I am Elder Jake Rose, and I am currently serving in the Tonga Nuka'alofa mission. I left to the MTC January 5, 2011 and will arrive back to my home in Utah in two quick years.
This is my story and the stories of the people of Tonga.





Elder Jacob Aaron Rose

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

P.O. Box 58

Nuku'alofa, Tongatapu, Tonga

South Pacific

Thursday, January 27, 2011

3 weeks!!!

Hello family and friends! It's pday so that means writing letters to you all all day! Woo! Well last p day i made it to the temple session which was really good! I like going to the temple! I can't wait to go to the one in Tonga! It's gonna be sweet! On the 21st We watched a movie clip of elder bednar who talked about knowing the promptings of the spirit which was good. He said stop worrying about knowing if it's the spirit or not. just act on promptings. at the end they sang army of helaman oh man i want to sing that song so bad at a devotional. I love that song! We havent got to yet :( that same day Elder Unga hit the desk next to him cause he wanted it to pop up cause these desks you can make them go up so you can sit in your seat. kinda like in college or something. anyway he hit it and it broke off and flew through the air and he just stared at it with the blankest look on his face. It was so dang funny! We had a TRC on the 24 which is just practice teaching a volunteer acting investigator. We had to do the whole into and greeting before the actual lesson in tongan. It was way hard because the guy we talked to talked faster than the speed of light in tongan just to show off and we stared at him like what and he would explain super fast in tongan what he meant. It was so frustrating. Tongans don't talk that fast. All who have been there have said. Anyway then our lesson with him was like talking to a brick wall. he was no help at all. I didn't learn anything. His feed back was that my companion talks to fast in english. But this guy knows english cause he lives here. And he just sucked. But I didn't care I got over it. Hopefully the one this saturday is better. On the 23rd we went on a temple walk. It was way way fun I loved it. Took some neat pictures. but then i met back up with my comp who was talking to one of his friends who is here. And this kid just started to show off and was raggin on everybody and the spirit was just totally gone. But it made me realize ive really had the spirit with me the whole time ive been here. they sometimes say you should recognize when you have the spirit but i like the saying you should recognize when you don't have the spirit, better. that day was actually really spiritual. it was awesome. I was studying the beginning part of the second lesson just about like jesus christ at stuff and i read the BOM intro page and some other things like the witnesses testimonies, and it's so cool how little things would pop out at me. Just the smallest of things and the spirit would testify it was true. such cool little things like that happening have really strengthened my testimony over the last three weeks. Had some spirtual talks with elder unga and michael too that day about temple experiences and just about the gospel. The gospel really is so true and i know that for a fact! We had a devotional that night too and it was really good. The guy was way funny. His name was stephen b allen. He talked about repentance and not going home cause your homesick. And he talked about how satan is real and will push your buttons and tempt you in the mission field. He told a funny story about how he was getting a drink at the drinking fountain and then a little kid came next to him to get one and he would push his water to make the kids go down and so the kid would bend down to get it then he'd let go so it'd splash the kid in the face and repeated it about 8 times and the kid couldn't figure out what was going on. He was pushing the kids buttons. Satan will do the same to us and we won't always know it's him. But we must do the right thing and endure to the end. on the 24th we learned about the nasty boils we'll get in tonga. I'm so thrilled.... so please send lots of anti bacterial soap!!! on the 25th we had a devotional again and this guy talked about alot but the thing that stuck out most to me was acting on promptings. SO landon when you read this. Will you get me tyler lincolns address please and send it in your next letter? but Cool things happen when you act on promptings. Well I'm still doing great! I love it here still! I'm getting the language pretty good! Can start to say some things i want to! My friend elder thompson came in yesterday and is going to samoa and is in my zone and his class is right next to mine and his room is on the same floor. I went and talked to him last night and he said he did good all day untill he got to his room and had time to think about home. I tried to help him the best i could. I just told him to have fun and focus on his purpose here and follow the rules. It really is fun and if he needs anything I'm here to help him. I hope he makes it. I"m gonna keep tryin to help him out. I love getting letters from you all! I'm tryin my best to respond to everyone! Don't get mad if you don't get letters for awhile i just don't have as much time as i'd like to write! But i'm doing my best! I appreciate all your letters though and your love and support! If I can help any of you at all just let me know and I'll do what I can! I've got some funny pictures. Like almost 400 so far! So when I send my card home in a few weeks you can see what I've been up to! I bought a shirt with the Tongan flag on the front that is really cool! I'm wearing it in one of my pictures! Hopefully you will all get to see them! I'll try bearing my testimony or some of it in tongan. oku ou loto keu vahevahe eku fakamo'oni, oku ou 'ilo oku tapuekina a e ongoongolelei o e ngaahi famili, oku ou 'ilo ko e ngaahi famili koe uho i ai o e palani a e otua, that said i like to share my testimony i know the gospel blesses familes, i know families are central to gods plan. But don't try to translate it because you will fail haha. But I'm running out of time. I love you all and miss you but I'm doing great and look forward to my adventure still to come! keep having fun and i challenge you all to sincerely read the scriptures and really try to get something out of them. not just read them cause you should or cause I said to but comprehend what you read. I know the spirit will testify of it's truthfulness. I know this gospel is true and joseph smith translated the book of mormon. Be safe! Ofa Lahi Atu! Love alot at you is the direct translation! Til next week!

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