tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48405547534671193912024-02-06T20:50:10.066-08:00Elder Lamoreaux"Make the commitment to give two years of your life to the Lord. It will change everything. You will be happy... You will come to love the culture and the people you are called to serve. The work will be difficult, but there will also be great satisfaction and joy as you serve." -David F. EvansTasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-49556903628638162902016-01-11T18:57:00.001-08:002016-01-11T18:57:43.451-08:00Transfer to Savai'i<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpck6hbzwN29sc_OMmNMGk75xuajn5o-A42VWD-KiiA9MSQPwRnzw1jG3Ac3BXfgqqj8JDd56FkM5VYlVpDZ9OyTH7stTVe_HbBE9rL6IwIH-m2I8zMTm3a1Z6u1w_8JQfXRqDFigMkE/s1600/CoolBird.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMpck6hbzwN29sc_OMmNMGk75xuajn5o-A42VWD-KiiA9MSQPwRnzw1jG3Ac3BXfgqqj8JDd56FkM5VYlVpDZ9OyTH7stTVe_HbBE9rL6IwIH-m2I8zMTm3a1Z6u1w_8JQfXRqDFigMkE/s320/CoolBird.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cool bird. I think it is a Kingfisher. But I am sure it is a blue and white bird.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well, I have been in this area only a short time but I just got the call
yesterday that I will be getting transferred to...... SAVAI'I! :D I have
wanted to go to Savai'i my whole mission and now I finally get to go.<br />
<br />
My
new companion will be Elder Ekuasi from here in Samoa. He actually came
into the mission the same time I did so we are both new guys. I am super
excited to go to Savai'i.<br />
<br />
I will be going to Fagamalo Savai. I'll still be a Zone Leader. I will go
over sometime this week, still trying to find a flight. Haha I should
have a real house... I hope. ;)<br />
<br />
This last week has been busy and I haven't spent
a ton of time proselyting in my area because I have been doing
exchanges with other Elders in their area. I have done a 4 day exchange
with Elder Lealaiauloto in his area. Its been nice to speak Samoan again because my area is an English speaking ward. Elder
Lealaiauloto's area is called Mapusaga and it is one of the strongest
wards in Samoa. They get heaps of help from the ward in missionary work
and last transfer they had about 15 baptisms. It was awesome to see how
when the members are involved the work goes so much faster.<br />
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</div>
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Sorry not a very long email this week. </div>
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Love you all!</div>
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-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-83962214564825772752016-01-05T14:16:00.003-08:002016-01-05T14:19:06.600-08:00Schaefermeyers blog notesFrom Tasha: We just learned about a blog from a senior couple serving in American Samoa. Their blog is great, and there were several pictures and notes about where Elder Lamoreaux is serving. (All the following letters and notes are from the Schaefermeyers blog: http://samoaldsmission.blogspot.com/)<br />
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<br />
In our front yard we had a banana tree that had a large bunch of bananas
that was ready to harvest. We cut them down a couple of weeks ago and
then let them hang to ripen. Bad idea in all sorts of ways, all the
bananas ripened at the same time so here we are with 30 or more ripe
bananas. When a full bunch of hanging bananas ripen, you make banana
bread. I invited the zone leaders, Elder Faletoi on the left and Elder
Lamoreaux on the right, over to help and we made six batches. We could
not find small aluminum baking pans so we made our own from aluminum
foil. When resources are lacking, you have to figure out a way to make
it work. We baked 35 or so loaves, I lost count.<br />
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December 23 was set aside on our island for all the missionaries to
gather together and celebrate. The zone leaders organized a service
project of cleaning a large yard and arranging for the missionaries to
play rugby, table tennis, and water balloon volleyball on the cleaned
yard. </div>
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<br />
<span style="text-align: center;"></span>
<span style="text-align: center;">We then had some "silly" stuff like
moving an oreo cookie from your forehead to your mouth without hands.
The 10 second rule for cookies that hit the ground was applied by most
of them.</span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;"> </span><br />
<span style="text-align: center;">Elder Faletoi and Lamoreaux, the zone leaders for the West Zone, designed the green shirts.</span><br />
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In the interim, Theron and I set up the cultural hall to serve the
missionaries lasagna (I made 4 largeeeee ones), garlic bread, green
salad with grapes in it, and cocoa Samoa brownies with cocoa Samoa hot
fudge sauce. We set up a gift table in the center of the tables and
after eats we gave them each their gift bag. Then, after they had
eaten, they started giving back - best Christmas presents ever (well
except for our son Marc).<br />
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The West Zone Elders performed a haka dance for us which i believe is
the Maori way of saying We are the most fearsome and aggressive warriors
on the island, however, for us it meant 'we love you' and 'thank you'.
(click to watch the video)<br />
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Saturday, December 5, was our ward Christmas party, now this isn't your
typical ward Christmas party because it's held at the beach and the
temperature outside is a balmy 85 degrees with sunshine. The Relief
Society sisters were asked to bring salads and desserts...
On the table was a LARGE white cooler full of barbecued chicken and as
we settled in eating our salads and chicken, the pick-up with the umu
cooked pig arrived. Three men with woven baskets carried it to the
table and began pulling it apart - there was a rush for the skin! You don't use knives but hands to pull a pig apart.<br />
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The mothers are sitting on the rocks talking and the men are sitting
making the big decisions and serving others. I really enjoy watching
these large men take care of the food, pick up the garbage and do all
the cooking. This is so great! The more they can do the better the
party. <br />
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After the talk and food and swimming, someone notices the kayak
approaching the shore - it's Santa. Yep, in Samoa Santa arrives in a
kayak. Somehow it's really no more strange than when he arrives on a
fire truck. Please note the boots he is wearing. They're quite
appropriate for a Samoan, kayaking, Santa. Because the kids are all wet
from swimming, no one sits on Santa's lap - Santa's worst fear - a wet
lap from a three year old. All the kids get a sack of some treats and a
small toy. How great to see the children so happy; the more the kids
enjoy themselves the better the party.Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-50778073807008990092016-01-04T14:21:00.000-08:002016-01-05T14:22:37.158-08:00New YearI hope all of you had a great year last year and a good new years celebration. I don't have very much to write this week, it has been a pretty normal week.<br />
<br />
This last week we didn't get a p-day because we had a meeting on the other island so our p-day was spent flying over there and getting ready for the meeting. The meeting was a good one. I got to see friends that I hadn't seen for a while and I also learned that my favorite investigator in my first area just got baptized. Yay!<br />
<br />
When we were leaving to come back to our island we got to the airport at 3:30 because our flight was supposed to leave at 4:30. The airport is SOOOO ghetto. They don't have x-ray things for your bags so no one gets checked and anyone can walk behind security. But anyways... we sat in the airport till 7 when our plane finally left. The plane seats about 20ish people and they make all the fat people sit at the back so the plane will be balanced. When we were leaving the pilot turned around in his seat and said to us "well the flight was a bit rough coming over, there is a life jacket under your seat just in case but please don't touch it unless we tell you to. will you all pray that Heavenly Father will get us there safely?" It was really comforting.<br /><br />
Other then that its just been normal stuff every day.<br />Sorry not a very long email.<br />Alofa atu ia outou!<br />Love all of you,<br />-Elder LamoreauxTasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-52635600311812151492015-12-29T14:20:00.000-08:002016-01-05T14:21:36.208-08:00Miracles<div dir="ltr">
<div>
Hello very much!</div>
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I just wanted to write about a few blessings that I have seen while on my mission.</div>
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When
I was set apart as a missionary I was blessed that I would be kept safe
from injury and illness. A while back I did get sick, I caught the
Dengue Fever which is a sickness from mosquitoes. Basically what happens
is that it attacks your joints and makes them very painful every time
you move and every time you don't. It also thins your blood to the point
where you have internal bleeding which can get very serious. It usually
takes a month or two to recover from it. When I had it I was worried
because the bleeding was getting pretty bad pretty fast. However, I
recovered within a week and was able to get back to proselyting. I know
this was because of the blessing of protection I received before my
mission.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Another miracle was told to me by a
man that I met a while ago. He told me a story about his mother. She and
her family lived in a village called Seetaga here in Tutuila. There was
a hurricane while they lived there, a very bad one. Everybody started
getting out of the village because the village of Seetaga was going to
be the main impact point of the hurricane. This old lady did not leave
though. She told her family that if they had enough faith then they
would be alright. The family tried to get her to leave but she wouldn't.
