Temple Trip April 16-19, 2013

Written by:  Alec

May 16, 2013 right after school I left to Apia for the Temple Trip.  We stayed at the patron housing near the temple and on the first day (or night I should say) I did not have a permanent room for a while and I was constantly switching rooms.  Because of this I missed dinner and my meal (it was more like a snack) ended up being the beef jerky I had brought and was not very filling.

The next morning we woke up at 5:00 a.m. and had cereal for breakfast served by the Priests quorum.  An hour later we ran through the rain to the temple to do the temple work.  While in the temple I felt the Spirit.  We we were done we went back and had basically the rest of the day to ourselves due to the change in plans.  Around 4:00 p.m. we went back and finished doing baptisms for the day.  

That evening we had a "fireside" with President Leota (Samoa Mission President) where I led the meeting.  President Leota challenged us to read the Book of Mormon by the end of June.  After that we ate dinner and had ice-cream with an abundance of toppings.  After dinner we went to bed.

The next day we did not have time for breakfast and went to the temple. We were interrupted again and had to wait outside for an hour for the group to finish.  Finally they got out and we did the baptisms.  We finished and went back.  It was the Deacons turn to do breakfast but Tauasu, Coli,  Mickey and I were the only Deacons.  Two of the young women helped a lot with cooking the pancakes.  By the time we had finished making breakfast it was basically lunchtime.  We ate pancakes and very few people dared drink the steaming hot chocolate.  After a while we went to the pool and coincidentally (I think) met with the Pesega 5th ward, we made a few friends and, after swimming, we had lunch. 

 After that we did baptisms and after that we had testimony meeting with Pesega 5th at the school near the patron housing.  We walked to the school's gym and there was an activity where Elder Oaks spoke. After that we walked back to patron housing and had dinner with Pesega 5th.  After that we had a talent show and it was really fun (more like funny).  After that we had the leftover ice cream (we shared with Pesega 5th).  Finally after a long day we went to bed.

The next day I went to the market with brother Talataina, Tala, Mickey, Malachi and Mako.  I got a necklace for me, my Dad and my mom and rings for my brothers.  We went to patron housing, packed up and left to the airport.  The temple trip was a great experience for me.  I am so glad I was able to go.