Dear Family,

This week we moved out of our MQ (Mission Quarters) because it is getting a complete makeover!! We are very excited about that because it needed some work haha. I will try to send some pics after it is done, but I wish I had taken some for a before and after! We moved in with another set of sisters nearby. Sister Faux, a palangi sister, and Sister Pakalani, who is from here. Last week, I said I wasn't worried about gaining weight. I spoke too soon. I have eaten more food this week than I think I've eaten in my life! The members love to feed the missionaries and we have enough left overs in our kitchen to feed an army. This week I ate ota ika (raw fish) and octopus and I thought that I wasn't going to survive through the night. It wasn't bad, but it didn't treat my insides too well. But that is all over and done with and I am feeling great now! Hopefully no more digestive problems and sickness in the future! 

Mission life for the sisters is very particular and traditional! If we go out in public, we have to have our hair braided, tupenu's and ta'ovala's on and we cannot wear makeup. The first couple days I felt like a little kid because my companion would braid my hair every morning. It was awesome. haha I decided that they purposefully make it like that for protection. Because who would pick on a small kid? It's awesome though, I love everything about it. It's comfortable and everyone recognizes us as sisters instantly. They have tons of respect for us, even if they are non-members or less active. Most people speak Tongan to me, but if they are more comfortable speaking english, they will just speak english. There are a few in our ward who are from New Zealand and speak only in english to me. 

One day, my comp and I were very discouraged because we had just lost all of our investigators and one of our potentials. As we walked down the street, I thought to myself--Where are the people I am supposed to teach?? I felt like I was doing all I could and trying so hard. My companion even voiced out loud--God, Where are you?? Kidding, but not really. I felt reassured just to keep the faith. Endure with faith. Literally, a few minutes later on that same small road, a 10 year old girl walking home from school asked us if we could teach her english. She led us to her house and we met her family. Her grandma interrupted us as we were trying trying to teach her english and said that we were welcome any time to come teach them the gospel. Her son who lives in New Zealand is baptized and she loves the missionaries. She said she would love it if all her family could be baptized one day. It was an amazing experience because we knew that God wanted us to know that he was there. That as long as we continue to seek His help and try our best, he would guide our footsteps. Yesterday, the little girl and her sister came with us to watch a baptism and this week we will start to teach them. I love the work! I know that despite the weaknesses and imperfections of man, the work will go on! It is the Lord's work and he stands at the head of this church. A couple quotes that I found this week that I love...

"We have been privileged to be born in these last days, as opposed to some earlier dispensation, to help take the gospel to all the earth..." (Howard W. Hunter)

"Let there be cultivated an awareness in every member's heart of his own potential for bringing others to a knowledge of the truth. Let him work at it. Let hims pray with great earnestness about it" (Gordon B. Hinckley).

Love you all! Have a wonderful week filled with positive attitudes and happy hearts (:

Ofa lahi atu,

Sister Petalisi

Food storage after a couple days of fafanga. Notice the milk in the back

Dear Family,

I made it safely!! After 3 flights, a 13 hr over-night flight, and an 11 hr layover in New Zealand, we landed safely in Tonga last Tuesday night. The first night we had a nice Tongan dinner with the mission president's family and stayed in the temple motel right across from the temple! There we met tons of other missionaries who had just flown over from the New Zealand and were all from Tonga. Wednesday morning Sister Emch and I attempted to dress ourselves in the Tongan attire and went outside looking for a trashcan and when we stepped outside EVERYONE stopped and just kinda stared at us like we were zoo animals. We gave up on the trash can idea and ran back inside. How's that for a first day as a missionary haha.. I have gotten pretty used to the attention and stares as I've walked around. No one is expecting the palangi sisters. Each person we met this week asked about it and they are really happy to see us which is awesome. Sister Emch and I met the 2 other palangi sisters at MLC, a training meeting, and they are SO happy more are coming.

