Allen wrench in the tire

                         
                                     Ryan gets an Allen wrench stuck in his tire!!  Nice job!!

LV Missionaries

                                   
                          Mission call received and the Las Vegas missionaries help him celebrate!!!

OCTOBER 29, 2012

this week has been awesome! monday: we went to the outlet mall thats at the end of our zone. oh gosh. i miss shopping for things i dont need so much! i needed a new bag to bike with and work with because the one i have is getting pretty jacked up, so i bought a new one and an oregon shirt to rep my colors! then we watched the presidential debate. it was very informative minus like the WHOLE THING! since everything they were talking about has happened on my mission. lame.... but still. tuesday: we had district meeting in the morning and then exchanges. i went with a new missionary thats been out for about 2 weeks named elder sherwood from arkansas. hes super cool and funny guy,. i love him. we had a good day together. wednesday we exchanged back and then had a good day together with elder taetakua and i. we have SO MUCH fun together. i love polynesian companions. :D hahaaha. thursday we went to the spanish district meeting and it was really good then had our exchange with the spanish district leader and his companion. it was cool but that night we got a less then exciting call from my companion telling us about our investigator. we found this family through tracted and have been teaching them. theyre spanish. well, elder taetakua calls me and tells me that the mom just got out of jail febrauary for drug trafficking. turns out that she went to tijuana and woke up drugged up and was detained from the airport and found drugs stashed on her, so she has a court date in november and will probably spend 2 years in prison. fun times. so yah... friday nothing really happened, saturday was fun. we had our trunk or treat and we bought a bunch of candy and stapled mormon.org cards to each one. and had one of the young men sit in our trunk witha blanket over his head and scare the little kids as the reached into our trunk. HAHAHA!!! it was awesome. sunday not a whole lot went down either. renewed our covenants and were edified. yay. thats my week! we also found 4 new people to teach and have our first lessons with them this coming week! :D oh and we also have this performance going on on the 11th. its called the lamb of god and its an orchestra performance that all the zone leaders will be ushering for and then we gget awesome seats! :D yay! i love zone leadery thingy benefits. :DDD haha

now we have 12 investigators that weve found within the last 3 weeks. we have at least 7-8 appointments set up this week. which is the first in i dont even know how long. so yah. good stuff. good to have a hard working fun loving companion.

by the way. every time you talk about something along the lines of me going home or something to do with home, i show to the other elders and call it my mom's "trunky thought of the week" ;D haha

oh btw, did you know an eduardo deleon in college? filipino guy, short, wears glasses. well hes in my ward and he went to BYU Hawaii in 81 and thought he recognized your name, so i thought id asked. he said he went by edu (eh-doo) so yah. hes awesome! anyways.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!

ELDER NONU

OCTOBER 22, 2012

this wek has been great!!! monday we had a good p-day, played some rugby and hung out with the other missionaries. that night we visited a member in the ward named bro nuckolls he had told us that he was working with a family and their 3 kids to try and get them baptised. well, when we stopped by he said he should try and call them and see if that was ok. they happened to be having a birthday party for the moms grandma and we walked over with him. we talked to the family and bro. nuckolls invited the kids to take lessons and they accepted. AWESOME!!!! thats 3 new people to teach. tuesday we had district meeting and started our exchanges with our district leader and his companion. it was a good exchange. SUPER RANDOM THOUGH!! nothing i planned to do happened, but we got some good food from this less active vietnamese lady. so good!!!! and we saw the mallorys (my favorite family in the ward) wednesday we switched back and i got my buddy taetakua back and then we got to go to the temple. WOO!!!! it was awesome. i had been going into the temple to see what we can do better to halp the members do missionary work. so we sat down in the chapel waiting for our session to start and the couple in front of us turns around and tells us that they just got back from a proselyting mission in england together and now they are serving as addiction recovery missionaries in the valley. he started testifying on how you need to TEACH the members how to find and how to do missionary work. so i took that for my answer. he continued to do so in the celestial room and then outside of the temple. it was awesome. we visited our ward mission leader later and turns out that he had been praying for the same thing and got the same answer! so we put a lesson plan together on teaching the members how to have faith in finding and how the atonement motivates us to share the gospel to our friends and family. which was AWESOME!!!!!!! thursday i got to go to lunch with mom and dad which was really fun. haha. elder taetakua loves you guys. aha. after we got our tire fixed because the night before i got a flat and looked at the tire and turns out i had an alen wrnech sticking out of my tire. really annoying. so we got it fixed for free by a shop up on the mountain. friday we planned for our next week, nothing special. saturday was really fun. we did a service project for the city as a zone. we cleaned up trash around a park it was really fun, then after they fed us burgers and ribs and salad and stuff. it was awesome!!! that night we had dinner with a part member family and shared a mormon message about the priesthood. we testified that the priesthood has been restored and invited him to take the lessons and he accepted!!! WOOOO!!!!! thats 4 people this week. awesome!!! it was so cool. sunday we had church and not a whole lot happened. at night though we had the why i believe fireside that weve been planning for about a month. before it started elder taetakua and i were running around trying to make sure everything was set up and that the program was ready.

That's my week,

Love you guys,

Elder Nonu

LOOK WHO WE HAD LUNCH WITH!!

Nonu and I go to Vegas for the day.  We got permission from Ryan's Mission President to take Ryan and his companion out to lunch.  It was so good to see him.  He's doing so well.  So grown up, but yet still the same ole' Ry.

OCTOBER 15, 2012

this week has been cool. monday was another boring p-day. we spent it saying good bye to people for elder hardy. tuesday was transfers and i saw james' wifes' brother there. hes in the zone that i just left. so i barely missed serving next to him. hes a cool guy though. we had fun with elder vaiaoga and latu (the missionary he's training) so that was fun. After we went to BJs :D with a member in our ward that works around the mission office. i got like 3 pizookies and we shared them. :P i love elder taetakua. hes a good missionary and a humble big tongan boy from hawaii. haha. weve been having a blast together. wednesday we had our lesson with the family that hardy and i found tracting. it went really well. we taught about the restoration of the gospel through jospeh smith and her kids were really interested and comitted to read and pray about the book of mormon. she had her sisters kids sit in as awell, and said shed ask if they can learn. so that was awesome. so thats a mom and 5 kids with a lot of potential. thursday nothing really, friday we had our zone meeting for our zone. elder taetakua was a little nervous, but he did really well. during zone meeting we just make announcements from zone leader council and relay them from president back to all of our missionaries. we also trained on planning and using the area book. it went well. some of the missionaries looked less then enthused but the missionaries that we see working really hard in their areas were the ones taking notes, engaging in the conversations. so it was good. then we took a missionary and his comp to lunch and i bought him lunch for his birthday. saturday we went to 2 baptisms. 1 for the spanish elders in the zone and another at night for the sisters in our district. its always a good saturday going to baptisms. so that was nice. sunday was great too. elder taetakua got to meet a bunch of the members and classes went well. scott (our recent convert) taught the gospel principles class, he was nervous too, but still did well. we had dinner with my favorite family in the ward. the wards. haha. and i got to see a missionary that was with me in the MTC whos a zone leader in the zone next to ours. after we headed home and called the mission president's secretary and got things figured out for the fireside that elder taetakua and I are in charge of next sunday. its called the "why i believe" fireside that the mission puts together once a month. scott is going to be speaking so were really excited about that. :D well, thats our week. today were playing rugby with a bunch of the elders in the mission, i found a rugby pitch in a park in our zone, so it should be fun. im excited.

ive heard of that place here in vegas. or at least i think they are. so thats cool. im glad Nan's found a job that shes liked. i miss santa cruz. its so friggin dry here its not even funny. i want the ocean. haha. but thats fun. i wish i could go. but ill get over it. -__- haha.

i dont know where Karifi lives but ill give him a call and drop some stuff off for you guys. so yah. did you send another mrs. fields package? btw. if you did, dont put elder ryan anymore. you have to put elder nonu because theres 3 ryans in the mission, one of which was my companion when i got the first one and they had to call us to figure it out. so yah. just for convenience.

thats awesome about keana though. im glad that she made that decision. she can turn in her papers the month i get home. haha. so ill get back and then shell be gone. thats cool. haha. did she get my letter? hope so.

anyways. all is well in vegas. btw, if you call the mission home and ask to take us to dinner you might be able to. ;D haha. just saying.

