Malo e lelei!! 

Sorry this will be a short email I don't have a lot of time......we just got home today from traveling to all of the other islands for zone conference. Man it was a great week! 

Here are some pictures from the zone conference in Ha'apai. This was a sandy beach...It was so pretty!!

Sorry my email is mostly pictures...Ofa atu! Have a great week :) 

-- 

Sista Silivesita

Man I love my companion she is awesome!!!  She is finishing her mission in November though.😞

Zone Conferences in Vavau :) 

We took a boat ride to the islands in vavau to drop off the elders.

What is the Character of Christ?

Malo e lelei!

Man what a week. This week we had two baptisms and it was awesome! We baptized a 10 year old boy named Avoki and another guy named Ofa. One of the wards we work in is a very smart ward and they love missionary work. They do a missionary week every 3rd week of the month and they do all sorts of activities. On Thursday we held a "Self Reliance Open House" and we invited Non member families to come show us what they do to provide for their families. It was really cool to see because most people here in Tonga are very self reliant. We invited two of our investigators and their names are Moana and Kirri. They are both from Fiji but they live here and make "Roti" for a living. They have to wake up every morning at 4:00  just to make their order of Roti to sell. Its awesome! And then on Friday we had our baptism! :) 

We started a Book Of Mormon challenge as a mission and President has asked us to highlight anything that has to deal with Christ. If you want a new way to read your scriptures focus on words about Christ like (Messiah, God , Thee, etc.) and I promise you will learn so much more than you thought you could! I was listening to a talk by David A. Bednar called the Character Of Christ and something he said was " There would have been no atonement, Except for the Character of Christ" Take a minuet to think about that quote. Christ loves us so much so he died for our sins. His character is the example we should all strive to become. 

 Ofa lahi atu! Have a good week :) 

-- 

Sista Silivesita

1. Here is our MQ. We live on the same land as some members.

2. This is Elder Lomu, his uncle was my seminary teacher at Jordan.

4.Sister AP's and Elder AP's

This is Avoki the boy we baptized.

Avoki and Ofa before baptism.  :)

The water goes TOO slow to fill the font so we had to use the fire hoses to help!

Baptism open house

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On our way to NIUA

NIUA

3. Elder Pakalani and Gengler (They are now serving in Niua)

Members :)

The Sunrise on our morning walk!

The Other Side of Heaven

Malo e lelei!!

Fefe hake? I hope you all had a good week. This week was an exciting week! On Tuesday we had the privilege of going to the island of Niua with President and Sister Tuione. Niua is the island where Elder Kolipoki (Groebert) served in the movie "The other side of Heaven". There hasn't been missionaries on that island for about a year but this transfer two elders got sent there and so we went with president to meet with the church members there. Man it was so cool! We flew to Vavau and then from there to Niua. Man you should have seen the plane it was SO small. Hahah but thankfully we made it there and back safely. We only spent like 2 hours there but we had a big feast and then we got to take a little ride around the island. The spirit of the people there is so strong! There really is like nothing there but they are all so content. A plane only goes there maybe  once a week if the weather is good. So we had to hold the plane there while we met with the people. Im so grateful I had the opportunity to go visit the people there. It was a very humbling experience for the short time  I was there. It's so amazing to see people serving in the gospel on a small tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Just another reassurance that Heavenly Father is so aware of all of us!

Thursday and Friday we had MLC with all of the zone leaders and STL's. It was fun! WE had the opportunity to go to the temple and then we spent all day Friday together discussing things we can do for the mission. Last night we had a girls night with sister Tuione before the Sisters go back to Vavau. It was so fun! President really wants us to all become one in this mission and so its fun getting the opportunity to know all of the sisters. 

