This week honestly flew by!

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Thanks to the primary for tracing their hands for Gator's Christmas tree

Well I am still pretty amazed that it is already Monday because this week honestly flew by! Needless to say it was a good week :) I faitai'd my legs on the table. and we just did a bunch of exchanges with kids preparing for their missions and just worked hard. It was awesome :)

I also got your boxes so thank you (the shoes were greatly appreciated) #tala'imalosi 

All is going well here not really any of an update. We have two investigators with baptismal dates for the 26th this month so we are pretty stoked. 

Oh and the most random thing but I found a cactus here....I was pretty impressed haha.

Glad to hear that everything went well with the Nativity Scene. Great job mom! That's gotta feel good :) 

Congrats for Tyson also that is so cool, I can't wait for when he gets his call. :)  

I will call on the 26th here so it'll be Christmas day there. We are going to be singing in front of the government building for the valu aso program (tell Amy and Bro Schwenke) and then on the 25th we are re-building a school and having a bbq with the village.

That's all for this week, but I love you all so much! 

Alofa tele atu outou!

Elder Hunter

Pretty large storm here

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well as you all now know we had a pretty large storm here in Samoa last week. Enough so that no one could email so that was fun. Anyway a lot has changed so here is the update:

-I have officially been transferred to Navu. It covers Vaivase uta, Vaivase Itai and some other villages. It literally is in the same stake as Mata-utu so I always see people from my old area which has been cool. 

My new companions name is Elder Wolz from Nevada. He has been out for 3 months and is my first palagi companion!!!! We are white-washing the area but we are having a blast :) He is the man! Hard worker and obedient. He also acts a lot like Tanner so we are getting along just fine. 

-Thanksgiving was pretty lame, but it made me very grateful for my old ones. But I am really looking forward to Christmas calls :) 

Me and the boys

Anyway we are just working hard to get to know the area and I am loving the work :) We had two investigators commit to baptism so hopefully it all works out. Anyway I hope you all have a great week!

Alofa Atu!

Elder Hunter

I got this sick Toa Samoa jerseys from one of the players in my last area!

Don't worry, I won

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well it has been a pretty long week, sorry no long report. I am now in a triple again. 

my new hat that my friend Herbert gave me. He plays for the Toa Samoa the rugby league team here :)

My new companion's name is Elder Tauiliili. He is a native and a brand new missionary. He is waiting for his visa to go to Papa New Guinea....I already told him that I'd see him in the next life haha. 

Anyway, a funny for the week is that I got in this argument with a 9-year-old. (Don't worry, I won :) ) haha he asked what school I graduated from Pesega or Vaimoso (schools here in Samoa). I told him that I was from America but he would not believe me. Granted I was saying in it Samoan, but it was just crack up because he was like "no you're from Samoa!" A little confidence boost for my Samoan haha. 

Well Thanksgiving is coming up and I am super stoked because miraculously I found instant mashed potato mix at Frankie's store so I will have somewhat of a Thanksgiving here :) But I willl give that update next week.  

I hope you all have a great week and know that you are all dearly missed. 

Alofa Atu,

Elder Hunter

Malo Soifua

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Sorry but this week's is a short one. I have had the flu all week so I basically just layed around. It was pretty boring actually.  Just the flu, but my ear is like way clogged right now so I think I might have gotten a sinus infection.  Im fine btw so is my comp. the area is a little slow, but completely safe.

Anyway that's about it. Interesting side note though. Apparently the boxes sent to Tutuila have been making there way over here to Upolu so it may be worth trying sending one to the old address. Just saying :)  I feel plenty of support and I don't need a ton of boxes, they are soo expensive to send. 

I really have enjoyed learning to work with less stuff.

That's all for this week, I hope you all have a great week :)

Alofa Atu,

Elder Hunter

My Joke

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Sorry but I really don't have much of an update this week.

It was really busy with our Zone Conference. 

Anyways, all is going well here, I'm still just trying to get used to the area and find new investigators.

