This year's conference was a little different. Grampa Makai got tickets for all us kids, and the older grandkids to go into the conference center on the final Sunday session. As soon as Makai heard about it, he was so excited and could hardly wait. He kept asking me questions that whole week about what it was going to be like....so excited that he was going to be in the same building with the prophet. General conference weekend rolled around and we were so excited and ready to listen to the leaders of the church. It started out with Ova going to the priesthood session with his boys. I was happy that he was able to make it because unfortunatly his work schedule has him working on Sunday's so he doesn't get the opportunity to go to church with us. We try hard to make up for it in other ways, putting a lot of emphasis on family time, family home evening every single week and family prayers. Conference weekend is a great time for us all to listen to the leaders and teach our kids the same thing the prophet's and church leaders talk about. Saturday was a great day. We did some house cleaning while listening to conference and of course during the break we had a delicious meal that Tea prepared for us. My little sister Leka came and spent the night with us on Saturday because my parent's were going to go to the morning session and Leka didn't have anywhere to go. We love having her over, she's very talkative and she can spend hours and hours talking to Ma about life back in Tonga. Ma and Tea love her here too! Anyways, Sunday morning I woke up bright and early and me, Leka and Makai got ready to head to the conference center.
We took the trax to temple square and got there for the first session. I have been to the conference center several times, but I'd never really realized that they have the conference playing on loud speaker over the entire temple square grounds. There were tons and tons of people there sitting all over on the grass and cement areas, just listening to the talks. We made ourselves a little spot on the grass and listened to the conference. The weather was perfect outside. I gave Makai a little notebook and pen and told him to listen really carefully to the talks and if there's anything he liked, or anything that stood out to him, that he should write it down. Leka and I did the same thing. After the first session was over, everyone met at our spot on the lawn for a picnic lunch. We made it really simple, just tuna fish sandwiches, chips and water.....and when lunch was over we headed over to stand in line to go into the conference center. The little kids were so excited, you could see it in their faces. Marie's son Pita kept saying "Makai, we're gonna see the prophet" and Makai would say "I know, this is so cool" I was so happy to see how excited they were because they understood what an important man he is, and what a big deal it was for them to be in his presence.
We went in to the conference center and got our seats, almost taking up a whole row. Everyone had their pens and papers and were ready to take notes. The conference was wonderful, the messages were inspiried and muchly needed. It was an awesome experience. After the conference we caught a ride back home with Gramma & Grampa Makai....when we pulled into the driveway, Tea was telling them to come in. We walked in to see this huge meal prepared and all Tea's gold place settings set out on the table. She's so sweet, she had prepared a meal for my parent's to come eat. She had made everything from lu pulu, to ota, to lo'i ho'osi, and a triffle cake. It was delicious....and I wasn't one bit surprised because that's the kind of person Tea is....always serving and doing kind things for others. My parents enjoyed the meal (I think my dad ate too much...haha) and then headed home. We all sat around as a family for a little bit after that and talked about what we learned from the conference. It was such a great day!
Ova said that they weren't too busy at work that day and it was just him and one of his friends (another Tongan guy) who were working....they usually have a radio so they could listen to music while they're working in the cooler. That day they blasted the conference, which was nice because they got to listen to the messages even though they had to work.
One last thing, another funny from Filimone.... when Makai and I were getting ready to head to the conference center in the morning, Mone kept begging me to take him too. He kept saying "I promise Mama I'm gonna be good" "I promise I'll be quiet and listen" he kept saying it over and over again. I finally sat him down and tried to explain to him that it wasn't me that didn't want him to go. I told him that the prophet said you have to be older to go into the conference center and that when he's older, I would take him. He made a mad face and folded his arms and said "The prophet is mean".... I totally laughed and told him that the prophet is not mean, he's just listening to Heavenly Father. Then he said "I'm gonna talk to Heavenly Father".... the whole time he's dead serious and his face is so mad. I just told him "yes, go pray and talk to him." hahaha he's such a funny kid and he always keeps me entertained.
Gramma & Grampa Makai w/ Makai
Uncle Misi & Pola
Jalen ~ Salote ~ Pita ~ Makai
Leslie ~ Jalen ~ Gramma Cindy ~ Pita ~ Makai ~ Salote
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