Hello my dear family and friends,
How are you? I am doing great! I had
this wonderful opportunity to fly to a new area; it's a group of islands called
Vava'u. I was sitting in the office one day when I get a call from President,
he tells me book a flight to Vava'u, and a flight back. I say, who is coming
back? He said some Elder's name, and then I say who is coming up? He said, and I
quote, "you". I was like, whoa.. Seriously, then he was like yep. You
are going to work in Leimatua.
Leimatua is this sweet town, pretty big sized;
it’s the first town from the airport. I prepared and got ready all that week
and come Saturday morning I was freaking out a little bit, but I just went
along with it and took off with the senior missionaries to the airport. We chilled
and joked, and then it became my time to shine. I boarded the plane (this is a
ridiculously small plane, there were 23 seats including the 2 pilots chairs.) I
was scrunched up to one side of the aisle and had a good view of the wing and
not much else. We took off and hauled over to one side then the flight was
pretty straightforward and simple. I got to see all of Tonga from the sky; I realized
how freaking small it is. Tonga is Tiny! We landed in Vava'u and I got out and
went to find my new companion. His name is Elder A; he's a Tongan from a place
called Hofoa, and he is way cool! He came in February so I am the senior
companion even though I can barely speak the language. He is a beast, he can
work so hard and loves to be doing missionary work, he loves to smile and joke
and if I was a girl I’d be seriously crushing on him. He only has one working
eye, the other one is still there but it's kind of clouded over and he can't
see out of it. It got damaged from an accident with a stick when he was young.
He has a lot of faith and he has the desire to work; I feel like with him we
can do miracles. When I came here I realize I still can't speak the language
and I am damaged from speaking too much English is my previous area. It’s really
difficult for me to understand but I decided to take it as a matter of faith, I
believe that God is real and He will help me to learn the language so I
prayerfully set up a plan to learn and I’ve been doing better already. My comp
speaks very broken English and so we can communicate a little. He said when I
teach the lessons I have really good Tongan, better than when I talk normally. Either
this is practice or the hand of God. I tend to believe the latter.
Vava'u is beautiful; it’s a big tourist
spot so you can probably look up a bunch of pictures about it. I am nervous
about the new area and new people and sometimes I get scared almost, but as I
have been going around I see these people and I see that they are prepared to
receive the Gospel. There are so many people here, it's a huge area full of non-members,
and they all need the blessings from God, so I have a strong desire to help
everyone right now. I am so excited to be here, its a faith factory. I can
confidently pray and receive help from God, it comes only after we do our part
and our work and if we are living worthy, but we have seen small miracles and I
have only been here for 2 days. Sometimes it's awkward when I can't
explain something to my comp and he doesn't understand but that's life ya know?
The funny part about Vava'u is all the pigs. It’s just funny how many there
are, like they are crossing the street all the time. I think there are more pigs
than dogs here. Another cool thing about Vava'u is the hills, Tonga is very
flat but Vava'u is full of hills and mountains. I mean I’m probably only like
200-400 feet above sea level, but to climb up and down that all day is really
exhausting. Just a quick experience, I have this super amazing lesson with a
guy named William, or in Tongan viliami, or even shorter, pila, and his wife.
We taught by candlelight, taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and then we gave
him a blessing to help him stop smoking. So far my favorite experience. Well,
actually, maybe it was when we gave this kid named P, the gift of the Holy
Ghost during Sacrament; that was seriously spiritual. I love being here and I
will write more next week, promise.
Ofa atu,
Elder Sitaki
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