Season 2 Episode 5: The Demon Within

Talofa Lava Aiga!

Alright so this week was pretty crazy! So last P-day I had told you all about the bite that was on my leg and how it was really bugging me. Well, as we continued to walk throughout the day it began to hurt more and more. It got to the point where Elder Tiatia and I went home around 7 so I could rest my leg because Tuesday was going to be a very busy day. So, flash forward to Tuesday morning. I woke up and my leg had gotten a lot worse. I still didn't think much of it and I knew we had to go to some of the appointments we had because we had a few potential investigators. Even though my companion told me that we should stay, I was a little bit stubborn and told him I was fine and that we should at least go to our first two appointments. We got to our first appointment and it fell through but, our second appointment was good because we picked up another investigator! But, by the time we got back to this little market my leg was killing me. It just felt like there was so much pressure and soreness. We ended up calling the Senior missionaries (Elder and Sister Jordan) and they told us they would come and pick us up and take us to the health clinic.

We finally got to the Health Clinic and they called the Nurse (Tilly/Crazy lady) and when Tilly came out she told me to get out of the car and to drop my pants and roll up my garment leg right in the parking lot... So I did. She looked at my leg for about 1/2 of a second and then just started going to town on my leg, she just start squeezing and pushing so hard and next thing you know all of this dark, dark, red blood and pus starts dumping out of my leg. It was probably one of the worst pains I have ever felt in my life. So much blood and pus came out and by the time she was finished and sat back down in the car, I was pretty light headed haha. Anyway the Jordans took us to McDonalds and got us some shakes to "ease" the pain, it didn't ease the pain but, they were pretty good! Tilly had told the Jordans to take me to their home and I was supposed to wait there until she got off work so she could come look at it some more (Which meant more squeezing).

When we got to the Jordans, we just sat on this couch for about 3 hours waiting for Tilly. It was actually super nice because the Jordans home is like an actual American home with AC so it was super nice! Anyway, throughout the next 3 hours 3 more pairs of missionaries showed up for some things that needed from the Jordans but, they decided to stay and watch what was going to happen to me. Finally Tilly got there and she looked at my leg and did the whole squeezing process again but, this time it really wasn't that bad at all. My leg was feeling a lot better off the first time because all of that pressure was released. After that she told me that she was going to give me an IV to help kill the infection. So I finally got my first IV in my life, in Samoa, In the Senior Missionary home! We then were told that we would be spending the night at the Jordans because I have never had that type of Medication and Tilly didn't want me to have an allergic reaction back at the house with only my companion there. We were both pretty stoked that we were going to be staying at the Jordans haha! They have hot water, a giant bed, AC, so it was a pretty good deal. Although, I wasn't able to shower because of my leg so that was a bummer. So, we spent the night there and went home the next day. (One of the best night's of sleep I have ever had!)

Throughout the rest of the week we went to go get my leg checked by Tilly every night just to make sure it was getting better. Two nights ago was my last visit. My leg has been healing super quick.It's crazy! 

I am doing a lot better now! They have me on Antibiotics and I can walk now with no pain! I was actually able to walk with no pain the morning after she performed surgery on my leg in the parking lot haha! So no worries Mom I am perfectly fine! Such a crazy week haha! We were put on bed rest for the next two days so we just studied like all day. Although on the second day President Hanammenn and his two AP's came to our district for a meeting and even though I was on bed rest we still went because you don't get these meetings that often here! It was a super good meeting and it was nice to finally get to have an interview with President! (This is the first interview I have had with him) He is a really good President and super strict. He kind of reminds me of Mason's Mission Pres. Anyway, It was a good meeting!

So, That is about it for the week. Really took a turn for the worse but, it's all better now! We are ready to give our all this week! We are hoping that we can get a few of our investigators with a baptismal date! Other than that I am loving Samoa! I miss you guys though! I hope you all had a great week! I love you guys and you are in my prayers!

Fa Soifua!

Elder Barton!

CAUTION GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW!

