Happy New Year!

 

I bought myself a chocolate orange to stick to tradition. But actually it was one that had almonds and it wasn't very good. Oh well.

 During exchanges Sister Nudd and Sister Whetten made snow men and put them in our freezer.

 

Christmas morning. Sister Whetten bought me a bunch of little dollar store gifts for Christmas. One of the things she got me was a fake snake and she hides it around the apartment. It's really scary.

Her Mom made her this stocking. And then while we were cleaning out the elders apartment we found this stocking. So I got to be the elder.

 

 Scary glasses she got me.

 

Look at what I made for breakfast Christmas morning!

 I did a bunch of baking on Christmas and I sort of wilted the spatula that we have.

Christmas with the Etes. Oh, how I love that family! They are so great.

 

 

Sister Whetten, me, and Fuifui.

 We made fry bread one night for fafaga with the Taoipu family. It was so much fun.

 More fry bread pictures.

 

 

I LOVE Fuifui so much!

 Sister Whetten and me on Christmas!

 I love Sala so much.

 

Talofa family!
This was a great week. first of all it was so, so good to get to talk to you all on Christmas. Oh my goodness. I love you all so much! Second of all. What the heck happened to Joe's voice. He's become a little man. Third of all, thanks so much for the Christmas package! I loved, loved, loved all the letters. They made me so happy. And the scarf is great. So cute. Delicious fudge too. We had to give some of it away to elders because we were getting sick, but it is so good, thanks!

So I've become the ultimate Samoan stalker. I am so good at it, it amazes me. In the last week or so I've followed over three Samoans home and gotten their addresses. So yay for new Samoans! I kind of freak myself out with how good I've gotten at sensing them out and following them with just the right amount of distance so that hopefully they don't realize that I'm following. And I'm more familiar with the area now so I can go on back roads and come back to where they are.

So something gross. We have roaches in our apratment. They sprayed it but we still have them. We talked to the manager and she said they'd spray again, but gross, huh? Oh well. All is well.

We have a new investigator! His name is Jubi. We actually found him by following him home. We met him yesterday and he's so ready for the gospel. He's 24 years old and was so sincere. He was asking us questions about Joseph Smith and I shared the first vision with him. He said that he felt really good when I was talking about it and that he wants to learn more. He's really excited about reading the Book of Mormon. We left him 3 Nephi 11 to read and he asked us if he had to stop there or if he could keep reading. Oh my! I just love him so much! He's so prepared. He's on date for baptism and we're going to have another lesson with him soon at the church so we can actually be inside. This all happened on his doorstep. So it'll be amazing to have a lesson inside where it's more quiet and where he can feel the Spirit even more.

Cool experience. As I was sharing the First Vision it just touched me so deeply. I've shared it before and each time I feel the Spirit but this time there was just something so special about it. I have no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith did indeed see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And that he was called to be a prophet of God. He restored this church and I'm so grateful for all the sacrifices that he went through so that this gospel could be restored. I'm so grateful to have the gospel in my life. I love it so much! The gospel is true!

Things are great over here. There are miracles every day. The Lord really loves all of us so much. The gospel is true. Christ lives and the Atonement is real. Life is good! Missions are the best. Heavenly Father wants us to be happy. The Book of Mormon is true and I love it!

I love all of you so much. Thanks for everything that you do for me. Kick Satan in the teeth!
Love,
Sister Veronica White

Merry Christmas!

Talofa Family!

Well this'll be short and quick. We don't really have any time. But just a quick update from last week. We went on exchanges and I got to be with Sister McBride in the Tongan ward. Oh my, I so needed it. It was just so nice to be with my Mom. I love Sister McBride so much. She's one of my best friends out here. I'm really grateful that even though we haven't been companions for three transfers we get to still serve around each other. It was really fun. Their ward is doing really great so it was nice to actually be somewhere where we get to have lessons and people are progressing.

