The Tongan and the Toothbrush

This week was busy busy busy. We had zone conferences and all sorts of things to do so we did not get the chance to do a ton of missionary work this week but we feel like our mission is almost more to the missionaries than it is to the non-members here. We hope we are doing a lot of good. We were training on how to take the average time for a person to be baptized from about three months down to about three weeks. It was a fun training to do. I loved being with all the missionaries and seeing how a lot of them are really growing up. 

Spiritual: One of the big events happening in the mission recently is the fact that this round of zone conferences we got the DAP program. The Driver Accountability Program is like a flight recorder that you would find in an airplane. The mission is now starting to monitor how the missionaries are driving. To install that project Salt Lake sent us a few people from the Missionary Vehicle department to help train us and get us up and rolling. One of the men they sent out here was named Russ. Russ was here from Monday until Friday. He was there at every zone conference and presented at every single one. The message Russ had to share was not liked by everyone. He was the messenger telling the missionaries to slow down on driving and from most people’s perspective he was like Big Brother watching what the missionaries did. He was not well liked before he came but after he left he was loved by everyone that would actually listen to him. He talked about how he had several missionaries pass away during his time doing his job. It was actually very emotional for him and after getting to know him we could tell that the tears that he shed were genuine tears of concern and grief. It was so interesting to see him go into every zone conference and have all the missionaries up in arms about the program that he was sharing. A lot of eye rolling and deep sighs, but after it there was still a little animosity but the missionaries knew that this was the way things had to be and there was a spirit of love in that meeting. It was so interesting to see Russ at the very last day of Zone Conferences when the deed was done and it was time for him to leave. He actually was pretty emotional about going. The friends he had made and the lives he had an impact on he would probably never see again. I saw this as a parallel for my missionary labor. We come in and are not loved by everyone. Our message is good for people but it is hard on the ears of those that hear this message. This is the most beautiful message we can possibly share. Its true and its really happening and some day we all will have to leave. Sometimes not even knowing the impact we have had. 

Funny: The other big thing that is happening this week is that the San Francisco East Stake, the Polynesian stake in the area, is having a Huge mini-mission even with all of their youth. 21 Youth are coming to San Jose for a weekend experience. We are the ones who are in charge of getting it all set up on the SJ side. We had a meeting on Saturday where we put the youth with the missionaries. It was like a pre-transfer meeting where we just made the assignments. This week they will actually meet up and start working together. We are really excited for it. There was a big meeting and we had one of the Tongan brothers speak to the youth about what they need to bring on a mission. He bore a powerful testimony about the power of missionary work. He paused for a moment, the tension was building. He said "What do you need to bring on your mission. Just as important as Scriptures and a Preach My Gospel, (the tension in the room was thick.) A toothbrush. Do not forget your toothbrush." I completely agree. 

Where I am at: Recently we have been going all over the mission putting out fires and driving to zone conferences. It’s been really fun. Elder Matthias are such good friends that most of the time we don’t even listen to music. We like each other so much that we just sit and talk. Just for a point of reference, most missionaries get between 700 and 1200 miles a month that they are allotted to drive. Just this week with all of our errands, we drove 800 miles. I love this place. I am so happy here. I have such a strong testimony of the Savior and His Grace as well as the reality of the Spirit in our lives. This church is so true! I love you all!

 The missionaries are holding the cards for the driving program Ammon mentioned in his letter.

Taking notes during General Conference.

He would like to make sure that it is known that the three bowls of ice cream are not all for him. 

He told us that he love love loves the senior missionaries. He says they are a really funny group.