Hey Guys!
So another great week has passed here in the humid Kingdom of Tonga!
As usual, a ton of walking has been done and I know for a FACT that I have lost weight! So that is a huge blessing! As I said last week, the animal gangs are still at it every night like clockwork! Its crazy that they go at it so often. There are dogs limping around with broken legs and pigs are hurt, too. It’s getting pretty serious out here...
Ok, onto to the latest update!
So, we had a teaching this last week on Monday and as we were waiting for the time to go by, because our previous appt. had finished early, I saw a couple kids playing catch. So, I wandered over and started to throw the ball around. I was there for about 20 minutes when the mom came outside smiling! She walked up to Elder G and started talking with him! Her name was Feau and she’s married to a white guy! Turns out, she was baptized when she was 16 and never returned to the church! She really wants to come back and have her kids come, too! So, we might be having a 3 person baptism in the coming weeks! That’s pretty exciting! Her kids are awesome, too. There’s Sione, Mo, and a daughter we have not met yet! They are an awesome family! In fact, we have FHE tonight with them!
Another investigator we have is Pila! In fact we will be baptizing Pila this coming Saturday! He has been an awesome little kid. He is currently 12 years old and we have been teaching him for 2 weeks now! He came to church yesterday and has kept every commitment we have extended to him! He truly believes and it has been an awesome experience teaching him!
So, basically Tonga is beautiful! I can’t even describe the feelings I have walking around here. Saturdays are crazy here! On Saturday no one is home all day until the evening! They are all out shopping for food for Sunday! Then when they get home they rake up all of the leaves and put them in their burning pit. Yes, I said burning pit.... ha-ha in fact every Pday we take out trash to our pit throw it in there, light a match and burn our trash because there is no trash system! So, everyone just burns everything! Then when Sunday comes that’s when ALL of Tonga goes quiet. The streets are dead, like when you imagine the road in the middle of nowhere with the tumbleweed.. That is Tonga. No one is out side or anything! And if your shop is open then you are fined by the police the next day! The only shop that is open is the bread shop so that you can receive your fresh bread!
So, it’s been an awesome week! Humidity is actually starting to drop a
bit because "winter" is coming to Tonga! So the nights have gotten a
little colder! I’m so excited to send all of you pictures from Tonga!
It’s beautiful here and nothing compares! I feel so blessed to serve
this people and have the opportunity to speak the language!
Love you all!!!
Elder Sheppard
So another great week has passed here in the humid Kingdom of Tonga!
As usual, a ton of walking has been done and I know for a FACT that I have lost weight! So that is a huge blessing! As I said last week, the animal gangs are still at it every night like clockwork! Its crazy that they go at it so often. There are dogs limping around with broken legs and pigs are hurt, too. It’s getting pretty serious out here...
Ok, onto to the latest update!
So, we had a teaching this last week on Monday and as we were waiting for the time to go by, because our previous appt. had finished early, I saw a couple kids playing catch. So, I wandered over and started to throw the ball around. I was there for about 20 minutes when the mom came outside smiling! She walked up to Elder G and started talking with him! Her name was Feau and she’s married to a white guy! Turns out, she was baptized when she was 16 and never returned to the church! She really wants to come back and have her kids come, too! So, we might be having a 3 person baptism in the coming weeks! That’s pretty exciting! Her kids are awesome, too. There’s Sione, Mo, and a daughter we have not met yet! They are an awesome family! In fact, we have FHE tonight with them!
Another investigator we have is Pila! In fact we will be baptizing Pila this coming Saturday! He has been an awesome little kid. He is currently 12 years old and we have been teaching him for 2 weeks now! He came to church yesterday and has kept every commitment we have extended to him! He truly believes and it has been an awesome experience teaching him!
So, basically Tonga is beautiful! I can’t even describe the feelings I have walking around here. Saturdays are crazy here! On Saturday no one is home all day until the evening! They are all out shopping for food for Sunday! Then when they get home they rake up all of the leaves and put them in their burning pit. Yes, I said burning pit.... ha-ha in fact every Pday we take out trash to our pit throw it in there, light a match and burn our trash because there is no trash system! So, everyone just burns everything! Then when Sunday comes that’s when ALL of Tonga goes quiet. The streets are dead, like when you imagine the road in the middle of nowhere with the tumbleweed.. That is Tonga. No one is out side or anything! And if your shop is open then you are fined by the police the next day! The only shop that is open is the bread shop so that you can receive your fresh bread!
So, it’s been an awesome week! Humidity is actually starting to drop a
bit because "winter" is coming to Tonga! So the nights have gotten a
little colder! I’m so excited to send all of you pictures from Tonga!
It’s beautiful here and nothing compares! I feel so blessed to serve
this people and have the opportunity to speak the language!
Love you all!!!
Elder Sheppard
Parental addition: We received a letter today with a photo of Connor on the day he arrived with his mission president and his wife. It is dated March 27, 2013. He looks tired and pale and slightly disheveled. The suit is now in a suitcase for two years. We'll see what a few weeks of tropical sunshine will do for him:)
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