Saturday, November 14, 2009

11/13/09

hey cutie,
news from tonga
uchtdorf came and it was absolutely amazing he is one of the most
genuine guys you will ever meet i didnt get to much time with him (he
is a pretty busy guy) but i got to shake his hand and went to every
meeting he went to for both of the days he was here. he and his wife
are absolutely awesome she is so funny and cute. we had quite a bit of
work to do to get ready for him. we almost got to go do a temple
session with him but we couldnt because he did it during our morning
program i figured ditching the lords rules to go to the temple and
meet an apostle might be a bit hypocritical (yes i spelled that wrong
but give me a break im in tonga) anyway it was a lot of fun to have
him here but the missionaries have all been getting in trouble again
so we have been doing discipline helps for the last two weeks. one
missionary got in trouble for fraternizing in a a manner unbefitting a
missionary with an old fat ugly bishops wife. it was a bit embarassing
to get that phone call reporting him. plus a few other ones that arent
really appropriate for me to gossip on. just know that they keep me
busy here and that i love my job and my mission but especially my
mission president.
ofa lahi atu PS kovi aupito ae tamaiki fefine nau feinga lahi ke
tauhele'i emau kau faifekau
Elder mayberry

hey mom i stilll have some time left while my comp finishes up so i
thought i would write you just a little bit more. i wanted to say how
much i love you and how much i appreciate you and dad and all the
help that you gave me. i never realized before i got out here how
little so many people know about their religion even missionaries but
i have been blessed to have been raised in a home where the gospel was
taught and you gave me the opportunity to know what it was that i now
profess to be true to all these people. thank you so much for never
giving up on me. never just letting me do all those dumb things
without offering me help and guidance. i know i wasnt always the most
humble learner (still working on that one by the way) but i do
remember the things you said and they stuck and i have learned much
from them as i ponder them from time to time. i bet your kind of having
a bit of a hard time right now but i want to testify that the lord
loves you and he loves our family. if the lord know the sparrows and
loves them how much more important are we his children. Mom the Lord
helps us out even when we dont realize it sometimes the things that
sem hardest here turn out ot be the things that help me the most.
weight lifting helps the most when you strain the most. same rule
applies it may hurt but it will help later. hang in there and know
that i love you and more importantly the lord loves you and will help
you. president uchtdorf promised us while he was here this week that
when we pray the Lord will answer and when we fast the lord will speak
peace to our souls. i never was much good at this preaching business
but i hope you know that i mean it from the bottom of my heart the
church is true and our saviour lives and loves us. i know he guides
this church and through the holy ghost we can know the truth of all
things. know that i pray for you and the lord hears both of our
prayers.
love you lots from your tongan son
Elder virgil Mayberry

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

11/9/09

hey mom
well this evening finds me in excellent spirits and as cheerful as can
be. life just seems to be really good lately and im not complaining
about it. i got a full stomach and a bed to sleep on. i have been
realizing more and more during my missing just how unimportant all
those things are that we value so much in our society. i must say
that some creature comforts are very nice but there are some things
that are an awful waste of money. its funny i have been out here long
enough that this feels just as much like home as the place you live
in. im good enough in my language that i have no trouble understanding
almost anything people tell me. i still have trouble every now and then
expressing some piece of grammar that i havent used very often but i
have that much trouble speaking english. i feel very content with
what the lord has allotted me and frankly quite grateful for how much
he has given me. i have a great family that loves me, i have a mission
president that has so much love even to people that i cant hardly
stand to talk to. my mission is absolutely amazing it has its down
sides and i have my down days but there is no better place to get
stuck than the islands of tonga. the people here have taught me a lot
of things that hopefully i will be able to take into my life and make
myself a better person when i get home.
thanks mom for always being there to help me and try to keep me out of
trouble. i appreciate you always sending me stuff while i m down here.
i actually have a christmas box for you guys. but i doubt that it will
get there on time. i still am gathering up stuff to fill it up but i
think it will be fun when you finally get it. its got 7 CDs worth of
mission pictures. and some cool stuff from my travels in tonga. its not
much but i think it will be fun.
as far as the box you are sending you mentioned sending some stuff. i
can get garments here i actually live next door to the distribution
center. but white shirts are hard to come by. they have them here but
they are not very high quality and get junky pretty fast. id like some
more of those CTR shirts that we got in Phoenix but if not i have the
capability to hem my shirts when they get here so any walmart one will
be fine. i like the athletic fit shirts a little better so i dont
look as poofy. but its ok either way just size 15.5 will do great
thanks mom.
tell grandpa and everyone i said hi and that i miss them all. 'ofa lahi atu
Elder Mayberry

Saturday, November 7, 2009

11/4/09

hey mom i have to sit here and wait while the Ap's collect all the weekly reports because they dont know how to use a computer so i thought i would write you a little bit better letter than the one i gave you yesterday. we had a great trip to vavau i got to see the family that i used to live with in niua and i got to see the family that let me use their phone on mothers day it was really cool to see all those people again and we also got a lot of work done up there. we finished all the stuff we set out to do. we had a bunch of meetings with bishops and the missionaries and a few stake presidents about keeping accurate records of things that happen in the church. it all sprang from our baptism records that have a bad tendency of not being filled out very well. and when they are not filled out all the way the program that we use to submit them to salt lake wont except them so we had a bunch aof baptisms that happened several months ago but were not yet acknowledged by the church because we could not yet enter them into the church's system. we had a few really good teachings this week as well. one of the kids that we taught is going to the local college for technology. he was very good at listening and paying attention. the member that invited him to listen to the lessons is a very pretty teenage girl that he has been chasing for a while but the mom only lets her date mormons. so i think he has some good motivation to keep his appointment for next week. especially since the girl is helping us teach. my new comp is doing really well i dont remember if i told you or not but its elder preston yates. we were in the MTC together and are getting along really well. he is a good guy and had a desire to help and do whats right. i have to tell you about our AP's. neither of them has ever used a computer before and it is down right hilarious watching them. one of them was my companion in niua and he makes dads hunt and peck method look like a professional typist. all he does is type the numbers in boxes that i make up every week but it takes him a a good thirty minutes to type in the 50-60 boxes. it would only take me about 4 minutes but president has specifically asked me not to do it for them but rather to teach them how to use the computer. it does get a bit trying every now and again like right now its 11 o'clock at night and im sitting here waiting for him to get done but its ok life is still good and im learning so much patience here you'll probably not even recognize me. the mission had already changed me a lot (hopefully for the better) and im hoping that i will continue to change as the lord needs me. there has been and will be times when the changes are a bit painful. swallowing my pride gives me a bit of a stomach ache sometimes. but the lord knows best and helps us in spite of all we do to avoid it. i love you mom and hope life is going good love elder mayberry