While on exchanges, Sister Whetten and Sister Nudd put Juliann on date for baptism! That's so exciting. She's on date for the fourth. She leaves for college on the sixth. She wasn't able to come to church though yesterday so we'll have to get special permission from Bishop to baptize her. But definitely keep her in your prayers. There's still a lot for us to teach her before she'll be ready for baptism and she can be difficult to get ahold of. But I know it can happen!

So I've been sick the last week or so. I pretty much have no voice. And when I speak I sound like a man. So pray that I'll have a voice to talk to you guys this Christmas. I can't wait to talk to you all! I love you all tons. Happy Birthday Savannah. And Merry Christmas! Choose the right! The gospel is true.

Love,

Sister Veronica White

Manuia Le Kerisimasi!

Talofa family! Next P day isn't until Christmas so this'll be the last email to you before I get to talk to you on the phone. I'm excited. It'll be great. This week I hit my six month mark in the field. I only have one year left. Oh. My. So I can't eat fried chicken anymore. My body is rejecting it. I have eaten SO MUCH fried chicken in the last six months that I've been in the Samoan ward. I don't mean to sound ungrateful because I love the ward and their willingness to feed us and I know that's how they show their appreciation. But I just can't take much more of it. I've probably consumed 100 chickens. Ok, so that's dramatic. But in the last week I had fried chicken four nights in a row. I was gagging. I was contemplating ways on moving the chicken to my companion's plate but they were watching me the whole time. So I did my best. Heavenly Father definitely helped me because it was making me gag but somehow I still was able to get it down. Ugh.

But anyway, on to more important things. We had our mission Christmas party this last week. Half of the mission got together. It was so much fun. I really love all these missionaries. There are so many incredible examples. They did a nativity like we do every year so that was nice. It was funny. Elder Bailey--pretty much the only black kid we have in the mission played Samuel the Lamanite. I played the piano for an unexpected musical number that night. Luckily it was a song that I kind of already knew. I always end up playing for Zone Meetings and stuff but I promise they always pick hymns that I don't know so then I butcher my way through it. I should have practiced hymns more before my mission.

So last week I told you that Marcus and Ariana moved. They're meeting with missionaries up in Bellevue so Ariana will still be able to baptized. I'm just sad I didn't get to see it all the way through. But that's ok. I'm at least glad I got to work with them for a little while. They're great. For real, though. Everyone is moving! It's ridiculous. Even a referral we just got just moved. I don't know what's going on.

Do you remember me telling you about Nani last week? She was wonderful. Well on Tuesday night Mina went to go pick her up for mutual and she said that she wasn't allowed to go. She's not allowed to meet with us anymore. Her grandma hates Mormons. She wrote us a letter. It broke my heart. I'll just write some of what it said: Dear Sisters, Fuifui, and Mina, I am terribly sorry I can't see or come to your church any more. It is because my grandma does not like "Mormons" But I told her that it's the same thing as Christians but she continued to say no it's not and talk bad about it. She had asked me why did I like your church so much... I told her because when I am there with you girls I feel the loving energy I have never felt before. Last night you girls made me smile and laugh and made me felt like I actually belong. What breaks my heart is that my grandma is taking my happiness away. One thing she won't take away is my memories and prayers I have with you girls..." Is that not the most heartbreaking thing you've ever read? She really felt the Spirit. I love her so much! I know that when the time is right she'll be able to be baptized. It just makes me so sad that it isn't right now. She's had such a hard life and been through so much. I hope she's ok. We just have to trust in the Lord's timing of things. It can be really hard sometimes but He knows what He's doing, that's for sure.

We got to go to the temple today. It was lovely! Go to the temple. You feel the Spirit so strongly there. It's the best place ever.
We're moving into the other apartment this week. Apparently the elders left it pretty trashed. So we'll be doing lots of cleaning. Yay. It's all good, though. It'll be an adventure.

Well, Merry Christmas! Love you all. Hope you're all doing well. Choose the right and remember everything that Jesus Christ has done for us. Always turn to Him. He's the best ever. Love you!

