This week was a much better one, whew...

Manahoana ny Fianakaviako!

    Inona no voavoa? Tsy misy? Mahafinaritra. This week was a much better one, whew. There's definitely hard things each day, especially Monday and Tuesday, but it's weird how fast things change with good ol' prayer. Ihany, ndao isika handeha!

Some Stories I Missed from Last Week

• Arm-wrestling Underdog: This actually occurred when one of the Tongans said, "Man, Elder Soper, you be lookin' like a baby boy." So, I thought it'd be funny to challenge him to an arm-wrestling competition. Everybody gathered round the ironing board--which is bolted to the wall--to see me get humiliated. But for some reason, maybe because I had good form, after about 30 seconds of pushing as hard as we could, I won somehow! He wasn't one of the biggest Tongans, but this is probably why I've gotten so much respect from the Polynesians recently.
• Sister Nebo: We were watching an Elder Bednar talk in the gym on Sunday, and Sister Nebo was singing really loud and off-key. All the zones around us were getting annoyed. She and I like to joke around, so I jokingly turned around and said, "Shhhhhhh, Sister Nebo." Then, she slapped me! She said, "Don't shush me Elder!" Everybody gasped and started to laugh really hard. The sisters grabbed Sister Nebo, but she was laughing too, so it was all good.
• Weirdest Sunday: We had Janice Kapp Perry (wrote so many famous primary songs) come to speak for the Sunday Devotional, and she was so irreverent! She talked about her and her husband's cute habits with each other. Also, she said that he first talked to her right before she was going to perform a clarinet solo and said, "I bet those lips are useful for more than just your clarinet." Then, her husband walked up to the podium and started kissing her! It was so funny, but President Burgess seemed petrified.

Ny Zavatra Ratsy

     A few things made this week tough,  The Fijian district left, which was really hard. I'm still in contact with Elder Hamon and Simiskey, but they were great examples of the types of missionaries I want to be. Our zone felt a bit empty afterward.

• Elder Schnoor and I taught a horrible lesson on Tuesday--luckily we recovered the next day with a really good one--and it was pretty discouraging. Elder Schnoor reacted pretty well though, and he was able to calm me down. I was being a lil' too spicy. When we had companionship inventory, we both confided in each other how scary it is to teach a lesson like that because we can't imagine teaching a real investigator that badly, ruining our chance to teach them.
• Some of the missionaries in our zone talk about sister missionaries too much.  It makes it tough to focus for me and my district. Doesn't help when others aren't trying. We made a goal to lock our heart towards Christ, which helped a lot, whoa my gosh.

Ny Zavatra Tsara

• We got some new missionaries in our zone! We received an ASL zone and a Fijian zone. Most of them are really introverted, but they're all super nice. There's an Australian that's exactly like Elder Hamon, so I'm excited to get to know him.
• To our surprise, our teacher told Elder Schnoor and I are progressing at a really good rate. He said that we're way ahead of the curve when it comes to vocab, but we just need to speak more. That was relieving news.
• We finally taught a great lesson! We committed one of our 'investigators' to baptism. Took us forever, but it was really exciting when we finally got him. It's weird how even though our teachers are acting, we've grown to love our investigators. The investigators they act as are real people they taught! It felt like I developed a legitimate relationship with them.
• Elder Moala and I laugh together so much! I'd say right now, him, Elder Duvinston and I are best friends haha! We have a couple sayings, "Elder, you sleepin'!" Then, Elder Duvinston and I say, "Leave him alone!" (Cuban singer voice from that podcast). And the funniest one is, "I'mma go all Browser on this (object)!" I can't tell you how hard these two elders make me laugh. Plus, Elder Moala is a great influence as the zone leader. He has a huge passion for the Doctrine of Christ and how it blesses us. He loves talking about it. He's also very obedient, while still relaxed and flexible.
• Yeah, I saw the Mauerman's! They scared me pretty bad because they squeezed my shoulders when I was eating haha. It was so fun to see them though! 
• I also have talked to one of the Featherstone's a lot! He's the deaf son, and he's the ASL teacher! He kept talking about how sad it was when Ama moved. I love talking to him for a while every time I see him.
• We had the opportunity to host some missionaries, and that was so great. It really made reminisce about when I came into the MTC for the first time. Elder Duvinston and I hosted a missionary that he knew from Jersey, but his brother knew Devin too! Crazy coincidence!

 Thanks for all the packages! They are really so awesome to receive! 

Tia anareo aho!

Elder Soper