Last week of my first transfer!

Malo Aiga!

This week was awesome! On Tuesday, Elder Robbins of the seventy presidency and Elder Halleck of the seventy came and spoke to us! It was cool because It was all of the island Upolu there and only Upolu so it made me really happy to be on Upolu right now haha! Elder Hallech talked about just making our time count and to give the mission everything we have! Elder Robbins was awesome and talked about when we teach investigators we need to be walking in the same path with them and basically being their guides to eternal life haha! He talked a lot about Faith and Trials too. How we only apreciate light when we have darkness and it really is so true! Thats why we have trials is so that we can realize what we have and humble ourselves and thats when the lord blesses us. Just like Ether 12:6!

This week was really cool too because I finished the Book of Mormon! I decided that thats the first thing I want to do is read through the BOM again at the beginning of my misison! I started it July 30th and for an hour everyday in personal study and in sacrament and stuff and I finished it on August 30th! I know it is true without a shadow of a doubt! When I read it just answers any questions I have or anything I am pondering. I love the Book of Mormon. I have a bunch of verses that I loved but I decided that the whole thing is my favorite so just go read the whole thing! haha!

My super favorites were

3 Nephi 12:47

Mormon 8:24 "With his name you can remove mountains"

and all of 3 Nephi and Moroni! haha

On Wednesday night for our dinner it was awesome! The guy was a fisherman and he gave us Barracuda! It is so freakin good! And the best part is they gave us CHOCOLATE MILK and gave us red velvet cake! It was the best haha! One other food related blessing we had this week was our Stake Presidents wife gave us some home made brownies and you cannot even imagine Elder Johansen and I's excitement! They tasted soooooo good! You dont appreciate those things till you dont have them for a while haha!

Elder Johansen and I never have a dull moment because we just quote Nacho Libre and Jim Gaffigan all day! haha

One of the many good things about missionary work is we get home a plan and do area book work for a little bit and around 9;45 we are getting read for bed and I literally lay down and before you know it I am sleeping! Its like I just close my eyes and open them and its 6:30 haha! Its way cool!

If you guys are ever having a bad day just know that the other day Elder Johansen went to go shower and THERE WAS A PIG IN OUR SHOWER! haha It was the funniest thing ever! It made us laugh for so long! 

We just got a new investigator and his name is Bernard and he is 15! He is the coolest kid and wants to be baptized so we are doing his lessons and they are going awesome!

Well thank you for all the love and support! I love and miss you guys more then you can even know and you are all in my prayers! love you guys!

Love, Elder Fawson

First baptism!!!

Malo Aiga!

This week has been so crazy! We got notified last monday that President and Sister Tolman were being released for medical purposes and it was the saddest news because they are who make the mission the best! They left on Friday and we have an Interim President until they call and train a new president! Its just so crazy it was so fast! We had Zone conference on Tuesday and President Tolman and Sister Tolman were there and he was talking to us about it and you could just feel his love for the mission and how much it ment to him. They said it was the hardest decision of their life to make. But I know the lord will bless them and the mission!

On Saturday was my first baptism and it was the coolest thing ever! The spirit was so strong and I didnt know the Samoan pray for it to well but when I got up there the words just flowed out of my mouth! It was one of the coolest experiences of my life!

So its kinda funny because last Pday we had a zone Pday and played basketball and the hoop was just a little bit lower and I could dunk really good and no one else could and some kids saw it and now they all call me the basketball elder and just want me to come play basketball with them and dunk because no one can dunk here! So I feel like a little superstar elder lol!

Another cool thing is that Tomorrow we have Elder Lynn Robbins of the seventy presidency coming to speak to us so that will be awesome!

My book of mormon reading was awesome this week! Its crazy how it doesnt matter where or what I read but I always find an answer to a question or something to make me a better person or missionary! Here are some good ones I read this week!

Alma 32:21

Alma 26:12

Alma 37: 36-37

Alma 37:25

Alma 38:5 Put your name in the place of Shiblon

Mathew 9:10-13

Its crazy to me how fast time flys! We are already on Week 5 of our 6 week transfer cycle! I am so excited for the work in Samoa! Thank you for everything you guys do for me and I love and miss you all! 

Love, Elder Fawson

2 month mark!

Malo Aiga!

Its crazy that 2 months ago I was being dropped off at the MTC! It seems like it was yesterday! So I better make these next 22 months count! haha!

Well this week has been really crazy! We scheduled 4 baptisms! We have a baptism this saturday for this girl named Meto! She is 19 and loves the gospel! She even wants to serve a mission! And then in 3 saturdays there is Iosepho and Fili! They are these 2 parents that have all their kids baptized but they just havent had the faith or answer from heavenly father but they said they are recieved an answer and that they know this is true and want to be baptized! The lessons are going awesome with them! and lastly is this awesome guy named Sava'i! He is in his 20's and his family is baptized but just inactive and he is loving the missionary lessons and loves the ward! He is being baptized in a 3 weeks also!

This week we have also had lots of visits with inactive's and recent converts and those are also really cool! Thats where I think my samoan has really gotten better because im the spiritual thought giver haha!

I love my companion! We always quote movies all day haha! And we sing songs but fill the words with church words lol!

The food seems to get better and better each week! I had some pig these week and let me tell ya! Thats the best! And we had lots of ulu which is bread fruit!

