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