Bonjour mes amis!
The days here are truly flying by now, and they are so
good! We are all learning such valuable things, and I've truly figured out
how to center all my work on who really matters, the people I will be teaching
in Tahiti! All the language, lessons, teaching techniques, everything is
learned with my progressing investigator in mind. It really helps motivate me
for the right cause and it increases my sense of love and charity for others.
It is an attribute I have been praying for for a long time, and I can finally
feel its true goodness!
The French language is definitely coming along! It is
getting to the point where I can understand people speaking pretty clearly, and
i can pronounce things correctly for the most part, but forming sentences and
speaking a conversation off the top of my head is still definitely a challenge.
Our district has been trying our hardest to speak as much French as possible,
all the time. It really is hard because we are so used to being able to easily
make our point, but that's we we can speak Franglais! (English and French,
equivalent of Spanglish) It's better to say what we know in French and what we
don't know in English than to not speak any French at all. If I work hard
enough, I know I will be blessed and learn it well enough in due time!
So yes, our district is 4 elders and 4 sisters, consisting
of Elders Lovelock, Hansen, White and I, and Sisters Bradshaw, Taylor, Van
Wagenen and Chytraus. We all get along super great! It really is hard to
imagine getting tired of all these people after 9 more weeks. I can only see us
becoming closer and better friends and uplifting to each other by the end of
the MTC. Sometimes it feels like we love to have a little too much fun, so we
have to remind ourselves to get back to work. It is definitely a blast to work
with all these Elders and Sisters, ils sont trés amusant!
Our progressing investigator, Manuarii, is actually one of
our teachers (surprise, surprise). But he is an excellent teacher for us! Very
rarely does he speak any English, so it takes a lot of attention to listen to
his French and try to take in what he's teaching. He is definitely passionate,
and he pushes us like no other. He gave us 2 minutes to prepare the first
Preach My Gospel lesson in English, and then 5 minutes to share it with
our companions. Then he gave us 5 minutes to prepare the lesson in French, and
then 10 minutes to teach it! It was difficult, both in English and French! We
had to make our lessons consice and to the point, saying only things that were
the most important. We had to deliver it meaningfully and powerfully too! It
was difficult in French especially, with so little time to prepare and so
little things to be able so say! But it worked out, and I felt like a delivered
efficiently. It was a sweet experience.
We practiced contacting as well, with our other teacher
Frere Coulson. It went well, but it didn't go well at the same time. The reason
I say that is because I felt confident about what I was saying, and I could
remember well how to say a lot of the key phrases that I have been studying! It
was definitely the Gift of Tongues playing a part. But after our short message
he said he didn't want to take our lessons. He rejected us! All Elder Lovelock
and I could do was bear our testimonies one more time and leave him our number
in case he was interested. It definitely felt pretty bad, and I felt like we
failed! But afterwards Frere Coulson said we did an excellent job, and that we
responded to the situation appropriately. He also said that when he rejected us
I visibly changed (I can believe it, I was a bit upset!) and that when I bore
my testimony again, I said it with so much power and with the spirit, and he
said that I need to bear my testimony like that every time. I took that
feedback to heart. Even though you can only say so much in French, a few
powerful, hearfelt words can go a long way!
Yesterday (Sunday) was fantastic! It is awesome to be
able to hear many different people speak at devotional every Sunday night. Last
night we heard from Shane Littlefield, the Coordinator of Pre-Missionary
Learning or something like that. He gave an excellent talk about having the
right attitude as a missionary! I learned that I need to be bold and not shy,
dilligent and not lazy, kind and not rash, and obedient and not disrespectful.
He said that the best and most blessed missionaries were the most obedient and
hard-working. These are words of wisdom that I take seriously. I also had a
great experience reading the Book of Mormon during personal study. When I was
reading through 2 Nephi, I felt a burning and a swelling within my chest as I
read about the Savior Jesus Christ and his atonement, and my desire to read
more and more grew! I felt so much happiness
about what I was reading, and as I contined to read the swelling grew, and I
knew that what I was reading was true! It kept growing to the point where I
just about teared up right in the middle of class, and I knew that these
teachings were true happiness! It is a true wonder how plain and simple truths
stated in these scriptures will make you feel the spirit, the Holy Ghost,
just while you read them. This experience manifested to me that these teachings
are, without a doubt, true, and the spirit truly did manifest it to me. The
Book of Mormon contains true principles, and anyone and everyone can and should
read it! Just give it a try, even if you're not religious it contains priciples
of hapiness that are beneficial to living life. I promise this!
I found a piece of paper at the devotional with this
message written on it, and it hit me hard. It is a quote by Elder Neal A
Maxwell, and it says "God does not begin by asking us about our ability,
but only about our availabilty, and if we then prove our dependability, he will
increase our capability!" This is just awesome! It is a reminder to me to
never doubt how well I can prepare or teach the gospel, and that if I trust and
have faith in God he will comfort and bless me with the spirit. I would type
down Alma 26:12, but I don't have much more time. It basically supports this
saying in a beautiful way, so go read it!
Anyway, that's all I have time to say, so peace out and love
life! I love you all, and thank you for your letters! I will try to send some
pictures in the near future. Faitoito!
Avec l'amour,
Oromatua Popo
Elder Ball
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