Delivering Salvation to Middle Earth: 2ND LETTER NEW ZEALAND MTC

OK I LOVE THE TONGANS. Their lives are so different from ours. So in the MTC i room with 3 other girls. Theres me my companion who is tongan and Sister Bromley who is from Utah and then her companion who is also from tonga. Our companions speak very little English but they are the sweetest, loving and happiest people I will ever meet. So I just learned there were 17 of us that came from the united states. We are the only Americans. The rest of the people here are from tonga, somoa, or austrailia... but out of the 70 people we are here with in the mtc atleast 60% of them are from tonga. Most of them speak little to no English so its pretty safe to say that ive picked up a lot of tongan. Im not fluent but im getting there;)

The first thing that happened when me and sister Bromley met our tongan companions is they asked us if we knew any of the people they know from America. I don’t think they realize how big America is. I think its safe to say though that i have learned more in this past week than i have learned in my whole life. And most of what ive learned is about the tongan people. Here are some of the things Ive learned are:

-Kissing is NOT allowed in tonga. If you kissed a boy you are not allowed to turn in your papers to serve a mission (and no they are not kidding, me and sister Bromley have had many deep discussions about this with them). When i first asked my companion how many guys shes kissed she said “OH MY GOSH NOBODY!!! But i have seen two people kiss”. Not make out... but kiss. They said they consider each other brothers and sisters and so kissing them is a BIG no no.

-They have absolutely no filter. The other night me and sister Bromley were sitting in our beds and one of the other sisters was over in our room going through sister Bromleys pictures of her family and she stopped and said- “OH MY GOSH SISTER BROMLEY (she has a really deep voice... it kindda sounds like a man) YOUR FAMILY IS SO BEAUTIFUL WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?!? YOU ARE SO UGLY!”. And she was SO serious. Ok for one Sister Bromley is SO beautiful... idk what was up with that Tongans eyes but second of all if I ever said that to anyone in America... They would probably go shoot themselves. It was so funny. We DIE of laughter every time we think about it. And they call eachother fat all the time.. and they mean it.

-At lunch all the Tongans sit don with a stack of about 8 slices of bread on their plates. In between every two slices of bread is literally half a stic of butter. They probably eat about 3 sticks of butter for every meal.

- They have never seen broccoli before so when they saw it they were freaking out

-Showering while you are on your period BAD. If you shower while you are on your period you will not be able to have kids (lets act like adults here...)

-New Zeland food is so INCREDIBLE (especially their chocolate) it puts American food to shame. The one tongan that called my roommate ugly has spent 200 dollars on food in the vending machine within the past 4 days... and no she isn’t fat.

-they call whiteout liquid, rainboots gumboots(that sounds so stupid), they have never head the term French fries

-21 is a big age for them because its the age were they can get married(?)

-They laugh at everything in the whole world and they all have these ginormous laughs that make you laugh. There has not been a single second that i have been here where i haven’t been happy, and i really believe it is because of the Tongans and their good sprits.

-They are so lazy its not even funny.

-They have never mailed a letter

-They say only married ladies use tampons (lets be mature here...)

-In NZ, and everywere else, they don’t have breakfast foods. We have spaghetti for breakfast all the time.

-They eat dogs and cats all the time

-Sister Finau (the tongan thats my roommate that isn’t my companion) Gave up her cell phone for a whole year before her mission in order to prepare

-They know a lot but they are really bad teachers

-They don’t wear swimsuits in tonga they are very immodest. They wear clothes to swim.

There are a ton of other cool things i have learned but i don’t have time to write about it all...

I gave a talk in church on Sunday. And i did a really good job. I have come to realize that I LOVE talking and im pretty dang good at it too. Me and my companion have been teaching a fake investigatior the past week and it is SO frustrating because she doesn’t know English that well and when she does talk to our investigator she is just spitting out facts and it sounds like she is reading out of a text book. And she talks really quiet and you cant really understand her wen she talks so i hate having her talk... i feel bad for saying that but its just not one of her strengths. So the past two lessons ive been the only one teaching. But its ok. I LOVE TEACHING and im really good at it too? I thought I was really bad but after a few practices ive gotten really good. Im so excited to get out there and teach for the next few months!

People always said that a mission was hard... i don’t know what they are talking about. I haven’t experienced the hard yet i guess. I am never tired. I go to bed at 930 ish every night (except last night me and sis Bromley stayed up till 1 talking)... and i wake up at 5:30 every morning. And its the weirdest thing I am NEVER tired when i wake up. Instead I am SO full of energy! I love it here. I love it with all my heart. I thought i would hate the feeling of being in church 24/7 but i actually have come to LOVE it.

Ok my blow dryer. Catches spits out fire every time i turn it on. I think it has something to do with the outlets here...

The presidents wife told me I have to take off all my rings. GAHHHHHHHH. Someone get here and shoot me.

I love it here and i have met some of the most incredible and most amazing people out here. This is awesome and I hope all of you (brooke and jack...and hopefully alec) decide to go on a mission one day. This is the best thing ever.

MEH there is so much more i want to say but I have no time. I will write again next weekJ