAHAHAH!!!! My companion told me if they get any worse she is taking me to the doctor... I told her no... We will talk to Sister Cummings tomorrow!!

Which reminds me we are meeting The Cummings tomorrow!!!! So exciting!!! We talked to Sister Cummings on the phone a few days ago and she sure sounded really nice!! I'm excited to meet them!!!

I think that's pretty much it.... 

I love you all so much!!!!!

Thank you for the birthday wishes and presents!! I really appreciate it!!!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo

Pictures to show mom that everything she sent me fit! Thank you so much!!! and the cup a cupa cupa is delicious thanks!!!

 Sister Peo, Silivelia and Sis Puaina

Birthday Girl and her gifts

 Fish for dinner!

ou te le mana'o tusia lenei imaili

lo'u aiga...

I don't want to write this email...

I don't have much to say...

Sister Puaina sprained her jaw (in basketball.... someone hit her.... we were having a zone basketball game..) last p-day and it swelled up really big... so we weren't able to work hardly at all this week. It keeps giving her these killer headaches... I'm worried about her but the doctor doesn't care... BAHAHA!!! 

So I've been cooped up all week. I wanted to die. But I've had lots of really good studies!!

Due to being cooped up I've noticed that we are loosing our war against the mogamoga (cockroaches). They are definitely taking over our flat. Probably because it is warm inside and we seem to have more holes in our flat than actual walls.. LOL!! not really... but kind of!! BAHAHA!!! I think they are basically another plague of Egypt...how many have I had? 1) fleas, 2) Maggots,

3) styes 4) Mogamoga.... just 4? dang... 3 more to go!! (there were 7 plagues of Egypt right??)

Silivelia Is ready for her baptism on the 2nd... Saturday!!!! That has been crazy trying to work out how to do the baptism in a different ward... yikes!! Bishop Taupau (from Manurewa 2nd) has to come and translate for Silivelia in the interview for her baptism on Wednesday!!

It has been raining cats and dogs this week!!! It has been crazy as!!

What else? everyone keeps making me kopai... its delicious...it's my favorite Samoan food (made from koko samoa, coconut cream, flour, water and sugar).

Hopefully next weeks letter will be more interesting!!

Love you all so much!!!

Alofa tele atu!!
Sista Peo

 Sistas Freddie, Puaina, and Peo

 kopai

 Sistas LuaLua, Ete, Puaina, and Peo

 Sista Peo and Puaina

 Sista Peo and Puaina

Peresitene

Lo'u aiga,

This week was awesome!!

We had lunch with President (peresitene) and Sister Rudd!!

They are finishing their missions on the 30th of this month! Hard to believe!! So they came up and had lunch, we got our pictures taken with them and they shared their testimonies with us!! A Maori Stake President down in Hamilton came with them and gave us a presentation about how the Maori's link into the tribes of Israel and it blew my mind!!!

President Rudd gave us some great advice for the rest of our missions and for after we finish our missions. He said that when we go home we should set goals and make plans to be somebody, to make a difference and change lives. We should prepare to become that person by being that person today! He said some other really great things as well but that was one thing that really stood out to me!

Silivelia is wonderful!! We taught her the word of wisdom, law of chastity, and tithes and offerings this week!! She has no concerns and is ready for her baptism!!! YAY!!!! Since her family lives in our area but goes to Manurewa 2nd ward, she will be baptized in Manurewa 2nd ward... our ward is disappointed... that's why fellow-shipping is so important eh? 

Hopefully we will begin Taua's lessons this week!! That will be awesome!! She has AWESOME potential and will be baptized as soon as her husband's divorce goes through :)

Thank you so much for your prayers, love and support!!

I love you all so much!!

This gospel is true. Jesus Christ is our Savior and clears the way before us!! All we have to do is want to follow him!! We always get credit for trying!!

Alofa tele atu,
Sista Peo

Sister Tanuvasa (member) is in red

Silivelia is in grey

I am white

My comapnion is young ;)

Sista Peo <3

THIS WEEK WAS THE BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lo'u aiga!

Okaoka!!! THIS WEEK!!!

WE HAVE A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Silivelia Asiata!! She is 71 years old!! She is visiting her recently converted family (Sa'u family... Sister Taituuga baptized them in her time in Manurewa 2nd) from Samoa!! She goes to church with them every week and asked us to give her lessons!! We have taught her every day since then!! After the second lesson, Sister Puaina asked her "will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?" and she gave a really long complicated answer... I thought she was expressing a concern or a question or something...  Puaina asked "will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood by authority of god?" and she gave another long complicated answer... Puaina then asked it again but relating to the celestial kingdom... and we received another long complicated answer..

