Almost the New Year!!

 Sunday, December 25, 2011 4:10 PM

Malo Family! (Malo pretty much means Hello in Tongan)

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! I'm so glad I had the chance to talk to you all! It was such a blessing to be able to! How was your christmas!! I bet its really nice having the family together! I miss you all but it was great to be able to hear your voices on christmas! Brandon told me i had a bit of an accent! haha your right! I wouldnt even notice that i have one haha but i bet i do! Glad to hear everybody is enjoying a nice break from school and work.

Christmas was good here. It felt weird just because it was really warm and like i said people arent all hyped

up about it here like they are there. The members were great thought, two different ones brought us breakfeast in the morning and some presents(choclate), which was really nice. After church we went over to the Whetu's home and ate some lunch and they also gave us a gift! It was a sandwhich maker and some lollies(candy). It was really nice of them! After that we went to another members home and ate dinner! I ate so much yesterday its crazy! They had a seafood feast. There was lots of fish and crab and other seafood that i dont know what the name was haha. It was different but good. They also gave us some gifts as well! A tie for each of us! It was really nice. Made me feel at home! After that we went out for a few hours and saw some people and knocked some doors giving away joy to the world dvds. I was afraid people were going to be really rude, but nobody was everybody was pretty nice and one lady actually gave us a sack of food in return. So all and all it was a pretty good Christmas.

I feel bad i havent gotten your packages yet, but this thursday is transfers, and that is a day we get all our mail. So if i dont get my stuff that day, i will let you know next monday. Hopefully it just takes a long time for stuff to get here and that its not lost somewhere.

It seems that each week that goes by goes faster and faster. Its almos like a dream. It goes by so fast our here but not at the same time. I can't explain it. I'm learning and growing a little bit each day. A mission for me as been a great experiance so far. To be out on my own. Having to figure things out for myself and to become a man. I now know why the lord wants all young men to serve missions. If we serve faithfully, it molds us into instruments that he can use. He will be able to use us the rest of our lives. Its really quite amazing he trusts 19 to 21 year old young men to carry the most important message to everyone in the world and to face the things we face.

The New year is almost here and i can't believe it. If you were to tell me last year at this time that i would be in auckland new zealand typing this email, i would laugh. I look back and remember my senior year and can't believe how fast time has gone. It seems like 2 years will be a long time but i realize it will go very quickly, and thus i cannot waste anytime! Anyways, i love you all so much, and thank you once again for the emails and prayers! Talk to you next week! 

Ofatu,

Elder Rawlinson