Dear Family,

Well week 2 of training has come to an end and I am still alive and well. Well for the most part. After a 4 hour lesson sitting criss-cross apple-sauce on the ground with one of our new investigators this week, I thought for sure that my knees would just snap right off, but luckily they are okay now. We started teaching a boy named Pakalani and from the very start he had SO many questions. He is very intelligent and knows his Bible very very well. As do all of the Tongans here, but his was shocking. He was very curious about the doctrine of out church and his questions just kept on coming. I thought that after an hour or so he would get tired of talking and then we could maybe end the lesson, but his questions were endless!! It was awesome and terrible at the same time. My poor companion had to sit through it knowing nothing that was going on. 

We also started teaching a less-active girl in the ward, Malia Ahia, who hasn't been to church and hasn't really been interested in returning. This week, we visited her and she had a huge desire to listen to our message. She was baptized a few years ago in another area. Her mom died a couple years ago and we were able to teach her Lesson2 which was a very meaningful lesson to her. I've found that one of the beauties of missionary work is that everytime a lesson gives meaning to someone's life, I find more in mine. No matter how many times I've taught the same lesson and the same doctrine, it is just as powerful each time. Malia is hoping to turn her life around so that she can go into the temple and do the work for her mom. She came to church yesterday and I'm so excited to keep working with her. 

Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is not celebrated here so we did not get a huge feast, but Elder Pearson came to the island for a funeral of one of the stake president's here. And President Tupou asked him to come speak to us last minute so we all got to hear from Elder Pearson! I learned many wonderful things, but something that stuck out to me the most was alignment. If you look to the scriptures, it says that Christ did nothing in his life but what the Father commanded of him. Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father were completely and perfectly aligned with each other. If we want to gain any spiritual gifts in our life or power, we must be aligned with Jesus Christ and the Father. This requires perfect obedience. 

Love you all and have a stellar week (:
Sis Petalisi