meh

Sun, September 19, 2010 5:46:31
From: Reed Salakielu


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Ok well it is the start of a new transfer today. Transfer calls were on saturday night as usual and Elder Beck is getting transferred and i'm staying right here in good ol dianella

So we ran our 2/3 triathalon this morning. Biked the 20km's and ran the 5km's in about 90 min. it was pretty good. oh and 1 kilometer is 0.6 miles the way i remember though is pretty much 5km's is 3 miles. So the training leading up to this triathalon with all the morning exercise and all you would think i would have lost some weight...which i kind of did but not very much. So we did not have sisters playing frisbee with us. We have sisters in the zone but when we play on mondays its just the district usually, and then for the tournament it was cause of the leadership meetings so none of the sisters came to that so yeah...it was good fun though, just like old times. Oh yeah and then our post season barbecue was way good. we barbacued chicken, steaks, sausages, and lamb. I probably already said this but Aussies sure do love their lamb which i still think i don't like...but they love it.

Yesterday was stake conference and Elder/President Arden(?) not sure what his exact title is (at least elder though i guess) but yeah he was presiding and it was a pretty good stake conference. There was a talk about taking an offensive against satan instead of defensive which is usually what you think about when resisting and avoind temptation is defense but offense is the best defense was the jist of that talk. Then the stake president, who looks exactly like kramer from seinfield, talked about being spontaneous. Bearing spontaneous testimony, lessons from life, expressions of love, acts of kindness and service, personal and family prayer, gratitude and thanks, and acts of happiness. something he really said about bearing testimony i really liked, in particular to nonmembers is that if all they hear from us is scripted, prepared, thought out testimony how are they ever going to know that it is part of our very being. which is what a testimony should be. Elder Arden talked about navigation and gps's and how to return home:
1. the book of mormon 2. be more sincerely prayful 3. attendance at meetings 4. sacrament 5. seek counsel. Man that was a pretty good meeting. I know because of how fast it went by. Elder Arden was the last to speak and he had like 30-35 min to go and i was like "I might die!!!" but then i didn't. nah but really i know it was a good meeting because of the spirit. Oh also i remember the last bullet point that i forgot last week from those crazy meetings, it was we teach people not lessons...i'm sure you were all dying to know.

So that is pretty cool that dad's new mechanic is taking the lessons. there is almost nothing that can compare to seeing someone convert to the gospel. like its pretty amazing and just to see people change their lives and beliefs is pretty crazy. Thats maybe one good thing (maybe bad) about australia, is that most members are converts and it is always good to hear their conversion stories.

Well the time is near spent. and i've been standing up for half the time cause the library was full and only the standing up computers were left so i took one of those for a little bit. anywho sorry i didn't really respond to anyones emails like any of the girls, i guess i did answer some questions. also this is a new record, had an email from every single person, except for randy that it...good on you guys. thank you. also yes meliss, i guess you're coming out of impregnito you think you would've been quicker to send that news out instead of waiting a week...whatevs. Well take care and love you all.

Elder Salakielu

ok

Sun, September 12, 2010 5:25:39 PM ok From: Reed Salakielu reed.salakielu@myldsmail.net

Ok well todays email is going to be a bit rushed. We have to hurry and email and then go shopping cause we are having a barbacue with like 10 other missionaries. It is our Frizzlies post season barbacue, or thats what we're calling it. That was our team name, the FRIZZLIES. That is a whole nother story in itself but i guess i have no choice but to tell it. I guess i'll start with the part where we lost the tournament. It was best 2 out of 3. The other team were the turtles. so the turtles won the first game we won the second and then the 3rd game was a real show. it was first to 11 win by 2 and the score ended 14-12....lame but it was way fun. So there was this argument going on throughout the whole mission of what animals would win a fight. people were picking wolves, gorillas, lions, grizzly bears, and so one of the assistants on our team was a grizzly bear and so we named our team the frizzlies. Also that same missionary is going home this friday. so its also a farewell barbacue to him, elder hussey. He went to bingham. and he was kinda our team captain. and then the captain of the other team was a zone leader and he's way into the ninja turtles so there team was the turtles. Man all last week was just full of epicness...there is just too much to explain. and no jenn it wasn't nerdy...maybe a little. but it was pretty sweet... ...Except for the six hour training meetings that happened after frisbee everyday last week...man that was some insane-o business. ok i lied it was pretty sweet. but only cause it was so intense and inspired and directed by the spirit. Like you can just tell it came straight from the first presidency and the brethren. we learned about pretty much teaching simplified curriculum.
we focused on about 8 main points:
1. teaching doctrine
2. teaching by the spirit and asking inspired questions.(elder hamula said that teaching wasn't talking, butasking inspired questions and responded with doctrine) Receiving revelation through:
3. prayer
4. the book of mormon
5. sacrament meeting attendance
6.We invite, they commit, we follow up
7. and how to begin teaching
there is supposed to be one more somewhere in there between 5 and 6 i think....guess that shows how much i payed attention....but no really i have the paper and notes on my desk and it was really good training...super long and super draining but it was good. that was pretty much most of last week. I'd tell you more about johan but don't have enough time. i wish i could respond more to your emails....i guess jenn no more of these breaks that you would probably say only last like 5 min but we all know what happens when facebook is involved....well whatever everything sounds good at home...so yeah...haven't heard anything from meliss...she must be inpregnito (lol see what i did there). ok well thats it from me. love you all. Elder Salakielu.