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!

OCTOBER 8, 2012

this week has been awesome!!!!!! monday was boring, did do much. tuesday we had our baptism for joey which was awesome. he asked me to baptize him. when we got into the changing room, we changed and he sat back and i asked him how he felt, and he said "my whole life just changed." and i gave him a hug. it was cool. really strong spirit there. wednesday we had ZLC and elder hardy and I gave a training to the other zone leaders. we had this survey at interviews and i guess our mission president and his wife thought we did really well with things (planning skills, obedience, area book care, etc.) so we gave a training on how everyone needs to be doing these things or we have no reason to be leaders and guide our missionaries on how its to be done properly. then we had a huge awesome lunch. :P thursday was REALLY awesome. wednesday night we were planning and we were thinking about where we should go, and i remembered a small court we always passed by thats tucked away off of a street, well thinking that missionaries NEVER have been there i said, "we should tract that street." and elder hardy says,"yah i was thinking that exact thing." so we went to it thursday and knocked on this door and a spanish lady answered and we went inside and left a blessing on her home. she said, "my three sons have been wanting to talk with you guys for a long time, can you come back next week?" well, our jaws dropped to say the least and we set an appointment for this wednesday! :DDDD haha. friday not a whole lot happened, then saturday was conference and we got wing stop for lunch!!!! SO GOOD!!!! SO THAT WAS AWESOME. sunday was awesome also with conference. other then that. it was great week. also. transfers is tomorrow and elder hardy is getting transferrred and i will be with elder taetekua, hes tongon from hawaii, so im sure this will be a fun transfer. im excited. :D

That's awesome about Keana and the temple too. i wish we could have done that. i thought about this ward and if we lived here id be there almost every morning. but its kind of sad when you see couples that dont go weekly when its down the street. LITERALLY. i figured you guys were going to at least one of the sessions. your so lucky. i wanted to go so bad. the conference was awesome!!!!! i loved elders holland and bednar's talks. they were awesome. ive been studying the healing, enabling, and exalting of the atonement, and sure enough thats exactly what everyone talked about. so that was nice to see also. and i need to write keana back, i lost my friggin stamps. so ill get on that. im attempting to write micheal also. i didnt realize hes been out for 6 months already. thats cool.

thats awesome about oregon too. theres a sister here that graduated from washington state so let me know what the score of that game is. ;D haha. ill be looking forward to that. haha. anyways. all is well here.

anyways. LOVE YA!!!!!

ELDER NONU

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Hi Mom and Dad,

This week has been good. monday we didnt do a whole lot. hardy got a hair cut and it was pretty boring. but yah. tuesday we had interviews with president and sister neider. he had a lot of questions about the zone and if im worried about any of the companionships. it was my favorite interview with president. we watched his general conference talk he gave. this month's ensign he actually has an article that he wrote. its about voting. Micheal A. Neider. i read it this morning. that night bro. mallory in our ward is the fire captian for the fire house here and he gave us a tour and let us mess with all the tools and stuff. it was really fun. all his nonmember coworkers were really nice to us. they were asking him a bunch of questions about missionaries and stuff. his son is serving a mission in seoul korea. pretty cool right? yah i know... haha. then wednesday we had district meeting in the morning, nothing special throughout the day. thursday we did a session in the temple and i almost got the ending perfect this time. aha. i felt accomplished. i learned some stuff also which was really cool. I love doing that. it felt like i was going to disneyland that morning. i was so anxious to go. it was awesome! friday wasnt too exciting either. saturday though was fun. we were on exchanges with a missionary i served around a couple transfers ago and we stayed up until around 2am just talking friday night. haha. in the morning we went to 2 baptisms. one for someone in our district and then a spanish baptism that elder bennett (my exchange comp) sang at. i could pretty much understand what they were saying. so that was good. ive heard enough spanish to be able to listen to people and know whats being said to me. so that was cool. joey also had his baptismal interview and passed of course. after the baptisms we went with scott (our recent convert) dale (his friend) and jessica (dales sister) to wing stop. weve gotten pretty close with all of them and elder bennett and i had a lot of fun. and the fun was awesome. :P sunday was rather interesting. church was really , the mission has set every fast sunday for the month as a day to fast to reach our mission baptismal goal of 1200 and hopefully well get close to it. the zone has been doing really well. we had 10 baptisms this past month which is AWESOME!!!! haha. so were really proud of how hard the missionaries are working. We had a meeting with our ward mission leader.  My companion, Elder Hardy told him he was getting burned out.  Then he looks at me,"youre not getting burnt out are you?" i said,"bro. agan ive been out for a year, i dont have the option of being burnt out, and ive been in every area for at least 4 1/2 to 6 months" he just says "good."  for dinner we went to bro. flanagan's house whos married to a mexican lady and she made some GOOD food. ever since ive eaten real mexican food, i cant stand taco bell or chipotle anymore. -___- sad, but oh so true. haha. then we had a fun lesson with joey and played a game about the ten commandments and then got his baptismal program figured out. so yah. good times.

 

Dad is still in my prayers. i fasted for him sunday. so that will help. if theres anything ive learned on my mission about a successful family for when im married, its that church, prayer, and reading are the fundamentals that will keep us happy. going to church as a family and getting things out of it together, praying morning and night as a family, and family home evenings every week, and daily family scripture study will make mountains move for a family. along with personal scripture study and prayer. it makes all the difference. building my testimony every day has helped me so much. before my mission i couldnt find 3 nephi in the book of mormon and hadnt even read it yet, and i could tell you who the apostles were or who was in the first presidency. now, i can tell you in depth what every story is about, ive truly come to grow a testimony of the atonement and an understanding that helps me brush off every little stupid thing like its not even there, and ive grown a very close relationship with god. i actually have a testimony and conviction opposed to an attendance record at church. it makes all the difference in the eternities.

 

anyways. all is well still. transfers are next tuesday and im excited to see what happens. love you all!!!!

ELDER NONU

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

FINALLY YOU WRITE ABOUT FOOTBALL!!!!!!! gosh. bro. mallory is a member we love in the ward and the ONLY person that talks about it or updates me. but i dont hear about it very often. i heard that the flippin pats lost to the rams. but oregon is 3-0 and destroying everyone also. so thats good. i just hope that they kill USC. that would excite me. hehe. :D i was so happy that they lost to stanford. so that made my week. anyways. all is well here.

monday didnt do much, tuesday we did service for this elderly couple in the ward, the rossers. we love them. haha. they have a closet full of food and let us go "shopping" after every service project or whenever we just feel like stopping by. wednesday we had district meeting and started our exchanges with the district leaders in the zone. I went with elder cornelison who came out with me, so that was SOOO much fun.

