Tonga!

Sunday, December 29th,

We had a new couple come to our Sunday School class today. They are from Fiji. He has been a member of the church for a little over a year now. They have been married 1 year and he baptized her shortly after they were married. They look like a couple of kids! I thought they were brother and sister until they introduced themselves. They have both had jobs where they had to work on Sundays so they haven’t been to church since we have been here. They decided that it is the latter days and they need to get on the right path. They quit their jobs and are looking for new ones where they don’t have to work on Sunday. They are living with another couple in our ward. It will be wonderful to have them in our class. They both respond to questions and are very eager to learn all they can about the gospel. That makes 3 new converts in the class now. It is really a fun class to teach.

We left our ward a little early today to hurry back to Liahona to hear a missionary talk. Russell is leaving on a mission tomorrow. He will be going to the MTC in New Zealand and then serving in the Hamilton New Zealand Mission. We love this young man. His dad was the man that Noble Erickson trained to take over the plantation at Liahona. Russell will be their third son to go on a mission and they will all be serving at the same time. One is in Australia until August, one is in the Philippines until the next September and then Russell. They are an amazing family! Russell was in our Sunday School class when we taught at Liahona and he has been one of our favorite young men here ever since.

After church, lunch and Alan had his nap, we went to our office to Skype with Kris. It is her birthday today in Tonga and tomorrow at home. We were able to talk to her for a long time and then finally we got a video picture up and were able to see her and John and Lucy. It was really good to see them and to talk to them again. Kris has always been so supportive of us on our missions and it was fun to catch up on what is happening in her life. When we talked to the kids at Christmas and now with Kris, we are grateful to be here in Tonga where people have their priorities in the right place and they all believe in God. Even if they belong to a different church, they love the Lord and understand His purpose and the plan of salvation. It sounds like things are going crazy in America. It will be a little hard to go back to all of that. We are getting used to living the simple life.