A long time overdue...

So we have a few things to catch up on with Elder Tulane.

Lets start back at May 25: "I've just been doing my usual thing. Nothing really exciting has happened except I might have had my first tevolo (devil) experience. A tevelo is a bad spirit and almost everyone here in Tonga has some crazy story about them. I was on a comp exchange and when I woke up in the morning my comp asked me if I could hear him talking in the middle of the night. Apparently he woke up and a tevolo was standing in our room so he cast it out. I'm glad I was asleep! haha Tongan's have all kinds of superstitions."

May 31: (Excerpts from Jed's birthday letter) "I'm sitting in church while I write this and I still can't understand anything that anybody is saying, so I thought this could be a good time to write you a birthday letter. Are you excited to be getting out of Primary? I know I would be. This birthday is a big one, you get the priesthood. You know, people in other religions go to school for years to get the "priesthood", but for them its just a title. It really doesn't mean anything. When you receive the priesthood you will have more authority than those guys. Pretty cool huh! Make sure you honor your priesthood.
Well I thought it would be fun if I told you some things that I have noticed that have changed about me. I'm sure if you and the family could see me, you would be able to see a lot about me that has changed, but these are just some of the things I've noticed. 1) I'm small. I weighed myself a couple of weeks ago and was 165 lbs. I haven't been that small since 9th grade. 2) I love reading the scriptures. I think I almost know as much now as the average primary kid, that actually pays attention! 3) I love vegetables. I eat them every chance I get. I also love bananas and pineapple now. And coconut is growing on me too. 4) I can't eat a lot. Even when I do find something I like, it's not long before I get full. I think my stomach has shrunk! 5) I don't mind speaking in public.
I'm sure there are more, but I can't think of any right now. Remember that by the time you read this, I will already be finished with 25% of my mission, so I'll be home to kick your butt before you know it! haha"

June 8th: Hey sorry for last week (NO EMAIL), all the palangis played football and we didn't have time to write after. You'll be happy to know that I did good and caught the winning touchdown! We played today too but I stopped early so I could e-mail. One of the kids in 'Forever Strong' is a missionary here now. I only know him as Elder Salt (I don't know his first name) but he isn't hard to miss. He is a giant!

June 15th: Hey, transfers were today and I'm staying with my comp but we got 3 more missionaries in our house with us. This is going to be a long 6 weeks I'm afraid. Tonga is nice this time of year. It always rains at least a couple of times a week and the temp stays in th 70's. Sometimes at night it gets into the 60's and it is pretty chilly. haha Our AP's came by and talked to my comp and I last week and the one AP that is Tongan, who also happened to be my trainer, was talking to my comp. My comp was saying how cold it is and the AP was like "You don't even know cold until you lock yourself in a freezer naked." haha These guys are always saying weird stuff like that.

June 24th: Those other 3 elders only stayed for 2 days until the boat came and took them to another island. I have another palangi in my district so I do a lot of comp exchanges with him.

July 2nd: We haven't found any new investigators except for these 3 kids who are already like lifelong members and have grown up in the church, but I guess they were just never baptized. They are getting baptized tomorrow I think. I have still been doing exchanges with Elder Swanson, the other palangi, and he has helped me out a bunch. I'm always in a better mood when I am with him. He is from Blanding, UT. It's down by Monticello in the 4 corners area. The members love palangis and sisters, so we have no problem talking to people.

That is the latest and greatest from Elder Tulane. Hope you enjoyed catching up!