Happy Easter

Soooo my new companion is Sister Betteridge (Petalisi-in Tongan) and she got here on Tuesday and she is so wonderful! We get along SO well! She is such a hard worker, chill, funny, and a really good missionary. I've already learned so much from her and I know I'll continue to learn a lot from her example! She is from Washington state but studied at BYU last year. It's been fun being with a palangi, a lot different, but people are so nice and we've had so much food at our house the past week and each so much at fafanga (when the members feed us)...it's crazy! But seriously, I think we've gained a lot of respect from the members because we're not picky and we try to eat a lot. haha. But we're diligent in exercise so it doesn't risk our health too badly.

The work is coming along...it's been really hard to find new investigators because the preachers in the churches tell their congregation that they're not allowed to listen to us. So we're finding ways around that..and really starting to work with the members. But yesterday in ward council, all the leaders in the ward set a date for us to come to their house this week and they'll have someone for us to teach...so if that goes the way we hope it does there will be a lot of progress! 

Easter here is different..they don't do like Easter eggs, or things like that. They get off work and school on Saturday and Monday and pretty much everyone goes to church and have huge church celebrations in "remembering the cross"...

General Conference will be the week after for us...and I'm SO excited!

I finished the Book of Mormon in Tongan this week...and guess what? It ends the same in Tongan as in English...haha it has been such an awesome experience being able to read it in Tongan..the Gift of Tongues is real. Learning a language is the most humbling thing ever and SO hard and takes a ton of dedication but it's amazing seeing how it took me sooo long in the MTC to even read a verse and understand it and now I understand almost everything I read..still have a long way to go but I know that God helps his missionaries.

Hope you have a good week! 

Sister Reid

He Is Risen

How blessed we are to be children of a Heavenly Father, whose love is infinitely perfect and who is merciful beyond all measure that He sent His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer, die, and then burst the bands of death that we might live. What a beautiful time of year this is to reflect a little deeper upon our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ--the most Selfless being this world has ever seen. He Lives. He invites us to Follow Him. And He stands with arms of Mercy stretched out to you. Because of Him we can become whole, without spot, if we just accept him. How do we accept him? By living the Gospel of Jesus Christ--Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring the the End. My love and gratitude for Him has grown deeper as I've stood as a representative of Him--I'm inadequate, I'm weak, I make mistakes. But because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ I am enough and I receive strength enough to do what needs to be done. I love my Savior and Redeemer, the Prince of Peace, even Jesus Christ. I testify he lives and loves everyone of us--and because of His atonement we can be enough, we can make it through, and ultimately we can become perfect and live with God again. 

Sister Langi (my companion) and Sister Vaa'i (my old companion) both finished their missions on Friday aaaaaand Sister Medina (my companion from the MTC) and I have been working together in Pangai (my area) until our new companions come (tomorrow).....soooooo my new companion is a PALANGI (white girl) and she's been out a couple months more than me and so I'm super excited!!! But I'll tell you more about that next week :)

It's been a lot of fun working with Sister Medina and leading out the area these past few days. It's kinda crazy because sometimes you don't know how capable you are until capable is the only thing you can be haha. I'm feeling a lot more comfortable communicating with people..and although I have a long way to go to be fluent, there has been a lot of progress. I really love the Tongan language, I love the people here, and I love the gospel--the mission has been so good for me...SO hard, but SO good. Aaaand I'm going to finish the Book of Mormon in Tongan tomorrow...which I'm super pumped about. 

A lot of the people we teach turn out to be less actives but they just don't really remember they were baptized when they were younger..so that's a bit of a struggle. So we just treat them like an investigator but instead of them getting baptized we just try to get them to return to the church. And there are a lot of people who want to return to church but they married someone from another church and they won't let them return. So we teach the less active and try to teach their spouse but it's really hard to find them both home because most the time they're gone drinking kava and smoking with their friends. 

One guy we started teaching is from America but he came to Tonga about two years ago and while he was in Tonga he got baptized like a few days after meeting the missionaries (I don't really know how that happened....) and he doesn't know very much about the church. He's been attending church the past year but he doesn't really know Tongan..so we've been teaching him the doctrines and it's really weird teaching in English. Especially saying the prayer in English...I sound so awkward! haha but it's good, I'm glad we're here to help him learn the doctrines. 

Ofa Lahi Atu!!! Have an incredible week and Easter!

