6/5 June 2011

Dear Parents and Siblings!

Hello!

I'm glad to hear California is nice. I luckily don't have too much to be jealous of because the weather has been quite nice lately here in Levin. Today is really foggy and it looks really cool because there are really low clouds hanging out around the hills. Did I tell you there are Utah-like mountains here? Because there are not. But there are these hills in the east that almost remind me of home. I say almost because they aren't very big compared to the Rockies. When I've tried telling Elder Cerros how big the Utah mountains are, I think I exaggerate a bit. "You see that cloud up there? The one above that lower cloud? Yeah, that's how high the mountains in my backyard are." So he's pretty jealous because Melbourne (pronounced Melbin) is pretty flat and brown.

Well, this week has been good! We've been way busy and have been able to teach so many people. It seems that when we door-knock a street, at least one person will be interested enough to keep talking to us as we stand there on the porch. Levin is a great place for people with lots of questions. However, I'm not the missionary with all of the answers, so it doesn't always work perfectly. But that's ok because that's why we have the Holy Ghost to guide us. The people in Levin have a lot of desire to learn about the Gospel. They just haven't yet realized that it's not just something you talk about but it's something that you actually do. So Elder Cerros and I have had a bit of trouble helping people to progress in the gospel and not just learn about it, but we're getting there. Room for improvement is always a good thing.

Last week Elder Cerros and I went over to a Tongan family's home just to basically say hi. When we walked in they sat us down and brought out some soup and tapioca. Not tapioca pudding, but solid hunks of tapioca--bigger than potatoes. They were good, just kind of hard to eat because they're so solid. So I had to take it pretty slowly. A little while later, they brought out a bunch of toast and cheese. And then when I thought I was going to die, they brought out cheesy "spaghetti sandwiches." It doesn't sound like a lot, but it was honestly so much food! But we thanked them and then went on our way. We then went over to another less-active Tongan family's home. And they said, "Elders, come in! We're just having dinner, you hungry?" We thought we were going to die again, but luckily we were able to politely enough decline the offer because we had just eaten a Tongan meal. Lately, Elder Cerros and I have being saving our dinner hour for the very end of the night, just in case those kinds of things happen and we are blessed with free food.

The rule with Samoan's is that if everyone else is still eating, you have to keep eating. Manners-wise, it makes sense of course, but it's really hard because they like to keep on eating. So I've been taking it pretty slow lately. I've found the key is to take lots of little servings. So luckily my pant waists and shirt collars all have elastic stuff in them so they'll be fitting for a little while longer.  

Chris, the man, is going great still! He's still not baptized and hasn't set a date yet, but he's still reading the Book of Mormon and coming to Church, so no worries there.

Thank you for all you do for me! Have a wonderfully sunny week! Be sure to build a sand sculpture for me!

Just remember:
"True happiness comes only by making others happy"---David O. McKay
Keep doing what is right, and praying day and night!
Have a wonderful week!
I love you all so very much!

Love,

Elder David John Rowe