1/17/10

Sunday 1-17-10 Hey Family, We’ll see how this works out. I must say I have been pretty dismal in the letter writing aspect of work. But I’ll see if I can fix that. I left the office finally, it was a long stay but I surely loved it. I’m out in a town in the east side of the main island called Mu’a. My companion and I are the zone leaders for a large section of the island. The zone has its fair share of challenges with its being the most spread out with some very isolated villages. My companion Elder ‘Asaeli Piukala is an excellent guy and will help me a lot this transfer to be a better missionary. There are not very many palangis in my zone. The only two are both Tongans that grew up in NZ or USA. So with that comes some of the challenges of becoming good friends with the Elders without getting in trouble or getting carried away joking around with them. My area seems to be pretty good. We have a bunch of inactives here that are mad at the church for some reason or other. If you guys have any good advice on how to calm people down when they are mad at the church please let me know. I do have to admit I’m a bit homesick for the office with its fast pace and tons of work but its good for me to work on my weaknesses and this job will definitely do that. Sorry if this letter is a bit disappointing. I don’t have a whole lot to write this place is still really new to me. I did have a really good last week in the office. I got a ton of work done and like 10-15 lessons. It was pretty sad to leave all my members. I had gotten to know a lot of them really well over the last six months and was a bit sad to leave them but that’s missionary work for you I guess. My comp and I are getting ready to go to Nuku’leka right now. We are having a Zone p-day up there, so we should have fun. Unfortunately for me I’m not much of a volleyball player and that is all the Tongans like to do on p-day. Its okay though I’ll just find some pretty girls to go teach the lessons to. Well family, I love you all. Love Elder Mayberry A second letter in the envelope- I’m sitting here on my bed in our house, a little bored so I thought I would drop you a little note before I sealed the envelope I wrote on p-day. I had a great scripture study today, reading the old testament. I read about Moses being called through the burning bush. I was particularly interested when Moses is doubtful because he is slow of speech. The Lord answers him firmly but lovingly. To paraphrase he says, I made your mouth and you still doubt if I can give you the strength to do what I ask? Moses once again asks for a spokesman and the Lordgives him Aaron. Exodus 4:11-13, 1 Nephi:3:7, 1 Cor 10:13. The Lord provides a way for us to do as he commands. When he tells us to do something he already has everything set up, all we have to do is exactly what he tells us. Love Elder Mayberry P.S. Moral of the story – be obedient P.S.S. Read 1 Cor 10:12 Don’t think too much or you’ll fall over

1/26/10

hey mom i cheated i had to come help a lady fix her computer so i
figured i would drop you a line while i was here. all is well the new
area is starting to grow on me i did actually mail you a few letters..
im excited you got the box. the bags are from a lady up in vavau she
gave them to me but i gave her some money for them because of how nice
she is (and really poor)
the necklaces are made of either whale or cow bone and are carved by a
family out where i used to work in vava'u.
im glad you got the CDS i know it took a while for you guys to get any
pictures from me but i made up for it by sending a lot. i forgot the
other stuff inside but you guys can do whatever you want with it.
i love you all and hope all is going well
elder mayberry

oh im in mu'a in zone hahake my comps name is 'asaeli piukala

1/6/10

hey cutie well transfer week is on us again i probably wont be able to email on saturday due to preparations but i wanted to tell you all that i am finally moving so you will have to start using a different color star as of monday. im moving out to the east end of the island im going to be a junior zone leader out there. but my comp is a really good guy he is a tongan by the name of 'Asaeli Piukala he came in at the same time as me and is a very hard worker and as i have never been a zone leader before it will be nice to have him there to show me the ropes. i dont know how much i will be emailing as i will be a long ways from town but my plan is to (dare i say it) write some letters on actual paper but well see how it goes. you should let me know when/if you get that package that i sent you guys. it should get there within a week or so hopefully. but hey i got to go but i wanted to say i love you guys and hope all is well. Love Elder Mayberry

