Troy received his call letter yesterday to serve his mission. He is going to the Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission, Tongan speaking. He will report at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on March 30. He will serve for 2 years. At the MTC, he will learn lessons and practice speaking to people, as well as start learning the Tongan language. Here is a link to the website where there is more information about the MTC... http://www.mtc.byu.edu/. Several people have asked "Where is Tonga?" Here's a map. Hopefully you can zoom in. It doesn't appear to look very large here. It is near Samoa & Fiji, between Tahiti and New Zealand near the international date line.
We are so excited for Troy to have this opportunity to learn more about the gospel, share it with others, and grow his own testimony. I can't imagine a more exciting place to him to go. Of course, I automatically think of the movie, "The Other Side of Heaven", which is based on a true story of one of the first missionaries sent to Tonga. It was quite the experience. I am a little afraid for Troy, but I know that was many years ago and I'm sure they have updated things a little bit more there, and hopefully rats won't eat at his feet!!
This is the LDS Temple in Tonga. I was a little surprised to find there was even a temple there. That's so exciting! Mormonism is the 2nd largest religion in Tonga, with chapels in almost every village. Troy was so excited and asked an elder in our ward who is from Samoa if there is lumpia there. The elder said that lumpia is "this big" and held up his little finger, and that they will feed him "the whole pig", and said that Troy will be fed 2 meals every day by the members. It looks like we will need to get elastic church pants for that boy!
It seems like March is so far away, especially since we got his paperwork in almost as early as we could thinking he would go right near his birthday in January. We will need to get him a passport and visa, I think, and finish preparing our first child to pack his bags and head to a foreign land where the people are humble and embrace the church. I really do believe that Troy is meant to go there, that our Heavenly Father has lessons to teach him, and in turn, lessons for him to teach others to help him become the man, husband and father that he is meant to be. I am so thankful for the friends and mentors that he has had in his life to help him get to this point. It takes a village to raise a child, and now our child will be going to a village to help others. So thanks to everybody that has helped us get him this far. We are truly blessed to have so many loved ones in our lives.
8 comments:
That is so exciting! My brother went to Samoa on his mission and before he left we read the books by John Groberg. That was before the movie came out. It really made the experience special for the rest of the family as well giving us a visual of the place our brother was going to be.
Dee Dee your post made me cry!! I am SO excited for Troy! Never in a million years would I have guessed he was going to Tonga! But when I heard I too knew that was the place Troy is meant to be! What an awesome place to serve. He will be a fantastic missionary - can't wait to hear of all his experiences.
I cried too reading your post. What an exciting place to go. Tell him to sleep with shoes on. lol.
That is so exciting!! Congrats to Troy!! This sounds like a great place and wow a temple there. I remember that movie that you talked about in your post. He will do great in Tonga and will touch so many people there.
Congratulations Troy! We are excited for him! I immediately thought of the rats eating his feet! Jessica sleeps with socks on now because of that scene!
He will be a great missionary!
That's great news to hear about Troy's mission call. That movie was just on last week on BYU channel. I love that movie and how faithful they were. TRoy will be an awesome missionary and will be blessed for his service. We are so proud of him and know you will all be blessed for his service. Let us know when he speaks , so we can try and get down there to see him before he leaves.
Yeah Dee Dee that is so exciting! I am sure he will be a wonderful missionary because he has a wonderful mom! Let me know if you would like to visit when you bring him up or if you need some kleenex, I am right across the street haha :)
That is so exciting. Congratulations!
Post a Comment