We have a Family Home Evening tonight with a part member family so that'll be fun. They are all members except for the parents, so we are really working with them.

Oh funny story, our ward mission leader asked my companion and I to give talks on Sunday. But when Saturday came they changed the program because they had an RM from Australia give her talk. We were laughing because the topic of our talks were, "Why to get married, and why to start a family."....Needless to say, our ward really wants us to get married right when we get home. Especially my comp who has 2 months left hahaha. I was kinda bummed because I had prepared a joke for the talk, I was going to say, "Jane (the Rm), just be patient, my comp only has 2 more months left." hahaha  Anyway, I just thought I share my joke with you all. 

By the way, Elder Anderson from my intake just re-opened Manu'a. It has been closed since like 2006. Tell Auntie Amy because I know she had wanted me to serve there, so it may be an option later in my mission, but who knows

Samoa!

I hope you all have a great week.

Alofa Atu,

Elder Hunter

ps  if Thayne does do HEFY I know where he will stay, it is in my area, and I know that owners they are in my ward. I told them to look for a tall Fijian ha ha ha

#working hard

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well I have a lot of stories this week so I'll just start.

But first I want to say Happy Birthday to my little Sister Rian!!!! I hope it is a good one :) I love you! 

Here is the update:

-Just a quick question, did I get my rabies shot? I got bitten once again. I really hate dogs now... So yeah that was a party.

-We were walking past a fruit stand and I was about to buy a Mango. As I walked over to the stand the shop keeper was clipping her toenails right next to it...needless to say I lost my appetite. 

-I went to go buy a watch at the store and I asked to try one on. Then the store keeper said it was only $30 tala but they didn't have batteries...I was like why are you selling watches without batteries... totally Samoa haha

-The All-Blacks won the World Cup and I was pretty stoked that my team one. I totally rocked my Jersey haha

-they lost one of my bags...the small one--luckily the bag was basically empty. 

-I have just torn through my church shoes, and my old tevas      #workinghard

-the work is kinda slow, I am just trying to get used to a new area. I think it'll be better in a couple of weeks.

Please send my love to Menny's family. They were so amazing to me, and I will keep them, in my prayers.

Anyway I hope you all have a great week! Alofa Atu Outou!

-Elder Hunter

Round two of the Samoan Primary Program.

Malo Soifua Aiga,

Well a very up and down week but it ended up pretty good :) 

Here is the update:

-I officially got to watch round two of the Samoan Primary Program. Still ten times better than the palagi one haha 

-I am now in Lotopa and so we spent the week getting used to the ward and the area. My companion has only been here for 3 weeks in Lotopa so we are basically white-washing again, so this week is going to be fun :) All is going well here though :)

-we were proselyting and we ran into a drunk man. He kept asking our names and then kept saying. "My name is Bob. Bob Marley."  hahaha I don't know why but it was so funny to me. :)

-I got your box! thanks so much!, but dont worry about sending anything I am great.

My family

And that is really it. Glad to hear that all is going well back home.

Alofa Atu outou!

Elder Hunter

Transferred to Lotopa

Malo soifua Aiga!

Well this week has been pretty interesting so here is the update:

-I am getting transferred to Lotopa. 

It is still in the town, and I was serving there before with Elder Harn and Elder Nausa when Elder Aokuso got sick. I am pretty excited and am already kind of use to the area. But I am really going to miss Matautu. This has been my favorite area and the people are awesome. 

-We had 4 baptisms on Saturday. One was the niece of our Bishop, and the other three were the rest of Tiki Masina's family. Such a cool experience! She keeps telling me how they are preparing to go to the temple next year :) I am so excited for all of them!

-Samoan primary programs are 10 times better than palagi ones haha.  It was white Sunday over here and the primary program was so funny. The kids are way louder in the microphone and they get fasi'd if they don't say their part. hahaha

Anyway that is all from me. I hope you are all doing well :) 

I love you all and hope you all have a sublime week :)

Alofa Atu Outou!

