LEPA (Trunkey) but not really!!

February 1, 2016

What a week! The highlight of my week and the reason for the title was
the lunch visit I had with the Van Tienderens! I had to sweet talk the
AP's a little bit, but in the end they said I could take an hour lunch
with them. So I called them up and set up a visit for Saturday! It was
soooo nice to talk and see people from back home! I got to meet their
new(ish) baby girl Wendy and eat classic Thomas family recipes I.e.
Grandma's chip dip and her famous marbled brownies! They're totally
the same people and definitely had the spirit in their home. Couldn't
have asked for a better lunch!

Besides lunch, we had a lot of other cool experiences this week. We
found 2 REALLY solid investigators tracting. Sadly we have to hand
them off to the Palangi (American/English) ward in the area, but I really
think they'll progress.

Church this week was really good, but not limited to -----

* Bishop had a meeting with just us before church started where he outlined
families he wanted us to teach.
* They sang two of my favorite hymns during sacrament meeting.
* Two of the speakers sang a hymn in Tongan before they gave their
talk. And halfway through the whole congregation joined in.
* I am starting to learn more people's names. (Half the ward is named Sione)
* Sunday school was just good.
* The bishop decided that we should go meet with the youth third hour
and that the youth should watch "The Prince of Egypt" haha
* Sister Finau came up to us after church with two bags of food for "a
snack" because "you Elders looked hungry last week"
* Bishop's son brought three non-members to church who we are now
going to teach this week.

As I mentioned earlier, it has been a really good week, and that has
got me thinking about a blessing I received the day I went into
the MTC. Dad put his hands on my head and one of the things he said
was "you will have times on your mission where you will be happier
than you ever have been before." When I heard that promise I assumed
there would be a couple of instances where I would be standing in a
baptismal font, about to baptize someone, and feel a surge of crazy-
intense happiness. I'm not saying that now I've realized that's
impossible, or even that it won't happen. But it was my observation
this week as I sat in a humble home, half the size of my apartment,
teaching a family of 10 about the love of Jesus Christ that there is a
whole different type of happiness. Completely different from what you
feel at track meets and football games, It's the kind of happiness
that makes you sit back, take a deep breath, and smile from the inside
out.

Love,

~Elder Thomas