So I am assigned to work in Pea as my first area and my trainer is Sister Moloa! She's from Indiana, she was the first sister to come from America and she's been out for 5 months. Pea is an area that's new to both of us so this week we have both had to learn a lot! When we got dropped off at our MQ, it was a huge mess! We had to clean for hours just enough to get settled in. We did lots of cleaning and yard work today and it is BEAUTIFUL now. haha I wish I had taken a picture when we first arrived to compare. And the last update in the areabook was from JANUARY. So we didn't have really have much to go off of. We decided to just start walking down the street to try and find the bishop and ward mission leader. After talking with some people on the street and much searching, we found them both! There are no addresses in Tonga because apparently people just need to know the family name and which part of the village they are in..it's THAT SMALL. Our area is pretty big though. In Tonga, the work is mostly done through the members. Thanks to Lika and Mafi, two RMs in the ward, we were able to find the members and less-actives to teach. They are a HUGE blessing to us. We aren't allowed to be out of our MQ after dark (around 6:30), unless there is a member walking with us. So they walked with us on Saturday to invite everyone to church! One awesome thing about Tonga is that EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday. So of course there are no excuses for not coming to church. If you're not going to our church, you're going to some other church. Our ward is small. Many of it's leaders are very young! The members of the bishopric and ward mission leader are all in their 20's. I counted about 40 people in Sacrament Meeting, so we have LOTS of reactivating to do. I bore my testimony in Sacrament Meeting and I thought it was a success because nobody laughed like they did in The Other Side of Heaven. THANK GOODNESS. Although, a man did come up to me afterwards and say, "Well I think you will need a companion who speaks fluently to ever learn the language." I got the subtle (not so subtle) hint haha. Tongans are very straight up and open.

I'm not too worried about gaining weight, at least while I'm serving in Pea! Our diet has consisted of Chow (or Top Ramen noodles without water--of course hot water is not a thing here) and crackers for breakfast, and chicken for dinner every day. It is spicy so I'm thinking that by the end of the mission I will acquire the tongue for spicy foods! Hopefully! Last night was the first night that we were served real Tongan food (not Kolo food from town) for fafanga. We had Lu, meat wrapped in leaves, and Manioke. It was good, especially after a long day of walking!

We have 3 new investigaters this week! We went to one of the Chinese stores and started talking to the Chinese guy working there. I kept trying to talk to him in Tongan and he had to clarify that he doesn't speak Tonga. WAHOO!! I felt like Elder Calhoun, again. haha His english is very poor, but we have been teaching him through pictures and broken english. It is hard for him to accept that we did not evolve from monkeys, but I sense that he has a desire deep down to believe. Another one we met while inviting people to church. A Palangi school teacher!! I have been soo blessed because we can teach in English.

I love you all! God bless

Sister Betteridge

MLC

Our cute little abode.  

On our way!

Dear Family,

Well, time really flew and in 2 more days I'll be off and outta here!! I thought I was ready and I THOUGHT I could speak Tongan...before yesterday. A tongan elder (who is actually flying to his home with us to get his visa) said the prayer at in-field orientation yesterday and we told him to say it in Tongan so we could try to understand. He spoke so fast I couldn't tell one word from another and I could not even make out the "Dear Heavenly Father" that I was expecting to hear...He came and sat down and we all just stared at each other thinking the same thing. We asked him if he was speaking Tonga, hoping that he was trilingual or something, but yep he was. haha OH NO I felt like Elder Calhoun --"That's not what they taught me in the MTC."  

One really neat thing that I love about the MTC is how international it is! There are missionaries from all over the world and it's cool to see parts of each culture in such a small space. We've been able to meet many missionaries from Tonga also. Last Saturday we had a 4th of July celebration and in it they had a flag parade. A missionary going to the country and a missionary from the country got to hold each flag and I got to hold the Tongan one with a sister from Tonga. It was fun to get to know her and talk more about the mission from her perspective! We are getting pretty anxious to leave! They even let us stay up to watch the fireworks. But by the time we got out of the devotional/celebration I was super exhausted and wasn't super enthused by the late fireworks. You know you're a missionary when it's only 10:30 and you rather sleep than watch fireworks on the 4th of July. Or maybe that's just what being an adult feels like. haha. 

Last P-day we got to clean the temple because it's shut down for maintenance. We helped clean chandeliers and WOW I have a very deep appreciation for people who make, clean, or do anything with chandeliers. It took me 3 hours to take down and put together 3 of them while others were cleaning the crystal..and they were just the tiny ones on the wall! But it was cool to think about why we have to clean and take such good care of them so meticulously. It is the Lord's house and it deserves the utmost of respect. But next time anyone goes into sealing room #9 in the Provo temple, just think of me when you see how clean those wall chandeliers are. (:

It TOTALLY is a dream temperature in Tonga right now. That's how it was when we went for HEFY. But it is "winter" there, what they call the wet season. I've heard their summers are almost unbearable, so we'll see! Apparently it's been pretty rainy there the past week. It's down pouring in Utah right now so I think God is preparing us for the weeks ahead of us. Hence, the picture of us appreciating the rain at the MTC. 

