March 31, 2011

Hello all! Have some of you forgotten about me? I havent' gotten a hand written letter from anyone yet and havent' recieved an email from some that i thought i would get one by now but any way if you were curious i'm alive and well haha. So last p day 3/24 we played indor 2 on 2 rugby touch and pingpong and football it was fun. Since i'm comps with the district leader we have to go to all the baptisms in the district this requires lots of walking haha. i've lost weight since i've been here. sorry to disappoint you all. but anyway so we went to a baptism and then the zone leaders took us around to visit all the missionaries in the zone. Then that night we slept at thier house. I didn't sleep to well cause it was really stormy and wind was howling. I had a wierd dream though. I had a dream i was working on an engine for someone and it blew up and something hit my head. I woke up at home with family and jenna there and i was like what am i doing here they said i was in a coma for a year and they sent me home from my mission i said they were lying and went and grabbed my journal to see my last entry and it was 3/23/2011 and then i looked at the day and it was only the 24th so i'd been asleep a day but anyway i was home and i thought it was so real. i woke up in the night wondering where i was and realized i was still at the zone leaders house on my mission. i was so confused haha. if you could can someone send an english ensign with conference talks when you get it? I don't get to hear conference in english and i really looked forward to it. I guess this week there was supposed to be a cyclone but i never saw one. Then the 25th we had a special training from 10 to 4. it was long haha. Then we had our fafanga with the mayor and we had pig. it was good. Then after that we helped the ZL's move. 3/26 We taught Atimata. She is preparing to be baptized on the 9th of april! Then we went and talked to one of the missionaries moms. He is the only member in his family but she was so nice and loved missionaries. maybe we'll be able to teach her. I've been reading The Other Side of Heaven. I recommend this book. way different than the movie. It's way inspirational especially since it's where i'm at. 3/27 I was thinking about Isaac alot. someone tell him to send me an email or letter or something. i miss that guy. I realized in exactly 4 months he could turn in his papers and was way excited for him. Then i realized he might go to school for a year first. so i might not see that guy for 4 years! We went to alot of churches this day because alot of confirmations happened. We had to walk everywhere. But I actually got to be in the 3 man circle in one of them. First time i was able to do that. It was cool! 3/28 Items i realized would be good: a little calendar, Nutrigrain bars and energy or protien bars. I don't usually get breakfast or lunch and typically only get a late dinner so it's hard to go through days without food for so long with so much walking. That morning i was reading other side of heaven and he said something that stuck out to me. he said if the purpose of life is to know and love god then maybe satans best weapon is to keep us so busy even doing good things and occupied with committments and pressures that we dont allow ourselves to be still and to know god. My challenge this week is to take time to be still and realised that god is god and all he's done for you that is good and blessings you've seen. Then we went to teach a lady named ofa. We were teaching her the first lesson and taught her about prophets and joseph smith. after my comp taught her that she was talking for a long time. like 10 to 15 minutes. Since i don't understand anything still i asked god in my head if this was good which i hoped it was. instantly a voice said yes. after a little longer i had a feeling it wasnt' good so i asked again. immediately after again a distinct voice said yes trust me. That hit me hard. I need to have more trust and faith in god. She commiteed to get baptized but not til may cause her husband is in new zealand working til then. she said the closing prayer and it was good. 3/29 im pretty sure we walked around all of tonga this day. I got fried again. we went to have distrct meeting but the church was locked so we went to a house to grab something then back to the church. still locked so we went back to that house to give the stuff back then had to walk to another church in another village, i'm pretty sure this was the most hot day since i'd been here too. anyway so we had our meeting and i was able to give our report in tongan which i thought was pretty good. Then we had a baptismal interview to do. There was a Fakaleiti at the house we went too. this means a gay guy. It was a little odd. I was really wanting to leave cause it's awkward cause i can't talk alot so you just sit in silence. Then we went to our fafanga these peoples houses are litterally 4 pieces of wood and a roof. in a swamp. You should have seen this house. But the guy there made us good food and talked to us while we ate. They had a cat that was just like DJ only short hair. I will miss my DJ. but anyway so I just grew to have a deeper love for these people. They have nothing but will give you anything and do anything for you to make your life better. And they are so happy! Us that have so much in america really don't realize it and put to much prize on money and worldly things when the only thing that matters is family and your relationships and god and doing his will. I learned alot from this simple thing. My companion gave a thank you speech and said a blessing on this famly. It brought tears to the guys eyes. I have deep love and respect for the tongan people and wish we that have so much more wouldn't take it for granted. That's one thing i know i'll miss when i come home is the humility and genuine love of these people. 3/30 we woke up at six and went to the gym. It was packed at first but died down around 715 i worked out a little but not to much. One of he zone leaders elder nai im pretty sure he's the hulk in tongan form. just a massive person! Then later that day we went to teach ofa again. we read 3 nephi chapter 11 with her. that's a good chapter. the lesson was good. then we went to a baptism of a girl and got cake and ice cream again. It was really good! Then we went to a fafanga and had lu sipi (sheep wrapped in leaves cooked) with a coconut to drink. This house had lizards all over and i was done eating just watching them all on the ceiling eating. I looked away for a sec and one fell right in my lap. I guess some of them jump to get food out of the air it was crazy! well that's all for now i love you all and miss you!


