Woah (Tubuai - week #1)

Ia ora na!

It’s been a busy week... so much to say I don’t know exactly where to start! Everything is going well here in our new area, Tubuai. Man, is it beautiful! No cars, no buses, no awful reggae remixes of Bruno Mars playing everywhere we go... It's peaceful here, to say the least. Beautiful coconut trees everywhere, white sandy beaches all around the island, blueeee waterrrr, yeah you guys get the point. It’s a little cooler here than it is in Tahiti, which is awesome cuz it was really starting to heat up there. Weather is perfect here!

I guess I’ll explain a little bit how things work here. There are actually now 4 Elders and a couple serving here right now, and Elder Firuu and I are on the side of the island with poor phone service and no store... awesome! And because it’s far from where the Elders before normally live, there aren't as many lessons going on here. It’s been a little hard and a little slow getting all settled in and finding where all the members live and so forth. The other Elders have helped us a good amount, but again they’re on the other side of the island so it’s a little tough to get together right now..

Anyway, our branches are Ziona and Mahu. We’ve met a good amount of members in Ziona, so this week we really hope to get in touch with a lot of members of Mahu and find some more references. The members here really love to do missionary work. The few lessons we've taught have been pretty awesome, however. We have one investigator, Yanick, who pretty much knows all the lessons because he’s read like half the Book of Mormon on his own. We expect great things with him!

Things are pretty good with Elder Firuu. He's already a pretty good missionary; he has a strong testimony and he already knows a good amount of scripture. Only problem is I don’t really understand him sometimes... he refuses to speak French with me, only Tahitian. I'm not gonna complain though! By the end of this transfer, I expect my Tahitian to skyrocket. I can speak the language pretty well, but my comprehension right now just stinks! I bore my testimony in Tahitian in fast and testimony meeting yesterday, and afterwards everyone came up to me and starting speaking to me in Tahitian, and I was so lost. They wouldn’t stop too, I guess they didn’t notice my blank face when they were talking to me! French, that’s all good. It’s actually a relief when people talk to me in French.

That’s about it I guess! I have some pictures but for some reason, it won’t upload on this computer. Next week I guess! Love you guys, and take care.

Elder Ball

http://www.mormon.org