So this week was exciting with lots
happening. We were able to teach the guy from Wales about the Plan of
Salvation. He was very interested, but I think in more of an academic sense.
I’m not very confident that he believes any of this; in fact I know he still
doesn't believe in God. I planned an activity tonight however where maybe he
will have to chance to feel the spirit and see God's effect in his life. There
is a family living in my ward that the wife is from Utah, and the father is
from Tonga. He was deported here from the United States and the family decided
that they were going to move with him. They have been living here for about 2
years and have been experiencing some wonderful life changes and are coming
back to God. They are already members of the church, but were inactive in
America. As they have been working to return to full activity and are working
on getting sealed in the temple, they have grown with a huge and awesome
testimony of the Gospel and how it blesses family and it's reality. I arranged
with them to bring the guy from Wales to a family home evening and if the
weather is nice we can make otai (a fruit drink made from water sugar coconut
milk and fruit). Then we will talk about the importance of family. I want this
because it will not only help him see the importance of family and the joy that
it brings, but also help him to see the Gospel is real and God is there and will
help families be together forever. It's going to happen later today and I’m
really excited to see if something comes out of it. Hopefully it works out with
everyone.
So along with the crazy cyclone came a
bunch of wind and rain. Man, when my Dad emailed me last and predicted rain he
wasn't kidding. It was smashing us; I took like 10 steps out and got soaked
instantly. There was no way to avoid it; it was left, right, up, down and
sideways. The cool thing is unlike the USA, the rain here is warm and pleasant.
All day on Monday everyone was outside enjoying the rain. Lots of people got
soap and would take a rain bath and clean up; the whole island was enjoying it,
despite the fact that a hurricane was coming, but that's Tonga. We tried to
stay out of the rain as much as possible, but sometimes life is unavoidable.
On Monday we had the chance to teach a
lesson to a woman who worked as a janitor in Liahona. She was pretty cool,
fairly quiet didn't say much, but I think she was kinda scared. Luckily, the
members we were with jumped in and taught basically the first 3/4 of the
lesson. They did a really good job and I am very, very, very, very thankful
they were there. Man it's hard doing all this in another language. We taught
the rest of the lesson and it went well enough; she accepted the invitation to
read the Book of Mormon and she seemed a little excited about it, so hopefully
it will help her.
So the cyclone that was hitting our area
first went through Fiji, and then hit Vava'u, and island in Tonga, Then turned
around and hit Vava'u and is heading towards Fiji again. The day that it hit
Fiji the first time was interesting. It was a decent storm here, but I guess it
was really bad there, because it knocked out the Internet in Tonga. That sounds
weird right, maybe a house loses power or the phones don't work in a town or
something, but no, the whole nation of Tonga was completely Internetless. There
were no flights, no Wi-Fi, nothing. We were off grid, cell phones seemed to
work okay, but that was about it. Yeah, so office work was really easy that day
because I didn't really do anything at all.
So we asked president if we could start
doing missionary work in a nearby town (Makapeo) that is about a fifteen-minute
walk from Liahona. He said yes, so we walked out there one day and started
trying to visit people. There are only about 15 houses and the people there
were less than excited to talk to us. We have 1 member family living there and
we eventually made our way over to their house, battling angry dogs the whole
way there. (I’m bringing a stick next time to whack them all). We got to the member’s
house and talked to him about the work in this town. He told us that the entire
town is of the Wesleyan faith, and that they are pretty strong in it. He also
said that the local minister would get made at anyone we talk to, and not just
us, any other faith that comes and tries to talk about their religion. The
minister gets pissed off and will get mad at people for talking to them. This
appeared to me to be quite a challenge, but as a good person would say "Challenge
Accepted.” So we have made a plan to stop in the town about once every week so
people get used to seeing us. We are going to try to find opportunities to do
service and show the people that we aren't crazy devil worshipers or whatever.
We also want to go and talk to the Minister, just chat and get to know him, not
preach or anything. Our plan is to get to talk to all the hardhearted people
and eventually soften them up enough to where they will give us a chance.
Lastly some good news; the dog that
lives at my house had puppies! Yay! Adorable, squeaky, brown and black things.
They are pretty cute I guess. I'm naming one of them Stark for sure. The mother
decided to have them in the worst place possible; it’s like right next to a big
old field and not covered from the rain or wind or anything. She had them on
some gross old tarp too, so I gave them a little towel I found to lay on, and
then later the guy who lives at the house made a crude shelter for them; they
seem pretty happy now I guess. The puppies haven't opened their eyes yet, but
maybe soon.
I had an experience
this week where I was really frustrated at the way some missionaries act; a lot
of people don't obey the rules and it makes me frustrated when I’m trying to
hard to obey every stupid little rule and I can't find the success they are.
It’s petty, but still annoying. I was wondering if being obedient was really
even worth it; I didn't see very many benefits from it and I miss out on a lot
of fun that goes on. I studied about it and figured out that yes, it is
important and I hope that I will be happier in the long run from choosing this,
but I guess I’ll choose to try to follow all the rules even if I’m alone. I
really wish I could have a good time like everyone else, and it's not like they’re
doing bad stuff, just not what they are supposed to do, but whatever! I’m more
scared of God than I am of men.
Ofa atu
Elder Sitake
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