Happy Mother's Day

Hey everybody!!! :) How is everyone?! I hope you're all doing awesome!! I'm doing good as always! The gospel is the plan of happiness! So why not?! :) Hope you all had a wonderful week!! This week was just more fun stuff with the festival! haha And with the Porter family's farewell! So I'll begin from the beginning! I think I told you last week about the two times that we danced with the people in the show! haha Good stuff! But our shows didn't end there! haha One night we had some time so we stopped by at all the festival stuff again.  We saw Tapu, an old lady who is one of the original stalwarts of the church here on Niue.  We started talking to her and I guess she was about to go up on stage! They were doing a fashion show, and the theme at that point RIGHT when we got there was missionary work!!! The church is true! haha So she's like come up with me! Losalu didn't want to but I was like Oh ya let's do it!! So we did the walkway! One of the members here, Robyn (Mufasa) always does all the announcing and all that showbiz stuff.  He knows all the history on the LDS missionaries here so when we went up with Tapu in front of all the people he did a great intro and background of LDS missionaries!

Awesome huh?! So that was good exposure with the people! Felt like a model up there! haha So more fun! We did a lot of service again and took the Porter's with us to cut grass at a home! And that's when my new camera broke!! I'm horrible with cameras I guess! The last picture I took was of President holding the weed whacker at us and than it was done for! So I blamed it on President! He broke my camera! Anyways we played basketball with David a lot, spent time with the Porter's.  One day we bought lots of coconut bread from Mama Rosa, another original in the church.  And visited all the single old ladies with Sister Porter and David and gave them little goodies! That felt really good!

We had our interviews with President.  Poor Losalu though because the President and I went for a long time because it was going to be our last one. It was like an hour and a half!  It was an awesome interview.. Got emotional a bit! Another one that got me a little scared of what's to come! haha he's got to high of expectations for me it kind of freaks me out! haha His plan is to keep me here a little longer, maybe the normal 6 months or shorter.  But he wants me to come back straight into leadership roles and he again wants me to shoot up quick.  He reemphasized like before, he knows I'm going to be a 'superstar' in the mission field.  So he's trying to accelerate my growth like crazy he says.  That's why he had those callings for me before Niue as well. He wanted me here in Niue because he knows how valuable the lessons are here and the trials I'll face will shape me into a powerful leader he says.  So that's why he has me here.  Those were some of the thoughts from the interview.  It was really good. I got a lot of work to do that's for sure!!! :) So let's do it!! Besides that we saw the Porter's quite a bit, gave them gifts and letters.  Also gave them some addresses of family and others back home! So they're going to visit you guys!! :) We had a MASSIVE fiafia(dinner and dances) for them the last night they were here. I've never seen so much food!! It was a joke!! and never ever in my life seen food go that fast!! Kinda scary!!  We gave a very good plate which we did Thursday morning! Filmed it all to so hopefully I can send home the footage one time!!

We bought a pig from a member and with some of our mates I did the honor!! haha I got in the pig pen caught the pig brought it out and killed the poor guy!! Man they're strong!! I felt like Rambo that's for sure because the scene was disgusting! And I didn't do it right at first so it wasn't a quick death for the guy!! haha I felt horrible!! :) The way I killed it was by stabbing it's throat and opening a big enough hole to get my hand in to grab the umbilical cord and tear it out to kill the pig!! Pretty nasty huh!! I felt so unworthy!! Haha But I made sure to eat some of him that night so it wasn't just murder!! :) Savage island I'm telling ya!!

Anyways at the fia fia we all ate and had fun with the Porter's people gave really nice beautiful gifts that they made for them.  They had us missionaries go up and give a chant.  I did a solo!! haha oh man! The people were laughing they loved it!! I was getting into it but pretty sure I looked like a fool! haha Than airplane day we took them back got last pic’s and last words with my first beloved mission president and my mission mom.. It was very sad! And no fair! Because out of all the missionaries in our mission besides the ones that go home of course I was the first one to have to say goodbye early!! Oh well!! Can't wait to see them again!!  So the last couple of weeks were probably the funniest of my mission so far!! Just a lot of unique cultural things and being privileged to be with such faithful servants of God. It was a wonderful week!! :) We also finally got the general conference DVDs so we've started watching those! haha That's a big enough email for ya'll! So hope you enjoy!! And you all best make sure that your Mother's or your wives have a WONDERFUL Mother's Day!!

