Lessons are picking up!

Hey Everyone!!

This week was really good!

So to start off: Yes, the baptism was lava! And it was awesome! We actually ended up baptizing 2 people instead of one! How sweet is that! There were 2 kids.  One of them was 12 and one of them was 10! It was amazing! You know one thing I have learned from Tonga is the ability to have the worlds fastest baptisms! No joke,  we finished the baptisms in 30 mins on the dot. That's how long the baptisms always are even for little kids who just turned 8 because the other half of the baptism is eating.... Nice right! I LOVE IT!

This week went really well we had about 10 lessons and about 3 quarters of them were with members and the other quarter were without!! So the lessons are picking up, especially this week! Because this last Saturday we contacted 5 investigators and they all said ok and we will be teaching them all this week! My new companion is pretty cool. He's serving only 15 mins from where he grew up and so his family and friends come to visit him all the time. He is definitely falling into the flow of missionary work and catching the wave! So, hopefully I will have him in full gear by the time he leaves.  Other than that BIG NEWS!!!  I was able to see Priesthood session live! and it was incredible!!

And that was my week!!

OFA LAHI ATU!

Elder Sepeti!

My son has arrived!

Well everyone,

 I'm doing awesome!!

After 3 weeks of waiting multiple boat and plane cancellations... way too long, comp exchanges! My son has arrived.... yes,  everyone he is here!!! Elder V has arrived and he is being trained!!!! Wooooooo!! Only funny part is that there is only 3 weeks left in this transfer so we will see what happens! Hopefully,  I'll get to do the full 12 week program with him here!!

I'm super excited for the work!! It has really picked up here since I started again Wednesday! So,  I began on that day with no new investigators or referrals! Since then we've had 4 referrals,  2 new
investigators and one of them is going to be baptized this Saturday.  a 12 year old kid named Villiami! I'm super stoked because I did all the teaching for him by myself!! So,  this is truly my first investigator baptized and I'm super super excited!!! It's going to be awesome!!

You know one thing that's kind of weird is the fact that now I'm teaching a new missionary. It's very humbling because,  well,  I don't feel adequate enough to teach the new guy,  especially when he grew up only 15 minutes from his area and he speaks fluently obviously!!! So,  it's areally interesting experience!

Other than that,  the work has finally restarted here so the emails will be much longer and better during the next couple weeks!!  I'm really excited to share with everyone these new experiences!!

OFA LAHI ATU KIATE KITAUTOLU!

Elder Sepeti!

Senior companion!

 Hey guys!

So this week was super fun!! To be honest not much work got done! But that iss because President came to town for interviews! Which had an interesting turn of events! During the interview with president he explained to me something that I wasn't quite ready for! As a missionary who has only been in Tonga for about 5 months and, as you all know, my language still isnt quite there yet.  And as I was sitting in the interview,  the president looked at me and said "Hey,  I like you. You're going to be a senior companion next transfer and train a new palangi"...... Yeah,  I'm terrified right now! I have been studying like crazy on the language and lessons! It has been crazy the last couple days! I have been working super hard to get up to par on it!


Other than that,  the week went by way fast.  As missionaries serving in town we usually help the zone leaders with everything since we are by the wharf and right in the middle of everything! So, the president changed a few things! There are offcially no more missionaries on Niua! He's going to make traveling AP's who go out to the small islands for a week to 2 weeks at a time and teach then return and go to a different group! Crazy right? So that's new with this week.  We didn't get to teach to much due to the fact that we were helping the zone leaders the whole time and it didn't allow us much time to work. That' s my news for the week.  It will be a lot better next week because things are rolling back to normal!

I LOVE YOU,

Elder Sepeti

A leaky boat and Tongan ice cream sandwiches

HEY EVERYONE!!!

This week has been awesome and super fun!! SO,  two out of the four people we were able to baptize and that was a really good week for us!!

So,  basically this week just consisted of preparing our investigators for baptism by visiting them frequently!!! That was our week plus the two baptisms. But now for the really cool part of this week!

SO yesterday I had the opportunity of going out to Motu (Small Islands) Which was way fun!! I went with Elder Uakona and basically this is how the day went! WE started off early and got to the dock at about 8:00 and then we waited for the boat for about an hour! When the boat finally arrived it was this little wooden dingy! I kid you not!! This boat looked like it was made of drift wood!  haha So we jumped in and started on our 40 minute to an hour boat ride to the small island of Ofu.  Which is beautiful by the way,  I have a ton of cool pictures from it! But the whole time on the little boat the guy who was driving was wringing out a sponge because there was a hole in the bottom of the boat! ha-hah The whole time we were sinking on the way out but luckily it was a small hole so it didn't let in too much water but still! haha it was crazy! So after the we finally arrived at the little island of Ofu where the church is literally on the beach! We went in had the baptism.  Elder Uakona,  finally after 23 months of serving did his first and final baptism in the ocean! How cool is that! We got some cool pictures! Then right after the baptism we went to Sacrament meeting with a massive ward of 15 people.... wait,  wait,  sorry,  now 17 people! That was awesome! We stayed and they finished their meeting! Church was only an hour! Right after we had ourselves some Tongan ice cream sandwiches and those are pretty much a loaf of bread hollowed out and a scoop of ice cream in it! haha They are way good.  When I get home we have to have that!