Love,
Sister Veronica White

December 10, 2013

Talofa family!
This week was good. There were some disappointments, that's for sure. We're no longer allowed to go to Federal Way, Kent, etc. unless we have a set appointment. But Samoans are the worst at setting appointments. Most of the time their phones are disconnected so drop bys are the only thing to do. But we're not allowed to do that anymore. We still had some referrals to go to down there. And a couple of people that we had had a brief short lesson that had invited us to come back. And we had an investigator, an older lady Ana Mose, who had been on date for December 7. But both her phones are disconnected and she hasn't come to church and we have no way of getting ahold of her. So yeah, there was some sadness this week. I just love these people so much and it's really hard to not be able to go see them. But I know that the Lord already knew this would happen long ago and He's prepared the way for us to continue to do work in the Samoan ward here in our area--the Seattle mission. Another piece of sad news was that we found out Ariana hasn't been baptized. So we were excited to tell her because she wanted to be baptized. But on Friday they just up and moved to Bellevue. We have tried calling her dad to see what's going on and if they'd still be willing to make that drive to the Samoan ward but we haven't been able to get ahold of him yet. So we'll see what happens. Keep them in your prayers.

But, even with the couple of hard things that happened this week we have seen so many miracles. God is mindful of us and He loves His children so much, that's for sure. We met Nani this week. She's a fifteen year old girl that the elders would go and visit. They hadn't told me much about her. Just that she has been through some really hard things, she's unsure of her faith about God and Jesus Christ and that she wouldn't come to church. Well we took Fuifui with us Sunday night and met her. She's a sweet girl. We set up a church tour for the next day. And oh my goodness! It was just amazing. I love giving church tours. The Spirit is always so strong. She told us a little about her past. She's been abused and her Mom is a drug dealer. The worst thing for her, though, wasn't when she was getting hit, it was when her younger sister was getting hit. She said she just couldn't take it. She's part Samoan, black, and white. But recently she's been raised by the Samoan side. She's living with her aunt and uncle who are like her parents. Recently she's started believing in God more. She believes everything happens for a reason. We had Mina and Fuifui (both young women that come out with us often) there as fellowship. Oh my goodness. They are so amazing. I love them both so much. Members are incredible. They bore such beautiful testimonies and really made Nani feel welcome. Nani is going to mutual tonight with Mina and then we have another lesson set up for Thursday. Mina is going to pick her up for church on Sunday as well. and she's on date for baptism for January 3! It was such a miracle. Oh, it just felt so good! Really keep her in your prayers. She has had such a hard life. It breaks my heart. But she's so ready for the peace that comes from the gospel. Pray that her parents allow her to be baptized. She really wants it.

We finally got back in contact with Siona again, too! It was great. We had a really good lesson where we read the Book of Mormon. He still didn't come to church though. Ugh. People need to come to church! But pray for him too. Satan is so dumb! He's really working hard on Siona trying to keep him from the blessings of the gospel. Siona is so ready but he's dealing with opposition from his wife (who isn't actually his wife.. which is why he can't get baptized).

I'm playing Silent Night for Elder Flake this Saturday. It's for the stake Christmas activity. They do it every year and apparently they get a lot of people there. So that's way scary. We're both freaking out a little bit. Hopefully I don't completely mess up.

Sister Whetten is wonderful! We get along great and we're working hard. I've told her. This is going to be the hardest working transfer we've ever had. Since it's most likely my last in Samoa I'm giving it absolutely everything I have. We are going to have baptisms this transfer!

We're switching apartments next week. To the apartment the elders were in. They're closing ours. I'm kinda sad about that. I really like our apartment. And from what I've heard of theirs... not too great. But it's all good. This'll be the first change I've had in my mission so far with housing. Weird. I've been here so long, it's crazy.

