Kia Ora!! (I'm pretty darn sure that's hello in Maori...) Second e-mail is here! Today is day 6 in the MTC, so officially halfway. It has been pretty crazy. We watched general conference again, which was
awesome. I ended up taking 13 1/2 PAGES of notes. Crazy stuffs.
We have been teaching "investigators" and we have two we are currently teaching so far. I put that in quotes because they are just teachers here, but we treat them as actual investigators and they do well at
acting as such.
Our district is the Jacob district. We have 5 elders and 4 sisters. We have 2 sisters in a companionship from Tonga name Sister Fetuani and Sister Tualoni. (that second name may be wrong I am
still trying to learn all these names) The other companionship of sisters has 1 from Samoa named Sister Esau and the other I think is actually from here in New Zealand, but her name is the easiest with Sister Dixon. As for the Elders, there's me and my companion Elder Tameifuna from Tonga. The other companionship is one of the Americans named Elder Maxfield. His companion is name Elder Ratukadreu and he is from Fiji. (His name is definitely the hardest out of anyone here. We still say it all the time. We had a sort of game where we would all
just say his name over and over again and see who could say it the best.) The 5th elder is another American named Elder Whithers, and we aren't completely sure which companionship he is in, so we sort of
just trade him around...hah. Anyway, its a cool bunch of guys and we are all in a room together.
Elder Ratukadreu speaks pretty good english, but he has definitely gotten better as well. Elder Tameifuna
struggles a little more though. He has been getting better, but he still needs work and and a lot of confidence though. Haha I will send out pictures of all these things later. But it has been interesting how we are so different in some of the weirdest ways. They both have Facebook, which is interesting. Elder Ratukadreu was saying how they don't really have apples in Fiji, so he really enjoys it when they're here, but he also said that they have a very large amount of coconuts. He said that they just climb up the tree and get them when ever they
want! He also didn't know what chapstick is. But we gave him some cause his lips are chapped and it is kind of funny to see. Another game we have sort of started with him is saying "I luh dat" or "He/she
luh dat" (Luh being love and dat being that...) around him, and we have gotten a lot of people to say it, but he won't say it cause he "hates gangsters, man". Its really funny, and we are trying to get him
to say it, and he is coming close! He also taught me "Au lomani iko", which basically means "I love you, man" in Fijian. And Elder Tameifuna says I need to find him a girl when we get off our missions. In the words of Elder Rotukadreu, "He's a funny guy, man!" Haha you may have noticed he says man a lot at the end of his sentences. And I am picking it up. Not his accent, but a lot of his inflections. They are pretty overbearing. :)
We have been playing some awesome games during "sport" but the only one I have played is Soccer. People have also been playing Basketball, but I have never been good at that, and Volleyball, but these Islanders are way too good and crazy scary when they play v-ball. They spike it with more force than I have ever seen,
but hit it really gracefully at the same time. It's scary. But I actually stand a chance in Soccer.
And the food? Oh my goodness. We have been eating way too much. Of some of the best food ever. And I
think it is just their version of cafeteria food. But it's so good. Especially the canned fruit. I have NEVER had canned fruit this good. ever. So I think when I get back I will definitely be a bit bigger, but not in a bad way. Just more substance, haha. Cause this food is all pretty healthy and we work hard too.... Anywhoo, I am about out of
time. So I love you guys and I will see you later! :D
-Elder Clayton-
