June 28, 2015

Fakamolemole au (forgive me)

Hello, All! I'm sorry I haven't been in contact for the last couple weeks. The internet in this little chapel hasn't been working! Something my companion and I are delighted has been fixed.

So very much has happened in the last two weeks! The Largest of which is this....

We went to the palace to see the king!

If you know me, you know, that I have not sat down to watch a parade in July for the last six years, because I prefer to be in them! This year I was actually getting very disappointed, because I knew I wouldn't get the chance to be in a parade.... because of much greater things! Well, God is well known for his tender mercies. Last week,on Thursday, All of the Missionaries in Tonga marched in a little parade of our own, to the palace of the king of Tonga. We marched in rows of four around the palace block, and into the palace gates. We sat down inside on the palace grounds. The palace is huge! Especially compared to the rest of the buildings in Tonga. We sat in front of a doorway, and on either side of the doorway were the kings chiefs in Tonga. When the ceremony began, the two chiefs closest to the doorway started yelling something i couldn't understand back and forth to each other. Then a representative of our church stood up and started yelling at them, too. He gestured to a weird tree that was brought onto the palace grounds, and yelled at the chiefs. Then, he backed up, and he gestured at these HUGE piles of ufi (yams) that had also been brought to the palace grounds, and yelled louder at the chiefs. Then he backed up again, and Gestured to the hugest pig I've ever seen in a wood cage on the palace grounds, and practically screamed at the chiefs. Then he bowed and sat down. I have NO idea what they were saying. Someone told me after that those piles of stuff were the church's offerings to the King of Tonga. After the ceremony, all of the senior missionaries stood up and filed along the side of the palace. One by one, they got to shake hands with the king himself! (who I didn't realize was sitting in the doorway inside the house the whole time.) In order to shake hands with the king, you have to approach the doorway by crawling up to the king, and then shaking his hand.

Everybody got SO hyped about this event. They were so excited to go see the king, and be able to show our appreciation to him. But, in the back of my mind the whole time, I kept in mind, that the work we do here in Tonga, is us showing our love and appreciation to a much greater king. How blessed we are to serve him here!

About the people of Tonga:

The people here are very different culturally than any group of people I've ever met before. The Tongan people are very superstitious, and very strict on tradition. Here are some of the weird superstitions and traditions I've learned!

If a Tongan says they like something that somebody has, it is nearly required for the person to give it to them. Money included.

If people do this to missionaries, they usually deal in trades, because they know the missionaries can't really get a lot of stuff. I've traded a skirt of mine for two shirts, one for me, and one for my comp. 

When missionaries deal with each other, they just take stuff. It doesn't matter what it is.

When somebody dies, if you were a descendant of that person, you have to wear a HUGE mat that covers your whole body for a week. If you're a girl descendant, you also have to have your hair cut super short.

If you sneeze, it means someone misses you. (can I sneeze more, please?)

If you eat and walk at the same time, it's rude.

If you eat with your feet out, it's rude.

You must take your shoes off before entering someone's house.

These are just a few of the really weird things that happen here! They are a very culturally driven people! Overall, they are very kind, and very loving. There are no homeless in Tonga, because everyone takes care of each other! The Tongan people, however, can also be very prideful. I've never seen a group of people so bent on helping one another, and yet so prideful at the same time! 

I am the only white person I've seen here, in Navutoka. In Tonga, we're called Palangis. When I walk down the street, people stare at me. Especially children. They come up to my companion and I and hold my hands, and touch the skin on my arms and fingers. As we walk away they all say "Palangi, e?" Which basically means "Bye, white girl!" XD  

Being a Palangi in Tonga is both good and bad. People have invited us into their homes simply because they are interested to know why I'm here and what I'm doing, which gives us a lot of teaching opportunities. But, I also need to be careful. People watch me and my example everywhere I go. We have to be very careful not to do anything that would betray the trust of the people. It his happened in towns before, where a missionary was bad, and the next missionaries that come are treated poorly. But this will not happen in Navutoka!

Likewise, I challenge you all to be examples wherever you go! 

I'm so sorry this email was again super long, and super unorganized. I love you! Hopefully I will be able to write this next week!

Love, 

 Sister Wunderlich

Photos From The Royal Coronation

 This is Tess and Sister Moon.  She and I emailed before Tess left.  She gave us lots of good info! 

June 8, 2015 (second email)

I literally have like five minutes left but I want you to know that I love you and that I'm safe here! I miss american food already, but I hope I can learn to love tongan food. I nearly cried when we sat down to dinner one night and we got to eat actual potatoes! 

Anyways, I have to finish now. I love you all so much! Tell luke to email me because he has been lame thus far in not emailing me. Love you! 

Love,

Laura ingalls wilder. Seriously.

Is this Sister Wunderlich...

...or is THIS Sister Wunderlich?

June 8, 2015 (First email from Tonga!)

Malo e lelei from thousands of miles across the sea! 

