Week 23 on the Island of Eua

3/7/16 P-day

We are going to email a little early today because we are going to Siomatanga afterwards. We dropped off our laundry and then went to the church to email. On our way to Tongamamao a guy handed us a plate of horse meat to eat. Horse meat is delicious. Tevita then picked us up and asked for fifty dollars for gas. Jeesh. The ride to the cliffs was insane. The truck bed didn't have anything to hold on to, the back was open, and the sides were about 6 inches tall, if that. It was crazy because he was going so fast, we were trying not to fall out. The dust on the way down was really bad, dirt pellets were hitting our ears as we tried to avoid not being hit by nearby bushes and overhanging bushes.

The cliffs were breathtaking as always. The wind was so nice and the trees look like something out of a hobbit film and the rolling hills are awesome. It's really out of this world.

There were wild horses roaming around and the wind felt so good and the trees were amazing.

We went and saw the smoking sinkhole thing again and the small ovave tree. 

Afterwards we went to get ice cream but the store was closed. Sister Vaa'i told us not to worry and then she took us to the best store ever, that I have actually seen on my mission this far. They had actual American products. It was like finding a diamond in the rough. We all got good vanilla crunch flavor ice cream. We then got dropped off at our MQ so we could get ready for our lesson with Cindy. 

3/10/16

We started down the road to Houma, and decided to take the road less traveled. We went off road, down a super steep forested valley, hiked through and up to the other side. I think it saved us 20 minutes but it still took us an hour to get there. 

We apologized for being late because we usually get a ride, and started our lesson. First we went over the last two lessons before starting lesson 3. She really liked the lesson, and at the end she scheduled her baptism for the 2nd of April. So now we have 6 baptismal dates. After, we went to Uluaki Ma'ake's from there. We sat down and talked for a longtime I got to know a lot about him. We talked about temples and the Book of Mormon. I basically asked him questions for 40 minutes. After that we headed back to Ohonua, we got a ride standing up in the back of a truck, looking out at the ocean horizon with all its awesome clouds and coconut trees. Sometimes it hard to believe I'm not on vacation.

3/13/16- Sunday 200th day out

Spent the morning finishing my talk. Went to church elder Tafoya and I both spoke in church today. They both went well. Later that day we were asked to go to the prison to teach the prisoners. Haha what?! So we planned to meet at the church 40 minutes from then after we'd all eaten and go to the prison. We booked it from the church to Mele and Sai'ia Haisia's for fafanga, and found a whole tuna puaka waiting for us!

It was delicious, roasted, tender and chewy puaka. I think I ate almost a third of the pig. It was great. We ate really quickly so we could get back to the church on time. We rode in the back of Pisopes Uta truck. Set up 12 folding chairs in the back of the bed of the truck for the ride. It was the greatest ride ever. The kids in the back and all of us got a little wet because it was raining. Watching all of the kids was pretty funny. I sat next to Fili Napa'a and Tafoya sat across from me. Jokes were flying everywhere, tons of laughs and just a really good time. I took a bunch of pictures and everyone was trying to get in them. 

Our whole ward was going to have church at the prison. We had a caravan of about 4 cars or trucks but most everyone else was already there. The ride to the prison past Ha'atua was beautiful. It felt like a safari, the scenery was constantly changing too, one minute there were huge fields of coconut trees, and long grass, cows and wild horses, the the next minute we were in a somewhat dense forest, then we found ourselves between mountains and long somewhat empty grass plains going out to sea. It was beautiful. When we all got there we held the church meeting. Elder Tafoya bore his testimony and I got up and talked about the mercy of Christ and his atonement. I read from Mosiah 26 and Alma 36 and expounded on the joy of Alma after he received a remission for his sins and so on. I also bore my testimony. After the meeting we talked with the prisoners one of them looked exactly like Russel Wilson Doppelgänger, I felt like I should ask for his autograph. We asked them if they would want to talk some more sometime. They were all in agreement that they would want to. Hopefully that will workout. 

My favorite little house, it is so cool, look at the hammock through his door.  Its something you would expect to see on the cover of a travelers digest magazine or something. I call it the kuzco house because it reminds me of the disney movie- The Emperors New Groove.