New Mission Presidents

 

From Sister Tolman's blog:

"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.

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.

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.

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!

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"

Letter from Elder Tutunoa (Jace's first companion)

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

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. 

Alofa atu,

Elder Tutunoa  

Work

Well, this week has been one of the hardest on my mission. I've been trying to get my comp used to the area and the investigators and ward members and I been trying to do that in a language that I don't know. Its been kind of hard and I let myself get pretty stressed out. I know that's a sissy thing to do, but I did it anyways.

On Sunday after church I was sick of being worried and stressed, I was doing my personal gospel study and thoughts just kept thinking "why isn't there just a book or something on how to adjust to all the new things I have to do as a missionary? Why can't someone just tell me how to take care of this all?" and then, guess what I found? A book called "Adjusting to Life as a Missionary". Dandy. Haha I laughed at myself and read the book. It helped me re-focus on what is most important and help me not to expect too much of myself.

I know that right now I am where I am supposed to be, I am comps with the guy I am supposed to be comps with, and I am being given the trials I am supposed to be given. I know that I am given this mission to lay a foundation for the rest of my life, and I am given specific trials to lay a foundation for the rest of my mission.

I know that the only way to improve is to keep working. We can pray and study and make all the plans we want, but without the work there is no point. This work is called "missionary work" because that is what it is, work. Work is not easy. If it was easy then there would be no point it. Work is hard, and we are put on this earth to work.

Hey if you could all remember Mission president Tolman and his wife in your prayers please. They both have to go home because of medical conditions. So we will be getting a new mission president soon. 

Well time is short,

Love you all and I hope you have a good week.

-Elder Lamoreaux

Companion Transfer

Elder Tutunoa and I

Wellllll.....An emergency transfer happened this morning and [Elder Tutunoa] got transferred to the other side of the island to be a zone leader! I'm pretty proud of the little guy but I'm gonna miss him a ton. My new comp is elder Laulu from Salt Lake City. An American! Wow. He's an awesome Elder and I'm going to learn a lot from him.

This week I learned that if you get comfortable on a mission then you had better watch out because the Lord is going to throw something at you. I was comfortable as Junior comp, in an area I am used to, my comp does most the talking, I'm used to my comp, I'm comfy. Boom. ET. New comp, I do most the talking, I don't have that senior comp to rely on anymore, I'm not used to my companion. 

 

I was thinking about this and I realized that the mission is laying a foundation for the rest of my life. If I become spiritually strong on my mission then I will be spiritually strong after my mission. 

 

Our bodies won't get strong if we don't exercise them and when you are exercising it hurts, it's not comfortable, but you are growing stronger. The same is true for our spirits. If we are spiritually comfortable then we will now be growing. This doesn't mean that you should always be uncomfortable, not at all. If you exercise 24/7 then it wouldn't be good for your body. But every day we should do things that are hard for our bodies if we want them to be strong. Once again this it true for our spirits. Every day we should do things that are not easy, reading the scriptures, saying thoughtful prayers, being kind to everyone, etc.

 

The trick for strengthening your spirit is to do spiritual things even when it is inconvenient. We are not physical beings having spiritual experiences, we are spiritual beings having a mortal experience.

 

Stay strong, faamalosi, be patient, onosa'i, and always do the things you know you should, taimi uma fai mea tou te iloa e tatau ona tou faia.

alofa atu,

-Elder Lamoreaux

Attacked by dogs

Talofa lava mai Samoa, le nuu sili ona lelei!

We had 3 baptisms this week and it was the most spiritual baptismal service we have had.

The baptismal service was amazing and the spirit was really there. After the program when we were doing the baptisms the spirit was even stronger...I've never felt the spirit stronger in my life.

When I had this experience I wondered why the Lord would trust two young men to take care of the salvation of His children in this area. I don't have an answer, but I know that this mission is converting me just as much as the people I am teaching. Right now my testimony is stronger then it ever has been before, and its still growing.

I am humbled that I am given this opportunity to become totally converted to the gospel and help others start on the same path. I know that the baptism is the first gate to the kingdom of God, but baptism by itself can not save us. People can be baptized and have a strong testimony and still fall away from the gospel. But if someone is truly converted to the gospel then they will never fall away.

This week my comp and I have been talking a lot about how we don't care how many baptisms we get in our missions, but we do care how many souls we convert. But then we realized that we can't convert people, only the spirit can. People have to chose to become converted. I can say that I have had one convert on my mission so far, myself.

