Our first e-mail from Tonga!!!

Hey family,
Sorry it took so long to write, the e-mail was down last week. I had to make to new account because "ldsmail" is too slow here. I'm doing fine. My area is called Holonga. My comp is Elder Alatini, he is from here in Tonga. I haven't aquired a taste for the food yet, haha, and it's been a bigger culture shock than I thought it would be. It is very humid here and I am always wet and sticky. We have running water but it is cold. The members feed us all our meals, I'm not starving. The people live very humble lives here and sometimes we just eat crackers because thats all they have to offer us. The biggest thing that bugs me is the lack of hygene, but I'll get used to it. This is not what I pictured a mission being like. It's alot more laid back than most missions. I still haven't decided if thats a good thing or a bad thing. I'm not really enjoying myself yet and I've been upset more than a few times, but I am enduring. All of the people here are very nice. Tell everyone my new e-mail address. I love you all tons and miss you.
stantulane40@gmail.com
Elder Tulane


(Feel free to e-mail Elder Tulane, but don't expect a prompt response. He is only allowed to e-mail parents and siblings, and it takes a few weeks to get a letter back from him!)

MTC pictures

Here are some photos from the MTC.



Elder Tulane pointing out Tonga on the infamous MTC map!

Stan holding his "Em Tee Cee" awards. He won Kolipoki and Chunk King.

His buddies: Elder Wall, Elder Brunson, Stan, and Elder Sheppard

He and Elder Wall at the Temple.

His Fijian District

Stan even met up with one of his buddies from home, Tyler Hall.

Here they are, muscles in tow!

Finally... an update!

Elder Tulane assures us that his camera memory card is on it's way, but until then, he sent a couple of pictures to tide us over!!! Doesn't he look so good! We just found out that he got his flight plans to Tonga. He leaves next Tuesday, February 10 at 3 pm. He flies to L.A. where he has a 6 hour lay-over. Then flies all night long, straight to Tonga, leaving at 10:15pm. He should arrive in Tonga on the 12th at 8:30 am. He will never live in February 11, 2009! He flies over the international date line!!!

Here are a few little excerpts from some of his recent letters:

December 22
I just had an interesting experience in the Resource Center and I have to tell you it before I forget. The Resource Center is where I get on the phone and either call people to confirm that they received a book or video that they ordered or I receive calls from people who have questions. So this guy just called me and wanted to talk about the Book of Mormon, so I said "Of course". Then he started to tell me all these inconsistencies with it and accused me of not being Christian. He read a scripture from 2nd Corinthians talking about believing in a false Jesus Christ. I asked him if he had a Book of Mormon? He said yes. I asked if he had prayed to know that it is true? He said he didn't have to because God had not commanded him to. He said he wouldn't pray about something so ridiculous. So, I told him to pray to know that the Book of Mormon WAS ridiculous, and he still said he wouldn't. He asked me if I agreed with the scripture in 2nd Corinthians and I said, "Absolutely! And I'm glad that I belong to the very same church that Christ, himself, established during his mortal ministry". This guy even tried to say that the Book of Mormon was false because there was a guy named 'Moron' in it!(I guess he forgot about the man named 'Nimrod' in the Bible!!!) He said that "Lehi" translated means "jawbone" so obviously the Book of Mormon is wrong. He chastized me for believing that Jesus and Satan are brothers and called me a Satanist for thinking we have a Heavenly Mother. He even told me that I believe that God is a polygamist. I tried to bear my testimony and tell him that I know the Book of Mormon is true and I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, but every time I tried to defend my beliefs, he would just interrupt me and didn't care about anything I had to say. (How very Christian of him!) He even accused me of being childish because he heard me tell another missionary that we were "bible bashing". When our time was up to leave the Resource Center, I told him that I had to go. He asked me to consider what we had talked about, leave the "cult" and become a true christian. I in turn invited him to do the same and wished him a Merry Christmas.
I am really upset right now and now that I have had time to think and gather some thoughts, I wish I could talk to him again, even though it wouldn't do any good because he didn't call to have a discussion. His agenda was to shake my faith. What he doesn't realize is that he strengthened my faith! See, the past few days have been tough. I'm struggling with the lessons and have questioned myself about whether or not I knew enough to teach other people about the gospel. I have heard in talks and read in books here where it says that in order to invite people to know the things that I'm teaching are true, I need to know they are true first. I wondered if I was struggling with the lessons because I didn't know that what I was teaching was the truth. The past several nights in my prayers, I've asked my Heavenly Father to testify to me that the things that I'm teaching are true. So today when this man was trying to get me to turn my back on what I believed, I did not hesitate to bear witness to him that I know the things I believe are true. I realize now that God answered my prayers with that phone call.
I know now that I can teach these lessons because I know that I'm preaching the truth. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know it was translated by a prophet of God and I know that we are led by a prophet today. That prophet called me specifically to go and preach the things that I know to the people of Tonga. I know my Heavenly Father loves me.


