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, February 10, 2011

Halfway done at the MTC

Days blend together here. It's crazy! I can't keep days striaght and yesterday seems like a week ago and a week ago seems like yesterday! Time is flying!! 2/3/11 So I got dear johned by a kid in my district who got me back cause I dear johned him. I took a picture of the letter I got. I hope you can read it. We went to the temple and did initiatories and those were good! I felt the spirt pretty strong! Later that night I had my 1 on 1 with my teacher brother yates. It's just like an interview to see how everything is going I had felt like I had leveled off learning the language and wasnt' moving as fast as I had been and felt I wasn't as focused. I told him that and he set a goal with me to set more specific goals and stay focused and to think the harder I work the more my family is blessed. So this past week I worked way hard and focused and did all i could. i feel really accomplished and feel I really improved my language. and I stayed focused and heard good news from some so it was sweet! 2/4/11 I didn't really feel the best and thought about just staying in the dorm to recoup and such. I decided not to cause I didn't want to miss stuff so I went to class and just prayed I'd get better. Within a little while I felt pretty good and learned alot that day so i'm glad I didn't miss. 2/5 we had a TRC which I think i told you were practice teaching things. We taught the whole first lesson in tongan. It was hard and short but hey we did it! I'm learning how to better structure my sentences and such so it's going good! We have to teach all lessons from here on out in tongan. kinda hard but I can do it. 2/6/11 we went on our temple walk which was fun. I have a picture I want to take and I tried it out but didn't work how I wanted to because it was cloudy. Darn clouds. I saw the coppermines by dads house from the temple and I missed being there for a minute but thought it was cool I could see those from where I was. After the devotional that night ( i had to hold my legs straight out the last 45 minutes so i could stay awake for it) we watched the testaments. It was good! It hit me pretty hard. It's hard to watch christ go through what he did. He did so much for us and I need to be more appreciative of that and thank him more often. Also in church that day we had testimony meeting. It was cool, all the new people were going up and my heart was pounding so hard to get up there and bear my testimony. so i was the first in my district to do so. I said all the new people were showing us up so someone who'd been there over a month needed to step up! It was a cool meeting to hear everyones testimony. That day I had read 2 nephi 9. Such a sweet chapter! It talks about so much and its a perfect scripture to teach the 2nd lesson. So challenge this week is for you all to read that chapter and really think about it and try to get whatever you can out of it. 2/7 we played a vocab game in class and me and my comp were on different teams and we have to guess a word and he was up and he messed up this word and how he said it was so funny. Everyone started laughing way hard and for some reason he didn't like me laughing or something but he got way upset and I hadn't noticed. After class he talked to me about it and said I humiliated him and he was furious. I didn't mean at all to make him mad i just thought it was funny. But we talked about it and got over it and were good now. actually by the 9th I felt way close to him. Me and him talk about alot of stuff and it's just good now. Were good friends. But that's what obsticles are in our life for right? to grow closer and learn and be better. Me and him studied the language together on the 9th and we did way good it was sweet. we learned alot! alright so now time for things I need: I need some polyester ties. Silk are no bueno in Tonga so polyester is what's needed. I've got 3 of them so I only need a couple more. it seems like i write so much more than i do. This email is really short haha I'll try to add more to it. My companion had to be someone elses companion from 11-330 one day cause that guys companion got surgery. So I had to be in a threesome with elder hettig and martinez. I'm doing my laundry now it's great. I can't believe how much my testimony has grown since i've been here! It's so sweet! and I've also seen so many blessings! If we are obedient the lord blesses us so much! I know i'm where I'm supposed to be and doing the right thing. Only 4 weeks or like 27 days and I'll be in tonga! I know this gospel is true and Joseph smith restored this gospel and christ suffered for us. I know being obedient to the lord brings blessings. I know the lord cares and loves each of us and if it's our desire to do whats right and we align our will with gods we will be truely happy. I've seen in even in just the last month i've been here. I love the lord and I'm so lucky to have this opportunity to serve him. I know there is no other place I need to be right now. I learn and grow every day and know i will continue to while i'm here. I love you all and love hearing from you. Please keep up the letters. I'm doin my best to keep up with you all! Please be safe and I'll do my best to do the same! Til next week! Ofa lahi atu!
                                 Love,
                                     Elder Rose.

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