Mother's Day letter and phone call

This is the view from Connor's walk to the beach.

Connor sent home a letter for Mother's Day that arrived on Saturday!  A beautiful pressed flower from his front yard made it all the way here:) A portion of the letter reads:
"Mom, I want you to know that I have a burning testimony of this church.  I know that Joseph Smith restored the church and that through him, the Priesthood authority is back on the earth.  I know that Thomas Monson is a true prophet today and that he leads and guides this church.  I know that families can be together forever and I am blessed to to be able to see my mom forever and always get to look up to her!  Because you are the best example I could possibly ask for! I know that Jesus Christ died for us on the cross and He took upon himself all the sins of the world.  He loves each and every one of us!  You have no idea of how proud I am to be your son! 
What a beautiful letter and testimony from my sweet boy:)

Connor was able to call home for Mother's Day.  We were not very hopeful because the island he has been transferred to is rustic:) But, in the middle of the afternoon the phone rang and there he was!  Tears of joy to hear his voice!  A member of the ward had given him her prepaid cell phone for the day to call home.  Bless those lovely saints all over the world that help the missionaries talk to their moms:) He sounds great and is loving his experiences.  Here are some excerpts from our conversation yesterday:

What is your new area like?

'Eua beach, just down from Connor's house

"It is beautiful here,  We can walk straight down the road to the beach. Most of the island is a national park with lots of rainforest. We have a small hut right across the street from the church.  We walked down to the beach and because my camera is waterproof,  I set the timer and held it by the strap underwater to take the picture.  The water is so incredible.  It is so clear it's amazing! I have a new companion who is a native Tongan.  He is from an island that almost touches Samoa. I miss speaking English with Elder Groom but, my new comp. is a great guy and I know my language will only get better!"

What is a typical day?
"Our area is two wards and there are only five nonmembers in our area.  So, we get up every day between six and seven.  We meet the Bishop and go with him out to work the farms of the local people.  We dig up taro roots which can be 40 to 50 pounds each.  We chop down trees, burn brush, climb the trees to cut down coconuts and bananas.   It is super hot and I stop every morning at 11:00 to put on sunscreen.  If I don't,  I get really burned." 
We help the locals crate up all of the produce and go to the harbor to put it on a boat for the main island, Tongatapu. 
After we finish,  the locals all take naps in the heat of the day and we see them again at about 5:00.  Everyone in the village comes out in the evening to play together.  We all play tennis and the kids run around and the moms all talk together.  "I love that here.  I wish we did that more at home.  It is really great!"

How is the food?
"Well, I have eaten dog, horse and octopus."  Walker asked, "How was the octopus?"  Connor, "Tentacley! I didn't like it much but, I ate it."  (Coming from Connor this is a big deal!!)  Breakfast is usually, octopus or fish.  Lunch is noodles and chicken, taro, eggs bread and maybe horse.  His favorite thing is "lu" it's made from different meats. It can be chicken lu, pig lu or
(my favorite), meat from a can lu.  "One thing I miss is boneless meat!  Everything here has bones in it.  "Oh, and mom, can you send me some more floss?"
"Mom! They all know Kentucky Fried Chicken!  So they cook it and then they"Kentucky"it. Which means they fry it!!"  Kentucky is funny in a Tongan sentence."  

What is the animal life like on the island?
There are lots of beautiful wild parrots.  There are some very poisonous centipedes that are nearly a foot long.  They are red and black and ugly!  There are huge hermit crabs down at the beach.  I miss the dog and pig wars. 

'Eua rainforest

"My car ride to town today was in a car with no door handles, tops out at 40 mph and my seat was broken so I kept rolling back and forth the whole way!"

"The island finally got an internet cafe.  It is in a shed."

The police don't do much here.  But, just don't hit someone's pig!!"

7 minute plane flight to 'Eua

 

Hey Guys!!

