We all have a "today" to live, and the key to making our day successful is to be willing to sacrifice.

Malo e lelei!

Man what a week! This week was probably one of the busiest most stressful weeks of my mission, hahah but it was still a good week!  We had transfers on Monday and im staying again in Matangiake with Sis. Paletu'a.  :) Yay!  Although I've been in this area forever I was really wanting to finish from here. Anyway, on Wednesday we welcomed the new missionaries and it was really fun because I got to welcome a new palangi sister to the mission. Her name is Sister Foster and shes so cute! Shes from Utah and when I met her it took me right back to when I came here and everything I went through so I was able to share with her everything and tell her that its going to be okay!  :)  Wednesday and Thursday we did orientation with the new missionaries and took them to their new area's and finally on Friday we had the opportunity to visit our members in our area. It was a good week but a lot of late nights and early mornings transferring missionaries. 

Wednesday was awesome because I got to see Joel and his daughter Laurel. (Joel Tuilava lives in our ward and was Kenidee's sunday school teacher. They are in Tonga for a big family reunion.)  Man it felt so good to see them!  I got to speak some Tongan with Joel and tell him how much I just love Tonga!  :) 

This week we had the opportunity to meet with one of our less active members her name is Daisy. We've been working with her for awhile and shes progressing really well. This week we talked with her about one of the conference talks she read called "One more Day" by Taylor G. Godoy. Man its a great talk! When talking about it with Daisy she shared with us goals that she had made from reading this talk to help her live everyday like its her last. What things she would do to help her be more spiritually and physically prepared to meet our Heavenly Father. The talk talks a lot about living a life of sacrifice. Personal Sacrifice and Sacrifices for others. We all have the blessing of the atonement in our lives. We all have the opportunity to make our selves better each day because of the sacrifice our Savior Jesus Christ made for us. EVERYDAY we need to be bettering ourselves through Christ's atonement and helping others do the same. The best way to prepare to meet God is to repent and serve others. Theres a quote by Howard W. Hunter in the talk we read and we committed Dasiy to live by it....and it says:  “Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss 

suspicon and replace it with trust. … Give a soft answer. 

Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. 

Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. 

Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on 

others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. 

Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Speak your love and then speak it again”

I Invite all of you to first read this talk and second commit yourselves to live by the words of President Howard W. Hunter.

I have a testimony of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know he died for my Sins and for yours. The least we can do is try our best to repent everyday and become more like him. We need to first love our savior Jesus Christ and then love our neighbors. Serve them and help them draw closer to God. Ofa lahi atu! Have a good week :) 

-- 

Sista Silivesita

 Seeing Joel and Laurel :) 

Last Transfer

Malo e lelei!

Man what a week! This week we were so busy with missionaries leaving, activities, and also this morning we had a baptism :) It was awesome! It was a great way to start off the day. We baptized our investigator her name is Kusa. We've been teaching her for awhile now and this morning we had the opportunity to see her enter into the waters of baptism. Her family is really strong in  weselyan church, but she has read the Book of Mormon and gained a testimony and decided to be baptized. 

Like I said this week we were really busy with the kau osi. On Thursday we had their last devotional with them and we had umu for dinner. Its the most original tongan meal. We made luu and we had manioke, sipi (lamb), kumala (sweet potato), ota ika (raw fish), and otai meleni (a watermelon drink). We spent Thursday doing the feiumu getting everything ready for them. It was a really great devotional but it was sad to see them all go. Friday we had a temple session with them and then we took them to the airport. It was so weird because the next time we go to the airport with he kau osi, I will be a part of it. Ahhhh! I cant believe that I only have one transfer left. We have the transfer call tomorrow so im not sure if I will stay and finish from here or if I will go to a new area. I guess we will see tomorrow! 

