Week 7 & 8 - Loving Tu'anuku

Malo e lelei!

I have finally gotten to my new area. The area is called Tu'anuku. It is a tiny village in Vava'u. It consists of one road, 50 houses, lots of friendly people, and many pigs, chickens, dogs, horses, and roosters. The roosters are the worst. They are so loud and wake me up before the alarm. HAHAHA. 

This past week we had our Christmas party, I don't know why it was this early, but it was fun. The party was for all the missionaries on the Island. Each district sang a song, and our district sang Far Far Away On Judea's Plains in Tongan. It was beautiful. Then the next day we had Zone Conference. Zone Conference was awesome but it was hard to understand because it was all in Tongan, and my Tongan is not the greatest.

Yesterday my companion and I got to share a poupou fakalaumalie (spiritual thought) with a family. It was so amazing to bare my testimony all in Tongan about the church, the Book of Mormon, and Jesus Christ's atonement. The spirit was strong.

Ofa atu!

Elder Delgado

P.S. Always remember that "faith without works is dead". Whenever you have a feeling you need to do something good, do it, and you will be amazed at the results.

Week 6 - Making new friends on Vava'u

Malo e lelei! Welp, good news every one! I have arrived in Tonga! I left the MTC Monday morning at 3:30 am. We flew from SLC airport to Houston. Houston to New Zealand, and then New Zealand to Tonga. In Houston we had an 8 hour layover, so we found a jazz band in the terminal and listened to them all day.         So we arrived in Tonga and had a meeting with the mission president. In this meeting he was announcing where all the new missionaries will be serving. When he got to me he said Elder Delgado, Hunga; Vava’u. When he said that everyone in the rooms jaws dropped. And I was just confused. Then I came to find out Hunga is a tiny island off of Vava’u. Hunga has no internet and solar power electricity. So I was super pumped to go there.         I flew out to Vava’u on Thursday and found my new companion. His name is Elder Tongolei, he is awesome. We have been staying at Elder Jacobson and Merrill’s Missionary quarters or MQ. We have been here ever since because we are waiting for two things; a sim card for our phone and a working boat that can take us out to Hunga. Because the church' s boat is broken we have been told that we will no longer beserving in Hunga :( I was super sad when we herd the sad news, and mycompanion and I are still waiting to find out where we are going toserve now. My guess is probably back at the main island Tonga.         Although I will not be able to serve in Hunga I am still very grateful for the time I have had here in Vava’u and for the good friendships I have made in here.         Oh, and I just experienced a miracle. The other day I was in thestore and I saw a Mango Arizona drink that I really wanted but it is super expensive in Tonga. So I was like “Welp maybe I'll have one in America” but then just now the bishop came by and gave us food and Mango Arizonas. Alright folks, I love you all so much all the way from the South Pacific. Ofa ‘atu Elder Delgado

Week 5 - My Last Weekend

Malo e lolei,

I hope everyone is having a happy Friday, because I know I am. This is my last weekend in the MTC, and I'm so excited to fly out to Tonga! I can't wait to meet my new companion, meet the people, and kai kuli (eat dog) ... sorry Lola. Anyways, it's going to be awesome. On Monday, 11 others and I will head to the airport at 3:30 AM and fly to Houston. In Houston we will have an 8 hour layover. I'm pretty sure that's the longest layover I've ever had. After the layover we will fly to New Zealand, and from there to Tonga. With how time zones work we will leave on the 11th and arrive the 13th.

Besides this week being repetitive we got to welcome in a new Tongan class to the MTC, and they're super nice. My companion was sick for the most part of this week, so I spent some time being his "nurse". And I believe the highlight of this week was being able to be in a devotional with Dieter F. Uchtdorf as the speaker.

Elder Uchtdorf is my favorite apostle, mostly because he is a pilot, and because he has a cool German accent. But one thing he said that really stood out to me was when he said "your sacrifice is more sacred than your increase." It made me happy to know that God cares more about my willingness to serve for two years and to sacrifice those years of my life than whether or not I am super successful.

I hope you all have a wonderful week to come, and I hope you all can see God's hand in everything. Please know that I love you all, and don't forget to say your prayers.

Ofa atu,

Elder Delgado

Week 4 - Meet Humphrey

Hi Everyone,

This week was super great! It started off with snow on Sunday!! Now I can say that I saw snow on my mission, but not in Tonga. It was really fun that it snowed because it threw something different into our week. Everything here at the MTC is super repetitive so when it snows we take it as a blessing. After church my district and I went to the grass in front of the temple and built a rather large snowman that we named Humphrey.

After the snow melted, it was back to the same, old same old. Everything's the same here and it's starting to get to me. I do leave for Tonga in 10 days, and that is super exciting. I also got to teach a lady in Tonga, through video call. I taught her a message about the Book of Mormon. She was very kind and patient with our broken Tongan, and I think our message was somewhat meaningful to her. I cannot wait to get into Tonga so I can teach them in person. It's going to be so fun!

I ran into a really good scripture the other day. It is in the Book of Mormon in Alma 7:11-13. These verses talk about all the burdens Christ took upon Himself during His Atonement. I just want you all to know that when you are having difficult times in your life and you feel like nobody knows how you feel, you're wrong. Jesus Christ knows exactly how you feel, and if you come unto Christ you will feel comforted and blessed. I also want to ask you all to pray to God and tell Him everything you are grateful for. When you are done with your prayer you will notice how blessed you really are.

I love you all, and I hope you have a spectacular week!

Ofa atu,

Elder Delgado