Sunday, September 27, 2015

BUSY BUSY BUSY WEEK!

Malo Lava Aiga!

Well this week was soooo busy! And very very hot and humid! and riding bikes all over doesnt help! haha. Here it is starting to turn into the hot and humid season so yayyyyy! haha! We had 2 baptisms this week for Iosefo and Fili and man let me tell you they are so cool! So I got the oppurtunity to baptize and confirm Fili. It was so awesome to see how the gospel affected their lives and how much the ward loved them and took them in with open arms!

The language is coming! its really cool because I have found I can speak a lot more then I think I can! I just have to try! The gift of tongues is sooo real and I have found it to be so in lessons especially! The spirit definently translates for me! haha!

This week we were talking to our stake presdient and he had this quote on his wall that we thought was really cool! "God grant me the serenity to accept things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference!" And I have been thinking about that so much this week and how we control most of what happens in our lives and the outcome and we just need to be humble and smart enough to tell the difference! haha!

Well food this week was really good! I have some pictures to send! First off, Pizza here is the greatest food ever created under the sun! I dont know what it is but it is the best food ever! This week too we had a lot of seafood so that was really cool! In one of our dinners the guy went fishing right before and freshly caught us all the stuff he fed us and it was awesome crab and fish and this snail type stuff and it was awesome!

This week we were sooo busy just running all over and we had companion exchanges this week with our zone leaders and that was really cool! One of our Zone leaders doesnt speak very good english and I was with him for the day and it was actually really cool because I learned so much samoan language words and phrases and stuff!

My studies this week have just been in Preach my Gospel on the lessons and how I can better teach and the most effect way to teach!

Thats kinda the jist of this week! This week has been just awesome, busy, hot, tiring but most of all rewarding! I have learned so much this week and it scares me soo much how fast it is going! Thank you all for the love and support for me and I love and miss you all!

Love, Elder Fawson

Sunday, September 20, 2015

3 months!

Malo lava aiga!

Well its crazy I have already been out for more then 3 months! Where has the time gone?! its crazy to even think about! This week our new mission president came in and we havent had the chance to meet him but his name President Hanneman and they are from Hawaii! He served in this mission back in the day! We are excited to meet him!

This week has been sooooo hectic! We have 4 baptisms coming up this saturday so it has been crazy busy doing lessons and everything! first is Iosefo and Fili and they are two parents and all their kids have been baptized and now they have the desire and know its true! its a really cool situation! They are really awesome and soo funny and loving! The other two is Vealeui and Faaleo and they are an older couple that has been taking lessons for a while and well the spirit is working on them and they finally made the decision they want to be baptized! They are so loving and always so nice! 

I have seen soo many blessings and how much the lord knows each and everyone of us! This week was just cool because on tuesday we had this situation where it was like 6 and our dinner canceled and we had to go home and get something and we didnt really have any food to eat so we were a little stressed on what we were going to do and Elder Johansen and I just decided to keep doing visits and hope something would work and we would go "Feed our Sheep" instead of ourselves haha and we went to one of our visits and they were busy but she gave us a big thing of peanut butter and jelly and bread and thought that we would need it! it was kinda crazy how it was just a testimony builder to me and how when we put the lord first everything else works out! needless to say we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that night! lol

So in one of our wards has this guy and his name is Richard Brown and played linebacker in the NFL for a couple years then was a scout! He is the coolest guy and always gives us the best advice and everything! so this week we invited him to one of our lessons and that was really awesome so we had a lesson with a NFL player present! I will have to check that off the bucket list! lol! His wife always brings us food and stuff! They are soooo nice to us! And he always wants us to come over and teach his son some basketball! haha

One thing I have realized has been a blessing in my life is living in a few different places because I relate so sooo many more people because I have lived where they have or just by them! Its just really cool because it builds like a little relationship just because we both lived in Las Vegas or California or Utah! haha 

One funny moment this week was in a visit with a less active family we were sharing a spiritual thought and all of a sudden "The Climb" By miley cyrus came on and my comp and i look at eachother and it was just the funniest moment! lol 

This week in my studies and just studied about the lessons and really trying to get them in my head and how to teach them the best! So yea!

Well thats kinda it this week! Thank you guys for all the love and support for me and for everything you have done for me! I love and miss you guys!