Anyways we had a really cool experience these past couple of weeks. There is a less active family in our area and we've been working whith  them for awhile. The husband used to live in Utah and his son actually played football at Brighton but now plays football at East. Anyways ever since ive been here they have not come to church. They used to go to church in Havelu and claim that they still go there. Well we visit them a lot and always invite them to church but these past couple of months we havent had the opportunity to go see them because of the situation they are in. They are into really hard drugs and they fight all the time. And so sometimes we are just not able to go over there because of that. Well this past week we were out visiting the member's and I just felt so strongly to go to their house. I told comp we should go and when we went there the lady was there sitting by herself in their house. We talked with her and  shared a spiritual thought with her. Before we got up to leave she shared with us the situation her and her husband are in and how she wants to make a change in her life. The night before we came they had just gotten in a big fight and she was just feeling like she didnt want to be here anymore.  When she was sitting on her couch thinking of what she was going to do she heard us call her name from outside and she knew it was an answer to her prayers. We talked with her and gave her a commitment to read in the Book of Mormon. She came to church last week and you can just see a difference in her. We are still working with her and we know she will be an example to her husband. Im so glad I listened to the spirit and we went to her house to see her. I shared with her the scripture in 2 Nephi 27:23 about God being a God of miracles. God is still performing miracles but its according to our faith the blessings and miracles we will receive. 

I  hope you all have a good week. Read your Book of Mormon. Ofa lahi atu!

-- 

Sista Silivesita

Kusa's Baptism :)

This was us doing the feiumu for the missionaires who were leaving. 

Making Otai meleni.  Man its so good i cant wait to make it for you guys when i get home!

Getting the "luu" leaves ready 

This is Bother Tuilavas Sister, ( Brother Tuilava is in our ward and he was her Sunday school teacher) I met her at the airport

This is Junior my FAVORITE boy ever. He lives in the area im in and any time hes sees me he'll run up and hug me and then ask how im doing. 

Vilo with the Vava'u STL's 

Malo e lelei :)

Malo e lelei!

Man its been awhile since I've been able to email and I feel like I have so much to tell you...hahah.  Last week we had the opportunity to go to the Ha'afeva conference with President and Sister Tuione and the office crew. Man it was so fun! Ha'afeva is a smaller island off of Ha'apai and they are yet to be a stake. They are just a little district so President is the one who looks over them so we all got to go last weekend. It was such a cool experience!  Around Ha'afeva there are little islands where people live and they are also part of the district so they all came to Ha'afeva to join the conference. Friday of last week we all got on the boat to go to Ha'afeva. Its a new boat called the Tongiaki and every week it makes its round to all of the outer islands. It was my first time to ever take a boat to the outer islands because we usually fly, but I did pretty good. Everyone was telling me to prepare myself because most people get sick, but I was okay! There was however a lot of people on the boat who got really sick. On our way out to Ha'afeva the water was not very good so it was kind of a rough ride!  Anyway, we stopped by nomuka, another outer island, to pick up the elders serving there so they could come join the conference. When we got to Ha'afeva the boat was not able to pull up to the dock so we stopped in the middle of the ocean and the smaller boat came to pick us up. We had to get off from the big boat and jump off to the smaller boat. And the water was not good so it was a struggle. But we all made it! 

Ha'afeva is this small little island. Theres only one road and the chapel is like right in the middle of it. On one side of the chapel they are mostly members and on the other side they are all non members. Theres really not much to do there other than just sit and hang out, or go swimming. But we cant go swimming so we just spent time hanging out with the members. The conference was Saturday and Sunday and it was a really good conference. It was so cool to see the gospel being taught and shared on this little island in the middle of the ocean. The members there are so faithful and they are trying their best everyday to live the Gospel and share it with others. It was a really humbling experience for me. It was another testimony to me of how great the gospel is. We are so lucky to be members of the church! 

Monday morning it rained like crazy so we didnt think we would make it home but when it was time to get on the boat it was such a clear nice day! We made it home that night and the water was great so no one was sick. SO probably my favorite part of this little trip was Monday morning. Sunday night at midnight some of the members left and got on their boats to go fishing. They went out all night and didnt get back until early Monday morning. Around 8 Monday morning we were told to go down by the beach and eat ota ika (Raw fish). When we got there they were all just sitting in the ocean in their clothes, raw fish in one hand and manioke in the other and they were eating and laughing and just having fun. It was so different to see but it was so cool! All of us missionaries just sat on the side watching them and we just ate on the sand hahah but it was so fun! They also brought this big cooler over and it had dog in it for us to eat. Hahah, it was something ive never experienced before but it was so fun! They also came back with two big turtles and a shark. The Tongan people just know how to have fun, and i love it! 

