Week 32: Vava'u- The Good and Bad

Good afternoon ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to start of this email with a round of applause for... ahh crap I forgot his name. Oh well. Lets begin!

So kind of a re-cap: No, I did not get trunky from talking to my family on Mother's Day. Everything fell through that day, but I can promise with a certainty I gave honest effort to the work! However, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday of the next week I was pretty homesick, but for different reasons. We did some good work during the week; I forgot to bring my journal to remind me what actually happened. The days blend together so it's hard to remember when stuff occurred. I guess I’ll start off with the big thing. I had a lot of adversity this week. Most of this came from my language skills and culture differences.

I guess the first thing that I really struggled with was my companion. We had an instance where he was Facebooking while we were walking around (on some member's phone he got earlier) and we were about to visit this guy, so I told him to stop Facebooking. I even said it in a joking manner, but maybe I sounded really harsh. He was kind of cold the rest of the night but I didn't really notice anything different. The next day we did our weekly plan and after we did companionship inventory. (Comp inventory is basically where you hash out any problems and fix them so you can work well together during the week) During comp inventory my companion got really quiet and finally expressed that I made him really angry with that comment, that he didn't want to work with me because of it; he would train himself from now on, and it drove the spirit away. He also said I should just worry about myself and let him be. I asked how could I follow the rule to "correct your companion when necessary" and not make him mad. He didn't give me an answer and just told me to pray about it. Well, I’ve been doing that because this really frustrates me. It makes the work really awkward and not enjoyable. I guess in Tongan culture to tell someone to stop doing something is really tapu, like forbidden. And they get really mad. But that's what the rules tell me I have to do, plus my Mission President told me to help him to stop doing these exact things. So I’m confused... if I correct him all the time, he will be angry and the work will fail because we have no spirit. If I don't correct him, he will do whatever he wants and president has said if we use phones inappropriately and listen to music and watch movies and whatnot the Spirit will go away. So... yeah. Figuring this one out. I’ll keep praying. As of yet all I’ve received is I need a better way of correcting so he doesn't get angry. ko ia pe.

The next adversity I’ve been facing is the language barrier. After our little thing on Friday it was way awkward... we went around and talked to people, but I didn't have the heart to work. I was a little trunky remembering the good times back home where I didn't have to worry about what I said or did. It was just good times with friends and laughing and being stupid. And without the heart to work, my language sucked. I didn't have the drive to think in Tongan and pay attention to what people where saying. So I pretty much sat around in my own thoughts all day. Really bad of me.

Saturday however, I decided to make a change and I tried really hard to do the language but it was just so difficult. I had a lot of times where I went into people's houses and they would joke with me and or make fun of me (I’m not sure which), but I would just smile and say "Uhh, what did you say?" I felt like I regressed like 6 months and I couldn't speak at all. It was really disheartening.

Okay time for the good stuff. So, someone told me the mission is a big test of faith. Whether or not you will work and live like you believe. So I was like hmm... OKAY. I'm gonna do just that. So I’ve been trying to have a good attitude and love whatever happens. I know if I keep trying to learn the language, I will eventually master it. I still do my language study every day and that's got to be helping. I liked Bailey's advice of reading the Book of Mormon and maybe around the end of Alma the language will make sense. I’ve already started on that cause.

Other cool things: I got a new scripture bag thingy. I had some lady lalanga (weave) it and it's pretty legit. I’ll send a picture. I also got a new Ta'ovala because my other one was almost shredded. I'll send a picture of that too.

This is a really negative email I guess, but I’ll finish it on another bad thing. Yesterday I was super sick; probably food poisoning. I woke up with a nasty fever and my whole body was sore and aching. I performed the helicopter maneuver by both puking and expelling diarrhea. That was less than pleasant. I wasn't really able to leave the house so we just sat there and I loved life the best I could. (That’s why I didn't email yesterday). Kind of miserable but I’m relatively happy today and I’m excited for a new week! Like. Bring. It. On.

Ofa atu,

Elder Sitaki

Week 31: Vava'u- Mother's Day

Dear Family,

So I guess I actually have time to give a really short condensed email. I’ll give a better updated next week, but this is what my week looked like.