Season 2 Episode 4: Building the Kingdom

Talofa lava!

Well another week has passed and we are already heading into the fifth week out here in Samoa! Crazy! This week was a really good week! We were able to get a few new potential investigators and Sina and Fo'i are progressing! Sina is already a member but, she doesn't know anything about the Church but, she loves it! Her husband is a little shy and leaves the lessons sometimes so we are going to focus on him this week and try and get a baptism date set with him! 

We were also able to work with Niko this week! He is a member here in Pavaiai and he just got back from his mission in the Philipines 11 months ago. He is a super big help! He gave us a lot of tips and it helped us out for the rest of the week! 

A lot of the people in our area are less actives. I think we have a total of 563 members but, only 160ish are coming to church! So we are also focusing our efforts on reactivating members! A lot of work needs to be done here! We also were able to call some ward missionaries and we are starting to work with them this week so by the time we leave there will be a good foundation for the next set of missionaries! 

Overall we had a really good week! We are working hard everyday and this week gave us some extra motivation! So hopefully this week is even better!

*Story Time*

So, on Wednesday the day was coming to an end and we were talking to some other Elders who were passing by our area and out of no where my leg started to hurt. I thought that is was just a bruise and when we got back to the house I decided to take a look. It wasn't a bruise. I still have no idea what it is because no one can give me an answer! Anyway, It is some type of lump with a small little hole at the top and it has gotten worse each day haha. Yesterday I was finally able to get some Antibiotics for it. So hopefully that will help because it hurts pretty bad, especially walking around on it all day! I will send some pics! Don't worry though I am sure it will be fine! (Praying it will be)

Anyway that is the most interesting thing that happened this week. I hope all is well in Utah! I hope you each are doing well! I miss seeing you guys haha. But, like I have said before, I know this is what I am supposed to be doing and where I am supposed to be! I love it here though! The language is still really tough. I still don't really understand anything that is happening haha! The only choice I have is to give it time haha! Anything cool happening back in the States?  Let me know! Have a great week! Keep praying and make sure you are all reading the Scriptures! Love you all!

Elder, Barton

*Scripture of the week* 

Omni 1:26

Season 2 Episode 3: Road Kill

TALOFA!

Okay, so this week was pretty uneventful. That's okay though because Elder Tiatia and I worked hard everyday and sometimes that is all you can do out here. Just work your hardest and spread the Gospel as much as you can! It was a good week though! We just visited with a lot of families and did a lot of walking! Even with a week that wasn't so successful I still love being out here! Being so busy all day is really fun actually haha! We have a few goals and ideas this week that we are hoping will help us pick up some investigators and reactivate some inactive members! I will lett you know how that goes!

So this week we were walking down this hill, heading to a visit when I just saw this black thing on the side of the street and as we got closer I noticed it was a dog and the dogs here are pretty mean, they are always barking and some even try to bite you (One bit my shoe last week) anyway, we noticed the dog wasn't move as we were getting closer and it turned out the dog was dead, just lying on the side of the road haha! So random, kind of sad, but, mostly we didn't care cause the dogs here are nasty and mean! 

Also, the rain here is insane! I have never been so soaked so quickly! One minute the weather will be fine and then the next minute it is just dumping rain haha! So crazy! It rains pretty often over here too! 

We had a Fafaga this week with President Anandan who is the 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency and his house was so nice! It was just like an American house haha and the food was so good! It was ribs, corn, salad, potatoes, and some other things and for a second I forgot I was in Samoa haha!

I'm sorry this email is so short and not full of many things but, I tell the truth. This week was not very eventful! We are working our hardest though! I love you guys and I miss you! I hope you are all having a good time back in Utah and are enjoying the leaves changing color! Have a good week! Hopefully I will have more to report on next week!

Alofa Atu!

Elder Barton

Scripture of the week Isaiah 41:10 

Season 2 Episode 2: Attack of the Dogs

Talofa Aiga!