We also got to experience two baptisms while we were there. The work is going so good! I love being a missionary. I read this week in Alma chapter 32 about faith. I want to ask you all to read Alma chapter 32 talking about the word of God and faith. We can do all things when we have faith in God. I love you all!  Have a good week! 

Ofa lahi atu!

-- 

Sista Silivesita



Okay so Sister Tuioni (Kens Mission presidents wife 😂) actually pushed me in the water  hahaha!  So I sat in the water with all of them even though I was all dressed and ready to go. But im not complaining....It was so fun to be in the ocean!



















The dog they brought over for us to eat.


The Baptism :)

Love the Lord Because he Loved you First ....

Malo e lelei! 

This week was a really great week! Wednesday we had mission tour here in Tongatapu with Elder Adern and it was great. He is such a cool guy! We had MLC Wednesday morning with him and his wife and then a meeting with him and all of the missionaries Wednesday evening. Thursday my companion and I flew with President and sister Tuione and Elder and Sister Adern to vava'u and there we had a meeting with the vava'u and ha'apai missionaries. It was two days of meetings but I learned so much and I feel like everything he shared was exactly what I needed to hear. My compaion and I also had the opportunity on Friday to go visit all of of the sisters in Vava'u and Ha'apai and see what we can do to help them in their work. It was a week full of learning and teaching and I feel like I progressed so much in just a couple of days. 

The work here is good. We've had a couple of baptisms dates set but a lot of them have fallen through. We had one of our investigators move without telling us and we are so sad. I think I talked about her in my last email but her name is Ana and she had so many questions and was so interested in the church and so we were so surprised when she moved. We are still praying that we can get in contact with her and continue teaching her. 

We also had a baptism set for today but that investigator moved too! So we are a little sad. But the work is still moving here. One of our wards is doing so good with missionary work. They are all working together and are really motivated to find someone for us to teach. We are struggling a bit with our other ward. They arent as motivated to do missionary work but we are thinking and praying for programs and activities to help the members get involved in missionary work. But I think we got our answer this week from the mission tour so we are excited to put it to work! 

Something I learned from MLC was the importance of being a leader. Ive been in this position for quite awhile now but im still learning everyday. Im not perfect and I have a lot to work on but President talked about the importance of believing in yourself. I was really excited to go to vava'u this week and spend some time with the sisters. One thing I wanted them to know is how much I love them and how proud I am of them for the work they are doing. I have the opportunity to be a representative of Jesus Christ. In everything I do I need to represent Him the best I can. I think love is one of the best ways to help someone when they are struggling or when they want to make a change. President always shares a quote he says...."They dont care how much you know, until they know how much you care." Its so true! We can become true disciples of Jesus Christ when we have the pure love of Christ for those around us. 

Elder Adern talked a lot about the importance of increasing our faith in Jesus Christ. The best way to increase your faith in Jesus Christ is to get to know him personally. Sometimes we come to know our Savior through His atonement and the blessing we have of repentance, but we can also come to know Him through studying His life and His plan. I say it every week but continue to read your scriptures! Study the life and the words of the Savior and you will come to know Him and He will be your Best friend. I know He lives and He Loves us! Another quote President Tuione always says is..."I love the Lord because He Loved me First." He loves you! So do all you can to become more like Him and love Him with all your heart might, mind, and strength! I hope you all have a great week! Remember who you are :) Ofa lahi atu!

1. We have cake and ice cream at our members house every Sunday. Their names are Feinga and Anau. Feinga is the one who carved my maui hook I sent home to you. Hes so good at carving things and this is a chair he made that they keep at their house. My companion and I were laughing because we thought we could both fit in the chair but we didnt....hahaha 

-- 

Sista Silivesita

Exchanges :)

Malo e lelei!

This was another good week! We've been busy with appointments and it was awesome! There were some days we were running from appointment to appointment. The work here is going so good right now! We had time to go on exchanges this week with some of the sisters and it was fun! It's fun getting to know the other sisters. This week we've been getting ready for our mission tour next week. There is a area 70 coming Elder Ardern and we're pretty excited to hear him speak. 

This week we had the opportunity to take one of our investigators on a temple tour. Her name is Ana and we've been teaching her for a couple of weeks now. She's had some questions about the temple and also about the Book of Mormon. She had the opportunity to come sit in the waiting room in the temple and the temple president, President Langi came and spoke with her and also answered her questions. It was a really great spiritual experience for her and for me and my companion! We have invited her to be baptized and she accepted, she just wants some more time to study and think about what she's learning. We pray for her everyday and I cant wait to see her be baptized. 

