Elder Cameron Summers:

October 6, 2008
Malo!

Conference was awesome. We had to get up really early because the broad casted it live. We woke up at 4:00 in the morning and it started at 5:00. It was really cool though. I don’t think I have ever watched every single session of Conference before. It is such a spiritual feast! I hope you all got to watch it.
Everything is going good. We have been really busy. We have two baptisms planned for this Saturday. Oh yeah, I don’t know if I told you guys but I baptized 3 people my second Saturday here. That was cool. Just to let you know, I couldn't remember if I told you. I am also really excited to see if a couple of our progressing investigators were able to watch conference. One of them was really excited about being able to hear the words of a living prophet. We compared him to Moses. We said, “If Moses was here on the Earth today, and wanted to say something directly to you, would you listen?” That really got him and he was excited to watch it.

It was also cool to watch the priesthood session of Conference. The Provo MTC choir was the choir for that session. I saw a bunch of people I was able to meet while at the MTC. I also saw a couple people from Rexburg too.

Surprisingly enough I have lost weight here in Samoa. I just haven’t really ate anything. I haven’t got used to the food a whole lot, it just doesn’t taste to good to me yet. But some things are really good here. We’ve had bikes this last week but they are already broken. We cover two wards and a branch. The branch is so far away and is up a hill. It sucks walking up there. We couldn’t use our bikes because they are bikes like you would find on the board walk or something. They are straight beach cruisers that you would rent if you wanted to ride down the beach in California. They only had one gear and were definitely not built for off road. Most of our areas are made up of small rocky trails. So when riding them, it was way bumpy. So now, my chain is always falling off, my seat is broken, and my steering wheel on my bike is way loose. There will be some pictures when I send home my card.
Alofa, Elder Summers


October 20th
Malo!

The weather is really hot. The tautuputupu is starting up. Which is the rain season. It is so hot after it rains. All the clouds clear out and the sun beats down and it is the most humid thing ever! but I am getting along alright. Our living quarters are pretty nice. The village I am in actually doesn't get rain a whole lot for some reason, so we really have to be concerned about our water. The only means of water we have is the rain. When it rains, it goes off our roof and then drains into a tank. We actually ran out of water yesterday and had no means of showering, cleaning the house, or doing our laundry. We do our laundry by hand with a bucket and a brush. So that’s fun. Our house is located right next to the Fale Sa, or the Church house. They just build little missionary houses right next to the chapel for the missionaries. It’s really small, but oh well. Never thought I’d live in someplace smaller than I did in Price! But everything is going good.

We had another baptism on Saturday, and two more this next Saturday, and then another the first Saturday in November. The work is really exploding in my area. It is fun. We got a new mission leader and I think he will be really good. I am excited. I had my first "Bible Bash" with some Jehovah Witnesses this last week. Kinda fun. It wasn’t real intense but still. They have some funky beliefs but we still need to respect them either way.

I don’t know if you have sent that package but it would be nice if you sent some other stuff with it. They don’t sell good deodorant here and it would be nice it you sent some of that. Thanks for everything and I love ya!

Alofa, Cam