So big news! I’m being transferred to the small island of ‘Eua! It is off the coast of the main island here in Tongatapu! The area I’m serving in is Ha'atu'a. It is a four-hour boat ride through the world’s third deepest trench! But I don’t have to take the boat.  I get to take the plane.  It is exactly a seven-minute plane ride! So, I leave this Wednesday and fly there and that’s where I will be for the next six weeks.  Crazy right? Ok, pertaining to my transfer, DAD, it’s unheard of to go off island like this so quickly! It happens to very few new kids, especially during their 12-week training program! Did you see the rainforest?  It is awesome!!! Groom said that there are actual wild parrots there! MOM, DAD, I’VE NEVER SEEN A WILD PARROT!! We will get to visit those and the screaming cliffs.  Have you seen those yet!?!?! The wind is so powerful that whatever you throw off the side of the cliff will always come back to you!! Cool right? I’m going to buy a crummy pair of flip-flops for 5 pa'anga and throw them off for fun ha-ha.  I’ll video it for you guys!!!

There is one city for such a big island. There are NO people on it! Seriously, the work is wicked slow there! Groom was telling me that we will be doing a lot of just contacting and exploring on our down time! Did you see the rain forest to the side of it! It’s a national park!

But, on the down side, there is little to no internet there and skype will not be available for use.... so I will be calling home this Mother’s Day not skyping. Sorry mom....

 I have not received the package yet... but I come back in 2 or 3 weeks for our huge mission tour. Elder Hamula, our area 70 is coming and since we are part of the zone on the main island, we are flown home and we get to go to it.  So, hopefully it will be there by then.  It usually takes 4 to 5 weeks for a package and letters are always a wild card.  They can be anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months!  ha-ha So,  I should receive the package when I come for that!! And, by the way, watch your phones form the 18th to the 22nd that’s when I come home and if I haven’t emailed you by then, I will then because I will have the opportunity! Oh, and when I email in the office on may 20th or whichever day around that,  I will have fast enough internet to send pictures! The office internet is the fastest internet in all of the islands ha-ha, funny right?

As for my week, it was an awesome week! I baptized 3 people! That was an amazing experience! We were incredibly excited! Also, the other day when I was leaving this house (searching for more investigators) a dog shot out and went for my ankle! And for some reason the dog barely missed my ankle and grazed my leg with his snout! So, of course my immediate thought was angel with a golf club!! It was a truly terrifying experience! ! The language is coming.  I can teach the whole first lesson by myself but I have to stick to things I know.  I’m starting “Ko” sentences and that is super hard!! But, its coming and I understand a ton now!

So let’s see: my week!!

Tuesday-it rained all day so my comp and I had to stay inside all day. So, we sat, talked, read, studied and played monopoly. ha-ha Someone had left Monopoly in our MQ so we played a round or two of Monopoly!

Wednesday- we went out and visited and got a few teachings in that we really needed! It was still raining super hard! But, we couldn’t waste another day, so we ran through it to our teachings. Fortunately, we were able to get a ride from the zone leaders for the last two teachings!

Thursday- we got more teachings in and worked really hard to find more investigators. I was super tired at the end of that day! We do a lot more walking than what most people think here in Tonga.  In fact, we do a ton of walking!

Friday- my companion was sick, so we took him to the mission office and it was bad enough that we actually went to the hospital and he got a check up and he stayed with the zone leaders for the rest of the weekend. I went vilo hoa with Elder Lepa the rest of the weekend and completed our three baptisms!! Yes, we taught all of them in a week and they all had already been to church a few times! I baptized a 12-year-old boy named Skippy and a very old man named Sosefa and an 8-year-old boy for a family.  They just wanted a missionary to do it! And his name was Sione! It was a cool and chilly experience because the water was freezing cold!!

Instead of basketball courts here, they have tennis and volleyball courts and people play rugby and volleyball everyday here at about 5 to 6 until its night time.  The whole village gets together and plays! We are waiting for our district to arrive and play volleyball! I play all the time.  In fact, the Tongans ask me to play now cause my spike is deadly now.  Pop, I can aim it at who ever I want! And they love how I aim it at them instead of hitting it away!  And MOM!  one of them came up to me and said "I love you palangi cause you hard play hit!"

YEAH! Mom if it wasn’t for your teaching me how to play at least a little tennis, I wouldn’t be able to play at all!  So, thank you!  Now, when we play tennis I still win!! Mom, can we play when I come home?  You better heal up your hand and be ready for a smack down in tennis! You will still beat me but I can try!

So, all in all a great week!!!

I hope all is well at home. I LOVE ALL YOU and miss you guys a ton!!!

Elder Sheppard