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