Temple View

Hey everybody! This last week has been great!  

The view outside of our chapel -- not bad!!

I guess the best place to start would be last Monday. It was Halloween, and for those of you who don't remember from last year, we aren't allowed to proselyte on Halloween night. Apparently in the past there have been problems with people dressing up as missionaries and doing stupid things, so instead, all of the missionaries get together at the mission office and have a Halloween party! It was pretty great, and it's the one time of the year when all of the missionaries get to watch a movie together! Last year it was the Cokeville Miracle, and this year it was Shrek!  It was great for a few reasons. As a missionary, the things that you find funny change a lot. I've never seen so many 20 year old's so caught up in, or laughing so much from watching a kids movie! I've also never felt quite so uncomfortable about incredibly small amounts of crude humor, haha.

The baptism this Thursday was great also! Isaac had a lot of friends and family there to support him, and it was a really cool experience.

I've actually had a lot of cool experiences this week that have really helped me to appreciate the things that have happened to me on my mission. I already mentioned it in the Q&A, but I think it bears repeating. I'm so grateful for everything that I've learned, all of the people I've met, and all of the ways that my life has been changed. I really love this mission!

And, I love and appreciate you!

Elder Excell

Elder Tupou puts his feet up by the fire after a long day

Q&A - 11/7/2016

1.) We'd love to hear more about the baptism on Thursday.  -- The baptism was a guy named Isaac. He's a really great guy! He has a girlfriend who's LDS, but he didn't let that influence his decision at all. He made sure that he was getting baptized because he knew it was true. To be honest, I didn't have too much to do with this baptism, it was already pretty much in place before I got here. It was still really cool to participate though! He asked me to do the confirmation, and that's always a really cool experience.

2.) Does it feel weird attending a YSA ward as a missionary?  It seems like not so much a temptation to start dating or anything, but just kind of weird because everybody is your same age, but you're the only one that is a missionary.  Let us know how that feels.  --  It can definitely be kind of weird serving a YSA ward sometimes. But it can also be really cool! It's like getting to do missionary work with a bunch of your friends.

3.) What do you wish you had more time to do on P-days?  --  I definitely wish I had a little more time to send off some decent emails. But I'm grateful that I get the time I do!

4.) During this month of gratitude, I'm thankful for...  --  The chance that I have to be a missionary. I can't even describe all of the ways that this mission has and is changing my life, and I think often about how fast it's going. Don't get me wrong, I miss home and everything, but there are a lot of times that I never want to leave. I really don't know what I'll do. But no need to think about that for quite a while yet!

Pictures of our patriotic apartment...