This week we had two Baptisms that were both held on Tuesday! Elena who is 10 yrs old and her 8 yr old brother, Helamana. There dad was baptized just about 8 months ago. It was really neat to see them get baptized, they both were super excited we were really glad to see them make the choice to get baptized. Elena had to take all the lessons because she was past the age of 8 but, her little brother didn't. Anyway it was really a neat experience to see them get baptized. They are a really good family!

This week was a really slow week. I'm not sure if I wrote about this last week, but the Elders before us didn't leave us with anything... no maps, no lists, nothing. So we have had no idea where our area begins and where it ends, where anyone lives, who is a member, who isn't and all that fun stuff. So this week we were just trying to get a grasp on this ward and where everyone is. We weren't very successful though. My companion just finished his training so he isn't very confident in his choices and didn't really know what to do or where to start in a situation like this and I don't blame him. We were finally able to meet with our Bishop on Sunday (He has been in the hospital ever since we got here due to a mosquito bite that made his leg super swollen) but, he told us that on Saturday we were going to have a meeting discussing the families and who is inactive/non-member/not baptized and he would give us a run down of where everyone lives and we are going to discuss ideas to get the members more involved, so that should be a really big help and we are looking forward to it.

Earlier in the week Elder Tiatia apologized to me for not being super focused on the work and not waking up on time. He said that he was feeling really inadequate with President's choice to put him as a trainer he had let it get to his head and he just told me that he was going to do better from now on and just work as hard as we can to get this ward where it needs to be! I was glad he brought it up and we were able to resolve that issue and just move forward with the Lord's work. 

Everyday in Samoa except for Monday ward members feed the missionaries for dinner or Fafaga. It's really humbling because some families here don't have much money or anything but, they always provide the best they can for the missionaries. Anyway, on Wed. and Thurs. Bro. Leilua was our Fafaga. He is an older man and he is divorced and he lives alone in a one room yellow house. As he brought us our meal which consisted of canned spaghetti with hot dog, Fish, and Fa'i (Banana's) he started telling us about his life and other things. at the end of dinner there is always a fa'afetai speech where the host just thanks the missionaries and says all these blessings and after the host is done one of the missionaries responds with a fa'afetai speech thanking the host and saying blessings. Anyway, when Bro.Leilua was giving his fa'fetai speech I had no idea what he was saying (As usual) and out of no where he started getting choked up and crying a little bit. After dinner I asked Elder Tiatia what he was saying and he told me that he was just talking about how we are the Lord's warriors and how it is super hard to leave our families behind and come to a foreign land learning a foreign language and how out here the ward is our family and he told us that if we need anything don't hesitate to ask. I don't know why but, for some reason it just made me feel really grateful and humbled in a lot of ways. I don't know it was just super different seeing someone get emotional over our service and understanding some of the trials we face. Knowing that we actually have people here that really do care. It gave me a lot of motivation.

*Funny Story*

We were Tracking this week and we were told to go to a less active members house and see how they were doing and so when we went to go check up on the family to see how they were doing. Well when we got there the Dad was sitting right inside the front door smoking and drinking and he just has this really long white frizzy hair and beard and he was seriously just so wasted haha! We were trying to get to know him and he was just talking about the most random things haha! We asked him his name and he started talking about things in the 1950's and he was just so random haha "well if my calkilations have transpired in the earlier" and he had a really mumbled voice! OH man I wish you guys were there! I miss you guys haha! It is so hard to describe these stories through the computer with a limited amount of time haha.

Anyway that is about it for this week. We are looking forward to this week and are hoping we can get things moving here! I love you guys and pray for you constantly throughout the day! I hope everything is going well at home! Alofa Aku!

Elder Barton!

*Chapter of the Week*

2Nephi Chapter 4

Season 2 Episode 1: Hard Week

Talofa Aiga!

