Nini and Mani got BAPTIZED!

This week was very different from any week I've had on the mission so far....because we stayed at home like the whole week. My companion's sickness got worse and she couldn't eat or drink anything without throwing up and had like no energy and the pills the mission doctor gave wouldn't really stay down...sooo I cleaned the house super good on Tuesday and did some extras studies and got to know/talk to my companion....and on Wednesday.....and on Thursday (thankfully, the Zone Leaders we're sooo kind and got to take some of our appointments!) but then on Friday she started feeling better (finally was able to eat some food) and we got to go to Nini and Mani's interview and then we worked and went to the baptism on Saturday... I started getting a cold which wasn't bad but I lost my voice on Sunday. It was hilarious. I sounded like a man and it was really hard to speak. But my companion told me "her prayers were answered" cause it shut me up hahahaha yeah sometimes I talk too much...haha ahh I love her. We just got done playing volleyball for pday..and it was sooo fun! I miss it. But I'm pretty weak...and it'll motivate me to get in better shape haha

Sooooo like I said..Nini and Mani (Bishop's sisters) got BAPTIZED! It was so amazing. They are so funny and love to joke around. I love them so much. They're 16 and 18 years old and they're looking forward to the day when they'll be "Sister Vaioleti". We're going to set up a time for us to go and watch them do baptisms for the dead next week! After their baptism, they were just glowing! On Sunday, after their confirmation, I asked them how they felt. Taimani described it as her whole body felt like it was burning. It's so crazy how in just a few weeks someone can change the direction of their life. I am so grateful for Bishop and we're going to start working with their older sister next! (We baptized their brother last month).

This past week, since I had a little extra time I began to read the New Testament straight through. I read a chapter in Tongan and then skimmed through it in English...it was really cool cause different things stood out to me in each language. My love for the Savior has grown immensely this past week. He is an amazing teacher and I've loved studying about his life. Matthew chp 6&7 have to be two of my favorite chapters because it seems like no matter what principle you're talking about in the Gospel, you could find a scripture to relate to it. No wonder why it's in the Book of Mormon too. 

I also love Matt 11:28-30. I think sometimes we try to bear our burdens on our own...but the truth is we don't need to. Christ invites us to come unto Him. Pray for strength. And through the enabling power of the Atonement, we'll be given strength to endure. He will give us peace (John 14:27) in the midst of affliction. God doesn't always take away our trials--because that's what refines us. In fact, that's the reason we're here on this Earth, to learn and grow! But He has provided a way for us to endure these trials--through Christ, if we let him!

I hope you all have a fantastic week. Remember our Heavenly Father loves you. You are His child. He has a plan for you. Trust Him. And He will lead you along.

Ofa Lahi Atu,

Sister Reid

I Feel My Savior's Love

Sooooo transfers happened on Thursday and it was sad saying goodbye to Sister Wunderlich we had good times together but my new companion is great. Sister Malu is from Sydney, Austrailia, she's 25 years old, she's funny, kind, and I'm excited to work with her! We just switched companions with two other sisters so on Thursday we went to Fahefa (their area), picked them up, and then dropped Sister Wunderlich and her new comp (Sister Alovili) off in their new area. Then Sister Malu and I took the car and came back to Veitongo/Haateiho. It was hilarious driving on the left side of the road. Luckily, I've gotten used to which side to drive on from just being in a car this past transfer...but I put on the windshield wipers instead of the blinker about 20 times...haha but now it feels pretty natural. 

My poor companion has been sick the past several days so we actually haven't been able to go out and work. We moved to Liahona (until hot water gets installed in our MQ) and so I've gotten a lot of time to study and play the piano there and talk to myself haha. 

We have two investigators preparing for baptism on Saturday! Bishop finally got permission from his dad to let his two younger sisters be taught (Nini and Mani)...so we've been working with them and they are so wonderful! The first lesson we taught them we committed them to baptism..at first, they had a difficult time understanding why it was important for them to be baptized. But the last lesson we taught, one of the sisters shared her experience of praying and receiving an answer about the Book of Mormon and then expressed her desire to get baptized as soon as possible. They're so cute, I love them so much, and I'm so grateful for the converting power of the Book of Mormon and the Holy Ghost. 