12/31/09

malo e lelei famili
ko au fai eku kohi kohi pe kiate kimoutolu ahoni koe'uhi te u alu au
ki haapai apongipongi.
neu pehee e sai ange kapau teu kii kohi atu ahoni kae oua nae fuoloa
eta ta'esioki. na'e kii malo pe ema faka'osi ta'u anepoo ka 'oku sai
pe ia. 'ikai ke tau ki he kaufaifekau ke mau al holo 'o taki tamaiki
fefine. 'oku kii tapu ia. ka 'oku ou fiefia he faingamalie ko eni ke u
fai atu ha faka'apa'apa ki he 'Otua i he'ene tauhi au ke u a'u mai ki
he ta'u faka'ofo'ofa ko eni. pea mo e faingamalie 'oku ou ma'u ke
fakahoko 'ene ngaue i he fonuani. 'osi mahino kiate au 'ikai ke mou
fu'u loko mahino 'eku tohi ko eni ka sai pe ia ko e kii sioki pe. mou
mata'i ofato eee
mo e 'ofa
Elder Mayberry

hey cutie
i am emailing today because tomorrow im flying out to haapai to do
some records and paper work out there. we found an entire book of
people that had been baptized that have no records in the church's
system so we are going to haapai tomorrow to find them all. we will be
up there for at least three days so hopefully it will be successful and
we can get all these people's souls saved. but i explained all that in
my other email so you can read all about it. i am pretty sure ill be
out of the office in a week or two so im excited thinking about where
i might go. (but there is a small chance i might just stay in the
office, Pres has been talking about just keeping me in here) but well
find out soon enough.
hope Christmas went well for you all. its already 2010 down here just
so you know ...this year is way better than last year. last year was my
invisible year. 2008 i was home for most of the year and 2010 i will
be home for the last few months of it but 2009 i was invisible to you
guys the whole year. well family i love you and will see you later
this year

12/15/09

(A quick email back from an email I wrote with a reminder for him to
stay humble)
i dont have time to email this very second but i just had one
correction... change the stay humble to get humble.
Love Virgil

then the real email......
hey mommy i know im a horrible writer and this week im following the
trend i just wanted to say that i will call you on your christmas i
have a few cell phones here so ill just call you from one of them so
you wont have to talk to the tongans like on mothers day. and
christmas last year. but one of the numbers is 646-77-46860 i think
thats the number but im not exactly sure of the country code but the
last six digits are for sure. i love you all and cant wait to talk to
you guys. Love
Elder Mayberry/virgil/yourson/yourbrother/thetongandude

11/27/09

hey mommy
sorry i dint email last week i was kinda busy. transfers are on monday
so we are working really hard to get things ready. we have been
trying very hard to get things prepared so we have been working harder
in the "off season" so its not quite as crazy now during transfer
time.
last week was kind of hard on me. i got sick just a cold but it sure
made things miserable for me. president and i have been working on
strengthening
some of my weaker attributes such as humility and patience. i must say
im getting a lot better at both but have a long way to go (im very
proud of how humble i am getting :) my comp and I get along very well. last
week he was helping me fix a door and i was using a knife in a way
that is not exactly the smartest way but it was working fine. but he
pulled the door out from under the knife and i almost lost my pinky
finger on my right hand. i had to get like 6 stitches which is a
pretty good cut for so small a finger. luckily turns out that finger
is pretty much useless any way so its not much of a loss really and it
should be back working in a week or so. it just cut some nerves so its
all numb and kinda gross but its no big deal it will all heal
eventually. and guess what i didnt even swear (not even in my head).
;-)
thats good that morgans doing well, he sure seems like he is
getting big from the pictures. and jessica almost graduating. i feel
old and it feels like i have been in tonga for a very long time. i
sure have enjoyed it though and things sure have been fun.
love you all and miss you
love elder mayberry

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