 Well, I have to go. Sorry if this is really long and random. I always feel slightly crazy as I write this trying to get everything out. But hopefully it makes sense. It also doesn't help that I'm sitting here in the public library trying not to gag because the guy across from me smells really bad. And he was getting help from this librarian lady who has an accent exactly like Mom's fake Russian one. It's making me laugh. Anyway, love you all! CTR! Read your scriptures.

Love,
Sister Veronica White

December 3, 2013

 

This picture wall started out small but I may never leave Samoa so it just keeps growing... I love it though!

 My Aussie with all her Aussie things.

 So it was almost curfew Wednesday night but I realized I hadn't made a turkey hand this year. And Sister Smalley had never done it before. So I made her make one. I was trying to give her an as American Thanksgiving as is possible when you're serving in a Samoan ward.

Kinda blurry but here is our district.

 

 

Talofa Family!

Oh my goodness. This week was crazy. So busy and so much to tell you. But first and foremost.... I'm still in Samoa. Holy cow. I'm really, really happy to still be here. Especially for Christmas. But not gonna lie, I'm a little in shock. I thought I would get transferred. This will be my fifth transfer out. I've never been anywhere but the Samoan ward. At transfer meeting I saw a lot of the people that I came out to the field with and everyone was really surprised to hear I'm still here. But I'm grateful.  I LOVE my Samoans! Plus I have some unfinished business here to do. Like see another baptism! It's been too long. But here's the craziest news of all. Highline A (the elders that we served with) was closed. So there are no more elders in the ward. Just me and my new companion now. So we're taking over their area book. So I'm kind of in charge of Samoa. Well obviously really it's Heavenly Father, but you know what I mean. I'm a little nervous, but it'll be good. My new companion is named Sister Whetten. I'll try and get a pic this week to send to you. She's 20, from Arizona. Seems really sweet. It'll be good. I'm still just kind of in shock, though, that it's just us sisters in the ward now.

Thanksgiving was this week. It was good. We had a Thanksgiving activity with another zone and we played volleyball and basketball. It was lots of fun. Thanks to my Samoans I can almost play volleyball without completely embarrassing myself. I think I might just stay in the Samoan ward forever though so maybe by the end of my mission I'll be good at it. Sister Smalley and I went to the Etes. We were just supposed to stop by but I think they actually waited for us to eat. But it was really nice. I'm so grateful for the Etes. I love that family so much. They're my family away from you guys. I'm grateful I was able to spend it with them. Thanksgiving dinner was so good! They actually had some palagi food for us. I was so grateful. But then we had to go and eat a second Thanksgiving meal. I thought I might die. But luckily we got away with not eating very much. I missed the family's Thanksgiving food, but oh well.

We're starting to teach Ariana. She's living with members. She's a freshman in high school. Her dad has been inactive for years so the elders were teaching him but I guess we'll be taking that over. Anyway, we requested her records because she can't remember if she's been baptized or not. Oh how I love teaching the gospel! I wish I got to do it more often. That sounds silly for a missionary to say but seriously most of the time we're just going from person to person rejecting us. Or we'll have a great first lesson with someone but they're not Samoan so we have to refer them off. But all is well. It just makes having good lessons even that much better. Hopefully we'll be able to find out about her records soon. (things tend to move slowly in a Samoan ward) She said that she would like to be baptized!

Also, huge miracle! We got ahold of Casandra! We've been trying for over a month. We met her sister, Nika, who is not interested in the gospel but she gave us Casandra's new phone number. Apparently her father in law that they're living with told her that he doesn't want the missionaries coming to their new house. So sad. But we have a church tour scheduled this week where hopefully we can talk to her and figure out a little better what's going on. But please keep her in your prayers. I really love her so much and she's really struggling right now.
Well sorry if this is really long. And random. I feel like there's so much to say but I can't even say it all. Anyway, I love you all so much! Make sure to always pray and read your scriptures. The scriptures are true. I'm so grateful for you guys! Can't wait to talk to you in less than a month! Samoa is the best ward ever and I'm so happy! CTR!

