Elder Cameron Summers:

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Aiga Pele,

Malo le soifua tatou aiaga
President Monson gave a great talk concerning this in the last conference titled, “Finding Joy in the Journey”. He stated that we should relish life as we live, find joy in the journey and share our love with friends and family. This advice has also helped me while learning the language and trying to adapt to a new life, work, and surroundings in general. I have slowed down and tried to enjoy and live in the moment. A common phrase here in Samoa is, “Leai se mea e popole I ai.” This translates to, “There is absolutely nothing to worry about.” I really hope we heed the advice of our prophet and take some time out of our busy lives and “find joy in the journey.”

Enough of my preaching, I’ll step down from my soap box and give you a little taste of the culture here in Samoa. The culture is very strong here and determines the way people live. For example, the Government delegates its authority to each village or town, Inside of that town or village, there are various chiefs. The chiefs act as judges and have power to punish people for breaking the rules of the village. For example, an Elder was telling me a story of where two people were caught cheating on their spouses and committing adultery. They were taken before the chiefs and were both banished from the village and fined 100 pigs a piece. When you get fined pigs, it is a really big deal. It can someone several years to pay the fine of pigs. They have to raise the pigs themselves and you can imagine how long it takes to raise pigs, especially when it’s only five or so at a time because they can’t afford anything else. Sometimes these punishments can last the duration of one’s life.

Also within the culture is food. Food is a very important part of the culture. They don’t have much of anything so when someone offers you food, it is a high symbol of respect Remember how I said that I have actually lost some weight here in Samoa? Ya, not anymore, that first little while I wasn’t very familiar with the food, so I didn’t eat a whole lot. I also spent my fair share of time on the toilet. But now, I am used to it and eating a lot of it. So don’t worry, I am definitely not going hungry. Since food is such a big part of the culture when someone feeds you, you give a thank-you speech when finished. You leave blessings upon the father of the family first, then the mother, and if you choose, the children as well. When done with the speech, the father then gives me and my companion a speech and gives us blessings. We then stand up and shack hands and depart.

Everything is going good. My first companion got transferred and now I have a Samoan companion who doesn’t know any English. My Samoan has definitely improved in these last three weeks because all I do is talk Samoan. A lot of the other white and even some Samoan missionaries have said that my language is coming a lot faster than normal. I study hard but I know that it’s a blessing from above., my Patriarchal Blessing tells me and gives me the blessing that my tongue may be loosed and in a short time learn the language. That blessing is being realized. However, I still have a lot to learn.

Transfers are coming up soon and I’m not going to lie, I wouldn’t mind getting transferred. I really like this area but my companion just got transferred here and the best chance of getting a new companion is me getting transferred. My companion is good but I’ve been with him a little over three weeks and I haven’t seen him study, pray, or wake up before 8:00 am. His old area is really close to my area and he always wants to go out of area boundaries to visit his so called “old investigators”. His old zone leader told me they had to close that area because they had a cell phone and he had a girlfriend, so it’s kind of hard to keep him from visiting his “old investigators”. He got kind of upset at me but whatever. Hopefully, I’ll get a new companion who likes to work because he doesn’t like to work very much either. But like you sad Mom, I asked for this so I should probably stop murmuring, huh!

I had a really good day this last Thursday. No, it was actually a pretty good day except for a couple of instances, So it started off pretty regular, I woke up at 6:30, got ready for the day and started my studying ( all while my companion was sleeping). The Zone Leaders then picked us up at about 9:15 to do our zone meeting we do every Thursday. After we were finished with that, we had the zone leaders take us to an area really far away from our house. We had received some referrals from members and they told us where they lived. We scheduled to work in that area and blocked out the day to work with those families because we knew we could get a ride with the zone leaders. It takes about an hour to walk there so I’m sure you can understand our reasoning. When we got there, it was raining cats and dogs. The zone leaders had other plans and appointments so they had to kick us out of the van. They dropped us off about 300 yards from the house because we were at an intersection and they were going the opposite way. So we jumped out and ran immediately to shelter under a pavilion at a store. We waited there for seriously 45 minutes as we watched rain come down like you can’t even believe. After the rain storm, of course, the sun came out and it was just the most humid thing I have ever felt.