Especially my mommy!! I love you Mom have a happy Mother's Day!! You deserve it more than anyone else!!! I LOVE YOU!!! :) I love you all so much have a spectacular week!!! :)

Mission Blog

So this is Parker's Mission blog that he mentioned in his letter. You can check it out, its updated by the mission presidents wife you obviously appears to have a fun sense of humor!

http://newzealandaucklandmission.blogspot.com/

April 26th 2011

Aloha everybody!! :)

Sorry this email came later than usual! It's because of the Porter family being here and this massive festival that's going on the island!! Haha Oh man if only you guys could see what's been happening! I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and your thoughts were centered on Christ and his triumph over the grave.. With that being said our Easter was wonderful!! :) Didn't feel a thing like Easter because of the weather! All last week we spent preparing for President's families arrival.  Very busy week! Doing heaps of service and a long with that getting everything ready and organized for President.  Cleaned up the Mission Home here which hasn't been cleaned in ages! Had to deep clean the van because he'd be taking it. Had to help organize the entire conference for the weekend for the Porter family. Etc etc etc.! Busy week! Than the big day came! Airplane day! No other missionaries get to be with the Porter's in such a personal setting as we do! Before you would only see him in big gatherings or interviews! Now he'd be on an island with just the two of us! Kind of scary but also exciting! I love him and his family so I couldn't wait for them to get here!  They came off the plane and it was really cool because the whole island has been decorating and doing all sorts of things for the festival.  So when they came in there was all these people singing and dancing and all that good stuff! Most of them the members actually! haha We were definitely happy to see him his wife and their son David for their last visit here on Niue island. Turns out they actually got a house in Draper for his new job. They're from Colorado but now they're coming to our neck of the woods! Anyways their mission is wrapping up so this will be the last time that I see them and the last time they come here.  So we got them lunch when they first got here, hung out with them a bit and then he took our van so we're on feet the whole week! But it's all good because we're around members so much that they take us everywhere anyways. That Saturday morning was game time! Which Sister Porter is putting on the mission blog by the way so you can see the apostate missionaries there.  Haha we had to get permission from President but we got to dance in front of the whole island their Niuean dances!! :)

It was so much fun!! President was laughing hysterically up there in the front rows.  Sis Porter took lots of pictures.  We had to get permission because the costumes we had to be shirtless! It was fun!! Since I was the only white person up there people really noticed and commented haha.  People still come up and talk to me about it.  During the dance sometimes the people will come up and slip money in your costume while you dance and that's what some ladies did! Haha President was laughing very hard! He also came up and gave us money! He asked if we felt temple worthy after the experience! haha. It was alot of fun! We were all oiled up and everything.  Not much missionaries get that experience! And it was even funnier having President and his family there! Than this weekend was all of the Last conference with the Porter's.

 It was very good. Really sad to hear from them for the last time. The messages were wonderful and I felt the spirit very strongly. Lots of people came it was really good.  It's been fun having them around! We see them all the time it's really weird! They're so funny; I was able to get lots of good pictures with them.  Easter night they dropped by all these eggs and treats for Easter.  They of course stay at the nicest resort here called the Matavai.  It's beautiful there Last night guess what?! Our dancing goes on! A different costume this time but it was the biggest event last night here in the capital Alofi.  They came and watched again! haha More and more fun!! I'm quite the hit here now!! Haha, na, just kidding! But it's good because the people really respect how I'm trying to be part of the culture and participating because man my little white body stands out that's for sure!! haha.  So things have been really fun lately! Porter family is here and we're having fun with them and doing this festival stuff every day!! Lots of people from NZ here on the island so it's been really good!! More stuff this whole week with the festival still going on and then the last dinner with the Porter's and other things we'll be doing with them! So more fun on its way!! :) Can't wait!! I wish I could send pictures from the island home!! But soon!! So you can all see the beauty of the Pacific!! I hope you all have a wonderful week!! I miss and love you all very much and you are all in my prayers!! May God watch over and bless you all each and every day! I love you!!