Fa soifua. Love you!
Love,

Sister Veronica White

November 25, 2013

My water bottle tower that I created at fafaga. This took a lot of skill, let me tell you.

I don't know if you can actually tell from this photo but Sister Smalley has the smallest hands ever. And my hands are big. So whenever we compare them I just end up laughing so hard. I think it's so funny.

The night before Paul left for his mission for Mexico. He's going to be a good missionary.

Please excuse this photo... It just makes me laugh though. Sister Smalley and I had a pillow fight. Well, correction. I had a pillow fight against Sister Smalley.

 

 

So this could be my last week in Samoa. Transfers are next week. So we'll be emailing on Tuesday just to let you know. But I'm kinda nervous. I've been here for a while now. This'll be the end of my fourth transfer in Samoa. I kind of feel like I'll be leaving. I've spent 1/3 of my mission basically in Samoa. But I hope that I get to stay one more transfer. I feel like I've put so much work into this ward and it's been really hard at times and really slow. But it seems like things are finally starting to pick up. We've got a little more potential and even an investigator, Ana Mose, who wants to be baptized. It would be really hard to leave it. But I know that whatever happens will be right. This is the Lord's work and I know that wherever I go will be exactly where He needs me.

But on to the week.. Paul Toala left at the beginning of this last week for the MTC. He's serving in Mexico. I'm just really impressed with their family. His Dad, Brother Toala, is one of the nicest people I've ever met. Just a really good man. And his mom has cancer right now. She's doing really poorly. Can't go anywhere--in a lot of pain. The older sister actually moved back up here for a little while to take care of her. I saw her on Tuesday night and the whole left side of her body is swollen and she looked like she was in so much pain. It made me want to cry. Anyway, they're just such a good family. I know they will be blessed for Paul serving a mission. But that'd be so hard. To leave your family in that condition. I'm so grateful that you guys are all healthy and well. I just love you all so much.

We saw many miracles this week. We found a new Samoan guy that we got to visit with for a little while. He was really nice and pretty much invited himself to church. HE works graveyards though so his schedule is really hard. So he didn't make it this last week but hopefully this next week. He invited us over for Thanksgiving to eat bogipopo. Probably the only Samoan food I like. And it's a dessert. haha.

We also had a neat experience tracting. We were in the area of one of our potentials and they didn't answer the door so we decided we'd tract in that area. We weren't sure exactly where to go so we said a prayer and started walking for about a block when we saw this man washing his car. His name was David and he was from Mexico. At first he was pretty hard hearted and just tried to preach at us with all these verses from the Bible. But we sang I am a Child of God to him and said a prayer and he really softened. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and I read a verse from it that talks about Jesus Christ. We were able to take down his information and send it off as a referral for the Spanish elders. It was just really great. To know that we were exactly where we were supposed to be--at the right place and the right time so we could meet him.

Things are really great. I love missionary work so much. I love the gospel and I really love the Book of Mormon. It is true and we can learn so much from it. Make sure you're reading from the Book of Mormon everyday. There is power behind that book. I love you all! CTR always.

Love,
Sister Veronica White

November 18, 2013 - Another Week in Samoa Gone By

Talofa Family. This week was good. During our weekly planning session pretty much all of our investigators had to be moved to Former Investigators so that was disappointing. We seem to be struggling a bit to find people who are willing to progress. Or willing to hear our message. At least Samoan wise. When we go tracting we find quite a few referrals so at least that's good. I know that Heavenly Father will bless us for our diligence and effort though. The work will pick up. An experience from tracting though--we met Joe and Stan Omar. They are brothers from Saipan. They immediately invited us in and let us share a message with them. That's just the way of their culture I guess. Anyway, they were so nice. I really liked them. They were asking great questions and really listening to what we were saying. Stan said that he's been waiting for this. He thinks this might be his answer. He's been thinking about religion off and on for his whole life and looked into a few different things but nothing felt right. At the end of the lesson he prayed. It was his first time praying and he said he really liked it. Also, when we were talking to them about the Book of Mormon we read a few verses with them and they really liked it. Stan was even highlighting and taking notes. He said he's really excited to read it. It was such a cool experience. They were great. I'm really, really sad that we don't get to teach them. They almost look Samoan... at first I was really excited when I saw them. But no worries. The Burien elders are just really lucky! haha.