 Anyways, I've started working out more to I don't get so fat. I've gotten kind of chubby I think.

Another fun thing that happened this week, my comp any I got attacked by a pack of dogs. We're alive and well though. We saw the dogs coming as we were walking to one of our visits and so we started throwing rocks at them and that kept them away for a while, but then we ran out of rocks and they tried to eat us. They didn't bite us a lot because my comp is Samoan and he is pretty good at punching dogs. We got away because we ran across the road as a bunch of cars were coming so the beasts couldn't follow us.

Just the everyday view, no big deal.

So yeah, that's the life right now.

Alofa atu!
-Elder Lamoreaux

Obedience is the Key to Happiness

This week we had interviews with President Tolman because this week is transfers. This mission is blessed to have an amazing man as president. He is changing the culture of this mission. When he got here, Samoa was one of the top missions for missionaries being sent home for breaking rules, but with guidance from the Lord President Tolman has changed the culture of disobedience to a culture of exact obedience. The mission has come a long way from where it was, and it still has a long way to go, but it is moving quickly in the right direction.

When I met with president this week, I set goals to become an exactly obedient missionary. I am trying to focus on the little things that might not seem like a big deal, like sleeping in for a few minutes past 6:30, or returning to the house a little bit before 9, or not studying for the entire study time each day. These things are little, but I know if I do them I will be blessed to become a great missionary. My companion always says that good is the enemy of great. I could have a good mission and still sleep in every day or do other small acts of disobedience. It's easy to have a good mission. But the mission is the foundation to the rest of my life, so I want a great mission.

Samoans have a saying "I le fa'amaoni o mea laitiiti, 'o le 'a  fa'atino mea tele" By being faithful in little things, great things come to pass. I know that if we are exactly obedient we will be blessed with happiness and joy and have a great life.

We had 4 baptisms this week. 4 siblings named Tamaapa'a, So'otaga, Sefulua'i, and Blessing.

With young kids sometimes it seems that they don't really understand the gospel when they are first baptized, but when I baptized these kids I remembered the scripture that says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it". While these kids don't understand perfectly, they know that what they are doing is right, and they will eventually come to know why in it right. In John 7: 17 it teaches that the way to know if something is true is to do it. These kids will be blessed with powerful testimonies as they continue to live the gospel.

Here in Samoa they actually celebrate Pioneer day as well. I taught our whole ward the "Cotton-Eyed-Joe" dance and they did it at the Stake Pioneer Day celebration. They were all really...funny to watch.

 

Giant okualua (centipede) - Yum.

Alofa atu ia te Outou!

Chopping through the jungle

This week my comp and I got to baptize 2 people. Their names are Julie and Tutulu. Julie is 15 and she and her mom are the only active members of their family. Tutulu is 12 and the only member in her family. It is neat to see these two gain a testimony on the restored gospel and act on that testimony. I know that they will face a ton of opposition from family and friends as they remain active in the church, but I also know that they will be blessed by our Heavenly Father for their faithfulness.

It's interesting to see how people come to know of the truth of the gospel and are blessed as they accept it. Many people don't accept the gospel because it is hard to live in accordance with it's teachings. But I know that after this life we will receive a reward of everything that our leader has. There are only two eternal leaders, Jesus and Satan, If someone chooses to follow Satan then they will receive a fullness of everything that Satan has to give them. But if we follow Jesus then we will receive every thing he has promised us. So lets be careful in all of our decisions to follow the right leader.

I have learned this week that its a lot easier to do something hard if its your only option. Haha I thought of that when I was taking a shower, a cold shower because there isn't any hot water in Samoa. I laughed when I thought of it but I found that its a good way to make hard decisions. If you know that the right choice it going to be hard, then just eliminate the other options.  Haha I hope that makes sense, it make sense to me.

Always make sure that yous are doing all the little things, like reading the Book of Mormon every day and saying prayers morning and night. There is no better way to keep the spirit with you. That's the wonderful thing about the gospel, it is really quite simple, but there is no greater reward. 

We baptized 3 primary kids too.

 

Haha no, I can't get shoe goo here. Yeah my sandals died. I got my replacement shirt. The pants that they sent me  were the wrong ones. They sent me some grey ones instead of the tan khaki ones, its not a big deal... but I really liked the tan ones. ;)

 

Here's a picture of me doing a small service project of chopping through the jungle.

 

 Galuega fesoasoani mo se tagata o Samoa. Ou te fiafia tele le fa'aogaina o le sapelu.