On Tuesday, a group from BYU Hawaii called SIFE came to Tuvalu. The team leader from the group, Toa, is our Branch President's son. They came to help build up education, leadership skills, and business skills in Tuvalu. They also came to give computers and school supplies for the students. They came on a private jet owned by one of their donors Shauna Olki. I didn't realize until they came and were talking about how impoverished Tuvalu is, that they were really right. I've been here for two months and maybe it's just the poverty here isn't as harsh as the poverty in Fiji, but I just didn't realize how much the people here truly do not have.
The group really helped the image of the church here in Tuvalu. Everyone that we've talked to since the time that they came asks about BYU. I think it is really positive for Tuvalu and really positive for the church here. There were about twelve of them that came and most of them stayed with families here to see what life is like. The families they stayed with weren't all members and so it was a really positive experience for those families.
We had a fireside with them on Friday and it was really spiritual. At first I was thinking, man these testimonies are really out of the can testimonies (referring to the BYU Hawaii students), but actually they were really sincere. Most of the students who were there had really good lives and just knew the church was true. It was really cool though to hear them and I really felt the spirit. I'm not going to lie, I actually thought about going there after my mission. I don't think I will though, but it's still a thought. Missionaries who serve in the pacific get scholarships...
We had a lot of new investigators this week too. I just want to share about one, I think I'll keep this email a little bit shorter. His name is Penitala. He is a really good friend of our Branch President. They work together and Penitala noticed that President has a really happy family and his kids are really disciplined. He also noticed that the pastor in his church had really wild and out of control children. It made him notice President Niko. President Niko always shares about the gospel too, whether people want to hear about it or not. Penitala listened and came to the BYU fireside. Afterwards we set up an appointment with him on Saturday, and then he came to church on Sunday. He is really good! I'm excited for him.
Yesterday we had about 84 people at church. I am so excited for the Branch!
Elder Key leaves next Tuesday, and I do too actually. I found out my new companion is Elder Whipple. He only has about three or four months left and he was a zone leader before coming to Tuvalu. I really get along with him, so hopefully we'll have a lot of fun in Tuvalu. I will really miss Elder Key though!
(Is it just me, or is this email missing the ending?)
No comments:
Post a Comment