Improvement (Week #4 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na i to'u mau hoa!

Another week out and it's crazy to look back and see that I've already been out here for 4 weeks. Time flies by so quickly in the field, it's ridiculous.

We had a lot going on this week! Our investigators are still comin along. Julie and William had their wedding this week, so we had a chance to talk with some of their family at the reception (and eat some more fafaru as well. Thats beside the point I guess). They liked the service, but none of them seemed too interested in our message. They're on their honeymoon for a week so lessons with them are on hold.

Our lessons with Tehaunui are probably my favorite. We had some sweet lessons with him. When we shared the lesson on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, it was pretty sweet to just give him the book to have in his hands and read, and he said that he felt something different during that lesson than during any other catholic service or Jehovah's witness lesson. He's only finished the intro and testimony of Joseph Smith, so hopefully by tomorrow he will had read some of 1 Néphi. I'm hoping so bad that he'll have gained a testimony! That's all it takes to be willing to do the other commitments, like going to Church. He has to work every Sunday, so we're working with him to find a solution. We'll see soon what will happen!

This week we had the chance to go around with the DMP (ward mission leader) and visit a ton of inactive members, including ones who requested blessings at the hospital. It was pretty sweet, I gave a blessing in French and a couple in Tahitian. It seriously is not easy, but it came! We also gave a lesson to this one inactive family, however the Grandpa only spoke Tahitian, and the parents and children spoke mainly French, so during the lesson we would say every sentence twice in both languages so everyone could understand. That was actually pretty fun! These moments were filled with the Spirit, and to have these people feel that again was great, and we encouraged them to come back to Church and Sunday, and the most part of them did. Truly some really great experiences.

Speaking of the languages, they're coming bit by bit. The comprehension is still increasing after all, and I've been really striving to start thinking in French to make the speaking come more naturally, and the only way to do that is by speaking French alll the time, no English at all. It's working I'd say, but it's working slowly. I can say now though that my French has surpassed my Tahitian. That's okay for right now, once I get comfortable with French I'll start focusing more again on Tahitian. It's not as easy as I thought it would be... definitely underestimated balancing out the two!

Well, I just want to say how glad I am to be here in Tahiti and preaching the gospel. Life is just so great in general, and it really is a blessing. We taught Tehaunui about the Fall of Adam as well, and he was so stoked to figure out that the fall wasn't really a bad thing, and that the fall brought about the joy and existence of mankind. Like it says in 2 Nephi 2:25, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." Like it says, we're alive to have joy and to be happy! We have so many sweet experiences to have and so many moments to share with others, so lets live it with the best of attitudes.

That's it! Just a picture of me and my homegrown bananas to send off too. Peace out everyone, gotta go out and play some weekly rugby soon. Fun stuff!

Ua here au ia outou,

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Please write me: (Put 3 stamps on your envelope.)

Tahiti Papeete Mission
Elder Ball, Casey
B.P. 93
Papeete, Tahiti 98713
French Polynesia