Boon of Ancient Memories

Before the great Samoan warrior was called Apulu, he was under siege by Tongans. I've never personally been under seige from Tongans, but I can't imagine it's a pleasent expirience for anyone. Tongans are scary even when they're not trying to kill you, which these particular enemies were. There were many of the Tongan warriors who were trying to kill the great Samoan warrior, and as they closed in on him he hid in a grove of trees. In those times there were no shields, (or if there were, he didn't know about them) so he couldn't defend himself from the arrows and rocks they threw at him, except by heroically cowering behind the trunks of the Pulu trees that made up the grove. (They were called Pulu trees because the sap inside them was called Pulu sap. I couldn't begin to guess why it was called Pulu sap, unless maybe it was named after the Pulu tree.) The warrior dodged behind the trees as his enemies surrounded him, and he was so quick in his movements that thier rocks and arrows hit the trunks of the Pulu trees instead of him.  (Turns out there were shields, just unconventionally sappy ones.) But still his enemies closed in. As the enemies got closer, however, and thier onslaught of cast projectiles continued to pelt the trees unceasingly, the Pulu sap spewed out of the trees behind which the warrior hid. In a fatal tactical miscalculation, the enemies got close enough to the trees that the sap got in thier eyes, blinding them. And then the great Samoan warrior emerged, and stepped on the faces of the blinded enemies. 

When the great Samoan warrior returned to the villiage, the villiage people were understandably awestruck. Many enemies had gone into the forest to kill the warrior, yet only he emerged, covered in Pulu sap that had spewed out of the trees, the only one alive. Because of his wisdom (to hide when he was being attacked) they made him the leader of thier tribe. And they called him Apulu, because of the Pulu sap he was covered in. 

Good evening brothers and sisters of the Malachi email list. I share the story above as related to us by an old man who was sitting quietly by the river, (with a wise and somewhat contemplative attitude) who told it to us when we asked his name. His name is Sepho, which is the Samoan version of Joseph, but his title is Apulu. 

I did a LOT of listening to old people this week, (each with varying levels of craziness) which made me really happy. The story of Apulu was not the only boon of ancient memories bestowed upon us, but the old man by the river was probably my favorite. Not to flex, but I bet none of you get to hear native Samoan legends in your spare time. If I wasn't on a mission right now my life would probably be a lot more "fun" in a conventional sense. I would be able to play Spirit Island every day instead of just once a week, and I'd get to listen to more tragic love songs, and hang out with all my friends. I'd be able to waste time whenever I wanted instead of just on special occasions. But I would have missed an old man's story about the origin of his name. (He was in good shape for an 87 year old, so maybe the story was even about his own experience. He for sure could have been a mighty warrior.) If I'd chosen to be home right now, my life wouldn't have felt any more empty but I would have missed out on that hidden treasure that we found sitting by the river. 

One of the old guys we talked to this week was the dad of one of our friends. When we came to tell our friend about General Conference he was busy sleeping, but his dad offered us fruit and so we chatted with him for a minute. He was an old Iranian guy who didn't understand much english, but he told us he'd become a painter in his old age, and showed us some of his paintings. (Picture of my favorite below.) But then he also told us his hobby was growing bonsai trees. He took us into his back yard, where there were probably a hundred little bonsai trees at different stages at growth. Some grew on top of cool garden ornaments, like birds or cars or turtles or whatever else. Each was a different type of tree. He lovingly showed us each, beaming with pride as he displayed them. He told us how the trees knew him, which I think is sweet. He also handmade his own backgammon set, and now he rocks up to tournaments and wins them. (He didn't tell us this, he's too humble. We heard it from the previous missionaries.)

As a fun bonus he gave us advice on how to stay skinny, so we could have "good face" AND "small stomach." He told us to eat 5 times a day, but very small meal each. I think he may have been a little horified by the vigor with which we devoured the fruit he gave us. My companion and I had to try so hard not to look at each other as he gave us the advice, because we just knew we'd burst out laughing. (Like my sisters when they sing "The Lord is my Shepherd")

We also talked to a philosopher! He was super fun to talk to cause he kept saying things like "Don't say jesus is the answer until you know what the question is. Beware of those who claim to have answers before they've heard the question." Which might've been super deep but my IQ isn't high enough to be sure. He told us how he went to lots of churches, but the speakers were never eloquent enough for him. We invited him to General Conference, but unfortunatly he didn't come. Hopefully he comes to our church sometime, and doesn't care that the speakers aren't eloquent. He gave us lots of advice on how to do a better job sharing the gospel, by "building relationships with people first" and "not starting with a gospel message, but just listening to them" and little did he know I was applying that advice right then with him as I listened to his sage advice. We wrote down lots of his tips after the meeting though, because you can learn from anyone.