They finally left and she stayed. She prayed and then sat to wait out
the hurricane. When her family came back they said that there was not a
house or tree or anything standing because of how bad the storm
was, except for the house that the old lady was staying in. He said that
this experience is what keeps him strong in the church.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Another
miracle I have seen was back while I was in Upolu. I was with my
companion Elder Laulu. We were going to pick up and investigator for
church (pick up means walk to his house and then walk to church with
him) and he told us that he would not be able to come to church because
his son was very sick and he was going to have to take him to the
hospital. We offered to give the little boy a blessing and they said
yes. I was very humbled by how my companion went about giving the
blessing, I was kind of thinking that we should hurry up to try to get
the blessing done so that we could get him to church, but my companion
took his time getting ready. He first said a prayer and then he washed
his hands. After he had washed his hands we reverently gave the child a
blessing. As we started the blessing the child was crying and had a bad
fever. As we gave the blessing the child stopped crying and fell asleep
after the blessing he woke up and smiled at his dad. They later told us
that he was no longer sick after we left. This was a big
testimony builder to me.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
Those are just a few cool experiences that I have seen on my mission.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sorry
this email is a bit late, my companion and I had to go over to Upolu
for a meeting so we had to change our p-day this week.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love you all and have a happy new year!! Manuia le tausaga fou!!</div>
<div>
Alofa atu!</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
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<br /></div>
<div>
This is our island activity we did on Christmas.</div>
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Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-56358039492674167442015-12-25T14:17:00.001-08:002015-12-25T14:19:01.468-08:00Dec 21HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!!!! MANUIA LAVA LOU ASO FANAU!<br />
<div>
I did remember you birthday, I even wrote it in my planner yesterday. :)</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Thanks for the update on the family. I enjoy reading it every week.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Haha
I am trying to gain weight but its kind of hard because I am in a white
person ward and they don't really feed us very much. And a lot of times
we will not have a dinner appointment so we will have to buy dinner,
which is also hard because I am out of monthly money already. But I am
managing. My comp and I always just ask other elders for food when we
visit them so we are not starving most days.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I got your Christmas packages! I will be careful with them and try not to snoop or anything.....but the temptation is very strong.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Yes I think I got somewhere to skype... what is your skype address again? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Send my love to the family!</div>
<div>
Alofa atu!</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaLI3tHIuOjvk5hhwEkKXRnKDTrS2RVnh_mi24gdPwdHgG43K4WqZSTCrF1rXM2lbp-g9CIZbdwj4Rkfp4IU97Ew0pWe3uinqIUmIw6SmYRlbHy7-NFFU9UOm3XdCFKNlmI8BqXwN8M0/s1600/Underwater.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghaLI3tHIuOjvk5hhwEkKXRnKDTrS2RVnh_mi24gdPwdHgG43K4WqZSTCrF1rXM2lbp-g9CIZbdwj4Rkfp4IU97Ew0pWe3uinqIUmIw6SmYRlbHy7-NFFU9UOm3XdCFKNlmI8BqXwN8M0/s320/Underwater.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a cool under-water pic<br />
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(disclaimer notice: I did not go swimming to get this picture)</div>
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<div dir="ltr">
<img alt="🎄" class="CToWUd" data-goomoji="1f384" src="https://mail.google.com/mail/e/1f384" style="margin: 0 0.2ex; max-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle;" />Happy
Christmas!!! Its been another great week this week and I hope all of
you had a great week as well. This weeks activities included: Organizing
a Christmas party for all the missionaries on the island, talking in
church with a member of the first quorum of the 70, sending a missionary
home on medical leave, getting rid of the cockroaches inside our car,
going Christmas caroling, getting pulled over by a police man (my
companion, not me), and of course good old preaching the gospel to white
people (I'm still not used to it).</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
<div>
Not a ton of other stuff
happened this week. We have been staying busy and I probably just forget
a lot of things that I could write about because I didn't do that good
at writing in my journal this week. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We went
caroling as a zone this week and that was pretty fun. We had each
companionship pick one of their investigators for us to go sing to. We
sang Po Filemu (silent night) and read the Christmas Story in Luke 2 to
all the houses we went to. I thought we did pretty good, we would sing
the first verse and then hum the second one while Elder Hingano read the
story and then we would sing the third verse. Then we would give them
some cookies and go to the next house. It was a good spiritual
experience and we made someone cry at every house we went to, Still not
sure if they were crying because of the spirit or because their ears
hurt.... but lets hope it was the spirit.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I
also got to have the opportunity to speak in sacrament meeting this
week. My comp and I were asked to speak about Christmas and Jesus Christ
and we were sitting on the stand waiting for the meeting to start and
then in walks President Halleck, one of the members of the fist quorum
of the 70. It made me nervous because I was having to do the talk in English and I would much rather do it in Samoan, but it went well and he
said I did a good job so that's good.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-Bapg5aCSizGm5Oi1iORNfj1Kdk3yE6phLSuRmuszqhsfOW1hXrFVS7zOmFT1w2qUddzwGDrUItSh20FyfjFS4nO5_IG4gmOEGDItzxbBMjL1t0eXBobTBL4C9VYTjCIQ61tmPmO8jE/s1600/Sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg-Bapg5aCSizGm5Oi1iORNfj1Kdk3yE6phLSuRmuszqhsfOW1hXrFVS7zOmFT1w2qUddzwGDrUItSh20FyfjFS4nO5_IG4gmOEGDItzxbBMjL1t0eXBobTBL4C9VYTjCIQ61tmPmO8jE/s320/Sunset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well thats all for this week! Alofa atu ia outou!</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux </div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<br />
<div>
<br />
</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-80003662881766418432015-12-25T14:05:00.000-08:002015-12-25T14:05:00.383-08:00Dec 14This week has been busy and full of excitement and rain. Its crazy how
fast time goes out here, it seems like we just barely had p-day and now
its p-day again. I feel like I am tired 24/7 now and I love it! I enjoy
being able to lay down in bed at night and think back on the day and
know that I did all I was supposed to.<br />
<br />
My new comp is awesome, his name
is Elder Faletoi - he is from Utah. He has been out for just about a month
longer than me so we are a pretty young companionship. He also has a
full ride scholarship to play football at some collage after his
mission. He has been waking me up at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_843696146" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">4:45</span></span>
each morning to go play basketball and lift weights, but other then
that we get along fine. ;)<br />
<br />
The work is going well in our areas, we are
actually covering 2 areas right now because there is a shortage of
missionaries here in Samoa. I am actually still covering my old area I
was in before this transfer as well as my new area. It's a nice busy life
covering the two areas because they are on different parts of the
island. But despite the hardships we are having success in both areas.
We are staying busy trying to organize a Christmas program for the
missionaries on this island.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Sorry I don't have a bunch of time this week, but I love you all and I hope you have a great week!</div>
<div>
Alofa atu ia outou!</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
[Bob emailed Elder Lamoreaux and found out he is a Zone Leader now, that's why he has the new responsibilities] </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
About the family Christmas picture - "Wow, tell Spud that he better not think that just because he is tall he is buffer then me..... tell him I could still take him."</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-3418573804073763322015-12-25T14:01:00.001-08:002015-12-25T14:01:45.846-08:00Dec 7<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnQAROk6JClHHZNinOQXYt2ojYBxOOvDfhoxqXKTaUNwf74H8n0WlX0_QdrS3P4Ni5trh2QK0O5fIPhzlMmZI6yWIQmOGrB0AzCId9P-w5RhQT_I8jKovwrCH4_15o_t1FIWk3P_-MwI/s1600/Jayden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNnQAROk6JClHHZNinOQXYt2ojYBxOOvDfhoxqXKTaUNwf74H8n0WlX0_QdrS3P4Ni5trh2QK0O5fIPhzlMmZI6yWIQmOGrB0AzCId9P-w5RhQT_I8jKovwrCH4_15o_t1FIWk3P_-MwI/s320/Jayden.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Elder Faletoi & Jayden</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This has been a very very busy week. My new companion is Elder Faletoi
from Utah. He is Samoan but his family moved to Utah. He and I cover the
white person ward here on this half of the island.<br />
<br />
Honestly I feel kind
of like I am starting my mission over again because now I have to learn
how to speak English again. I thought it would be really easy to be
teaching people in English but then in our first lesson with a white guy
I realized that it is very very hard. I have been so used to only
teaching in Samoan that all my English skills are totally gone. The
struggle is real haha.<br />
<br />
Because we are the only ones with a car on
this half of the island we are the ones that get to go and do all the
chores that people need done. But hey, I like this life. We are always
busy now and I really like it. The days are going by so fast that it
seems like... I'm actually not sure what it does seem like but its
crazy anyways. ;)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
So right now my companion and I are
"white washing" as we call it here. We are both transferred into this
area at the same time so nether of us know the area. It is actually
pretty fun because we get to go and try to find all the people who the
old missionaries were teaching. This week we have been teaching a little
guy named Jayden. He is 9 years old and he is planning on being
baptized this Saturday. We have also been teaching a guy named Tuliese,
he is a Samoan guy but he doesn't know a bit of Samoan so we have been
teaching him. He is pretty cool and we are trying to get to know his
family as well so that we can baptize them as well.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Other then that not much has been going on this week. Just busy doing chores for people and trying to learn English. ;)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well I love you all and I hope yous have a wonderful week.</div>
<div>
Alofa atu,</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-1634140942728335602015-12-25T13:58:00.001-08:002015-12-25T13:58:11.670-08:00Thanksgiving, Elder Halleck, Hurricanes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduohDkmb4itGe-kMbVTxIM2IUxlsvS4RSPjk0DXzMhT8vzLGT6Ctwmu11URrY8n0pGRw5pUdtETxJAzu2CBZ4ueslPAp8JER7XcXAUnxFAVpBdgkvMIr77-pH-KJh0lm10YiRaFL9Lh8/s1600/Thanksgiving+2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiduohDkmb4itGe-kMbVTxIM2IUxlsvS4RSPjk0DXzMhT8vzLGT6Ctwmu11URrY8n0pGRw5pUdtETxJAzu2CBZ4ueslPAp8JER7XcXAUnxFAVpBdgkvMIr77-pH-KJh0lm10YiRaFL9Lh8/s320/Thanksgiving+2015.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
We had a fun week this week with everything that happened. First off we
had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Elder Halleck, a member of
the seventy. We came to our mission and held a conference on the 3 main
islands with all the missionaries. Elder Halleck is such an example of
Christlike love. It was motivating and uplifting and inspired me to
always give my all to the Savior. One of my favorite quotes from the
conference was "give your all to the Savior, He deserves nothing less.