To everyone I guess

Sun, September 5, 2010 5:39:15 PM
to everyone i guess
From:
Reed Salakielu

Well hello everyone i guess. Pday again. we played ultimate frisbee for morning exercise this morning. We usually do that every pday for morning exercise. We have our district which there are 3 companionships and then the zone leaders and assistants to the president come so we usually have a good game of 5 on 5. This week is going to be even better though cause there are these crazy leadership meetings that go for 6 hours everyday tues-fri ( I don't know who thought that was a good idea but i guess its to give training on the new teaching/approach i mentioned last week) anywho so all the leaders in the mission are coming from wherever to stay for the week and we are going to have a frisbee tournament and play for morning exercise. It should be pretty fun.

As for your question dad, about elder Hamula i thought he was polynesian as well but i don't think he is. i think he is of german descent or something. He's from arizona though and lives in New Zealand. Also it was Father's day yesterday so if i didn't say happy fathers day last time its cause it wasn't really fathers day yet...for me anyways...so....HAPPY FATHERS DAY.

Mele sounds like school is lame as usual. I guess whatever works though. You and Jenn can be study buddies and fail together...not jk...lol...But the Adelaide mission is pretty far away but is still the next closest mission to perth. I have a friend there, i think, Eston Stowers....yeah...i also dunno what i'm gonna do when i get back home...probably go back to school.

Well this past week was pretty good. We did the quit smoking program with this less active guy who just got out of jail and wants to get his life in order. He finished yesterday and didn't smoke all week. Tonight we have a dinner with him and a member family who fellowshipped him...going to Hungry Jacks aka Burger King. and then we have another dinner appointment with a filipino guy who is less active but has fed the missionaries every monday for 3 years....bro. Pipit he's pretty cool. So yesterday we had this guy who we haven't talked to forever cause he doesn't answer our calls and doesn't call us cause he works a lot come to church so that was good. Like he pretty much believes everything he's been taught but is just sooo busy. Also we suspect we are teaching a murderer....its a pretty long story so maybe i'll save it for another time, but all the evidence adds up and it points to him having stabbed and murdered someone...yeah...his name is johan...he's pretty cool minus the fact he may have killed a man, but still thats only a slight suspicion Elder Beck and I have.

So what song or music did that card play that the girls sent? and yes the same ol candy but same ole good candy and no i didn't eat it all by myself...nor did elder beck. We are training for a triathalon minus the swimming part. Mostly cause we want to and cause he doesn't want to go home fat. he has about 4 months left so when we aren't playing frisbee for morning exercise we run like 5 km's....so thats been fun.

Well time is almost up so adios i guess.....love you all.

Elder Salakielu

NO SUBJECT

No Subject
From:
Reed Salakielu
Well not much happened this week...kinda. It was zone conference and we had a visit from the area presidency, Elder Hamula. It was pretty good. He was really smart and in tune with the spirit and knew what he was talking about. He was kind of introducing a new program and approach to missionary teaching that the church wants to implement, i guess the Brethren have been working really hard on this for a while now and they are going to start it in the mtc sometime next year so they have to get everyone that is already out up to date...i dunno....we're assured it is 100% in line with preach my gospel...which i guess was a real fear for some missionaries. But i guess fair enough cause they say to be preach my gospel...I dunno i'm looking forward to it. Elder Hamula also came to lay down some rebukes for disobedience. No worries there cause our zone is the most obedient. We didn't even know that that was a reason he was here until the end and he interviewed a few of us (me included) and told us that. Well that was the highlight of the week i guess. DC looked cool i guess. Well take care love you all. and thanks for writing, jenn.

