Week 55

Kia ora This week has been pretty good. It went by so fast! We had so much going that we didn't get too much done in our area. I feel bad bad that's just how things play out sometimes. Monday we had a pretty great pday. Played some volleyball with a bunch of Islanders and got hit in the chest a few times😂 that night we had team ups with President Walker and we were doing some door knocking and President Walker knocked on a door and gave a great approach and we were able to go into the house and teach about the restoration it was awesome. We now have a return appointment with them after they get home from a trip. Tuesday we had zone conference and received some amazing training by the assistants and President Walker. After lunch the missionaries always do the haka for those going home at the end of the transfer and I have now made the decision I'm gonna learn how to do the haka (or in other words stick my tongue out at people and yell at them for about 2 minutes😂😂) so that's gonna be fun haha. Wednesday we had another MTC Exchange and also had ZLC so that day just flew by. Thursday we had exchanges with some elders. Funny thing about that companionship is they are both from Tonga and they are both named Elder Latu but not related😅😂 Anyway me and the Elder Latu I was with had a pretty fun day. We had heaps of things fall through but we just went out and had a blast doing the work and were able to send a referral. A member also took us to Ghengis Khan. It's a Mongolian buffet (shout out to Elder Baasansuren😂) Friday we ended the exchanges and had weekly planning and tried to visit some people. Saturday we spent all day doing stuff for stake conference. We had our studies and than elder ward played the piano for the priesthood session and than we had the adult session so that was our day. Sunday we had the Sunday session and stake conference and it was really good. The talks given were very uplifting and motivational. Overall this week we were able to do a few visits with people in our area but things were very busy and not too much progress. We do have Davien's Baptism coming up this next week and we are excited for that. Also transfers will be this Wednesday so we will see what happens this week. I hope you all had a great week and continue to enjoy life. Hope it's not getting to cold over there😂 Ofa lahi atu Love, Elder Wilding

Week 54

Kia Ora This week was pretty fast nothing to crazy happened. We had two exchanges and an elder got pretty sick so we spent most of Friday sorting him out with going to a hospital so yea its been a weird week. Sorry this email is going to be really short. Just quite a bit of the normal stuff has happened. Lots of tracting and trying to find those Elect people that want to learn. A few highlights though. We had 3 people come to church, and one of them it was their first time in over 3 months so that's great. We taught Davian, the 9 year old boy, and he will be getting baptized the 5th of October and since we watch conference the week after everyone in America he will get confirmed the 6th of October. We are also finally able to sit down and teach a couple this week that we have been trying to visit since I got into the area. So it was nice to get to know them more. That's pretty much the highlights for this week. I hope you all enjoyed your week! Ofa atu! Love, Elder Wilding

Week 53

Kia Ora! This week has been interesting. It started off with being in the flat most of the day sick on Tuesday and on Wednesday we were supposed to have exchanges with some elders but one of them was sick so Elder Ward took him around to get some meds and than we spent the rest of the day trying to contact some people. Thursday we had to drive around and get some stuff done for missionaries in our zone and some other things for Elder Ward and than in the afternoon we tried to go and talk to some people in the street. That evening though we had a lesson with a little boy named Davien who has been wanting to get baptized so we taught him and he's been progressing super fast. He just soaks up everything and will be getting set for baptism this week on Thursday. We plan to have taught him everything and have him baptized on the 28th of September! He's such a great kid and we've loved teaching him. It was awesome cause his grandma is a member and told us we needed to teach him so it's been great getting little referrals like that haha. Friday we had some weekly planning and started another exchange. I was with Elder Mondejar from Papa New Guinea. We didn't have anything to crazy happen that day but it was nice to get to know him a bit more before he goes home in a few weeks. Saturday I was still on exchanges with Elder Mondejar but during that Elder Ward and other missionaries did the chalkboard activity again and I'll have a few photos posted on what I looked like! Sunday was pretty good. We taught Davien again and just like last time he soaked it up and we just feel like we are reviewing everything with him😂 We had some great talks at church as well. All focused on some sort of missionary work or ministering. The Stake President spoke in the Tongan word and I wish I was able to understand it all because he is really an amazing speaker. Later we went to go visit heaps of people and just had heaps of leaving cause everyone decided to be gone😂 This week has been a bit weird we didn't have too much happen. We weren't able to visit many of the people we normally do or have been trying to for a while. But we keep pushing forward! It's crazy that I've been in a Tongan ward for 4 weeks now and I still feel like I'm staring at them looking as clueless as ever😂 it's been great serving them and getting to know the culture better. I love them so much and can bet I'll come back acting like them😁😂 I hope yous all have a great week! Ofa lahi atu! Love, Elder Wilding

