Week 75: Niutoua- General P-day stuff

March 13, 2017

Dear Family,

           

            I have some good news this week. So, there was a man that I baptized in my first area last year and he is going to the temple on Friday and I get to go also. I taught and baptized him when I was companions with Elder Christiansen. I am so excited. Other than that, things are going well in my zone. Life’s just going along. My old companion, Elder Ortiz, is finished this transfer and going home. I’m sad to have him leave, but it will be good for him to go home and move on with his life. He’s a good friend and it seems like all the people I used to know are finishing.

            For P-day we did a bunch of laundry and then we are going to go to Navutoka to play some volleyball, cook a dog and just do general P-day stuff. Later tonight we are doing a family home evening with a family we are teaching. It’s a widow and her children. We are working with her because although she is ready to be baptized, she wants to wait until all her children are ready too. But, they are grown children and some of them don't want to. So, it’s a little challenging. She’s a really good lady.

            We have transfers this week, however, so I don’t know what will happen with that. So, on Sunday, I’ll find out if I’m moving and if not, I’ll find out when I need to drive around everyone else. Transfer days are really busy. I kind of think I’ll be transferred because I’ve been here so long, but the Lord is in charge, not me.

            So, one thing that happened this week is that we have a house across the street. A beautiful girl lives there. Supposedly no missionary has ever been brave enough to knock on that door because her dad is so scary. Well, my companion and I have a lot of audacity and we went and did service to clean up their entire yard. It was a ton of work. It took us like twelve hours. Two hours on Thursday and ten on Friday. We got in because we saw two women who were already there cleaning it up. They were both less active members. We stopped by and asked them if they needed any help and I was surprised that they said, yes. So, we did some hard labor in the sun, in our church clothes for two hours, dripping with sweat. We told them we could come back with four other guys the next day. The women were so happy! I got the four other elders in my district and we worked for ten hours, and worked hard! One of the women’s husband sent her with a pig for lunch so we killed it and roasted it over a fire until it was crispy and delicious. Man, that was such a hard day. It was like a hard Bricon day and my hands and feet were all torn up. Anyway, I have a lot of hope that we will soon we able to enter that house that no other missionary has been able to. We saw him sitting out front on Sunday and he invited us to eat, but we were heading to church. The other good thing that came out of that service was that one on the less active women came to church. Blessings!

            Another funny thing is that on a dare I shaved my legs. Like razored down and it’s weird. It’s definitely the first and last time I’ll ever do that. I lost all my beautiful hair. In Tonga, most girls don't shave their armpits; it took me a while to get to get used to it, but now it doesn't surprise me at all. We also had a really good meeting with the bishop here and he’s super happy because we told him that we’d do all of his home teaching for the ward. None of the members were really doing it, so we will. I think the bishop will help with our missionary work too.

Ofa Atu,

Elder Sitaki

Week 74: Niutoua- Like a Sunday for ten days

Hi Family,

            Some interesting things that happened: Do you remember the service project last week where we cleaned up the road in Nuku’alofa for the king’s mother’s funeral? Well, it inspired me. On Thursday, there was a Wesleyan funeral in one of our little towns so I went and got two other elders to help us. We started on one end of town and picked up all the trash on both sides of the road. It took us about an hour and a half. We also cleaned up around the cemetery and found a widow who was trying to prepare her yard for the funeral, so we helped her out as well. Along the way, a bishop from another ward saw us and began helping and so did a couple of other guys. The town of Afa looks really nice now. Everyone is super friendly here.

 So, on Thursday we met the family we just baptized, just to keep teaching them all the things they need to know to progress. We talked about the organization of the church, so they understood what prophets, apostles, seventies, and bishops are. Stuff like that. I really love their family; they are super nice.

Today for P-day, we lifted weights, did laundry and drove around running errands for some other elders. Right now the kingdom of Tonga is Tapu for ten days because the queen died. Not sure I spelled that correctly. This means that that it is like a special day; you’re not allowed to work, or be very loud- kind of like a Sunday for ten days. So no volleyball.

It’s difficult finding people to teach in Niutoua. After I baptized that big family it's pretty much been dead, everyone feels like they have done their part and we can relax for a while... so I guess I’m back to knocking on doors. The week just flies by. Transfers are on March 19th. I think I will move because I have been here forever, but I don’t know. Well, that's about it. I love you guys and hope you have a good week.

Ofa Atu,

Elder Sitaki

Week 73: Niutoua- Work of Love

February 27, 2017

Hello family,

            I think I forgot to tell you, but last Wednesday we had the opportunity to go to the Palace to do service. The king’s mother died so we were helping things look nice for the funeral. We were able to paint the entire fence and clean up a bunch of trash from a nearby field. It was awesome. The word for service in Tongan translates to work of love. It’s pretty perfect, because that's what it is. Well, we had another opportunity for service today. We woke up crazy early and were picked up by the bus. We went and basically swept part of Nuku’alofa. We went from the king’s house all the way to the Royal Palace. I’d guess it was about a mile or two. We picked up trash and made it look all nice. Afterwards, we had a big lunch because we were all so hungry. This took up most of our P-day, so now I have to do laundry. I do it in a bucket with a PVC pipe; it gets your forearms buff. I’ll teach you how when I get back.

            So this is exciting. Sister B is ending her mission and her family is coming to pick her up. She said that if you can get a small package to her mom, they will hand-deliver it to me when they come. I’d really love some Snickers and some letters if you can manage it. They could tell you all about the trip to Tonga which might be helpful for when you come.

            We had some good news with one of the little girls that we are teaching. Her name is F and she is one of my favorite people. I really want you to meet her. She will be twelve soon. We taught her in October and she was all ready for baptism. Her parents gave permission and on the day of her scheduled baptism, they changed their minds. She had gone home to get dressed for the baptism and they suddenly took her to another town and she didn’t show up for her baptism. I was so sad. Anyway, we got another chance because the parents finally said yes. So we baptized her and she was so happy.

            Last night we visited the family that we just baptized. They are doing awesome. They go to church by themselves without being invited. They love to learn and are really progressing. The mom actually really reminds me of mom and she’s hecka funny. She really tries hard to get everything right. We are going to do another family home evening with them and teach them all about the Priesthood. We are also going to explain the whole organization of the church. The kids are all super smart and you can tell the parents really love their children. The two-year-old is really rambunctious and so funny. He’s always smiling and calls my name in this cute little voice. It’s such a great family.

Well, that’s about it; I sure love you guys!

Ofa atu,

Elder Sitaki