We were really blessed last week though. I can't remember if I told you or not. But Roy, the one who's leaving for Portland on his mission in a couple weeks went through the white pages one day at the library and made us a list of all the Samoan names he could find. 26 referrals!!! We've been trying them the last two weeks. Some of them the people have moved but we've been able to find out about more Samoan houses that we didn't know about so this is a huge blessing. Funny experience. One of them was pretty mean to us. We go and knock on the door and this fourteen year old kid answers the door. He told us his family doesn't go to church right now but he thinks he would like to. He was a nice kid. We asked him if there was a time we could come and talk to his family. Right as we asked that his mom who was downstairs asked who was at the door. He told them it was people from church. She just yelled "Not interested." Sister Smalley was in the middle of asking if we could just leave them a picture of Jesus when she comes and slams the door on us. We never actually saw her face. I felt bad for the kid though. So yeah, some Samoans are a little bit mean. Also, don't ever try and interrupt the Seahawks game. Nothing is worthy of interrupting the game when it's on. haha.

The Lord really is in our work though. His hand is over everything. We were able to get in contact with Olo twice in the last two weeks. He's a man who is really, really hard to get ahold of. But both times we went over there he was coming out the door. Even though it was to smoke. But hey, we'll teach him about the Word of Wisdom soon and all will be well. We're doing a church tour with Brother Toso, from the ward. Olo used to know him back in Samoa. They worked together. So this'll be really good. We're excited to do our church tour this week with him and Brother Toso and put him on date for baptism, yeah?!

Things are good. I love my Samoan ward. So much. The ward members are great. I'm so blessed to be out here serving. This is the Lord's work and the gospel is so true! Read your scriptures everyday! They're wonderful. Do good things. Make good decisions. CTR. Love you all!

Fasoifua!

Sister Veronica White

November 12, 2013

 My Samoans are very patient with me and my lack of volleyball skills. haha.

Seka was having struggles with her umbrella.

 

 At the temple with Val.

 

 

 

 

 It was very cold and wet, but really fun.

 

 My companion in deep thought.

Me and beautiful Seka.

 

 

Talofa family! This week was good. On Thursday we took Val (just baptized in August) to the temple and did a tour of the temple grounds. It was really neat. And then we sat in the waiting area or whatever it's called at the front of the temple and had a prayer with her. The Spirit was so strong and she's so excited to get her temple recommend and go do baptisms for the dead. It was amazing to see her in the temple even if it was just at the waiting area. She's doing well but she just got a job at Walmart that has her work most Sundays and usually during the time of church. So pray for her that everything will be able to work out so she can start coming to church every week. She was there this last week and was talking about how much she missed it and how she was really glad she was able to come. Church is so important.

This week we had Zone Conference. It was incredible. President Choi started out by calling us all to repentance and had us all kneel right there and repent. It really invited the Spirit and it was so good. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that we have to repent. I'm so grateful for the Atonement. It is such a blessing in our lives and we need to apply the Atonement every day and use it so we can become better people. The Zone Conference was really good, but not gonna lie. I pretty much felt like the most horrible person ever during it. There's a lot I need to do so I can become a better person and a better missionary and so that I can be the means of bringing more souls unto Christ.

So do you remember Sulu? She's on date for November 23 but we can't get in contact with her. We're trying again today but it's just sometimes really hard to know when and how often to try people because their family gets annoyed with us. And Casandra moved and we can't find her anywhere. Her phone is disconnected. We just really struggle to keep in contact with people. But all is well. We continue to work hard and I know the Lord blesses us. We're really praying to be able to find a family that we can teach the gospel to and I know the Lord will bless us. He wants His children to come unto Him and learn about the gospel even more than we do.

