Not much to say

I am having a lot of fun here. It is still hot and I am training myself so that is cool. It is so fun to speak Marshallese. I have made so many good friends. I love this gospel and the Book of Mormon. Hopefully I can send pictures next week.

The hardest week....

This was one of the hardest weeks of my life. But, there were still miracles. Not much happened this week except a few things.

I learned to follow the spirit. We were walking to one of our last lessons of the night. I stop... look to the left... see a house. A house that we have been trying to teach fro a while. I hear "do it". We go and knock on the door. It is a Fijian guy. He lets us in and tells us that usually he comes to his house for a few minutes, but then goes to his friend's house. Tonight he was planning on staying in. Because we followed the spirit, we were able to get in tough with him and see when he will be home to teach him.

I got my first convert this week. It was a great feeling. I love all these experiences that have happened and love being a missionary.

Side note: Elder Lal who is from Fiji is Elder Hanks companion. They live in the same house as Elder Underwood and Elder Hanks. Elder Lal knows Aaron Peery (Cousin Madison Underwood's husband) from when he was on his mission in Fiji. Aaron says he is happy to see the less active boy - Elder Lal - on a mission. What a small world.

Transfer Day

A lot happened this week. Elder Day is leaving from our district and that was sad - so we went to tide table and had dinner.

I had my first zone conference. My trainer and I did a training and president said we did really well so I take his word for it. Then transfers. They told us that Elder Mower and I were staying together, then when they announced it - they were like "that's not right". Then they put Mower with Elder Lal training him and me with Elder Hanks and he is finishing my training. There are 4 elders in Uliga now. Elder Lal is from Fiji and he is the man. Really ready to be out here and serve. Fun fact Elder Hanks was on the Kiribati side, and he just came to the Marshalls. He is fluent in Kiribiati, but knows next to no Marshallese. So he is training me to be a missionary, but I am training him in the language. It will be fun.

On Saturday, I saw my first baptism. It wasn't mine, but I went to it to support. The spirit and love I felt there was overwhelming. It has helped me strive to help others come to that point in their life.

Also - I haven't seen conference, so no spoilers!!

 MTC group together for Zone Conference

 Elder Justus Peterson and Elder Underwood

Elder Hanks

SIDE NOTE - Elder Hanks is from Bountiful, Utah. My mom connected with his mom on facebook to get "the story" because I didn't know why Elder Hanks was transferred from Kiribati to the Marshalls and finding his biological mom. The Hanks family adopted twin boys from the Marshall Islands 20 years ago (one of them is Elder Hanks). They went to Majuro and spent a week there to pick up the babies. The birth mom spent a week with them and they grew to love her spending this time with her. It was a blessing for Elder Hanks to get called back to this mission. When President Larkin learned of this situation, he wanted Elder Hanks to have the opportunity to re-connect and find his Marshallese family. The Hanks family anticipated and were hopeful that something would happen. Elder Hanks' mom sent pictures of the birth mom and things and places that we knew so Elder Hayden Hanks would have that to go on. He gave those pictures and information to the AP and President Larkin so they would be able to search for her, knowing she was on the island of Ebeye. A couple of weeks ago, they found her and quickly made travel plans to make it happen! The twins also have a biological sister in Idaho that they keep in touch with. The Hanks family was able to have a Skype call with Elder Hanks, his twin that is at home working, the sister in Idaho, the parents and the biological mom. It is a miracle and a dream come true.

Why I am a missionary

To start the week, we had a going away party for one elder and one sister. These parties are pretty big because the members put them together for the missionaries. There was food and island dancing, super fun.

We got ourselves into some service that was way too much work. They asked us to tile a floor. We didn't realize that they didn't have any of the tools we need and no way to get them. It was hard and took a lot of time. Now we know what projects we shouldn't do.

The mission is the most fun, most hard and most challenging part of my life. A lot of the time it is too hot, too early, and too wet to get up. We could choose to sleep in, not study, and mess around all day. No that would be too easy. We get up before the sun, work out, and start studying do then we can go to 8 hours in the hot, wet outdoors. How do we do it? I have wondered the same thing myself. Some people say it would be nice if we got everything without any struggle, we would be weak! Then wehn something hard comes up in our life, we wouldn't know how to handle it! I am grateful for all of the trials the Lord has put in my life because they are for my benefit and for the strength of my spirit and body. I am doing this because I love the gospel, I love Christ, and I love it way too much to not share it.

 Garbage

 Sweet dramatic person

 The flowers here are unreal

 Fish

A full rainbow. You could see both spots it touched the ground

I love the Book of Mormon!

This week was really busy, a lot of non-missionary work to help the APs, DL, and ZL but it was fun.

I tried dog and turtle this week. Dog is really good, tastes like steak almost. Turtle is so good, I can't even describe it. Almost like a pig and a fish had a baby.

I have been teaching a lot more. Mostly the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. The spirit knows so many languages. It is cool to see it help me say what they need to hear. The gift of tongues is so real.

There was a party for these government boats this past Saturday and the ward was supposed to sing at it. Practice at 3 pm and the party starts at 4. We show up at 3 and no one is there. Go to a lesson and come back at 4. No one is there. Go do a bunch of stuff and wait from 6:30-7:30. Then we were like "we don't have time for this." It started at 9 and didn't end until 12, so that is Marshallese time for ya.

We had a few district dinners at the bishop's house and it was good, American food, and then one of their sons wanted to wrestle and I will just leave it at that.

I love the Book of Mormon!

 Food: Top - fish, coconut, dog. Bottom - turtle, hot dog, boiled banana (bleh)

 Marshallese donuts

 My best friend - Lino

 Sunset boi

Elders Mower (my trainer), Tefteller (Day's trainer), Day (intake brother), Me