On Monday we had to take some sisters to the airport because they were flying to Vavau. When we walked into the airport I saw lots of Palangi's there so I decided to find one to talk to. I started talking to this girl from a really small country in Europe. I tried to speak German to her from what I could remember in High school but that was a fail. Hahah!  Thankfully she could speak English. She came here to go to one of the islands Ha'apai to swim with the whales. We talked and i tried to give her a book of Mormon but she didn't accept it. I was bummed but I was determined to give this Book of Mormon to someone. While we were eating in this little cafe I saw this Palangi couple so I went and talked to them and of course the women was from Germany  so I had another opportunity to practice my German hahaah! But she also spoke English so that was nice. :) We talked for like 30 min just getting to know each other and then we talked about the gospel and they accepted the Book of Mormon and committed to pray about it. Man I was so excited! I knew there was someone there I needed to give the book too. I also challenged them to find missionaries when they return back home to listen to them. The Book of Mormon I had I had found in Presidents shuttle that we took to the airport. I thought it was one of the sisters but it wasn't so thats why I decided to give it to someone. And it was an English Book of Mormon which we don't really carry around. So, when I saw the Palangi's I was determined to give it to someone. 

Im loving the mission. Im loving the experiences i'm having and the people i'm meeting!! We feel so good when we are doing the things we are supposed to. Keep being good examples to those around you. :)  Ofa lahi atu kamoutolu! Keep reading the Book of Mormon!

-- 

Sista Silivesita

When I saw this  plane I told my comp "My dad would turn around right now".  He would have not like the plane ride!!  :)

Traveling with President and Sister Tuione.

I found this picture on the missions Facebook page of Kenidee and Sister Tuione (the Mission Presidents wife) and it made me smile.  This is so Kenidee.  ❤️ ❤️  😊   

Malo e lelei!

Man I don't even know where to begin.... This week was probably the toughest week I have had here on the mission but also one of the best weeks here in the mission! This week all of the new missionaries came in so we were able to help president welcome them all. We attended the temple and I did my first teaching at the orientation meeting. Man, I get so scared teaching but I can truly testify that the spirit is the teacher. I have never been led by the spirit more before in my life! 

 Sister Saulala and I get to work so closely with Sister Tuione. Whenever she needs something she calls us and we stop whatever we are doing and go to her. I feel like i'm serving two missions. I get to preach the gospel to those in Kolomotu'a and Serve the sisters here in the mission. Its awesome!! 

I have learned so much this past week. I testify that Heavenly Father is aware of EVERYTHING you are going through. He knows you best! 

Last night we got a text from President at like 3 in the morning telling us to to check and make sure our sisters were okay because we had a huge tsunami warning this morning. I guess because of the earthquake in mexico it caused a Tsunami.  Luckily it didn't make it this far. 

Hope everyone is safe and okay! Love you all! Sorry I don't have lots of time :) Ofa Lahi atu!

-Sista Silivesita

1. Me and my comp doing our laundry 

"Belief is truth held in the mind; Faith is a fire in the heart"

Malo e lelei!!!

Sorry I don't have a lot of time to email today! We had transfers and I have been transferred to Kolomotu'a. Im super excited!! Its a big area. I visited there one time and it was super fun. The members are awesome. Im so sad to leave my companion Sister Fotu! She taught me a lot and she is such a hard worker. I know she will do great things in Havelu. My new companion is Sister Saulala. She is from New Zealand. Some exciting news... President has called me and Sister Saulala to be the new Sister APs. Not very many missions have Sister AP's, I've actually never heard of any other mission having one, haha but we do everything the Ap's do. We will work a lot with President and help him with the mission. 

Im super excited for this opportunity! I know how important it is to do the Lords work. I love being a missionary! I know this church is true and I promise when we do what we are asked we are blessed. I love you all ! Have a good week :) Read your scriptures and pray everyday!!!!

Sorry I dont have any pictures! 

Ofa lahi atu!!

-- 

Sista Silivesita

"And whoso believe in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved'

Malo e lelei! 

