Week 17: He Is With Us

April 09, 2024

This past week was smooth sailin' . We tried our best to get out more and talk more especially to random people. I realized that I'm coming up to about 6 months as a missionary, and I most definitely want my Tongan in somewhat decent fluency by the time I'm at 8 months, which would mean 6 months in the Kingdom of Tonga . As of right now my Tongan has its days of being super good then has its days where it's almost as if I've never heard this language before. I want to have my Tongan at least to be close to Jacob Foni's level by the time I'm at my year mark. Out of all the missionaries out here from muli, meaning not from Tonga, Jacob Foni has the best Tongan. There are still some people who are at their year mark and they still cannot speak Tongan. Then there's people like E.Heimuli (04 -A) and my old hoa Vaioleti who's Tongan was crazy good by their 6 month mark as a missionary total. Anyways tho, this week me and my hoa finally went to Uta (bush) which is like where people do their farming. We went to go pick lū leaves and get niu (coconut). We came with another younger boy from the youth and he was the one who climbed the coconut tree which they call kaka. He climbed to the top and kicked the coconuts down to the floor where me and Wolfgramm then picked up and threw them close to the truck. We also drank the coconut water and to be honest, when the coconut comes straight off of the tree the water tastes like Sprite. When we were drinking it Siaosi, the guy we came with, says it was "Tongan Sprite." After throwing everything into the truck we headed home.

I've noticed that 'Eua or at least the place that I'm in (Ha'atu'a) has lots of wind so it feels good outside all the time. Another day me and Wolfgramm were walking around to find our fafanga and after asking a couple of members we found out that our fafanga that day had moved to New Zealand. We had pretty much walked our entire village already and it was only bout 1 pm, so we decided to walk to the beach and take pictures. The beach was about an hour walk away which is not bad especially with the weather we have. While walking we found coconuts on the ground that we decided to take to the beach to eat and drink. When we finally got to the beach I have to say it was a really nice sight to see. We got situated then I realized we didn't have a hele (knife) so we had to use rocks that we found. I'm not gonna lie I think it was maybe like an hour or so later we finally got our coconuts open and drank the water inside. We didn't bring water with us so I was sure if I didn't get my coconut open I was gonna die. We also ate uto which I don't know what the English word for this is but it's like when the water inside the coconut gets spongy or something and you can just eat it. After that we walked another hour back and retired for the night.

If there is something I learned from this week I would say just how beautiful the world is that God created for us. He created this world that we might inhabit it and that we might also gain experience learn of God and live his teachings. Another thing I also want to share is how God is with us. When partaking the sacrament, the prayer for the bread says, "that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen." Also mentioned in John 14:18, it says, "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you" and lastly in Deuteronomy 31:6,8 it says, "he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed." It is mentioned many more times in various places of the Bible as well as the book of mormon, but Lord wants to be with us. He is with us. Whether He is in front of us or beside he will always be with us, so long as we remember Him. 'Til next time family ofa atu kiate kimoutolu.