The Luau:

So we have been planning and preparing for a stake luau hosted by the Tongan ward for a couple of months now. and now it has come and gone. It was so much fun. Food and other provisions were prepared for an army. Many pigs died in the name of missionary work. :) It was all well needed with a crowd well over a thousand in attendance. After all of the food was served and eaten it was time for the performances. Polynesian wards from all over the valley had a performance prepared. there was even a couple of performances from a catholic church! Every island was represented by a few performances. When It was time for the Maori performance to begin Me and my two companions got into our Lava lavas and joined the Tongan throng for the Hakka. With all of the tongue flashing and war screams we could muster we changed the atmosphere from the Hawaiian beach to an island battlefield. :) Don't worry not every child was crying by the end of our performance. (all of this was approved by the mission president by the way). Towards the end of the night they actually called our mission president to the stage, as well as the stake presidency. There they had a dance off. I now know that my mission president is a little better at giving motivational talks than he is at moving his hips :). We filmed the entire thing. :) He was good to let us participate to such an extent. Now was that all for nothing? I say unto you nay. This last week we set five baptismal dates with a family that started going to the Tongan ward because of the Luau. We will be teaching them again Tonight! This is going to now be an annual event. Maybe the next time I come I won't be known as Elder Roos.

This mission Tour:

We had the chance to have Elder C. Scott Grow of the seventy visit and instruct our mission. We had a Zone leader council before he spoke to the mission where he was able to instruct the twenty of us. After he trained us the entire mission had the chance to be taught. A few days before he came to our mission he was in a meeting with The first presidency and The Chorum of the Twelve. He told us that every time President Monson speaks to the general authority's in this setting he speaks on The Rescue. This is President Monson's central message for his time as a prophet. Elder Grow wants us to spend as much time looking for and teaching non members as we do with less actives. He promised us that as we do we will baptize many more than we have. He explained that the less actives are the ones who know the non-members and they will refer them to us as we teach and reactivate them. The second part of his training dealt with the way we planned. This was the most inspiring training on planning I have been given. He showed us a new way to plan which used our mission averages and which forces us to have more faith in setting our numbers than we have. He used Ether 12 speaking of an "eye of faith." We have already seen some great things come from planning this way. The trick will be to maintain this new way of planning when the times get tough for the missionaries. Well that sums up what we were taught. It impressed me that Elder Grow had a scripture for everything... literally.

Transfers:

Elder Sevison and I are going to be together for another six weeks! Sadly we will no longer be in the Tongan wards, but we will remain in the summit ward. I am happy that not much is changing for us. only a fourth of our zone is changing so that is good as well.

conclusion:

I am happy. I am having many great experiences. Many of which show me that I still have much to learn as a missionary. Maybe by the end of my mission I will finally be who I want to be.

-Elder Roos