He gave His all".<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Another fun part of this week was
that I got to have American food for the first time in a while. The
senior couple missionaries on Tutuila made a thanksgiving dinner for all
the missionaries. It was amazing to have all the traditional
thanksgiving food like stuffing and turkey and pie and octopus. The only
thing that was missing was the mashed potatoes... I didn't even get to
see any pictures of mashed potatoes. :( I ate myself sick and was not
able to proselyte the next day. :( </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Haha no JK the real reason I wasn't
able to proselyte the next day was because we had a visit from Hurricane
Tui. Luckily the hurricane did not hit directly on our island so we
only got half of it, but the wind was still enough to uproot trees and
stuff. No one got hurt but we did have some flooding and downed power
lines and such. But we are all very thankful that it was not any worse
then that. The fun thing is that this is only the beginning of hurricane
season. Hurricane season does not end till April so I might get to have
a few more hurricanes out here.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I also got a
transfer call this week and I will be getting transferred to the Mesepa
International ward. Yeah, I am going to be preaching to white people.
':/ I will be covering a couple of branches as well so I will still get
to teach the Samoan people. Also I get a car in my new area! :D Actually
a van. But its only a 12 seat van so its nothing like what I would
drive at home. ;) This transfer the boundaries of some of the mission
areas changed so one of the branches I will be covering is the Amanave
branch where I have been proselyting. Also my companion is getting
transferred to Tafuna and being made a district leader after only being
in the mission for 3 months! What a stud. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We
had a really cool experience with an investigator this week named Lui.
Lui knows that the church is true but is having problems with the word
of wisdom. He has definitely come a long way from where he was at
though. He used to earn money down in California by selling illegal
drugs. He was living like that for years and then after spending a lot
of time in prison and after going into a coma for 2 months we decided it
was time to change his life. He then moved to Samoa and now we are
working with him to stop smoking and drinking tea and coffee. During
the past few weeks he has stopped using tea and coffee but he is having a
hard time stopping smoking. We met with him Saturday night with a
lesson plan to set a baptismal date for him to give him the motivation
to stop smoking. As we started teaching both my companion and I felt
that our lesson plan was not what we needed to teach him. We taught him
about repentance and shared with him the story of Alma the younger's
conversion. After the lesson I felt prompted to ask him if he would like
a priesthood blessing. He said yes. The blessing was one of the coolest
ones I have ever heard. One of the things he was blessed with was that
the desire to smoke would be totally taken away from him and he would
never have the desire to smoke again. I am very excited to see Lui's
progress.</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJ_zuAEN0ZL7nbDDgr0Rs2hU9JpSERBTY3Gse1ZqJCTpgnUmQSxEj09cn_suZU4Zw7HjfcmrNuvhbbBQt9aIW4yZNxMTyq3zAj4kKlsFdCNXRHEAsZ6Nv1FWAwkqs389Klt8IAAbgffA/s1600/Mandy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJ_zuAEN0ZL7nbDDgr0Rs2hU9JpSERBTY3Gse1ZqJCTpgnUmQSxEj09cn_suZU4Zw7HjfcmrNuvhbbBQt9aIW4yZNxMTyq3zAj4kKlsFdCNXRHEAsZ6Nv1FWAwkqs389Klt8IAAbgffA/s320/Mandy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div>
We also had a baptism this week. :D Her name is Mandy. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well I hope you all have a good week!</div>
<div>
Alofa atu,</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamalo.</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-7855878819566775552015-12-25T13:52:00.001-08:002015-12-25T13:52:17.497-08:00Nov 23 - Secret to Happiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzHAzffAVcPQ7q93KmP3ZxdjWih6w3L2Pj_Mv-tXGINgOR56ql_CT7KNohe3z48z_0nuv9z5_czEF2vWOgFRFVrbwDI67yc-I4yl60XRJdPGsPYxtlKV6vI64kbZ8UCdnFj3oCvRkfgZ4/s1600/Nov+18+ELBeach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzHAzffAVcPQ7q93KmP3ZxdjWih6w3L2Pj_Mv-tXGINgOR56ql_CT7KNohe3z48z_0nuv9z5_czEF2vWOgFRFVrbwDI67yc-I4yl60XRJdPGsPYxtlKV6vI64kbZ8UCdnFj3oCvRkfgZ4/s320/Nov+18+ELBeach.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Manuia lava le aso fa'afetai! Ia! Ou te iloa o le vaiaso nei o le vaiaso
o le aso faafetai. O lea, e tatau ai ona tatou fa'aali lo tatou agaga
faafetai mo faamanuiaga uma i o tatou olaga. Ou te iloa foi e leai se
mea lelei i o tatou olaga vagana e sau mai le Atua.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Family and friends! Talofa!</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This
week we have been very busy due to an exchange that we are doing with Elder Bybee. Due to this week being the week of Thanksgiving I figured
that writing about giving thanks would be good.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
First off I
would like to brag about the Samoan people. These people are the most
humble and happy people I have ever meet in my life. The reason they are
so happy is because they do not think about themselves. These people,
well, most of them, are the most selfless people ever. They are so
thankful for every little thing in their lives. These people live in a
house that consists of a dirt floor, no walls, and a roof made of palm
tree leaves. Their clothes usually consist of a square of fabric wrapped
around them like a skirt. Their food is usually a few unripe boiled
bananas. When one of them can get a job the pay rate in Samoa is 2 tala
per hour, about $0.40. They have every reason in the world to be unhappy
and look at all the bad things in their lives, but instead they look at
all the blessings they have. They always thank God for everything they
have, their families, the beautiful peaceful country they live in, the
church, etc. Its amazing to me that a people who have so much less then
the rest of the world can be so much more thankful for the little that
they have.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I know that in our lives there are a lot of things
that are not easy to deal with, life is hard there is no getting around
that. There are many times when we do not have everything we want or
need. There are times of hardship, trials, sadness, fatigue, and
loneliness. No one has a perfect life. But even though we do not have
perfect lives we can still be perfectly happy. If we think about the
things that bring the most happiness into our lives then we begin to see
how blessed we really are. We do not need worldly things to make us
happy. Happiness comes to us when we are grateful for what we have. (BTW
I thought up that "But even though we do not have perfect lives we can
still be perfectly happy" line by myself) ;)</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Anyways,
This week has been crazy and stuff but its been good. Not much out of
the ordinary happened this week... pretty normal week. But hey, if any
one has any questions about samoa or the mission then let me know!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Alofa atu,</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-34468924952798227252015-12-25T13:46:00.001-08:002015-12-25T13:48:40.070-08:00Nov 16 Spiritual & Physical Preparation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This week has been quite fun and exciting and sudden and stuff. Our
mission president really likes to run this mission 100% on inspiration.
Most the time he acts right when he receives inspiration, no matter what
else it may interrupt. Right now he is working very hard on opening a
new island in our mission called Manu'a. He has taken a few random
missionaries with him to help open up the island. One of the
missionaries he took is from my district so right now we are doing an
exchange with his companion. So right now in our companionship we have
Elder Lamoreaux, Elder Larson and Elder Bybee.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
Elder Bybee is from Oregon
and has been here in Samoa for just over one year and speaks really
good Samoan. This week has been very very busy because we have been
covering both areas. Sorry the email is a bit late as well, we are all
using one computer so that is slowing things down a bit.<br />
<br />
This
week we had a cool experience with an investigator named brother Masoe.