Love Elder Rose

2 weeks already?

Okay this week went alot faster than last. Today is my p day thursday but its wednesday there. I'm 20 hours ahead of you in utah. I have a watch still set to utah time so it makes it kinda fun. Some of you asked about the earth quake. The night I got here i was sleeping and woke up the next morning and president said there was a tsunami warning i didn't know anything happened. so if i died it would have been peaceful to say the least ;) anywho i'm really happy here. I'm sorry my last letter was kind of pessimistic i was really frustrated but just prayed hard and have been having a blast since. It's a really neat place here and the people are really nice. it's funny walking into someones house you don't know and asking for food or a phone. in america that's robbery haha. but it's cool here though sometimes i only get to eat once a day cause people forget they are supposed to feed us haha. okay starting off the week. last pday i felt sick it kinda sucked. just nausiated. but got better. some items i need. whoever may send them i know it's probably expensive: A flash drive so i can put my pictures on it then send my sim card home so incase it gets lost like my last i still have the pictures cause i can't figure out how to email pics. sorry. my companion elder fale looks just like Derek Rose the NBA player. He is way awesome i'm lovin having him for a comp. 3/20 holy cow i ate so much. we went to church and had our fafanga (very important word means dinner or food appointment) ate aton of lu pulu and fish and i couln't eat more then walked to another house and they fed us just as much so pretty sure i had food in my throat cause no more could go down. then we got back home and my comps family brought more food. man o man i was stuffed to the rafters (hope some of you caught that reference) 3/21 we had a special training meeting that was really awesome with president. Really felt the spirit there. then we went to our fafanga but they didn't know they were supposed to feed us so they gave us 100 bucks, benefits of that person being the mayor ahaha. so us and the zone leaders went to the most expensive place in tonga to eat. it's also the best. it's called little italys it was a massive pizza. 55 bucks massive. then we went and got ice cream. it was dang good. we ate next to the ocean. sorry for all you who can't do that :) 3/22 I couldn't sleep that night i was so hot. fell asleep at 4 it sucked! but what can ya do. Then we walked to our district meeting. that was an adventure. We were walking and got soaked in rain! It rains alot here. Luckily my backpack has a rain fly so nothing in it got wet! but we stopped by a shop just to get out of the rain and luckily it was one of my comps relatives who owns it! it was great! She gave us an umbrella and a big arizona drink! I still don't understand when people talk so district meeting is pointless haha. We did the same thing here though as we did at out special trianing. just practiced the baptismal invitation. anyway that day we got 3 investigators. Atimata who is s 16 yr old girl. another lady that goes to church but isn't baptised and thinks going to church is good enough and then the bishop told us about someone. I hope these all go well and we get baptisms. the area i'm in is known for the work being dead. hopefully we can get it going again. yesterday 3/23 I woke up and just read the BOM cause i havent since the MTC and i missed it. So i read. I was reading in alma. and i read chapter 5. wow that's a very powerful verse. it'll rip you apart haha. But i really liked it. Though it was wierd cause I prayed that the things i read would help me with our investigator that goes to church. I think that would scare someone away haha. so if you read it just imagin what i was thinking having a certain investigator in mind. Then me and my comp started talking about adam and eve and trying to figure stuff out with that and symbolyzm and such. it was really interesting so i read about it in the bible and moses. and I read about Cain to who became perdition. I didn't ever know why he was but now i know. I love searching the scriptures. it's so cool! I learn so much from them! Then we hung with the Zone Leaders all day cause My comp is the District Leader and had to interview 3 people for baptism so we drove around alot. They all went well and accepted being baptized! I started to read a book called the infinite atonement and just reading the first like 5 pages i gained a greater appreciation. I don't have the book it's the ZL's and when we were at his house i just read. but it was good. Then last night we had a big fafanga. I had this soup stuff i didn't knwo what it was but it had coconut cream, peppers, tomatoes, fish and i didn't know what it was at the time so i just ate it. it wasn't very good but i finished it anyway then had 2 bowls of kapa pulu (corned beef) and then the guy brings in 7 bananas and says i have to eat them all. So i did! I got a pic of the seven banana peels on a plate man i ate alot. They loved that i could eat so much ahaha luckily i like bananas. probably the best tasting thing since i've been here! But they were happy cause i ate alot. so now 3/24 it's p day and we are emailing! I'd still love to get hand written letters from you all! It's a really stormy day today and we drove by the ocean and i saw some massive waves! Well I got to go times out! I love you and miss you all and hope all is well! The church is true and I'm blessed because of it!
Love,

