7 More Days - 9/3/2023

I promise these emails will get a lot more interesting once I'm actually in the field, which is in exactly 7 days.

I have always felt that music is one of the best ways for me to feel the spirit and have found that more true with every day I've been here. The way these Tongan and Samoan elders sing is some of the most powerful music I have ever been apart of, and singing with them seems to make all of life's problems float into the air. A lot of the music we sing is in Tongan so I may not always know what I'm saying, but the spirit still grabs a hold of my heart. Belting the words to "Fanongo ko e 'Eiki 'oku Ui" surrounded by 60 Tongans is truly a feeling like no other. Y'all should try it sometime.

Elder Brimley and I were able to teach a lesson on Sunday, which didn't go the way we hoped it would. Turns out when you teach a lesson on Christlike Attributes to a class full of English as a Second Language students, they don't understand a lot of what you say. But one cool thing did come out of it; this Tongan Elder pulled me aside after and said "I did not understand a lot of your words, but thank you for teaching", I said thank you and bore my testimony in Tongan which I had been memorizing and he hugged me, so I think he understood what I said.

One of our teachers, Brother Winiata, had an ACL surgery this week and before he left he asked all the elders in his class to give him a blessing and he asked me to seal the anointing which was a really cool experience for me! We also fasted for him as a district yesterday which really helped us grow together as a group. 

As I'm writing this email I can hear a Tongan Elder singing "Folofola" out in the hall :)

The mtc president brought in a barber and everyone leaving next week is required to get a hair cut, so there's gonna be some goofy lookin elders this week.

Romans 8:38-39