Week 26: Kei Mo'ui

 

Elder Teaupa and Me

 

Greetings ya'll. Its been a little while since I've sent an email and, yes, I'm still alive. Not too much has happened.  I'm still on the same island but I do have a new hoa. My hoa, Wolfgramm, transferred down the street to Ohonua and is comped up with the district leader and I have a new hoa named Elijah Teaupa. He's from Cali and has pretty clean Tongan. He's also almost done with his mission, finishes this December.  I was sad to see Wolfgramm leave as he is one of the hardest working missionaries I have seen, but I'm glad he can go and share his example with other missionaries. My Tongan is still a work in progress but its way better than what it was in the beginning. I still haven't gotten a baptism in this area yet but we have been working. The hardest thing is that our laumalies are all interested and would like to join the church but can't because of someone in their family telling them that they can listen to the lessons but cannot get baptized. It's sad that this is how it is but as long as we plant the seed, someone else in the future maybe can reap what we sow. We go to uta (bush) on the times we can and I have to say I have gotten pretty good at swinging a helepelu (bush knife) and using a huo tonga (Tongan shovel). The huo Tonga is like a long stick with like a square at the end of it. When I first saw it I was like "How the heck am I supposed to work with this?" but now I kind of like it better than a regular shovel. We go alot to the mountains to "taki kava" or go and gather the kava roots. I can officially say I'm a kava farmer. Now though, after seeing how much work goes into gathering the kava and then cleaning, drying, and then the pounding of it, I will never waste kava again lol. People did not grow kava 7 years for me to just throw it up in the grass.

I also try to play the sports over here. they play pickleball and volleyball and, to be honest, I'm trying to get hecka good so that when I come back I can just dominate.  So I still got like a whole year to get better so everyone at home-- u guys better watch out when I come back lol. We also play a little touch rugby, not as much but I like playing it because I always wanted to play rugby but I jus never had the chance to when I was home. I was super bad at rugby when I started this mish. I still am pretty bad but I actually understand the game now and how to play. I wanted to learn rugby because I thought about playing rugby on the side when I get back home just to stay in shape. I'm trying super hard not to get fat on this mission because I was already big before. I'm not trying to get bigger. Now that I've been here to Eua I want to serve in Vava'u next and serve Ha'apai last. I want to serve Ha'apai last because that's where my Vimahi name comes from and I want to finish my mission by serving my own family. As of right now I'm about 8 months in as a missionary, which is crazy to think about. I'm only 4 months away from being at a year mark and once I hit my year mark all I have to do is just do it one more time. The weeks honestly go by really fast when I think about it. My first 6 months were super long but now the time zooms by.

I'm happy with the progress that I've made so far with my language, spiritual growth and all that. While being on a mission I see though that u do think alot about life. You think about what you wanna do after, your purpose, dreams, what you did before the mish and everything. For me, while serving I realize what things are really needed in life to maintain happiness and peace. Some people in Tonga have houses that are literally 4 walls and a roof all made out of kapa (the sheet metal things) yet they are the happiest people. I believe it's their faith and belief in God that helps them keep their peace. All the people of Tonga need is their family and faith. I sometimes see people in America or whatever who have loads of money or have it way better than the people of Tonga yet do not have peace or happiness. They have everything but have nothing while the people of Tonga have nothing yet have everything. While being here in Tonga I want to do my best to learn the ways of our people. I learned how to climb a coconut tree. I said I learned, I didn't say I was able to do it. Thing is hecka hard man!  Also if u see people when they cut open the coconut they just hold it their hands. I learned how to do this and I can do it but when i first started I was scared I was going to miss and slice the left side of my body off but I think I got it now.  Another thing I like is the oranges they have over here. While walking if u get hungry you just grab it off the tree and have a lil snack. Before I end it off, I'll share my spiritual experience so that you guys can learn somethings and have some things to think about... 

Saturday morning I was reading Matthew in the New Testament and I read chapter 25 verse 36. I'll post it down below, but anyways this the verse is where he talks about "I was in prison and ye came unto me." Yesterday on Sunday me my hoa and the 2 elders in Ohonua went to the Eua prison to have a little spiritual meeting with the guys over there. The prison over here in Eua is different.  Well, maybe its the same in Tonga but very very different from America. They put the prison super far away from everything so that if the prisoners tried to escape they would get tired because the walk is too far (lol). There's no prison guard either and no fence guarding the entire compound. A prison supervisor will come around in the middle of day just to make sure that everyone is there and then he goes back home. The prisoners, (depending on what crime they had done) are allowed to go home on Saturdays and come back by 5 pm.  The prison supervisor will drop them to their homes and then pick them up later. The "cells" are honestly just like little mqs (mission quarters) connected. They have a the gate covering the front patio but its just a long gate so the prisoners can like all talk to each other. We did our little Sunday service with them which was amazing. We sang songs and some of the prisoners were singing along too and sang with their souls. After the service, one of the prisoners stood up and thanked us all for coming to them. I forgot to mention that I think each week a different church comes to the prison on Sundays so that they can still all worship together and listen to a faifekau (preacher) and stuff and yesterday was the ward in Ohonua's turn so that's why we went. One of the things I liked tho is that when they go to have this Sunday service the entire ward comes. Everyone brings their entire family including the kids and wives. Anyways though, after our Sunday service  we walked out and shook all the prisoners hands and talked with them. Many of them, if not all, are in there for very minor things. Alot of them are only in their for excessive drinking and being drunk in public. Some for stealing but that's about it. The guy that stood up and thanked everyone for coming came up to us and talked with us. I wish I had gotten his name but I didn't. He was a Wesleyan and should be out of prison in August. We talked about where we were from and life and everything. Before we left he asked us if it was okay if we can bring Book of Mormons (or is it Books of Mormon??? idk where to put the "s") or something that they can read or look at pictures. They said that all they do is go to work (I'm guessing in uta) and come back and drink kava (that's the life huh lol). But when they drink kava they don't have much to discuss about. He asked if we could bring Book of Mormons so that can have something to read on the side and also have something to discuss when drinking kava. That was the first time honestly in my life probably where someone especially of a different faith asked for Book of Mormon. All of the prisoners seemed really happy to see us kainga lotu and we stayed for almost another whole hour just talking with everyone. The reason I share this though is because I love how even tho these people might be in prison, the king still sees how important it is for them to have time to worship. also even though they are "prisoners" they are still humans who are treated as humans. The people of Tonga really apply this scripture in Matthew and this again is why I have so much love for the Tongan people. People are just people. We all breathe the same air, bleed the same blood, and we all chose to follow Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father and come to this earth for His plan.

Sorry again for the late email but I hope u all are still well I miss you all and will see u all at the finish line. 

ofa lahi atu kiate kimoutolu.