December 25
It doesn't even feel like Christmas here but I have been doing some cool stuff. Last night elder Bednar spoke to us and we got to shake his hand after. It was sweet! Then this morning Elder Holland came, we didn't get to shake his hand which was a bummer because he is my favorite Apostle, but he gave a great talk. We have 2 more devotionals today so I am excited to see who we will get to hear from next! There are 2 elders from Tonga here and yesterday they came in my class and I got to sing some Tongan hymns with them. It was awesome!!! They have songs that we don't have here in America, and they are such good singers! One of them has a way high singing voice, if you heard his voice without seeing him you wouldn't believe it was coming from his mouth. The other has a way deep voice and he reminded me of The Rock.


December 28
I thought I would write and give you some stuff for the blog:
Elder Wall is my new companion. His companion had to go home for surgery. We have our own room and we have discovered that the top two floors in our dorm are empty, so we get private bathrooms too, haha! Wall is from Layton, by the way. Technically I'm in my own district, but I do activities with the Fijians. There are 5 of them. We are in a zone with 8 elders going to Haitian speaking missions in the U.S.


January 31
The Fijians are leaving today so my new district will be with the Samoans until I leave. I'm going to be just like Mike, and will be flying all by my lonesome. Last night, we had a zone "Awards Show" and I won the 'Chunk King' (will gain the most weight on my mission) and the 'Kolipoki' award (will be most loved by the people I serve). It was one of the funnest nights we've had.



You can see in this picture Elder Tulane's "studying face"!
"I have always said a little church goes a long way, so you can imagine how far church ALL day, EVERY day can stretch! haha! I love and miss you all!"

Elder Tulane

December 13, 2008

Guess what? I am a solo missionary. I'm the only elder in the entire MTC going to Tonga. My district is with the elders going to Haitian/Creole speaking missions and Figi. I room with and spend most of my time with the Figians. They are all cool guys.
The MTC is great, so don't worry. I am doing fine. I have no desire to come home.
I am the only one in my class, which is good and bad. First, it forces me to work harder and learn faster. Bad, because I have no companion to realy on, no help. The language is coming pretty good, but learning the lessons is hard. It makes sense when my teachers teach it to me, but as soon as the lesson is over I forget everything. I am ahead of schedule with the lessons and the language.
Being down here has really shown me the difference between being a Mormon and Utah Mormon. (Utah Mormons are a lot more easy going about things)
I want you guys to know that I am doing the right thing by being here. My testimony and knowlege in the gospel have already grown so much. I love you and am glad to have your examples.

Love, Elder Tulane
(Too-law-neh, just like Hulse used to call me)

MTC - here I come!

It's offical, Stan is a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He entered the Missionary Training Center on December 10, 2008, 4 1/2 months after receiving my call to Nuku-alofa, Tonga.

We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch on our way to the MTC. Chicken Parmesan is one of Stan's favorite foods, so we stopped one last time before he left.

This is Stan's nephew, Colby giving him a HUGE hug! When he gets home Colby will be almost 4 years old.

Colby loves his uncle "S-an". (Thats how he says Stan's name!) They are 2 peas in a pod, just compare their smiles!!!

Stan's sister Randi came to say goodbye.

This is Stan's brother Mike. He served a mission in England 3 years ago. He set a great example for him.

His mom and dad have supported him in his decision to serve a mission. They are so proud of him!

Here Stan is entering the MTC for the first time!

Wearing this tag will remind Stan that he represents Jesus Christ.