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

10/25/09

Hey mommy it was good to hear from you. Life is good here. This week was really crazy. We had transfers Monday. I got up at 5:30 Monday morning to get everything started. We drove around with shuttles and buses and picked up all 76 missionaries on this island plus 3 that came over from eua at 7:30. We bought 100 cinnamon rolls and got everyone to the church all before 8 o clock. The meeting lasted till 10 then we had to pass out all the cleaning chemicals that the missionaries will need for the next 6 weeks along with their money allowances. then we took them all home before noon which was when we had a meeting with President and the APs. We drove to the airport at 2 o’clock then all over the island dropping off the missionaries that just finished their missions. Then we had to run a bunch of stuff around for president and get the Americans who were finishing all into one central area. We had our meal at 9:00 pm and then had to go to town to find out when the boat would be coming down from Vava'u with 7 missionaries on it. Turns out it was 1:00 in the morning...... we filled the time doing some paper work that has to be done documenting the transfer. We got to the wharf at 1 am and the boat got there at 2:30 am. We had to take all the missionaries back home and ended up getting back at 4 am. At six thirty president called and we had to do some stuff for him to prepare for the meeting that he would be having with all the zone leaders. My comp and I then bought all the food so the zone leaders could eat lunch. We had a little incident occur involving a little girl on the way home that delayed us. We got all that stuff taken care of then had to go back and buy some boat tickets and take care of some things with another church that asked us to help them with something. We had a teaching in one of our wards then had to take the Americans who were finishing to the airport and drop them off and pick up all the new missionaries from the NZ MTC (aka the Tongans) and take them home. The plane got in around 9:30 pm and by the time we got them off and all there bags loaded up it was around 10:30. We had some missionaries with us that hadn’t had the opportunity to eat that evening so we took them into town to get some grub. We got home around 11:30 or 12:00. The next morning we got up at 5:30 to get a missionary to the airport to fly to eua. We got back home and had to do some work in the office for President. We spent all day getting stuff fixed that we had neglected because we were so busy. Then we had to take some missionaries to the airport so they could fly to vava'u. They cancelled one of the flights to haapai so we had to reschedule that flight for later that afternoon. We had to go drive around town… the sisters had gotten all their bags confused so we took them all their suitcases and when they confused their bags they lost all of their keys so we had to go back to the office to get them all keys to their houses. We went back to the airport at 5p to take the zone leader so he could fly back to haapai. At six we ate then had to go do some training for the new Tongan missionaries and take them to their new homes. Thursday we got up at 5:00 to get all the stuff ready for the new American missionaries to come in. we picked them up and while president took them around showing them the island we took their bags home and did some random stuff at the office. We spent the day trying to catch up from the previous few day’s madness. We finally got almost caught up and we were asked to shuttle the new Americans to random places to buy things they would need for their work. Afterwards they went to eat and president gave us a strict order to go sleep for an hour so we did and it was GLORIOUS..... Yesterday we weren’t quite as busy we just did some training for the new palangis and got their houses ready for them to live in. and today we went to the beach and climbed some coconut trees. It’s been a crazy week I don’t think I quite portray just how crazy it was but for practicalities sake I think this works. Needless to say, I was a bit tired a few times. I think now you will understand why I might not email very well during transfer time. Love you all Elder Mayberry

Be Loving To Your Family

On our way back from lunch we see these two cars pulled over to the side of the road. It almost looked like there head been an accident. When we got closer a girl (about 17 years old) jumped out of one of the cars and runs and jumps in our shuttle. She is crying pretty hard and says her step father is taking her out to the bush to beat her. She is crying really hard and tells us that she actually tried to jump out of his car while it was going down the road. We start going and the car she just jumped out of pulls back onto the road and starts following us. He pulled up beside me and motioned for me to stop I communicated that he was to follow us. we were on our way to the office so I just kept our course home thinking to have President mediate. I called president for a little guidance (I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have instructions for this in the missionary handbook) he said he would call the cops and for us to just head straight over. We get there and the cops didn’t have a car so they wanted us to take the girl and the dad into the station. President mediates things out between the guy and his step daughter. (The guy happens to be the high priest group leader from President’s ward) they both agree to just go home and have the mom mediate. We took her home and gave her a little interview/support speech on the way. It was really sad to see a priesthood leader behaving in such a way. It really gave me a new insight on how important it is to treat women with respect. It was really sad to see such a pretty girl so scared and sad. I’m really worried about what happened when we took her home. President is supposed to ask her tomorrow at church. I just want you all to know I love you all and I hope that you will all try a little harder to be loving to your family members and a little more patient and control your tempers.... love elder Mayberry

Saturday, October 17, 2009

10/15/09

hey mommy sounds like you have a pretty full plate right now. just remember that i like you a lot so dont worry to much or your hair will all turn gray. we have been really busy lately with the tsunami and all of these people getting in trouble and guys getting sent home we have been very busy in the office this transfer. i think there is another elder going home this week. the transfers are the 19 of october. my comp is going up to the niua where i used to work well see how he does up there. i know my knew comp and im thinking im in for very difficult transfer. its the biggest transfer president will do during his mission plus we are a week late getting started on the planning because of the tsunami plus president uchtdorf is coming next month for a week visit. plus my new companion is not the most choice missionary in the world. i must say i was a bit put down when president told me. but im sure there is a reason ill just have to wait and see what it is.

Monday, October 5, 2009

10/4/09

Hey tell morgan i said happy birthday. its actually my comps birthday
today.its the 4 here. he is a palangi his name is elder hanberg i
swear i already told you guys his name i have been with him for about
three months now. but transfers are week after next and he is more
than likely moving. i have tons of new for you
guys. our mission president got stuck up in niua and that tsunami made
an awful mess of that little island it hit up there. they sent a few
missionaries up there to help rebuild the island and to teach the
people about getting baptized. ( kind of ironic i'm pretty sure
heavenly father just baptized an entire island -in one day i might add.
i have been here a year and only have four) oh yeah i baptized three
people yesterday. t was a really special ceremony. it was a mother and
her two children. all the lessons we have been teaching over the last
month or two have been really great and then they accepted getting
baptized. i was pretty excited. i tripled my total baptism number in
one day. president was talking to me today and he told a great story
about his mission and some of the hardships then he said remember the
men of zions camp. there is a story about a man who was commanded by
god to push a rock. he pushed all day every day with all his might for
three years. then he asked god/nuku why am i doing this i pushed for
three years and the rock never moved. nuku replied i never said to move
the rock i only said push. your arms and back are as hard as rocks
your hands tough as leather, your skin is bronzed by the sun. go now
and claim your reward for service. it goes on to say he got a beautiful
wife and was the best fighter in the island because he did what was
asked regardless of its apparent uselessness. we are called to push the
wagon for a time not a distance some of you just get a little muddier
track than others. ( I personally just took I-10) i wish i had a lot
of time to write but its late and i am going to bed but i love you all
and life is good here. im still as good looking and humble as
ever......
elder mayberry

Sunday, October 4, 2009

10/4/09

things all calmed down over here > but it was a mess for a little while. we didnt get a whole > lot of > sleep. president moved one of the APs to niua to help the > people up > there and president went with him and the plane broke down so we > lost our > APs and president for the whole weekend so everything fell > to us... > plus we had all of our original stuff to do including two > firesides we > taught and a baptism. lets just say its kept me on my toes. > thats sad > thatt steven left its been a long time since i talked to > him. we > emailed a few times but it would have been nice to have > seen him > before he left. well pop love you but i got to > go to bed its 11:45 > here and im about tired... > Love Elder mayberry
hey this is elder mayberry president suggested that we email our families to let you know we are all still ok there was no damage done to anywhere except niuatoputapu from the tsunami. we still are not exactly sure what happened up there the lines are all down they sent a plane but the dirt runway was washed away. im sure the sisters are fine but i am pretty sure there are 5 dead and 6 missing from niua toputapu. but im ok and ill let you know more when i find out.

well sounds like you all have been really busy lately. i was talking
to the temple president Pr. Shumway this morning and we were talking
about where in the scriptures it talks about those who obtain a
higher law of intelligence will have so much more advantage in the
world to come. we were talking about the difference between the
learning of secular things, first the prophets have commanded us to
search ye every good thing and read out of the best book. if there is
anything virtuous, lovely of good report or praiseworthy we seek after
these things. we are also commanded to teach each other more
diligently that we may be more perfectly instructed in theory
principle and doctrine. The Glory of god is intelligence, and this is
life eternal that they might know the only true god and his son Jesus
Christ whom he has sent. ought we not then to become more like God by
acquiring the intelligence that is his glory? when we look at
what is godly intelligence, is it raw facts that we spit out to make
ourselves look good? or is it things that we dont necessarily even
think about? things like..do we know what Christ-like love is? what
about godly sorrow? do we have true charity to our fellow man?
knowledge is power but what good is a porsche if you never drive it?
when we learn things we need to apply them in a way that they become
part of us that we may progress in the way that we were sent to this
earth for. men are that they might have joy and this is Gods work and
his glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. so
that advantage that we will have in the life to come will not just be
how many decimals you can repeat pi. but how well did you learn to
love the lord your god with all your heart might mind and strength.
love you all
kaataki a moutoo oku ikai ke sia ia i he lea pehee ka nae kole mai a
eku fae ke u fai ha kii lea fakaelaumalie taumaia nae i ai ha talanoa
fuu malie keu vahe vahe mo moutoo ka ko eku ngaue he taimini ko e
ngaue fakanatula pe mo e lahi tokanga ki he tafaaki fakatuasino. oiaue
ofa lahi atu ka moutoo
love elder mayberry