I got kind of sick on the plane ride over. I haven't really been able to eat a whole lot since.... Not good for Tonga! If you go to their house and don't eat at least two plates of food they assume there's something wrong with you. Have I eaten anything weird yet? Not really. I've tried some new fruits and vegetables, and I was even able to down some fish! (that's a big thing for me!) I have had manioka (tapioka root) and some ufi (yam) They're both basically the "Potatoes" of Tonga. The Tongans love ufi. As far as fruits, I got to eat a passion fruit, which I've never eaten before, and I got to drink straight out of a fresh coconut! (niu) It is kind of sweet to the taste, and also kind of fizzy! So thus far, nothing truly adventurous. But, a family this week told us they'd cook us some Kuli. (Screams inwardly) Kuli is dog. I'm not sure what to do when I get to that moment!

Tonga is very very very humid. When I first got here I felt like I was drowning on land! I've gotten used to it a little bit, but when it's like 95 degrees with 100% humidity it feels like you're going to melt into a puddle. Luckily it's winter time right now! Winter in Tonga is opposite to Utah. It will get really hot in november, december, and january here. So right now it's not too bad!

My new ho'a's (companion's) name is sister Vaa'i. She is from australia, and she is very nice! She talks with an awesome accent and she knows english. She is a sister training leader, which makes me a sister training leader also. (weird, right? I just got here!) She will be my trainer for 12 weeks.

Our little house is very small. It only has two rooms, a main room and a bathroom. The main room is about 11ft by 10 ft, and the bathroom is very small. (It always smells TERRIBLE and we're not sure why. We'll get it checked out when we can.) Our house is smaller than most tongan houses, but it is a lot nicer by far than tongan houses in this area. For one, we have doors! Also, we have thick walls that are not made of cinderblock like most of the houses here. It is very small, but kind of cute! We have a fence that surrounds the house here, and there is a small banana tree in the yard. The bananas are super green right now, but when they ripen we will try them out.

One thing I'm trying to get used to here-- there's no hot water! All of our showers are freezing cold. Tonga doesn't have working pipe systems like we do. When it rains, the water runs off of the roof into a pipe that connects to a huge barrel on the side of the house. From there there is a pipe that runs into the sink/shower in our house. And that is how we get water! It is not good to drink, so we have to clean the water to drink it, or buy bottled water from the falekoloa (the store.)

The stores here are very little. They look like baseball dugouts with bars on them. They are mostly only run by Asian people, so we call them china huts. You go up to the window and tell them what you want, and then you just swap bills and they push it through the metal bars of the shop. These stores are always closed on sundays. Tonga is they only Country that observes the sabbath day by law. if you're caught with a store open, you get fined a lot. Swimming isn't allowed for  the people here on sundays, either.

I will send a picture of the clothes we wear here. They're very hot to wear. The skirt is called a Tupenu, which is a big wrap skirt that ties in the back. The Kofu is the shirt, which has long sleeves and is a single color. All of mine are too big for me right now, because I share with my Ho'a. You cannot get Kofu's in Utah! The woven mats we wear are called tupenu's. They are symbolic of ministers and people of high rank in Tonga. We cannot go proselyting without them! There was a bit of a scuffle when I got here because I did not have a Tupenu, So we had to search around for someone who had an extra. Thats the thing about tongans, if you need something, they simply give it to you. It makes me feel awkward asking for things, so I don't. If my ho'a sees I need something! She asks for me, even if I don't want it! We are well taken care of here. The Sister missionaries are not allowed to wear nail polish, jewelry, or makeup here. We are also required to braid our hair into two long braids, wherever we go. We are not allowed to be seen in public without our traditional clothes on, or with our hair down! Basically, this makes me look like Laura Ingalls Wilder all of the time. Google Her if you don't know what I'm talking about, but I look just like her! 

Animals roam free in the Tongan streets. There are Chickens, Pigs, and Dogs all over the place. Tongans rarely to never keep pets, so all of these are for eating. even the dogs. All of the dogs are terrified of humans, because the Tongans basically hit them whenever they want. It makes me sad! But, that is the Tongan way. There is a small puppy that lives in the home next to our little house, where the stake president lives. He is not afraid of me anymore, because I coaxed him to me and I scratch him behind the ears whenever we return home. Sister Vaa'i and I feed him food scraps whenever we have extra food-- which is all the time!\

The area we are in right now is called Navutoka. It is very beautiful! It is on the main island of Tongatapu, and the main road is right along the beach. All the people here are very willing to help with the missionary work, and they all look so happy so see us every day, even the non-members. People volunteer to feed us all the time, even if they are non members! We do not have a lot of investigators right now, because the elders before us didn't keep very good records... but we are asking around to see who they taught! These people are so laid back and happy, it is very humbling. They are so content with the little that they have. Often times, I don't know what people are saying, but when people talk about the gospel I can feel the spirit in their words, even if I don't understand. It's amazing! |

I'm so very sorry for the long letter. There was a ton to talk about! I love and I miss you all, and I will hopefully be sending some pictures very soon! 

ofa atu!

Sister Wunderlich

Sister Unitalisi

Sister one-ter-rich

Sister Lisi

Sister Rich

They can't pronounce my name so we're still trying to figure out what to call me. :D

The puppy.

The falekoloa (store)

Living quarters! 

First Photos From Nuku'Alofa

Finally off of the plane after a full day of travel!

New Sisters! (The caucasian sisters, they call "Palangi" for "white".)

All of the new missionaries.

Sister Wunderlich with President and sister Tupou.

Training.

More training.

Finally in full Tongan dress!!

Mission leadership training.