Week 70 - Vavau
it's been a while since i emailed but lets hit yall with the updates:
- the work is going great over here in Vavau with my awesome companion elder semeatu, we are working hard in our area and are loving working with the whole zone! yesterday i had a chance to go on an all day split with elder te'o! elder te'o and i went to the mtc together and this is the first time we have been in the same zone together in the field. it was such an awesome day catching up with him and really noticing how much we have both changed but how close we still are.
- this next month is looking amazing!! if everything goes according to plan, we should be marrying 5 part member couples and baptizing one member of each couple. it has been super busy trying to work everything out with these couples, in fact today we just got back from town where we had to check whether or not the previous divorce of one of the couples went through, so that they can get married to their new partner. and thankfully it was all good! the work here in upolu is sooo much different for a number of reasons. number one, there are many more people here in general. number 2, the wards are for the most part stronger. number 3, there is much less influence of the culture and people being afraid of what others think about them. therefore it really gives people more freedom to choose what they actually want to do and actually do it.
- we had a lesson yesterday with a speech giver in the 7th day adventist church and he totally bashed us haha but he really was respectful. although the lesson was super long i really appreciated it because it tested my patience haha. the thing that was frustrating was that he was sharing all this stuff about the bible that we don't necessarily disagree with and he was trying to use everything he was saying as like proof against the gospel. we could've gone on all day but all we were trying to do was invite him to read and understand the importance of the book of mormon, but he wouldn't accept it. it's these kind of times that truly make me so grateful for my testimony in the book of mormon and my knowledge of its truthfulness. there is so much confusion and legit "contest of opinions" as i believe joseph smith put it. how grateful are we to have the book of mormon and the restored gospel. the peace and happiness it brings is unparalleled. i love in the preach my gospel chapter 5 how it describes the book of mormon as like 1) a testament to the divinity of jesus christ and 2) convincing evidence of the restoration of the church through the prophet joseph smith. so it covers both bases in helping us truly know that jesus christ lives and is truly the son of god who came to accomplish and champion the father's plan, and that his church and his gospel have been restored in these latter days, through the prophet joseph smith. i love and think often about jacob's words in 2 nephi 9, "O how great the goodness of our god... o how great the plan of our god," as well as the lyrics to my new favorite hymn, "how great the wisdom and the love"
How great, how glorious, how complete
Redemption's grand design,
Where justice, love, and mercy meet
In harmony divine!
Elder Love <3
- the work is going great over here in Vavau with my awesome companion elder semeatu, we are working hard in our area and are loving working with the whole zone! yesterday i had a chance to go on an all day split with elder te'o! elder te'o and i went to the mtc together and this is the first time we have been in the same zone together in the field. it was such an awesome day catching up with him and really noticing how much we have both changed but how close we still are.
- this next month is looking amazing!! if everything goes according to plan, we should be marrying 5 part member couples and baptizing one member of each couple. it has been super busy trying to work everything out with these couples, in fact today we just got back from town where we had to check whether or not the previous divorce of one of the couples went through, so that they can get married to their new partner. and thankfully it was all good! the work here in upolu is sooo much different for a number of reasons. number one, there are many more people here in general. number 2, the wards are for the most part stronger. number 3, there is much less influence of the culture and people being afraid of what others think about them. therefore it really gives people more freedom to choose what they actually want to do and actually do it.
- we had a lesson yesterday with a speech giver in the 7th day adventist church and he totally bashed us haha but he really was respectful. although the lesson was super long i really appreciated it because it tested my patience haha. the thing that was frustrating was that he was sharing all this stuff about the bible that we don't necessarily disagree with and he was trying to use everything he was saying as like proof against the gospel. we could've gone on all day but all we were trying to do was invite him to read and understand the importance of the book of mormon, but he wouldn't accept it. it's these kind of times that truly make me so grateful for my testimony in the book of mormon and my knowledge of its truthfulness. there is so much confusion and legit "contest of opinions" as i believe joseph smith put it. how grateful are we to have the book of mormon and the restored gospel. the peace and happiness it brings is unparalleled. i love in the preach my gospel chapter 5 how it describes the book of mormon as like 1) a testament to the divinity of jesus christ and 2) convincing evidence of the restoration of the church through the prophet joseph smith. so it covers both bases in helping us truly know that jesus christ lives and is truly the son of god who came to accomplish and champion the father's plan, and that his church and his gospel have been restored in these latter days, through the prophet joseph smith. i love and think often about jacob's words in 2 nephi 9, "O how great the goodness of our god... o how great the plan of our god," as well as the lyrics to my new favorite hymn, "how great the wisdom and the love"
How great, how glorious, how complete
Redemption's grand design,
Where justice, love, and mercy meet
In harmony divine!
Elder Love <3
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(NOTE: These maps are included by Elder Love's dad)
Elder Love was transferred recently from Fagamalo on northern Savai'i to Vavau on southern Upolu:
Elder Love's first area was American Samoa, which you can see here in relation to where he is currently serving:
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