Bonjour mes amis!
What a week! It was definitely an incredibly busy one, and
full of ups and downs for sure.
Tuesday night we had the very awesome privilege of hearing
Elder Russell M. Nelson speak to us. He gave such a fantastic talk about
improving ourselves as missionaries and being good representatives of the Lord.
My favorite thing that he said: "Draw attention to Christ, not to
yourself. So have character, don't be one!" Very clever, profound words
haha. But he talked so much about striving to rely on the atonement of
Christ for strength and improving our character, and also how to be proactive,
bold and not lazy as a missionary. He spoke true words of wisdom, and he inspired
me to always step out of my comfort zone for the sake of the work!
Some of the other days have been tough. On Thursday we had a
new investigator, Marc, who is of course another teacher pretending to be an
investigator, but he was a tough case... apparently he hits his family and
my companion and I were not ready for that haha. Out French was just suffering
as well and we could not remember any of the things we studied to say. It was
depressing, and I really felt bad afterwards. But later that day we had this
session called TRC or Training Resource Center, where local Church members came
in and we taught them a simple lesson. We taught this Tahitian woman, and she
is probably the nicest woman I have met in my entire life. Even though our
French was completely broken and difficult to understand, she still loved us,
and we definitely loved her! The spirit was so strong during the lesson, and it
improved my day for sure.
We also had a really great lesson on Saturday with Manuarii
about the Plan of Salvation, and it was awesome! Elder Lovelock and I studied
so hard, and we delivered like champions. We even were able to review stuff
from the previous lesson with him. And here's the kicker: we went in without
any notes! We remembered all of our phrases and vocab from memory, and we asked
such awesome questions for him. It was definitely the gift of tongues at work,
and it's amazing to see how quickly my French can improve in the matter of a
week.
So to answer a few of my mother's questions, I'll go ahead and
respond to them!
1. For exercise, I pretty much run around the indoor track
for about ten minutes, use some of the machines in there, and then go play
volleyball for the rest of the time. I'm really starting to enjoy volleyball
quite a lot. Sometimes I go out to the field to play some beach volleyball in
the sand pits, and that's way fun! I hope to play it enough times when I get to
Tahiti. I find it more fun than basketball personally! I'm actually not bad at
it, for real.
2. I often see friends from school here! This past week tons
of people I recognize came in and it was so good to see them. I expect more to
come in in the near future! As for people from my home stake, I haven't seen a
lot of them yet but that will happen soon too!
3. I see Elder Herring quite a lot. it just so happens that
he is in my zone, and lives just down the hall from me! It is such a blessing
to be able to see him every day, talk about what we improved on and just relate
with some old memories. It sure helps me when I start to miss and think about
home sometimes. Elder Herring and I are meant to be friends I guess!
4. Pictures... I don't have much, but here ya go!
Here are the pictures:
1. My name tags!
2. A selfie... why not?
3. We went to the Papeete
temple! Just kidding, it's a postcard
4. Elder Taylor from the last Lyon France district caught us some breakfast in the residence one night...
Anyway, there you go! Just some wise words from King
Benjamin in Mosiah 2:17. "When ye are in the service of your fellow
beings, you are only in the service of your God!" So always serve others
around you, because they are God's children as well! And if you love God, then
love his children as well. That's what I remember while I'm working!
Thank you for your letters and emails, and I love you all!
Faitoito!
Avec l'amour,
Elder Ball
Write Elder Ball:
Elder Casey David Ball
MTC Mailbox # 174
TAHI-PAP 0715
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
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