Monday we did family home evening with this big family. The old father had a bunch of daughters who married and all the people lived in one place. There were enough people there to start a whole new branch; it was awesome. We went in guns blazing and did a good family home evening about agency.

Tuesday we had this epic rain/thunder/lightening/wind storm and I locked the keys inside so we wandered around completely soaked for hours until this guy got home and we could use his spare key.

          Wednesday we had a crazy spiritual day where we went to like everyone and sharing spiritual messages and taught; it was just an awesome day.

         Thursday was like half as awesome as Wednesday, kind of the same thing but it was crazy hot and I was dying of dehydration.

Friday was fun; I can't really remember what happened, I know we taught this old man who had only one leg. He was cool. He patiently listened to our message and understood it completely, just didn't believe it. We are going back to him today. 

Saturday we spent all day inviting people to Church; few came. First day I've had where I felt like we wasted a large part of the day. I felt bad.

Sunday I talked to my family and had a really frustrating lesson afterwards but I feel renewed to work and get stuff done and become a legend. That’s it.

Ofa atu,

Elder Sitaki

A Molokau (centipede)-They are very poisonous.    

Where I was standing when my mom called for Mother's Day

Week 30: Vava'u- Let's Bring the Light!

Dear people,

We had a good experience this week and good one-liner that I delivered. We were out and it was almost time to return home, pretty dark, and we were coming back from this one house and we heard yelling and shouting and fighting and we kind of peaked and saw one of our investigators was fighting with his wife. We quickly went to someone else's house that was on our list and then came back and they were done fighting. My comp was saying that we shouldn't go there because it would be really awkward and they would end up being angry with us. He said that they were doing a work of darkness right now. I thought about all the things we could do instead and then, rather courageously said, if they are in the darkness, "...Then, let’s bring the light..." Booom!! That’s one for the history books! Haha, no, but really I think we did a good thing. We went in there and kinda just chilled for a little bit, talked to them, it came time for us to return home, (we only spent like 20 minutes in there) and so we said a prayer with them before we left. I think this had a good impact on them; they seemed happier and less tense. We came back the next night and when we asked them if there was something we could do to help; they said we could leave another blessing. So maybe we left a good memory. Great time to bring up the church.

The bad thing about this week was our numbers. So every week we report our numbers (baptisms, teachings, new investigators, people coming to sacrament, stuff like that) to the leaders and they report to the president. Our numbers sucked! I feel bad like I’m letting President down. We are working our tails off and going, always going to people, talking, sharing, but the progress is slow and I feel like I’m a disappointment even though I’m giving it my all. We set up some good stuff and I hope this next week will be a lot better. Always hoping! Maybe someday I’ll get there.

The other experience I have was also a good one. During a lesson with a less active member we followed up about the Book of Mormon we had given her to read. She had actually read! Yay! She read the first part and all the testimonies and had questions to boot! So happy! She said she read it because when we had talked about it she had felt a warm feeling! When she said that I was so happy! I did a little inner dance for joy. I mean this is just the best thing ever! The spirit is helping us with the work and we are doing our job! There is no greater JOY! 

The last thing I want to share is going to the sick and afflicted. We have made it routine to visit these old people that are crippled or handicapped or disabled in diverse ways. They kinda remind me of my sister, especially this 28 year old girl with Down syndrome, but seriously, going to them and making them smile and stuff in the best feeling ever. There is an old man who has some disease or whatever where his body is always shaking or trembling and he can barely talk. We share about how because of Jesus Christ he will be resurrected and just the smile was all I ever needed. One of our investigators is an old woman who lives alone and only has one leg. She wants to live with her husband and kids in heaven and so we have been teaching her how she can. We have to read to her because she can't see very well. It’s great fun. That's all I got.

Ofa atu,

Elder Sitaki

This is a boy who when we walk by calls us Jesus and asks where we are going and asks if we are going to heaven? It's hilarious; I taught him to salute us.

A giant bat some guy shot for dinner. They smell almost exactly like a skunk, but less potent.