Man this week was a good week! Saturday was probably one of the best days of my mission. We were able to baptize our investigator Nima and it was such a great experience! This past week we met with him everyday to continue teaching the lessons and follow up on his commitments. We always plan our appointments right after school and every time we get to our house he just sits there waiting for us. He gets so excited to hear the lessons and we just have so much fun teaching him. On Friday we were on our way to his house and we saw him walking around and so we asked where he was going and he said to invite people to come to his baptism hahah he was just so excited to be baptized and he wanted everyone to come. My companion and I went around to invite the memeber's and they all said " Oh yeah Nima already invited us". Im so grateful for the opportunity to have been able to teach Nima and watch him be baptized. I know he will be a great example to his family. They are trying to get to the temple to be sealed but his parents still have some things to work on. The spirit was so strong at the baptism and you could just see a change in their family. Im so excited for them! 

Nima :)

Tonight we are having a fakafamili with Kepu and his family. Kepu is someone I've been working with my whole mission. Yesterday he came to church with us and told us he's just waiting for his mom  to die and then he will join our church hahah we were kind of shocked. Here in Tonga when you are the oldest in the family it is very important to keep the traditions and do the things your parents did. We will meet some people and everyone in their family is a member except for the oldest sibling because they have to stay in the same church as their parents to show respect. We are hoping that we will be able to help him understand the importance of the gospel and that Heavenly Father will always provide a way. I really pray that he will be baptized and he will do it for the right reasons and because he wants to. 

This was such a good week! I just love being a missionary. I challenge you guys to read the Book of Mormon everyday. I promise it will change your life! There is power in the words of Christ! You will come to know him more and feel his love more in your life. I know he loves YOU! I love you. Have a great week!   Ofa lahi atu! 

 My poor comp was sick this week. Its called "mo" and its like mumps. But basically your glands swell and your face gets very swollen. Hahah it looks like you just got your wisdom teeth out. It feels good when you keep it warm so they wear a scarf around their head to keep it warm. My comp is so funny and she wore the scarf all day! You will see people all around wearing a scarf. Its a really common sickness. 

Elder Chand the district leader is so nice and cleaned the font for us. It takes forever to fill so we turned it on and then we went to choir practice with our zone. Well I guess it fills up a little faster than we thought hahah we had to get buckets to empty it cause we didnt have the key for the drain...

The little boys in our area made slingshots and they were just going around killing birds haha.

These 3 boys play at the church every Saturday so we had them help us set up the baptism.

Last night we sang at a fireside in Sopu as a district 

-Sista Silivesita

Malo e lelei! 

Im sorry I don't have a lot to say about this week. It was a good week though! Its starting to get really hot again. We went from freezing at night to waking up dripping in sweat. Haha i guess the weather here is kind of like Utah, very bipolar. Anyways on Thursday we had Zone conference, that was good! We talked a lot about the importance of repentance and why that is the one thing we are here to teach. The importance of repenting and being baptized. This week I've been studying the Plan of Salvation a lot. My testimony has grown so much just by studying this great plan that our loving Heavenly Father has prepared for us. I think once you fully understand this plan everything else is so easy to do like keeping the commandments, going to church, reading your scriptures, and much more. It's so important to do those things each day to help us progress in this life and the life after this. 

This week we had a baptism. Here in Tonga lots of records go missing. Some people have been baptized a couple of times. On Thursday our Bishop called us and said he had someone for us to baptize. The parents are wanting to seal their family in  the temple so they needed us to baptize him again. So we taught him and then he was able to baptized on Saturday and next month the family will be sealed! We also have a baptism next week. His name Nima. Hes 9 years old and his family just started coming back to church. His parents want to go through the temple but they need to quit smoking.So we will be working with their family to help them come back to church and get to the temple! 

On Sunday we had cookies instead of bread for sacrament. That was a first! It was cool to experience that sometimes you just have to use what you have to be able to remember our Savior and his sacrifice for us.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Ofa lahi atu! 

-- Sista Silivesita

Because the baptism was so last minuet we had to hurry and clean the font all morning 

Saturday because the water takes FOREVER to fill up!

Suliana our investigator from Fiji

That burnt thing im holding is called Manioke you eat it and its really yummy!

We saw this pig on the road. The animals are everywhere here hahah we always see pigs walking!