He comes to church every sunday but he will not commit to taking the
missionary lessons because he has a problem with the word of wisdom and
he feels unworthy to take them. We met with brother Masoe yesterday and
taught him a lesson about the atonement of Jesus Christ. We had a very
spiritual lesson and we taught him that the Atonement can and will make
him clean and help him over come his weaknesses if he will make the
effort on his part to try to accept the help that Jesus is trying to
give him. At the end of the lesson he said that he was ready to start
the lessons. It brings me happiness to see people overcome fears and
doubts and especially sins through the atonement of Jesus Christ.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In
other news..... We are still working with Taua, the high chief of
Amanave and helping her to learn more about the gospel and its
teachings. The last things we have taught her is the importance of
prayer and study to know for herself if this is true or not. We have not
met with her for a little while and she hasn't been answering our
calls, we hope that it is just because she is busy.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Lately
church leaders in this area have really been stressing self reliance.
Right now Samoa is entering hurricane season and so they have been
telling everyone that we need to prepare them and their family for the
event of a natural disaster. While physical preparation is very very
important, I have been thinking a lot about spiritual preparation. We
are living right now in a time of spiritual hurricane season. We have
seen a lot of people fall away from the church or fall into sin in the
past little while. We all need to prepare ourselves spiritually for the
times that lie ahead. Physical and spiritual preparation are a little bit
different. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Spiritual preparation is getting ourselves ready to listen
to and obey spiritual promptings. We can all agree that in the days
coming we will all need to be in a spiritually prepared state where we
will be able to recognize all spiritual promptings. In order to get to
this state we need to do 3 specific things: Feast upon the words of
Christ, Sincerely communicate with our Father in Heaven, and get closer
to God through fasting. These are three things that will prepare us
spiritually for the dangerous times that lay ahead. I encourage all of
you to focus more and more on these three simple things. When we do
these things the spirit will be able to communicate with us and warn us
about oncoming danger.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I hope and pray that you will all have a very good week,</div>
<div>
Alofa atu ia outou,</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-28336418062621736312015-12-25T13:42:00.001-08:002015-12-25T13:42:16.832-08:00Nov 9<div dir="ltr">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"just an average sunset. eh."</td></tr>
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<div>
Well well, here we are again. Howdy to all ya'll. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I
feel like I am giving a speech or something every time I am writing the
weekly email... so today we are changing it up. This week I am going to
give out assignments and have you guys do the speech. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Right now in this
mission our mission president is really stressing that we learn as much
as we can about 2 very important stories. We all know these stories, we
hear about them every week at church (unless you are not listening).
What I want to do is ask all of you to research these stories, no matter
how much you think you know about them already, and then email me and
let me know what you have learned. If it takes a couple weeks that is
fine, but I would like to invite and encourage all you to do this and
invite others to do this as well. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
These two stories are the two most
important stories to each of us in these latter days. The first is the
story of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and the second is the story of
Joseph Smith's first vision. As I have been studying and pondering about
these two stories I have learned more about their relevance to me
personally. I have heard about these two stories since as long as I can
remember and I have always known that they are important. But I never
really took the time to actually sit down and do a good study of them. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The Atonement is the most important thing that has ever happened since
this world was created. Without it we would be living a pointless life
because we would have no doubt where we would be going after this life.
We would have nothing to work towards, no hope, and no happiness. The
first vision of Joseph Smith is the most important event in these latter
days. Without the first vision we would not have the fullness of the
gospel. We would not be able to enjoy the full blessings of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ. Anyways, I would love to get emails from all
of you sharing your thoughts on these 2 stories.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This week: </div>
<div>
Fought more dogs, and won.</div>
<div>
Saw a crab fight.</div>
<div>
Got given bikes by a random man on the street. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Yo
and also if you want to just email me questions about the mission then
I will answer some of them in the weekly update. I sometimes run out of
things to write about.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Love you all! Please keep me updated about your lives!</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-28427248634534566542015-12-25T13:35:00.000-08:002015-12-25T13:35:20.037-08:00Nov 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Alrighty... Well happy Halloween and all that festive stuff.<br />
<br />
This week my comp and I baptized 2 people. :D Their names are Pilitati
and Chris. Pilitati is in his 50's and Chris is his 9 year old son. They
are both awesome and have very strong testimonies. Nothing is quite as
awesome as seeing the fruits of your work when someone comes up out of
the baptism water. I got to give a short talk about the water and the
spirit at the baptismal service and this was actually the first time I
have had to give a talk to a group of people in Samoan. It kinda scared
me but I did it... This was
my companion's first baptism on his mission and he was the one who
performed the ordinance. It was awesome to see him do it. I know that
baptism is essential for salvation, but it is only the beginning. After
we have entered in by the door we still have to keep going down the
path. When we receive the Holy Ghost it becomes a guide to keep us going
down the right path.<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On Saturday after the baptism I
was approached by our Gospel Doctrine teacher who said he was going to
be in Upolu on Sunday so could we please teach the lesson for his
class? I said yes... I asked what
the topic was for class and he said he would call me that night to tell
me. It turns out that the topic was "O le faapotopotoina o le aiga o Isaraelu" The gathering of the family of Israel. This topic is one that I
don't think I have ever really studied before in my life...in English,
let alone Samoan. And now I was supposed to teach an hour lesson on it.
Ooookay. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
On Sunday morning some things came up so I didn't have the
opportunity to study "the gathering of the family of Israel" till we
were sitting in sacrament meeting. I read through it once and then
sacrament meeting was over. So I went and taught an hour lesson on a
subject I knew nothing about. Pretty fun. I was praying pretty hard the
whole time and I definitely got help from above. I filled the hour block
and had a good discussion with the class and learned a lot about the
"gathering of the family of Israel" for myself. This just goes to show
that if we prepare as much as we can then the Lord will be able to help
us. Even if we only are able to study for a bit less then an hour.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Other fun things that happened this week: </div>
<div>
-We
got given a ride home by a drunk man (this is not the first time). We
were walking home at about 8:45ish and a guy pulled up beside us in a
blue pick up truck. This guy had passed us and offered us a ride earlier
in the day but we had almost been to our visit so we told him another
time. So he pulled up by us and said in a very jolly way "it's me again!
you can't say no!" So we hopped in the back of his truck and he drove,
or tried to drive, us home. We began to worry when he seemed to have a
tendency to swerve toward every oncoming car and then turn away at the
last second when the other car would honk at him. We could hear him
singing loudly the whole time. When we got home we got out of his truck
and told him thank you very much and then he gave us a 20ish minute
lecture about how when we come to a new country we need to learn the
culture and the language. After the lecture he left, still singing, and
we said a quick prayer for his soul and went inside.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Well I love all of yous and hope you have a dandy week. Keep me updated on your lives!</div>
<div>
Alofa atu, </div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-53432663941146683672015-12-25T13:24:00.004-08:002015-12-25T13:24:53.012-08:00Oct 26 New Mission President<div dir="ltr">
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<div>
Hello very much from the Samoa!</div>
<div>
How are each and every one of you doing?</div>
<div>
The
week has been good. This week we got to meet with the new mission
president for the first time. He has a very strong desire to hasten the
work here in Samoa. He stressed the fact that for missionary work you
need the proper spirit. Without the holy ghost this work cannot go
forward. He then informed us of some new mission rules / standards that
he would be implementing. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I will admit that when I first heard some, or
all, of the changes he is making to the mission I was not 100%
supportive of all of them. Some of them seemed to me to be unattainable.
