Warning to Dog Lovers: This Is Tongan Life!

So this week was just somewhat of a typical week, teaching a few lessons a day and getting one kid ready for his baptism Saturday. We were able to help Sosefo 'Ofahulu become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and have the opportunity to return to our Father's Kingdom. This other kid we are working with named Tani is having a hard time with smoking so that has been something that we are struggling with is helping him to stop by this Saturday so that we can baptize him. We have 5 people committed to be baptized on the 21st so we hopefully can help them to progress and be ready for that day. We taught a man named Moni yesterday and he is from Salt Lake but got deported. We get to teach him in English so that has given me more confidence haha. He is really interested in the Plan of Salvation so that has been something we had to focus on last night. It went good and he seemed to understand, even volunteering to take us to lunch someday this week! That's really it for workwise I guess haha.

To answer your questions…we haven't found any new investigators but our ones right now seem to be moving along. The less actives are hard cuz they seem committed one week but not the next so it’s a struggle to get them to understand it is an all the time thing, not just once a month or something. It was really cool seeing the kid we baptized bare his testimony at only 9 years old but still do good! It was a big Spirit moment for me. So I am not really knowing what I am studying that much in the BOM cuz I am trying to read it just in Tongan now. But I just read about Nephi breaking his bow then making a new one to find the food and follow where his father was told to find the food. Just teaches diligence and following what the Lord wants for us. The average day for us is full of just walking around finding people and talking with members. From 6:30 to 11 is studying, 12 lunch, 1-3 we usually have a lesson with Tani or someone, 4-6 we are visiting members, 6-7 we teach a lesson, 7 dinner, 8 sharing spiritual thoughts with members then 9 o'clock being back home! Today we are just netting than playing basketball with a flat basketball cuz we can’t find a pump!  :(   I try and exercise usually at night. Breakfast we don't get. Sometimes we eat just once a day. We just drink filtered water from our neighbors when we are at home. The sickness is all gone Mom so don't worry haha!

This is our next door neighbor Clifton.
He is the drum major for Liahona's marching band. 

They all did a huge march through town and stuff for the opening of Parliament this past week!

Our baptism this week. 

We had dog again!!! Soooo good!!!

I didn't kill it! We were driving back from our baptism and 

we saw the guy who was gonna be feeding us that day walking down the 

street dragging it behind him! He had someone shoot it for him.

The dog once it is cooked! Looks just like beef but tastes even better!   :)

One day we saw Oreos at the store here so I had to get them with some milk!!! 

It tasted so good even though the milk here is gross haha.

Pizza and chocolate chip cookies we had for our fafanga one night! It was the sweet pizza thing again and dark chocolate in the cookies but I still ate it haha.

Blow Holes, Investigators & Dengue Fever

Sorry this week’s letter isn't going to be as fun filled with pictures. My whole idea for a picture a day didn't work out hahaha. But the blowholes were pretty cool! Not as cool as I thought but it wasn't bad. Nothing else to do out here anyways! Today we are just staying at the church. We found a basketball but it’s flat so no playing against each other… just shooting around!

To answer your questions…The new area is great! We have 5 baptisms planned but we are probably pushing them back to the 21st because that is when our Ward Conference is and here Ward Conference is a BIG thing! They have so many things planned for it! But the work is going good. We have 10 investigators/inactives we are working strongly with and a couple more we have just taught once. My comp is good! It’s just me getting over stupid little things like noises he makes when he eats and what not but that's with everyone hahaha. He goes home on August 9th-ish so his homecoming would be either the 10th or the 17th. The ward here is somewhat small but we are having good turnouts this month because of all the Ward Conference preparations. My memory card has 5GB of the 16 left so if you could send one it would be good just in case! I can’t think of anything else I need! This area is good with everything. If I need something the members will give me it! But ya the work is good! I have never had this many investigators at one time before! I have never had more than two at one time before haha!

So Mom, read Alma 26. It’s the best chapter in the Book of Mormon about missionary work! I need to read it again. It has been a while but I love that chapter! It has been the biggest factor of keeping me strong and willing to faithfully serve an honorable mission! Sorry I am so boring though.  I promise to start writing in my journal so I can remember!!! I need to. But that's good that all is well at home! Keep Karissa out of trouble! Love you tons!