So we get to this house and it’s kind of far from the main road where we were walking. We got half way, and five barking and growling dogs came charging out. My companion was at the front and left of me while the dogs began to circle us. One dog came trotting around and barking sniffed the leg of my companion. By this time we were circled by a pack of raging, crazy, Samoan dogs. I’m not going to lie, I freaked out. So the one sniffs the leg of my companion and then comes around to the back of me. I really didn’t know what to do so I just followed the example of my companion and stayed calm. I just thought to myself to stay calm, they probably just need to get familiar like the one did with my companion. So that same dog came up behind me, barking madly and sniffs my leg. For a split second I thought all was well because it backed off, but was still barking. Yep, I was wrong! That same dog lunged at my left leg and latched his jaw on my calf, just below my knee. At the same time, another dog that was on my right attacked my right leg. My idea of staying calm and not making any sudden movements immediately left my head as I jumped forward trying to get the dogs off of me. I was swinging my scripture case like mad as I was crouched and ready to pounce on the next dog that thought he wanted a piece of the white boy. Not going to lie, Satan got the best of me there when my adrenaline kicked in and I let slip some phrases with four letter words. It’s a good thing my companion doesn’t understand a lick of English, otherwise, I’d probably be under church discipline for what I said. But it’s all right, at least those dogs got the opportunity to hear some of Idaho’s best, farm boy, redneck, vocabulary.

The family felt really bad and gave me some medicine to take. I really didn’t want to take it but the family and my companion were really persistent. I guess the family is really familiar with dog attacks and explained they got the medicine from the hospital in Apia. After the explanation and peer pressure, I finally succumbed. Probably not the best choice but three days later, I’m still alive and haven’t died from the medicine or rabies from the dog bite.

The Gannaways send out a monthly letter to all the missionaries they know and include updates of Rexburg and a little spiritual thought. It’s really nice and I like getting them so if you see them, tell them thanks and to keep them up. This last week I got one and included was a little talk by Gordon B. Hinckley titled, “Gifts to Bring Home from the Mission Field”. Included in his talk are 10 different things he thinks should be acquired by a missionary by the end of his mission. They vary from the extent of knowledge and love for God, to work ethic. But the thing that hit me hardest was the topic of, “An increased love for parents”. This is so true as my love and appreciation for you have been realized ten fold. I use the word realized instead of grow because I don’t think I ever really realized how much you two have really done for me. Word’s can’t express how much I appreciate all that you two have done, are doing, and sacrificed for my sake. So I just wanted to say thank you and I love you!

This letter is long enough and I wish you all my best and each one of you are in my prayers! Thanks again and I hope to hear from you all! Tofa soifua!

Alofaaga,
Elder Summers

Elder Brantley Shattuck:

January 7, 2009
This past week we had the baptism of Helen Poonusamy-Ailantham! It was amazing, I think someone should right a biography on this woman's life because it is very dramatic and full of hardships that many people would not have been able to overcome. She was basically sold in slavery at the age of 9 because her own mother couldn't afford to raise her and needed money for her own life. Needless to say Helen grew up being abused in many different and horrible ways as she moved from family to family serving them as a house nanny. She never had the opportunity to go to school, so she can't read or write even to this day, but she can speak 4 languages. I was talking to Helen and she told me that there came a point in her life where she decided that she would never be rude or unkind to anyone ever again. She suffered with depression and didn't care much about life until a day on the bus when she looked out the window and saw a crazy old woman walking up and down the street picking up rocks. I guess this woman did it every day and simply just picked rocks up over and over again with no purpose. Helen looked at her as the bus drove past and she realized that that was the course her life was taking her to and she didn't want to end up like that, so she changed her attitude and got her life in order and she stood on her own two feet again. As she continued to nanny she ended up with a Mormon family that treated her like family, she saw the happiness that they had and she wanted it.... needless to say the missionaries came over and she accepted everything and ended up moving here to America for a new beginning and it just so happened that I go to teach her again right before she got baptised. Attitude can change anything, she is such a sweet woman and I must say that I don't think that I have ever met a more charitable person, I love her and wish the best for her.