I thought and prayed about the new rules and I prayed for the strength
to be able to obey them. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
After the meeting with President my comp and I
decided that even though these new rules would be very hard to follow,
and we knew that not all missionaries would be keeping them, we would
give our all to be able to keep the new mission standards. The first day
after the meeting we tried our best to keep them, expecting to be tried
and tempted and have a hard day. But that first day was one of the best
days that we've had in the mission. We were able to find new
investigators and even set baptismal dates for a couple of our
investigators. When I thought about it that night I realized the Lord
has promised us that He will not give us a commandment unless He
prepares a way for us to accomplish it. My companion and I have felt
the fruits of that promise in our lives. This area has a reputation of
being a hard place to get work done, but the Lord has blessed my Comp
and I for being obedient to all the rules of the mission, even the ones
that seem silly or impossible to follow.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We
will be having 2 baptisms this Saturday! :D We will be baptizing a man
named Pilikaki and his son Chris. These will be the first baptisms in
this area since December last year. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
We had a
fun experience this week with a man we passed on the road. He saw us
and started speaking English to us (what the heck?!). He said "man I
just come back from the Leone High School reunion. It started back in
1970... uh1971 and praise the Lord God almighty Hallelujah that's a lot
of years!! I want to Faatalofa (greet) you." Then he shook our hands and
gave us each $1 the whole time telling us how good God was to all of
us. Then he said "well I jus wanna say a bit of a prayer before we go"
and he grabbed our hands and said us a prayer in Samoan and then after
the prayer he once again exclaimed how good God is and with a final
"Hallelujah!" he was on his way. Pretty fun.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Other fun things that have happened this week:</div>
<div>
-We
walked to the far end of our area (a 4 hour walk) and got a new
investigator there. Found out that if we walk from one side of our area
to the other we would be walking for 7 1/2 hours.</div>
<div>
-We are now in hurricane season</div>
<div>
-caught some rats</div>
<div>
-Climbed some Coconut trees</div>
<div>
-Had a beach party with me and my companion and some crabs we caught.</div>
<div>
Well I love you all and hope you have a good week!</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I am so glad to hear you are doing good. You and Dad
are in my prayers every night. As long as we put God first then
everything will turn out right no matter how hard it seems. I love you
so much!<div>
Thanks so much for the Thanksgiving dinner! It has kept my comp and I from starving. ;)</div>
</div>
<div>
Alofa atu, Love you!!</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-25238000060176377452015-10-19T14:19:00.001-07:002015-10-19T14:19:22.234-07:00Funeral Traditions & True Happiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJETf8V82_axJ8FSYoPITNoshDVavhTkyjqRj0A7wN0xPsh2MgYyX87QHhZgfHHjOTP3h5RDka-yAWKq2-gLc3rcWluocKYiQoS2Cs5PVBHEdFuNLFTisEIrqvavORJ4Mcr6mgaFBHWY/s1600/Larson%2526Lamoreaux.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJETf8V82_axJ8FSYoPITNoshDVavhTkyjqRj0A7wN0xPsh2MgYyX87QHhZgfHHjOTP3h5RDka-yAWKq2-gLc3rcWluocKYiQoS2Cs5PVBHEdFuNLFTisEIrqvavORJ4Mcr6mgaFBHWY/s320/Larson%2526Lamoreaux.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Malo lava le soifua manuia outou!<br />
<br />
<div>
Anyways... This week has been
good and awesome. We had a bit less rain this week but still a good
amount. This week we had some old people die in our village. One of them
was the "Tamalii" or the high chief of the village. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
While these times
are always hard for people and we feel for the families who have lost
loved ones, they give us a great opportunity to not only teach these
people that they can see their loved ones again, but it also gives the
opportunity to see some cool parts of the Samoan culture. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Whenever
someone dies in Samoa they make a huge deal out of it. They call it a
"Fa'alavelave" or an interruption. When a faalavelave happens people
gather from all over the place to take part in it. After the actual
funeral service is when the fun starts. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The village gathers and the
Matai (the second highest Matai, because the highest Matai doesn't talk
to the people) stands in front of them and directs the program. First
the family who had someone die stands up and makes a very long and fancy
speech that can be shortened to "We want to thank all of you for coming
and your love for our family. We will now give all of you very
expensive presents!" </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
They then will bring out ie toga, a very soft,
handwoven mat made from grass. The ie toga take about a year to make and
they cost about $1-2,000. The family will pass out heaps of them as
well as lots of dead pigs, boxes of canned fish, boxes of corned beef,
etc. The way they give them out is they will tell the person that they
are giving them to that because of their goodness and love for the
family they will give them...Whatever they are giving them. The person
who is receiving the gift will then stand up and say that they
appreciate the generosity, but they can not accept so much. They family
will then tell them that if they do not accept the gift they never want
to hear from them again and they will chase them out of the village,
then the people accept the gift. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Then the people who are gathered
together will all give presents to the family in the same way. And then
everybody goes home fat and happy. Its pretty cool.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
This
week we had some really good lessons with a investigator named Lui. He
used to live in California for most of his life but he moved here to Samoa a few years ago. He prefers to speak in English rather then Samoan
so that is awesome. :) He attended church this week and had a really
good experience there and said that he wants to keep coming. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This week
in church I was able to feel the true joy of missionary work. We had 5
investigators at church and all of them are changing their lives for
the better and coming closer to Christ. Sitting in church I felt happier
then I had ever felt in my life. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Not only was pleased with how these
people were progressing, but I could feel that Heavenly Father was happy
with me, and that is what made me so happy. I know that the way we will
all be happy in this life is by focusing on others rather then
ourselves. We all have problems and weaknesses and trials, and if we
focus on how hard our lives are then we will never be happy. Only when
we look past ourselves will we be truly happy.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
I love you all and hope you have an awesome week.</div>
<div>
Alofa atu,</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-27578600812637322412015-10-12T14:48:00.000-07:002015-10-12T14:53:59.365-07:00Rain, Rats, Dog fights & Obedience<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beware of the Dog</td></tr>
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Talofa lava Friends and family...and anyone else reading this.<br /><br />We got a lot of rain this week. A lot. A lot of rain here in Samoa is different then a lot of rain in other places. When we get a lot of rain here the mountain starts to cave in and fall down on the road and get washed away by the river that runs on the road. Also a lot of banana trees get uprooted and fall on the road so you can't really drive on the road. Also the road is a river so that also makes it hard to drive. But the good thing is, my comp and I don't have a car! We have legs, and so we got to go out and work in this pouring rain. It was actually pretty fun sometimes.<br /><br />This week despite the rain we were able to get some good work in. We really focused on how to set good goals and plans to accomplish these goals. We were not only able to accomplish our weekly goals this week but go over what we had planned as well. <br /><br />We also started meeting with another chief of the village this week. This one has a better disposition toward our church and he actually has some land that he is willing to let the church use to build a chapel if we can get approval from all the Matai on the village. His name is Ma'i and he actually holds 2 Matai names or 2 positions in the village. He is a high talking chief or Tofa, and the Afioga or the high chief of the entire village. <br /><br />We are still working with Taua and this week we are planning on teaching her the plan of salvation. Her husband died a while ago so we are going to really emphasize eternal families. I am hoping and praying that this lesson will go well and we can get her committed to baptism.<br /><br />Other fun things that happened this week, We caught 2 rats in our house, we found that we walk an average of 4ish miles a day, and we had a fight with 7 dogs (we won).<br /><br />This week I have been studying the subject of obedience a lot. [There are] a lot of new rules for the mission...I have learned that when we are obedient we are often times asked to do things that we don't understand at first. Understanding will come over time as we obey. ..I know blessings will come as we obey...<br /><br />I love you all and hope you have a great week! Keep me updated on your lives please! Pictures are very welcome. ;)<br /><br />Alofa atu,<br />-Elder LamoreauxTasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-11778926167518963712015-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:002015-10-05T16:02:46.265-07:00October 5<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well well, another week has come and gone. This week we had the awesome
opportunity to watch conference. It is such a blessing to hear our
Heavenly Father talk to us through His prophet and Apostles. We got to
watch conference live so it started at 5 in the morning at our stake
center. My Elder Larson and I woke up at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_952663026" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">2:30</span></span>
in order to get ready and walk a few miles to a place we could catch a
bus. Fun times. I was going to share some of my insights from conference
but sadly I forgot my notes when I came to email today.<br />
<br />
<div>
This week
we have finally got some good solid investigators moving toward baptism.
My companion gave his first baptismal invitation this week, and it was
accepted! :D This week we had success because we have been really
focusing on trying to work with ward members. We have an awesome ward
mission leader named Brother Siamanu and he helps us a lot. Having a
member present in lessons is key to conversion. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We had a cool
experience this week where we were guided by the spirit. We had a few
different lessons set for the day and we weren't sure if we would be
able to get to them all because they were on different sides of our
area. If we tried to walk to them then there would be no way we could
get there fast enough and there are no buses that go that way during the
day. But, we knew that the Lord wanted us to go to the lessons so we
set out walking. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Not long after we started walking someone came and gave
us a ride to the top of the mountain. We have them a restoration
pamphlet and told them that we would come back to visit them. Then
someone else gave us a ride back down the other side of the mountain to
our lesson. We said a quick prayer of thanks and went to our lesson. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We
got to the house but he wasn't there. We were kind of bummed out that we
had come over to this side of the mountain for no reason, but we felt
to walk down a path going back into the jungle. We went back and found a
house so we knocked on it and a man let us in. We ended up having a
good lesson with him. After the lesson he said that he was surprised that
we found him at the house, he said that he works all the time and is
never home, but that day all his work had fallen through and he felt
that he should stay at his house.</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-86742528749464143232015-09-28T16:00:00.000-07:002015-10-05T16:01:09.774-07:00September 28<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQ1i2SylbyY9VIaMKX_K14E4FfUjcJ_H5Qev0nJ6ylPRE8Ozb6mB-ZYfYfOcGkC-CFTcHMhDabjvZHa7EWRlYs2MWTHRF0m42gsW4-UgnMRsjVFSyYsT116YlEcgKWVuTu_bbng7UV0k/s1600/DSC02601.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcQ1i2SylbyY9VIaMKX_K14E4FfUjcJ_H5Qev0nJ6ylPRE8Ozb6mB-ZYfYfOcGkC-CFTcHMhDabjvZHa7EWRlYs2MWTHRF0m42gsW4-UgnMRsjVFSyYsT116YlEcgKWVuTu_bbng7UV0k/s320/DSC02601.JPG" width="320" /></a>Malo soifua outou!<br />
<div>
This week has definitely been a week. First off,
our area is huge. We probably cover about an 8th of the island of Tutuila. If yous get on Google maps and look up the two villages of
Leone and Fagamalo, we cover all the area in between those two villages.