I love you all so much! I know that as we look for opportunities to share these precious truths we will feel joy beyond what we can comprehend. I'm so grateful for the love I feel from my Savior and His Gospel everyday as I read the scriptures and share His word.

Ofa Lahi Atu!

Sister Reid

Palesiteni Fo'ou ki ai

This week has been filled with many wonderful experiences, many of which is because we got a new mission president this week! President and Sister Tuione are WONDERFUL! They are so very kind, spiritual, and some of the most HUMBLE people I have ever met in my life. They are young...like younger than my dad...and they have 5 children (the oldest of which is on a mission and the rest live at the mission home)

On Tuesday, we got a text from the APs while we were setting up a family missionary plan with one of the members in the ward, that said, "Don't forget you're going to vilo with Sister Tuione at 6pm"...it was 5:30pm...yeah thanks for the reminder text since we didn't even know about it in the first place haha! But it all worked out, we cancelled our fafanga and picked her up, The first lesson we went to wasn't lava so we went to our back-up plan...they weren't home. This was Sister Tuione's first time ever going out with the missionaries in her life, so she got a good feel for what it is like haha. We went to one more house and the guy was busy. But thankfully, the other people at the house were available for us to talk to (a couple--a less active/nonmember). The lady shared her story and we talked for about 3 minutes. I asked the mamalohi if he still reads the Book of Mormon...and then the member that was there went on for about 20 minutes about the history of the Book of Mormon through the Bible...and the investigator was almost asleep. My companion looked at me like "what do we do?!" After he finished we shared a scriptures (Ether 12:27) from the Book of Mormon that has helped us in our life. The lady (invest) shared her testimony about that scripture and agreed to keep reading the Book of Mormon. We all shared our testimony and Sister Tuione got to testify her first time as a missionary. It was honestly one of the weirdest lessons but it turned out well! Sister Tuione said she had a really good time and was proud of us...pheww haha glad she had nothing to compare it too.

We dropped her off and she asked us if we could come in and meet president. Even before I stepped in their house I felt the strong spirit inside. We met President and their kids. right before we were about to leave he said, "is that okay if you two join us for family prayer?" so we knelt down and he asked...me...to say the prayer. No pressure. haha. But it was a wonderful experience to be able to bless their family.

Wednesday, we had Mission Leadership Conference. He shared his vision for the mission and focused on obedience and the Missionary Handbook. It was inspiring. We are now allowed to play SPORTS (I'm going to try to play volleyball :)) and have Zone Pdays. 

So much more happened this week....but I guess the next biggest thing is that my companion is transferring! I'm going to follow-up train Sister Malu (Tongan from Australia) and I'm super excited. We went vilo hoa with them a couple weeks ago and she's hilarious! I also will be the one driving...so wish me luck on learning how to drive on the left side...especially since I haven't driven a car for 10 months!

Love you all so much!! Have a great week.

Sister Reid

Happy Birthday to the King of Tonga...and America!

Happy Fourth of July! I'm sad I won't be there to see the fireworks..but it's the King's birthday here in Tonga so they're celebrating that here which is pretty cool. 

Anyways, we got our new mission president this week! We will meet him tomorrow at Mission Leadership Conference and I'm very excited. He's Tongan from New Zealand and is pretty young but has already been a Stake President. I've heard really good things about him so I'm looking forward to the things I'll learn from him and his wife! He's a convert to the church and just found out what a district meeting is haha so it's going to be interesting! But his wife served her mission in Tonga several years ago. 

This week was a bit of a struggle with the work but we worked hard so it was good. We had taught one family last week who seemed really open and excited to hear our message. We went back yesterday and she had just talked with her preacher about it. She shared with a some scriptures that talked about "palofita kaka" --false prophets. And with so many words told us that we were those false prophets and that we can leave her family alone and lead away others. This isn't the first time this has happened. So we listened respectfully. I asked her a few questions and she told us that she will never believe Joseph Smith is a prophet and the Book of Mormon is true. It broke my heart a little because she had no idea what she was denying. I told her we respect her belief and we're not going to force anything upon her, our responsibility as missionaries is to simply invite and then we respect others agency...but then we left her with our testimonies. I hope and pray she felt the Spirit while we testified cause I surely did. I pray her kids felt it. She was kind enough and let us leave them with a prayer. Her girls hugged us goodbye. It broke my heart but I pray they'll be open to the truth one day. 