The work here is good and it was a successful week. I hope you all have a good week! 

Ofa atu!

-- 

Sista Silivesita

1. Exchanges with sister Fa'aui. We had fafanga at our members restaurant she opened up in front of their house :) 

Transfers :)

Malo e lelei!

This week was a busy week with transfers. Im staying in my same area and im with my same comp. Im pretty excited about it! :) Not too much happened this week... it was a good successful transfer hahah and now we are preparing for zone conferences and other meetings this transfer! This week we also had a program in one of our wards, I think I told you about it last week, but this week we did the same aho ako'i in ward mapelu. So many of our members brought someone for us to teach so our one day of teaching all day turned into 3 days it was pretty sweet. Thursday, the day we had planned the aho ako'i, president gave permission to some other missionaries to come to our area and help with the teachings, so we had 4 pairs of missionaries going from house to house in our area teaching the investigators. We were able to get so many new investigators and a lot of them want to continue the lessons. We have the opportunity to teach a couple of them twice this week and they are on date for baptism. Yay! The work in this area is really picking up. Its hard at times trying to keep the members motivated to continue bringing their investigators for us to teach but we' planned a couple of activities for this month and I have a good feeling about them. Not only do we have the opportunity to share the gospel with non member's but we've been able to help the members as well.  

Sorry nothing too exciting happened this week.  But I hope you all have a good week! Remember who you are! Keep reading your scriptures :) Ofa atu!! 

1. The new ice cream shop that just opened in our area :) hahah 

It's not about me

Malo e lelei! 

This week was another good busy week! We had a program this week with the missionaries who finished this past Friday and that was about it hahah but it was still a good week! On Tuesday we had a "aho ako'i" in one of our wards, so its like one day in the month that we invite all of the members to invite someone to come listen to the missionaries. We had teaching appointments all day Tuesday and it was awesome! From there we were able to set up follow up appointments in the next coming weeks. Ive probably shared this before but my area is all members except for one little village of 5 houses and they are non members. But we do a aho ako'i to help the members bring their investigators for us to teach and its been really helpful for the work here in our area. Next week we will be doing the same program in our other ward. Ive been in this area for about 8 months now and when I first got moved here I wasn't too excited to work in an area of all members but I have seen the importance of working with members and it has help me to love the work so much! I honestly would be okay to spend another transfer here. Actually we were looking at the transfer board the other day with president and he asked me " Sister Sylvester where do you want to finish your mission from?" He was giving me the option to choose any island to go work in. Although I would love to go work in the outer islands I told him "President wherever you and the Lord need me that's where I will finish my mission from. If you need me to stay here I would be happy to stay and do whatever you need me to." Ive come to learn that this work is not about me it's the Lords work and His will. Even though I would be happy and love to go to the outer islands and experience work out there I just don't have the strength or desire to tell President where to put me hahaha. President laughed after and said " hahah its okay we go to the outer islands anyways for zone conferences."  I love being  a missionary and I love to see what the Lords plan is for me. Even though missionary work is not easy at times, I'm  so happy and willing to serve the Lord :) 

It was another great program with the Kau osi this week. It was hard to see them go home but exciting for them that they finished their work! I still cant believe how fast time is going. Its killing me! hahah but I'm working hard to make every minuet count. I cant wait to skype you guys tomorrow!!! I remember mothers day last year like it was yesterday and now I get to see you all again and I cant wait :) Although its not Mothers day yet I just want to wish my beautiful mom a HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I love you so much and I'm so grateful for all that you do! I hope you all have a great week. Keep reading your scriptures! Keep being member missionaries and find any opportunity you have to share the Gospel. Ofa atu! Tau toki sio apongipongi ;) 

-- 

Sista Silivesita

We are really close with the Chinese lady who works at the store on the end of our street and the other day she called us over and she went in the back to go get something we thought maybe it was cake because she gave us cake last time but no this time it was chicken feet! Hahah we didn't know what it was and when we got in the car we screamed and just laughed. I guess they eat the feet of the Chickens! :)

My first zone leader and district leader both finished this week.