  Elder Rose

Ending MTC Starting Tonga

Hey everyone I'm no longer using the my lds mail account so send emails to me hear. I'll be able to email you I just have to pay for a dollar an hour! well i'll get started. havent been able to email for a bit so i have many days to cover. 3/3 we had a culture day in class with brother yates who came here to tonga. it was pretty cool! he told us some stories and gave me a rugby jersey! I sent that home. 3/5 i got my hair cut did our last service and have been on my mission for 2 months! Time went by fast! we had our last TRC too which i was quite excited about! 3/6 This was a really good day! it was our last time in sacrament so we had a musical number. We sang army of helaman. The first verse in tongan the second in english and the last in tongan. Oh man I love that song. It's so dang good! and we sounded good too! We had a departure meeting with our branch presidency where we took pics with them, learned how to pack and got pass along cards. I got to hold and iphone and that was really wierd. It was awkward! So then we had a fireside that night. It was really good. it was the temple president of the provo temple. He talked about temples. Pointed out some cool stuff, Have you ever thought that when you go to the temple you have walked where god and our savior have walked? they've walked every hall of every temple. That was amazing for me to hear. And he still goes there today! especially the salt lake temple. That temple has grown to mean alot to me over the last few months. I don't know why but for some reason this day i felt really close to jeremy. It was a neat feeling. For those of you who don't know Jeremy is my brother who died a little after he was born. And I had an impression or wondered if his temple work has been done. so if someone could inform me of that that would be really cool! Then i saw a friend from home after the fireside and talked to him about the mission. it was a really good talk. i guess alot of my friends who weren't going to go on missions have decided to shape up and go. That made me happy to hear. and we just talked about how much we grew in the mtc. I really loved the MTC and learned and grew so much! then we watched the testament movie again. 3/7 we had culture day with bro williams and he just taught us how to play rugby. then we had alot of time to pack and do laundry and stuff like that. then we had culture day with bro payne that night. he served tongan speaking in new zealand. it was really cool! some neat pictures and told us stories. then 3/8 TIME TO LEAVE TO TONGA! Goodbye MTC you were great! we left the mtc and flew to LA had a 6 hour lay over there I talked to some of you and thank you to those I talked to! It was really good to talk to you and meant alot to me! You are all great and glad to hear you are doing good! I was really happy i got to talk to you! Then 3/9 we missed that day completely it was really wierd not to have a day haha. We were just on a plane and missed it cause we passed the dateline. The plane we rode to new zealand was huge! 3/10 We arrive in new zealand and it was cool. Elder Hettigs dad owns a bus and came and picked us up and we went to like an animal farm and got alot of food and had a picknic at some park in new zealand. It's a really pretty place! then i couldn't call you from new zealand because my phone card wouldn't work and it was really expensive to call! I wasn't a fan. So we left new zealand and arrived here in Tonga! We actually rode with the king which we didn't know until we landed and all these people