Week 3: Laumalie
Just finished up week 3 and sheesh it's been a crazy and busy week. We first started off teaching the gospel to a young girl named Ungatea who's 9 years old who lives with her grandpa. Out here in Tonga sometimes when there's problems with the kids' parents, they will send them to a family member to take care of them for a little while. Ungatea was sent to her grandpa's house and her grandpa wanted us to start doing lessons with her so we started that Sunday. That was my first official lesson with a Laumalie (spirit aka someone interested in learning about the church) and it was also in Tongan. She spoke a little English but I wanted to learn Tongan so we just did the lessons in Tongan. We did her lesson then we started walking around to kind of meet the kaingalotu (congregation) and be familiar with where they are. I've noticed out here that if you are not kind to your kaingalotu they will not feed you. The pisope (Bishop) for our area who's last name is Vi--yes we're related--told me that sometimes the missionaries before us would call palesteni (mission president) to complain about the kaingalotu not feeding them. But pisope would say that the missionaries just stayed at home and would never leave their api to work, they would only call the numbers on the lisi fafanga (meal list) and ask them to drop the food off at their mq (Mission Quarters/Living Quarter). Our Pisope has been happy with us because we have been very active in getting to know our church congregation and are constantly out working. So, needless to say, the kaingalotu feed us VERY WELL.
To be honest, at the moment right now we are actually preparing for another baptism of a 16 year old girl named Tema. So I'm sitting down writing this email while I wait for my hoa (companion) to fetongi his Vala (change his clothes) into the tupenu papi (baptism clothing). We met Tema while walking back after talking to the ofisa kolo which is the town officer. The town officer is this 6'2" tall, probably 500 or 600 pound guy that drove around town in a nice Nissan truck. We met his children through a kid named Taniela--or Nela, for short. He was friends with the town officer's daughter named Lina. My companion asked Lina if we could talk to her mom about teaching them lessons about the gospel and she told us her mom she working down by the beach. We headed for the beach where we met up with Malia, another one of our kaingalotu who said "I have a friend who wants to learn about the church" so that added another laumalie to our list! We found Lina's mom who we found out is a return missionary that served in France but married a man from another of the church. In Tongan culture, when a woman gets married, she joins the church her husband attends. Her husband is the ofisa kolo (town officer). Apparently, he is not only very respectable in the village but also very intimidating and many people are scared of him. We asked our friends Nela and Nita to go with us to his house so we could get permission to teach his children. Nela and Nita said they would. When we got to his house, he hadn't come home yet so we were just conversing with his family. Then we hear his truck pull up outside. It was almost like the scene from a movie. We were down the hall but when the husband comes through the door, we hear these massive footsteps enter the house. By this time, Nela and Nita had fled the house out of fear and left us there to speak to this giant by ourselves. As the guy walked in he made that deep throat scratching noise that all OG Tongan men make--which, not to brag, but I also know how to make that sound because I'm just a big dawg like that j/k 😂 . Anyways, he walked in, made that sound and his face was covered by a cloth that was hanging on a line in the living room, so we couldn't see what kind of facial expression he had and anticipate what to do. He grabbed a chair, threw it down on the ground and then, noticing us standing there said, "Oiauee faifekau, mou fefe?" Which in Tongan translates to, "Wow, missionaries, how are ya'll?" LOL! He was actually really nice to us! My hoa talked to him because I can't really hold a conversation in Tongan too good yet, but I can understand it well enough. In their conversation, my companion asked him, if it would be okay for us to teach his children, to which he replied, "yes it would be okay but we would have to do it under certain circumstances". We are not allowed to teach his children in his home or anywhere near where they live because if people around see it, it could cause problems with his family, his church, and his job. Since this guy is the ofisa kolo, he bounces around to other churches and he said he's been to our church before. After hearing some of his kids share how they felt about attending our church, I can tell there's been a seed planted in this family of the truthfulness of the gospel.