Sister Reid

MALIA'S AND KEPUELI'S BAPTISMS

MALIA AND KEPUELI GOT BAPTIZED THIS WEEK! It was seriously so beautiful. Since it was part of ward conference, the Stake Presidency was there and a lot of other people to support. It was a little stressful because it was supposed to start at 6 but Kepueli hadn't come back from "the bush" yet but when they arrived we welcomed them with open arms and smiles! When the meeting started their eyes were filled with tears and the Spirit was so strong. I seriously felt so much love for them. They were confirmed yesterday in church (ward conference) and they seriously glowed!! Their parents listened to the missionaries a year or so ago but haven't really been interested since. Their sister married someone who is less active and he smokes and stuff and that bugs the mom so we're going to start working with the sister's husband (he came to church yesterday for the first time in a long time) and then hopefully we can start teaching the whole family!! 

Tiola. Things have been a little confusing with her (she was maybe going to move to Tonga to go to school, etc) and she was supposed to go on Saturday to visit Tonga so we put off her baptism to figure some things out...so I'll keep you updated with that!

Sister Langi finishes this week and I have no idea what will happen with transfers. I'm a little nervous, but I know I don't need to be because God knows what he's doing! I'm so grateful for everything I've learned from Sister Langi...she pushes me to be a little better everyday..sometimes it's a little painful but I'm SO grateful!! 

I love this work. Last night, we were walking down the street and a boy stopped us and asked if he could ask a question. He said he was baptized a while ago but stopped going to church and has done a lot of bad things and he wants to know if it's possible for him to come back. We explained to him the process and then my companion shared with him the scripture in Isaiah "though your sins are as scarlet they can be white as snow" His eyes filled with tears. The Savior is so merciful. The atonement is so wonderful. The Lord has provided a way back.

OFA LAHI ATU!!

Sister Reid

Sio pe kiate au i he fakakaukau kotoa pe

This week has be truly wonderful. I know God is aware of the people on this little island in the middle of the ocean. It's truly a spectacular thing to watch the way the Lord works. Not everyone accepts our message, in fact a lot of people don't even want to listen to it, but God is preparing hearts to accept the gospel and it's our responsibility to find those souls. 

As a missionary, it's a test of our faith--maybe a couple days pass and no one really seems to want to listen to our message (and if they listen they aren't making progress) and it's hard to see that there are people who will accept. But we show our Faith in doing everything we can every single day, so when we do meet that person we are ready.

Malia and Kepuel our investigators (Brother and Sister who are in High school) have truly been prepared by the Lord, even though it wasn't evident at first. Sister Langi and her companion before me started teaching these two at the end of last year and there wasn't much progress. At last, a lady in the ward started fellowshipping them and they started coming to church every week...but they still had some questions and progression was slow. These past several weeks though Sister Langi and I have seen some great changes in them. We have literally seen their hearts change. They are Baptized on TUESDAY as part of ward conference week and I am absolutely thrilled. They told us on Saturday how they want to serve missions and get married in the temple and how their desires to read the scriptures have grown stronger. I love these two SO much! It's moments like these when your heart swells with gratitude and you can't stop smiling. And you keep working harder! 

Tiola, another investigator, who's in middle school (she's in Liahona and takes seminary but isn't baptized) but she is getting baptized on SATURDAY! We committed her to baptism a while ago and she was excited but then something changed and we didn't know what it was but she started acting weird and didn't want to get baptized or come to church and it broke our heart. But then last week we went to go see if we could have another lesson with her. Sister Langi asked her if she wanted us to keep teaching her and she said she did and so I asked her what she liked best about the things we'd taught her and she said baptism and that she can be baptized. I asked her more about the importance of baptism and why she wanted to be baptized and she shared the sweetest little testimony. On Sunday, she showed up with the young women in the ward and one of our recent converts and they were are smiling and laughing. It filled my heart with so much love to know that she felt welcomed. 

Two big things I've learned this week:

1) Fellowships make a HUGE difference--investigators need to feel welcomed.

2) As we trust God and keep moving forward, miracles happen. "Sio pe kiate au i he fakakaukau kotoa pe; oua 'e tala'a 'oua e manavahe" (Look unto me in every thought; doubt not fear not)

Don't get discouraged, the Lord knows what he's doing!

OFA LAHI ATU!!!

Sister Reid

Question this week: How would you help an investigator with a Word of Wisdom problem? "I've prayed and read my scriptures and try to stop smoking but I can't...what do I do?" What questions could you ask him, what scriptures could you share? What addiction recovery program could you set up?