Hey mom and dad.
So wow. This week has been pretty crazy. My companion is pretty great. He has a real love of the work. He's a passion-filled guy. He just needs to learn how to bridle his passions. Here's a little story from this week:
Remember. He's Samoan...from Western Samoa.
So we're walking down the street after just getting told by our appointment that she couldn't meet with us. Even though I committed her very carefully to that time. So we're both pretty heated right now. We had walked 40 minutes to that appointment. So we're walking down the street past this little tindahan and I hear someone call out "hey joe". I just mutter "shut up" and keep walking. So I turn to talk to Elder Seupule but he's not there. So I look around and there he is stomping over to this tindahan across the street with his arms spread out like he's gonna kill someone. So he just starts screaming to this group of like 10 people, "WHO SAID JOE! WHO SAID JOE!" So I'm like...great. So I walk over there. And he's still yelling and screaming at everyone. So all I can say is "stop. stop. stop." I've been around polys for long enough in my life to know when to not intervene. You don't touch an angry Samoan. So I'm telling him stop as he pinpoints the guy who said it. He gets a toothpicks distance from this kid's face and yells "WHO IS JOE! IS MY NAME JOE? WHO'S JOE!" and all this stuff. So now everyone is running from all directions to see whats up. And I'm like "oh great". So some little guy tells Elder Seupule that he is a martial arts master and I told myself that if this guy thinks he has what it takes to take on this angry rabid grizzly bear, he can have his day. Eventually Seupule storms off and I had to explain the whole thing to everyone--the group of 30+ people. To end the story, the guy who was the martial arts master said that he understands the problem and invited us to come teach him. We're going next week. The Lord works in......mysterious(?) ways.
So right now I'm staying in the city. We've been doing some really intensive training for the leaders--ZLs, DLs, and trainers. They have finetuned Preach My Gospel and its all about focusing on committments now. Its all about getting people committed to baptism so you know where they are at with it all and then getting them to where they need to be. The training is until 4 in the afternoon and then we help the missionaries in their areas here in the city. Last night we committed a guy to baptism and the Elders didn't think it would ever happen. It was pretty sweet. We just laid it all out there and I said, "look. From what you've told me in the last 20 minutes, you have a strong desire to follow Jesus Christ. So will you follow his example and be baptized by proper authority into his church?" He was like, "Yes, I will". Boom.
Alright. We gotta get back. The ZLs challenged me and a couple other missionaries to some hoops tonight. Its over. Plus email time got sliced in half from now on.
Love you both!
Brandon
