Hey family!

Another wonderful week has flown by! So many good things are happening in the Finau family (the family in the ward whose brother we're teaching, Kalolo.) Friday night we took them to visit the temple and it was a miracle because not only did he and his girlfriend make it, but his mom who is not a member and also the husband who we are currently working with to come back to the church and get his priesthood so he and his wife can be sealed in the temple.  It was such a wonderful and spiritual experience for all of us! It was a turning point for both the husband and the mom. The missionaries have been trying to work with her mom for years now and she has refused every invitation to read the Book of Mormon, fearing that knowing the truth she will have to make a change. Not only did she come to church with her family on Sunday, but she also accepted the Book of Mormon and agreed to read it! Her daughter is so happy and everyone is shocked to see her coming around. But we are all so excited for this cute little family.

Saturday morning we all went to the Vaiola hospital to do service, picked up trash and painted the fence around the hospital which was fun! Helping hands team was all over the island Saturday preparing for the 100 years of Misiona Tonga festivities this week. 

So many things I wish I had time to write about. But I want you all to know that I love you and I love this work. Go out there and make someone else happy (: 

Love you!

Sister Petalisi

Hello everyone!

It's been a good week and although change is i guess a little hard for me, I'm getting a hang of things back here in Tonga! I realized that I COMPLETELY forgot to mention anything about our new President and his wife. We have a new mission president and I absolutely adore them and their family. President and Sister Tu'ione are from New Zealand but originally from here and they are shaking things up a bit. At MLC we were able to set the standards for the mission and this past week we had a meeting with all the missionaries to talk about the new changes and our standards of excellence. I love everything that is happening! 

A little update on the people we are working with that are progressing - We have been teaching an older brother of one of the converts in this ward and his girlfriend for a few weeks now. Since the first day we taught them it has been really neat to see him warm up to us and his desire to do good slowly change. Right now him and his girlfriend are living together and now they are working towards getting married so he can be baptized. His girlfriend grew up in the church, but has been away for awhile and she is trying to quit smoking and live the commandments and come back to church. She has been attending church for a few weeks now and yesterday, they both came for the first time!! It was a very happy experience for all of us (:

Of course there are always a few bumps in the road and this week had a few. I got pretty sick one night, throwing up and diarrhea all through the night and morning. Luckily medicine came in the morning and by the afternoon all outbursts were subsided for the time being. I still felt pretty terrible, but we felt like we needed to go out and visit those we had planned. In just the first 2 hours that we went out, miracles happened! It was a less-active single mother of 2 little boys that has been away from church for years. We started working with her this week and she has strengthened my testimony that obedience increases faith and faith brings miracles. Yesterday we were so surprised when she showed up to church with her 2 little boys!! After visiting her that day, we went to another less-active and although he wasn't home, his sister and her husband were home and we were able to teach them and at the end of the lesson they agreed to be baptized! We haven't seen much progress with them because we were only able to teach them once after that, but more to come in the future.

Love you all. Thank you for your love and prayers <3

Sister Petalisi

 

Selfie of the sisters with Sister Tu'ione at MLC

Sunrise after our morning run