The baby was blessed yesterday and they explained to us why they named him Thomas Lucas Reid. Thomas is after the prophet (Thomas S Monson) and Lucas/Reid were named after us (the two servants of the Lord). they're so cute!

We have one investigator that is really progressing towards baptism this week or next week. His name is Fe'ao. He's about 20 years old and moved in with one of our members a little while ago. I love this work and seeing how it changes people! 

Last night, we taught a man from Tahiti (Bishop found him) who is here and wants to start a business. He speaks Tahitian, French, and a little English so we taught him at Bishop's house and talked very slowing. In the middle of the lesson our Bishop started saying things in French to him and me and my companion look at each other SO confused. And then we looked at his wife like how is your husband speaking French?! I swear he got the Gift of Tongues or something. He didn't tell us until after the lesson that he lived in France for two years to play rugby. So funny. Then we went home and saw a lizard licking my ice cream cake that I left on the table. Gotta love living in Tonga. 

Hope you all have an awesome week! The Lord loves you. I love you. 

Sister Reid

The Baby's Middle Name is REID

Tons of crazy stuff happened this week with investigators and stuff but I don't have a lot of time to write about it all...so I'll just write about a few random things:

I GOT A BABY NAMED AFTER ME (kinda...) so last week we had fafanga at the Bishop's house and while we were over there eating we found out that the wife was at the hospital and had just given birth. We were a little confused about why the family was still at home and then we realized that they were waiting for us to come and eat! (Yeah, feeding the missionaries is super important to some people). We got mad at them for waiting for us--THEIR LITTLE BROTHER WAS JUST BORN! I got mad at Bishop. haha. And we shoveled down the rest of our food and left. We came back a couple days later and saw the cutest little baby boy EVERR! And we asked what his name was. And guess what they named him? Thomas Lucas Reid Matu (Tomasi Lukasi Liti Matu) I was dying!! The middle name Lucas is after my companions brother that they always joke about marrying their daughter. Man, it made my day! 

We had a special Sister Trainer's meeting this week with President and Sister Tupou. It was wonderful! They shared the sweetest testimony with us... They finish on Thursday! 

The mission is wonderful! I'm so so blessed to be here. I feel so much joy every single day from this work. Just a thought: Don't ever pray again to help the missionaries find people to teach but rather pray for you to find someone for the missionaries to teach. Member Missionary Work is the way to go! Hope you all have a fantastic week. 

Ofa Lahi Atu

Sister Reid

Net was down last week...sorry

First off, just want to apologize for not sending an email last week, the net was down in both of the churches we work in. A lot has happened these past couple weeks so although I wish I could explain everything, it's just not possible..so here are just some highlights!

1- We had a baptism last Saturday! One of the wards we're over was just created last month (one of the wards split) and the Bishop of the new ward brought his brother to be taught--and he just got baptized! Our Bishop was baptized several years ago, went on a mission, married one of the Tukuafu's daughters, and is on fire with missionary work. It's so awesome. 

2- Last Monday we got permission to go to kolo (town--Nuku'alofa) to buy fabric for a couple new kofus (dresses). It is so different from the rest of Tonga--lots of people and lots of cars. We got pizza which was delicious and got to look around the "market". It was a lot of fun to finally see town but I think I'm more about the simple, quiet life. 

3- There was a stake musical fireside this past week here (that President and Sister Tupou came to and spake at) and let's just say this stake can SING! They sing with such power. It gave me the chills.

4- Last Sunday, Sister Wunderlich and I got to sing in one of the wards -- we sang "Abide with Me" in Tongan. Yesterday, in another one of our wards they randomly asked us to sing right before the meeting started so we sang the same song. We were a little nervous but it turned out good (Sister Wunderlich has a gorgeous voice) we also made Bishop cry so we took that as a good sign. And it just happened to be that in that ward the temple president was visiting..

5- We just finished reading the Book of Mormon again as a mission. I love it. It truly is the word of God.

6- Got my Tongan Driver's License this morning! I handed them my Utah one, gave them 60 pa'anga, they took a picture of me, and handed me my license. I'm not driving yet (Sister Wunderlich is the designated driver) but when I do I'll have to learn driving on the left side.

