6/16/10

hey mom i came to pangai for a conference and there is an internet cafe here at the school so i thought that i wouold drop you a line and tell you that im not dead yet. the island that im working on is really small and not a lot to do but my comp is a good guy and the people are really nice. the island is called ha'afeva it is the main island out of a group of about 5 really small islands just south of teh main pangai group. so to emphasize this island let me explain this to you. think of newzealand a fairly small country off the coast of australia now move east of that there is a small sland called tonga if you move north of that there is a little group of islands called ha'apai with pangai being the main city. just south east of ha'apai is a really small group of islands called lulunga. in the middle of this little cluster is a place called ha'afeva. we probably have less than 150 people on the island. luckily we cover all the outer islands off ha'afeva so we have some really interesting bopat rides that resemble something you would see in a movie. i have a pet volleyball named wilson...... just kidding but i seriously feel like that sometimes. i feel like the end of my mission is starting to get close so im trying to give it a good final push and try to keep from getting trunky for the next three months or so. my comps name is Sione Tu'akoi and he actually grew up on the island that we are working on so it makes things interesting. in some ways its really good in some ways its really bad... in the obituaries section of my letter i would like to inform you that my camera bit the dust of unkown causes. it was still working fine it just had a cracked screen bu tthe other day it wouldn't turn on for me. i dont know if it would be worth sending a new one. ill just leave it up to you guys i think i have plenty of pictures and not quite sure how long ill be up here in lulunga. but any way if you see a good deal pick me one up if not i cant say i will be to sorry i think i have donated enough cameras to tonga. sounds like you guys are having fun. know that i love you and im doing great love elder mayberry

5/11/10 letter #2

hey it was good to talk to all of you this week. i really enjoyed getting caught up with all of you. i actually heard something about that new law. i think its a good idea. but i guess that im not as quacked out as most americans. hey i was thinking a little about that trip you guys are planning down here and i think that it will be just fine. im sure that we can find plenty to do for that long. this is a really relaxed country and its really easy to just find stuff to do. if we really run out of stuff we can always just go to vava'u or eua or haapai either way just dont worry about it. well figure it out later. love you elder mayberry

May 11, 2010

hey thats crazy that hannah is getting to start kindergarten. and
hailey is getting baptized... man i guess i am getting old. i have a
little bit of a cold going on, i had a fever last night but its
getting a lot better now. hey this is kinda random but i need an alarm
clock preferably a small one that runs off AA batteries.
tell jessica good luck at state i hope she does well. i heard a rumor
that ill be moving on monday im not sure where yet but im pretty sure
to another island. im kinda going to miss my town here but life goes
on...
love you guys
elder mayberry

April 21

hahaha i forgot about my roger miller in north dakota thats funny. tell jessica thats what she gets for putting some mangy mutt in the car!!! what kind of a dog is it? when did she get a dog? how are the fish? do i still have a turtle or has he gone the way of all the earth? really random but have you happened to see my state champ ring in all the moving that you guys have done? well mammy i love you and dont get in to much trouble most of the time... love elder 'apele

Happy Easter

pea ha famili oku ou ofa lahi atu kiate kimoutolu pea kuou fkkaukau lahi ki he taimi te tau toe fetaulaki i amelika. te u akoi ha palangi foou he fehikitaki ko eni okuou tui e i ai ae ngaahi faingata'a'ia ai ka okuou vekeveke ke u feinga ke tokonii ae tokotaha foou ko eni ke ne lata i he feituu ko eni kuo kamata ke ofa'i lahi fau pehee ai. fkamu pe te mou mau ae tohi koeni i he fiefia mo e melino. oku ou faa lotua kimou3 pea kuo tala'ofa mai ae eiki te ne tokonii kimou3 ke mau ae ngaahi tapuaki kotoape a\oku mou fiemau. that means hi in tongan........ im staying put in the same area MU'A but ill be getting a new comp (ill be training a new palangi) i dont know who he is yet as they dont get here till thursday but ill let you know his name when i find out... life is going super duper down here. we baptized two wonderful people last week a 17 year old girl named 'Ofa (who really thought TCs picture was cute) and her little brother Semi 11yrs we are hoping to be able to teach there mother this week and have already started teaching their uncle from america. Mom dont read the stuff inside the parentheses(side note for thomas there have been a lot of girls down here who get really googly eyed around me and all want to marry my little brother. i started carrying some family pictures and i have about 30-40 girls waiting to marry you when you come on your mission here...) speaking of girls tell jessica to start finding me a girl to date when i get back. preferably one who wont make to much fun of my social retardation that now occurs as a result of living as a missionary in tonga for so long...... im pretty sure that i will be doing two homecomings one in St, david and one in Deming. any way my old comp is now the AP and i have been here on the main island here for 6 starting 7 transfers now. im really hoping to vacate next transfer unless my son is just way awesome... wait what am i saying he is my son how can he not be awesome!!!!!!!!! mom see how close i am to being humble these days i almost forget stuff like this every now and again.. the weather is starting to get colder now days which is nice for everything except for showering because hot water is still not a big commodity here in tonga. morning showers after my wimpy workout are a real eye opener. the other day i had to wake up early for transfers so i got a icy cold shower at five in the morning. lets just say it was more than sufficient to wake me up for the day. i dont know how it happens that nothing in this country is cold except the water i use to shower with. but any ways i love you all and hope all is well ill see you all in a year or two.... just kidding more like 6 months!!!!!!!! love Elder Mayberry

awkward

which car was that the nissan or my other one (i cant remember what kind of car it is) that you changed the tranny on? it sounds like the house is coming well. we had a pretty funny awkward situation come up this week actually two of them. the first one we had a few investigators that we invited to a family home evening at a members house, we found out later that the guy who we invited killed the other guys son. the guy that did the killing is a lot younger and has a family they were there with all their kids and the old guy whose son died doesn't really know the other guy killed him. it was a bit awkward but it worked out alright in the end. we just have to make sure to schedule them at different times from now on...... the other one there was a new missionary in the mission and he went to leave a scripture for the family to read before the next appointment he tried to leave 2 nephi 3:7 but instead he left 3Nephi 3:7 you'll have to read it to see the humor in it read the 2 nephi first... well i love you guys and hope all is going well. love elder mayberry

March 24

hi cutie life is going just wonderful down here im healthy happy and in good spirits we have been doing really well now days everything seems to be going well our teachings are really good the missionaries have been fairly quite compared to the other 2 zones so i really have nothing to complain about. i have been getting really close to some of the families here in Muá and it will be hard if i get transferred but i heard a rumor that i might be training one of the new palangis that is coming in next transfer.... we'll just have to wait and see what happens... i love you all and hope you stay out of trouble..