Friday, not a whole lot again, saturday was pretty good. the morning and afternoon was uneventful, but later that evening we played softball with the ward which was fun. and then went to a baptism for someone elder hardy taught. but the cool thing about this lady was that she was deaf. so the baptism, was done in sign language and the confirmation was done in sign language. it was rather interesting. aha. but the spirit was super strong. right before the baptism, the spanish ward was having a HUGE party, so i got some food. ;P so yah. that was my week in a nut shell. :)

Inot sure if ill get transferred or not. im assuming hardy will because weve been together for 2 transfers and hes been in the area for 3. but this area is so small, we struggle to stay busy all day. so yah. hopefully i leave soon. but i love the members so much. theyre all awesome. but they dont keep us busy. so yah.

we have a baptism for joey bagwell on the 2nd. so thats really exciting.

ill be praying for dad. OH YAH!! his friend kerifi is in the ward next to us. so he told me to tell him to call him. hes taking us to dinner next monday. so yah. his number is. 702-542-8959

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!

ELDER NONU

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

Were planning on going to the temple this friday as a district, so that should be fun. well be going at the same time as the new missionaries so ill be able to see elder V and his trainee. so im looking forward to that. I got to see them last night. we picked them up for a mission fireside and then dropped them off. theres a fijian guy, bro. tui, that we know that is super cool, so we went over there and hung out with him for a bit and 2 other missionaries. elders vakauta and ioane. we ate curry and told bro tui that he needs to go to church and dump his nonmember girlfriend so he can go to the temple. it was funny. haha.

that would be cool if you got to work from home. finding a job when i get back should be interesting. haha. just kidding. i told dad ill be praying for him, so hopefully hell get better soon.

Everybody is getting married i swear. dad told me that james's wife's brother is coming to this mission. I feel like i dont know ANY missionaries now. they used to introduce them to everyone at transfers, but now they come in a day later and then get put with their trainers, so we dont get to know them at all. its strange. but oh well.

The work has been picking up this week. weve been trying to teach the wife of a part member family. her husband has been really against her taking lessons and the first time she was taught, he freaked out when the missionaries talked to her about baptism, and stopped taking them. well since i got here weve been trying to teach her. weve gotten to know them really well and they love us. She donated a kidney a couple years ago and the one she has now, has been giving her a lot of problems and shes been in and out of the hospital the past few weeks. the member we have fellowshipping them drove her husband somewhere and then up to the temple and asked if they had been to the temple on the grounds and in response he asked "after my wife gets better, what do we have to do to get her baptised?" it was awesome!!! so we will be teaching her soon and hopefully will be baptising her next month. We are also teaching one of the priests friends named joey and he is getting baptised at the end of the month. hes awesome! other then that were still trying to find people to keep the work going.

I wish we could go to a temple dedication. -___- but no. oh well..

Anyways. all is well here, 3 more weeks of this transfer. its going by very fast. and im very grateful. :)

LOVE YA!!!

ELDER NONU

SEPTEMBER 3, 2012

this week was a struggle again. we had problems finding people to teach and basically just having stuff to do all day. were on our bikes the whole time and cant keep ourselves busy because there is NOTHING to do. but luckily we had a little ray of sunshine yesterday night. the family that fed us last sunday told us that their son had a friend or 2 that wanted to learn about the church and stuff. well he brought him over yesterday night and we had a lesson with him. we taught about the book of mormon and it went really well. andat the end we comitted him to be baptised! pretty awesome! yah bro! but he said that that is definately something that he wants to do. but we told him to pray about it and let us know on tuesday what date he thinks would be good. hell probably say something in like 3 months, but well pray too and think of something for like 3-4 weeks from now. haha. so yah. golden investigator. but the cool thing is that he also has ANOTHER friend that wants to get baptised too, but the problem is that he just got kicked out of his house and put into foster care and had to quit his job and everything and might not be going to school anymore. he was a super cool kid too but everything is going bad for him. so yah, well see how that goes.

sounds like a good day though. that would be good. the only problem is that the only other shoes i have are kind of uncomfortable like... a lot. so yah. but ill mail them to you. thatd be good though. as far as things that i need im not sure what id need. so yah. aha. whatever you send would be fine.

ive thought about byu hawaii for school maybe. i guess they have a pretty good architectural program there. so yah. well see though. dont really care to think about it now. so yah.

 thatd be awesome though. ive been wanting to write bishop sharp, but had no idea what his adress is. oh yah! i got a letter from sis. limutau and a couple other sisters today. so that was cool. but id love to hear from him and see how the ward is doing. :) hows micheal doing in st. louis though? havent heard from him yet. and tell derek to email me that fruit cake! bishop prob thought those things were funny anyways. haha.

 anyways. all is well here still. love you mom!!

AUGUST 27, 2012

this week has been a challenge. we have been struggling just to fill our days with things to do. although that may be weve done some awesome stuff this week! :D friday we had a huge softball game with the ward and it went great. this less active samoan family came also and were planning on playing rugby with them today. AHHH!!! im so excited. too many friggin white people here. ugh.... but i spoke on sunday. it went well, a lot of people came up and thought it was good. but i spoke for 30 minutes on accident. i got to the atonement and got emotional. its not my FAULT!!! but anyways. still good though.

 

we got a tender sweet mercy from the lord yesterday. the son of the family that fed us last night brought his friend over who wasnt a member and he was talking about church and everything, and we invited him out to play softball with us ther next time we plan on having a game. he seemed excited. so hopefully next time we see him we can start teaching him soon. that would be SWEET!!!!

also next time you send a package. i dont know if you remember from my last email but my eccos blew out on the side and i know that you can get new ones because they come with a 2 year warranty, so if you could check that out id appreciate it. also, my dress shoes i left at home, if you could send those also. i wanna have a pair for meetings, and a pair for running around in, but the dress ones i bought out here suck and are falling apart already and i just bought them like 3 months ago. so yah, that would be good.

im very much not looking forward to missing football season, but this is the last one ill miss and ill get home right in time for it next year! ;D yes!!! haha. but its whatever. i cant see the pictures btw. so yah.

i hit my year mark in 2 weeks. what the freak!!!! ugh. and this is my 3rd out of 4 phone call home and my 3rd out of 4 general conference. and my last holiday season. :( lame. oh well.

love you guys!!!!

ELDER NONU

ps: guess what? elder vaiaoga (the missionary i trained last transfer) is TRAINING THIS TRANSFER!!! :DDDDD i was so proud of him. haha.

LOVE YA BYE!

The Baptism of Scott

Oh, Ryan kills me.  Somewhere Rob Wallis is laughing.

I think he needs a new suit!!  What do you think?

Ryan loves Elder V.  He is a missionary from American Samoa.

Elder Nonu is busy doing the work.