I'm so grateful for commandments. This last week we've talked with two different people who were drunk and in so much despair. It just breaks my heart. And makes me so grateful for the word of wisdom and all the commandments that our Heavenly Father has given us. He really does give them to us because He loves us and He knows what will make us happy. And those two individuals that we spoke to were not happy. The gospel brings so much joy and peace. It makes me so sad to see how much some people suffer. Everyone needs the gospel!

Seattle is an incredible place. We meet so many different people from so many different places. It really is pretty rare that we talk to white people. The other day we met someone from Iraq who just moved here after serving in the military for the US. He was Muslim but we sang him I Am a Child of God and he really liked it. He also kind of sounded like Mehmet so it made me really happy to talk to him .

I gave a talk on Sunday. It was just short but at the end I bore my testimony in Samoan. Oh my. The ward was so proud of me. It was so cute. I love my ward!
Well I hope all is well with all of you. I love you so much. Thanks for the rain boots Mom. They're wonderful and keep my feet much warmer!
Alofa Atu!
Love,

Sister Veronica White

November 4, 2013

The Halloween Trunk or Treat. Rona--who just got baptized in August.

 Sister Smalley and her new hair cut.  

 

The housing coordinators brought us nice, fuzzy blankets. It's one of the greatest things I've ever received. They're so warm!

 These are the blankets we had before. They were scratchy and horrible military/hotel blankets and did not keep you warm. I'm grateful for our new blankets!

 

 Our extremely awkward photos right after Roy opened his call.

 The real treasure to behold in these photos is the fact that Sister Smalley is wearing color. I think that's the brightest and most colorful thing she's ever worn in her life.

 

 Roy got his mission call. He's going to Portland, Oregon. He leaves on December 3. So soon!

Talofa Family!

This week was just absolutely lovely. So, so many miracles. The Lord was just pouring down blessings upon us this week. Yesterday we had such an incredible day. It was one of those days where you just know that you are exactly where you're supposed to be every minute. We were able to get in contact with so many people that we haven't been able to in a really long time... or ever before. And everyone was being so nice to us. I don't know what the deal was but I don't think we had a single person be rude to us yesterday. It was quite nice. We were able to set up a church tour with an investigator who we haven't been able to get in contact with for over a month. We have a return appointment for this couple named Mike and Vao and they were so friendly and nice. We finally caught a less active that we've been trying to catch for weeks. We tried a potential that we've tried many times before and have never answered. And last night they answered and invited us to come back. The miracles were endless. It was incredible.

Also this week we received 6 referrals! That's more than I've ever gotten on my mission so far. Usually we don't get any. It's just such a blessing. Sister Smalley and I have really been praying and fasting that we'll be able to find a family to teach and the Lord is hearing our prayers and opening new doors. He really is so involved with this work. It is His work. And He's laboring alongside with us. It's so neat to get to be a part of. I feel so blessed. We met Sulu a couple weeks ago before the fireside. She was taught by missionaries last year and then she moved to Alaska. She just moved back and was excited to find out that there's a Samoan ward. We finally caught her again and she's on date for baptism for November 23! But she's really hard to get ahold of and there's someone who's living in that house that really hates us missionaries so keep her in your prayers. She's a sweet girl. She's twenty years old.

This week Roy Ah Kuoi opened his mission call. His family was converted to the gospel three years ago. He's Fui's older brother. (Fui is the one who comes out with us all the time) They're such a good family. I'm just amazed by them and their strength. Anyway, he opened his mission call and he's going to Portland, Oregon. He leaves December 3. It's so soon. And guess what? He's reporting straight to his mission headquarters. He's not going to the MTC. I've never heard of that before. He's excited though. I'm excited for him. Fui wants to go on a mission too when she's old enough. She's 17 but she graduated high school last year. Just such a good family. I love them so much.

