31 October 2016

Malo e lelei!

Good week!

We had a surprise baptism! His name is Samuela, and he's 11 years old. We've been working with this boy since I got here, but it was a big surprise to get permission from his father.The father and mother were both baptized once upon a time (many people in Tonga have been) but have become strong in the Wesleyan church (which happens too). The father said no the first 50 times, but he said yes this time! Samu is a lovely boy who really loves Jesus, and even though his parents still make him go to church with them, he's still been coming to all 3 hours of church every Sunday for a while. He even came to general conference! He's the man and we're so happy it worked out. 

He's a strong boy and his faith is awesome! we know it will be hard for him to keep coming to church by himself, so we're going to teach the rest of his family and get them back to church!! That would be a miracle and I hope it works. The mother showed up to the baptism (a surprise) and we set up a time!

We've had a week chock full of cool lessons and topped it off with a baptism!

We went on splits with the AP's, which was a lot of fun! I learned a lot. Elder Hosea, the Elder I went with, has been out a few months longer than I have and he's the man. We only got one lesson taught, but it was one cool lesson. We had a lot of fun.

The primary program was this week. For those of you who know any 5 year old Tongan kids, I'm sure you can imagine what kind of thing that was. It was more fun than I've ever had in church. Many of the kids were encouraged to share their own thoughts and speak in their own words, and there were some very inspired and powerful comments, punctuated by uncontrollable laughter. The Tongan people get that combination better than any other people I know.

I'm thankful for the Lord, I have seen His hand everywhere this past week. He is so patient with me and I know he loves me. That keeps me going, and the more I try the more I know it! I love the book of Mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. I'm proud of my mission and I'll never forget it; I can already tell.

My year mark comes up in a couple of weeks; I feel like I've been here all my life, but that still doesn't feel very long. I'll miss it here. I'm glad I still have some time.

'Ofa lahi atu kiate kimoutolu!

Elder Brown

mission prep class

My comp (left)(who is the man) and one of the RM's

Mother found me on the internet again; they brought us 4 giant sacks of beautiful sandwiches and choco pies

          the boiz after the project

The district (minus the sisters) in Ha'atafu for a baptismal service before the transfer!

and the members gave us a guitar!

​

Zone meeting!  

I had to do a lesson, and even though we're all friends it was still scary

 the look on my face should give you some kind of an Idea how the teaching went, notice the tongan - white spectrum

Baptism! The boy's name is Tevita, and he's the man. He was worried about the green water, but we told him jesus was baptized in green water and he was eager!

Splits with the APs, visiting my old area, old members, and old comps, memory lane!

One of the office elders' parents sent tortilla chips and freeze dried cheese, so we had microwave nachos for breakfast! As you can see we put a lot of cheese because we didn't want to waste any of it. 

Primary program

one of the best meals I've every had, this was the family that got us a baptism this week! We had Ice cream afterwards.