August 20, 2012

We love the ward mission leader in our ward.  he calls us his ward mission sons and hes the ward mission dad and his 6 kids are our brothers and sisters. its awesome. lol.  glad you guys are enjoying the branch though. im loving this ward too.  glad keana is enjoying utah also. i loved it there while we were there.

our week has been kind of challenging. the area is dead we have no one to teach but we have a couple potential people to work with. which is good. funny thing also. karlie met a girl on facebook and starting being friends with her, turns out its a girl i know here and one of our potential people is her cousin. haha. so now theyre all friends and trying to get her to take the lessons. haha. crazy right? but i love this ward and looking forward to next transfer.

other then that all is well. im going to send some awesome pictures i took this week. also, ecco shoes (my shoes i bought for my mission) come with a two year warranty and last transfer they basically got a huge rip in the side, so im trying to see if i can get a new pair if they have a warranty. could you look into that for me? thank you. also, thanks for the money in my account. i appreciate it. love you guys!

ELDER NONU.

August 6, 2012

no worries. we actually email a bit later now because to many elders are here in the morning. this week has been good. we have 3 new investigators. 2 are a couple 1 is from american samoa and her boyfriend is a black guy. ha. thyere pretty cool. we have a baptism this weekend for scott alcorn. hes an investigator we had when i got here. hes awesome and already talking about serving a mission after he gets baptised. were like. SIIIIIIIIIICK!!!! we had a lesson at the temple when he told us these things. it was so cool. Our ward mission leader is bro. stanley and he has 6 kids. his wife has been a member for 2 years and theyre sealed and theyre both just awesome. they help us out so much and he magnifies his calling like crazy. its awesome!

thats cool about the branch games. it sounds like fun. i wish i could go. white people dont do anything cool out here. haha.

i wish derek would write me.  i still care about him a lot. how he been doing? whats he doing now? is he still in the navy? jonathon tsang has written me twice now. haha. he was asking me what missionaries do and whats our day like, so i told him and told him he should go check out the institute building at sac state and sac city. i thought hed might like it. who knows what will happen. hes little youth group he was going to was hilarious, me and simi would go and just laugh afterwards because all they do is ramble on about stuff and then cry a lot. haha. anyways!

anyways, LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

ELDER NONU

i know im almost half way done.... dont remind me. -___

July 30, 2012

yah honestly. im pretty bad about taking pictures. its honestly the last thing on my mind. so yah .ill try, but no promises. if anything ill have them when i get home.

thats pretty lame about work. the weather here has been 100 + for the past 4 months. idunno wht people complain about here. its not even that hot. its iritating, but not that bad. the humidity back home is way worse. at least i think. but oh well. we get people screaming at us all the time. im not sure why. on top of that, no one knows how to drive.

I was reading the talk "dare to stand alone" by president monson and the first few paragraphs he talks about how this world is comparible to the world when the flood came during noahs time and i wouldnt be surprised if its not actually worse then that. i mean, come to vegas and youll see that babylon is alive and well. so yah. im really glad that we moved to utah too. got to get away from it all as best as we could. but anyways.

yah its been cool i guess, but the questions we get are rediculous. i swear. yesterday we got this one "hey elders we were wondering if we dont have any investigators at church then can we leave after sacrament meeting and go find some?" in response i said "so your asking us if you can ditch church after the first hour because no one showed up for church? you realize that church isnt just a number to track, its for your edification too? elder i want you to ask yourself that question 3 times in your head and then ask yourself if that was worth asking us..." he said no and then went about his night. but we get stuff like that ALL THE TIME!!! so most of the time im like elder you know what to do, or elder you know your not supposed to be doing that, so dont ask or elder think that one over with your companion. but anyways. ill get over it. it just seems like people are trying to make us accountable for their actions.

anyways. this week has been pretty good. we have a couple promising potentials coming up soon. ive been trying to keep elder hardys spirits up. to find and everything. but anyways. this weeks been good. i found out that an investigator elder v and i taught has a baptismal date now. :DDDD YES!! she also is going to have a lesson at the temple and go to alesson with elder v and his companion. awesome!!!! anyways. ill hand write a letter this week for nan and follow the spirit and all that good stuff and itll be awesome. haha. LOVE YA!!!!

ELDER NONU

July 23, 2012

Hello Family,

 

this week has been super boring honestly. -__- weve just visited people and stuff. We have a baptism soon for this awesome guy named scott. hes 20 and a friend of a guy that had to come home early from his mission due to health problems. so its been fun teaching him.  i miss tropicana and elder v a lot. :(i didnt even get to finish training him though. its been ok though. we have a car with 1200 miles on it and our area is maybe a mile long. so im luck... what the freak. but its super hot, so i dont mind.

my companion is a really cool guy. his names elder hardy from maryland and he goes home in about 5 months. so his trunky thoughts come out every once in a while. its been hard adjusting to being with him. we get a long really well, but hes definately not as motivated as my little greeny i left at the strip. haha. but yah.

other then that the week has been good. dinahs baptism is tomorrow and im super excited because i get to do it. :D haha. im sure ill get used to the ward soon. it just doesnt seem like a family. i thought tropicana was a small ward and then this one has about 60 people every week. what the heck? but the awesome part about our area s that its super close to the temple. the temple is down the street from where we live and spend most of our time. which is pretty cool. i get to see the temple every day. :) but i dont get to go. :/ but anyways!!

all is well here. LOVE YA!!!

ELDER NONU

Elder Nonu makes Zone Leader!!! July 16, 2012

Hey Mom,

 

This email might be short because ive got A LOT of stuff to do for transfers. oh yah! im leaving the area and am going to be a zone leader in central stake. im really excited but sad at the same time.

 elder v and i sang in church sunday and spoke, everyone loved it and president and sister neider were there and sister neider was balling the whole time. there was a very strong spirit there. we spoke on forgiveness. it was super awesome.

 thats cool about that missionary moment with that family. ill bet they get baptized because of that. aha. im proud of them. its cool to hear stories like that. ill spend more time writing a letter to keana here.

KEANA!

 these past 10 months have been awesome. I started in the MTC knowing i needed to do what i was there to do, but i didnt go into the MTC with a sure testimony. I didnt know where 2 nephi was and i couldnt tell you who the Anti-Nephi-Lehis were. Over the past few months the mission has changed my life forever. Ive learned that not only have the prophets told us its a good idea, but ive learned of what a privilege it is to serve the lord and more importantly to serve the people of the land you are divinely called to. Its more then just 18-24 months of finding people to baptise. The true purpose of missionary work is to sanctify the missionary and then second to baptize people into this church. I owe my life to my mission and will always be grateful for the decision ive made. The lord truly calls who he needs to serve. And if you feel like that would be a good idea, then id take that as a voice of love from the spirit divinely calling you to the work. I testify that this work is the work of God. It is the HARDEST thing ive done. When people yell at you, point a gun in your face, or throw bottles while your biking, its all worth it when you find that 1 person that says "yes". I remember having one of the hardest weeks and my companion was just waiting to go home. then we were invited to a sealing of a family in our ward. we got into the sealing room and the spirit was very strong. afterward they stood by the door to see us out, and with the spirit in my voice i told him "this is what makes all of the hardship of missionary work worth it, thank you for making it all worth it." thats what missionary work is all about. I testify that the atonement was the pure love of christ to sacrifice himself so that we can be whole. That faith in the savior I have is a testimony for me to know there is balm in gilead. I love this work and my tiem in vegas no matter where the lord takes me, i know im a tool in the hands of the lord. I know he needs you there too. start preparing now. love you. keep it up. im proud and so is heavenly father. :)

LOVE YALL!!

