Tonga!

Sunday, March 30th

I had a bad night last night. Now my knee hurts. I am falling apart!!! I think I have been walking funny, trying to protect my left hip and now I have done something to my knee. I just need to have a good massage and get this pinched nerve loosened up and I should be fine. I don’t have time for all these aches and pains. I’m starting to feel OLD!!!

Church was a spiritual feast today. The 4 boys were confirmed today and they asked Alan to do one of them. All of the blessings were beautiful. The cousin’s mother came to church today and she said that she wants to learn more about the gospel. The rest of the relatives are now shunning the boys. They are all Wesleyan and it is getting very difficult for them to all live in the same house. Lopeti doesn’t have room for all of them in his house but he is trying to find a way to build on a piece of property that he owns. If he can swing it, then he will have room for them to come and live with him and he will formally adopt them.

We gave each of the boys a Book Of Mormon of their own today. They were so thrilled and grateful. They are just so humble and they can’t thank us enough for every little thing we do for them. Because they sincerely appreciate everything that is done for them, it makes you want to do more and more.

George and Sila were the only ones in our Sunday School class today. We have been talking about the Priesthood and today Alan brought a new bottle of oil that needed to be consecrated. They both hold the priesthood, so he had them help him do that. It was very special to watch. Then we continued with the lesson and when we were just about finished, Alan turned to me and said, I think we need to give you a blessing. I agreed. I needed a blessing and Alan wanted those two men to have that experience, so we did it right there in our classroom. Sila did the anointing and he had a hard time getting through it. Not because he didn’t know what he was doing, but because he was so emotional. The Spirit was very strong and Alan gave me a beautiful blessing. It was a very powerful experience for all of us. Afterwards, Sila said that when he placed his hands on my head this wonderful feeling filled his whole body. He could feel the power of the Priesthood in his hands. I don’t think he has given a blessing in a very long time and the Lord was using this experience to strengthen his testimony of the priesthood and the power of blessings.

Tonight we had a fireside at our ward. It was a musical missionary fireside. The senior missionaries have a choir and we sang two songs. The new converts bore their testimonies. We had 7 new members, including the 4 young men, share their testimonies. We had told the senior missionaries a little about the boys and they were really touched when they met them. The Spirit was very strong in that fireside and a lot of that had to do with the humble testimonies of those 4 young men. It was another very special experience.