We have two houses and we switch houses every week in order to be able
to cover our whole area. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
The work was pretty slow when we got here, but
it is beginning to pick up nicely as we put in good effort. This week
was a bit hard on us physically, my comp got bit by a dog, we found that
our beds have fleas in them, I sprained my ankle, etc, etc. Satan is
trying to stop us but we are doing our best...</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We had some good lessons this week, one of which was
taught to a family named Lam Chung. Before the lesson Brother Lam Chung
asked us "why are there so many different churches? The Bible says that
there is only one God so why are the beliefs of the churches so
different?" We taught them the restoration and near the end of the
lesson brother Lam Chung said to me "so this means that there shouldn't
be any other churches in the world... there should only be the Mormon
church, right?" We told him he was right and gave them a baptismal
invite. He accepted. Yeah!!! :D</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We haven't met with Taua again
yet because she has been off the island at a funeral. But this week we
had a stake missionary meeting and our branch president brought up that
we had taught Taua. The Stake presidency expressed their surprise that
she had even let us in her house. They said that they had gone over to
Amanave and asked her if they could build a chapel, they brought gifts
and cows and pigs and stuff but they said that she didn't even consider
their request. My testimony has definitely been strengthened that the
Lord works in mysterious ways and he prepares people in His own time.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Well
time is short, but I love you all and I hope you are all doing well.
Thanks for always writing me even though I'm not the best at writing
you back.</div>
<div>
Alofa atu! -Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-2156765571542320352015-09-21T16:42:00.004-07:002015-09-21T16:42:57.994-07:00Teaching a Chief (Matai)Talofa lava outou le au paia malosi o se isi mea.<br />
<div>
Howdy. Well
everything here is going dandy, other then our internet. The internet
here takes about 50 years to do anything. But other then that I am doing
dandy. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We had a tsunami warning this week but it ended up being just
some waves that weren't big enough to be called tsunamis. SO that was
fun. This week we spent a lot of time out tracting because there's not many investigators in our area. We cover a ward (Leone 3rd) and a branch
(Amanave) and we have the biggest area in American Samoa. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Cool story
that a happened this week: when I got called to this area I heard that
the work here was pretty dead because of one of the Chiefs or Matai of
the village. This Matai doesn't like the church so she (yeah its a girl Matai) is making it very hard for the church to grow in that area. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
This
last Monday we got a call from a lady who said that she had a family
member who she wanted us to meet with. We set up a time to go with her
to meet her family member. She and her sister came and picked up my comp
and I and took us to the other side of our area (about a 45 minute
drive). </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
While we were driving they told us about the lady we were going
to visit. They said that she was one of the high talking chiefs of
Amanave, her name is Taua and she had agreed to meet with the
missionaries but they weren't too sure if she would actually like to
listen to us of just Bible bash. Samoans love Bible bashing. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
As I asked
more questions about this lady I realized that the lady we where going
to visit was the Matai that had been giving the church a hard time for
the past few years. I started praying like crazy as soon as I realized
that. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
When we met her she seemed like a pretty nice lady. We entered
her house and we started to talk with her and get to know her. She holds
a high calling in her church and she works for her church as well. She
is one of the highest Chiefs in the village. We told her that we had a
message that we would like to share with her and we asked if we could
start with a prayer. We said a prayer and asked for the spirit to be
with us. </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
After the prayer we taught her about the restoration of the
gospel through Joseph Smith. She listened very carefully and asked a few
questions. When we were almost done I asked if she had any questions
and she said "I don't know, I'm starting to doubt my church. Are you
saying that my church isn't true?" ...</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
We told her that all churches have some truth but the only
church that has the entire truth is the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints. Then we invited her to be baptized. She said that it
would be hard for her because she had such a solid foundation in her
church, but she said to give her a bit of time to find out for herself,
through prayer, if this was right. It was amazing to see the spirit work
in her and help her see the truth of this gospel. We are going back to
visit her again <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1441584777" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">this saturday</span></span> to follow up on the invite to be baptized. If you all could keep her in your prayers then that would be awesome.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I
love you all and I will write again next week. Sorry if I don't always
reply to all of you, this internet is so slow. It takes me about 5
minutes to open up an email. But I love reading all your emails so
please keep sending them! </div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Thanks for the prayers, </div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
Grandma Lamoreaux sent this parable to Jace after reading this email: <br /><h2>
The Parable of Two Lamps</h2>
<h2 class="author">
<div class="byline">
<div class="" id="p2">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">By Elder James E. Talmage (1862–1933)</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="" id="p2">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles</span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></span></h2>
<div class="" id="p25">
"Among
the material things of the past—things that I treasure for sweet
memory’s sake and because of pleasant association in bygone days—is a
lamp. …</div>
<div class="" id="p26">
The
lamp of which I speak, the student lamp of my school and college days,
was one of the best of its kind. I had bought it with hard-earned
savings; it was counted among my most cherished possessions. …</div>
<div class="" id="p27">
One
summer evening I sat musing studiously and withal restfully in the open
air outside the door of the room in which I lodged and studied. A
stranger approached. I noticed that he carried a satchel. He was affable
and entertaining. I brought another chair from within, and we chatted
together till the twilight had deepened into dusk, the dusk into
darkness.</div>
<div class="" id="p27">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p28">
Then
he said: “You are a student and doubtless have much work to do of
nights. What kind of lamp do you use?” And without waiting for a reply,
he continued, “I have a superior kind of lamp I should like to show you,
a lamp designed and constructed according to the latest achievements of
applied science, far surpassing anything heretofore produced as a means
of artificial lighting.”</div>
<div class="" id="p29">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p29">
I
replied with confidence, and I confess, not without some exultation:
“My friend, I have a lamp, one that has been tested and proved. It has
been to me a companion through many a long night. It is an Argand lamp,
and one of the best. I have trimmed and cleaned it today; it is ready
for the lighting. Step inside; I will show you my lamp; then you may
tell me whether yours can possibly be better.”</div>
<div class="" id="p30">
We
entered my study room, and with a feeling which I assume is akin to
that of the athlete about to enter a contest with one whom he regards as
a pitiably inferior opponent, I put the match to my well-trimmed
Argand.</div>
<div class="" id="p31">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p31">
My
visitor was voluble in his praise. It was the best lamp of its kind, he
said. He averred that he had never seen a lamp in better trim. He
turned the wick up and down and pronounced the adjustment perfect. He
declared that never before had he realized how satisfactory a student
lamp could be.</div>
<div class="" id="p32">
I
liked the man; he seemed to me wise, and he assuredly was ingratiating.
“Love me, love my lamp,” I thought, mentally paraphrasing a common
expression of the period.</div>
<div class="" id="p33">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p33">
“Now,”
said he, “with your permission I’ll light my lamp.” He took from his
satchel a lamp then known as the “Rochester.” It had a chimney which,
compared with mine, was as a factory smokestack alongside a house flue.