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

9/19/09

hey cutie i dont know who this good looking, intelligent young man that you wrote to is but i read his letter. i had a great week all is going well and i cant really complain about anything. as far as our global family wait till jessica is in college and steven is in afghanistan and i am in tonga. then well see how well you can email and take phone calls. but i have full faith in you. steven and i will just have to stop being such chatter boxes so jessica can have some time. im sorry i think that these emails are cursed im trying to email you and i have had like ten people call and two people come in. president just sent me an email i need to get done so im going to go do it but i love you and hope all is well. love virgil

Saturday, September 12, 2009

9/12/09

hey pop im pretty sure that you can > just send it in the mail and i > will let you know when i get it. ill just have some one > here call you > real quick and let you know. im not sure how i will > activate it i > think you can just activate it there and just dont disclose > the pin > until i callyou and it should be fine. > > im glad your finally getting back on your feet again i know > how much > fun it is to lay around being sick al the time. my comp has > been sick > the last day or two but we are to busy and cant get away to > let him > rest at all. luckily today is pday so he got a good nap in > wile i > washed the car and did some house cleaning. > love elder mayberry

9/12/09

hey cutie i got my package this week with the camera and stuff inside
i just wanted to start off and say thanks i really appreciate it i
went like twelve weeks without a camera and lost a lot of pictures
when it got taken. so it will be nice to have something to snap a shot
every now and then. sounds like all is well back at home im glad that
you are all having a good time and staying busy. i just realized that
this week is my year mark thats kinda cool but i must say that this is
going by way to fast but i guess that is eternally better than way to
slow. for a meeting to be immortal doesnt mean it has to be
everlasting. it takes on e heck of a meeting to beat no meeting at
all. even if everything goes absolutely wrong life goes on and if it
doesnt then you have a whole new set of problems. when you work work
hard when you play play hard when your angry pretend like your not.
and now i better go lay down before i hurt myself trying to seem all
intelligent and whatnot.
i have to tell you about transfers. we had 6 boat cancellations 2
airplanes canceled 200 dollars lost 50 dollars stolen 1 zone
conference forgotten and 0 things that ended up going right. but the
good news is that all of it got done even though i had to drive a
bunch of elders home at 300 in the morning a few times last week and
pulled more than one 20 hour day. the good news is president didnt
have to worry about any of it. he has plenty on his plate already so we
try to take care of it ourselves whenever possible.
we had some fun teachings this week we have about 6 investigators
right now that we are teaching. we met this one guy that has been
excommunicated from the church for 36 years because when he went to
turn in his mission papers the bishop told him that he had to shave
before he would let him go. the guy got mad and went home and got
drunk slept with a girl and ended up going down a path that involved
some pretty heavy sins even murder. so watch your tempers and try to
stay away from alcohol.
love elder mayberry

Sunday, September 6, 2009

9/4/09

Quote re: Courage is not defined by those who fought and fell but by
those who fought and fell and rose again.


ok that is a great quote i havent heard that in forever. where did you
get that one from;-).
i was glad to hear that jess got to play in the game. I forget school
has been going so long.
Time goes so fast, this is a bit different down here
so i dont get much feel for what time it is in your world. sounds like
she is having fun though.
unfortunately i dont have a lot of fun things
to tell you. im trying to get the transfer planned out this weekend i
have to move 23 missionaries to 7 islands 4 of which dont have any
regular boat or airplane service and its a bit like trying to sweep a
dirt floor you can make it look better but its still dirt. i have been
getting a lot of financial experiences lately i have been helping the
office couple balance out all of the paper work for the mission we
think that a few companies have been a bt dishonest with us so we ran
our own little audit of their transactions to find out how much they
have been charging so we can know when they are jipping us. the
missionary work has slowed to a crawl for some reason all of our
investigators dont like listening to us after the second lesson they
think two is company but three is a crowd applies to gospel principals
but hey i guess everyone has their free agency. love you guys
elder mayberry (aka virgil) in case you forgot who that was)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Sunday, August 30, 2009

8/29/09

hey pretty lady you worry to much. it just so happens that last week i didnt have time to email anyway so i wouldnt have read them if you did email me. ;-) but i do appreciate you writing me all the time i know your always busy but its always good to hear from my mommy. man i have been out here for a long time now. this world seems more at home to me than the one you guys are in and yes they are two different worlds. i had an amazing week last week i had a baptism a 12 year old boy named valoa tonga. he is a good kid from a little island he came down here to go to school and so he is living with a family here in our area. i totally didnt know that shanna was getting married but good for her. i found out that rhino hyatt has had a girl for a couple months now. i was really sorry to hear about your bad day mom. some of those days you just wish you had never woke up in the morning. luckily i have never had one of those though so i can only sympathise with you so much. ;-) life is just peachy here im loving it and everything is going great. there is a general authority here right now with his family visiting our mission and we are in charge of everything he and the president do we plan cars planes boats meals. we move missionaries to meeting s feed them and get them home. plus we go to all the meetings to listen to all the awesome talks. needles to say that we have been busy we have pulled a few 20 hour days this week. this is week five of the transfer and it looks like i will be staying another transfer with my same comp here in the office. sorry i accidently sent that one before i finished it so read teh other one first then this one. but today was our pday and we had a blast my comp and i rode our bikes for an hour out to the very end of the island through all my first areas all the way to the end. (by the way if your looking at a map of tonga i live in liahona right now) so my comp and i spent a few hours out there catching fish and eating them it was a really fun. then we get a phone call( we are required to have our phone on us at all times) telling us that although president and elder hamula are in vavau there families are here in tonga and getting kind of restless so they ask us to entertain them. we took them and all the couple missionaries (4couples) out to some cliffs and caves and (2 15yr old buys 1 17yr girl) we caugh tsome fish for them and showed them how to eat it raw the boys were all up for it but the girl was apparently not very hungry. then we caught some crabs and cooked them up for them. i even climbed a coconut tree for them to try that. then we took them whale watching. by then it was time for my comp an di to get back to work so we did some teachings tonight then i thought i would drop you guys a line saying hi and that i love you all. sorry my spelling is so bad im trying to write this in a hurry because i always forget the stuff im supposed to write you guys about. i think i have already forgotten all the cool stuff but its ok i still write in my journal most of the time so you can ask me about it later. (even all the spiritual stuff that i never seem to write you guys about gets in there so you can all be spiritually edified when you read my journal. or you could read a journal i read about it the other day its by this guy named nephi turns out he was a pretty cool guy he actually saw the savior and so did his little brother so i would recommend reading his first but if you have some spare time after that ill be happy to share my journal with you all im trying to keep it so that you all and even my grand kids can read it. but anyway i love you all elder mayberry

Friday, August 14, 2009

8/14/09

well mother that was a very enjoyable letter and got some good news
out of it. i have some great news i got both your box and grams box
this week and i was very happy to get both of them. they made me a
very happy little elder. please tell gram thank you for me. and tell
you thank your for me as well. i dont know why you didnt get a picture
of me and the pres every one else in my group did maybe they just
forgot. but i will get one sometime in the near future. did i ever
get a plaque made?
tell steven i said hi.
tell thomas good luck on the Chem class and that if all else fails just make
it blow up then when you fail the class at least it will be
entertaining. and if you make it blow up big enough you might realize
that chemistry is kind of fun.