While walking home from talking to Sylvester and his family, Nita, the girl who disappeared on us but suddenly reappeared once we left the house, saw one of her friends and introducing us to them said "this is a laumalie". We thought she was joking but we talked to her and found out that she had actually been taught missionary lessons by 3 different companionships of missionaries or 6 missionaries in total. After hearing that, we thought maybe she was stubborn or didn't want to be baptized? But she told us that she had asked her mother 5 times to be baptized and her mom said "no" each time and would chase her out of the house with a broom or a something to hit her with. We asked her "Why do you want to be baptized?" and she replied with, "This is the most true thing that I have ever heard of." We talked to her more for about 2 more hours then she said that she was going to ask her mom again if she could be baptized. Her mom and also her whole family belongs to the siasi tonga church (Church of Tonga) congregation. She said that she was gonna ask her mom and we said "That's nice! Let us know how it goes!" And she says, "I want you both to be there with me when I tell her. I'm going to invite my whole family to hear it too." She told us that and in our heads we were like, "Bruh! What the heck? We finna die!" LOL! But we agreed. Within the next hour, we were sitting on the couch in her home and, in all honesty, I had no fear. My companion wanted us to stand next to the door or a window so we could jump out like Mission Impossible if things got hot. But before we got inside the house we saw Tema's mother and when introducing ourselves to her we had asked if she needed help with the building of their house (still under construction) or doing any cleaning and she said "no" but she was very thankful we offered. We went inside then, with Tema, reviewed a small lesson with her. Then she went outside and said, "My family forgot to come but I'm going to ask right now" for permission to be baptized. She left the house and went to her grandma and asked and then she came inside yelling "Yessssss!!!!" and we asked her what happen and she said "My grandma said yes!" and we said "Oh that's nice! what about your mom?" And she says, "I didn't ask her." And we said "bruh" LOL and she was like "Ok I'll go ask my mom." She left again and then came back and she wasn't smiling so we thought she said no. But as soon as she got into the house she had the biggest smile and said "I'm getting baptized!" We were super happy for her and I feel partly the reason her mom said "yes" this time was maybe because we had come in and introduced ourselves to her mom and offered a helping hand. The experience was amazing!!! One of the best things, too, was Tema had told us later that her mom said, "Yes you can get baptized. I see how you act now and you are happier and nicer. Maybe I'll get baptized too next year." When I told my mom about this experience, my mom said this funny thing too. She said that its super nice that Tema's mom said that, but also next year is right around the corner and only like a week away lol!
This whole week has been full of a lot of experiences. I even got bit by a spider which sucks a lot, because it didn't bite once, not twice, not three times but 8 times!!! If i find that spider I'm going to punch it eight times in da mouf and see how it likes that.
Ofa lahi atu kimautolu and tau tokisio uike ka ha'u!
Elder Tuha Vimahi
#HurrahForIsrael ✊
***UPDATE***
Tema was baptized on Christmas morning at 6am. Elder Vimahi and his companion Elder Vaioleti set off walking at 3am so they could arrive to the baptism on time. With Elder Vimahi being in pain from all the spider bites, Heavenly Father saw fit to send an angel to carry them the rest of the way to the chapel, which they were so grateful for.
Pictures below:
On our way to do some work with one of our friends, Nela (middle). When he told his mom he wanted to be baptized he was told that if he joined the church they would disown him. He told them he WILL get baptized AND serve a mission. His family disowned him but he is staying true to his word--got baptized and preparing to serve his mission. He was taken in by another family while he prepares for his mission.
Teaching a lesson to Tema before she asked her mom if she could get baptized.
We followed our neighbor to his uta (farm) where he was gathering manioke (tapioca) for his family's dinner. I didn't know manioke stems were pink!
My companion snapped a pic of me falling asleep while trying to study Ungatea's name before I performed her baptism. She had like 10 names. With the heat, all the walking, and the constant work we do, it feels great to come home and just crash after a productive day.
Visiting with one of the families who was making tapa cloth in preparation for Haasini day this week. Here she is painting the tapa cloth.
The puaka here taste sooooo good because they feed it niu (coconut).
One of my nasty spider bites. I ended up having to go to the clinic for meds because it became really painful to walk.
My companion, Elder Liahona Vailoeti and I
Baptism day for Tema! My companion performed the baptism.
Family friend from back home, Tolofi Manisela, delivers a package from my mom and money from Grandma. THANK YOU!
Missionaries in my district here on Tongatapu.
Got to talk to my brother on his mission in Tennessee Christmas Eve. Love you Vita!
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