Dear Family,

We had a neat experience with a less-active lady in the ward this week--Toa. She served a mission in Tonga awhile back, but hasn't been to church or opened her scriptures in over 13 years. Since we've been here we've tried to work with her and she always tells us--Man you two are the lucky sisters that will get me back to church because you work so hard and I just feel the spirit when you come. But usually when we've tried to share a spiritual thought or invite her to church she's sleeping, or sick, or busy, or her kids are sick, etc. When Sister Moala and I started planning and making the agenda for the musical fireside next month, we both thought of her as we were thinking of who should speak about faith.  When we invited her to speak, she was very opposed to it and kept asking questions, like--"Why are you having me speak on faith? Is it because I have no faith?" "Which one of you picked me to speak?" "Lemme see the other speakers you chose...hey, you picked all the weak members to speak huh" As we kept talking with her, she slowly started warming up to it and started asking about where to find specific stories in the scriptures about faith. It was cool to see the change in her in that small amount of time. But still, she made sure we knew she wasn't speaking for longer than 3 minutes cause we said 3-5 min. We went back to her house a few days later to give her the Bible she asked for and when we walked into her house it just felt different. There she was watching a movie about JOSEPH SMITH. She had rented it from the store and she said she started reading the Book of Mormon again. We asked how her talk was coming along and she asked how long it needs to be and when we said just 3-5 minutes is good she said--WHAT?? That's nothing, I need at least 10 minutes. How am I supposed to talk about faith in 3-5 minutes. It was awesome. We knew she had so much potential. It just took a little bit of reminding for her to remember the testimony that she does have. On top of all of that, on Sunday she came to church. As Sister Moala and I stood at the door shaking everyone's hands, we see her car pull up and her get out with her entire family! We were SO happy.

It is fun to see our small ward begin to actually look and sound like a ward. Many of the less-active families we have been working with are starting to come again every Sunday. 2 of our investigators--Toni and Pua--are preparing for baptism. Toni came to church for the first time yesterday and I think it gave him a lot to think about. But he is genuine in his search for the truth so I know the Lord will bless him with a greater testimony and strength as he makes this life-changing decision.

Oh and don't worry mom, Mani didn't find me a husband this week. When we went back to his house we found him in his usual place--sitting in his wheelchair outside and reading our pamphlets we give him. It's so cute. We came and he said he wasn't able to find me a husband yet and we laughed, saying it was okay and that he doesn't actually need to find me one. He then looked a little upset and asked--why?? are you already married? When I told him I wasn't he didn't believe me....and due to the weight I've gained he now thinks that I'm married and look pregnant. He's a little hard to work with haha but it's okay he's awesome.

Love you all!

Sister Petalisi