Elder Hunter 

"I Do number two"

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well...this week has been a little bit longer than hoped for. The whole no emailing thing last week didn't exactly help. Someone in our ward used all of the internet so I am lucky to have it this week and may not even have it next week. Just a heads up.  I'm using a members computer. I got permission from President--no worries.

It has been ridiculous trying to email…

Any way it sounds like you all have had a great time on vacation.(I'm not jealous that you went to an SEC game...) Here is the update:

-At the moment we have 4 baptisms scheduled for this week. Three of which are in the family of Tiki Masina, our recent convert. They are some of my favorite people ever! She was cracking me up because she was saying how she was so excited for her husband's baptism because in a year they could go to them temp and do her "I Do number two" hahaha She is so awesome :)  

-Last week we had two prisoners escape from prison which caused a lot of issues for us.

 I personally didn't even know that Samoa had a prison, but I guess they do. Any way it was really funny because we had an older lady in our ward call us that night saying, "Aua e ke kakala lua faikokoa!" (Don't open your door!) She then went on to explain that the prisoners had escaped. I thanked her, and afterwords we were dying haha 

My companions (three of us again) then went on to talk about how they wished the Pagotas came because then they would beat them up haha (funnier in Samoan) 

-I got Nana's box last week! Thanks her please!

That's about it. Kind of a stressful week, but I really enjoyed conference. Anyways I'm just happy to email today :)

 I Hope you all have a great week! 

Alofa Atu Outou!

Elder Hunter

Pretty Cool ava ceremony

Malo Soifua Aiga!

A pretty eventful week, and yet not really haha. I guess I should give you an update eh? Here it is:

-On sunday there was only one priest at sacrament. It is Rugby World Cup season, and Manu just happened to be playing that morning…

Anyway they needed someone to bless the sacrament, so I went up and did it. It was a really cool experience because I have never had to do it out here before. Also cool because it was my first time doing it in Samoan :) 

-The Chorister's kids were being ulavale during the hymn. So she was kicking at them and conducting at the same time. She is like 65 and I don't know why but it was so funny to me haha. 

-We were at our fafaga, when all of the sudden, the family brought the phone in front of us, and the grandma of the family was Skype-ing us haha. It was really funny because it was just unexpected and she kept yelling into the phone. My companion and I were so awkward, we didn't know what to do, we just kind of gave it back to the family haha

we were just walking and saw this...pretty cool ava ceremony

-Work is fantastic! we have possibly 4 more bapis next month :) one of which is the husband of TIki Masina! IT would be so cool if they go to the temple next year

All is going well here, and it sounds like you are all doing well. So weird seeing those pictures... The King's kids are soo big! haha and tell Josh Lee Congrats!

I hope you all have a great week!

ALofa Atu,

Elder Hunter

Tsunami Action Plan

Malo Soifua Aiga!

This week just flew by! A lot happened, and yet at the same time it didn't feel like that much haha. Here is the report:

-My companion and I were doing our studies on tuesday morning and we felt our beds start moving…

My companion told me that it was an earthquake, so of course my mind started racing to Tsunami action plan haha But all is good nothing happened. They were after tremors from an earthquake that apparently happened in Chile? I don't know that's just what everyone was saying. I'm sure you area all better informed on it. So that was fun :) 

-One of our recent converts hasn't been reading The Book of Mormon as much as we had hoped for, so we challenged him to start over again and read at least a chapter a day after his prayer. 

We checked up on him later during the week and he was telling us about his reading. He said, " Masta le kama Nifae!" (Nephi is the Master! the man!) hahaha He went on to tell us all about it and it was really funny. 

He also received his Aaronic Priesthood this week and was soo excited because. "O lea ou fa'amanuia le Areto." (I'm gonna bless the bread!) haha it was just funny how excited he was to do it :)

We are teaching two investigators right now. One will be baptized in October and the other may be leaving for New Zealand so we are hoping not.

