crazy

So remember my email from last week and i was all like "YEAH IT FINALLY RAINED!!! YEAH!" and it was just like a pretty average storm that had happened the night before. But then later that exact same day...that exact same day...like exactly one week ago from this exact day there was another storm and it was SUHHWEEEEET! They are actually classifying it as a natural disaster. I don't think where we got hit could be called exactly a natural disaster but other areas of Perth got hammered. The part of the storm that got us still hit pretty hard though. So that morning while we were emailing it was pretty sunny with some clouds in the sky but i was pretty sad cause the storm from the night before had passed. So later on in the day we were at a members house and they had some windows open and the wind just starts blowing like crazy out of nowhere and then starts raining like crazy and its all dark and cloudy and there was only like 5 feet of visibility and then it starts haling golf ball sized hale and it was awesome. That bit only lasted for about 10 minutes but then for the rest of the day in our area it was just on and off raining and lightning for the rest of the day and night. There was quite a bit of broken trees and branches and streets were flooded. One of the universities here in WA, the library got flooded and an apartment complex had a mudslide hit it and fill it with mud and a whole bunch of cars just look like golf balls now cause they have all these dents in them from the hale. Anywho it was pretty sweet, i was hoping for more...still kind of am, but we'll see. Oh and i uploaded some pictures of the storm...not really of the storm but the clouds after the storm, it doesn't really do the storm justice though.

I've been meaning to write something to Dallin but i guess its too late now, thats pretty cool he's in the mtc now.
umm jenn you lame-o think you can just write me once and then take a break!?!...cause you can, but before you do that ask conner what day he goes into the mtc and report back. That little punk wrote me and told me where he was going but didn't tell me when...moron..jk.

Meliss thanks for writing and for delivering that stuff to conners, thats pretty funny about his mom, that made me lol, she's cool though and she herself is very nice. Also you come up with pretty lame excuses not to write me because although you remember to write to me in the afternoon it is indeed not too late, you can send stuff up to 7ish o'clock p.m., but i'll for sure get it if it is before 7...so no lame excuses is the moral of the story. Also i'm glad teki enjoyed them biscuits...thats what they call cookies here. tell him that he is lame as usual...jk he's cool. what does sound lame are the wedding plans...or at least the stress that come with them. but i'm sure it will be amazing just like you're ring which i won't see for another 20ish months...cause i don't check facebook...(shifty eyes)....no really i don't....

Mele...who cares about you

and I will talk to yous all in a week, also transfers next week and i'll probably maybe be going somewhere new but we'll see and until then i hope you guys travel safely and take care and i love you all, yes you too mele i was jking above. love you bye.

Elder Salakielu

what...is...up...

IT FINALLY RAINED! too bad it was only for like an hour last night. But it was raining pretty hard and the thunder was deafening and the lightning blinding. Which i like all three of those so that was pretty cool. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Well yesterday was pretty good. the most exciting thing was that Kathy came to church yesterday. Its all coming together...hopefully...knock on wood. And we will have another lesson with her on Wed. We also dropped off a Lamb of God dvd that someone had ordered from the tv commercial and it was an 18 yr old kid/guy/man (its funny cause i saw in this newspaper once where someone got hit by a car and it said that an 18 yr old man was hit by a car.) and we'll be following up with him this week and see what he thought. I actually fasted for him and Russel the other referral. and we taught Russel the 1st lesson but he is catholic and was more interested in learning more about our church instead of know if it was the true church...and thats what happens a lot of the time, people are just interested in learning about what we believe instead of wanting to know if it is true. that is the hardest thing, finding people who are actually looking for answers, looking for that something. Cause if they aren't looking or wanting to know how are they going to find it, or why is the Lord going to give them that witness. Anywho, the work must go on.

I do have more photos although i don't take many and haven't taken any new ones in a while but its a matter of uploading them and stuff so i guess i'll keep uploading a bit at a time every time a come to the library. I forgot the name of the rabbit but there are two and the other ones name is shadow but they are a member's rabbits and we were helping them clean out the cages because its a couple and 2 young kids and the mom is like a super prego, she is actually due this wed. and the dad actually got the melchizedek priesthood yesterday...they were baptized some 9ish months ago. but yeah...cool lil rabbits. and then neptune head is actually poseidon (its ok its a very common misconception..jk) but yeah its just some giant statue in the middle of some abandoned field that used to be like a nice park with like gardens and stuff but now its just all abandoned and broken down and all the plants are just like are either dead or weeds.