ELDER NONU

July 9, 2012

what the freak! hulk got shot?? wow.... ok? stab that guy

 ugh. well. thats crazy about the fire. i kept hearing about it over here. everythings dry here!!! i havent seen grass in who knows how long. and i mean GRASS! not sod! but oh well.

 thats really cool about the ward though. glad to hear that everyones helping each other out. i wish we had wards out here like that. I love my mission though. but everyone here is crazy and rude and doesnt give a crap about anything but porn and alcohol. -__- this place is definately babylon. but anyways. so this week we had an interesting experience. we stopped by a less active guys home whos wife is getting baptized in a couple of weeks and he goes "so baptism on tuesday and YOU (me) are baptising her" i was like, what the feez did he just say? elder V stares at me and was like :D and im like uh.... no. haha. shes only been taught 2 times and just found out who john the baptist and you think shes ready to make covenants with god? we want her to know what commandments she needs to foloow, what doctrine she should know, before she makes that committment. and on top of that shed fail her interview. so we couldnt have that happen. all seemed well until they came to church on sunday and were telling everyone that shes getting baptized tuesday, so we went over and we were like IKE! we told you that cant happen. and we said we prayed about it and discussed it and july 24th is when the lord would like her to be baptised and when we feel she will be ready. so all is settled now and we have a baptism the week after transfers. lol. it works though. anyways. not much else has happened.

 but anyways thats the excitement of my work. lol. transfers are next tuesday and i think im ready to leave. 6 months in an area is too long. i love training so much and being a district leader. i love serving other missionaries, even if i dont do the best job ever.

 thanks for the pictures you guys are wierd. lol. 14 months and the house will be full again. lol.

 thats cool about the branch conference. if i stay this next transfer ill be here for both stake conferences this year for this stake. haha. crazy right. lol.

 anyways. thanks for the card!!! i got it, but i didnt get the package yet, i have no idea why. but hopefully itll get here next week. oh yah. and karlie said shes trying to hang out with keana. hah. have fun guys! :D

LOVE YA!!

ELDER NONU

July 2, 2012

Hello Family,

 

We had a lesson with a lady named dinah. her husband is serbian and a less active member we randomly found. shes now taking lessons and is reading the book of mormon. only problem is that her only days off are tuesday and wednesday and every other day she works 14 hour shifts with her 2 jobs. she super awesome though! she feeds us every time we go over and its SOOOO good! haha. we also are teaching this lady and her 2 kids named vilma. shes from el salvador, speaks perfectly good english and her kids only speak english. Shes really sincere about learning but is very timid and seems scared to do things. weve been teaching her for about a month and she hasnt come to friggin church!!! its really iritating, but what can you do. we also got to help an investigator couple move on saturday and their names are chris and naomi. they both go to UNLV and she has hot pink hair. :D pretty awesome. haha. theyre cool and they feed us every time we come over also. random part of the week. we visited this mexican lady this week and her daughter was getting baptized saturday. after crying and confessing her soul for about an hour she asked me to baptize her daughter. haha. so i got to baptize her, it was pretty cool. but random at the same time. haha. thats my week!

hopefully wel be getting ipads out here soon. theyre replacing our area books where we keep all our investigators info. pretty awesome! haha. but thats cool. have fun with it. -__- btw, im 10 months old now. gross right? haha. LOVE YA!

ELDER NONU

ELDER NONU MAKES DISTRICT LEADER!!!

June 4, 2012


well. i got a call from the asistants last night and im officially going to train a new missionary in my ward. im staying here for another 6 weeks at least (6 months total) and im stoked! im also the district leader.  so im not going to the reno mission nor will i ever. so thats good. this week has been fun, elder thomas and i didnt do a whole lot but im like whatever dude im not dragging you around so im gonna just love the crap out of you and mess around and have fun. aha. not good, but itll change with my trainee. in the mission we call it "having a kid", which means im his dad and elder thomas is his mom. haha. so im calling him my first born in the wilderness, like lehi. :D awesome right?

Your ward fathers day activity sounds cool.  dad should dress up like king noah and carry around 2 stuffed jaguars. itll be awesome and hilarious! glad yall are still having fun and getting ipads and fancy new toys. i wish i could play but i am a little busy at the moment. :P haha.

thats awesome about dad and his companion though, sounds like fun. :) that would be cool after all those years to be reunited with a companion.  :D speaking of which. elder liedecker is training too! :DD im super excited for him. aha. but anyways. thats about all to report this week.

the card thing. just tell me what i gotta do and ill take care of it. ill be cautious sending a card in the mail though just to make sure. anyways! love ya mom. wish me luck with my kid! HAHAHA  :D

LOVE YA!

ELDER NONU

May 28, 2012

im sorry for your motherly anxiety about none of us being at home, here i promise ill live at home for at least 3 years and you can catch up on what youve missed out. haha. good one. anyways!

church was pretty good for us too. we have a gospel principles teacher named bro. hastings who is the ex stake president and is awesome! he teaches everything so simply and clearly that you cant help but get drawn into his lesson. this week has been good, but transfers are in a week and im anxious to figure out what mission ill be in on july 1st. ill know by saturday, but its killing me to know what my fate is.

thats way cool about the choir also. hopefully it turned out well. there are 2 samoan elders from apia that came into the mission this transfer. elders iloane and lilo. i met elder lilo and hes a super skinny short guy. aha. hes super nice though and cool guy. i asked him if he knew any nonus and he said yah. so i assume he knows the whole family back home. pretty cool.

other than that this week has been ok. nothing special, although we ended up dropping alan, the "smart" investigator guy. we told him to read the book of mormon and pray about it but he doesnt think hell get an answer because every religion says they prayed about it and its true. so basically he refuses to pray. during the lesson our ward mission stumped him and his buddy with a bunch of science questions and to explain how they came to be through science and they couldnt answer them. i.e.: the creation, universes, etc. and then i testified and told him god wont answer an ignorant prayer, so we promised him that hell never get an answer. it was cool. annoying but cool. i wanted to slap him. but whatever.

anyways. all is well in paradise. youll know by next monday where im going and all that. so ill let you know. should be interesting. :)

love ya!

ELDER NONU

also, please send my camo back pack, i could really use it. this bag i have is destroying my shoulder. and those sunglasses if you can find them. thanks. love you!

May 21, 2012

I've been asked SEVERAL times to teach gospel principles and ive realized i love teaching and speaking haha. sounds a little self centered, but its true. not because i wanna hear myself speak, but i just like teaching people. We had a lesson with this guy that fancies himself to be a "theologist" and he brought up a lot of things that he found on anti sites and junk. and he kept bringing up how hes ignorant and he doesnt think that god will answer his prayers. We taught about praying about the BoM and he kept bringing it up and i say to him "god will not answer an ignorant mans prayer until you humble yourself alan" and he just kind of paused and our ward mission leader looked at me, and the investigators like "good point" haha. it was pretty funny.


thats cool about keana going to Sac for the summer though. hope she has fun. say hi to karlie for me if you see her. Shes awesome, shes the only friend i have thats written me every week and throughout my mission so far and itll probably stay that way. thats good that shes reading a lot and enjoying seminary tell her to keep it up and im proud of her for doing that too, i sure didnt.

patrick comes home in february though. crazy right? hes on the downhill slope. haha. anyways. love ya!