We are also teaching a single mom right now named Candy Urhdal who is really great as well. She has three children that are 20,16,15....two boys and a girl. It has been a lot of fun, I think that she will get baptised eventually, she is very liberal though and has some big concerns that need to be addressed first but I think the spirit will be working on her pretty good.

Transfers are in two weeks, I have no idea what will be going on.

Oh the other day it was raining and I went and cleaned out a swamp area.... that was horrible, I smelled like poo afterwards, it was pretty funny though because I pushed my companion Elder Shapiro and he almost fell face first into the mud and slop, he is pretty funny(kinda girly) and I don't know how much hard labor he has ever had to do, he did not like it at all!!! It made me laugh pretty good.

I hope you get better mom, I can't imagine that is to good, I got food poisoning for one day after Christmas and that sucked bad.

January 21, 2009
I am staying in Brambleton and will be training a new ZL named Elder Gifford, I am really excited, we came out together so we will hit the year mark together and it should be an exciting transfer.
I knew the Eagles would choke, ask Steve if he has any newspaper clips of that to send me lol.....he sent me one talking some smack on the Broncos.... that is what we call karma.

Anyway I met an African American that is actually Japanese and has the facial characteristics of an Asian person but he has like a black person hair and skin..... it is crazy, anyways we taught him an amazing lesson and now he is thinking about baptism for the 14th of February except at the end of the lesson he had a question and he was too shy to ask it so he wrote it down on paper and the question was about gays and how the church looks at it..... well the church has a great pamphlet that explains its standpoints so I am picking up one of those to take to him and we will continue to teach him, he is very receptive to the gospel though.... it will be interesting to see what happens with this one.
Love you, Elder Shattuck

Elder Andrew Peña:

Jan. 5, 2009
Hey Yall!!! First off, last Monday was great. We thought we were going to have tons of time because we weren't going to go shopping so we tried to find a car wash place closer to our apartment. There was none so we wasted 15 minutes looking and ended up going to Wal-mart and everything anyways! so we wasted time! :) I don't think I even wrote a letter last week! We went and played basketball and it was good, there is like 10 missionaries and 5 other people! Its tons of fun! One of my old companions, Elder Eden, who is the huge 6'5" guy who plays football and weighs like 300 pounds, well he was not on my team and long story short he elbowed me in the mouth and hit my teeth! I thought I was going to lose them! ( again ) so basketball was intense and my teeth still hurt a little but the good news is they are still there!!! Tuesday I went on an exchange with a missionary in my district who is from Utah and we did some service. We helped some members move and then helped some other ones do sheet rocking! Its been a while since I've done it but it was fun and brought back memories of me working at my old job!! Wednesday we had a district meeting and it went good, we had a baptismal interview for our investigator and he passed and then we went to see tons of members that afternoon. We had to be in our apartment by 6:00 pm for the rest of the night because of crazy people. Thursday we had some good appointments and with some investigators and nothing exciting Friday. We had weekly planning and went to visit lots of people in the afternoon and in the evening we called a part member family and asked the husband (who is the non-member) and asked if he would take us out cause we had no one to go with us. So he took us out for the evening and we went back to his house and taught the first lesson. It went well but he is still kinda in his ways and doesn't want to get baptized so we are trying. Saturday we tried to get a lot of sit down lessons and all of them fell through and everyone we talked to was again grumpy and mean now that Christmas is over. People are back to themselves again. We talked to this Baptist lady and I asked her what she liked about her church and you could tell she was thinking of something good to say so she smiles and looks at me and says the fact that its the same church that Christ established on this earth! and before she said this previous in our conversation she said her church was a reformed church and what not so my response to her was... "well isn't that was most people believe their church is" and she was like oh yeah well yeah so i said "Christ's church has to be a restoration not a reformation and that's why we believe in the restored gospel of Jesus Christ not reformed" she ignored us and continued to be grumpy and mean so we just walked away! So Saturday kinda stunk but Sunday was the BEST!! We had good church meetings and the testimonies were good. We had a meeting with the zone leaders and the stake president to discuss things about our mission and how we can work with our wards better. It was tons of fun and I learned so much. I love it! After that we had a quick dinner and we had a baptism at 6:00 pm and it went so good. Me and my companion were witnesses and the zone leaders taught the plan of salvation. Sunday made the rest of the week and on Tuesday we should be setting another baptism date with a part member family, she is nine years old but she is ready for baptism. It's sooo awesome. I would love to hear from everyone. I'll try to do better in my updates. Elder Peña

