This week has been great!! The work here has really picked up!! It’s
been incredible! We usually have about 2
to 4 lessons a day and my Tongan has been immensely increased. I can
teach just about the whole first lesson once I memorize the First Vision! But,
the problem is the First Vision is a lot longer in Tongan. So, it
will take some time but I am determined!
Funny story for the week! We are attacked by dogs about 2 times a
day! We had Fafanga at this house the other day and we have eaten there once
before. They have these dogs that almost
attacked us, in fact , it was a mommy
dog and she took a snap at my ankle. Well, this time on the walk over we
decided to get ourselves some sticks to protect ourselves! So, we start walking
over and Elder G and I have our sticks and are all ready at 100 ft. away, the dogs see us and begin to bark! Now, this
house is tucked around a corner so you can’t see it but you can see the driveway!!
So, we keep walking and when we finally came within about 50 ft the dogs start inching
forward! Then, all of a sudden we hear from the driveway, a war cry , and hauling out of the driveway with
a stick raised above her head in defense of the missionaries, is a 5-year-old
little Tongan girl! She runs up to the dog and just whacks it in the nose with
her stick!! The dogs back off and she walks up and takes my hand (I know her
from church she always comes and sits with us in Sacrament meeting) and leads
us safely to the house! Ha-ha Greatest moment ever because these dogs were
mean!!!
Mom, you have no idea how much the kids
love us!! They come and sit with us during Sacrament meeting. They are so cute! And they always call our
names. ha-ha I can’t wait to show you
over Skype. Seriously, they are so
cute!!!! And time is flying!! The weeks go by so fast! I can’t believe to day
is Pday, already!!!
So, this week was incredible!! We had another baptism this last Saturday
a 12-year-old boy named Pila and I’m super excited for the coming weeks because
we will have a baptism every Saturday for the next 3 weeks! It’s exciting!! We
are teaching this family that we haven’t set a single appointment for because they
continually invite us over before we ask. It’s amazing.
The language is coming slowly but surely its hard though.
Everything is backwards compared to English so I need to think of everything
backwards but I’m teaching two principles a lesson, which is really helping.
My understanding is actually a LOT better than my speaking. In
most conversations I can usually catch what they are talking about or who they
are talking about so that has increased a TON.
I
get one extra hour every morning to study the language. The rest I have to do on the run, which makes
it incredibly hard. I think the hardest part is vocab because it’s not anything
like English. One word usually means
about 6 different words for example...
Fiefia: happy,
joy, excitement, peaceful. Now, it sounds easy but you always forget that.
There are 30 elders and sisters in my zone. Eight of them are
sisters and there are only four white people in my whole zone in the whole
mission, 130 missionaries currently, and about 50 are white!
There are 6 people in our district and surprisingly Elder L from
the MTC is in my district. That’s really nice.
Our district meetings are every Tuesday at 11:00 AM.
All
of the Elders and sisters except for my companionship are all from either
Australia or Tonga.
As for the beaches, I wish we had some in our area but
unfortunately, we have the harbor. Now, the awesome part is, right along side
of the road by our church building are a bunch of benches. So, every time we are
given money to eat that night, we go get barbecue, walk to our bench and look at
the ocean as we eat. It’s beautiful!
As for the last question, I
am always amazed about where I am! It’s incredible here. The lifestyle, the people, everything is
incredibly unique! It’s awesome! The people here are amazing! They truly help
the missionaries at all times, with food,
driving, money, you name it, they will
provide.
OK, It was an
AWESOME week!! Can’t wait to hear from all of you!!!
Love,
Love,
Elder Sheppard
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