INTRODUCING PRESIDENT AND SISTER KUPU and INOKE (JUNIOR)

We were all very excited to welcome President and Sister Kupu and were anxious to get to know them.  They facilitated that excitement by calling a short "get to know us" devotional starting with the missionaries in Lusaka.  It was wonderful to meet their family through pictures and to also see pictures of the beautiful country of Tonga.  They said Zambia is much like Tonga in climate and environment--minus the beaches, of course!  We know they will love it here!
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Who knew that Tonga has 136 islands, but only 36 of them are inhabited!  Tonga was never colonized and so has a King and Queen.  The church started in Tonga in 1891.   There are 19 stakes there, and about 50% of the people are members of the church.  In 1916, a mission in Tonga was created.  We loved learning about the Kupus and their Tongan culture. 

President Kupu's vision for the mission includes being a "Preach My Gospel" mission and a "Read the Book of Mormon" mission.  He challenged the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon twice every year.  Since the year is half over, we should be through it once already and starting on the second time for the year.  Some of us have some catching up to do!

He emphasized that our goal is teach repentance, baptize converts and establish the church in Zambia and Malawi.   In order to teach repentance, we each  need to have a broken heart and contrite spirit and repent ourselves.