I was trying to figure out what her concern was... from what she was saying she didn't have one... so why was it so hard to answer the question??

Puaina and I looked at each other and I shrugged my shoulders... Puaina turned back to her and said the Samoan equivalent of "look... d

o you want to be baptized?"

Silivelia immediately answered "yes!" and then we said "great let's set a date!!"

We were laughing so hard afterwards!!!! Sometimes we make things too fluffy and complicated and we just need to cut down to the core and go from there!!

No rest for the weary for us today! We were hoping to take a nap for our p-day  (we are such exciting missionaries huh? ) But instead we have two appointments!! One with Silivelia (we are teaching her word of wisdom... she drinks coffee... this will be the hardest one for her I think..) and a lesson with one of our new investigators!!

More good news ! I got the virus off my memory card for my camera!! YAY!! Bad news... it deleted half my pictures that I had taken after I got the virus... Boo!

But all goods! I can send pictures now!! Yay!!

Here's a picture of Sister Puaina playing with my hair last night...

Love you all so much!!! If you're stuck in a rut always remember that that means Satan is trying to prevent you from receiving the next great gift Heavenly Father has waiting for you!!! And that after you have a spiritual high, Satan always tries his best to discourage you!! Don't let him win!! Everything is in our favor to win... all we need is faith!!

Manuia le vaiaso!!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo

"lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute as an emergency on my part"

Lo'u aiga,

Oh man thanks for all the emails today!! I got heaps eh!!!!

I got so distracted reading all of them that I only have 10 minutes to write my big letter home!! Okaoka!! Thus the quote above... it's something Sister Ritter my AP English teacher would always say... BAHAHAHA!!!

So I am with Sister Puaina now in Manurewa 1st... I just crossed the street again... That's all I ever do eh?? BAHAHA!!! The question is will I end my mission here or will I get transferred one more time?? If I get transferred again (which I think I will... I have a lot of transfers left) I will probably have to go to the English program because I have served in ALL of the Samoan wards open to sisters... *round of applause for me*!!

They closed down Manurewa 2nd for missionaries! Elders went down to Hamilton...

Sister Lualua went to Alema so I sent her with lots of cards for my previous investigators and friends in that ward!!! She will love that area!!! It was hard saying goodbye to Sister Lualua!!

Sister Puaina came and stayed with us last Monday (her companion finished so they just gave her to us until transfers)  and Sister Lualua left on Thursday... It was hard saying goodbye to our investigators... especially Steven, Geoff and Mags... 

Sister Puaina and I have had a good week!!  We have mostly been cleaning... The "new flat" is disgusting... and her companion that just left, left heaps of her stuff behind. So we've been cleaning that flat and my old flat because no one is going to use it for a while... 

Our new flat has heaps of baby cockroaches in it... That's a new one... never have had that problem before... I've been to plenty of houses with lots of cockroaches (they crawl up your legs and make you panic all the time.). but I've never had them in our flat before... we are going to bomb our flat...

But otherwise the week has been good!! We have lots of potential in this area so I'm excited!! And the ward is very eager to help us!!! 

I AM OUT OF TIME SO I'M AM SO SORRY!!!!! LOVE YOU ALLL!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND LOVE!!!!

ALofa atu,

Sista Peo

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

Sister Peo singing some Samoan Songs

Her favourite Samoan Song...

Talofa/Hello

Transfer week

Lo'u Aiga,

It's transfer week again! No clue about who is staying and who is going. But for those of you that are just tuning in, I am still in my first area and I have been here for 6 months now. So if missionaries were betters everyone would have their money on me leaving

I dunno how I feel about that. But I will do whatever the Lord wants me to do. If He needs me somewhere else, I will go with my chin up! "I know the Lord giveth no commandment unto the children of men save he prepareth away for them to accomplish it" ;) (sorry if it's not word perfect quote)

Gese was confirmed yesterday! Which was interesting because we had the kay star singers (from Utah) sing songs about the Book of Mormon for our sacrament meeting. So there were 3 wards combined for this sacrament meeting!! Gese was scared as!! But all was well!!

