Chickens and Rottweilers

Malo lele. Fe fe hake? I just said hello, how are you in Tongan. Think that's impressive? That's only the tip of the iceberg. I'm almost fluent by now. Haha no but I learn a few words every day. Anyways, on with my week. Monday wasn't a bad day. A few of us decided to go hiking up Hatcher Pass, and it was a clear day so it was pretty awesome. We had a dinner that night with a part-member family, and the husband is an investigator. We taught him about obedience and faith. He has trouble with the Word of Wisdom, but he comes to church and even has his own leather-bound quad. He came to Stake Conference yesterday. We are hoping he can start following the Word of Wisdom so that he can be baptized. Tuesday we had dinner with a less-active family, and it was good but a little awkward. They fed us chicken that they had killed themselves from their chicken coop. Good stuff! We went tracting that night like we always do, and we tracted into a guy who wanted to argue with us for awhile. He told us a bunch of garbage about how Christ isn't coming to the earth again and how Joseph Smith is a false prophet. He said he had a dvd we could have that talks about how to find the real truth. I told him I would take it, and I only did because I wanted to throw it away haha. He gave us the dvd, and I handed it to Elder Vailea, and we threw it in a dumpster down the street. One less thing to spread false doctrine. I've noticed that people here like to argue more at the door and are a little more educated about the gospel. People in the trailer parks in Valdez were very well educated, and even in the city we didn't run into too much trouble.

Wednesday we had District Meeting, and I'm still in the same district as the Valdez elders, so we hear them over the phone. It's weird to hear them give their reports on stuff I was doing there with the same people I worked with. My district leader told me I would be going on exchanges with him this week after district meeting. I'm going to tell him, Malo pe si'i fakahinohino, ka 'oku 'ikai te u lelei'ia ai. That means, "Thanks for your advice, but I don't like it." I'll just tell him that whenever he gets on my nerves haha. Thursday and Friday were extremely slow days, and not much happened. We spent most of the time trying to get in contact with all the less-actives in the ward. In our ward list, at least half of every page of members is less-actives. It's pretty crazy how many people go less active in the church. We tracted into a guy before dinner on Friday who told us that the reason he moved to Alaska was to get away from Mormonism. It was pretty funny to see his expression when he realized he can't hide from us! I'm sure there are lots of less-actives everywhere, but there are a ton up here because they move to Alaska to get away from people and things. They usually get frustrated when we try and see them.

Yesterday was our Stake Conference. It was a broadcast for all of the stakes in Washington and Alaska, and there were two seventies that spoke, who were followed by Russel M Nelson and Thomas S Monson. It was a really good Stake Conference, and it was good to hear from the Prophet and an Apostle. Russel M Nelson talked about following the prophet, and President Monson talked about helping those whose hands hang down and who have feeble knees, relating it to the lost battallion in WWI. That night we tracted. We knocked on the door of one house, and a big rotwieler(?) started barking and freaking out at the door. I could tell nobody was home, but the dog started to open the door! I could tell it wanted to eat me, so I held the handle at the door haha. I thought it might be a person trying to open the door to talk to us, so I let go, and the stupid dog opend the door to get out, so I grabbed the door before it could and shut it haha. I wanted to leave, but I thought the dog was going to get out if I let go of the door, but I let go anyway and we walked away. The dog didn't try to open the door again. The last thing I need is to get attacked by a stupid dog. I've heard lots of stories from missionaries who got bit, like Elder Norton. You can tell when a dog wants to eat you though, because the hair on their back will stand up straight, and that's when you know you should probably leave haha. Well that's my week!I love you guys and sorry about the short email last week. Seeya!

Love Mat