Elder Devey

HAPPY EASTER

FALOFA LAHI ATU!!! MALOLO MATULU?! FAKAUAE?! IA!! FAKAUE LAHI!!! :)

Hey everybody!!! Aloha from paradise!!! The jewel of the pacific Niue Island!!! Can you still believe that I'm here?! I sure can't!! Ai a Wei!! It's definitely a huge blessing to be having an experience like this and to have such a wonderful journey on my mission thus far!! It's just the funniest thing ever!! Who wouldn't want to serve a mission?! Man!! You just get blessed like crazy out here in the field! No matter what part of the Lord's vineyard! Especially out here in the furthermost parts of his vineyard! Haha.  I hope you have all had a wonderful week and hope you all have a wonderful Easter as well and to feel and see the Savior's gifts in your own lives and what he's done for you as you reflect on him and his resurrection.  What a beautiful time of year! Except it sounds like it's still pretty bitter with the weather there! It still is way too hot here!! Its cyclone season so there has been a couple of rainstorms but besides that feels like I'm about to catch on fire every second of the day!! But I love it!! I haven't seen a winter since... I can't remember! Because I left Utah and dodged a winter there because it was starting to get warm in NZ than I left NZ right when it was starting to get cold again and came here! Now skipping another winter! By the time I see a winter again will be in 2012! 2 straight years without cold winter! How lucky am i?! Told you! Blessings of the mission! Sorry for confusing ya with that math! But anyways I'll let ya know what's going on here on "the rock"! Sorry still no pics with emails, soon hopefully i will send home heaps of photos than you can all see what it's like on a tiny island like this! Haha.

So this last week was a beautiful wonderful week!!! We had a BAPTISM!!! Heck yes!! The miracle island is what we call it! It's now happening here to!! And we got some potential with others so hopefully more are on their way!! In the NZAM mission they are striving to baptize weekly.. So why don't I just carry that success we had to here?! Haha well clearly it's not that easy but I will still give it all I've got regardless.  So the girl's name is Felolini Fomai.  She's half Tuvaluan and Kiribati; Islands that you may not have heard of. But my comp before, Baraniko was from Kiribati.  That family is so that's been fun.  Losalu baptized her and I confirmed her.  It was a lot of fun.  And since eating is everything to the islanders we had a massive kai(feed) after! It was a really fun day!! Nothing more I love than seeing souls saved and entering into the Lord's kingdom! I crave that sight more than anything! Ah I just love being an instrument in the Lord's hands! Nothing better I'm telling ya!! It's just burning within my soul!! I can tell you all are probably like "the dude's gone crazy!" I am all alone out here on an island!! Remember Cast Away?! the guy went nuts!!

 Haha it's not that extreme here! Calm down mom :)haha I'm sorry I'm just crazy about the gospel!! "In it I'll live and for it I'll die" -Joseph Smith.  That's how important it is people!! So we shall proclaim it to all the earth and rejoice in the islands. (Isaiah 42:12 i think!) Anyways it's been a lot of fun here lately! I'm becoming really close with the people. Heaps of service as always! Getting buff! haha I wish! I do weigh 190ish now so that's a sad note!! haha but I don't look fat trust me! Well at least I'm hoping so! They just hammer down the food down our throats! There's nothing I can do! When I leave with a gut, that'll just be physical proof of our blessings out here!! haha :)

So ya ya'll! As Brooke would say! Things are great here!! Living in paradise! Gotta pinch myself and let me know I'm still a missionary and not on vacation! haha It really is paradise here!! Oh man!! So this week for the festival coming up next week and President coming many pigs shall die... Kinda murderous sounding but it's big events and the best food the people got are their pigs.  Sorry to say mom but they want me to be a big help in that! haha they want the palangi missionary to kill a lot of the pigs for them.. That'll be fun and gross!! The first one we did when I got here was disgusting! It was like a scene on Braveheart or something! Anyways hopefully the spirit stays with me!! :) P-day was fun! I got my camera back and we went around to some caves and beaches and took heaps of pics with our mission leader Eti, this fat Samoan guy! Love him to death he's hilarious! So it was a fun day! Besides that I can't think of much else to report! We've been decorating lots for the festival and have been practicing Niuean dancing with the Alofi people to do for President and the festival! So that'll be funny! I always was a good dancer so it's all good!! ;) I can't think of anything else! Just watch other side of heaven and you'll get the picture!! Haha just kidding! I hope and pray you are all well!! I miss and love you all very very VERY much!!! But not that much.. Haha Love ya'll!! HURRAH

FOR ISRAEL!!!!!!!!