this week was really good we are teaching a lot nowadays we hit 4
lessons last night and we have some families that are really coming
along well. i would go into detail on all of the wonderful experiences
that happen here.......... but that's what the ensign is for. ;-) and
who am i to try to compete with the prophet.
well i think that i m going with my comp down to the beach we are
going to go get some coconuts and a family is cooking us dinner then
we are going down to the beach with a bunch of teenagers and having a
picnic i have no idea how to spell that. i love you all
the church is true. the best way to gain a testimony of it is to live
it and see how wonderful it makes your life.
elder mayberry

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

8/11/09

first of all i just want to point out the word terrific used to mean
full of terror so be careful how you use that one. ;-) i think maybe
morgan is practicing to be a business man. its good to hear that you
are all doing well though. so who is amp guy girl where from???? how
on earth did you get dad to agree to that one? youll have to let me
know what that ends up being like



i have some sad news thursday at 1 in the morning a boat sunk here in
tonga on its way out to some of the outer islands there are a lot of
people dead and missing. there were a few families that had come down
to be sealed in the temple and then drowned in the boat not three days
later. we lost a few people that my comp and i had been teaching. they
were going back to their home in ha'apai and the missionaries in
haapai were supposed to pick up where we left off but they never made
it back. luckily there were no missionaries on the boat that would
have been really hard because my comp and i are the ones who do all
travel arrangements so we lucked out on that one. we had some
missionaries on that boat not two days before it sank. i think
heavenly father was looking out for them.
the boat i rode back from niua got retired and so they brought in a used
boat from fiji while they waited for a new boat to be donated by the
japanese./ but the boat they got had some really bad leaks and they
used it any way. when the bottom is filled up with water the boat
sways side to side really bad and i guess one time it just flipped all
the way over upside down and all the people inside died. the people on
the top deck got out but that was mostly the men. they let the women
stay inside where it is more comfy. anyway it was really sad.
/love mayberry
Move to: Drafts Sent Mail Email saves FNBA Kole Licenses Russian Info Software Teenhelp Trash [New Folder]

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Creature comforts

hey mom and family i have been moved here to the main island and i am loving it. i have been averaging 4 hours of sleep a night. we are in charge of all the transfers and moving people around to all the islands and so we have been very busy. we are also in charge of all the paper work that gets submitted to salt lake so we do all the baptism records into the computer. and we have a bunch of other jobs so we work hard and the days go by very fast. my p-day is Saturday so that we are available to help the other missionaries on their pdays. my comp is elder hanberg a palangi from utah he kind of reminds me of jeff mcfarland. they have the same attitude to things and so we are doing awesome working hard and sleeping harder. i have to tell you for as much as you are all becoming redneck i just got back into civilization. i got my first shower with running water in 6 months my first hot shower since the mtc. i put on shoes for the first time since nov 18 i used a microwave for the first time since i left home. my poor mind is about to go into shock. as for the missionary side of things we are always really busy but we try to fit in a teaching a day. it has been really good we have a small pool of investigators. i get to see the president every day i had to do some maintenance on his computer the other day because he locked himself out so he was impressed with my hacking skills. there is a good chance that i will get fat here in the office we eat really well and ride around in a van all day running errands and sit around doing paper work. but hey it happens right. ;-) we actually exercise every day i climbed some coconut trees this morning peeled the husk off and then put them in my refrigerator (another first) i kinda left my island experiences behind but tonga still gets some of them and with all the work we get to do im a very happy boy. i was sad to hear about david i hope it all works out for him. tell him to just stop being a faker. oh hey i met a doctor who is down here for a little while turns out he is a goodman from tucson but his parents are from st david. i dont remember what side of the family he came from but it was pretty funny i was talking to a few tongans and he saw my name tag and said something to the effect that he knew some mayberrys from st david. it was pretty cool then i played interpreter for a little while. well i got to go but i love you all and im sorry my typing stinks im kinda in a hurry. well love you all elder mayberry

Thursday, July 23, 2009

email to Morgan

thanks dude you only email me when your completely bored huh? nice boo. im doing good here a lot better than you noone has been trying to cut my privates open. ;-) i do have some good stories for you. i let you be the first i email that im moving im leaving vava'u back to tonga im the new office elder ill be running all the material needs of the mission. bikes houses plane tickets boat tickets and all that fun stuff. i bought a new machete and i am getting really good at climbing cocnut trees now me and another missonary climbed up one and both of us sat in the top it was really tall and we drank coconuts up there and took some pictures. it was pretty sweet i must say. the other day i went out on a little boat and caught a pretty big shark i was so sad i dont have a camera. i promise i wont take any days off just because you told me not to. take it easy boo

Virgil is working in the mission office

hey cutie i just found out last night that ill be moving. turns out i have worked in all my areas 2 transfers. 2 in fahefa 2 in niua and 2 here in mataika. ill be headed back to tonga ill be the new ap office elder. im kinda like the ap except the aps do all the spiritual stuff and i take care of all the material needs of the mission its actually a pretty big job and it is pretty crazy hours from what i hear. but ill let you know how it goes its thursday today saturday i fly to tonga and monday is transfers. i move early so i can help get all the stuff ready, its going to be a lot different the place im in right now is kinda remote and not really lively but now ill be moving in next door to the mission pres and living in the church headquarters of tonga. lets just say it will be fun and interesting let alone different. this whole week i have been chasin baptismal records around the whole island of vava'u alot of times the records dont get filled out all the way so i have been hitchhiking all over the island looking for birthdays and parents names and stuff. today i have been doing a bunch of baptismal interviews for the zone leaders they have a family of 7 to baptize and i have been running around trying to make sure they all get interviewed before tomorrow. i feel bad for morgan poor little guy that cant be really fun. tell him when he is out picking up girls to stay away from the fat ones im pretty sure that is where the hernias are coming from. ;-) i had a meeting with all our ward members to fix all the problems we have been having it turned out rather badly and there were some hot words thrown around but after 2 hours of people being angry we worked things out and now everything is really good in that town our other town never really got fixed we just kinda left it alone and the president is moving the missionaries out of both towns. it was kind of a train wreck but we got one town patched up and everything is all happy go lucky now. thanks mainly to my comp.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Cold Tongan Winter

hey mommy my birthday was really good and i feel pretty much the same as before my birthday except i always tell people the wrong age. i have not got grams package but there was one package that someone sent me in niua that got lost on the boat so if you ever figure out someone who sent me a package in February, tell them it disappeared but i havent got any packages yet. Even if they got to tonga its still kinda hard to get them here to vava'u. i kinda just avoid the bishop now days. i told him just to wait a week and ill leave and maybe the next missionaries will make him happy he just grunted at me and we havent spoken since. not the best way to end something but i was kinda out of options. i see the president once a transfer for our interviews and the aps even less often. my comp is ok as a guy just no good as a missionary so we havent been very productive. my arctic winter is so bad i started sleeping with sheets on my bed and i turn off the fan at night. tell thomas just to watch out for the girls they are even bigger distractions than nice cars for young teenage drivers. all the missionaries have been sick here lately so there has been a lot of down time and that leads to problems so it has been interesting lately. but all is well transfers are coming up fast so well have to see what happens i always like playing the guessing game. well mom i love you and hope all is well love elder mayberry

7/15/09

thanks for getting the camera and > stuff for me dont worry to much > about time turns out it takes a while to get stuff down > here. but my > birthday was pretty good i got some icecream and had a > little feast > they are roasting a pig for me right now so after im done > emailing so > that will be cool. the work is not very good this transfer > but i gues > that happens sometime i am really hoping for a transfer the > area that > im in is really cool for hanging out with people and > getting food but > not so great for finding people to teach who actually care > about the > gospel. > well pop ill let you get backto the farm but i love you and > hope all is well. > love elder mayberry >

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Pig for my birthday

hey im doing great but there is really nothing cool to tell you that is positive for you all to read at home. i think im going to eat some pigs for my birthday but im not really sure. im burning your guys cd right now so ill try to get it sent out pretty soon.

