Letter to Mom-December 9, 2013

Hey Mom!

The week has been pretty good!

1. Did you buy a blanket? Yes

2. How's your eating? Are you able to afford everything you need with the money that they give you? Are you eating fruits and vegetables? I am eating great. I am working on eating better in the apartment to cut some weight off. I think I am going to start talking to a member about what I can start eating like. Yes I am eating fruits and vegetables

3. What was the most fun you had this past week? The most fun is probably the moments of intense laughter when we are all exhausted at the end of the day.

4. Are you doing ok being away from home? That's probably a hard question to answer because of course, it's hard but are you handling it ok? I am doing fine! I thought it would be a whole lot worse, but I don't really get home sick anymore and I never really did before. I just keep on pushing on and it seems to fly by faster and faster

5. Are your District Leader duties going ok? My DL duties are fine and fun! I love my district.

Sounds like y'all have had an awesome week and the ward party was off the chain! Sounds like Ethan and Noah did an awesome job in the tournament!

What do you want for Christmas? There are some sweet southern stores here in Bonifay and they are pretty cheapish haha. I have Ethan and Noah's presents already but what do you and Dad want? Sorry I am going to cut this letter short, but my head is killing me for no reason and I will send a letter this week with some stories! This week’s message is in the November Ensign about missionary work from Gifford Nielsen.

I love you so!

Elder Wilson Atagi

Elder Atagi in Chipley, FL local newspaper

http://www.chipleypaper.com/features/extra/mormon-missionaries-serve-far-from-home-1.235335

Picture from Bonifay-December 2, 2013

Elder Misi is behind me. Elder Egbert is short and dark hair. Sorenson is blond one in front of me. Elder Mafi is hiding.

Letter to Dad from Bonifay-December 2, 2013

Dear Dad,

What up? I missed y'all too. It just didn't seem the same! I was telling Elder Mafi all about our Thanksgiving Day cooking fest! They really need to learn how to make the sweet potato stuff down here. They just like slice them into chunks and then they fill it with nasty syrup and cover it with marshmallows.

I can't wait to hear that my Saints killed the Seahawks haha. Sweet that Ethan and Noah are getting going on basketball. Let me know how the games go and how hard Ethan dunks it on somebody's head. Awesome that they both got their Eagles and I heard mom did a killer job. I only got mine finished cause you helped me out Dad so you get some credit too.

1. How was Thanksgiving for you? Thanksgiving was fantastic here. We ended up going to 3 different Thanksgiving dinners! Haha

2. What member house did you go to? or family? The first was an awesome member family named the Lubbes (Loo-bee), The second was actually an investigators home named Jim Brott so that was pretty awesome. Then Saturday we went to the Carrols and they are super awesome too. They had sooooooo much food.

3. Favorite food? Newest food? Worst food? Favorite food? Pecan Pie. Newest? Cornbread dressing. Fantastic stuff. Worst? Collard greens. *shaking head and spitting*

4. Did you go get a blanket or comforter? Is it still cold? Sweater working well? It's only really cold at night, but now we decided to turn on the heater so I am pretty warm now. The sweater fits perfect.

5. Thanks for the pictures! Is your rain coat good or do we need to get something that makes you look more Professional? I'm glad you got them! I look pretty good huh? haha The rain coat works great!

6. Did you guys do a turkey bowl football game? Yes we did a turkey bowl at the high school stadium so that was pretty awesome. We had about 6 on 6 and my team killed it. Elder Egbert played at Dixie State so we had a little advantage.

7. How is your excerise going? push up for chest and burpies are great to get you in good shape. I am still exercising regularly mostly maintaining haha.

8. bike fixed? Yeah the bike is all fixed up! Thankfully. Only problem is that Elder Misi doesn't get his bike until Friday so we are still walking.

9. So what was the day of thanksgiving like? what did it consist of? Thanksgiving consisted of Turkey bowl from about 8 to 10:30 and then getting ready and going to the Lubbes at 11:30 and then we were there for 2 hours. Then to Jim Brott from about 2 ish to 4 ish. Then we were mostly in the apartment weekly planning and chilling with some members and we had a few lessons that night.

10. When is transfers? It should be coming up soon right? How is Elder Mafi doing? Transfers are on December 11. Elder Mafi is doing great trying to send stuff home.

Crazy thing happened this Saturday! I got a call from the APs on Friday and they were like "hey we are bringing an Elder to stay with you guys and making you a trio tomorrow. Is there any way you can find a mattress for him by tomorrow night?" So Saturday night we got Elder Misi! crazy huh? Randomly out of nowhere. So yeah he is from Kailua I think on Oahu right? He went to Kamehameha the private school on the east side of the island? So there are three polys in one apartment haha.

Thanks for the thought Dad. I love you and I am so thankful that I can be your son and learn from you more and more.

Have a great week Dad!