Do you remember Casandra? She moved and she sort of gave us the address to her new house but we can't find it. She gave us general directions and then we've tracted out the whole area and can't find her. And she's not answering her phone. So really pray for her, please. That we can get back in contact with her. She was really starting to progress and gain a testimony and it worries me that we can't get ahold of her. Hopefully all is well with her.

Well, things are just lovely here. So many miracles it's incredible. This church is true! The Book of Mormon is true. Read from it everyday. There's strength that comes from it. I love you all and pray for you everyday. Hope you're doing well. Alofa atu! Love, Sister Veronica White

Talofa!

Me with my gift basket.

All the stuff in the gift basket. Ridiculous.

 

 

Hello family!

 

How are all of you? Hope you're doing well. This week was good. We had a really good lesson with Casandra early on in the week about the Book of Mormon. She defended it talking to someone else of another faith who was saying bad things about it. But she still hasn't read from it by herself and prayed about it. Just read the things we've read with her. She told us she would. Later on in the week we went over there to help her pack up. Her family and parents-in-law are moving out of the apartment they're in right now and to a house. So we were helping her pack and then we shared a scripture about the Atonement in Alma 7 and then she asked us if we could finish the chapter. She had lots of good questions. At the end she basically told us she believes The Book of Mormon is true. It was really good. I just love her so much. But really keep her in your prayers. She didn't come to church yesterday. She said she would but she didn't make it. They were moving this weekend so that might be why. But unless she starts coming to church she can't progress and be baptized. And she's so ready for the blessings of the gospel. She's just amazing. Hopefully she'll be able to come to church next week.

 

We really struggle with getting people to come to church. It's ridiculous. We'll have really amazing lessons with people where the Spirit is strong and where they tell us they'll come to church and then on Sunday...nothing. The elders are also really struggling with church attendance as well. I don't know what the deal is. 9 is really early for Samoans. But do it for the Lord! Anyway, all is well, though. Things will start to pick up I'm sure.

So we had fafaga with the Iosuas this week. We've never had fafaga with them before. Anyway, they're not your typical Samoans. Meaning they live in a nice house with their family. There's not 22 Samoans who are all kind of related in some way living in one apartment. So we go over there and there's china dishes on the dining room table. The food was very Samoan so basically I ate tons of rounds of rice for dinner so it looked like I was eating a lot. I just couldn't handle the pasta salad or the taro or the ribs. But at the end of fafaga their daughter comes out with gift baskets for each of us missionaries. It was insane. I'll send you a pic of it. Overflowing with things. It was like Christmas. I felt so awkward taking it. But Samoans love feeding us missionaries. They treat it like it's a huge honor or something and they like to give us stuff. They're all really sweet

 

Funny story. We went to visit Bishop's family one night this week just to see if there was anything we could do for them. They're a really sweet family. They have two little kids and a third on the way. Anyway, when we were getting ready to go Sina (Bishop's wife) said she would meet us out front. She went out the side door and was getting something from her car while we went out front. She tried to give us some money. She felt bad that she hadn't prepared anything for us to eat so she was trying to give us money so we could go get hot chocolate and something to eat. Oh my goodness. Samoans. We told her no but she handed it to us anyway. We were pretty much going back and forth for a couple of minutes when I just told her she could prepare something for us next time. Then we handed it back to her and pretty much ran from her. She started chasing us. hahahaha. It was so funny. It was making me laugh so hard. But quickly I realized I was running from Bishop's pregnant wife. Very amusing. But I ended up victorious--she kept her money. I was pretty proud of myself, not gonna lie. But we were just laughing so hard. Only in a Samoan ward do you run down the driveway from your bishop's pregnant wife trying to avoid taking their money.

But anyway, I gotta go. Love you all so much! Choose the right. Read your scriptures. The church is true.
Love,

Sister Veronica White