Tonga

Elder Swan is serving in the Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission from July 2013 to July 2015



Saturday, June 14, 2014

Beautiful place, Beautiful people, Beautiful language ~ 6/8/2014

Malo e lelei Famili.
Fefe hake? Man this week was really good! On Tuesday we got our standard of excellence which are the numbers we need to strive for each week! Man they are really high especially for those in small ares but hey guess what!?? The Lord is with us and we will do our best to reach the goals!  They are all 15-20 per week. Except the baptisms are 2-5! They are very tough numbers but we need to remember that this is not mans work. This is the work of a Supreme being and with His guidance we will be able to Hasten the work and bring MANY souls unto Christ. So we have been struggling with these numbers... All of Vava'u has been... Last month both zones on Vava'u only had 2 baptisms each... That's 4 baptisms... That is awful... Our goals is each zone to get 40 baptisms a month. So you could say we need to step it up! And we have! Elder Caudill and I are planting seeds! It may not be useful now but We are planting and nourishing! We share 1-3 minute lessons to almost everyone we see! We also try and serve and talk to everyone we see! I can see others opening up to us as we do this! A member that hasn't been that open and friendly with us has actually just become one of our closest friends! She went and bought us eggs and cheese and onions so we can make omelets today! Off topic! Sorry! Back on! This week we did teach 2 of the 3 girls! We committed one to baptism and she said yes! She lives in Mataika which is the zones area! So I talked to them and hopefully we can get her a date to be baptized there! The other girl is also from Mataika but is already a member just inactive! So we committed her to go to church and read the Book of Mormon! They are doing well! The other girl went back to Holonga so I don't know about her... We just received 5 referrals from our branch presidents wife! So we plan on going to them Today or Tomorrow! She told us they want to be baptized but they want to wait until the grandparents pass away... Family is huge here and church can ruin families! I have seen HUGE sacrifices by young 18 year olds and have seen them kicked out! Their Faith is amazing! Anyways, as I heard this I thought of Matthew 10:37 which says that we must love our God more than our Parents and Children! If we love Him more we will follow him and be obedient to him! That's a scripture all of Tonga needs to know and understand!
The work is good and moving forward!

I am so blessed to serve in such a Beautiful place with Beautiful people and a Beautiful Language! God really does know these people! He really looks after them! Each and every one of them I believe wants to do what is right! It's just hard for them to do so with all the pressure. They are too caught up on "The Kingdom of Tonga" Rather than The Kingdom of God! Yeah on Earth you can be popular and can be high up there and have people look up at you like a star, but what about in the life to come? What about after mortal life? Will they still be popular? Will they still be looked upon as the stars of the sky? No! But those who do what is right in this life will continue on to the next life and be given Glory. We will be as God and what else can you want? You can't want anything more! There is so much more than this life!

So this week I went to the Ocean with Elder King as we were on a companionship exchange! We caught some fish and an Eel! Haha The eel bit king on the finger and he couldn't get it off! It was Hilarious! Finally he got it off and was fine! Just some blood! Haha! I'll send some pictures! And about the Omelets! We came to the church to cook them! They were amazing!!! I took a video of me speaking Tongan explaining what we did but It wont send... Sorry! Hahaha! Oh and I ate Ota Ika right outta the ocean!! (Raw Fish!)
It's gonna be a good week! I love you all so much! Keep on studying and living this gospel! It's all that really matters :) Smile!
Ofa LAHI atu!
Elder Swan
Went fishing today~ caught an EEL!
Tevita caught a black spiky sea creature
Puffer Fish
Elder King
 
Holding a Sea Turtle.... So Cool






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