ELDER NONU

Mike and his family and his baptism

Mike gets baptized

May 14, 2012

Mothers day was fun! it was good to see you guys. you all still look good. :) Elder Thomas has been lazy this week and told me to wait until it happens to me (wanting to go home) and so i told him, every time missionaries or people tell me im going to fail, or slack, or get lazy, its just motivation for me to shut them up and work harder, so were going to see a lot of blessings this week.

the work has been slow, but our ward mission leader is doing awesome! hes a new guy in the ward and a fire ball. hes super awesome, and acts like our best friend. we love him. he drops what hes doing to help us out. but we do the same in return. Mike had ankle surgery a couple weeks ago and has been struggling and told us the other day the first thing hes doing after he gets it off is go do baptisms for the dead at the temple. it was sooo cool!!!! tuesday was awesome also! the romos (ward missionaries) went to the temple for the first time and we went. the spirit was so strong in that room. they stood them by the door so they could shake everyones hand as we walked out. I looked at him and told him that "we face a lot of crap and discrimination on the streets in missionary work, and its people like you that make it all worth it" and i got really emotional, but its so true! we dont baptize people to get a tally on our record, but to bring people, fully repentant, to christ to make covenants and follow through with them to exaltation. i love the gospel a lot, in case you havent notice. :)

anyways. glad you guys are still doing good. i love you guys a lot!

ELDER NONU

john 19:26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

 

happy mothers day! :D

You're an awesome example of a daughter of God mom and a true parent the way HF wants us to be. I know the success ive had on my mission has been recieved with the assistance of your prayers and i know that because every time i kneel to pray at night, i know your kneeling along side me. i love you. :) happy mothers day.

May 3, 2012

WOW....can a brotha get the gospel in his life. freak.... thats crazy. Funny because i just read (well, more like dissected with highlighters and pens and scripture references) president Packers talk in the conference ensign this morning "a little child will lead them" or something like that. But it talks about how parenting is a full time calling that we will never be released from. It was awesome. A lot of good stuff in there. My favorite part is when he talks about the little girl in the kimono during WWII collecting leaves. The spirit hit me like a ton of bricks after i read that part. yay revelation! it also talked about parents who cant have children will be taken care of in the after life. i was like oh snap celestial babies! what up! but i digress.

I studied Alma 32 this week. Alma tells us that it is better to humble ourselves, showing real faith, then to be compelled to be humble. there was a lady we taught on exchanges and she said that she felt like she had no faith because nothings happened in her life to make her feel like gods there. As i waited for a bit i felt impressed to respond. and i said "why does someone need to suffer for you to know that god loves you?" obviously she had no response, and the obvious feeling of guilt was apparent in her facial expression. But i hear people all the time here say "if jesus came down, then id believe and have faith" and so many times, were just like "what part of that is faith?" christ has already been here, several times, and people still spat in his face and called him a fraud. after studying the spirit world, were told even THERE that there will be 1000 times more success then the elders on earth but there will still be some that dont except it. faith is NOT nor will it EVER be a need for evidence. the spirit should be good enough. and if someone can recieve that spiritual witness of these things to be true and they still dont accept it, then i wish them the best. 

OH! tuesday is an exciting day! :D theres a recent convert in our ward and his wife that are getting sealed on tuesday night and they invited elder thomas and i to go! were super stoked!

tell dad i love him and am going to send a letter this week, i never have stamps so i just bought some. so ill put something together. also with mothers day this sunday i have my 2nd phone call home. :D and skype is approved.  anyways, thats all this week.

LOVE YA! see you sunday. :)

ELDER NONU

April 23, 2012

this week has been awesome. We had a baptism for margie on saturday and elder thomas and I are STAYING TOGETHER FOR ANOTHER TRANSFER! :D were super excited. we just got a new ward mission leader this sunday and hes awesome. he has a lot of good ideas for finding more people for us to teach. Ward council still makes me upset. We have a lady that might be interested in coming to church and she has a 14 yr old daughter. youth conference is coming up and we suggested to get a form for her so she can go. Then the young womens PRESIDENT goes "no, i cant deal with that right now" elder thomas and i were so upset.   so we took a form to her anyway, and had her fill it out. The whole time were like really? a youth wants to come to a huge activity and you dont want her to because you dont want to put the piece of paper in a folder? Then, a recent convert is coming up on her year mark and we suggested for her to get signed up for temple prep and she just got called to primary. Well the primary PRESIDENT says, no i need her in primary, she cant go to temple prep. WHAT THE FREAK MAN!!! its not like random people, these are the AUXILLARY PRESIDENTS of each group that arent letting people in the ward progress. then they wonder why theyve struggled for baptisms and retention. ugh! so this is what we deal with. ugh.......!

anyways! thats way sweet that dad got called to that calling. Im going to send a package home for him when i can and a letter. :) tell him i love him and happy birthday grandpa!

thanks for sending the package, i cant wait. i love you guys!!

ELDER NONU 
:D

March 26, 2012

Ive loved these past 6 months a lot. Im almost done with the book of mormon and ive learned a lot from it. Ive actually studied it. 90% of the stuff ive learned makes life understandable and easier. as far as my future outlook on it goes. there was a leadership meeting for the mission this last thursday and Im not in leadership but i got invited to go. Im really glad i did. It was AWESOME!!! I actually understand my purpose as a missionary now and im trying really really hard to be better, because afterwards i felt like crap because i hadnt been doing all the things they had been talking about. Like making companion and personal study sacred. Praying for investigators, teaching by the spirit, focusing on the purpose of numbers rather than just getting them. It makes more sense. theres speculation that the younger missionarys that got asked to come will probably be in leadership positions in the reno mission, but who knows. But, elder liedecker (mtc companion) and elder mochi
(i cant spell his full last name) were there too, and theyre both amazing missionaries. We aspire to serve with one another. haha. But afterwards i was just super pumped to go out and find people. In this past week weve gotten 6 new investigators, 1 is a family of 4 that hopefully will start letting us teach them and 1 is a girl that has been saying she wants to get baptized like now!! im lke WHAT THE FREAK!!!! why havent we been teaching her? and the family thats close to her is like, she has family problems we dont want to ask her yet. we talked to bro hasting (ex stake prez and ward missionary) last night and hes like, ill go over there with you guys and well talk to them. so basically were gonna teach her and help her out. so yah. exciting stuff happening.

I gave a talk at an 8 yr olds baptism and im like, what the heck am i gonna talk about? so i compared baptism and partaking of the sacrament to super mario. haha. it was hilarious. but i liked it, so whatever. I dont even know the kid, but he wanted a missionary. Other than that, its been good. For the first time on my mission im physically energized and emotionally and spiritually drained... Emotionally because my roomate (zone leader) needs to stop whining all the times about the changes that president nieder is putting together and start sustaining our leaders and I bore my testimony a couple weeks ago at a district meeting about if you dont have a desire to serve god then go home.
I didnt come here to complain so if they are they can leave, we dont need people like that. jefferey r holland said it, if you dont have a desire, then stop waisting gods time and leave. After that an elder in our zone went home because he missed his girlfriend or something stupid like that. Everyones like good job nonu you made him go home (jokingly).

anyways. :) Im having fun, vegas is ghetto and ill probably never come back here again, unless i see people i really love. Thats the update!

oh and mike is getting baptized on the 7th!!!! :D yay!!!

oh and for my birthday, i want to buy a new pair of oakleys because its sunny and dusty here and potentially an ipod shuffle (the ones with the touch screen) because if were not outside weve got music playing around the house and its nice to fall asleep to. They also have watch bands that you can put your ipod into and make it into a watch and stuff. Ask keana, shell know. And thats honestly about it. I guess i could use more garments. other than that im content with my surroundings.

LOVE YA!!