were there waving and the band was playing it was really cool. Super hot here haha. So then we went with president tukuafu and his wife who are really awesome and had a dinner at their house and then stayed and the school liahona which is a church owned school. there were lots of bugs that we killed here. so then we went to bed that night 3/11 we woke up and saw some people playing rugby so we walked over there to watch and elders fotu tau aho, unga, langi, and leavitt played with them. it was funny. then we had to go to presidents for breakfast and do an orientation. that was boring. And president said after feeling the spirit we brought and inspired to do so we'd go to do a session from 2 to 4. I was way excited! It was cool to go there and see what it's like. It's so different from what Im used to. I didn't understand anything the whole session. Luckily when i had to do something I got to do it in english haha. But it was a cool experience. I enjoyed it. Then we had dinner. Yes I know we eat after everything we do. And then we went back to our dorms and just hung out. The next morning we went to breakfast and met our companions and had a testimony meeting. My comp was Sime. He was awesome. He was supposed to be in new guinea but didn't get his visa til just barely. so he was my comp my first week here  in tonga. He was awesome. but he left me today. I got my new comp but i'll talk about him when i get to that day. so then we went to our area. Longolongo is where i'm serving. This place is very 3rd world even the nice houses are really bad. But it's cool here to see the tropical stuff. So me and Sime went for a walk and I got fried. I got a cocoanut too fresh off the tree. It's a weird taste but i like it now. so then on sunday I had my first baptism. A little 8 year old girl. Heleni Salote Tukutukunga. It was cool. I did it in tongan! Okay so i won't go day by day now but just kinda things i've done and feelings. My first few days here I got reeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaally frustrated not knowing the language don't know what anyone is saying and can't really speak very well. I don't know why but i got really mad and sad. First time I've been homesick and almost a feeling of depression. I was just really down. I hated it and wanted to leave. But it's little things that keep you here. First the little kids everytime they see me just yell ROSE and come up to me haha they are funny. One boy has a kobe bryant jersey so i call him bryant. Oh ps I was sad to hear Deron got traded from the jazz. anywho back to the story. I was really down and so i just kneeled down and prayed to God for help with the language and be comforted. I worked hard and tried to understand. Then after when we were talking to someone I was able to understand a little. So that was nice. Then the next day, super down again because I couldn't understand anything. Yet again I prayed to God, hard. Just for comfort and help. I work really hard to try to learn this language. He helped me out and since then i decided i'm just going to have fun. I do things that make me laugh. I made a video that I hope I can send you guys. anyway that's about it i'm going to try to attach pics now. Oh and ps. i got a tupenu today. Sime left it for me. Oh and Elder Fale is my new comp. From austrialia. He's way cool. okay here i go.okay looks like i can't put up pics. I'll try to figure it out next time. Im runnin out of time. I love you all and miss you. Hope you're all doing well! ofa lahi atu kimoutolu!

MTC pictures!

See the full album here!