Monday, July 6, 2009

7/1/09

hey pop everything is going well i > heard ricky won state and he is > going on a shcolarship to some school for wrestling. i > laugh everytime > i think about your old mcdonald experiences. i kinda wish i > were there > to help you build your new house i learned alot last time > and it > seemed to be a pretty good experience. my comp is > cool but he is > kinda lazy we do get along well though so this transfer > will be pretty > fun im hoping im kinda sick though i dont know what it > is but i feel > pretty crumby. oh well life goes on. well pop i love you > and hope all > is well

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

looking for ideas

im still the DL i got a new comp and he is a handful. thats what i get for telling the president the work was slow here he gave me something else to take up my time. ;-) i bet you know how that goes. whats stevens email address ill email him? thats good to hear that kyle is still active and progressing. stevo administering anesthetics i could see that happening. oh and they changed the pday to thursday for some reason./ i ended up living with another white guy for a week while i waited for my comp to come up on the boat from tonga and it was pretty cool we got some really good work done and it was kinda fun to speak english for a while i actually lost my voice. i dont talk that much anymore but we talked alot for that week and my voice couldnt handle it. the only time i talk is in publlic i dont talk to my comps that much tongans version of conversation is not very entertaining most of the time and we have very little in common besides discussing scripture. but im doing great life is going by way fast and i can never seem to get a s much done as i want. any nifty ideas to find people besides knocking doors im open to suggestions we are running out of areas to tract. well dad love you lots elder mayberrry

Thursday, June 25, 2009

6/23/09

hey mommy they changed my pday to thursday just so you know, all is well here and the mission is still good im in the same area as last transfer mataika (fishface) my new comp is named elder tupou he has been out a little longer than me but he is kind of disobedient sometimes. i got cussed at by a bishop this week. he doesnt really like me very much and i told him we wouldn't teach his investigator anymore until we had parental permission and he actually called me some really bad names and told me that i was lazy and he wouldnt help the missionaries any more until i left.... so much for being nice to the members huh??? we have a severe lack of work right now coupled with an angry bishop and a lazy companion. but anyway im doing good other than that my distrist is pretty good compared to the rest of the missionaries on this island. its funny to think of jessica living on the farm the rest of you i could see it happening but jessica never struck me as miss mcdonald. well mom i love you and hope all is well have a wonderful week and i'll email you next thursday love elder mayberry

Monday, June 15, 2009

blessing the sacrament

no i simply said ma which is a pretty general term in tongan since they didnt have bread before the palangis came so it encompassed both bread and coconut. wow yeah i havent heard from patricia in a long time. feel free to give out my email to any cute girls you deem worthy. ;-) but all is going well here its transfer day and my comp left for haapai so ill be getting a new one wednesday ill be living with another palangi for the next few days. i will be mailing you the cds with all my pictures on it next week so it should be there in a month or two. typing is getting harder and harder the longer im out. all is well here though and im excited for a new comp its always fun playing the guessing game. i was talking with the zone leaders and come to find out we have had over 15 elders sent home since i got out on my mission. i didnt realize it was that high but i guess the devil can tempt missionaries just as easy as non-missionaries. i actually got a report/complaint called in about me last week the bishop pulled me aside yesterday at church to talk about the problem i guess he has had several complaints of the same sort. they are angry at me and say i have been spending to much time with nonmembers and not enough time sitting at members houses. i actually laughed at the bishop but he said that some of the members are actually pretty mad at me. life is funny huh. well i dont have much time here so ill close this up but i love you elder mayberry

okay mister, we have a big debate going on and you need to help us. > When you used coconut for sacrament did you say bless this coconut > rather than bless this bread? we really need this answered so don't > you dare ignore this email! :-) love you lots son! - mom >

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

6/6/09 niua fo'ou

hey cutie i heard jessica flew the coop for a little while. hows life going for you now that your done with your schooling? any plans yet for the summer? how are TC and morgan handling summer break. all is well here im going to do a companion exchange today with another white guy this will be the third time i have ever been with a palangi for more than an hour or two. its kinda fun here in vava'u. i really hope i stay here for a long time the work is good the island is beautiful and the food is pretty delicious. htis computer store is right next to the bay and it has a gorgeous view. i think google earth has some good pictures of niua fo'ou you should check it out someone was telling me they are gorgeous. well i got ot go love you \elder mayberry

6/6/09 Dunkin

funny enough i thought about you guys > on your anniversary i was talking > to a member and i looked down at my watch and realized it > was your > anniversary wow 23 years congratulations and i hope there > are many many > more to come. > you already got a horse now your buying cows. watch out dad > i see > tractors in the future. ;-) > Grandma told me that there is a family shin dig going on > pretty soon > at willow creek are you guys planning on going? > i got 2 baptisms Saturday it was really cool the pipe was > broken to the > baptismal font so we went to a really pretty beach and did > it in the > ocean. i let my comp do the actually dunkin action he holds > alot more > importance to numbers than i do. but any way i love you and > hope all > goes well with your knee ill e praying for you. > elder mayberry >

Friday, June 5, 2009

5/31/09

hey pop good to hear from you life is > still going on here just at a > little different pace then your life... ;-) its still > pretty warm here > and this is suposed ot be winter right now but thats kinda > like winter > in phoenix not really anything to worry about. i have a > favor to ask > of you i would like you to call sister knoop in deming and > thank her > for the letters she has sent me. i cant really get mail out > of here or > i would write here a thank you card. > sounds like life is still interesting with the family hows > work going > are you still thinking about having surgery on your knee?? > what will > that do to you? > i got in a fight with one of my bishops this week he > literally cussed > me out for about thirty minutes i just listened and prayed > for > patience till he was done then had to swallow my pride and > appologize > for something i didnt even do. thats probably wouldnt have happened > before my mission. he said we were neglecting an > investigator he had > refered to us i had to explain that a young boy cant be > baptized > without parent permission and the kid doesnt really care > about the > church anyway he wants to get baptized so he can attend the > church > schools here... oh the fun;-) > but i appologized and calmed him down and got it back to > normal. but > let me tell you i was in a bit of a tizzy for a while i had > to go back > to the house and relax for a little bit. > i bet you feel like that at work sometimes. i think > heavenly father is > just giving me lots of opportunities to grow right now. > well dad love you > elder mayberry

5/31/09

masi'i teu paa'i ke ne mahaki. oku tapu 'aupito ke talanoa pehee mo 'eku tuofefine oku ne monu'ia oku ou mama'o aupito meiate ia he taimini. any way we are having a zone p-day in my area today i just came to town with a palangi to net then we are going back my comp and i dug pit this morning for the bar-b-que we are going to eat three whole dogs tongan style. all is well we are teaching a bunch of people 9 in total but they all have family members who are not pro mormon so things are going really slow we have been working with some of these people for almost a month now with little progress but he shoulder to the wheel right. i figure i'm just planting so someone else can have some fruit in the future. well i love you all elder Mayberry

Thursday, May 21, 2009

last week of school

hey family how is everything going it was good to talk to > you all last > week i had fun hearing the tongans side of you guys trying > to get a > hold of me. tell steven i said hi and to stay out of > troube. i emailed > david the other day it was kinda cool to hear from him. i > cant wait to > longboard with tc and boo i miss my baby roxy (the name of virgils longboard) something > fierce. those > two are probably better than i am by now i will have to work > hard to > catch up. tell Abby congrats for me. and any one else i > know that is > getting married. we did some tracting this week and set up > 11 teaching > appointments this week i will be happy though if 4-5 of > them are > actually lava (able). my comp is awesome his name is folau > my old comps > name is me'ahala and i wish you all spoke tongan so i could > tell you > how funny his name is but since im a missionary ill keep > this letter > clean. > we are supposed to have a baptism or two this week yahoo > !!! i didnt > even rememeber the prayer sad huh. i dont really keep in > contact with > anyone but my family so feel free to report anything you > deem > pertinent. well im out of intelligent things to say (didnt > take long > huh) love you all and hope all is well > eder mayberry >