ELDER NONU

March 12, 2012

Ryan and his companion baptise Ashley

thats crazy. So sorry to hear about Gordon passing away.

 but yah. tuesday is transfers and elder zelenski is leaving. -__- im staying right here. i dont know if im going to the other mission or not, time will only tell. hopefully i get someone cool. i always worry about having a lame companion. but well see. my bike has been breaking almost weekly now. ive had to replace 7 spokes now and its ticking me off. i dont know why either. So im trying to find a bike shop that will have what im looking for and trade also. but well see what happens. ill let you know.

I did not get any package from the YW yet. thats really nice of them though. :) i appreciate it. transfer week we get mail at transfers on tuesday. elder roedel and his companion are both getting transferred out of my first area. The area died after i left, im not saying thats because i left, but theyve been messing around and playing for six weeks. but what else is new.

OH!!!! :D the jacksons went to the temple saturday with the kids and did baptisms for the dead for 6 generations of her and her husbands family. i was sooo mad because they already had the olsens coming down with them and prez said i couldnt go if someone was already going with them. i guess its more of a support thing if we go. im so excited for them though.

oh yah, almost forgot. we had a baptism saturday for a 16 yr old girl named ashley.  we had a lesson with her monday night and she said she wanted to get baptised. so elder zelenski said we could do it that weekend.  :D

 

mike is our other investigator thats super awesome and hes been progressing like crazy. hes so close, but waiting for something huge to happen. im thinking hell take the plunge soon. well see though. :)

 but everything else is going good. your all in my prayers. love ya!

 ELDER NONU

LETTER FROM MISSION PRESIDENT REGARDING MISSION BEING DIVIDED

From: <2013800-PRS@ldschurch.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 8:13 AM
Subject: Mission Division
To: ryan.nonu@myldsmail.net


Elder Nonu,

NEW MISSION ANNOUNCED

The First Presidency announced this last weekend the creation of the new Nevada Reno Mission.  In the process  of forming the new mission, our mission boundaries will be changed.  This inspired change has come about because of progress in real growth which is the result of your efforts, and the efforts of leaders and members of the Church in Nevada.  This is a compliment to you and missionaries with whom you have served, because the changes are required because of the progress and growth of the Church.

On July 1, 2012 the Elko West, Elko East and Ely Stakes will become a part of the new Nevada Reno Mission, and the Mesquite, Logandale and Panaca Stakes will become a part of the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission.  The missionaries serving in those zones on July 1, 2012, Elko and Mesquite, will also be transferred to the same missions.  We are sad to think of transferring any of our missionaries.

Our mission will be required to provide 4 new zone leaders and 1 assistant.  No missionaries will be transferred from the mission who have already had 2 mission presidents.

As is the case with all transfers, the missionaries will be selected as a matter of prayer and inspiration.

TEMPLE GUIDELINES

When performing temple ordinances, full time single missionaries may not serve as a husband or wife proxy for sealing ordinances, but may serve as a child proxy.

Single full time elders may not officiate in or perform baptismal or confirmation ordinances for female patrons, and may not participate in any baptismal or confirmation ordinances at any time when female patrons, including sister missionaries, are in the baptismal font or in the confirmation ordinance rooms.

Missionaries may participate in all other ordinances.

Sister Neider and I love you,

President Neider

THE LAS VEGAS MISSION GETS DIVIDED!!!!!

Nevada Reno

The Nevada Reno Mission is being created from a realignment of the Nevada Las Vegas and Nevada Las Vegas West missions.

MARCH 5, 2012

i just got the package today. i love everything.

 

good to hear about your class though, im sure they appreciate the treats. im sure their parents do too. ha

 

thanks for putting the money in my account too. honestly not a whole lot has gone on this week. no cool stories or anything. I guess its just normal life now. aha. the only thing is actually pretty big. ill send the email from president to you guys also, but our mission is getting split up. Theres going to be the reno nevada mission now. you can go on lds church news and look up new missions and you can see a map. but theres a chance that i might be sent to the reno mission and serve the rest of my time there. id be really close to home now. haha. its a really big deal. i guess the work in nevada is growing a lot so they need 3 missions now. we lost most of our mission. we basically just have part of vegas and then the south of our mission from there. so yah. crazy. other than that nothings going on really. same things as every week. transfers are coming up in a week i hit 6 months on the 7th and i really hop e i keep my companion as is.

 

love ya!!!

 

ELDER NONU

February 27, 2012

its all good. I still havent gotten your guys package yet. btw. Derek wrote me a couple weeks ago, but thats about it. i havent heard from him in a while.

 

this weeks been pretty good. Monday we had a lesson with our investigator mike. we took him to the "why i believe" fireside on sunday. A bunch of converts get up and bare their testimony and talk about their conversion story. It was super awesome. At first i thought he didnt think much. but the next day at the lesson he said that only 2 times has revelation really hit him like a wall, the first was a while ago when he felt prompted that he needed to go to church and he got dressed with his son in 20 mins. and showed up, and he said the 2nd time was at that fireside. It was super awesome! and he said he doesnt want to set a date yet, but hes pushing toward being baptized now. We also have another lady named juliet, we have her set for baptism for the 24th of march. she hasnt come to church yet, but hopefully shell come around, she just needs to follow through with comittments. Were also teaching a girl named ashley. She might be kinda slow because of the stuff she says. for example... we taught about repentance and baptism and how its essential to return to heavenly father. And we asked "what do we need to do to return to heavenly father?" right after explaining it, and shes goes... "heavenly father? like god? ummm.... i dont know."  ugh....  She just has to understand what were talking about. I felt bad, because i was tired the other day and got frustrated and we taught a lesson at her house, and we asked if she had a testimony of joseph smith, shes like no, because i wasnt there. then i ask... "ok? do you believe that jesus christ was the son of god?" she says, "yes, of course" i respond, "well, you werent around for that either, were you?" elder zelenski just goes.. SOO... and moved on. hahaha. we laughed really hard when we got outside.  This ward's home teaching percentages are like 10%. YOU GUYS BETTER BE DOING HOME TEACHING AND VISITING TEACHING!!!!  Its not a super missionary minded ward. a lot different from kingman. but i still like the area. I think its mainly due to how much i love my companion. we have so much fun.  

 

thats crazy that Leilani is already 1, its gone by so fast. im coming up on my 6 month mark, which is pretty crazy too. im now meeting elders that have been out less than me. one of the elders in my zone is from lehi. he said he used to live in saratoga springs.

 

but anyways. everything here is good. im tired all the time now that i bike all day. Ive been having problems with my bike. A couple of the spokes on my wheel have broken. luckily we had a nonmember that fixed them for free, which is pretty cool. 

 

lave ya!

 

ELDER NONU :)

February 6, 2012

hey guys!

 

(drum roll) I have been transferred to Paradise stake in the middle of vegas. and guess what also. I cover HALF of the strip. :D haha. Although were in the middle of babylon, I LOVE my area. and my companion. His name is elder zelenski from houston texas. Hes been out for little over a year and was the missionary that i spent my first night in the mission with. wierd right? haha. Last wednesday president let elder z and i go back to kingman for the day and let me baptize the macaroone family. It went awesome! All 4 of them got baptized and elder roedel and i left off together as the highest baptizing companionship in the kingman zone, which is about 12 companionships. so yah. Weve found a lot of success together and im going to miss him a lot. But i love this area. Its pretty hood. so its just like back in sacramento. :) so nothing new here. haha.