This week has been amazing and I have felt God's love for me immensely. For starters, we watched Elder Packers funeral an hour or so ago. As I reflected on the idea of dying and the plan of salvation, I couldn't help but think of HOW COOL it is!! I have always known that death is only goodbye for now and see you later. But it hit me that death is so exciting!! Yes, we have to say goodbye to some people for short while, but we will be going to the spirit world where our parents will be and all of our loved ones will be that have already passed on. I think it relates somewhat to serving an 18 mo/2 yr mission. We will be pretty sad to be ending our mission wherever that may be and to leave the people we have grown to love, but really, we are going home. We are going back to the parents that brought us up and the people who love us tremendously. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the Plan of Salvation. It is beautiful. 

Well, it is so good to hear from you! Sounds like there were almost some casualties at the island (; Be safe and don't fall in!! But if you do just get it on film so there is evidence when I get back! haha Love you all so much <3 Have a great week!

Sister Betteridge

Hard to say goodbye to teachers!

enjoying the rain

Sweet stranger took our photos in the airport to send to family!!
On our way to Tonga!!

Male famili!

Well I thought I would be in the MTC forever, but looks like I'm leaving pretty soon! Time just keeps speeding up and I have no idea where it went. We leave SL next Sunday (the 12th) and fly to LA, LA to New Zealand, and New Zealand to Nuku'alofa. So we leave Sunday and arrive in Tonga late Tuesday night (due to the time change and layovers). I'm getting more anxious to leave now! I want to start talking to real people! Yesterday, our teachers admitted they are giving up on us. Since they feel like they have taught us everything they can (which I don't believe), they don't know what else to teach. Sooo they like to tell us Tongan stories about spirit turtles and what not.   I like to count the victories here in the MTC. And one of those victories was the realization that I've studied French for four years and Tongan for a little over four weeks and I feel more comfortable talking and teaching a lesson in Tongan than I do in French. The spirit is AMAZING. I know that if I had studied Tongan anywhere but here in the MTC for four weeks or even much longer, I'd be no where near where I am now with the language. Brother Fisher said that people study Tongan for YEARS to get to where we are now. Apparently agents have been skeptical and have come to visit MTC's in the past because  they want to know why missionaries learn languages so fast. I have always wondered that myself. I figured that the gift of tongues was magic. Now I understand what it takes. Lots of work. Lots of faith. And lots of heavenly help. I'm going to need a little more heavenly help, though, to help me say a new word that I learned this week from the scriptures. It's "mahuhuhuhu," which means piercing. Try saying that one fast! Or maybe it's just me. I can't say it for the life of me and so whenever we would come across it as we read 3 Nephi 3:11, of course it would always be my turn and then everyone would laugh at me. haha I'll keep working on it.

My sweet companion, Sister Moreno, went home earlier this week due to health problems. She worked so hard and after many challenging weeks, President Willes practically FORCED her to go home to get better. She is an example of courage and faith to me and I am so grateful I was able to serve with her. I am so excited to see her recover and join us again in the Pacific Islands. I am now in a trio with Sister Emch and Sister Stokes. Sister Stokes is serving in New Zealand and Sister Emch will be in Tonga with me (: 

We received 15 new Fijian missionaries this week, which DOUBLED our zone. There are 3 sisters from Papa New Guinea and Tahiti. The sister from Tahiti can only speak French and understands verryyy little English, which is a challenge! I can't even imagine having to learn Fijian AND English in an English training center. Heavenly Father really does have a sense of humor! When I heard that she only speaks French I thought WAHOO I can help!! It was pretty depressing to learn, however, how much I have forgotten after trying to speak with her. Hopefully it's been enough to help her feel loved and welcomed. The three of them are just the cutest. Within the first night, we received knitted bags from Papa New Guinea and blouses and necklaces. It is very much the polynesian way and it amazes me how excited they are to give. We realized how slow Americans are to give when we felt that all we could offer were Sister Emch's favorite SnapPeas. We will keep working on that. We need to tell them, though, that they should save their gifts for people in Fiji. 

Last week we taught another volunteer member, and we were able to teach a cute old Tongan lady about receiving answers to our prayers. I shared with her the story of how I decided to serve a mission. Barely into it, I started crying as I felt the spirit testify of the significance of that experience. It was a very tender moment because the lady then shared her own story and started to cry. Although I couldn't understand most of it, I felt the spirit as she talked about receiving answers to her prayers. It is that feeling and experience that I rely on when it gets difficult here. President Willes shared with us a good message on enduring to the end. It's discouraging and unimaginable sometimes to see the end and what we need to do to get there. Whether that's learning the language, completing a mission, overcoming an addiction, or making it back to the presence of our Heavenly Father. All we need to do is endure today. Work as hard as you can today. Then start over the next day. If we get discouraged thinking about the end and feeling that it will never come, we may let days go by where we aren't doing as well as we should or moving away from Christ. So just endure today. 

