Say "Cheese"

"Life is Good Here"

Well I’m glad to hear from everyone! It’s really nice to get emails. But I will write all of you here. It is much easier. First off, congrats Talmage! Didn’t see that coming! haha it’s about time! And Manti isn’t too far away soo maybe I’ll just take a trip for a day! No big deal. haha just kidding Dad. Happy birthday to Robert and Nelson! haha 28 is a fun age I guess.

Spencer I haven't heard anything about a storm. We don’t hear anything. But that sounds scary but also really fun. I mean who doesn’t enjoy a good storm!? A couple days of no power and just hunkering down and having fun, I would really enjoy it.

Kjarsta life sounds fun and unpredictable. But hey what’s life without a little excitement! It’s like your own hurricane sandy. Just move everywhere! haha your kids will be really confused on where they tell people they are from. "Well I’m from Idaho, Washington and Utah; I never really lived in one spot to really say I’m just from that spot." Well sounds great to me. Sounds like the kids are doing really good.

Okay soo mom I bought a bike because they want all of us to have one regardless. And actually no I didn’t buy a helmet. We had three in my room. I’ll just steal one of those. So I was filling up the font the other day and I was just playing the piano and I realized that I could have done this. I can play some songs with both hands; Just really slowly. haha I just had to figure out where to put my hands. But I wish I had time to play piano because I probably would. 

This week was really frustrating. I have really been seeing the adversary working against my investigators. James we haven't seen in a few days. He didn’t come to church and we are really struggling to try to teach him all the commandments. We had to push his baptism date back. Victor said he doesn’t want to be baptized but Vincent does. And Vincent is the one that smokes. So I dunno. They haven’t been going to church either. There mom had a party and we showed up at their house Sunday morning to get Victor and Vincent and there were beer cans all over the place. Her boys weren’t home because she had a party. It was frustrating.  Floyd came but he doesn’t want to quit smoking because he doesn’t think it’s wrong. And he says it helps him cope with his problems. We picked up a new investigator but he had a problem with drugs. He and his family come to church usually but his mom had a birthday so they didn’t. I’m seeing a pattern. The people here have a big problem with the word of wisdom and they don’t come to church. 

I bought a 28 pound pumpkin last week and I will hopefully carve it today! haha rugby was really fun last week. I really like it. And no one got decked or hurt. But I am way out of shape. Other than my investigators the week was good. We had two less actives come to church and they both enjoyed it. And we set up two more appointments with two more families who are less active. It’s really sad we have 50% inactivity here in our stake. That’s soooo much!!!! And they don’t have the man power to home teach or visit teach all of them. And I know a lot would come back if they were visited. Life is good here. hmm I don’t know what else to tell ya... 

Oh it was the last day of the transfer yesterday. But we don’t know if we actually get transferred till Tuesday. But I had my interview with the pres and he already told me. I’ll stay with Kulu, and Kulu might be district leader. haha president congratulated me on changing him. I didn’t do anything. He was a good missionary when I came in. I think he just likes me. And he didn’t really like his other companions. 

Well if you want to know more, questions help give my emails some structure. 

Love you all take care. Elder Salmon

"no wishy washy stuff"

So, first ill answer all your questions. What i usually do is i have cereal for breakfast, and then something with my tortillas for lunch. with any left overs that people give us. I have never made dinner because they provide us with on each night. so that's really good. And its awesome because i am getting so many authentic Polynesian food and Mexican food. like really good stuff. And i dunno the people here are always trying to feed us. the Poly's like to give us food and rides. it feels like im in another country because there are a lot of times when I'm in a home and they dont speak english. I hear lots of Tongan, Spanish, Swahili, and Arabic and random African dialects. Only because we are teaching two different families from Sudan. ones a member and one is James Deng. But the food is also damaging to my weight. we dont get to work out as much. and im doing my best to stay fit. haha kulu walks fast so thats good. I am aroung 195 right now. which is not bad. I haven't gained in the field. but I gained a little in the MTC.

 

And for right now mom i can't think of anything i need. i just bought a nice new bike. i got a discount and it super nice. i bought it for $300 so that will take a hit to my bank account. but i don't think ill need to buy anything else really. We are still walking however because Kulu doesn't have a bike. Some other Elder took it in the other mission. Did you know? our mission was split right before i got to the field. so its even smaller now. That's why they had me wait till the end of august to report.

 

It is getting cold mom, i have an umbrella and hats. ill be fine for right now. i just need to buy boots and maybe a scarf. i have gloves. found some in the room I'm in from the last missionary. Today we are carving pumpkins and maybe playing rugby. kinda excited. i hope I'm on Elder Kulu's team.

 

So this week was okay. Talked to a lot of people who are just not interested. Our tracting/talking to people kinda goes like this. We greet them and force them to introduce themselves and shake there hands, then we don't give them a chance to speak and we just ask straight up if they have had the opportunity to be baptised. if they say no we tell them about the book of Mormon and restoration and ask if we can set up a time to meet with them. forward and direct. make them make a decision. no wishy washy stuff. if they say yes then we ask what faith and then we talk about the book of Mormon and the restoration and ask if we can set up a time to tell them more. hahaha basically the exact same thing. we are right too the point here. We are trained to not waste time on people that done want to hear what we have to say and to only talk to people who are prepared to hear the word. the work is increasing!!! This week we ran into an anti inactive member. Ya its so hard talking with people like her because she has absolutely no light left. none. she said she believes the stuff online. And we all know how truthful things are online. and she interprets all the scriptures wrong and when we false her she gets angry. so we dont talk to her anymore. there is no use. we also ran into some J.W.s haha. any advice Dad? we dont want to bash but that doesn't mean i cant be prepared with what they are going to throw at me. they didn't want to talk. they just walked away from us.

 

So my big miracle, are teaching a man named James Deng. he has a family with 6 kids and a wife. we are just teaching him because its hard enough just to get him to understand us. English is his 3rd or 4th language. So we try to teach him in Arabic. We give him a pamphlet and have him read it. then we try to explain it in english to him. Its good cause he is catholic and knows the bible really well. so he understand a lot. We got him an english Book of Mormon as well as an Arabic one. and he reads from them everyday. he wants to be baptized because he sees that we do it the same way as Jesus and he understand that we are the only church that has the authority. he knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and also Thomas S Monson is a prophet. i think we will have a translator with us next lesson with him. we took him to temple square. They didn't have an Arabic speaking sister... :( so we did our best i english. the funny part was the sister didn't speak english too well themselves so it was broken English talking to broken English and i was translating for both of them! hahahaha. but it was a good lesson and he said he had a really good feeling. he is really humble and so kind. the family is sooo good too. they are always cleaning the house. the oldest daughter who is only 6 or 7 leads the cleaning of the kitchen. she is awesome.  and there family is soo good. i really really want this for them. he is big on family and i want him to be sealed in the temple!!!!!!!

 

ya mom so keep me posted on the fam because only you, dad and Hannah write me! and Dan and Ben i have there stickers on my name tag. and Spencer wrote me once and claire wrote me once.. but its okay family i know your busy. and actually i would have time to read all of them and answer all of you. soo its all good. that goes for letters too. short and sweet are the best. I'm doing really great. I love you all. Keep up the good work and ALWAYS stand as a witness. that's the best missionary work that we can do.

 

Love Elder Salmon