Vava'u

Well where to begin,

So, this week has been kind of long... 

So, to start it off,  I have not had my bag this whole week because it did not make it on the boat ride up to Vava'u. I  have been wearing my companion's clothes this whole week! But, on the bright side, my bag will be arriving on Wednesday! 

My new companion is Elder T and he is a big 'ol Tongan! He's awesome. He is the nicest and kindest companion so far! He is from the main island of Tongatapu and he has been serving for about 9 months now! So, a pretty long time! 

The new house is ok.... yes, there is water. Yes, there is electricity but, there's only one bed. So, I sleep on the floor at the moment.  I'm hoping a new bed will come soon.  Apparently, there hasn't been a new bed here for about 3 to 4 transfers so quite a while! It's been an interesting experience! 

I am now serving in the city on Pouno which is the main city and town! The wharf that we docked at is actually my area so,that's pretty cool! We live one street over from the church and right next to a school building! It's pretty fun walking our area and always seeing our area all around us! The best part about working in town  is anything we need we can get! Because usually you have to go through other missionaries to get things you need and now its all right in front of me.

We cover 2 wards, Pouno 1 ward and 2 ward! They are super nice. In fact, I came right in time for the ward conference and we had a huge feast! I'm talking absolutely massive and unfortunately you know you are super white when the Tongan grandmothers still can eat more than you.... so that is always embarrassing and that is exactly what happened in the eating!

Now, to the plane ride and boat ride, wow, was that an experience!  We left at 4:00 Monday afternoon for the main island, Tongatapu on the plane and it was only an 8 minute plane ride. Right after that we jumped right aboard the Tonga transfer boat and had a nice short 22 hour boat ride! Yay..... NOT!  I did not get seasick but,  I did get a little queasy and I read my scriptures! So that didn't feel good! But, out of everyone,  I was the least sick! So, I absolutely enjoyed that part of it! Luckily we had cabins down below to sleep in so, that was nice! It was a quick ride because we slept the whole way! 

Now Vava'u is absolutely beautiful! There are  massive hills here covered in palm trees and beautiful bush! The water is always a a beautiful vibrant blue and the people are all incredibly nice. In fact, in 
the ward here, one of the ladies hand-wove me a bag! And another lady is making me a tauvala! So, to say these people are the nicest you will ever meet would be an understatement! 

Well, that's all that's happening here in Vava'u.  I'm sure I will have more to tell you guys next week. Especially, because it will be a full week! So, it will be fun!

Love you all!

Elder Sheppard

Vilohoa

 

Hey Guys!!!!

So this week has been awesome!!! Seriously,  I know this for a fact! Missionaries around the world yearn for wards like the ones here in Tonga!!! As I said last week, the minister from the Wesleyan church went around and told the people in our area to stop taking our lessons... and unfortunately they all listened except for one so that was nice!! So we told our bishop and next thing we know we have a vilohoa (when members go out and talk to everyone in the area and they do it with no fear! Seriously!!!) and they invited all the people in our area to an open house the next day!! In which 22 people arrived!! A lot of them inactive.... and about 5 to 7 of them were investigators!!! It was incredible!!! Then to top it off about 60% showed up to church that Sunday after we taught them at the open house and invited them to church!!! It was in an incredible feat put together by the ward to get people for us to teach!!!

So, this last week was pretty good, as you have read above...

For the last five weeks I have been on the hunt for an elusive animal that many missionaries haven't seen!! Even missionaries who have spent 3 months on the island of Eua!!! One day, as I was working in the bush, all of a sudden, there it was!! I WITNESSED THE EUA PARROT!! Yes folks, I saw it! And, I got a picture of it! It landed pretty far away but its bright green back was beautiful!! It was awesome and I saw three more that day.  It was an incredible day ha-ha! I don’t think I have ever been so excited to see a bird before,  seriously.... all of the Tongans were laughing at me cause I was so excited!! It was so cool!!

So,  this week in retrospect has been incredible!! I have loved it here on Eua and with the transfer coming up I don’t know what is going to happen.  It will be very interesting!!! Because 21 new missionaries are coming! So, I’m excited to see how this transfer runs through!!!

Other than that I have been having a blast here.  My Tongan has been getting there! Of course through the Lord's help! And it has been an awesome experience here! I’m excited to see where I will be next week!

Until then!!

Love,

Elder Sheppard!!

The Machete Expert!

Hey Everyone!!

This week in Tonga I learned something new about the culture! So according to my thoughts and calculations,  I have figured out pretty much that Tonga is the only place where you can sweat and get a work out FROM..... Eating. Yes, eating!!! Cause I suddenly realized the other night at our dinner that I was sweating from eating... and that’s not normal... because it wasn’t hot that night.  It was actually raining. So, I came to that conclusion because I realized that the amount of food we eat here and is given to us can only be inhaled through working out your stomach like the hot dog eating contest! So, while I’m eating I’ve started to try and perfect whatever that side-to-side motion was? So that has been my new goal!!