I love all so much! Have a wonderful week <3

xoxo,

Sister Betteridge

Dear Family,

This week has been busy with excitement due to the mission president seminar that is taking place this week until Sunday! And guess who got to meet Elder Holland!! Not me..Yesterday afternoon we received a random notice for all of the sisters in the MTC to meet in building 19m, where all of the devotionals and big meetings occur. Of course, we were all letting our thoughts run wild, trying to figure out why they needed to gather us so suddenly. Naturally, we got our hopes up thinking an apostle or prophet would come talk to us. Then they brought out a big fancy chair and sat it in front of the stadium seats and we thought FOR SURE the prophet was coming to talk to us. The meeting began and a sister sat in the chair and started signing for those needing sign language. They told us that bats had been found in 17M, the building that they had just moved ALL of the sisters in because it's new and big enough to fit us (the one we just moved into last week). I thought it was a joke for quite a bit, but sure enough, there were bats found by some of the new sisters this week. So our glorified time in the new building with awesome showers and no prison sheets would be short-lived unfortunately. They needed to move every sister back out of it before our evening classes and appointments so the entire campus came together to make the big move. haha Despite the craziness, we were efficient and it only took a couple hours. No wonder people LOVE it when Mormons come and help clean up natural disasters!! We get the job done! (: 

Our lessons this week have been improving as we continue to get better at the language. Far from perfect, but there is improvement. Many of our lessons are quite humbling as we realize how much work we have to go. But humility is awesome! It allows us to rely on the Savior. Sister Emch's mother sent her inspirational quotes this week and one of them that I really liked was "The same rain that grows weeds for a pessimist, grows flowers for an optimist." I love it and it is so true. We must let our tears strengthen our spirits and our testimonies. One particular lesson that humbled me was our first TRC. Volunteer Tongan members come to the MTC so that we can share with them a message on any principle of the gospel. An older sister of Sister Mo'unga (my first companion) was one of the members we taught so that was neat! We talked about how we can increase our faith through obedience and used examples of prophets, such as Nephi and Abraham. We felt very prepared, but even then, I went out of there feeling like a failure because I couldn't say everything that I wanted to say in Tongan. Our teacher talked with the members that we taught, however, and asked them how it went. They told her that it didn't matter what I said or what I said wrong because they could feel the spirit when we taught. The first lesson that we taught without taking any notes into was last week to our teacher Brother Fisher. It amazed me how much it affected our teaching. Even though we were terrified to speak in Tongan, going in with no notes allowed us to actually LISTEN to our investigator and teach BY THE SPIRIT. The spirit is the best teacher after all and we cannot convert anyone without it! After the lesson our teacher was so proud of us that he started crying, saying that was the best lesson we had ever taught. It was a good moment. 

Sunday was, by far, the highlight of my week. We taught Relief Society on the gift of the Holy Ghost and studied scriptures together on how we can receive the blessings of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Devotional Sunday night was amazing. What touched me the most was a message on spiritual gifts. It doesn't matter how much we are given, what matters is how much we do with the gifts we are given. Then, those gifts can be multiplied. I felt that this applied very well to receiving the gift of tongues. It doesn't matter how talented I am at learning the language or what I already know. If I work as hard as I can to learn it and invite people to Christ, God will give me that gift. We sang a beautiful arrangement of "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer" by Brett Stewart. As we sang, the spirit testified of the reality of the Savior and His atonement. I know that through the atonement, our sins can be washed clean, our weaknesses can be made strong, and our burdens can be made light. I love the spirit and the fruits that it gives.

Well it sounds like life is well at home and University Place is getting the appreciation that it deserves for it's beauty. That story of Tiger Woods is AWESOME. Haha It is too bad our renters didn't want to buy us new furniture as well. Caleb looks awesome in his get up! Keep it up and smile for the cameras (: You are all amazing and every day I thank my Heavenly Father for the wonderful family that He has given me. I have such good examples to look up to and strong support. Have a wonderful week! 