The diet is going alright...lame, but alright. and like my pants did go looser and then a meal roster got passed around in relief society and we had dinner with members for like 2 and a half weeks in a row and i never at so much dessert in my life, but since then things have kind of leveled out.

So you guys went to the cemetery thats good. I'm glad someone could actually find grandpa Siaosi's grave. I remember me and jenn and meliss went and we couldn't find it, or maybe that was Laipeli's grave...either way i would like to go their after the mission and see them.

Well it was good to how things are at home...thanks MOM and thanks DAD and thanks JENN...jk. really though good to hear from you jenn. sorry i can't write more but i have 5 minutos left. but your email cracked me up and it was really funny. and i hadn't heard from conner that he got his call...that little punk, i've been expecting a letter from him. also you should enjoy the rainy weather, its the best.

anywho thanks for writing and i hope all is well and i love you all.

Elder Salakielu

P.S. i was talking about my usb memory stick that should be somewhere on my dresser. i either mentioned on the phone at christmas or in an email but yeah that would be nice to have for pictures and also could you do me a big favor and try and request/order my priesthood line of authority. thanks bye, love you.

good'ay

hello family. I am writing this drenched in sweat and that is because we don't have the car becuase the other elders had to go to the mission office for a leadership meeting and so we biked to the library and wanted to get her as it opened so we would have our full hour cause the time to use computers are on half an hour increments so we were kind of late and i'm sure you could care less but thats the story. Also i did get the corn nuts.

It is good to hear that you are gluttoning yourself...at least someone is. Me and elder Leota are on a diet. Ya see when we went to the temple on wednesday my white pants felt slightly tighter and elder leota could barely fit his, so we are on a diet. also we have been going to adams to work out cause he has a little gym set in his garage. Speaking of adam i finally put up some pictures of them and don't they just look like an awesome family. I also put up some pics of Mary, and her daughter Kate, and her granddaughter Chloe. I also got the 4 wheeling pics and other wholesome recreational pday activities. I didn't know there was a difference between the new album i made and the reeds mission album and so i when i first starting putting pictures on i put about 10-15 in the reeds mission album. also good call on trying only to upload 1 or 2 at a time, that works much better, i was trying like 12 at a time.

The weather here has been hot which is lame cause summer has been over for a couple of weeks now. there was a week not to long ago where it was just crazy hot like it was bad and it was like that for 3-4 days in a row. Its starting to cool down though and it is a bit cloudy today.

So yesterday was stake conference with Elder Neilson of the seventy and he was here in january with Elder Cook. Before that on saturday we had a missionary meeting with him and he gave some really good training. We also had to study 1 Nephi 11-14 which a good bit about that was him teaching us about the revelatory process and the steps we need to take to receive revelation and the example was nephi and how he wanted to see what his father did and know what it meant so he sat pondering. so here it is the revelatory process:
1. What desirest thou? - inspired inquiry
2. alma 17:2-3 and D&C 138: 1
search and ponder the scriptures
pray
fast
3. what beholdest thou?
and that is the great secret of the prophets that elder neilson said we weren't supposed to tell anyone about.

We still haven't really found anyone new to teach, at least consistently, but in stake conference elder neilson talked about member missionary work and so maybe that will help.

I feel like there was something else i wanted to say but i can't remember it, i'm sure it wasn't anything to great or exciting.....except for the fact that the Christ came to the earth and atoned for all of our sins making it possible to receive eternal life...but all of you already know that. Well take care and i love you all.

Elder Salakielu

p.s. you don't have to send reese's cereal, but if you do could you include a pair or two of black socks of mine and they are like ankle socks, they should be in the right middle drawer, that is if the girls haven't scavenged them, but they might seem small but those are the ones. also were you able to find my usb i mentioned awhile back? If yes, then you can include that as well. take care, love you.

haha lolz

From:

"Reed Salakielu"

So yes it is wed. here and i got you're emails and dad sent me an email and he was thinking that i was going to be emailing on mon. and was hoping i'd get it on time. As for pictures, when i try uploading them i try 12 at a time and yeah it took the whole time last time and didn't finish...and i forgot my camera usb cable today so i will just try and get sis tata to do it or someone else. Also tell meliss that if she wants to read my emails she has to send me some first...jk...but seriously. also tell jenn and mele they're lame because they're lame and i wouldn't mind another email from teki.