Elder Huntsman

(Still having pain in your leg? No but I just got the disease again..... My arms have the spots and I have had a headache behind my eyes since Wednesday or Thursday.... and my body aches....... so yeaaaaaaah. I might call the mission nurse tomorrow.)

The blowholes! We didn't get to see any massive ones.
We were too early in the day.

My comp climbs coconut trees just for fun.
I still haven't tried it haha!

My disgusting feet..... the reason I am getting a pedicure
when I get home no matter how femmy I might feel.

Finally...News From Tonga!!! New Area: Vaotu'u

This is when I had the worst of the Dengi Fever! It sucked so bad!
Especially the not being able to shower cuz I STUNKKKKK!!

What was the worst part: nausea, vomiting, fever, painful joints or itchy rash?
It allllllllllll sucked..... depending on the time. Sometimes the itch was worse but the pain was horrible.... not so much the sick part though cuz that wasn't that bad.....just one or two days maybe.

This was my district back in Popua. We were all white kids from America and two Tongan Sisters haha but it was awesome! I got really close to the Elders in that district. Elder Harris who I came in with was in it so we were alllllllways talking about times in the MTC haha!

This pizza place is wayyyy good!!
Surprised me for Tonga how good their pizza places are haha!

Elder Haleki with a guy that came up (possibly drunk) and started dancing around to the music coming from the pizza place we were eating at!

Ok you need to look closely at the picture..... we were watching a movie about Joseph Smith and then it shows Peter, James, and John restoring the priesthood and it did a close up on Peter, or as I see him WILL FERRELL!!!! You cannot tell me this does not look like Will Ferrell! Surprised us seeing him in a church movie!! haha JK

Can you believe this new change in uniform for all the missionaries???

Haha just kidding! That would be weird! The sisters before us left these in our house so we tried on the sisters uniform haha!  It fit us pretty good not going to lie!!!! haha But I wouldn't like wearing that all the time!! So glad I get to wear my white shirt and tie haha!

I shaved my legs.......................................................... The one thing I made fun of
 people in the MTC for doing and promised myself I would never do!

....but it feeeeelllsss good hahaha! I just trimmed them with the back end of my razor but they still feel somewhat smooth! it was something that took me a looootttttt of thinking to do haha but my comp convinced me that it isn't gay in Tonga sooooo I did it.... haha NO HOMO.

We started teaching one kid this week named Jordan, or we just call him Tani. He is 16 and his dad was LDS and died. His mom remarried to a man from another religion so she hasn't been back but wants her sons to be in the church their dad was so his older brother got baptized last month and we are planning to hopefully baptize him next week if he is able to stop smoking and drinking... So this picture is kinda pointless but I found this candle in the road and brought it home to light it.... just for fun haha still a little pyro I know.....

Tongan Caviar!!!!!

...or just papaya seeds haha! This new area (Vaotu'u) is all in the bush. That's what the name means, Vao means bush and Tu'u means to stand or be in. I am still not a fan of mangoes, papaya, coconut, lu(the meat cooked in taro leaves) but I try hard to eat them haha especially at members houses! This is studying language one night before bed! It seems like all I study now is Tongan haha. It's slowly improving and I mean SLLLLOOOWWWWWLLLLYYYYY improving haha but it will get there!

"Big" gecko that Elder Montenegro found in our house! I still don't like touching slimy things or letting things crawl on me so ya I didn't hold it.... haha.

So this was our first day in Vaotu'u! We moved into our house at like 3-4 o'clock that night and found out we are staying next to our Stake President.... gotta be on good behavior right??? haha as always I promise :)  But his wife made us dinner. It was so good! It was pasta with sauce and chicken, garlic bread, grilled fish, and taro so it was way good! The sisters who stayed here before us had a birthday or something before they left haha.  Funny thing is with the sign they spelled HAPPY BIRTHTAY not birthday haha! Them FOB Tongans haha.    (What's FOB?  It's an acronym for Fresh Off the Boat.... like I speak FOB Tongan haha. People here speak FOB English mostly cuz they don't have much experience.)

