Return of the Quack

Hey everybody,

This has been another good week in Tonga. Right now we have two investigators that we are looking to baptize this week. One is a 14-year-old girl whose family is Wesleyan, except for her aunt, but she has a strong desire to be baptized. We started teaching her right when I came into the area. She is amazing and probably one of my favorite investigators. She gave my favorite answer of my entire mission when we were teaching her. I asked her why she wanted to be baptized and she said because she knew that the way she could live with God and belong in his Kingdom was through receiving baptism and joining the church of Jesus Christ.

Our second investigator is in the other ward. He has been taught by missionary's for a long time but has yet to be baptized. He is very quiet but has a good group of friends who help him come to church and mutual. After their baptisms we will be looking for people to teach. As work sometimes goes in Tonga, members tell us they have people for us teach and that they will give us a time to teach them. So we are waiting on them and trying to find new investigators to teach.

We are in the same district as the sister AP's and they asked me to do a baptism which was fun. Other than that I have been getting a lot closer to the ward. School gets out next week and we are planning to try and do exchanges with all the youth.

Random things:

- I had mashed potatoes for the first time in about 11 months. That got me a little homesick. I also had the opportunity to eat bacon and honey bunches of oats.

- I had a 7 month run of cold showers and now I'm living in an old sisters MQ so they have HOT WATER. It's crazy.

--

Elder Wilson

Longolongo

Hey everybody,

This week has been a good one. It's sure a lot different here than Fatumu. To be honest I've had a little culture shocked in this area, haha. A ton of things have happened in this last week so I think I'll go with the bullets.

- Companion.  Elder Woods from Tennessee. Oh yeah! He's been out 8 months and has been in this area one transfer before me. Super tight guy.  At the end of this transfer I'll know everything about Tennessee football, haha. 

- Kolipoki.  (Elder Groberg from the Other side of Heaven, was in the quorum of seventy, one of the, if not the biggest, legends in Tonga) came to Tonga this last week. We got to have a conference with him and all the missionaries in Tonga. He and his wife are now really old, but he was amazing.  He started out in English then mid-sentence switched to Tongan and did his whole talk in Tongan. His Tongan was still crazy good for being 83 years of age. He told some cool story's about following the spirit and the priesthood. My favorite line was when he said that we should have no fear of anything. We have the power of God with us. The only thing we should be afraid of is being fakapikopiko (lazy) or not living  right. It was a really good conference and the spirit was strong.

- My area, Longolongo. My old area was probably a little bigger in size, but this place is like a town. There are people here. Comparisons between my old and new area: In my old area there were a total of three 2-story houses. Here the 2-story houses are almost every other house.  In Fatumu I would walk out of my house looked down the street and see nobody there. In Longolongo people are out walking and driving and actually going places. Fatumu had 2 shops, Longolongo has 6-7 walk-in shops, an ice cream shop and COSTLO 

Costlo is the Tongan version of Costco and all the products are the same but it's really small.  I walked in and saw ice cream sandwiches and root beer, my jaw dropped, walked down the tiny isle saw the bacon, started to tear up, turned around and saw the captain Crunch, started to bawl. I definitely dropped 30 pa'anga for a 3 pack of Captain Crunch.  I have been eating Captain Crunch everyday this week, maaaaan it's so good, (sorry Mom). 

-We cover 2 wards which are really big. At Church my last week in  Lavengatonga there was about 20 people. Here there are about 150 or so in each ward. 

- One thing about last transfer was that I spoke Tongan all day everyday. With a Tongan comp in a small area where most people work in Uta (the bush),  I didn't speak a lot of English. Here EVERYBODY speaks English. It's insane. There are a lot of people who have English as their first language. All the meetings and stuff are in Tongan but if anybody says anything in English it's alright. It's been hard because my comp and I are the two whitest guys in the mission. A red head from Tennessee and a Blond (now almost white) kid from Oregon means everybody speaks to us in English which is way annoying.  

- Two downsides of the area:

1. An insane amount of dogs. We walk down the streets in our area and are always having to fend off dogs.

2. Everybody goes to work during the day. My question is what do you do during the day when everybody is gone to work? In my old area people just worked in the bush and worked whenever they wanted. People here actually have 9-5 jobs, but the nights are way good and we get a lot done after 6.

- We have two investigators with baptismal dates on the 28th. They are both youth and both have really good fellowshipers. Nisi is super smart. We kind of have to draw out answers of Leatu'u but he's great too.

- I'm only 176! I've been losing weight.

Life has been great. I testify the church is true and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is how we find peace in our lives. 

Ofa Atu,

Elder Wilson

Hey family,

Sorry, I don't have a lot of time. After 6 months of of being in the small but amazing town of Fatumu I am finally leaving. Man I love that place too much. But I'm going to LONGOLONGO. My new companion is Elder Woods from Tennessee, my first Palangi companion, and  he is already so awesome. 

Longolongo is right next to town and there are a lot of people here. I'm finally going to see people walking on the street. I already love it here. My mission quarters is a part of the Church and I'm right next to the basketball court so life is good. But, I got sick this week and my comp got bit by a Molokau so we were very unproductive.  I'm ready to get to work in this new area. My comp told me we have 2-3 new investigators already and baptisms set up. 

I'm gonna miss Fatumu and the people. It's been my favorite area and I almost cried saying goodbye to my Bishop and his brother. That's the first place I'll go to when I come back to Tonga some day. 

Love you all. Life is great from this side of Heaven. 

Ofa Atu,

Elder Wilson

P.S. Pictures below are of the baptisms last week in Fatumu.

Papi

Hi everybody! 

This week was a pretty crazy week including a lot of fasting, getting sick again, and seeing a lot of miracles. At the start of the week we had three investigators with potential to get baptized on Saturday, but all of them were so TA'EPAU (unsure). One didn't show up to her baptismal interview on Friday and we learned that she was in town with her family and it was unclear when she was coming back. We fasted and prayed that she would be able to come back to do the interview and then be baptized. As we were walking to her house the next morning she pulled up in her family's car. We had the interview, and she was baptized. She then proceeded to give the absolute BOMB testimony at the baptism and later at church. I know that she is going to be a strong member.

What we needed to know about E and her son was their true feelings about the church. They've been taught on and off by 7-8 missionaries. We went over to her house on Thursday and she said she wanted to be baptized. I was a little skeptical and wanted to know if she understood everything that she's been taught. We asked her the baptism questions and I was blown away by her answers. I felt really good that she could be baptized with her son. She also gave a really great testimony at the baptism which went really well. My comp Elder Loto'aniu did all the baptisms. I'll make sure to send pictures next week. 

One thing I learned a lot about this week, and on my mission, is fasting. When we fast we need to have a purpose. If we fast without one it's fiekaia no ia (no eating without a purpose). But if we make a real sacrifice to God he will bless us. 

Random things:

- I have officially gone to war with the mosquitoes in our house

- Now we back at square 1, nobody to teach

- Ate fried oreos. 

Ofa Atu,

 

Elder Wilson