The whole week was way good though we retuned form OFu and then finished out our other wards!!!

SO all in all  good week!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Sheppard!

Rain, rain, go away!

Hey guys!!

Well, I wish I could tell you this was a very long and productive week! But, unfortunately it rained just about every day except for the first two.... so to say this week was kind of a waste but that's all right! See, in this mission we don't exactly get raincoats and cars to keep our stuff nice and dry.  Most missionaries here lack that generally! So, usually it is just sit inside and do nothing but study and that usually turns it into a pretty long day! But! My companion and I still made it into a way good week and finished it with two baptisms! That was way exciting! and super fun!

So. let's see:  the week went like this:

Monday was p-day so we played volleyball!

Tuesday- walked around and went to all of our lessons. We had four that day so that was a really, really good day! We taught all of our investigators and they all were good! That's always a blessing!

Wednesday-rain

Thursday-rain

Friday- rain

Saturday!! Bright and sunny and able to do our baptisms! You know one thing that I love about baptisms here,  is how short they are! I have not been to a baptism that has been longer than 30 minutes! It is so awesome! Someone shares a spiritual thought, then they are baptized! Then bishop welcomes them! Then we pick up the chairs because all of the fonts are outside! Then ice-cream! ha-hah How great is that? It is so fun! I love it! It makes it so fun and then play with the little kids right after! It is way awesome!!! that's probably my favorite thing!

Other than that,  the work has been awesome here.  I'm pretty sure my companion and I are leading the mission in baptisms at the moment.  We have had 8 together! It has been an awesome transfer with him and I'm staying same area with the same companion.  It should be a pretty incredible transfer again!!

Well, I LOVE YOU ALL I HOPE EVERYTHING IS ALRIGHT!

Elder Sepeti!

Baptisms and Bank Robbers

Hey Guys!!

So, unfortunately only one of the baptisms made it through this week! But not for the reason that you think that they dropped out, but because it was pouring rain so they just moved to this week! Tthat’s fun but we have four  now this Saturday.... so that’s exciting and I will be performing every single one!

This week we also got to do something very rare and very cool.  The zone leaders were approached by the Saineha school,  which is a branch of Liahona High school out here in Vava'u and they asked for all the English speaking missionaries and for us to administer the Fluency English tests..... It was a riot! haha Now I know how I must have sounded when I first started speaking Tongan! One of the little stories we had to do was talk about a bank robber and his car and the kids had to make up what they were wearing.  I was talking to this little 12-year-old boy and I asked him "Sione, what was the bank robber wearing?" His reply " "a black shirt" my answer "good.  Is black your favorite color?" His answer "yes" and then immediately after he said “ yes”,  I quickly asked him "Were you the bank robber?" Then he quietly answers '”yes.. wait ! NO! NO! NO! I WASNT!" ahahahah it was soooo funny! He was reeling in his chair in fright because he thought he failed but he did a really good job!! haha We did that the whole day there were some really stinking funny answers to the questions!! So we each interviewed about 30 kids each and we started at 8 and ended at 4:00 right when school got out! So that was pretty much the day! And it was way super fun! Hopefully, I’ll be here for another transfer and I’ll get to do it again next month! 

That was my week though it was incredible! We had so many teachings and at the moment we have another two progressing investigators! So, this week has been awesome! I love you all! Hope you’ re safe and everything is all right!!! 

Love 

Elder Sepeti

A Little boy named 8

So this week in Vava'u was awesome!!! We had two baptisms,  a girl who was 16 years old that we have been teaching for the last two weeks and a 10-year old boy named Valu which in Tongan means 8.... so we baptized a little boy named Eight!

That was the most exciting part of the week! We have been having a lot of fun here and I have been loving Pouono! The people here are incredible! And one of the coolest parts about being out here is the fact that this place is a major tourist site!! So, a bunch of people come from New Zealand and park their yachts in the bay by the wharf! There are some way, way, way nice yachts out there. Right now, in fact, I think there is one that's at least 100 ft long,  big blue and shiny and it looks way nice!

Ok, on to new things.  As to the funny moment of the week:  I found out something nice and new about the Tongan people.... They are the most ticklish people in the world and they can’t help it! So, as you have seen by the picture of my Tongan companion he is MASSIVE! Elder Uakona and I tag teamed him and started tickling him and about 15 seconds into the attack he picked us both up!  Me on his left arm and Uakona on his right and he literally threw both of us across the room
ha-ha it was crazy! Then he just ran I was  was so shocked he just picked me up!  I am 180 pounds and Uakona who is 190 and he threw us across the room at the same time! Me on the left arm and Uakona on the right! It was incredible!  Never attempting that again or next time I’m probably going through the wall!!


Other than that funny note,  the work has been incredible and picking up.  Next week we are going to have 3 baptisms! They are all confirmed and happening. One on Tuesday and two on Saturday. So we are way excited for that to happen! It will be an awesome experience and im the one baptizing tomorrow! So I am way stoked for that! Seriously serving in Tonga is truly a unique experience.  You will never ever find a more loving people who will share absolutely everything they have with you! They have a love that is unconditional and unyielding especially for the missionaries! I have loved every minute here and I’m so excited for the next while I’m here!

I love you all so much!!!

Elder Sepeti