5/17/09

hey guys im just chillin here in the > internet cafe thinking about > you guys and how you are doing sounds like your all doing > good and > busy. tonga is beautiful and the work is going well its > funny hearing > all the news from home it seems like some other world. im > kinda > excited for this week we have tons of appointments and even > a few > baptisms that are supposed to happen. well i got to go > someone else > needs the pc but i love you all and wish you well' > take it easy > elder mayberry

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

5/10/09

my comp went to niua with me here will still be there a > transfer or > two. my comp got to tonga in febuary. our zoneies are in > the major > city here its like a five minute drive. you can drive > everywhere in > this island so travel is pretty easy. we fish every now and > then im > supposed to go catch oyesters with a guy some time soon. i > dont know > the island that well yet but as far as i know you can drive > to all the > big islandsin vava'u but noone lives on teh small ones > they are pretty > rocky and cilffy to live on. they have chickens lots of > pigs but thats > about it everything else comes from new zealand. i didnt > get the > pancakes they were busy but will get around to it sometime. > > well hey it was good hearing the lateset news the swine flu > hasnt made > it to tonga yet the pigs are a ll home grown so i dont > think well have > to worry aboutit for a while. what is your current position > at work > right now do you boss or be bossed how is it going back > down the totem > pole a little bit. hows the hunting there in AZ can you > still call > coyotes or anything. well im going to goo see if i cant > find my comp > we did a little split today so that the palangi im with > could call > home but i should be heading back to my area pretty quick > so ill try > to call you guys this evening. well i love oyu all and hope > all is > well > love elder mayberry >

4/27/09

hey pop it was god to hear from you guys yesterrday and > hopefully we > will be ale to talk later today. we have a few teaching > appointments > later today that i am pretty excited for our ward mission > leader is > awesome he finds us investigators at least once a week they > blew us > off last week but the two families this evening are pretty > promising. > there are two goofy palangies talking on video phone right > next to me > and its hilarious they are an old couple and they are like > yelling at > the screen and stuff im trying hard not to laugh at them to > hard but > its pretty humurous the tongans are just laughing behind > their backs. > any way i love and hope that all is well > love elder mayberry

5/10/09

Morgan, 'io malo 'etau lava 'oku ou sai 'aupito well done on the tongan;-)
they dont really celebrate any holidays here the only thing they do to
celebrate is eat slightly more than usual even christmas. lu pulu is
kinda rare i didnt have any in niua they just eat fish there is an
occasional pig but here in vava'u they have pretty much whatever you
want. but lu pulu is not quite as popular as lu sipi and lu moa (lu
sheep and lu moa) everyone walks around with thier shirts off so that
law must just not be enforced. lies and the dancing and stuff are
pretty much purely ceremonial and therfore only for tourists and
royalty noone else much cares about it. good try on the translation it
actually mean im going to the lake to catch fish maybe i will grill
them later they taste much better cooked than jsut raw.

hey mommy i'm sitting here in the internet cafe one of the palangis is
talking to his parents right now and the owner is a member so we email
free so i thought i would drop you a line and see how you are doing? i
decided i should start reporting a little more on my missionary work
and a little less on the adventures of elder mayberry (though ill
still tell you a few cool stories every now and then) this week we
taught a few nonmembers but unfortunately they were all younger and
for some reason all of their parents are antimormon so we were asked
not to come back. one of the kids hasnt told his parents he is taking
the lessons he is 16 but he hasnt been able to make it to church
becuase his parents are pretty fehi'a(hateful) toward the church so
thats a but frustrating but if nothing else i get some practice
teaching my lessons. we have a lot of teachings set up this week we
are actually teaching a preacher from another religion they love
talking to palangis and just talking religion so we will head over
thursday or so i better be pretty prepared with my lessons huh?? well
i love you all
'ofalahi atu
elder mayberry
ps they just call me may

hey cutie how are you doind today i heard that you called the phone
today loooking for me we are in a different town right now but i will
try to get back in touch with you guys this evening. it was great to
hear from you all sorry i havent emailed in a while but i have been
kinda busy. i lov eyou all and hope all is well. congrats on
graduation i knew you could do it. love elder mayberry

Monday, April 20, 2009

Still no Boat 4/20/09

hey pop no word on transfers yet but im waiting with bated > breath if i > stay i will get a new comp and 3 more months of fun and > exetment here > in niua who knows where i will go if i leave. they are > trying to get a > boat to come up with some supplies but im not holding my > breath. im > not quite sure how they would get us out of here for > transfers but hey > luckily im just an indian not a chief i just follow orders. > that box > will probably be getting here right around transfer time so > if we do > any moving around they will be able to get it up to me. im > anxious to > get the card reader i have a lot of really good pictures on > my camera > and the tongans are not all that technologically savy so im > scared the > pictures might get deleted i would be highly distraught. > unfortunately > we dont ride horses very often mostly we just walk alot > ALOT we did > six hours of straight wakling thursday back and forth > across the > island trying to get some stuff done i have worn through 2 > pairs of > flip flops and a pair of sandals these sandols right now > are broken > but i cant buy any new ones so i just wear them anyway. my > feet are > pretty darn tough now days. well i love you and hope your > knee gets > better try not to work to hard love > elder mayberry

I'm not that stinky 4/19/09

OK I'm not that stinky i still shower i just use Tongan soap its a
[plant that you chew up and rub on your body like soap it smells nice
but it really doesn't clean as well as good old soap. tell thomas that
the tazer is pretty cool i made one in north dakota i thought it was
cool until my roommate tazzered me back. i'm glad school is going well
for you and that the house has turned into a mayberry terarium for
reptiles and unwanted species;-) everything is going well here but the
work is going kinda slow as always we only taught five lessons this
week do to the fact that we did a lot of service helping out in people
farm/gardens to earn us some food. talk about with out purse or scrip
(i finally found out what a scrip is and the saying makes a lot more
sense now) im having a brain fart right now as to what i should write
to you and for some reason my fingers dexterity is severely waning so
i cant type to save me life today sorry about the spelling. but know
that i love you all the work is going forward here. paul said some will
water and some will harvest i was lucky enough to be one of the ones
planting hopefully the harvest will be great someday. the people here
are really amazing and they have very big hearts they just dont know
what they are missing out on yet. the church is true water is wet and
lapilla is a fish.. sorry you probably wont get that one but ill
explain it a little bit here int eh middle of the island is a lake
that nothing used to live in and a hundred or so years or so ago they
brought this little fish here to populate the lake and now they are
literaly teeming and really easu to catch so that is what we eat
almost everyday they are only about 6-7 inches long full grown and
have a lot of bones but are pretty tasty we eat them raw boiled and
grilled (grilled is best) so any way i love you all and wish you well
elder mayberry


hey boo boy thanks for the email its good to hear from you. im glad
your having fun and doing well im doing good here. im still in niua
transfers are not for another two weeks and i might be staying for a
few more months anyways. no boats have come yet but we sure want them
to. we walk around the lake when we cross the island the island is a
volcano so to get to the lake you have to climb some mountains and
then climb down some cliffs its pretty fun and a really good workout.
i ate a horse the other day and i killled a dog thursday. we cooked it
and ate it whole head and all it was kinda gross the brain didnt taste
very good.
well morgan i love you and miss you stay out of trouble
love virgil

Prev Next



Wednesday, April 15, 2009

horses

well church was very interesting this week it was me my comp > and one > lady. i conducted and gave the only talk adn blessed the > sacrament. it > was a fairly decent talk on the articles of faith. we are > out of bread > ont he island so we had coconut for sacrament it was very > memorable. i > learned alot and we taught 4-5 lessons so far this week. we > teach alot > just noone really internalizes it. i havent heard from > steven since > christmas. thanks for the package. transfers are week after > next and > we are supposed to call the president today to see if we > will stay > here or not next transfer. no hurricanes this week but it > did rain > alot. life as always is never boring here always something > new for me > to work on monday i was climbing some coconut trees and was > sitting at > the top of one and started thinking about you guys i > started laughing > at the randomness of the situation. this mission is > something else let > me tell you but there is nothing in the world more worth > while than > trying to help heavenly fathers children make it back. i > love you > elder maybrry >