The next day we had a district meeting and met our new district.. Sisters alllllways ask the palangis if they have a camera then take like 30 pictures so here is one with Sister 'Asa haha! Our district is 4 Elders and 4 Sisters, and we are the only Palangis haha. Nothing new for me! We have a lot of time cuz our area is so small So I have started studying language like CRAZY!!!!!! Still not getting better but I won't give up I promise haha ;)

So Wednesday we went to our fafanga and it turns out it was my old comp, Elder Neiufi's family! The made pizzas but it was like a cinnamon dough with weird stuff on it but I ate it! Mom I might come home eating veggie pizza with you!!! Gross huh!?!? haha just kidding but I have gotten a lot more of a variety of foods in me since I have been out so not ruling out anything!

This bird Haleki caught in our window in Fasi by throwing orange peels out to it.

Us eating lunch one day with the sisters in thehome of the first counselor to the Mission President.

New Area

This is the one Nativity mom. I don't know how much it is or how well it would travel in my suitcase haha but I hopefully can get my hands on the other coconut one!!!!

Anyways this week was good... just getting to know our new area! The people are really nice and ALWAYS make sure we are fed good! I really like working here and I think we will be able to help God's Kingdom grow here in Vaotu'u! The struggle here is that people get offended and just stop coming to church so we have started working on reactivation with the members... Sunday they do the 2 class periods first and then sacrament so when we saw not too many members there we went out to all the members houses we knew and started knocking doors and inviting them to come! Got 3 families out by doing that so that might be something we have to do every week haha but I am loving it here! So there are these things called Blowholes just in the next village over so we are going to go see those today for P-day.  I will explain them next week with pictures! Love you all tons!!!

Elder Huntsman

Two Weeks...No Emails!

After two p-days came and went with no email, we received this brief one late the other night.  

Sorry, President sent out a mass thing saying no more touching computers but now it's just the church computers so if I can't find computers I am sorry... I am at a member's house right now and Mother's Day will just be a phone call! Sorry I haven't sent much lately but this whole situation is messed up so I will explain when I have more time! I will try and net next week love you tons!!!

Easter-- and Still Sick :(

So Easter is celebrated on Monday here so today is Easter! Friday they celebrated Good Friday! But we only went to our area 3 days so the work is really slow.   I have been really sick ha. I have a boil growing big in my armpit from when I couldn’t shower for three days.... haha so hopefully that goes down or pops soon! I have been getting migraines since last Wednesday and my throat kills and stomach is really weak but hopefully gets better! And hopefully we get to go to our area more! I am sorry we really have just sat at our house most the week!  The reason we don’t go anywhere is cuz the zones won’t take us! I want to work but we can’t get to our area! I just study and sleep all day.

Sorry I forgot the cord again. We are netting in kolo (town) but if I can find a computer later I will try and send pictures! Or sometime this week! Sorry...

I gotta go. Talk next week! Hopefully we go out and do stuff this week so I have stuff to tell you!

"...two angels looking like missionaries"

Not much happened this week. I am now working in Popua but haven’t even been there cuz I was sick pretty much all week. I didn’t even shower 'til Thursday. The rash got super bad but again I do not have my adapter to send pictures to show you. I am feeling a lot better! Basically I’ve just been getting a lot of rest but we don’t stay in our area cuz they don’t have a house for us there.  Instead, we stay with the zone leaders and eat their leftovers.  I sleep on the floor and there are so many mosquitos! One night it was really bad.  They were out like crazy. I sleep on my side so half of my face is eaten by the bugs and the other half is fine! Ya, it’s annoying haha.  The zone leaders are in the old mission office so I get warm showers for now.  :)  We got switched out of Halaleva and work in Popua. We are just waiting ‘til they tell us we have a new house. It just sucks cuz I get stuff stolen all the time where we are now cuz we can’t lock our door and people always go in there. Stuff like a tie, my kafa(belt), a tupenu, ten bucks, my mp3 player. (This culture is really different.  They think everything belongs to everyone!) It’s irritating but I just try and find it! I have found the mp3 and kafa but not the rest. I hate locking everything up in my suitcase every time I go to a different room.

A couple days we walked into town cuz I got sick of leftovers so I have been spending more money this week. Today we were walking around in town and this guy came up to me and Haleki and was like “My girlfriend had a dream that I was carrying her cuz her feet were cut up and mine were starting to get cut too. Then two angels looking like missionaries came and took her and said that they will take her for now.” So we went and taught her and it went really good! First time teaching in forever! But it sucks cuz it isn’t in our area so we might have to pass her on to someone else. But we got a free pizza today walking around in town!

