Well Done Thou Good and Faithful Servant!

 

Welcome Home!

 

7 minutes to write my last email home :')

Hello all,

This is Sister Bever reporting for the last time from the BEST mission in the world- Misiona Tonga. I will keep it short and to the point. 

first, pictures:

1. We taught to kids, Starling and Suli. They are adorable and they come from a part member family. They will be baptized while i am on the plane home, and we are doing our best to ensure they will have family and ward support after their baptism. I love them.

2 and 3. Pictures from our trip last week to Ha'apai. One is of us stand with some members on the small island of 'Uiha, the other is of me and my adorable companion, Sister Paletu'a. 

The last message i feel i should leave with you all in the last 3 minutes is: THIS IS NOT THE END. The next time you see me, know that I have changed a little on this mission. I am probably a few pounds heavier, but most of all, my heart has changed. I have a greater love for my God, and for the Savior Jesus Christ, and for my fellow man. 

The best thing i can do for anyone is share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them, so, my last invitation to all of you already is to see for yourself if you haven't already <http://www.mormon.org/> , and then call me :).

I return home on Feb. 3rd. I look forward to seeing you all, but until then, my heart is here in Tonga.

<3

For the last time, 

'Ofa 'Atu,

Sister Bever

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

meetings, mamalohis, and tender mercies

'E kimoutolu 'oku mou kei lau pe 'eku email,

This week was a good one, but like i expected, it went by very quickly. We had the pleasure to attend all five zone conferences from Monday to Friday here in Tonga, and this next week, we will leave on Monday to Ha'apai for their conference, and Wednesday for the Vava'u conference. We didn't get to teach many investigators this week with all of the meetings, and a funeral going on in Kahoua which all the members were involved in... but, we got to teach some less active members, and i just want to share one experience we had with a less active named Lolo. 

We taught his once last week after a dinner with a member family, and we challenged him to read the Book of Mormon every day for a week. He said he would do it, and the lesson ended up being pretty good, but yesterday we got to meet with him again and follow up. He began by saying, "well, i read the introduction..." and i was thinking- "ugh great he didn't even try. that is only one page..." but then we looked at his Book of Mormon and he when he said introduction, he meant everything in the book before 1st nephi begins, which actually comes out to be about 10 pages in the Tongan book. He is a young, single dad who works until dark every night and he actually did give it his best effort to read every day. when i realized this i felt bad for judging him, and thankful for the power of the Book of Mormon. This man has not been active for about 8-9 years but now he is determined to come to church on Sunday and continue reading from the Book of Mormon every day. I don't really know how to help these people, and i make a lot of mistakes in this work, but the good news is, the Lord is at the head of this work, and even though I can't, he can. And he has blessed us with The Book of Mormon. I have really gained a testimony of the power of that book. Like the words of Lolo's father- "I can't change my son, but The Book of Mormon can." 

If you need a change in your life right now, any change at all, I encourage you to follow  the example of Lolo and just see what will happen if you read from that book every day if you do not already. I promise that answers and help from heaven will come. 

I love you all, and i'll attach a few random pictures and a Mormon message that i love. :) https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-08-012-daily-bread-pattern?lang=eng

Don't forget to look for a miracle every day! Have a great week <3.

-Sister Bever   

Pictures:

1. random sunset photo

2. Our new cold/hot water dispenser!!! misiona tonga is getting fancy!!!

3. The package from MR ward!!! Thank you everyone!! <3

4. Our favorite ward mission leader, Beni, who is leaving to Vanuatu... :(

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

Learning to love

This last transfer is going to one to remember. It will be a busy one as we had mission leadership conference this week, conferences all around the main island next week, and then we go to Ha'apai and Vava'u for conferences the following week. The last part of this week was a valuable bit of time for us to do some exchanges with the sisters and actually work in our own area. I learned to LOVE these sisters and our new little area even more. I think i mentioned that our new area- Kahoua- is where Sister Makasini's family lives, so here is a picture of me with her mom. We challenged her mom to help us with the missionary work. She is such an adorable old woman, and she gave us a bag of American chocolates. :). i also attached a photo of my japanese friend we met at the airport, my favorite fruit here in Tonga-- Tava, and an adorable chubby little boy named Kingy :)

I think the message i would like to share with you all this week is "leave it all on the field."

that is the quote we put on the front of our missionary daily planner for this transfer. To my companion and i it means to give EVERYTHING you have got and go to sleep at night without regrets, knowing you did your best. I think sometimes in life we can be like the man from the parable of the talents who was given one talent and he buried it for fear of losing it. We hold ourselves back from our potential out of fear of something bad happening. Sometime i see missionaries who sit silently in the lessons and won't speak because they are afraid of making a mistake with the language. Sometimes i see investigators who are afraid to try to quit smoking because they think they might have a relapse. In this mission i have learned to take a leap of faith. Go out and work with that talent no matter how small it is and surprisingly, it will double and triple and so on... Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. If you do it to serve the Lord, he will qualify you for whatever the task may be. 

These last few weeks of my time here is Tonga, i commit to leave it all on the field. Even though my talents may not be that great, i'm gonna put them all out there in the open. Talk to everyone, everywhere. Love everyone. Repent daily. And SOOO much more. This week i saw so many little miracles as a result. Here's to 4 more weeks of miracles.

I love you all. Don't hold yourselves back from blessings. Leave it all on the field. <3

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

People, it really is "The Other Side of Heaven"

These past two weeks, I experienced some things that most people spend their whole lives waiting for.

1. My companion and I joined our mission pres and local members on a LONG boat journey (i didn't even throw up!! but oh man, over 24 hrs on a small boat in the ocean is not fun...) to the remote Island of Niua for their district conference. We were even able to sing for the people there together with the APs. I will write about all the miracles later because I have 3 minutes. Just imagine them from the pictures <3.

2. I was a race car driver when we had to emergency rush a sister to the hospital who came by plane from another island and the ambulance didn't show up... ugh... Tonga.

3. I witnessed a baby healed by the power of the Priesthood.

That's all i have time for. This is the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas!!! <3

-Sister Bever

p.s. the island with the beautiful water is the little island where John Groberg went to pray and learn the Language. It's a lot bigger than in the movie. 

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

#sharethelight

Dear Everyone,

I wish I had more time to write, but I don't. This week we had a privilege of going on the mission tour with Elder and Sister Haleck, President and Sister Tui'one, and the APs. We had meetings all week on Tongatapu, Ha'apai, and Vava'u! Even though each trip was very short, less than a day, we were able to see some beautiful sights, but more importantly, i don't know why I am so blessed, but we got 5x the counsel and instruction from the pacific area president. I learned soooo much, but maybe the biggest thing i learned is that the church of Jesus Christ and his gospel unites everyone. If I want to do something to bring the most unity and peace to the world, I should simply serve faithfully in the church for the rest of my life. My commitment to all of us this week is to fulfill our callings to the best of our ability. This really is the kingdom of God on the Earth, the sooner we decide to be all in, the better. 

Love you all, and I am so sorry to be out of time again,

Have a wonderful week and #sharethelight where ever you are!!

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

vava'u harbour. BEAUTIFUL. The pictures do not do it justice

quick self with my gorgeous comp in the car which is where we spend too much time driving all over the place.

We had a ward activity for missionary work in our english ward and so that was the table by the door before we got the table cloth

my comp and the area president, Elder Haleck, who came for our mission tour.

an adorable baby of a family in our english ward. The kids are all half tongan. Their mom is from spokane washington and their dad is tongan.