Preparing to baptize a beautiful family

Kou fie tuku hoku fkmalo ki he Otua a etau tamai i he langi ki he ng mea naa Ne ai kitae au pea hoku famili foki

Fakamalo atu eku famili e ofa. Kou ilo koe Otua oku ofa lahi atu kite kitautolu.

Fank you for all da tings.... haha jokes, I'm not that fob lol (not yet ;) )

I am so thankful for this opportunity I have to write to yall today. This will be shortish but a little something aye?

This week has been really great in terms of work!! As some of you may know we have had the opportunity to teach a family and also another girl named Na'a. 

Although na'e faingata'a ke ako'i ka Na'a, we have made some really nice progress with the family and honestly, this is one of my most favourite families I have ever met. They are very anga-lelei, very kind, and really funny. They have this little daughter, dude, I am telling you the freaking funniest girl you will ever meet in your entire life - hahaha. 

Anyway, it's this father with four girls and the mom is already a member but the kids he had with another wife... but anyway, they were super into the lessons and taking everything in... SO, in the morning on one of the days, a car pulls up and it was our...fkfeohi...fellow-shipper (a man from the ward that will help teach and help the family be comfortable in the congregation). He pulls up in his rickety old car and is like, "so Mafi done with all the lessons?" I tell him,  "yes sir we are!" "He's like ight lets get these sweet souls baptized!"

Four days later and after a lot of hard work and a few complications we baptized them. It was so great to see them come out of the water and to see them beaming with a bright new countenance!

We are working with them and things are progressing ultimately the Lord is really the only one that moves this work forward.

Ofa lahi atu ka moutolu 

Thank you all for writing me and being here for me. 

Love you all, 

Elder Mafi

Elder Mafi stays in Eua for another month!

Elder Mafi with other Elders on the little island of Eua where he's serving right now.

(I love how they're all wearing sweatshirts and coats...it's probably 70/75 degrees! haha. Brrr!)

What it do fam?

I'm so thankful for this opportunity I have here to write to ya'll. 

I just want to say thank you all for the emails ya'll have sent to me and the countless letters that you mail to me as well. I know it's a sacrifice to do things for others so thank you all so very much. It's hard to convey my true appreciation through this email here but thank you all. 

As far as updates go, we are still teaching this family of five and another girl. All the lessons have been completed and now we are just going back over the lessons a second time trying to find things that need re-explaining and what not... they are participating in the lessons however which is good news for us because participation means there is interest in getting baptized... so I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood...or a coconut tree harharhar - Palangi (American) joke. 

Anyway, that's about it. We have set up a date for October so I hope and I pray that some day there will be a vision of eternal happiness for them. 

But other than that...pretty much it! 

It's getting pretty warm here and a bit stormy but not as bad as I heard America is right now... looks like America has some repenting to do!  Haha! Jokes - Jokes!

Hope yalls are safe tho. 

Love you all and keep those who are in danger in your prayers. Love, Elder Mafi

Down time at the MQ (apartment) working on those UNO skills.

I thought I'd share a few uplifting things that Kalisi has shared in his personal emails to me over the last couple of months:

Me: Any experiences to share?

Elder Mafi: No outstanding experiences. But there is a guy we're teaching who got deported back to Tonga. he was a gang member but since then he's straightened up and has a family, but he is a drinker and he desires to stop because of his two little girls. he wants to stop to set the example and be a better father. This really hit me and it made think like you know? There is good in the hearts of men. People do want to change. There are always points in peoples lives to change. You know the Spirit always whispers in people's ears at some point and it's our jobs as members of the church to be there to answer their plea to change.

Acting on every prompting you're given. 

Me: What have you learned from being a missionary for a year so-far?

Elder Mafi:

I love my mission...the work is good and it was meant for me, to stand up and learn integrity. To be obedient even though people aren't watching...I've been learning a lot and adapting.