guess what? Two more baptisms on tuesday! Monday for you. This is really exciting. The thing is, we weren't even looking for these two, the Lord simply dropped two precious souls into our hands. They are both eight years old, and both come from completely different circumstances. The first, who's name we'll call Paul, comes from a very devout weslyan family, but his parents have told all of their children they can go to whatever church they wish. The members have been bringing him to class and sacrament meeting in church for several months, and apparantly when you ask him at school he tells you he's mormon. When we started teaching him, he was so excited. We told him we'd come at a certain time and he sat on his front porch with his book of mormon waiting for us to come! He also invited many of his other non-member friends, who got to participate in the lesson, too.
The other's name we'll call Dot. Dot has had a very hard life. A couple years ago, her father got very angry and because of this, her mother ended up passing away. Her father now, is in prison, and she has been separated from all of her siblings, and now they all live in separate houses. Her aunt asked us if we wanted to teach her. We came over to her house, and the first lesson we taught was the plan of salvation. We talked about how if we follow the gospel, families are able to be together forever. She loved it! She gets so excited every time we come over. One evening we were late to a lesson and she was very concerned, and her aunt told us she was kneeling by the door, praying for us to come.
The love I have for both of these children kind of feels like it might rip me apart. I want to do everything I can to make sure they stay strong in this gospel! We've integrated them into the Primary, and they both now have many friends there, and we've assigned a member to pick Paul up for church every week because Sister Vaa'i and I may not be here for much longer. Their baptism tomorrow is going to be amazing, and we've invited all of their nonmember friends to come to the baptism so they can see for themselves what we've taught about, and hopefully they'll be able to feel the spirit there, too.
I have not yet had the chance to see anything from the General Women's session yesterday. I actually thought it was next week? But maybe that's because they have to translate everything into Tongan. So it looks like we'll watch each session a week late, but better late than never! Also, better in english than tongan. My companion and I will re-watch all of the sessions in english, when we get the chance to use a computer.
Which brings me to something else. If I end up getting transferred this week, I'm not sure when the next time Is I will have access to a computer, so If I don't email for a while again be patient.
My thoughts this week have been drawn time and time again to home, but it's not so much a bad thing. I keep having all these good memories floating back to me before I sleep. Memories of Family, hanging out at friend's houses, MANY memories of colorguard and all the fun I had there, Summers, winters, so on and so forth. But, they don't make me miss home so much, they just bring a warm feeling to my heart. Of course, I do long to see you all, but for now the phrase "Someday" keeps me satisfied.
A mission is a mini version of life. You leave your family and friends and the people who love you so that you can fulfill God's purposes, and you know that all you have to do is be obedient and preach his gospel, so that "someday" you can return to your family, and be happy knowing you completed God's command.
Same with this life. We've left our family, Our Eternal Father and Mother, so that his purposes might be fulfilled, and all we have to do is be obedient to his commandments, and "someday" we will get to return and live with him, forever.
It's amazing!
Thank you all so much for your love and support, and know that I miss you all dearly, and that I think about you all before I sleep! (Creepy much?)
OFA LAHI ATU KIMOUTOLU! Oua te ke manavahe, ko e palani 'oe 'Otua 'oku haohaoa ia. Falala ki ai, 'oku ne osi 'ilo'i me'a katoa pe!
P.S. Have you ever gone through the temple in Tongan? Me neither. We're going on Saturday. This'll be interesting!
This man was chopping down this tree with a machete!
Tan lines.
This is the view when we go running every morning.
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