Jan. 12, 2009
I have limited time this week. Nothing exciting happened this week, we had transfer calls on Saturday. We ran into one crazy guy this week and he was drunk and he was like 5 inches close to my face and was talking about how he found God in jail and he had a beer in his hand and all sorts of stuff and how he is going to a church now so we invited him to our church and he said he would come but he was a no show. I think he was to drunk to remember. Last night was my last night in Modesto 6th ward and we had a stake priesthood meeting at 7:00 in the morning and all us missionaries in the stake sang at it. It was great. We had to wake up at 5:00 to get ready, it was foggy and dark. We had church and it was good. The guy who was baptized last Sunday was confirmed. Then we had three stakes combine at a stake center in Turlock where I was on my second transfer and had my 3rd zone conference and all my district meetings so it brought back lots of memories. Saturday President Gonzalez called me at 11:30 and asked me to be a zone leader with Elder Simmons who is from (Mudlake) West J whatever you call it. He played football with Kaleb and Sheldon or he knew them and I went on an exchange with him this last transfer so now he is my new companion starting Wednesday. I'm sooo excited to learn from him. He is an awesome missionary. We got a baptismal date for January the 24th so that's awesome and this Friday we will be having my first zone council meeting with the president and assistants. It will be something new for me so I'm excited to learn. In a couple days I'll have 15 months left to go. It has gone by so fast. CRAZY! Man its good to hear from all of you and to know you are all doing good. I miss you all and love you too! :) This Gospel is soooo true and you will be so blessed by living it!!! I love it and continue to pray for me daily.:) I went on two exchanges this week and it was good, learned lots and met a lot of people and had TONS of spiritual experiences, I loved it! My testimony continue to grow daily. The companionship I worked with this week are kind of struggling. One has issues with obedience and waking up on time and exercising in the morning, nothing that can't be fixed. I'll be a zone leader in Modesto covering the 4th ward and 1 branch-a singles branch. I'll be in church till like 5 o'clock though. But its good. I love this Gospel, its amazing. I cannot wait to hear from you all again. Love you so much and take care, Elder Peña

Elder Adam Walker:

January 13, 2009
There are a lot of people who are really, really struggling, especially out here, it might be bad at home, but I guess the area that I am in right now has like a 17% unemployment rate, it is the highest in Virginia, and one of the highest in the country. It's pretty sad, everything is just shutting up. The mall alone is pretty much just going out of business, there are like 5 stores closing in the next couple weeks, I'm sure more will follow. It's sad to see. We can tell that more people are just sitting at home watching TV because we are getting large amounts of media referrals now. I guess they just see something for free and they call for it. It's nice for us though because it is a free ticket into some one's home. It has been nice because we have not had to do any tracting for over a month now. We just stay busy with them and with referrals that they give us. So maybe with everything that is happening, maybe people are being humbled and this is what is supposed to happen. We will just have to see how this next year goes, I don't think it will be a good one for the country, but for missionary work, I think it will be one of the best. I'm excited to see how it goes. Yeah, we did indeed get spoiled for Christmas. There were quite a few people who sent me little packages cards, etc. Thanks to everyone. I guess people haven't forgotten about me! I will try to take some more pictures of us golfing today. We are going to be going here in a couple hours so I will get some then and send them home on the next card.