That's about it for the week. We got a new Mission President, but I haven't met him yet. Hopefully some time this week. I hope you all are doing well.

Alofa Atu Outou!

Elder Hunter

The note for your friends family and anyone who sends you mail and boxes

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Not a very eventful week to be honest. We just did our normal visits and the week went by very quickly.

Well this happened...so yeah...:

Missionaries of Samoa Apia Mission.

First of all Sister Saunders and I are so grateful for the opportunity we have had to work with all of you and we want you to know we love you. You will be getting a new mission President and his wife on Thursday the 17th of September. His name is President Hannemann. Sister Saunders and I will be finished our mission and will fly home on Friday the 18th. So we bid you farewell and God Bless you all. We love you and know you will ALL be awesome missionaries. Stay strong, be obedient and remember which way you face.

Here is the note I want you to forward to your friends, family and anyone who sends you mail and boxes.

From today Sept. 13th we will no longer ship boxes back and forth to American Samoa and we will no longer ship boxes from American Samoa to Apia. The reason is that the Airlines have increased the cost of shipping from $1 per kilogram to $5 per kilogram. This makes the cost of shipping a flat rate box from American Samoa to Apia too expensive for the mission. Your fiends, parents and family members will have to choose from 2 options. 1 - stop sending boxes of goodies or 2 - send the box by international mail to: Samoa Apia Mission, PO Box 1865, Apia Samoa. They will need to check to make sure you are in Apia or Savaii first. If you are in America Samoa they can send the normal flat rate box to you there. If you get transferred from America Samoa to Apia and they have sent the box to American Samoa you may not get it 

Not exactly the news anyone wanted to here but I thought that I would share it with you all. It is easy for me at the moment because I am right in town and so I can buy basically anything and I have an ANZD ATM right next to my house so yeah. 

Somethings I like about my mission:

I like that I can learn about the Samoan Culture from my companion. I like being more generous here in Samoa and I like talking to my recent converts  especially Tiki. She is amazing :)

Other than that all is going well. I hope you all have a great week! 

Alofa Atu Outou!

Elder Hunter

P.S. 

We went to the Commonwealth Games last P-day and I took this picture because it makes it look like I went to teh All Blacks vs Manu Game haha I felt pretty cool :)

It doesn't really get much better than that

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Such an awesome week :) Seriously a had a lot of really cool experiences this week. Here is the update:

- My companion wanted to buy something in a little Chinese store this week. We went in and the lady tried to sell him the entire store…It was the funniest conversation ever because it was so FOB'd hahahaha Just awesome :)

- Our ward had a "Soul Rescue Program." It was really cool because we went through the ward list and marked all of the people who had moved or passed away. It was really neat to see the whole ward working together and I think that they are going to do it again.

-We had two amazing baptisms this week. They names are Fualole Tiki Masina and Fa'atea Masina. Such a cool story. She is a total Golden Investigator. She told me that when she finally read the Book Of Mormon, that she couldn't put it down, and that she finished it in 3 days. She wanted to wait to do her baptism until the 5th of September because it was her Birthday and she wanted to be re-born on her Birthday. Tiki has already read all of the Standard works and is extremely active in all of the activities. Her baptism was another highlight in my mission.

 She is an amputee and she always calls herself "The Flag Carrier" because her Wheelchair has the Church's name on it. When we tried to help her into the font she said that she wanted to do it. She scooted herself into the font, and burst into tears after the ordinance. Everyone at the baptism was really touched by the Spirit. 

After wards, My companion and I bought her a cake for her Birthday and she had the biggest grin on her face. :)

Tiki was waiting for me and my companion and I am so extremely grateful that I was able to be their :) Very similar feeling as the time of Avea's baptism. Just amazing. I will never forget this experience.

It doesn't really get much better than that. I am loving the work as well as my area :) Thank you all so much for the love and support and I hope you all have a great week :)

Alofa Tele Atu,

Elder Hunter

#nothingcangetpasttape

AoAo's baptism.  I'm wearing my new ie faitaga-- haha yeah they are good for baptisms!

