Goodbye President Tupou :'(

Hello Everyone,

Yes, this week my mission president finishes his 3 year service. He and his wife have been such a tremendous blessing to this entire country, as well as hundreds of missionaries from around the world who they have been able to influence since 2013-- me included. Our new mission president will be President Tui'one. He is from New Zealand, but of course he is Tongan, and I have heard lots of great things about him. I know only greater things are instore for this amazing little dot on the map of a country. God loves these people SO much. I spent too much time writing individual emails again, so I am out of time. just one update though, we have two new promising investigators in Fo'ui! yes fo'ui! The land of no investigators! and we have 2 new ones! We will teach them both tonight :) prayers are appreciated thanks :)

Ofa LAHI atu.

-Sister Bever

This is the table in our cute little temporary home in Liahona! Our Kolovai home was supposed to be worked on this week, butt hey haven't even started yet, so we will probably be in liahona for another week-- i have no complaints. It has been a dream come true to finally have a good place to study!

One of these is a creepy house that we walked by in our area. i dont think anyone lives in it, but it looks like the scene for a horror movie. 

the other is a picture of me! yes! driving! I drive now because my companion does not have a license. 

The last meeting we had with President and Sister Tupou

Us and Moala---aka the best ward missionary EVER!

Our planning session last week at the beach-- looks a lot more glamorous than it is. Lots of bugs, spider webs, its hot, and sand gets everywhere. BUT look at the view! Inspiring.

This is from a time we went to another area on exchanges and they happen to live at the house of one of the area 70's and this is his dock in the back yard. This is the sunrise right after we exercised

me eating a delicious pineapple turnover that was brought to us because one of the couples that works in Liahona was so impressed with us that we actually washed our car! 

The other is of my comp and I outside the mission office in Liahona. YES we are still staying in the nice little apartment next to the office because the construction on our house is not done yet, but I'll take the washing machine even if we have to drive farther. 

Sister Bever, LELE

This week has been a lot of lele (running), but not really the exercise kind. although i still try to do a little bit of that ever morning, my companion and I did a lot of running around all over the island in the car. Our little home in Kolovai is not finished with renovations yet, so we are still driving back and forth from Liahona every morning and night. We now have an adopted aunt and uncle in Liahona! One of the senior couples that stays one door over from us-- Elder and Sister Maumau (yes they are Tongan). It is great having them around because they always make sure we have food, but they don't care if we say no, and they are related to a lot of people in our area of Kolovai, so we have been able to get help from them with investigators! Other update- we had a musical fireside last night in Fo'ui, and yes, you guessed it. I sang. I sang "Be Still My Soul" and although it was in English (there is no tongan translation) i think everyone felt the spirit. I decided i will not sing publicly even in my life unless it the eternal salvation of other people could depend on it. so no, i will not be holding concerts when i get home. 

I don't have much time again this week, but i want to share about one experience we had this week. THere is a new family in Kolovai who moved into the ward from New Zealand. The dad is Tongan, and the Mom is Nauru (look it up.) The mom has been baptized, but the dad asked us to come talk to her briefly about the Book of Mormon. We decide one random day to just show up and see if she is home. not only was she home and free to talk, but the hour we pulled in to her house was the only time should happened to be home all week, and a last minute change in her plans allowed her to be available at that time. We talked to her for about an hour and found out that she was baptized, but never taught. and she doesn't like going to church because she doesn't understand very much tongan. She is part of some jewish/hebrew fellowship church, but she doesn't really understand that faith either. She and her two teenage girls are all in the same boat, so we have been able to visit her a few times and teach her the gospel, and i see lightbulbs going off in her head all over the place. Even if she Sina (that's her name) doesn't turn into a baptism because she is already baptized, i know the lord led us to her to help true conversion take place. that's pretty cool. the end. Love you all, have a fantastic week.

-Sister Bever

--

Sister Emily Bever

Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission

the last one is the table in our cute little temporary home in Liahona! Our Kolovai home was supposed to be worked on this week, butt hey haven't even started yet, so we will probably be in liahona for another week-- i have no complaints. It has been a dream come true to finally have a good place to study!

One of these is a creepy house that we walked by in our area. i dont think anyone lives in it, but it looks like the scene for a horror movie. 

the other is a picture of me! yes! driving! I drive now because my companion does not have a license.