Love, Elder Fawson

Zone after playing soccer 
These are supreme ramen noodles!
Their zone leaders were over and they realized they all had the same color ties on!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

He ate shark!!!!!

Malo Aiga!

This week was crazy busy! full of lessons and restrengthening recent converts and less actives! It was really cool because some of the people we visited this week came to church yesturday and it is one of the best feelings and it just makes all the work worth it to see them there and happy!

Well one thing I have learned is how tiring missionary work is! We go from visit to visit to visit till 9 then we plan and well as you can imagine I lay down and it takes about 43 seconds for me to fall asleep! Its so crazy! then it feels like the blink of an eye and my alarm clock says 6:25! haha

So here in Samoa this week the Youth Common Wealth Games were held and it was crazy because we are in the town area so we get to deal with all that traffic and everything! haha! we could hear all the announcements and everything from the stadium in our house! haha! One of the coolest parts too was that on Saturday at the closing ceremony they had fireworks! And Its the first time in a while that there has been fireworks in Samoa! So It was cool to see them and EVERYONE was outside watching them! It was really cool!

This was a goooood food week! First off, I love oka! It is one of the best foods ever! oka is raw fish in coconut milk and it doesnt sound to good but it is sooooo good! and so speaking of fish... I had SHARK this week! and that was really cool! It tastes like a dense fish kinda like chicken! its good! and the beginning of this week at a dinner we had fish and litterally they go catch a fish or go to the market and get one and throw it on the fire cook it and give it to you! so I had some fish eye this week too! haha but its like just picking apart a fish! its good! I also LIVE OFF this ramen noodles called supreme saimini! and Man is it good! pretty much every lunch! And this week I also had pizza! TWICE! It is sooooo good! The pizza here is sooo bomb! But anyway some good food this week!

We have a couple of baptisms in the next weeks! We have lots of progressing investigators and it cool to really so how the gospel blesses lives of others! It makes all the long days and hot and sweaty white shirts worth it!

In my studies this week I really studied in Preach my Gospel and how i can become a better missionary! I studied a lot of Christlike Attributes like humility, diligence, hope, and patience! and I also studied in D and C and also my partriachal blessing! And I feel like I learned sooo much!!

Thats kinda the jist for this week! Thank you guys for all you do for me and for all the love and support for me

Love, Elder Fawson

Sunday, September 6, 2015

First 6 weeks in the mission!

Malo Aiga!

Its crazy to me that I have already been in the mission for a full transfer cycle now! and My first planner of 17! haha! This week was really awesome! We had a baptism for this 11 year old boy named Tala! Hes such a cool kid and he is the first kid in his family baptized and the coolest thing is yesturday his parents came to church and wants to start lessons! It was seriously so cool to see how one little boys decision can impact his family forever! 

One crazy thing I have noticed being here is that I just like "hunger" to study! back home you probably would never catch me studying or even reading! haha! But I feel like I just want to read and study the BOM and Preach My Gospel like all day! Its crazy! 

So one awesome thing this week too was in our area there is this print shop where you can print pictures and stuff and Elder Johansen and I went in there to see how much it would be and we met this guy shane! HE SPOKE ENGLISH!!!! And we talked with him about like the prices and what they do and stuff and somehow someway we got talking about the Book of Mormon and we had almost a little lesson with him and hes interested and so we are meeting with him again in the next few days! It really opened my eyes about missionary work! It just takes that little spark of interest and thats what the spirit works off! 

And yet again this week we had a pig in our shower! haha I guess they just love it in there! haha Probably one of the funnest things is Elder Johansen and I quote Jim gaffigan and Nacho Libre all the time and whenever we are down or just tired we start quoting and we just start dieing of laughter! Its so funny!

My language is actually getting better! The gift of tongues is so real! I have noticed that in lessons I can understand a lot of what the person is saying! Its so cool! I can kinda speak it and it is surely coming slowly everyday! 

Being on a mission has opened my eyes on how powerful the gospel is and the happiness it brings to others! I know its true with out any doubt! I know the Book of Mormon is absolutley true! I Promise just like in 3 Nephi 18: 18-19 Ask and ye shall Recieve! We just have to ask!

I love you guys and miss you soo much! Thank you for all the love and support! 

Love, Elder Fawson