Tongan Mormon Culture annoys me.

I am just going to let that title sit for a second before I get into it.

The church is true. There is no doubt in my mind about that. Wherever in the world you are you find good people, members or non-members, just people.

There is that saying going around: The church is true but the people aren’t. Well, I am part of that people obviously. I am definitely not perfect, except for when I am. But, it gets under my skin, really, when some of my Tongan Mormon friends point out the most trivial “missteps” of mine to, I guess, show me that I am not a perfect Mormon or a perfect “Tongan Mormon” as I would say and to perpetuate the “Tongan Mormon” ways. They however are obviously perfect Mormons because they are schooling me in the ways. It is like the SLC Mormon culture with a Tongan twist which makes for a real annoying cup of herbal tea. Uh…yeah.

All I have to say, in a valley girl accent preferably is “can’t we all just” not judge each other? Especially if it is something trivial like watching a movie on Sunday, or heaven forbid, TV on Sunday. Don’t most movies have good wholesome morals to them anyway? We watched “Stomp It” on Sunday; great morals in that movie. Or another trivial thing to point out like singing a non-hymn song on Sunday. That one really annoyed me. I wasn’t singing about bumping and grinding by the way. Or buying bread on Sunday at 9pm. The bread here is so comforting, I feel so warm inside when I eat bread freshly made on Sunday. Sunday is coming to a close anyway and it’s like accepting bread from the neighbor (literally the bakery was my neighbor until I moved) to share with your Tongan Mormon guests in your house who come by and eat the bread you bought and scold you for buying it. [By the way, all stores and businesses close on Sunday here in Tonga. Everything is very quiet and peaceful. It is only the bakeries that open Sunday evenings. They become a hang out spot for some. I think of it as a nice gesture.]