One of the people we are teaching right now had a good wake up call these past couple days, he has a huge problem with the word of wisdom and he smokes and chews like it is candy. It was something that he never wanted to give up and we pretty much were not getting anywhere with him, but we get a call from the hospital on Sunday and guess who is in there? Yep, that man who pretty much said that he would never quit, he had a mini-stroke. We went in and saw him at the hospital Monday morning to see how he was doing, and he told us that the doctors have told him that he either has to quit smoking and chewing or else it is going to kill him within the next year or so. So, he is going to quit smoking and chewing now, I guess God works in mysterious ways, we kind of laughed when we walked out because we just thought, you don't tell God that you won't do something because if you do, he will prove you wrong. Hopefully, we will be able to baptize him here really soon now, we will just have to see.
We had an awesome week this past week, we got 7 new investigators, that is the best I have ever had on my mission so far, so it has been a good week and the members have really been working with us nicely, they are giving us referrals and also people are ordering free Bibles left and right so we are teaching quite a few people, it is really nice. I hope you have a great week, I am doing well. Thanks to all. Elder Walker

Elder Scott Snell:

Dec 28, 2008
It is the New Year now and I think that was the first one I haven't stayed up until midnight since I was like 4. Anyway so i have some news i am now 22 years old. Yup that is right, in Korea they say you are 1 as soon as you are born and then when the new year comes you are automatically two. So even if you were born on Dec 31 at 11:59 pm when that new year comes you are already two. Kind of weird and ridiculous to think about eh. Nothing to exciting has happened for the new year yet because they celebrate it according to the lunar calendar. They use the normal one but their three day holiday isn't till the lunar new years. I have a bit of a confession to make, the Korean food and candy I send you guys really isn't their best stuff. Not by any means is it their worst either but its not their best. The pepper paste is used a lot. All of their food is usually spicy. It took a little to get use to but now its pretty good. The worms in the can, some people like them some people don't. The only thing that I haven't tasted before I sent it to you is the kimchee chocolate. I wanted to try that though I just didn't have the money to buy another.

It is the new transfer this week. I have the same everything again. Area Comp and all of the stuff. This will make it number three that me and my Korean comp are together. That is a long time to be with the same person in such a small house. Its a good thing we don't spend to much time inside eh? So I see a lot of patience being needed these next six weeks. He is a good companion and there are definitely pluses to having him. We are working on the other stuff. Can't believe its already been a year. Love you, Elder Snell

I am glad you guys got my package. Did you guys like the kimchee chocolate? And the worms and pepper paste? What about the masks and the giant wiener head? This week was good, just the same missionary work again. We are coming to the end of another transfer and it looks like my comp is probably leaving. We got cell phones this last week so that was pretty cool. They are the slide type not the flip phone but they are better then nothing. I thought maybe I would be able to get use to a phone again and not come home too weird but its the Junior companions responsibility to carry the phone. Oh well, one less thing I have to worry about. We sent Elder Jensen on his way back to America this morning so that officially makes me the oldest Missionary on the Island. We went to an appointment with an old grandams and she tried to feed us rotten oranges. I felt really bad but I just couldn't bring myself to eat them. We ended up telling her that we were full and if she would put them in a bag we would eat them later. I love you all and miss you. Elder Snell

Jan 11, 2009
The first week of the new transfer is over and I haven't killed my companion yet. We are actually doing pretty good. There are definitely those times where you can tell we are getting on each others nerves but three transfers together will so do that to you.
The weather is finally starting to get cold on this little paradise Island of mine. It snowed pretty good the other day and was really quite cold, but in my little town it didn't stay too long. I swear every where else on the island but my area has snow. Its really quite nice.

Oh, this week I forgot to tell you I ate probably the freshest sea food I have ever eaten in my life. We went to this restaurant with a member and our investigator's mom to eat some sea food. Well, they cook it on a range right in front of you. They put the soup down and it was still moving! All of the clam ouster mussel thingys were squirmy and the octopus was still moving, it was quit disturbing. I looked at my comp and asked him are we going to eat that, and he just says yup. They all soon stopped moving and they chopped up the octopus and we ate it. It was pretty good actually, it was really spicy but good. I was glad I got to experience it once. I have had a lot of those experiences on my mission with weird foods it seems.
Nothing else to exciting except for that fact that I hit an all time low with my English this week, I lost in Scrabble to six other Koreans. I came in dead last. Most of them were under the age of 15 too. It was pathetic but we have a rematch scheduled for tonight. I have been studying. They are all going down, I am showing no mercy this time.
In my area there is a lot of special people you know and there is this one that really likes the missionaries well just foreigners and since most missionaries are foreigners he in turn likes us. Well he follows us around every time we see him and he just randomly will show up at our window and just watch us some days. It was really pretty creepy in the beginning but I have gotten use to it. Its not so weird to me now but honestly he just watches us. If it was anyone else it would be a peeping Tom. He is harmless and funny so sometimes we talk to him while he is just sitting there, I will give him some candy, show him pictures of foreigners, its really pretty funny. I have been in this area now for over three months and he still can't remember my name, its a little disappointing. I love you all and i miss you, thanks for all of the support you give me. Love, Elder Snell