So this week was insane to say the least. I will just start out from the beginning which would be Sunday. All of you know Sunday was the day I left to Samoa. It was a very long day of traveling, I think we were in the air for about 20 hours total! Anyway so we finally got to Samoa and I remember walking out of the plane and literally just getting hit with this wall of humidity and heat haha! It was pretty intense! After we landed we were picked up by the AP's and the President and his wife and we were taken to the mission home. I told Sister Hannamen about Patrice and she was really happy and was just telling me all these memories she had with her. President Hannamen remembers surfing with you Dad! He said he misses those days haha. Anyway so that night President started assigning areas to all the Elders and it was getting late and he had only assigned like 5 Elders and he told us he would do the rest in he morning. 

The next morning we woke up and we all had a meeting with President and he just started assigning everyone. I got assigned to Pavaiai in American Samoa! I was so surprised that I would be serving in American Samoa my first area! We were all really excited and then all the Elders got split up to go do training with other Elders American Samoa had a room Upolu went to one place and Savai'i went to another and that was the last I saw of those Elders. (I don't have much time to email so I am skimming over details) We were surprised when we figured out American Samoa Elders wouldn't be leaving for two more days! So for the next two days we were stuck in a tiny room for 12 hours studying! We then figured out we would be traveling to American Samoa by an 8 hour boat ride that left at midnight! So flash forward to the night we are leaving. One of the people that work at the mission office gave everybody sea sickness pills (I don't know what they are called) and said we take two every four hours. So with that we had our bags and were sent to the dock. I wish I could go into more detail but I don't have a lot of time. The boat ride was so long, cold, wet, smelly, and very uncomfortable! It was a very long night with hardly any sleep. I wish I could go into detail haha. 

So when we finally arrived at American Samoa it took us about an 1 1/2 to get off the boat because everyone had to go through customs and all that! And when we finally met all the other missionaries that were going to be taking us to our new areas they all seemed so clueless as what to do haha. But we finally made it our area after another 2 hours. My companion and I were so dead tired so we took an hour nap. When we finally woke up I was able to take a look at the house.... It is seriously so gross haha. The kitchen is right next to the toilet, the others had left the house a total mess just clothes, food, toys just laying all over the place. There are spiders everywhere cockroaches, ants, a gecko we call Ron who eats all the bugs. Anyway the place is just trashed so we are going to clean it today and I am excited but also nervous to touch stuff. 

This week was pretty hectic because the Elders before us were Ka'a (Lazy/Don't work) That's the whole reason so many new missionaries got sent here is because AS is known for Ka'a Missionaries and so President White washed all of American Samoa! So we have a lot of work to do! The previous Elders didn't even leave us with a map of the area so we had no idea where to go and we just were walking blind trying to figure things out. By the end of the week and with the help of few ward members we have somewhat of and idea where our area is. This Wednesday the ward clerk Niko is going to go on splits with us and help us figure everything out so we are excited. A lot of work needs to be done here and I am beyond glad my companion actually wants to work. So these next 12 weeks should be really hard but good! We are just really disappointed in the Elders before us who to this calling so lightly. We stay with a family, they are the ones that provide us with the small house and they were telling us how the Elders would watch movies, sleep in, stay up late with family and all these other things. They told us that they don't care if we do that and they offered us movies but we said no obviously haha. Anyway that just covers a small portion of my week. I am almost out of time and I still need to send pictures so that is about it.

Cool experience this week. My companion and I were walking around tracking/finding and my companion has only been out 3 months and so he takes the leads in discussion and i have no idea what they are talking about but, I realized that when we would run into people he would just kind of get to know them and not share a message so the next person we ran into who seemed to be in a rush I just stopped her and straight up asked if we could share a message and she said yes so I shared a message and asked if she wanted to learn more and she said Yes! Although she isn't in our area so we gave the contact information to the Elders that cover her area and now we have a new goal to share something gospel related in every discussion we have! Ohhhh I want to write so much more. Remind me next week to write about Richard a Bahai (I think that's how you spell it) Anyone I love you all so much and I miss you like Crazy! This has been pretty tough emotionally but I am looking forward with optimism and hope! I hope all of you are doing well and I hope you all know I keep you in my prayers! 

Alofa Atu!

Elder Barton