Coconuts

congrats on your tests mom you did beat me finished ;-) i nknew you could do it. no the door has been broken for a long time one of the missionaries got mad and kicked it in. those pics were from before the hurricane it really didnt do to much damage just to the crops and washed out the road a little. other than that life is good here transfers are coming up but we dont know whats going to happen yet. tell steven i said hi and that he should email me sometime. unfortunately i have a lot to report just i'm just going to save it all up so i'll have some stories after i get home to tell you. have morgan tell them that i'm doing great we teach a lot of lessons we had coconut for sacrament on sunday since we are out of bread we haven't had a boat come since we got here 10 weeks ago we we are out of everything. we ride horses quite a bit here which is kinda surprising. life is great and heavenly father takes care of his missionaries. i love you all and hope that life is good. love elder mayberry

4/12/09

well church was very interesting this week it was me my comp > and one > lady. i conducted and gave the only talk adn blessed the > sacrament. it > was a fairly decent talk on the articles of faith. we are > out of bread > ont he island so we had coconut for sacrament it was very > memorable. i > learned alot and we taught 4-5 lessons so far this week. we > teach alot > just noone really internalizes it. i havent heard from > steven since > christmas. thanks for the package. transfers are week after > next and > we are supposed to call the president today to see if we > will stay > here or not next transfer. no hurricanes this week but it > did rain > alot. life as always is never boring here always something > new for me > to work on monday i was climbing some coconut trees and was > sitting at > the top of one and started thinking about you guys i > started laughing > at the randomness of the situation. this mission is > something else let > me tell you but there is nothing in the world more worth > while than > trying to help heavenly fathers children make it back. i > love you > elder maybrry

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

4/7/09

no your not allowed ot quit asking for my gift of toungues until im
back in america. my comps name is me'ahala, it does get a little
monotonous there are some really challenging things here and it is a
very small island so everyone knows everything about everyone and
noone wants to change at all very hard sometimes but hey luckily i was
called to work and not to just baptize so im still fulfilling my
calling. the rock is nice and pretty but we had a little hurricane
come by and get us a little wet and make life difficult for a while.
but no worries everythjing is good and the earth still is spinning
round.love you elder mayberry

4/4/09

wow your week was about as fun as mine we had a hurricane
> come through
> it was here for three
> days and we
> had some good rain and wind luckily the eye never came
> actually on
> the island but we have a little damage done by the wind and
> rain it
> rained almost non stop tuesday through sunday and it is
> still
> sprinkling here tuesday. your training sounds pretty
> intense for a
> supervisor who isnt to far from retiring. good luck with
> the mule i
> hope that doesnt go the same way sieko did. love you dad
> elder mayberry

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

3/29/09

i dont exactly know what we will do about conference here ill try to watch it though. i got a little exasperated this week and got sent into a high speed wobble over a few things that happened that are not exactly in line with the church but i think we are getting it sorted out not really a lot to report from this week we did a lot of service we went fishing for a day so we could have a good sunday dinner. we poured concrete wednesday because the road washed out in a rain storm and we do a lot of walking. i have a standing joke with all my comps that every mile you walk on your mission your wife gets prettier my wife is going to be gorgeous we walk a lot a lot. well i got to go but i love you and hope to hear from you soon. love elder mayberry(virgil)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

March 22 - After the earthquake, volcano and tsunami warning

March 22 emails - after the earthquake, volcano and tsunami warning they had down in Tonga! there was an earthquake but i'm a very long way away so i didn't even know about it till last night. my health is good now i got a little sick but i think that's a good story for when i get home. i took a big boat from tonga to here it was three stories and big enough to hold a few cars so nothing like groberg. the getting off the boat was fun especially with my suitcase but they have a bunch of people there to pull you to shore from the row boat so its a fun memory. yes i'm on the island with the big lake in the center its called vai (which means water tongans don't have a word for lake) there is a niuaen language but its starting to die most people here just speak tongan i'm starting to learn a little bit of niuaen though its pretty fun it's like Tongan, Samoan and something else mixed together. i'll be up here for at least another six weeks love elder mayberry

yeah good news the earthquake was farily big but i'm a good ways away so i'm fine i was at the lake and we didn't even notice anything. tell hailey to go ahead and get baptized and just write me a letter about it. tell hailey and hannah i still have the pictures they drew for me in the mtc. they are hanging on the wall of our hut. everybody always asks me about them. tell them i said hi and i love them. tell granny i said hi and i miss her. i'm supposed to get the package you guys sent me on wednesday there is an airplane coming up and the office elders are trying to get it sent up with it. i'm not sure when you sent it but i'm anxious to see whats in it. ironically i spent an hour saturday killing these birds with a slingshot but we ate them instead of just killing them the cuisine here is interesting i get to meet almost everything i eat before it dies . its a whole new world here but i'm learning a lot and hopefully helping at least a little to the people to come to christ through the message of the restored gospel. well 'ofa 'atu te 'alu ki vai taimini ke u kai lapila anai pea mahalo te u tunu ai. 'ifo ange aupito tunu 'i he 'ota 'ika pee. well take it easy know i love you and the lord takes care of his missionaries and if he forgets the president has your number so hell give you a call..... love you lots elder mayberry

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

3/15/09

sounds like life is still going on which is comforting > because lives > is a little different here. the president is talking about > keepiong me > here for a little longer than the original two transfers > now he is > talking six or seven months. there is plenty of work to do > but it is > fairly hard. we got our first person to start coming back > to church > but now we have to get him to s[top smoking and stop > drinking kava so > much. but its a start my comp is going to be th ebranch > president as > soon as the boat comes which is not very reliable they said > it would > come the first week of march but that didnt happen and the > rumors > start again everyweek now they are saying it might be a > months or two > before the boat comes.... oh well life goes on gives me a > little more > time to get prepared before the branch president leaves us. > i have some items i would appreciate if you guys could > locate and get > down to me sometime no rush since i cant get packages here > in niua so > it might be a few months before you could send it anyway. > 1. a xD card > reader for my camera that plugs into a usb port they sell > them at > walmart 2. three sets of scripture stickers 2 missionary 1 > seminary 3. > some pictures of you guys 4. a good recipe for pancakes 5. > maple > flavoring 6mouthgaurd (just like a football one or > something) well i > got to go but hopefully i can come back later love you all >

3/11/09

its looking like i ll be here in niua for another 6 weeks > wich is good > because ,y comp and i will bet hte only preisthood in a > little bit. i > have some awesome pics and i have been writing pretty well > in my > journal so i can tell my grandkids all my grandkids about > when i went > to the other side of heaven then sailed for another eight > hours.. > i stop at grobergs island on my way here turns out they > filmed the > movie in lalo tonga not in niuatoputapu. but the island is > beautiful > we spent the night there and toured around. i have now > slept on every > major island in the kingdom of tonga excpet eua. not even > the mission > president has been to this island its a 5 day boat ride and > pretty > expensive. well i gotta go tell everyone i loe them and i > will try to > email next week.... > next week tuesday is 6MONTHS > love elder mayberry