Its hollow wick was wide enough to admit my four fingers. Its light made
bright the remotest corner of my room. In its brilliant blaze my own
little Argand wick burned a weak, pale yellow. Until that moment of
convincing demonstration, I had never known the dim obscurity in which I
had lived and labored, studied and struggled.</div>
<div class="" id="p34">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p34">
“I’ll
buy your lamp,” said I; “you need neither explain nor argue further.” I
took my new acquisition to the laboratory that same night and
determined its capacity. It turned at over 48 candlepower—fully four
times the intensity of my student lamp.</div>
<div class="" id="p35">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p35">
Two
days after purchasing, I met the lamp peddler on the street about
noontime. To my inquiry he replied that business was good; the demand
for his lamps was greater than the factory supply. “But,” said I, “you
are not working today?” His rejoinder was a lesson. “Do you think that I
would be so foolish as to go around trying to sell lamps in the
daytime? Would you have bought one if I had lighted it for you when the
sun was shining? I chose the time to show the superiority of my lamp
over yours, and you were eager to own the better one I offered, were you
not?”</div>
<div class="" id="p36">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p36">
Such is the story. Now consider the application of a part, a very small part, thereof.</div>
<div class="" id="p37">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p37">
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” [<a href="https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/matt/5.16?lang=eng#15">Matt. 5:16</a>].</div>
<div class="" id="p38">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p38">
The
man who would sell me a lamp did not disparage mine. He placed his
greater light alongside my feebler flame, and I hasted to obtain the
better.</div>
<div class="" id="p39">
<br /></div>
<div class="" id="p39">
The
missionary servants of the Church of Jesus Christ today are sent forth,
not to assail or ridicule the beliefs of men, but to set before the
world a superior light, by which the smoky dimness of the flickering
flames of man-made creeds shall be apparent. The work of the Church is
constructive, not destructive.""</div>
</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-65777081964689353202015-09-21T16:29:00.001-07:002015-09-21T16:30:58.437-07:00Chile earthquake: Pacific nations brace for tsunami <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagMIj1yQhGsgXBqiboCSuZv699Z8k0dGBtm3VVQeMBgm7acegLL-TCDBov_UcugSV-0yAIykQ_QwDP59Bzbmtut30nE7juW4OZifFvYJj4E3e16_ZGf-Uch70UA5pARvUdiHdlq3XVB8/s1600/eight_col_Pago_Pago_harbour_16.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiagMIj1yQhGsgXBqiboCSuZv699Z8k0dGBtm3VVQeMBgm7acegLL-TCDBov_UcugSV-0yAIykQ_QwDP59Bzbmtut30nE7juW4OZifFvYJj4E3e16_ZGf-Uch70UA5pARvUdiHdlq3XVB8/s320/eight_col_Pago_Pago_harbour_16.10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pago, Pago, American Samoa</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
From Tasha: I read this headline and immediately my heart felt like it stopped. Especially when I read the article with facts like this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"A wide array of Pacific nations, including the US, Australia, the
Phillipines to Japan, are bracing for potentially devastating waves
after a massive earthquake in Chile triggered a tsunami that is radiating across the ocean.<br />
The quake, with a magnitude of 8.8, has killed at least 122 people in
mainland Chile and prompted the evacuation of coastal areas on Easter
Island – famous for its monumental stone statues – as well as Samoa and
American Samoa.<br />
The Pacific tsunami warning centre said the quake had generated a wave
that could cause destruction along nearby shores "and could also be a
threat to more distant coasts". It issued a tsunami warning for Chile,
Peru and Hawaii, while Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and
Antarctica are also on alert...<br />
..."Tsunami waves in the deep ocean travel about the same speed as a jet
plane and would take about 15 hours to reach Hawaii and about 20 hours
to reach the other side of the Pacific,...<br />
...Dr David Rothery, senior lecturer at the Open University's department
of earth and environmental sciences, said the tsunami was "now
radiating away from the epicentre and travelling at several hundred
kilometres per hour across the Pacific ocean".<br />
The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on
22 May 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2
million homeless, and caused a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii,
Japan and the Philippines....</blockquote>
<br />
The next day I read this news:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"The Pacific Tsunami warning Centre has now advised that there is no
further tsunami threat for American Samoa as a result of the massive
earthquake in Chile." </blockquote>
Jace wrote this about it:<br />
<br />
"I actually climbed to the top of a mountain because the mission home
called us and said that there was a tsunami coming. As soon as we got to
the top they called and said that it wasn't going to be a tsunami. Got a
good hike in though."<br />
<br />
<br />Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-25436352468225438752015-09-14T20:16:00.004-07:002015-09-14T20:16:49.554-07:00Transfer, New CompanionWell, talofa lava from Samoa!<br /> This week has been awesome and fun
and terrifying. I mentioned last week that I was getting transferred to
Aleisa on Upolu, but I got a call the next day that changed that. I was
told that I was getting transferred to Amanave in Tutuila (American
Samoa). Amanave is the biggest area in Tutuila. I was alright with that
because that would help me stay un-fat. I asked who my companion would
be and the Zoneleaders said they didn't know.<br />
<br />
A <span class="text_exposed_show">few
minutes after that call I got a call from the mission president and he
called me to be a trainer. I was shocked. I cried. I accepted. He told
me that I would be training a new missionary from the MTC. I was really
hoping it would be a Samoan who could speak the language because my
Samoan is still kinda sketchy, but they said I'd be training a white
guy. His name is Elder Larson and he is from Boise. So I am now training a
white guy in an area that I don't know at all and I can't speak the
Language. I am currently the youngest trainer in the mission, both in
years and how long I have been on the mission. Pretty fun. </span><br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
<br />
I met my comp and he is a total stud. He has the energy and desire that
is going to help us a ton in our new area. He does have a weakness
though... he gets motion sickness very easily. To get from the mission
office in Upolu to our area in Tutuila we have to take a small plane. A
very small plane. They were worried about the weight of the plane
because it was a really full flight... a total of 15 people. The flight
was kind of like those little rides that kids pay 50 cents to get bucked
around of a toy bull, but it was a lot more violent and a lot more
expensive. <br />
<br />
We arrived safely in Tutuila and I only had a few
little splatters of throw up on me from my comp. He used 3 barf bags in
the 30 minute flight, this guy doesn't do things half way. Our area is
one of the most beautiful in the entire mission. Its awesome. I have
learned a lot from this experience already. I have been terrified
because I don't know this area, the people, or the language. But I have
learned to trust 100% on the Lord. I can't rely on myself now because
there is nothing to rely on. So I am learning to trust God. The work I
am doing is His work and He will not let me fail if I am relying on Him.
The best way to get this work done is to let Him do it though us. <br />
<br />
God Knows what this area needs and what the people need and especially
what I need, and he is going to try His best to accomplish His will. I
just have to be humble enough to let Him do His work. So yeah, that's
what I've learned this week.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEK36M7UVrMlBKXW7a68HXPzlkHOWp2FtYlJSa9rA7vwoI9GQJwIrRXtn2elvGbQfCslUO7aoCXMo-vjxrOI1KazX_FI0fK5p48AVpQFF7eyBW8jzJ9MZ-LSoQc5AxhvT6s2KL4O66E0/s1600/+flighttoTutuila.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpEK36M7UVrMlBKXW7a68HXPzlkHOWp2FtYlJSa9rA7vwoI9GQJwIrRXtn2elvGbQfCslUO7aoCXMo-vjxrOI1KazX_FI0fK5p48AVpQFF7eyBW8jzJ9MZ-LSoQc5AxhvT6s2KL4O66E0/s320/+flighttoTutuila.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
This is a pic of our flight over to Tutuila.</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-88999240941959679102015-09-14T20:14:00.002-07:002015-09-14T20:14:37.749-07:00Tracting in Samoa<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-GC3zlfHQzygxKiQ9QIKm47rXZYQzmwm6ZF343G5gaqnFL0xYV3CBAu4z4Y-3F3gMmnnE2IQTc5kgTEXkvwXHvEYA0DVGWlbetf4mfiwg-gT61NT0sWTwgZhJGEVP5tzYGfXBoqY7d0/s1600/Beautiful+Samoa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk-GC3zlfHQzygxKiQ9QIKm47rXZYQzmwm6ZF343G5gaqnFL0xYV3CBAu4z4Y-3F3gMmnnE2IQTc5kgTEXkvwXHvEYA0DVGWlbetf4mfiwg-gT61NT0sWTwgZhJGEVP5tzYGfXBoqY7d0/s320/Beautiful+Samoa.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Samoa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Well I don't have much time this week because I just got news that I will be getting transferred to Aleisa. Whoo!<br />
<br />
This past week was awesome. We did a lot of tracting and found some
pretty awesome people. Tracting here is probably a lot different from
the rest of the world. Instead of knocking on doors (because people
don't have doors in Samoa) we walk up to the house and while we are
still a little bit away we give a little speech thing that says in
essence: "We ar<span class="text_exposed_show">e sorry for stupidly
trampling your land here, but is there an opportunity for us inside the
house to converse and get to know each other, then retreat and continue
our visits?" The person inside the house then will usually say "ia, Susu
mai lua susuga!"-z"ya, come here you two sirs" Then we take off our
shoes and come in and sit on fala, hand woven grass mats, and the person
we are visiting will say "ia susu mai ma tala mai au! Lua susuga
faifeautala'i!" And then we give a speech that tells them how holy their
house is, how holy they are and how clean their kids are. Then they
give a reply speech and then we reply and then we finally get to talk and
share a message. After we share a message and we are ready to leave,
usually after they have respected us by feeding us, we give more
speeches and then leave.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
The culture here is so different from anything I ever thought it would
be like. Its amazing how people can be so different but still meet with
each other and become friends. the one thing that will always bring
people together no matter who they are or where they are from is the
gospel of Jesus Christ.<br />
The one thing that we have in common is
that we are children of God. And this means that by turning to that one
great similarity we can connect with anyone who is willing to see the
truth.<br /><br />
I love you all and will talk with you next week!<br /> Alofa atu, <br /> -Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-8302830213961529082015-08-31T08:37:00.003-07:002015-08-31T08:37:59.609-07:00ChoicesSometimes I wish people would just start to understand how amazing this
gospel is and that it is the only way to gain eternal salvation. I
understand Alma when he says "Oh that I were an angel and could have the
wish of my heart..." he says he wishes that he could declare repentance
with a voice of thunder. Sometimes it seems like only a voice of
thunder will make some of these people realize that they need to come to
the fold of God. It makes me sad that so many people use their agency
to make wrong choices. <br />
<br />
So many people here chose not to accept the
gospel because of worrying about what people would think, or because the
family Mati or chief would get mad at them. I have seen a lot of people
gain a testimony of the gospel only to turn away from it because "the
Taiti church is the church of my family" or "I am a Mati in this village
and it wouldn't be good for people to see me changing churches."<br />
<br />
I know
that I can't do anything about their agency, but I can still do all I
can to help them use their agency properly. On the other side of things I
have seen so many people use their agency to make the right choice and
accept the gospel even though they have every reason not to. There is
one girl who chose to be baptized even though she knew her family would
not like it. The <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1587052823" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Sunday</span></span>
after her baptism she came to church crying because her family had
turned on her and beaten her badly for choosing to join the church.