With love Elder Devey!!

April 12th 2011

Hey everyone!!! :) Aloha from Paradise!! I hear that it is still snowing here and there for you guys! Man! If only you could see and feel what it's like here! You'd be jealous that's for sure! It's way too hot here actually!! I've never been in this hot and humid of weather! It's all good though! I hope everyone had a wonderful week and that you and your families are seeing the blessings from our Heavenly Father's hands! This week was another good week here! Kind of hard though because we only have probably 2 lessons a week if we're lucky.  And those most of the time are just family home evenings.  But a miracle!! As I was telling you all of that little Tuvaluan girl (the Tuvalu Islands) that is to be baptized, we find out her parents aren't members and she's being watched over by these two from Kiribati. Anyways so that counts as a convert baptism now! Yay!! Miracles in Niue!! We're going to have our first baptism here this Saturday.  The family really wants an ocean baptism so we're seeing what we can do with that.  We're probably going to have the baptism in one of the caves at the sea.  We were thinking of a cave called the Amanau cave.  It's a cave close to our home and it has significant importance because the first members of the church were baptized in this cave in 1952!

So it's going to be a really wonderful weekend!! :) Besides that no investigators progressing or anything at all.  Just heaps of service!! The other day we mowed 5 lawns I think in a row! And they're big lawns with lots of rocks in the ground.  (the rock of the Pacific remember). So you have to use the weed cutter on most of the grass so it takes ages! Anyways so I'll be pro at mowing lawns when I get back that's for sure! We also are helping build a couple of houses, tile people's floors, go to their plantations with them and plant and harvest taros, go climb coconut trees or find other fruit for people like breadfruit or papaya.  Catch Uga, catch and kill the pig, etc. etc.!! Lots of service and it's all really crazy funny stuff I've never done before! Lots of fun!!

This week we also have started preparing for Niue's festival week here coming up on the 23rd.  Same week as President Porter's arrival.  So it is going to be a very busy week! We've been practicing with the Alofi villagers some Niuean dances that we'll be performing with them.  I look pretty funny dancing how the islanders do not going to lie! But I love it anyways!! I'm the only white person here except when tourists come here and there on Fridays.  So they pay attention to me and when I try to do their stuff with their customs or cultures and they think it's pretty funny and so do I! Hopefully President enjoys watching us! haha.  It's his and his wife's last trip here to Niue before they're done with serving.  So it's going to be a really fun last week.  They're going to get quite the show that's for sure! The people love them! They've started making gifts and preparing for their arrival.  That'll be a lot of fun we're looking forward to that.

 Sorry for no pic still, no camera yet but it should be coming this weekend have your fingers crossed! Than hopefully you can start seeing what Niue really looks like!  This last week was a good one! Just being with the people and serving and eating, and eating, and eating!!! I don't think I'm fatter, I see myself every day though! Hopefully when you all see me you won't be like what the?! When did Chris Farley throw on a badge and go to Niue!! Haha I'm not fat just messing! But they feed us constantly!! All this islander food man is going to kill me!! I miss all the restaurants back home!! :( Besides that not else to report that I can think of! Things are all good here! Just trying our best to help out where we can and bless others’ lives in different ways! I hope you all have a wonderful week!! Keep strong!! Kia Manuina! I miss and love you all so much!!! May the Lord be ever watchful over you all this week! Love ya!! :)

Elder Devey

April 11, 2011

I'll be coming back later to write my email!!
I miss and love you guys so so much!! Oh and no camera yet. Hopefully it comes this Friday! Be back soon!! I love you guys sooo much!!! :)