WOW last one of these from the good ol MTC

I can't believe my experience here is already over! I don't know how it has gone by so fast but it has! Alright so i went to the temple last thursday and it was cool. very spiritual and got an answer to my prayers from the scriptures while there which is always a neat experience. We also got our travel plans that day! My flight from salt lake is at 256 and i go to LA have a 5 hour layover and then head to new zealand, have a 8 hour layover and then head to tonga! I will call you family probably sometime after 4! Hopefully i can get ahold of you! I can't wait to hear you all! 2/25 Bro yates told us a story how in tonga there was a girl who was possessed and he had to give her a blessing and they had to have like 4 people hold her down and she was saying stuff about the bishop and his family she wouldn't know and they blessed her and she calmed down and said there were 5 spirits that were in her and she could remember all of their names. Kinda creepy. Hope I don't have to deal with that. They call it puke tevolo sick devil is the translation. 2/27 this was a real good spiritual day. The haitan creole district that left on tuesday and wednesday had the musical number. It's elder loftus, furner, congre and meredith who you may have seen on channel five the missionary special. anywho those 4 sung god be with you til we meet again in haitan and it was so good! It really brought the spirit. Loftus who was one of my best friends here, got picked to speak and the topic was atonement. His testimony really helped mine and it was cool to hear a friend say that. my testimony grew from it. He spoke powerfully and just put into perspective what the savior did for every one of us and you could see his love for the savior. The savior really did more for us than anyone us because he loved us all and it had to be done so we can be happy now and forever. We all mess up but he makes it possible for us to be clean and forgiven. Me and my comp taught the lesson in district meeting and it went really good. I talked about humility and he talked about the holy ghost. We forgot about it so we didn't really prepare but the spirit worked through me. Later my comp said that's what he needed to hear and i was just was glad i could help someone. We had a devotional that night from stephen b allen on turbulence and it was good. Alot of us go through alot of different things in life but we just have to endure. In the end everything will work out. It was kinda funny one kid stepped up to the mic and said i think i speak for everyone when i say the food here gives me turbulence haha. it made me laugh. The closing song was Army of Helaman. It was freakin sweet! something stuck out to me that had never stuck out before. It gave me alot of hope concerning a few big things in my life. after the fireside we went and watched mountain of the lord. Itwas a way cool movie about the salt lake temple! I learned alot about that temple from the movie. I love that temple even more now. 2/28 we had a health and safety meeting. Everything this guy said did not apply to tonga. He said not to eat raw fish, i'll starve if i don't. he said to drink pure water, next to impossible in tonga, he said to wash your hands all the time. If anywhere has a sink. Nothing applied to my mission but hey he was tryin. He didn't have an answer to boils besides shower 2 times a day which we knew. Then that night we said bye to the haitan district. they all left except loftus left wednesday instead of tuesday. so 3/1 i say bye to loftus. But i'll see him when i get back cause he lives in ogden and will go to weber. in gym this day right at the beginning we start a game of basketball and i get shouldered in the nose. It bled for 30 minutes and when if finally stopped i couldn't play or get my heart going again or it would have kept bleeding. it sucked sittin out cause of a dumb bloody nose.  3/2 we had our in field language study meeting which we just get told how to make a language study plan in the field. It was good and helpful. I hope i'm able to pick up the language fast! It's a tough language to learn cause we don't have many resources like the people speakin spanish or french. We just have 3 good teachers! Then we got to host again for the final time which was fun. A sister i had to host couldn't find her license so hopefully someone can send her one! I felt really good about my tongan this day. The lord blessed me and i know it's cause i worded a prayer different and said more prayers for it than usual. I was able to speak mostly what i wanted to say without having to take long to think about it and i was able to understand quite about what was being said to me! it was really comforting. Then i got another bloody nose in the shower for another 10 minutes and then later i was talking to elder martinez and it came out of nowhere again and bled for another 15. I love my nose so much! :) hopefully it's done haha. I had a really good final companionship inventory with elder michael last night and it was just uplifting and the spirit resided there. It was really cool. I get to have a culture day tonight in class with yates who was the only one of our teachers who actually went there so i finally get to see what it's kinda like! I'm way excited about it! Oh just to let you all know this is my address for tonga and it will always be this my whole mission:

 

Elder Jacob Aaron Rose

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

P.O. Box 58

Nuku'alofa Tonga

South Pacific

 

Be sure to use international stamps when you send stuff there. (98 cents) Sorry it'll be expensive to send stuff. Good thing i only get stuff once a month huh? Typically it takes 2 weeks to get there then 2 weeks to get back here! So there's that for you all! But i definitely would love to still here from you all! Thank you all for all your support so far in this huge experience of my life! You have helped make it an amazing journey so far! I'm growing and learning so much about this gospel that i love more and more everyday the more i study it. I know it is true. I know if you allow it to it will bless your life like it has mine. I love my God and Savior who both have sacrificed an infinite amount for me. I'm so thankful for this opportunity i have here at the MTC and to be going to tonga. My mission is different than all the other missions in the world. I'm lucky. It's funny to see everyone who goes to tonga has to be laid back. My whole district is. You can tell what kind of people they need there. But I love you all and wish you the best! Til the next email whenever that may be. Ofa Atu.

 

Love,

   Elder Rose