'Ofa lahi atu,

Sister Betteridge

Dear Family,

Holy cow this week went by way fast! We lost more than half of our zone on Sunday, which was really sad. The Samoan, Marshaleese (??), Samoan, Kirapitz (??) and 2 Tongan missionaries left for the field! Leaving only my district and 2 Fijian sisters. It was very sad that we could not fill up our entire lunch table and four-square was also not as exciting. But that's okay because 11 Samoan missionaries came on Wednesday and filled the gap. There were 4 international elders from Tonga and Vanuatu and one of them was able to go through the temple this morning for the first time!! He needed a translation and the only available translation was a SUPER ancient video. In Sacrament Meeting on Sunday our district sang God Be With You Till We Meet Again in Tongan as a farewell for all of the missionaries. It was very emotional for them and I had a hard time keeping it together as I sang...but I did!! I love singing as zone which we do occasionally after long days when the presidency comes to visit. Polynesian songs and voices are so beautiful and it makes me excited to be singing with an entire congregation of them. 

So to answer your question Mom we have been doing a bit of singing and what not. Sister Moreno and I were called to be the ward music coordinaters on Sunday so that is pretty fun to find all of the missionaries with musical abilities. We forced everyone to go to MTC choir practice this week and sing at the devotional. LOVED it!! But I forgot to write down what arrangement it was that we sang. Sorry Mom!! I'll make sure I do that next time. Too bad they don't broadcast them to BYU TV as well as the other MTCs! Elder Evans and his wife came and spoke. They both talked about using our gifts as we've promised and church callings. As members and especially as missionaries, our callings change pretty rapidly and we should do our best in each calling because God has personally called each of us. We will get something out of it and those we serve will also be blessed as we do our absolute best! This spoke pretty strongly to me as I have been struggling with patience this week. I now have a stronger determination to be more loving and selfless. Back to music though...I will be accompanying Sister Moreno on the piano on Sunday. She has a BEAUTIFUL voice and I insisted she sing so we are doing an arrangement of Come Thou Fount. 

As we have been getting better at speaking the language our lessons have gradually been getting better! Brother Fisa is nice and lets us speak Tonglish because we all know that God is fluent in Tonglish as well as Tongan. Sista Fotu, however, is a little more hard-nosed. Love her!! But if we speak even the slightest bit of Tonglish in class or in our lessons, she makes faces and says "Heh?? Don't understand faka-palangi (english)" in Tongan. So that's a struggle, but it is pushing us to learn it faster! Dad, I LOVED the quotes you sent me, especially the one by Nelson Mandela. I read it to the class as a spiritual thought and they loved it too so we wrote it on the board for a little motivation (: The quote is "If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart." It relates to us as we teach in a different language, but it also relates in the sense that we should be teaching people and not lessons! Earlier this week we had an awesome experience with an investigater (gold-tag progressing investigater) outside. We were studying outside and a lady from Guatemala came up to me asking about what language I was studying. It then turned into an hour-long conversation about the places we were from, why I decided to serve a mission, and I was able to bear my testimony to her about my purpose in life and share with her a scripture from the Book of Mormon. She is a devout Catholic and was trying to convert me haha. But we asked if we could meet with her again on Friday (today). Well, this morning she didn't show up..We were pretty bummed, but we saw her later on today and I don't know what happened, but she wants to meet with us again next Friday! Apparently the Fijians that were here before we came met with a hispanic catholic and she is getting baptized next week! I'm not getting my hopes up, but I'm excited for this experience to teach and talk with her.

To answer some questions.. As far as my Tongan name goes, no it does not have any special meaning haha I WISH! It is just a direct translation. Since the Tongan alphabet has only 16 letters, they just don't know how to pronounce english letters so they substitue their own letters with certain English letters. That's where Kolipoki comes from. It means Groburg in English. Tricky because we have to learn all of the Tongan translations for any name. Like Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, etc. So my zone calls me Petelisi, but I am still Sister Betteridge so letters should still be addressed to Sister Betteridge (: And we are not allowed to wear our Tongan uniforms yet (unfortuantely). MTC dress code is very strict about that kind of thing!

Today we have to move all of our stuff into a new building which is kind of a pain. That's okay because we are upgrading from living on the 4th floor to living on the 3rd floor! That will be very nice especially as it is getting extremely hot here!! Oh and I ran into Rozi (Sister Larsen) and we are living on the same floor! It's so nice to see a little bit of home here at the MTC through her and Elder Lybbert. She is going to be on some documentary. I'm not sure when it will be coming out, but they started filming her and her companion, who are both going to Australia, today! So look out for her on BYU TV!

Well I love you all so much. Thanks for the love and support!! Oh and don't worry mom about not sending me packages. Sister Stokes gets packages at least once a day and among the sisters we have already accepted the Tongan culture idea of sharing everything. We are very blessed with love and goodies (: 

'Ofa atu <3

Sister Petals

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,

Sister Petelisi  

Studying in the Classroom

Sister Mo'unga and I jumping because we love being Missionaries!

The Island Zone

The Tongan District

President Wiles

Love Running into college buddies!