 

this weeks been pretty slow, so not a whole lot is going on. Luckily when we drove to kingman we drove 2 missionaries all the way down to blythe. Then we had our temple session at 7 am the next day. We drove all the way back to kingman, slept for 3 hours, hugged everyone goodbye, and then drove ALL the way back to vegas. We got there at 630 and I was SOOOO excited, because i hadnt gone to the temple in 4 months. so that was good. but after they logged our miles we drove 600 in 1 day. thats a lot. haha. but they knew that would happen, so yah. good times. it was fun. we were soooo tired.

 

btw, ask dad if he could send a rugby ball or two, i cant find any and everyone in my zone wants to play, but i also dont want to buy one. haha. anyways. I love you guys. stay sweet, and pray for more missionary opportunities, and theyll come. LOVE YA!!

 

Elder Nonu :)

ELDER NONU GETS TRANSFERRED!!!!!

Its official though, ill be leaving kingman tomorrow morning. Im getting transferred to a new area. Im looking forward to it and im excited. But ive fallen in love with this ward and this city so much, its going to be 10 times harder to leave them than it was to leave home. Ill probably be more kingmansick than home sick. haha. nothing against you guys, i just dont know if ill be able to see all of them again. Bro olsen wants all my info so we can keep in touch. Hes an awesome guy. Ill probably miss him most of all. Ive gotta pack all day and then tonight visit the members one last time. well be going to the jacksons last and im gonna commit Justice to serve a mission when he turns 19. I hope he feels the spirit and commits, ive felt prompted to tell him that. Theyre such an awesome family. I cant wait to go to the temple with them at the end of the year.

 

Other than that, not much has changed. Im depressed.... haha. President said ill be able to come back and help baptize the macaroone family on wednesday though, so thats exciting. Vincent (the youngest with the terminal illness) loves ties and everything, so me and elder roedel are going to give him a tie before i leave. Hopefully ill be able to see him one day again, but it seems like it can only get worse for him. Keep their family in your prayers.

 

glad you guys are still enjoying utah and your new callings. im sure you and dad are awesome teachers. Love you guys so much!

 

Elder Nonu :)

January 23, 2011

yah. i heard from a couple of the members. they all know im a patriots fan, so that was good. im crazy excited. but SO MAD i cant watch! The ducks win the rose bowl and now the pats are going to win the super bowl. bleh. oh well. JP and I have a bet that if we win the super bowl this year he owes me 50 bucks, and if the 9ers had won i owe him. Who knew itd be this close though. haha. good stuff though.

 

i do need shirts though. I had to bike in another area for a couple days and they just get drenched with sweat and i changed 3 times. I almost didnt have any left. I wear a 17 1/2 though. If you could send a long sleeve too thatd be good. I only have one and its changing colors. haha. but yah. if you do send a package than id send it to the mission office adress, because i might be getting transfered on the 31st and dont think itll get here in time. let everyone else know that too. but yah. thanks mom

 

love ya!

 

Elder Nonu

January 16, 2012

we have a baptism in 2 weeks for the mcaroon family. its a mom, grandma, and two boys. 16 and 14. the 14 yr old has a form of cancer, which gives him a lot of health problem, he cant talk very well and he gets tired very easily, he also has had a lot of surgery in his neck so its tough for him to support his own weight. But for his baptism were going to put his shower chair in the font and then have about 3-4 of us support his neck and head into the water. it should be really cool. were really excited.

Transfers is in about 2 weeks and im thinking ill be leaving. I hope not, but its a good chance. I told the burgesses (the ones that i skyped at) and kelly was there and her and sis burgess started freaking out. haha. so yah. Bro Olsen is also a BALLER! we went to his house yesterday and he told us about a lot of things hes doing. he has several company he owns or is a part of. basically, he has 12 kids and his wife is a stay at home mom, so yah. theyre loaded. but anyways! hes super humble and stuff, but hes giving up almost all of them because he said it takes away from his family and church. were like... dang son. then he hugged us and said were the best missionaries hes ever met.  that was pretty humbling. 

anyways. thats the kingman update. stay classy. love ya!! 

Elder Nonu

ps: i finally sent my christmas card. :) i sent nans to our house also..

oh yah! i got the sweatshirt. and it is SIIIIICK!!!! we play football very friday with the young men in or wards and bring investigators and stuff and i wore it there. so yah. thank you!! GO DUCKS!!

January 9, 2012

btw, i have not gotten the package yet, and a member said he was going to have the game on at his house so i went on an exchange for the night with another elder. i didnt wanna break the rules, so yah. i didnt go. aha. ive come to the realization that im addicted to football. oh well. we started a friday night football game with the young men, so thats good. :) thanks!!!
thanks for the adresses, ill prob just send nans to our house.

   

Everything here is still going well. Timmy (8 year old) that were teaching has to get his date moved back a week because his families less active and never come to church. they have to come 3 times WHICH WE TELL THEM A LOT! and they didnt come sunday, so we have to move it. They flaked out on our lesson satrday and elder roedel and i wanna punt him into the next county. I HATE THIS LITTLE DEMON BABY!!!! he snagged roedels scripture case from him and started getting rough with his book of mormon, i thought roedel was gonna kill him. he sat down next to me with it, so i snagged it out of his hands and closed it then hit him over the head with it pretty hard, then he started crying. i wanted to laugh so badly! he goes "grandma! he hit me with it!" shes like "timmy, the elders would never hit children, go play with your cars" im like, thats right lucifer, get thee hance... so yah, im good with kids. The other little kids are awesome though. sad thing is theyre 5 and better behaved than him! all the kids are like mommy! or daddy! theres a missionary standing right next to me. hahah. its cute. The olsens 5 year old daughter calls me her favorite. haha. its funny. The family were trying to baptize has to get their date moved back a week also. theyve been sick and their son has really bad health so we have to move it back. Itll be fine though, well try to squeeze it in right before the transfer ends, im thinking im going to leave this time though. im kind of ready to go though, i wanna see what else is out there. so yah.

 

anyways. all is well, love ya!

 

Elder RyNo

January 2, 2012

TALOFA FAMILY!!! thats all i got i havent learned anything... 

ANYWAYS! its been fun here still. Glad everyones having a good time over there. I miss everyone and sac. Not TOO much though. I love this ward too much. I miss my HOME ward like crazy though... btw, Elder Roedel and I made an awesome christmas card and i need everyones adress. 

ericka, jason, vicki, sherri, and nan. Its late, but its well worth the wait... trust me. Im going to send yours in the next couple days, i just havent had time to buy stamps, the post office across the street from us only takes cash and i never carry enough to buy as many as i need. but anyways. 

Glad keanas doing well also. I guess when you have  about 8-9 months left they tell you to start applying for schools and getting into college and stuff. so thats good. I have no idea what im going to do, but ill do something. Im not worrying about it too much. But i catch myself drawing landscape layouts and floor plans during my personal study time. so hopefully that will pass and ill get my crap together before its time to come home. Freaky to think ive already been out for 4 months and patrick is coming up on his year mark and my 6 month. HOLY CRAP! it goes by crazy fast. Transfers are at the end of the month and were all thinking ill probably go. That would suck, but its ok. wierd to think but I think the spirit is slowly telling me to start preparing most of our investigators for the next missionary, so im working hard toward that. 

other then that, everything is going good. I love it still and dont see that changing any time soon. 

Love ya!! 

Elder RyNo