Malo Soifua Aiga!

It was kind of a slow week this week, but it ended really well. Here is the update:

-My companion got sick this week so we were in for a couple of days. He seems to be doing better now though so looks like we will have a full week this week.

Samoa's top security system...

We aren't going to get robbed or anything...haha

#nothingcangetpasttape

#weneedaguarddog

naw…its all good no one robs in Samoa haha

-On Tuesday we had a special island conference with all of the missionaries on Upolu. 

Elder Robbins, Elder Halleck, and Elder Fata of the Seventy came. It was a really cool conference and I got to hear some great talks. 

The thing that I really liked from Elder Robbins' talk was about how the words "Do" and "Be" work together. 

He said that Do without Be is wishful thinking. And Be without Do is Hypocrisy. A really awesome talk. :)

-We had AoAo's baptism this week. It was solid :) He is such a stud, and I am really happy for both him an his family. We have two more baptisms planned for this week. Needless to say, I am loving the work!

That's about it. I hope you all have a great week! 

Alofa Tele Atu Outou!

Elder Hunter

PS: Thanks Crosby!

Bravery…the irony….

Malo Soifua Aiga!

A pretty up-and-down week, but it was good over all. First I want to wish a happy belated Birthday to Josiah! I love you man and look forward to seeing you again soon. 

I say soon because the mission is flying by! 

Here is the weekly update:

-We had a giant conference on Thursday and we all said goodbye to the Tolman's. They are going to be dearly missed, and I hope if you get the chance you can go here them speak. They live in Mesa, and they will be talking on August 30th. 

-Elder Saunders is our new Mission President.

-The work is going really well. We have a baptism this next week, and two more planned for the following. :)

Apia Park-This is were they All-Blacks and Manu Samoa played last month. It was a historic game, and we got permission to watch it :)

-We had stake Conference this week and Elder Johansen of the Seventy came. He gave some great talks and was very powerful. On Saturday they asked for the Zone Leaders to prepare a 5 minute talk in Samoan prior to his talk on Sunday. I told them that they were in Falefa (pretty far away) and then they said that because I was the District Leader that I needed to replace them... Needless to say I was freaking out. I prepared the talk the entire night (the topic :bravery…the irony…)  but then I was told Sunday morning that President Jessop, the Temple President, had taken my place.

So I almost opened for a Seventy haha. 

All is going well here.I love the work,and I love you all!

Alofa tele atu,

Elder Hunter 

Thank you so much for everything President and Sister Tolman!

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well I am a little shell-shocked right now so I will try to get the most information out that I can:

-My health is good, my companionship is great :) we are doing really good work over here, we just still keep trying to get used to the new area and ward members

My area... Downtown Apia

-We were proselyting this week and we tried contacting one of the old investigators. His name is Semi, and he was less than interested to see us. It was funny. He came outside and then went back in side when he saw us. He then tore a shirt to make a make-shift sling and acted like his arm was injured.....The funny thing is that he shook our hands first and he was fine…yeah…Gotta love fake arm injuries haha

My soa is a tama Savaii hahaha 

Yes that is an atualoa on his arm....he's crazy...hahaha

-Bingo is the Devil's game... The Lotu Pope's Bingo goes on right behind our house every night from 8:30-11.... Every night I here, " O Fitu.....O Fitu......" (O-7…O-7)

-We had a baptism this week that went really well. His name is Jakey Iakopo, and he is 10 years old. Great experience.

 -We have another one lined up for the 29th so hopefully it all works out :)

The biggest news is that Our Mission President, President Tolman, will be going home on Friday for good. We found out this morning... He said we will have an interim president until they call a new one. Apparently he has been sick since November, and Samoa doesn't have the Health Care to help him out.  It is going to be way different…

President and Sister Tolman have been amazing, and I have learned so much form them. I would like to model my life after his, and he has really helped me to become the missionary and person that I am today. He lives in Mesa, so please go and contact him.