To answer your questions, Mom, I watched all of General Conference but priesthood in English. It was good but feels weird having it all in English! Ya it’s hot here but it was way hotter in Vava'u! They do let missionaries go to the temple. I think they have times where you go as a zone but I haven’t really heard much cuz I have been hundreds of miles away haha! I still haven’t gotten your package yet. Maybe later today if it is here.

Well, nothing else really exciting happened this week just chilling! Sorry haha boring I know! But I will try and get you pictures sometime this week! Anyway I gotta go. I love you all tons! Thanks for sending Elder Naeata that package!  Love you guys!

Elder Huntsman

Good-bye Vava'u. Hello Dengue Fever!

(In last week’s letter it was clear Kamden was struggling.  His response this week---Just consider last week’s letter an April Fool’s Joke!  Whatever it was, we consider it a tender mercy that he got to the main island when he did and received medical attention for the Dengue Fever. The Lord is certainly mindful of all of us.   Praying for his speedy recovery!)

So this week was really weird. Tuesday was just a typical Tuesday-- nothing wrong! Wednesday hit and my body was super sore and I had some weird bumps on my skin that I figured was just from the water because it has happened before and the pain was just cuz it’s cooling down at night.

Then Thursday we were going to go to a house at 8:30 in the morning to get our hair cut but I woke up and couldn’t walk! My legs were completely unable to support my body so the WHOLE day we stayed in and I just laid there, barely being able to make it to the bathroom when needed. The Zone leaders came over and said I was flying early the next morning to Tonga so that I could interview with President. So my comp Elder Tu'akalau packed my bags the way I told him to cuz I couldn’t move really. Friday we got up and I tried getting dressed and almost pass out but the Zone Leaders kept pushing me saying the plane was at 7 so I had to hurry. (It was 5:45!)  (The plane didn’t leave til 8:45). So I got dressed and barely walked out to the car. I was miserable. We waited for 2 hours before I can even check in and everything. I flew on the 6 passenger plane back to Tonga and when I got to Tonga I sat at the airport by myself for an hour thinking "Is anyone coming??"

I finally got to the office and they said, “Oh, get ready. We are going to a zone conference where you will be able to meet with Pres.” But I saw the mission nurse and she said “No he isn’t going anywhere!” So they gave me a room in the motel that the people stay at when they come from other islands to go to the temple and I tried my best to take a 30 minute nap even though I laid there for 3 hours. I decided to take a shower, my first warm one in 7 months, which was nice.

Then we got kicked out of the hotel cuz people were coming Monday from 'Eua to stay there. So now I got my companion and we are living in one MQ (missionary quarters) and working in a different area. But today is transfers and they are bringing Missionaries to the MQ we are staying in so since we don’t have one they are getting us a Hotel for at least a week or until they can fix one up. My new comp is Elder Jarequi (pronounced Haleky). He is from Ogden and is a Marine. His attitude and personality are very similar to mine so we get along good!

Oh, the disease I have is what they call here Tengi Fever (Dengue Fever) and my bones ache, I itch like crazy and can’t shower, a rash is all over my body that looks like a spotted lizard or something. I threw up my first two days not being able to eat anything. My joints all swelled up. It kinda sucks you know??? I can walk now. New symptoms pop up every day! I had a rash, it went away, and a different looking rash popped up last night and this morning. The treatment is rest and drink a lot.  I take ibuprofen or Tylenol for pain and Benedryl for the itch. It isn’t contagious. I have pictures but forgot to bring the adapter here so I could send them.  My hands look way cool haha! I took a shower yesterday and it was the worst decision of my life! I itched for two hours straight all over my body haha! Apparently a ton of missionaries are getting it. Mine just seems to be a little different or something cuz theirs usually went away after about 3 days but mine just keeps changing haha! I am fine though don’t worry. I am actually loving it right now haha! Anyways ya I am doing well. Don’t worry! MOM, DON'T CALL THE OFFICE! IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I WILL HAVE THEM CALL YOU!!! But ya all is well :) We will watch conference this week so hopefully I understand it more in Tongan this time than last haha!

Love you all :)

Elder Huntsman