I am now a machete expert!  I climb coconut trees and cut down the coconuts.  My favorite is climbing to cut down the banana bunches.  We work in t-shirts and shorts until about 2:00 when we load up the produce on boats to go the main island.  Then the whole village goes home and goes to sleep.  My companion and I get cleaned up; do our personal study and companion study.  At five o’clock the whole village comes out to the church parking lot.  We have a tennis court and a volleyball court.  We play with the kids and everyone eats.  I love that part of the culture here!  After dinner we go to a member’s home to teach them.

So, as to new news! We have had 4 investigators these past couple weeks and they all have been extremely receptive to the gospel!! EXTREMELY receptive! Then all of a sudden "Poof" we only have one and his name is Pulotu. Now, from our snooping around and asking some members who are friends with our investigators. We were able to turn up this bit of information.... The Wesleyan (2nd biggest church in Tonga) minister went around to them and told them not to take our lessons anymore... and unfortunately they actually listened... so we are trying to get back with them but our efforts are coming to no avail... at least I think that’s the saying? So as to new investigators none unfortunately and with the new transfer coming up so rapidly we are hoping to find at least one more to teach! It’s all thanks to the members. They do everything!  In fact, sometimes they go on their own vilo hoa and find people for us!! It’s incredible! Nowhere in the world do people match to the diligence to these members.  They sometimes come to our house and tell us we have a teaching that night! ha-ha 

Which brings me to my next bit of information! So yesterday was P-day and the net was down because of the night before so we are netting today! But, as I was saying, our district leader told Elder S and I to be ready to pack our bags! Elder L is sick. Now, I had no idea what that meant until he told me where Elder L is serving.  He is in the farthest Island of Niua Fo'ou, which if an Elder is sick they automatically bring him home! Because, there are no direct plane flights there and the boat comes around about a month to a month and a half. So, in the next week or two either Elder S or I will be heading the farthest island where there is no internet or for the most part electricity. It only runs on solar power! So, this will be an interesting next couple weeks coming up to the transfer...

Well, I hope everyone at home is all right!

I LOVE YOU ALL

Elder Sheppard!

Earthquake!!

Hey Guys!!
      So, apparently you didn’t hear about the earthquake because you didn’t mention it in the email! But, there was a 7.5 magnitude earthquake on the main island and we on Eua received a 6.4 earthquake at 6:07 in the morning on Thursday of last week! So, that was a pretty cool experience! ha-ha we had to rebuild our neighbors house a bit but it's back to normal!

      Basically almost all of last week I spent on the main island forthe mission conference. Where Elder Hamula came and spoke to us for  pretty much the day. Then after we had to hang out for another day because there were no boat rides currently going to Eua! That was fun. We hung out with the APs for the day and went on a vilo hoa with them and taught their investigators! After we came home and for 2 days straight it rained and on Sunday it was bright and sunny so we went on a really long walk! ha-ha.

      Since not much happened last week I’ve decided I’ll tell you a few  things I miss at the moment. Right now,  at the moment I really badly want to have one drink where I don’t find ants or flies or any insects  already in it. I haven’t had a single drink yet where there has not been at an insect in it so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the first drink that will come my way and be clean!!! Oh, and I really  miss fast food ha-ha I don’t know why cause the food here in Tonga is AMAZING! It tastes wonderful! and I’m not sure why I crave it but I do right now! Sorry, this letter is so short! This coming up will be good though we are going to the bush just about everyday to help farmers because of the earthquake! So, that will be really fun!

 Love you guys!

 Elder Sheppard!

New Companion

Hey Guys!

So, this week in Eua has definitely been eventful!

It started off super slow because of the fact that there are only 5 people in my whole area that aren’t members... so it has definitely been a very slow start for us hear in Eua.

Elder G, my trainer was not able to make the trip with me out here to Eua and so I now have a new trainer and his name is Elder F and he is from the small island of Oiha of Ha'apai.  He is quiet and just likes to study and talk to people. He speaks very little English and is really nice. Its definitely been fun having him around.

So, basically my days in Eua don’t consist of much.... we wake up and do our morning program like we usually do. Or sometimes we wake up early and we go and work in the bush. Now, seriously this is some hard work. We usually stay in there from about 7 in the morning to about 2 in the afternoon. We pretty much work like pack mules. We pull huge taro roots out of the ground and cut down huge palm trees. We also cut down huge banana clusters and set them in the truck bed to be transferred to the main island to be sold!

So some new interesting facts about Tonga.

On the main island of Tongatapu there are 90,000 people.

On the island of Vava'u there are 20,000 people.

On the rest of the islands including Ha'apai the last 10,000 people are scattered!

I didn’t realize how many people were on the main island of Tongatapu! It's incredible and the funny part is there is only a couple hundred on the island of Eua.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Love,

Elder Sepeti