Jan 18, 2009
I was coming back from splits with Elder Wells and we were walking back to my house to meet our companions when I turned around and noticed we had a little friend. A little white dog started to follow us, he kept following us back to the house and we were waiting for our comps to get back. We were sitting on the steps (cause the weather has really warmed up lately), the dog started chasing Elder Well's feet, it was quite funny. Our companions came and the dog continued to follow us but then we lost it and thought it was gone for good. We dropped the other missionaries off at the bus terminal and went to an appointment and did some other stuff. We come back to the house to eat and guess who is sitting waiting for us patiently? The dog, all excited when we came back. My companion was pretty funny cause he got really annoyed. The dog kept following us and protecting us from everyone on the street by barking at them. He was pretty proud of himself. We finally ditched him by going in the front door of the post office and out the back. We didn't see him after that but my companion no longer wants a dog.
It was really cold but then it really has warmed up lately. Yesterday it came time for church to start and the only people at the building were the missionaries. The Branch President and his family showed up about 15 minutes late and then some more people came but not to many.

I made some mashed potatoes last night out of these small sorry excuse for a potato that Koreans have. It was all right, my companion is getting bored with me lately I am thinking. He has been calling his little Korean friend in the city next to us quite a bit lately. We will probably have to have a talk this week. We still have four weeks left together. Keep me in your prayers. Elder Snell

Elder Matt Hansen:

It was good to talk to you, it sounds like everything there is going good for you all. I hope you have enjoyed your holiday season. It was good to talk to everyone. Sometimes I feel like I will be home in like two weeks I don't know why. Time does fly though. Now it just feels like this is my life forever, home is kind of just a distant memory and a dream, its weird and hard to explain but things here are going good. I can't believe its coming up on a year. There are of course hard times but it is definitely worth it, I have learned so much and I am so grateful for that. If I didn't come here I don't know where I would be. Anyways, I don't really have a whole lot to say since we just talked on Christmas. Everything is still going well and we are still meeting and teaching quite a few people, all is well.

Well I cant believe its already almost 2009, time flies! It feels like just yesterday that I graduated high school, ha its crazy. I am really enjoying my time out here though. The longer I am out the more I enjoy it. The work is moving forward. Even though my companion and I are complete opposites we are working hard and enjoying it. If I could compare my companion to one person it would be Richard Simmons, ha I might sound rude but its the truth. I respect him though, he is a good missionary and he is willing to work so what more could I ask for? We just had a couple of baptisms and they were confirmed yesterday and they are awesome kids. One of them is 18 and he is going to be an awesome missionary. He really wants to go on a mission next year, after he finishes school so that will be awesome. He would even come teach with us sometimes before he was baptized, he is an awesome kid. Other than that we are planning for a few more baptisms within the next few weeks. Two of them are little kids and they are crazy and it has been a challenge teaching them but it has been good, I have enjoyed it. This past week we also got a new investigator that has to use a wheel-chair-type thing. It has 3 wheels and then pedals like a bike but for the hands. He can't use his legs so he uses his wheel-chair and then he just crawls. The amazing thing is that he is still coming to church, he is a great guy. Other than that nothing much going on. We are just doing the Lords work and enjoying our time. This work is amazing, I have learned so much and I am so grateful for this opportunity. There is no greater work on earth! I hope all is well. Happy New Year to you all, I love you! Elder Hansen