Despite her trials she has stayed strong in the church and been a good
example to her family. We are now doing lessons with her older brother.
We had another boy get baptized even though his father said he would
disown him if he did. Another lady lost her job. These people understand
the importance of the gospel. They might not understand all the details
of the gospel yet, but they know that things of this world are not
nearly as important as the blessings of the gospel. Nothing brings me
more happiness then seeing these people come unto Christ.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRYT2OVCk4s1Q6F51DCginZ6GCSDusRSjFLjYQYWZBJtCYE4qzIpWchIZ6k3hh8gDP220OcgTGcwhvjftQwafdt9UWArFv2cZcpgXGr6LDgEjggTHFSkiKGq6jC6VQG_8vKOLjhWH_sU/s1600/Scorpion%253F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIRYT2OVCk4s1Q6F51DCginZ6GCSDusRSjFLjYQYWZBJtCYE4qzIpWchIZ6k3hh8gDP220OcgTGcwhvjftQwafdt9UWArFv2cZcpgXGr6LDgEjggTHFSkiKGq6jC6VQG_8vKOLjhWH_sU/s320/Scorpion%253F.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently these things live here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XrOTKcBOI4sRz8X65c94PE-nFE5F8SsOouEbS-WLohZySZYQbNN2F3-cPO3drDmNDtFOOgqChRxRet6jw4X9WDICjL9U0-5R6Feyel2EcjfOveiUJdU5SqZTf3O0UsD9gO6JKWUkbZ0/s1600/Spider.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0XrOTKcBOI4sRz8X65c94PE-nFE5F8SsOouEbS-WLohZySZYQbNN2F3-cPO3drDmNDtFOOgqChRxRet6jw4X9WDICjL9U0-5R6Feyel2EcjfOveiUJdU5SqZTf3O0UsD9gO6JKWUkbZ0/s320/Spider.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was the size of my palm</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div>
Alofa Atu,</div>
<div>
Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-65872292708266191802015-08-23T16:28:00.001-07:002015-08-23T16:29:16.469-07:00Ezekiel 34:1-16<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcifA_9Pe1vXIvZNt66KcjETyKJWcxvZfz7QXUvsQnKepTojeYqVHTHabb_l40OofFakRsZoO5ThRuB7Qre0_iIoinQbFPY1ExjgQZJPSibMZNxsOvp07DUblXTRkBG1BxBADAA4eGRdY/s1600/Making+koko+samoa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcifA_9Pe1vXIvZNt66KcjETyKJWcxvZfz7QXUvsQnKepTojeYqVHTHabb_l40OofFakRsZoO5ThRuB7Qre0_iIoinQbFPY1ExjgQZJPSibMZNxsOvp07DUblXTRkBG1BxBADAA4eGRdY/s320/Making+koko+samoa.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making koko samoa</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This week we had a zone conference with our mission president right
before he left. We focused on Ezekiel 34:1-16. It talks about how the
shepherds of Israel are feeding themselves instead of feeding the flock.<br />
<br />
We talked about how as missionaries we are representatives of the Lord
Jesus Christ and we are His shepherds taking care of his sheep here on
earth. We are given the responsibility to care for the flock, bring back
those that are lost, bind that which is broken, and heal the sick. But
many times we focus on ourselves rather then the flock. We get lazy and
think of our own needs before those who we have responsibility to care
for and watch over. When the shepherd does not care for the flock it
scatters and the sheep become prey for the wolves who try to destroy the
flock.<br />
<br />
This parable is about missionary work. We are given the
responsibility of taking care of God's children here in Samoa. Every day
we have countless opportunities to either take care of the people here,
or to take care of ourselves. Even little things like sleeping in for a
few minutes extra, leaving the house late, coming home early, listening
to worldly music, and not preparing properly for lessons are things that
someone who really cares for the people would not do.<br />
<br />
Satan does not
take days off. He and his followers are trying 24/7 to scatter and
destroy the flock of the Lord. If we are lazy for a day, if maybe we are
too tired to go out and proselyte, then Satan gains ground. If we are
too busy feeding the natural man to do the work of the Lord then we are
not doing our duty.<br />
<br />
I know that after this life I will stand before God
and He will ask me where His flock is. If I have done my duty and cared
for them then I will be rewarded. But if I have to answer, " um... well I
was busy eating and then Satan came and took them. So I'm not quite
sure where they are right now... maybe Satan took care of them...?" Then
I will definitely not be rewarded.<br />
<br />
<div>
All of us as members of the
church of Jesus Christ have the responsibility to find those who are
lost and bring them back. How do you want to answer to the Lord when He
asks where they are?</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Alofa atu ia te Outou,</div>
<div>
-Elder Lamoreaux</div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-16826712701913806582015-08-21T08:49:00.003-07:002015-08-21T08:49:52.300-07:00New Mission Presidents<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg94C7KiQwSIMudRHlxJPlPaXS3LvkOJh16uSYufkCr_z2ZhEnOGc0JEvC32fsVW1Vwtp-LpY84z2_Jp_keitt5IFhtpMeKWMLm2x8tcFWm7pekajtoeu14qi3cftSoPWvsC86NLwLxSEE/s1600/upoludistrict.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg94C7KiQwSIMudRHlxJPlPaXS3LvkOJh16uSYufkCr_z2ZhEnOGc0JEvC32fsVW1Vwtp-LpY84z2_Jp_keitt5IFhtpMeKWMLm2x8tcFWm7pekajtoeu14qi3cftSoPWvsC86NLwLxSEE/s320/upoludistrict.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
From Sister Tolman's blog:<br />
<br />
"We sadly announce that we have been given a medical release by the
Church. President Tolman has struggled for many months with health
issues and has developed a new condition that cannot be diagnosed or
treated here. There are not words adequate to express the sadness we
feel leaving these remarkable disciples. We love every single one of
these missionaries. We know they have great things to do and to
accomplish here in Samoa. They will continue to have our hearts and our
prayers.<br />
<br />
An interim mission president couple has been called. Elder and Sister
Saunders have been serving for 15 months in American Samoa. They have
run the mission office there and are extremely capable. They know most
of our missionaries and already love them. These missionaries will be
well-cared for and will continue to grow under their inspired and loving
leadership.<br />
<br />
A new mission president is being called. We do not know the timeline for
their arrival, but I am sure they will bring wonderful things to the
Samoa Apia Mission.<br />
<br />
It is in times like these where nothing seems to make sense that the
only thing we can do is to trust in God. I read a quote a few months
ago. It went something like this, "When trials seem unbearable, do not
trust your feelings. The only thing you can trust is the doctrine you
know about God." Trying to find the whys in a situation like this only
leads to unproductive places, so we have chosen to trust the doctrine we
know about God. We know he loves us and is working in our lives to
bring about change and growth. That doesn't mean that sometimes it won't
hurt. One of our missionaries said this week at zone conference he
believes God does His best work in times of darkness and despair. I
think that says it all. We are deeply grateful to have spent time with
your sons and daughters. We feel privileged to have cared for them and
loved them!<br />
<br />
If you wish to continue to follow the happenings of the mission, you can
do that on the Saunders blog. It can be found
at http://saundersmission.blogspot.ca"Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4840554753467119391.post-26707992907021864692015-08-18T08:44:00.004-07:002015-08-18T08:44:21.039-07:00Letter from Elder Tutunoa (Jace's first companion)<div>
Thank you so much for the email, it really means alot. Leaving
Elder Lamoreaux was really tough, its only been a week and I already
miss him so much. Would just like to take this time to thank you both
for raising such an amazing young man who loves the gospel and the work
of the Lord. I am proud to say he is a true Samoan and a worthy servant
of God. I can truly say that Elder Lamoreaux has had a huge impact in my
life and my mission, he is truly going to be a great leader here and
in the future. I will never forget my days with the great Elder
Lamoreaux</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Serving with him has also made me
want to go to the beautiful IDAHO, I pray that one day I can taste the
beautiful potatoes he speaks of. Thanks again for this very thoughtful
email have an amazing week. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Alofa atu,</div>
<div>
Elder Tutunoa </div>
Tasha L.http://www.blogger.com/profile/00143995947980120311noreply@blogger.com0