Thank you so much for everything President and Sister Tolman!

That's it for today, but I hope you all have a great week :)

Alofa Atu Outou!

Elder Hunter 

Rambo

Malo SOifua Aiga!

Well this week was pretty hectic, but it was a good one :) 

My companion and I have been running around trying to get used to the area. We even did 5 hours of straight door-knocking one day. It was a party :) But I also taught the most lessons this week than I have any other week, so that was solid.

Mission life is good. We have a baptism this week. His name is Jakey and is 10. Good kid!

Here is a funny story:

I went on an exchange with Elder Powelson (My Zone leader) this week. He is from Peoria, and he is a stud. Anyways, we were teaching the 4th lesson, and the member we had with us started talking about the Word of Wisdom. He taught the investigator about how alcohol can only be used to clean wounds. 

He then asked me, "Allii e Elder Hunter Na e matamata le Ata o Rambo?" (Did you watch Rambo) I was like uhhh no... He then went on to tell the investigator how it was o.k. for him to use alcohol to heal on of his many wounds....Nothing like a Rambo reference in Lesson 4 eh?…hahahaha

All is going well here. I hope you all have a great week :)

Alofa tele atu,

Elder Hunter

P.S. I got the Durantes box today, tell them thank you!!!

Always an adventure

The Family tree haha

Mo'o. Hunter, Aokuso, and Aokuso's new son, Vaea'i. 

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well, the past couple of days have been...interesting. Haha it is always an adventure coming back to Western Samoa. Here is the update:

-I am currently serving in Matautu Upolu. I literally cover all of Apia. Seriously. I am right in the city, and it is so strange haha. My companions are solid. Elder Letoa is a Visa-waiter and he should be going to Sydney Australia any day now. 

Elder Taulolo is from Fatuvalu Savaii, so I am looking forward to getting better Samoan :)

-Tutuila has turned me into a total wimp...My hands are still sore from doing my laundry this morning...the struggle is real. 

-I am a District Leader again and am basically White-washing the area, so I am very busy, which is good :) "white washing" because Elder Letoa has been on the mission for 2 months, so we are trying to learn as much from him as we can, because Elder Taulolo and I are both new to the area. So if Letoa leaves we don't know like any one...gulp

My new district!

Sisters....

One of the only palagi sisters...

To answer your questions mom, I took a 30 minute plane ride here. I am currently living in a pretty big mission house. The septic tank is full so that has been fun, but it should be fixed soon. I did get the box, but my bag was too heavy to take over, so they are going to send it over this week or the next. Back to Snail mail woohoo!

I am healthy and happy, just very busy. I hope you all have a great week this week!

Alofa Atu outou!

Elder Hunter

I'm tripping out a little.

Malo Soifua Aiga!

Well I am sorry but this is going to be a short one today. I am officially being transferred to Upolu! I will be serving in town in the village of Mata utu. 

I will be in a triple with two Samoan natives, Elder Taulolo and Elder Letoa. I'm pretty excited to go, but I am also really going to miss these people…I'm tripping out a little. Honestly I am a little worried. I have never been in a triple and I am the District Leader again… 

Sorry that it is a really short email today, but I am cleaning up the house because they are bringing in Sisters to replace us. 

We also have to say a lot of goodbyes. I am going to miss a lot of families over here. Especially the Fa'aSavalus. They made me a cake for my 1 year mark and I love them all so much. Mom (Aliitasi) is the best :) All is going well, and I look forward to giving you a better email next week. 

Ou te alofa ia outou!

Alofa Atu,

Elder Hunter

Side note:

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for Gator and his health. He reports that he is well. When I asked, this was his response.  Leave it to Gator to go straight to food!

Don't worry, I'm healthy just fat now...hahaha I'm actually lighter than when I came out, but very little muscle. Tutuila has this thing called pipi  (Turkey Tail) It is like 90% fat and we get it all of the time. It tastes bomb, but it is awful for you ha