Hello Friends and Family!
Lots has happened this week and I don't know where to start! It has been an emotional roller coaster for my district to say the least!! Two of the sisters had to miss out on class because they were sick and throwing up. Five of us elders and sisters have had random breakdowns during class or what not, which has been a little emotionally draining and challenging! Last Saturday particularly, was a very emotional day for my district sisters We all just felt like we were dragging and not as energetic as usual. Sister Fifita wisely pointed out that it was most likely because of our 10 minute late start that morning. Everyone had slept through their alarms. It taught us the importance of exact obedience!! It truly does bless you. Pres. Willes said that if God can't trust you to do the smallest of things (like wake up at 6:30 because you wake up at 6:40instead), He can't trust you with bigger things. Like bringing His children to the gospel!! We have not slept a minute past 6:30 since then! In our Sunday devotional, one of the speakers talked about this as well. He called it "Mind Over Mattress." He said, at 6:30 the bed is now OUTSIDE of the misson boundaries. We of course laughed knowing oh too well how it felt to sleep in.
Last week Sister Mo'unga and I were having a hard time feeling comfortable with our lessons. But our teacher gave us some really good advice. He said that the gospel is so simple that a small child should be able to understand it. So I pulled out a picture of Lance and James from the photo album I brought and since then, we've "taught" the picture of Lance and James in our role plays. It helped a ton!! haha. So thanks Carli and Amberly for bearing children that could help me with my teaching (:
So Sister Mo'unga and Sister Fifita received their flight itinerary this week and they are leaving for Tonga on Sunday :( We are all pretty sad because they help us so much and we feel like it's tearing our little family apart. haha But I'm excited for them cause I know it will be better for them to be in the field. There were also a few issues between a couple sisters in our district. President Willes came Tuesday night and changed the companionships after talking with each of us. So my new comp is Sister Moreno! She's serving in New Zealand and is from California. She is so awesome and I'm excited to serve her and serve with her!
The language is coming along great! I LOVE learning new things. I know that personal study should be the best part of my day, and it is pretty close to that, but I love studying the language. It's crazy how fast it comes when you are in the classroom almost all day EVERY DAY. It's awesome. We taught our first Tongan lessons this week!! It was pretty challenging because it's really hard to make lessons personal and teach to their needs on the spot when we can't really speak the language. The first one went way better than I thought it would! We weren't able to understand a lot of the things our investigator said to us, but we made it through. Our second lesson, on the other hand, was more stressful! We were way unprepared and I can truly testify that the spirit does not help you teach when you are unprepared. My hoa (companion) started crying in the middle of the lesson and when we left we were both in tears. It's okay though because we learned from it!! And we will NEVER go into a lesson as unprepared as were were for that one. On the sunnier side of things...we nailed our last lesson to a new investigator we taught last night. We were teaching the first lesson about the restoration and when I talked about the first vision the spirit was super powerful! I knew that everyone else in the room was feeling it too because the investigator started tearing up. Maybe his eyes just happened to turn really red, but I hope not!
In case any are curious, I have gained some weight.. The Tongan elders in our zone always grab extra dishes and dessert so that they can give it to me when they are done eating. I soon learned that they are really just trying to fatten me up so I can be prepared for the mission! And I guess it worked because Sister Mo'unga and I found a baggage scale in a closet one day and weighed ourselves! 3 lbs in less than a week!! Don't worry I have learned from my mistake and will not accept any more food or dessert!!
Well I love you lots!!
xoxo,
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