Humidity.... at the beginning of the week it was soooo humid! We litterally were dripping sweat just sittin at our table studying and you can only imagine how it was when we started riding our bikes around Samoa! haha! But it was also super rainy this week!! and Like Wednesday it was POURING! And we had to ride our bikes basically to the top of our our area and we live at the bottom and we got there and they said they couldnt have it so we were soaked and it was fun! Haha but man the whole time I was thinking how awesome it is to be biking through the rain to get to our investigators!

We also had dinner with our stake president this week and he is a way cool guy! He is in the translation department for the church and manages the translation from english to samoan stuff so thats way cool! And the coolest thing is he used to be a rapper and was on MTV and stuff! haha!

I am actually getting used to the cold showers! They feel a little warmer when I get in haha!

So when I first got in the field I decided I was just going to read through the BOM and so far I am at Alma 28! I have read some of the New testament this week and here are some verses I thought you guys would like:

Mosiah 27:36

Alma 5:13 and 7:23

Mathew 5:16 and 10:20

John 1:10

Luke 1:37

Thank you for everything you guys do for me! I love and miss you guys and you are all in my prayers!

Love, Elder Fawson

2nd week in Samoa!

Malo Aiga!

Weeks seem to go by so fast its crazy!! So this week was pretty awesome becasue we got to have Mcdonalds this week because its in our area! So something thats weird here is that everyone watches English movies and music! Samoans love to play music sooo loud and its like popular songs back home so we never miss a new song lol!

Food is pretty good here! One of my new favorite foods is "Oka" it is raw fish in a bowl of coconut milk with some onions and it is pretty dang good! My favorite time of the day is 6 pm because thats when our dinners are haha!

Sitting cross-legged for hours at a time is well... so hard! I feel like my legs are going to fall off and when we stand up we literally feel like they are paralyzed haha!

The language comes a little bit at a time! Everyone says that it take atleast about 3 months before you can really say stuff and understand so I am excited to do that because it is the most frustrating thing when we sit in lessons all day and I dont even understand where the lesson is going or what the invesitigator is asking or understanding and what my companion is saying! Its probably been the hardest thing for me! We have a baptizm next saturday so that is going to be really cool!

I experienced my first rainstorm on Friday and Saturday and man it POURS! I didnt know that much rain could fall! It poured rain all night and our house has a metal roof so you can only imagine what that sounded like! haha!

Being on my mission and have 1 hour a day of reading the Book of Mormon has made me have such a great love for it! I actually look forward to that hour a day because I feel like it doesnt matter where I read or what I read, I always get an answer to my question! So here are some good verses I thought you guys would like to read that I read this week:

2 Nephi 32:3, 9

Enos 1:15

Jacob 6:12 (my favorite of all time!!)

Mosiah 1:6-7

D&C 6:36

D&C 9:14

D&C 10:5

D&C 90:24

Also one thing this week that has really hit my is that the people of Samoa dont need me... I need the people and I need Samoa! Being here has truely made me so grateful for everything I have! like A/C and warm showers and a washer and dryer and just everything! I think thats why I am here:)

Well thank you all for all the love and support and I love and miss you all more than you know!

Love, Elder Fawson

First week in Samoa!

Malo Aiga! (Hello Friends and Family!)

Well this week has been super crazy! The last weekend was so long with out 13 hour flight to New Zealand and a 8 hour layover then a 4 hour flight to Samoa! Getting off the plane was kinda weird because first off it was like walking into a bathroom where a hot shower was going for like 30 min and because when I got off I felt such a piece come over me that confirmed to me that this is the right place!

Elder Johansen from Tooele, UT is my comp! He is a cool kid! He has been in the field for 10 months and his Samoan is awesome!! He is basically fluent haha! Good thing because they speak totally different here then in the MTC! It really is the hardest thing for me becuase in everything that we do I dont understand what the investigator, ward member, or person on the street is saying or what my comp says to them! So you can imagine me in lessons and yesturday in church! haha! But I am learning and I bare my testimony and say some stuff in the lessons so its coming!

So my area is called Vaimoso and it is in Apia on the island of Upolu! It is one of the biggest areas in the mission and we cover 4 wards! It basically goes from the ocean to the top of the mountain so you can imagaine how big that is! haha! We have the SICKEST house in the mission! We technically live with a family but it is a house on their property so its not like we are with them all the time so we have are space so its awesome! And the best part is we have ICE COLD showers:)

Its kinda weird cuz dogs are just everywhere! They are just street dogs and it is the saddest thing to see. For the short time I have been here I have seriously humbled myself so much because these people have nothing.. They live in huts with barely running water and their kids sleep on the bare concrete.

We have lots of lessons with Investigators and Inactives so we are always busy so thats awesome!

Its crazy being here because we have 1 hour in the morning for personal study of the scriptures and they mean so much more to me and I look at them with a whole new perspective! And as I have been read through the Book of Mormon I have noticed a pattern of words:

FAITH+DILIGENCE+PATIENCE=BLESSINGS

Its awesome to get home and go right to sleep haha! I have never been so tired in my life! I lay right down and knock out! haha! I have never prayed so much in my life nor have I ever prayed so hard in my life! I have learned to depend so much on my Heavenly Father because we cant do this alone!

It takes about 2 or 3 weeks to get mail where I am at!

Thank all for everything you do for me and all the love and support! I love and miss you all!

Love, Elder Fawson