Week 52

Kia Ora! Today I wanted to share a miracle that started a few weeks ago when I was on an exchange with Elder Malama. We looked at the meal roster and noticed a name that neither Elder Ward or I recognized (her name is Mele). We sent her a text and set up a time later that day for fafanga (dinner) and when Elder Malama and I got there she decided to take us to a Tongan restaurant. As we were walking there she told us that she wasnt a member and said when she went to church with one of the members, the meal roster went around and she decided to feed us! So we were pretty shocked; not very often does something like that happen. Well we sat down and started to get to know her she talked about how missionaries knocked on her door once and just asked for a glass of water. She got to know them and why they were leaving family for 2 years to go to a different country. Since then she always had a soft heart for the missionaries and tried to help them by giving them food or a drink when ever she saw them. After getting to learn more about her we walked back to her place and told her if she needed anything to let us know and we would come help her out. A few days later Elder Ward and I went by her place to introduce Elder Ward to her and try and see if we could do anything for her. She then said, "Do you want to talk to me about your missionary stuff?" We were surprised that she asked us before we could even ask her ourselves! We then discussed a time we can come and visit her again and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. She said that she was very interested in learning more about our Church, that she will start reading the Book of Mormon, and she is looking forward to our visit. This kind of miracle doesn't just happen for some odd reason, we know that it came because we have been diligent in doing the Lord’s work the best that we can no matter what happens during the day. When we do our part in doing the hard stuff, like talking to people on the streets or working in the rain, God WILL bless us. He knew we were doing all that we could and blessed us with this wonderful lady! So after many attempts to visit her again after giving her the copy of the Book of Mormon and to follow up on if she has read from it, we finally got to see her again this last Monday night. We didn't plan on stopping by her house that night but after a lesson that fell through we were trying to find people to visit and she came to mind. We went by and we were able to go in because she lives with some work friends and we sat down and did some getting to know her more and explaining what we would be doing to teach her! She mentioned again how she was very interested in our message. So we started teaching the Restoration. Well I'll skip to the good part! Elder Ward gave an amazing First Vision and after she interrupted and said that it was very very interesting and that she felt goosebumps and couldn't explain her feelings! We said that she was feeling the Spirit testifying to her. We talked more and got to the part of the Book of Mormon. I shared an experience I had about praying about it and she started to tear up.. She was feeling the Spirit and she knew it! We testified of receiving answers about the truthfulness of our message and invited her to continue to read and to pray about our message. She then asked if she could pray for us before we left! We happily accepted and she gave an amazing prayer and started crying as she talked to God about the message we shared. She thanked God for sending us to her and teaching her. She then asked us to keep coming back so she could learn more about what we teach and we left there knowing she felt the Spirit testifying to her! Now this is only the beginning of her journey but we know it is an amazing start and we are hoping a praying for an even better ending! I've never felt the spirit as strong as I did when she said her prayer and I couldn't help but smile. I KNOW that all of this is true and pray that we will all be able to continue to grow closer to God every day!

Week 51

Mālō e lelei!! This week kinda flew by Im finding it hard to remember all that we do now😂 but things are going pretty good. Wednesday day we had interviews with President Walker and that was way good. We got to discuss the zone and any concerns we had. He asked me how I felt about my mission so far and what I was able to learn during my first year. It's been a huge blessing to be out here and I can't believe that I'm at a year already! I can't quite tell if it is going super fast of slow😂😂 I'm excited to see what this next year hold! Later that night we had basketball with the youth. It was pretty fun and got way out of control haha. It was way fun though! Thursday we had an exchange with the Assistants. It was way good. I was able to learn so much from Elder Fukofuka. We were able to find 3 potential people as well! It was so great. Friday and Saturday we just did heaps of contacting and trying to find people and what not. It was pretty normal. Sunday we had church and man does it seem sooooo long😂😂 it's 3 hours of Church again and I don't see how we used to do that. Covering two wards is so fun and weird haha. Especially when one is a Tongan ward😂 Some members dropped off some dinner as well and man they give us sooooo much😂 it's crazy how I don't get fat from all this food😅 Anywho this week has been good. Time just seems to keep going by fast and man is it weird. It's September already and next thing you know it'll be Christmas😅 hope you all had a great week and keep having fun! Ofa atu Love, Elder Wilding