3/11/09

hey dad this is your son virgil im still in niua they do > have internet > here its just fairly hard to get a hold of and i have been > really > busy. what have you all been up to?? > just so you know for some unknown reason google cancelled > my other > account so i made this new one myldsmail takes about thirty > minutes to > load on these internet connections. > work is going great i have some amazing stories from here > but i think > they are best told after my mission or at least after i > leave here. no > baptisms this place is really difficult to work in but we > tract alot > the language is coming along well turns out i might end up > being the > branch president here or my comp in a week or two. how is > everyone > doing what have you all been up to im up here in lalaland > so i dont > here anything about the real world i haven't even > talked to the > president since i got up here just 2x to the AP's. my > comp is a good > guy kinda a dauber but we get along well which is good > because this is > a very small isladn there are 600 people on the island > (probably less) > there are 60 registered baptized members but average church > attendance > is less than ten a week. most everyone leaves the island > after baptism > to go to a place where they can be with other members. i > got a little > sick when we first got here and lost a little bit of weight > but its > all good now. this place is very remote but they do have > one house you > can buy a few things from (very few things) and there are > phone lines > to most of the villages. this place here is the hun of the > local > pohones and has a sat link for outside calls. > tell everyone im doing good i dont know anyones email i > dont have the > paper and my lds mail isnt working im hoping this one is > right. > ummmm how is taylor doing did you happen to get scotts > email if you > guys still have the emails you sent to the other account if > you could > just forward them here. > the missionary house here is slightly lacking as is the > church house > but i havent died yet so i guess its ok there are 7-8 > little villages > here and its about a 2 hour walk from one side to the > other. i did get > a post card from mom a letter from jessica and a letter > from sis knoop > in deming. (please forward this to someone in deming so > they know how > its going) i heard i have a package but its in tonga and > there really > is no way of getting it up here. im going to send this now > to make > sure i can before i write any more i love you all and hope > all is well > love elder virgil mayberry

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

2/16/09 Virgil is off to an island

hey mom i didnt actually get to read the emails but i got a computer and like two seconds to write you and tell you i love you and that im ok and hopefully io will be able to write you a real lettter here in just a little bit but i love you all the church is true water is wet and tongans drive on the wrong side of the road. love elder mayberry ok i will answer your questions in this email and then i have some crazy news that might make you a little sad. i left being comps with vea three days before 2009 started whenever that was i was comps with elder Tu'imoala he was an ok guy but we had a rough start he was from vava'u. i was in the same area the whole time so far there were two towns fahefa and fo'ui we covered them both both the first transfer i stayed in a house in fahefa and the second transfer i stayed in fo'ui. they do have rats that will eat your feet but they dont come to close to the houses because of all the dogs runnning around they usually stay in the trees. sorry its not very long but i will tell you my story in another email. sorry i have written very much lately but im keeping a journal for you when i get back love you all. elder mayberry

Since this is the last email i got from you guys ill tell you my news you remember that movie the other side of heaven and that little timy that he goes to well im not going there.... but im going to a smaller island a quite a ways farther out it is the farthest island in the mission and im one of the greenest missionaries to go out there in a decade or two. im really excited to go they speak really fast tongan up there and so by the time i get back i will be pretty much fluent its really expensive to send people up there and kinda hard to adjust to the life so i will be up there for at least two transfers or 12 weeks. president mcmurray took me aside after the transfer meeting to talk to me he told me i was in for the adventure of my life the branch up there is all but dead there are 60 members and about 600 people on the island but only one active family. me and my comp will be the first and second counsellors in the branch presidency and it will be our job to reestablish the church in the island. its called Niuafo'ou. im really nervous but extremely excited chances are i wont email for at least three months and the boat rarely goes up there so if you dont hear from me for a couple months know that i love you all. dad try to relax and enjoy yourself in sierra vista if you see any of the guys from sab on base tell them i said hi they drive big red trucks, and could you please text scott payne on my phone and get his email, if you could just tell him im doing ok and i have some really good pictures for him. mom i love your guts (and the rest of you too) dont stress out about school youll do great i promise after the kids you have raised i doubt those kids can surprise you with much. im taking all your letters you have written up with me in case i dont get any more. tell steven i said hi and stay out of trouble. jessica i love you your a gorgeous girl and dont forget it. take it easy stay away from those boys they'll get you in trouble. thom boy your my hero try hard in school dont kill your brother. morgan later bro thanks for the letters do good in school. i probably wont be able to email again to at least may so you'll probably be done with school i wish you all luck. dont worry about me if i die the president has your ohone number so it'll be alright. love you all take it easy and ill talk to you later elder mayberry

Friday, January 30, 2009

1/25/09 #2

i live in a small house running water and electricity, its about the
size of your old room in deming but since we are rarely in it here its
not really that big of a deal. i have a mattress but its really nasty
its brown b\from years of missionaries sleeping on it without sheets
and without wearing clothes. it has missionaries signatures from 2004
on it. we have a lot of little sugar ants and geckos but they keep the
centipedes and the cockroaches down so i kinda like them. i have some
good news and some bad news, i did get my packages from my family and
they made me so happy i love you guys and thank you for sending them.
the bad news is everything got stolen except for the dont eat pete
board and the gifts for mcmurray and vea. but its ok its the thought
that counts i did get a few skittles before they disappeared. im
staying about the same on weight i dont want you thinking im starving
to death i eat a lot its just not sticking i weigh 150 and its held
steady for a few weeks now. no i never got any seeds but a lot of stuff
gets "lost" in the mail here. no i dont need any thing right now but
thanks. love you lots
mayberry



i didnt know i had a blog spot. but anyway i have A story for you i did a
companion exchange this week with another palangi and we just got home
after church and a lady came up and asked us to go give a lady a
blessing when we got there she was like laying in the bed crying and
like couldnt hold still because the pain was so bad but as soon as we
started giving her the blessing she stopped moving and stopped crying
and just held still when we finished the blessing she stood up and
just walked away the family was so happy they brought us in and fed us
pig and crab and some other really good tongan delicacies. it was
really amazing. we also went tracking and taught a few families. all
this by two white guys who dont even know the language yet. but heavenly
father know it and like he told moses he created us can he not teach
us?!
well i love you all
elder mayberry

1/25/09

hey dad i havent really been able to get to acomputer for a > while but everything has been going well i finally got to do > some tracting the other day i did a companionexchange with > another whiteguy and even though neither of usare very good > at tongan we taught a few lessons and stuff it was really > amazing to see how much the lord wants usto do his work > sometimes he makes some drastic circumnstances to > makeeverything work right but everything happens for > areason. im doing a lot betterthis week my companion is > kindof difficult but its ok im getting a lot better at > patience. well dad i love you and hope everything works out > on the house im praying for you. love elder mayberry

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Dec 20

hey everybody life is good here in tonga the weather is hot and humid (go figure) its really amazing here but it does have its challenges. i saw the first refrigerator today since i have been in tonga. it was kinda funny, i saw a microwave too but it was broken. the mango season is already passed unfortunately but the bananas are all getting ripe so i eat them alot with crackers. hey i got my first baptism on Saturday his name is manoa latu and he is from fo'ui and he is 12 years old he took the lessons 2 x before he got baptized but it was pretty awesome. hey for the christmas call i will call moms cell phone and with a card from here and give you the number to the phone ill be using. if you guys could please find a card that is specifically for the south pacific just get one for like ten minutes (just kidding buy a card for as long as you want to talk to me for. and could you have steven get one if he wont be there to talk with you guys. email me any questions or comments by next monday thanks love you elder mayberry

Friday, January 16, 2009

1/12/09

i havent been able to email fr a while i got a new comp not as cool as the last one he is a good missionary but he has so characteristics that make him very difficult to get along with he doesnt speak a word of english so my tongan is getting better. im in the same area as before just in a different village but i still eat wth and teach the same people. where did josh go on his mission? love you thanks for all you have done for me elder mayberry

12/29/08

hey pop sorry i havent email in a while i havent been able > to get to a > new computer i agree 100 % with what you said i had a few > of those hard > days lately but im still doing really good. my new comp is > best > described as a great builder of patience. he doesnt speak > any english so > my tongn s getting a lot better. but i must say in his > defence he is a > pretty good missionary we have been teaching a couple > poeple and two > whole families it doesnt look like they will come to > fruition until > after this transfer though so i probably wont be here. > there is a rumor > going around that im headed motu after this transfer which > means one of > the smaller islands but nothing for sure yet. well i hope > everything is > going well and hopefully i will be able to email next week > ;-) tell > everyone i said hi > love elder mayberry >