Alofa Atu Oi

Elder Wilson Atagi

Letter to Mom from Bonifay-December 2, 2013

Hey Momma,

The nights get really cold over here! I definitely got the packages and thanks so much for them! The boots are going to help out a lot for service projects! That's so awesome that all of the court of honor stuff is finished and they finally have their eagles. I know that they wanted that stuff really bad so now we are all on the same page as Eagles. Noah and Ethan sound like they are their same goofy selves haha. I hope you got my letter with the testimony and stuff! I am working on getting a Christmas package for y'all so what do you want for Christmas? 

Thanksgiving was pretty awesome over here. The Southern food was super good! We actually went to 3 different houses and had Thanksgiving dinner! haha Elder Mafi said that he bruised his stomach. We had an awesome week teaching people and we continue to lead the district and I think the Zone in member present lessons. It sure was a lot of fun. Not too big of stories this week.

Oh! Actually I got another companion this week! His name is Elder Misi also from Hawaii so now there are three Polys in one apartment! Crazy huh? He is awesome so far! We got him on Saturday night so that was pretty sweet. I watched a possum get stabbed in the neck. So that was pretty sweet haha. Other than that great week! I really missed our cooking time with everybody! We just went and ate so that was a lot of fun! I love you guys and I want to y'all to watch a Mormon Message called Mountains to climb! It's awesome. I love you Mom! Have a fantastic week!

I love you so!

Elder Wilson Atagi

Letter to Mom from Bonifay-November 25, 2013

Hey Mom!

My week has been pretty awesome! I have been pretty cold sometimes and I think I have let the cold air get into my lungs to sleep at night. So I have a bit of a cough and stuff like that, but I have an awesome deep voice! haha

 

I'm glad you got all of the stuff! We are going to like 5 different member homes throughout the weekend and they all are feeding us heavily hahaha. I'm not sure what we are going to get, but I am praying for no roaches in my food haha. We have tried to get up with them (the Samoan Family), but no luck so far. It isn't their time yet, but soon!

 

It sounds like you have had an awesome week! The conference sounds like a lot of fun! Really spiritual! This week has been pretty awesome and we have been teaching a lot of people. We had to go on splits twice this week and that was awesome. Other than that pretty basic week! I love you guys and hope that you have a great week! Happy Thanksgiving!

I love you so!

Elder Wilson Atagi

Letter to Dad from Bonifay-November 25, 2013

Hey Dad,

I'm doing great Dad! Excited to hear about everything with Ethan and Noah's game! That's so sick that you guys went! Who won?  Sounds like an awesome time Dad!

1. How were your exchanges? The exchanges are a lot of fun! I went with Elder Sorenson and Elder Hill this week and both are great Elders. It was a lot of fun this week.

2. When you feel like there is a problem with a missionary, do you take care of it or talk to the ZL's? I try to pray about it throughout the day and the week and help them set goals to get better, but I often ask for guidance from my Zone Leaders.

3. Tell me about your District? The District is awesome! We have 8 missionaries including me, Elder Mafi, Elder Egbert and Elder Sorenson, Elder Hill and Elder Wilcox, and Sister Christopherson and Sister Barton. The District really knows how to work hard in their areas even though right now they are kind of struggling with finding people to teach. They continue to work hard and I am just trying to help them when they stumble a little bit.

4. Are you guys checking on less active members too? We try to check on and work with LA. It's hard to get out to some of them, but the Bishop here has enlisted the help of the quorums every Tuesday and Thursday to be able to go to the LA.

5. Is Elder Mafi getting excited to go home? He has mixed feelings he wants to see his family, but he loves being on a mission doing missionary work.

6. How do you get members to do stuff for you like sew your pants? They usually are offering to do things like that so I accepted the offer. Haha

7. Is your bike fixed now? I am going to pick up the tire tomorrow! Finally!

 

8. Sounds like your pretty tough on your bike? tire? Chain? Mostly the tires are beat up. I try to keep all of the stuff together and keep it clean.

9. Sleep? still going good? I am sleeping really well.

This week has been pretty awesome! We had to go on splits with members 2 times this week. We had 9 member present lessons, 4 people come to church and 4 New investigators! So we have had an awesome week! We taught a couple new families and they are all progressing! This week has been just a ton of fun! We keep teaching a lot of people and they are feeling the Spirit as we teach and as they read! It has been a real blessing to be out here and finding some amazing people wanting to change and be better!

 

Not much this week. I have been kinda sick like with a cough and a little congested, but I have an awesome deep voice that sounds like Darth Vader. One amazing thing about being sick on a mission is when you start teaching a lesson and suddenly every single symptom that you had disappears and you can teach just fine and as soon as you leave the home... POW! (in Mom's voice) They hit you like a hammer. It's been a fantastic time this week!

I love you Dad and thanks for the message!

Alofa Atu Oi

Elder Wilson Atagi

P.S. How do you make the Rolls soaked in Coconut milk?