Ko hai fie ma'u SPAM?? -- November 13, 2016

November 13, 2016

Hello everyone!

I hope all is going well, the election is like a worldwide event because I even hard about it here in Tonga! Haha

Tongan 101: I thought I would teach you all a Tongan word today!

The word is "Nima" the "i" makes a (ee) sound and the "a" sounds like the  a in fAther.
Nima is the word for the number 5; it also is the word for your hand because you have 5 fingers. Haha

Food update: This week I didn’t have any fish which was a nice change! Haha We had a lot of fried chicken and pig this week. I think my favorite thing was a can of American Spam! It made my day! Haha The stores in Tonga are all privately owned and they run out of people’s houses. The hard part is that the store is open whenever it wants, so it is always a guessing game to go see if the store is open around here to buy some food! Haha

My companion got sick this week. He had a really bad fever. We were stuck in our house for four days, I about went crazy! There is a senior missionary couple here from Idaho that takes care of sick missionaries. They don’t speak Tongan, so they liked talking to me in English. Haha It was really funny, one day we were talking about where I was from and they knew some Binghams where they lived and the Man asked me if I needed anything when they were leaving. I said I was fine, then he said, are you sure you don’t need a chicken steak from Maddox? Haha I about died, that sounded really good!!! We just laughed and they went on their way!

My neighbor is a fisherman and goes out to the ocean every day. A couple days ago he caught a ton of eel looking fish. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a picture, so I hurry and put on my p day clothes and took a picture so I wouldn’t get my white shirt dirty holding the fish! I will send it to all of you!

This week when Elder Teutau started feeling better, we started looking for new people to teach. It is almost impossible to find houses here unless you know who lives there; there aren’t addresses or anything, just word of mouth! I think this week we will start finding some more people!

I gave a blessing to a little girl the other day. She fell from a tall fence and hurt her leg really bad, she could barely walk it hurt so bad. The grandma brought her to our hut and we gave her a blessing. I memorized the blessing in the MTC but I haven’t reviewed it since then in Tongan. Somehow I knew the exact words to speak in my mind. She was crying uncontrollably, but when we started the blessing, she stopped. When we finished, she said she felt better. She still felt sore, but she could walk normal again. It was a very cool miracle!
I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this week! I was pretty nervous about it, but I knew I could do it. I prayed for a lot of help all week. My talk was about the Holy Ghost. I really enjoyed studying about it to prepare. Sometimes I think just reviewing the simple truths of the gospel can bring new light and understanding into our lives. At the end of my talk in the ward, I felt prompted to say that without the Holy Ghost, I wouldn’t be able to speak to you all today and you surely wouldn’t be able to understand! Everyone really liked it. The bishop told the next ward’s bishop, so I talked in that ward too! Haha I am so grateful we all can have the help and guidance from the Holy Ghost in our lives if we are seeking for his companionship!

I love all of you and pray all is going well at home! Take care, talk to you all next week!

Ofa Atu, 

Elder Hami