7- Missionary Leadership Conference was last week and it was INCREDIBLE. I wish I had time to share all of the things I've learned. We talked about what it means to both "Do" the things that Christ did as well as "Be" by having a willing heart and developing His attributes. Many people create a TO DO list but we should create a TO BE list. We all discussed what "tell how vs. show how" means. This was President and Sister Tupou's last MLC and at the end when they went around shaking hands we sang "God Be With You till we Meet Again". They are wonderful and I'm definitely going to miss them but I'm excited to have a new president. He comes the end of this month. But President and Sister Tupou will be staying in Tonga until August because the church here will be celebrating 100 years of Misiona Tonga!

8- We had Zone Meeting this past week (my first one since I've been on the mission--'Eua is only a district) and we got to teach like half of it. All of the sisters in our zone were sick so we were the only sisters there. It was a very uplifting meeting and went pretty well for having to translate the MLC meeting (which was mostly all in English) to Tongan for all of the Tongans in our zone meeting.

I love my mission and I love the Lord. I love the opportunity I have to serve my Heavenly Father and pray with all my heart that I can do what he would have me do, say what he would have me say, and be what he would have me be. I know that when we give him our hearts he can make more out of us than we could ever make of ourselves.

Love you all and hope you have a fantastic week!

Sister Reid

Goodbye 'Eua

SOOO much happened this past week! But first off, I GOT TRANSFERRED FROM 'EUA! I got a call from the assistants to the President on Monday Night about 8:30pm -- we were just finishing up a teaching with Mateaki and Palomesi at a FHE --and I knew immediately what it was for...I was getting transferred. He said the office just bought my ticket and I would be transferring to Tongatapu (Veitongo/Ha'ateiho) and we would be switching companionships with another pair of Sister Training Leaders -- Sisters Wunderlich (my new companion) and Viamahi. I would be leaving the next day and I needed to do whatever I need to do to be able to be at the airport at 9am the next morning. 

After I hung up the phone, Sister Betteridge and I looked at each other and cried. I think the hardest part was the short notice but I knew it would be okay. We went home and I packed...the struggle was so real! The next morning we went and I said goodbye to Malia and Kepueli (the two recent converts), the bishop, and another family in the ward. Hiko (the old man at the house we live at), sat us down and gave about a ten minute speech...crying...apologizing for if he'd done anything bad, sharing his love--just in the good old Tongan way--and then I gave my attempt in doing the same back. 

We got to the airport, paid for the overweight luggage (although I had left like half my stuff) and I got on the plane with my over-stuffed carry on and pillow/blanket. Luckily, they saw the struggle was real and probably because I'm a missionary, gave me front row and two seats (that's what you get for being a frequent flier). The plane started and I couldn't hold back the tears--I looked out the window and felt like my heart was literally breaking. 'Eua had been my mission. There were people there I knew I may never see again. I let the tears go for about 5 minutes and then looked up for the things that blow out air to dry my eyes out. I felt the sweetest feelings of peace and confirmation that this was God's will and I knew it'd be okay. 

And guess what? It is okay! My new companion is great. She's from Layton, Utah...she has been out here 3 more transfers than me. Our new area is very large. I feel like I'm in Muli (across seas) because they have real stores, a bakery, etc. We have a BRAND NEW car (just came on Monday) and I'll probably get my license in a couple weeks. Aka I need to be dedicated even more to diligent exercise. We live at the house of President Tukuafu (2nd quorum of the 70) and they have this BEAUTIFUL dock out back on the ocean/inlet, there are many wonderful people, and we're over 3 wards so we're super busy! But it's awesome! We have a bit of a mice problem and have already caught two. haha it's the worst but I don't feel as scared of them anymore.

There is SO much more I could write about (lot's of teachings and people that are preparing for baptism) but not much more time. I'm so grateful for the gospel. And grateful for these people. I am so blessed to be in Tonga and to be serving a mission! It's the last MLC for our mission president so that'll be sad..but excited to go tomorrow! 

Hope you all have a fantastic week! Know that God is aware of you and he has a plan! Ofa Lahi Atu!

Sister Reid