Ia ora na i teie poipoi!
Well, the first week of Tahitian is done! And it was
definitely fun, difficult and enlightening. We started out just last Monday,
saying simple stuff like greeting phrases. In later days we learned how to bear
our testimony and say prayers. Now we already have the challenge to practice
contacting a random other missionary in Tahitian every day this week. What I
think of the language? It is surprisingly one of the most beautiful, flowing,
yet powerful and unique languages I've ever heard. Just hearing my teachers
speak in it is just amazing. I'll also say that it is much, much more difficult
than I expected it to be... The first reason why, is the pronunciation can be
so difficult, mostly for the Rs! Words like "faaho'i-faahou-hia mai"--which
means restored--I can say no problem! But other words, like
"maitiraa"--which means choice--I have trouble with, because the
rolled R comes right after the I, and it's sort of a difficult combo. I'll get
it soon enough! Second reason why it's difficult, is that there is so much
vocabulary to memorize. It isn't like French where a lot of the words are
actually similar with ones in English. It will be definitely my main focus to
just pull out the flash cards and start memorizing vocab. The grammar is
surprisingly pretty easy, the verb just always goes first, and the object last!
For instance, "T haere nei ratou i te fare", or in direct
translation, "go they to the house." Also, there are no conjugations
for verbs, and there are tense markers at the beginning of every sentence--
"E" is future, "Te (verb) nei" is present and
"Ua" is past or an indication of feeling. It's some pretty
radical stuff, and I absolutely love it, just as much as French!
I've heard some great stories about Tahiti as well. Some
awesome things like 5-foot tall stray dogs, sharks and eels swimming in the
street gutters, ancient human sacrificial altars and poisonous foot-long
centipedes that crawl into your bed during the day and wait... pretty sweet
stuff. I've also heard more about how gracious the people are, and how anybody,
even nonmembers, are super kind to the missionaries and feed them
whenever. It will be a nice change of pace from San Francisco, I can tell you
that!
The teaching has been going super awesome as well. Even if
the lesson is a complete failure, we still learn a ton! We finally got an
investigator with Frere Coulson, named Jean Christoph. We taught him two
lessons this week, and our second lesson was one of those complete failures. We
taught him about the Plan of Salvation, and when we talked about the fall of
Adam somehow we just got way in too deep in doctrine, and he started to ask
questions that we had no idea how to answer in French. And with a lack of
time, we had to finish the lesson having gotten nowhere. Frere Coulson, as
challenging as he is, gave us mercy when he gave us our feedback, and he told
us to pretend like that lesson never happened and he gave us advice on how to
explain it more efficiently and simply. Definitely a good learning experience.
So my companion and I decided to join the MTC choir. We had
a pretty fun rehearsal last night, and we mostly joined because we learned
there was a big event coming up that the choir was going to sing in. We learned
yesterday that it will be for a Church broadcast about missionary work, at the
Marriott Center, with the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve
present. You could say I'm stoked! It will be on June 23rd, and it will be such
an awesome moment. I can't wait!
This week we realized the reality of how much food we were
going to be eating in Tahiti... All of our teachers gained at least 40 pounds on their missions. They would have like three
huge dinners every night. Will that happen to me? Most likely... but
you know what, I'm totally okay with that! If I have the opportunity to eat as
much delicious food as these gracious people will give me, I'll take that
opportunity! And when I come home, and walk/bounce/roll off the airplane, you
might not recognize me at first, but just know that I will be happy. For as
Jacob said in 2 Nephi 9:51, "Let your soul delight in fatness."
...True, that scripture might refer to spiritual well-being, but why not
take it in a different, equally jolly point of view?
I'll also be happy because I will have served Heavenly
Father and His children, and have brought them unto Christ, of course. Mosiah
2:17 is one of my favorite scriptures, and it says that "when ye are
in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your
God." So if we want to express our love to God, one of the most genuine
ways in which we can do that is through serving others, His children. We are
all children of God, and we all have, in some way, a need to be served. I know
that service is the source of happiness, and brings about true charity, and I'm
so grateful for this opportunity to serve.
Well, it's been a great week, and another one to come!
Thanks for all your love and letters, and I love you all! A fa'aitoito!
Ua here au ia outou,
Orometua Popo
Elder Ball
Write Casey at:
Elder Casey David Ball
MTC Mailbox # 174
TAHI-PAP 0715
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793
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