Our week was busy with service! Love it! we helped people with lawns, and moving houses! I love doing service! You get filled with a great spirit and feel more love for everyone around you! (not to mention the fact that you get to wear sweats )

Oh and Sister Frost came home! They threw a party for her! We took our investigators! It was so fun to see her! They had Drummers and dancers come and perform! It was seriously the coolest thing!! WHY AM I NOT SAMOAN???

Which reminds me, I am super tan right now!! But you will never know because every single picture I'm in I just look glaringly white! BAHAHA!!!

I love you all! Hope all is well! Remember to look for miracles every single day!

Alofa TELE atu,

Sista Peo

AHHH!!! I got my package mom!! Thank you for the watch and the book (it smells amazing)!!! Mitchell..... fia poko oe eh?

Thank you so much Grandpa Jeff, Marilyn and Megan for your cute card!! It made my day!!

This a picture of me drinking koko samoa from a Samoan flag mug!!

Additional stuff from a letter to Mom who had just sent her a package and asked her about zika outbreaks:

the box was like almost destryoyed when I got it, it was all bent and crazy looking but the tape held everything together nicely!! HAHAHA!! Yous need to stay healthy eh?? COOOOOOME ON!!!! Naw I stupidly left all of insect repellent in the MTC.... I'm not worried about mosquitos though! Just fleas! Man I went to somebodys house yesterday and left with like 20 bites!! What the heck?!?!?! but none were in my clothes so that's good! No fun food stories but someone did key our car yesterday!! Bahaha!! At least we got off better than the other sisters a couple transfers ago! Someone keyed "blood" onto their back windshield. LOL!!! perks of living in South Aukland

I was goiing to take pictures, but Puaina told me not to because "South Aukland is not what New Zealand looks like" LOL!!!

Baptisms and Spirits

Lo'u aiga,

Happy Valentine's day for yous!!

Gese's baptism was yesterday!! It was awesome!! We were worried because it was announced in church to be at 5:30 not 5... *face palm* but HEAPS of members came!! We were so happy!!! when I say HEAPS I mean HEAPS  we printed out 40 programs and ran out 15 minutes before the baptism!!! Yesssssss!!

Gese was so happy! Her husband and her cousin came an supported her! She cried through the entire program! And held Sister Puaina's hand the entire time! She made me practice how to hold her hands for the baptism over and over and over. She is amazing. I am so honoured to help her receive the gospel. She will be an amazing servant of our Heavenly Father.

Something else interesting happened this week. Gese has a 2 year old son who always wakes up at 3 am. He wakes up, get out of the room and wanders around. One night this week they woke up and went outside to find him completely naked in the living room singing songs by himself. To me it sounded like an over active 2 year old, but it freaked her out. She called us later on in the morning crying asking if we could cast out spirits. We grabbed our Ward mission leader and went over there right away and he gave MJ a priesthood blessing. MJ has not woken up in the morning since then.

I asked Sister Puaina if MJ was possessed, and she said no, he just had a bad spirit inside of him. Interesting eh? The Samoan people have so much faith it is astounding!

Love you all so much!! Have a great week! Your Heavenly Father loves you! Thank him for the miracles he gives you!!

Alofa tele atu!!

Sista Peo

Gese's baptism with Sisters Puaina, Ulu and Peo

Photos of their flat

ta'aloga

Lo'u aiga,

Sa matou toe faia ta'aloga i le taeao. faamalie atu lava!!

(we did sports again this morning! Sorry!!)

OUR INVESTIGATORS NAME IS GESE NOT NESE!!! JEEZE!! ALL THIS TIME!!

Gese is getting baptized this Sunday!! Sweet as! So fun!! She is the man!! She's been having dreams about her anscestors, so we again talked about family history work and about the spirit world. She was crying as, we were crying as, everyone was crying as, eeee ay eeee ay oh! 

She can't wait to go to the temple! She asked us when she could start her family history work and we were like "oh what about right after your baptism?" and she was like "thats waaaay to far away!" (isn't she the greatest!! ) So we are going to try and work on it with our family history consultant on Wednesday!!

Between her and Vavau we have been booked lesson wise! It has been so fun!! We are nearing the end of our mission prep lesson with Mara L'io though! and that is so awesome! They are going to go get sealed in March!! eeeek!! I will probably be transferred by then though 

Yup! thats pretty much it for me! This week is crazy with the baptism, ward conference, and ward activities every day leading up to conference! We had Heaps of non members come to the games this morning! Our bishopric was very pleased with us!

Love you all so much!! Look for miracles every day!!! Heavenly Father gives you heaps!!

Alofa tele atu,

Sista Peo