Elder Michael in Niuatoputapu

Elder Michael in Niuatoputapu
The Other Side of Heaven

Saturday, November 3, 2012

New Companion, More Zone Conferences,Real Growth,Retention, KIDS in Charge,ELECTION

November 2, 2012
okay awesome i really want to see what she looks like, i remember
faces a lot better than names.

Well this week has been another busy one with very little sleep. i
did not have a new companion until Tuesday afternoon when Elder
Williams from Centerville Utah flew in from Ha'apai where he had been
a zone leader for just over 2 weeks to be my new companion.  He is a
really great guy, a perfect fit for the job, truly a humble kid who has
a real desire to serve the Lord.d everyday. As soon as he got here, we hit the
ground running with He is a lot like Elder Fisher and
makes me want to work Zone Conferences here on the Main Island,
Wednesday was the west zone, then Thursday was the east zone than the
Town Zone was on Friday. They were all really good and focused on the
doctrine and not on the rules or the white handbook, President's new
thing is that if every missionary understands his purpose and has a
testimony of the Doctrine of Christ, then they will want to be
obedient. I am a big believer in that as well .Another thing we
talked about was Real Growth something that the Brethren have been
stressing throughout the whole year especially here in the Pacific.
i taught about how we need to hold onto the fruits of the Work, which
is Retention, something that is really important and a bit of a
problem here in Tonga. Over 50%+ of the country is baptized
statistically speaking but only about  36% of that 50% is active. so
there is still a lot of work to do.     One moment that was rather
special to me during the zone conferences was when President was
giving the closing remarks at the East Zone,  In that zone there are 4
people who i came in with, plus me who was there at the meeting,
President mentioned that two months from now all 17 of us will be done
(14 of whom i was in the MTC with, we have all become best friends
during our missions and all of us have been trainers multiple times
and have been Zone leader and AP) and President said as he started to
cry that he doesn't know what kind of gift he could give us or if
there has ever been a group like us before. We have always been such a
close nit group with one goal in mind to serve with all our might mind
and strength.  President is not one to often tear up and so when he
did that we(everyone of my group) started tearing up, it also made me
realize just how blessed I have been during my mission, and just how
little time i have left, got to make every moment count!

Speaking of President, he is in New Zealand for a week so we (williams
and I) are in charge for a week, should be pretty fun haha

Thats pretty much everything that has been going on. One elder who i
was in the MTC, Elder Chandler, from Hurricane ut is going home on
Monday because he has been pretty sick for a number of months we will
really miss him, he has been one of the hardest working missionaries
in the mission. it is always hard to say good bye to people, but hey i
told him every time i drive on the I-15 ill be dropping by to say hi.

Hope all is well at home,I didn't get a letter from dad this week. Sorry
for the disjointed email, keep me up dated on the election!!
Ofalahi atu

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