OH MAN! I almost forgot to thank you for the package i got last thursday with the candy and stickers and jersey. thank you thank you thank you...and thank you. Elder Leota really likes reese's as well and its funny cause he says it like ree-sees instead of like reesis.. and i asked him if he's ever had resee's cereal and he's like "why am i only hearing about this now" so he is also grateful.

I got a letter from grandma and grandpa and from bro. and sis. egan as well, and those were nice. i'll probably be sending more letters home in about 2 weeks and there might be quite a few. Hopefully there will be some mail when we get to the temple.

Yesterday was a really good day. We had an appointment with this lady, Kathy, who has been meeting with the missionaries weekly since like august/september. she was catholic growing up and then went pentecostal and then was interested in jehovah witness (reminded me of a funny story which i will tell after) for a little bit and is now looking into the true church. she didn't used to read the book of mormon alot but now she reads it lot and loves it. for a while we weren't making much progress with her but the last few weeks have been especially good. she opens up a lot more to us now and tells us more. she hasn't been to church yet cause she wants to finish the book of mormon before she goes. i think she will be coming to church on easter sunday which would be really good. I have pretty high hopes for her and hope she accepts the gospel.

After that appointment we went to a former investigators house who is from kenya and her name in Nyibol. She seems kind of interested but she had a friend over and her friend was really interested and gave us her address and phone number and told us to visit her. Unfortunately she lives in the other elders area, but i guess that doesn't matter, whats important is that she learns and feels the spirit and comes unto christ no matter who helps.

So the jehovah witness story. So yesterday morning while we're studying we get this loud knock. I open the door and there is this elderly couple. I look at them and they look at me and then i see them look at my badge and then they look like they see a ghost or something and they like legitimately look scared like i could see the fear in their eyeballs and it seemed like they wanted to run away screaming or something. So there is this awkward silence for like 5 seconds and then they ask how the preaching is going and i say same old same old and then they were just like ok see ya later. so it was pretty funny, thats the second time Jehovah Witnesses knocked on our door, the other time was on christmas eve. They're pretty funny but they ruin a lot of things. They don't like mormons, especially missionaries, and don't even try to talk to us or take any of our stuff...probably cause they're wrong...i dunno.

Well i hope all is well at home and that everyone is ok and pray that heavenly father watches over all of us especially when we are all spread out (hawaii, california, utah, DC) and I will talk to you all in 4 days. Love you all.

Elder Salakielu

AHHH DANGIT! I just remembered that I was planning on saying happy birthday to jenn and technically it would have still been her birthday if we had emailed yesterday but it was a public holiday yesterday so our pday changed to today (tues). And now its not jenn's birthday anywhere in the world...So happy late birthday Jenn! Also next week is temple week so we won't be emailing until wed.

Good to hear that the internet is still junk...jk, was it a problem that the snow caused? Anywho there was a tsunami warning on the east coast for like sydney and melbourne but not for here at perth. I don't think there was even a small tsunami wave that ended up hitting. Its good to hear that Hawaii is okay.

Well not much has happened this week. the first week of this transfer is over. There were 8 new missionaries who came in, only 2 of them are from the U.S. the others are Aussies. 2 of those newbs are in our district...I'm finally not the newb anymore. So the new elder that is in the other ward is Elder Campbell, which is funny cause the elder he replaced was Elder Campbell. But he is from Ogden Utah and we pretty much don't know any of the same people. The other new Elder is up in geraldton and he is from melbourne and he is just a crackup, but a really good missionary...and he looks like luke wilson....oh and he is engaged, we'll see how long that lasts.

about shoes, the ones i told you to put in my room, the black and gray plaid circas...those were the ones i was talking about, if there is room go ahead and send them if not don't worry about it. But like those shoes here would probably cost like $119. the pricing on stuff here is whacky...like the exchange rate doesn't even compensate for it, it doesn't really make sense, but then again i'm no economist so maybe it does...i hope it does.


Well the photos still haven't finished uploading and I only have a few minutes left, i guess some of them will have uploaded. But not much else is going on. We are going to Yanchep national park again for elder campbell and doing some shopping after this so love you all, and take care.

Elder Salakielu