Elder Salakielu

thank you

Sun, August 22, 2010 5:15:29 PM
thank you
Ok, well thank you for all the birthday wishes and the cards. The pirate card was broken and didn't play whatever it was supposed to play...but thank you anyways. i got most of that stuff on friday and the package got to the office today. which we already picked up. The senior sister in the office called us right when it got in. Sister Matuauto, she is samoan but has lived in salt lake for like the last 20 years. anyways it was a good week last week. Elder beck set up a dinner appointment with a surprise birthday cake at the end. that was on thursday. and then on friday we had district meeting with another party and cake at the end of the meeting. Got a card and a tie and a journal from the elders in the district. it was nice...but too much. Still haven't opened the package yet. we came straight from the office to the library but thank you again. We have zone conference tomorrow. Those have actually changed from instead of being once every six weeks to once every 3 months. so this is the first one in a while. well i could probably write some more but small steps....

also you can tell mele and jenn woopdeedoo. big deal. i don't want to talk to them either, like they answer my questions anyways....and looks like i'll be missing out on a wopping 2 emails/letters (maybe 3) for the rest of my mission...MELE!

Well i'm fine really, take care and love you all.

Elder Salakielu

AHHH NOT MY XBOX!!!

Mon, June 14, 2010 1:01:03 AM
AHHH NOT MY XBOX!!!
Well that all sounds like some craziness. Not near as much happened here. Tuesday we drove up to perth for zone conference. We got a flat tire on the way up. We had a spare tire but the jack that was in the car didn't really work so we had to flag down some guy and ask if he had one and he did and we got that all settled. Then we got to perth, had zone conference, it really wasn't that great...that may have been my least good zone conference yet. Our zone did sing sweet hour of prayer for Pres. and Sis. Maurer. This is there last transfer so that was there last zone conference. I think Pres maurer leaves Wed. June 23 in the afternoon and then Pres. Cahoon gets in that night. Pres. Maurer is also coming down to Albany this friday for a fireside and to say goodbye to the branch.

Today we went on an 8 hour hike.It was part of this track called the bibbulmun track that runs along the west coast for like 1000+ kilometers. It starts somewhere north of perth and ends in albany and some people just walk the whole thing and it takes like 60ish days..of course we don't have that kind of time so we just did some of it.

So those boys were getting up to no good. Well i hope everythings all good. Did i ever mention those fireworks in my drawer like a few months back...i thought i did. and if i didn't then ya....the bottom right drawer is like stuffed to the brim with fireworks, ok maybe not to the brim but ya there is definitely some ish in there. Dad can use them...or anyone really and if not, then sweet. Also i forgot to check up on if the girls (Mele and Meliss) ever used those Best Buy gift cards which were worth a pretty penny...at least one of them. So did you guys use them? It might be past the date where if there is still money on there than it takes like $2 away every month...i dunno something like that.

haha Sis. Olman...she is funny. well it was only one picture i think so oh well.

Well i guess thats it for now. Mele thanks for writing. I'm sure you're going to do fine in school. Meliss congrats again. Jenn stop being a lazy bum and write me and take care everyone. Love you all.

Elder Salakielu

P.S. I heard that you can buy tim tams at walmart. Is that true? thats pretty gay if thats true.

Wow

Sun, June 6, 2010 4:18:23 PM
wow

You guys sound super uber busy. What a crazy sunday it sounded like. I wish our sundays were that busy. There was a classic car race here in albany yesterday and it seems like 90% of the town was there. It wasn't really so much a race as it was classic and old fashioned fast cars just driving around a track in a straight line. The track actually was the main street of the city that they closed off and so we had to drive some crazy way around it just to get to church and all throughout the day we could here engines revving and what not.

Well meliss, this will be the last time i ever talk to you as my sister...from here on out you're dead to me! haha (nelson style) lol, tricked ya. I guess as mom said this is the last time i'll talk to you as a salakielu. I guess technically mothers day was the last time i talked to you as a salakielu but never you mind. anywho i'd give you some wise words of wisdom but i don't really have any but i'm sure you've been counseled to the max by the grand master counselor (dad) and i'll just second anything and everything he has said...amen. well congratulations and know that i love you and am happy for you and wish the best to you and teki and take care.

About my camera cable dealy i want to say i misplaced it but i think its lost now, so i guess both. it wouldn't be a big deal if these computers had sd slots but they don't so i just went and got a sd reader. Also we haven't gone to zone conference yet. We are going up to perth tomorrow (tues) and coming back friday, it should be good.

Still very slim pickins for baptismal candidates. there are a few people to visit and teach but not very many baptizable. we still maybe only have one potential baptism and he is pretty much a 50/50 right now. His name is adam plugg and he is a pretty cool guy and says he wants to get baptized but he is smoking at the moment and yeah....i guess its not very good to be pessimistic though so i'll just say he will get baptized.

Anywho you guys shouldn't be reading this you should be cleaning the bathroom, or vacuuming the family and living rooms, and mopping the floor, or cleaning something...since there is going to be like 50 bazillion people at the house. ok so maybe its only like 10 but oh well. Well send my love and greetings to all the family, and tell jessica congratulations for me and keep the bunnys under control and alive. I hope you all can survive this week and take care, love you all.

Elder Salakielu