The third old person we talked to this week was my mission president.* 

We showed up at our district council meeting, and he was sitting there, all scary like. Luckily we were only 2 minutes late, and there were others that were five minutes late. We texted them to hurry up and be on time, but President just shook his head, smiled a scary smile, and said "I've got this. Watch this." Then he called them and they immediately answered. 

It was fun having him there, I love my mission president. He also gave me and my companion a ride to our next apointment and told us about how he baptized his wife (who was his girlfriend then) and then left on his mission a month later. When he got back, they got married. It was a very in-charachter love story, and I loved the no-nonsense way he told it. When he tells stories he's the exact oposite of me, he does no embellishing and uses no colorful descriptive phrases.

"How'd you meet your wife?" 

"I baptized her, Elder. And then two year later I married her." Those were all the details I could get out of him, despite having a million questions about how that all worked.

He also brought us Maori fry bread to eat after our district meeting, and told us it would make our stomachs bigger. Little did he know, I was equipped with knowlege from the bonsai guy that would keep me skinny.

Everyone here wants to talk to us about politics, which is inconvenient because we're not allowed to talk about politics, and we just want to talk about Jesus Christ. But one of the old guys we talked to just had such interesting political opinions, that I found it hard not to engage. We found him sitting in this greenhouse place behind a government retirment comunity, and he beckoned us over for a chat. I didn't know at the time that It'd be a 2 hour chat about US politics. He also gave us an extensive account of his recent 30 day water fast, where he only drank water for 30 days. With the help of my companion I was able to mostly keep my responses to neutral "mmm"s but at one point he started asking very directly if we "noticed" certian things about certian politicians. (Why does this country even care about american presidents?) It was fun to hear his contradictory opinions and try to guess (internally) where on the political spectrum he was. Eventually he started talking about his elcesiastical leader though, and we thought it best to depart.

We also watched General Conference this week, and it was my favorite thing ever. I took so many notes. It's like we have an old tribal "wisdom of the elders" council from all the people smart enough to live to old age. Except they're also called and inspiried by God. I love having prophets on the earth that can tell us stuff. Like, for example "The Redeemer rescues us not by shortening our course but by helping us lengthen our stride." -Elder Dunn. Or "Jesus Christ loves to lift!" - Elder Kearon.

"Covenants are the credentials of eternity."

-Elder Bednar

"As covenant followers of Jesus Christ we show compassion to those in need. These divine appointments do not interupt our mission, they are our mission." 

-Elder Farns

I may have misquoted a couple of those, but you'll have to go relisten to all of general conference to be sure. 

Sorry I remembered one more. "A deciple is quick to help and slow to judge."

Okay I'm done now.

On Sunday, after conference, we went to pay our respects to a member of our ward who passed away. This is my second funeral this transfer (and third on the mish), which isn't my absolute favorite stat to rack up, but it is nice to hear the stories of the deceased. Sister Johansson's son told us about how since she was young, she loved being independent, and always wanted to start her own buisness, but her parents wouldn't let her. So, she told her parents she was taking her brother to school one day, and then she ran away to Fiji for a year. (It's not a strategy I would have ever thought of, but its a pretty effective one.) There she had a job, and fell in love with a rich guy, but then she missed her family so she left the guy she loved and came back. They tried to write letters but eventually lost contact, and so her mom's friend set Sister Johanssen up with her son.

Anyway, I cannot recount all the stories, but I loved learning them anyway. If any of you are considering a mission, just ask yourself when else in your life you'll have the time to listen to interesting people tell you about culture and stories that are important to thier lives. 

The basher from last week found us again. He stopped his car by us as we were walking, and was soooo mad at our church. But unfortunately there was a car behind himself he couldn't bash us as long as he wanted to. He told us to come to his house though so we could talk more, and said he had free apples for us. I always thought Sleeping Beauty was stupid for accepting free apples from a suspicious and hostile stranger, but now I get it, because we definitely walked alllllllllll the way to his house, and let me tell you. 

The free apples were delicious. 

Highlights of the week:

- Swinging on swings in the sunshine at a random park.

- Elder Parau cooking Crepes. 

- 1st Nephi chapter 2.

- Fun conversations.

The mission has really got me appreciating the little things more, which is really interesting considering I'm busier than I've ever been before. Still, I'm more frequently reminded to slow down. I just feel like it's easier to make me happy here.

Stats:

Spirit Island games: 13

Temple Visists: 4

Funerals: 3

Miles Run: 145.5

Pushups: 11,505

Times I've eaten Taco Bell: 1

Chapsticks used: 0.9

Lavalavas collected: 2

Love for all of you: 3,000

O pé caderno:

*He's not that old, but he called me short day 1, so this is my little way of retaliating. 

Pictures:

(See if you can guess which of the aforementioned old men is pictured below)