Ia ora na tatou!
My first official week in the
new area is finished. And I can say that this is already my favorite area so far.
Tavararo is the absolute bomb! Elder Twede and I have totally rocked it this
week, with 8 new investigators through member coordination and a fixed baptism,
despite a case of zika (yep, I finally got it, but that didn’t stop me). The
members here are too awesome; seriously I've never seen so many members, not
just including the ward mission leader and the bishop, in a ward who love to do
missionary work like here in Tavararo! Not to mention there are just
opportunities to serve everywhere, with so many people around.
With that, I’ll talk about our
baptism that’ll be coming up May 29th. Her name is N----, and there is no
question that she is and has been ready for baptism for a while now. All that
is missing is a little more knowledge concerning the gospel, but her testimony
is already super strong and her desire to follow Christ is simply awesome. We
thought that the 29th of May would be the best day for her, so she agreed to
that day, and all we got to do know is keep following up with her to encourage
her and so forth. We're stoked for that day, and especially her decision to be
baptized.
One of the greatest moments and
blessings that we have had this week was the chance to have a family night at
President Sinjoux's home Tuesday night. Among the guests there was a family of
four who are good friends of President, who live in our area. So President
invited us to come participate. The Spirit was incredibly strong, naturally
since it was President Sinjoux who gave the brief lesson on the Restoration.
This family was truly touched, and we had the chance to go teach them again
Saturday. This family is H------, his two kids M--- and R---, and his son in
law M---. It was awesome when we arrived on Saturday at their home. They just
got back from the distribution center and had bought scriptures and True to the
Faith and other posters of temples. Needless to say, they’re pretty enthusiastic
about what they’ve learned so far. We expect good things with this family!
There really are too many things that happened this week; I’m
not really sure what to talk about!
I guess I would like to share
just some moments we don’t expect to normally have. Tuesday, we are out riding
our bikes to another appointment by the airport, and we see two super blonde
chicks with suitcases, totally lost on the sidewalk. Elder Twede and I kind of
look at each other, wondering if they need help, when they call out to us
saying that they need help. Welp, we went over and talked to them, turns out
that they’re from Norway and speak English, and they can’t find their way up to
the airport hotel which is just up the hill. So we take their suitcases and
walk with them a little bit, getting a chance to introduce ourselves and talk
about what we the missionaries do. Then a member in our ward pulls up and offers
to take the girls up to the hotel, and just as they leave I say "Hey if
you ever get a chance to talk to the missionaries like us talk to em cuz they’re
awesome!" but it was just too late and they were gone. Well, it was a good
service opportunity and I hope they’ll remember the two weird guys in white
shirts and ties who helped em out! Not often you see girls like that in the
neighborhood either.
Later that day, we had the
chance to go up in a higher neighborhood and knock on some doors. We came upon
an older guy named C----- who is Catholic and is a total stud. He can only
speak Tahitian and English, French is a no go. He lived for some years in
America, so he manages to understand and speak some English still. With that,
he was impressed with our ability to speak Tahitian so he let us in. Turns out
that he’s got a piano up in his house! He let me and Elder Twede play a little
bit, and he was all the more impressed. After that we just talked a little and
shared a small message, and he said that what we do is just fantastic and that
he would love to have us over again for a lesson. It was an awesome contact
experience and a great find, we'll see what will happen with him! Good chance
to use our talents to help others come unto Christ.
These are just some of the
experiences that we have had this week, that have been spiritually edifying and
really good chances to serve and bless the lives of others. I am really,
really, really thankful to my Father in Heaven for these blessings that he has
given me and Elder Twede. This area is full of potential, and the field
certainly is white and ready to harvest. Already we have strengthened the ties
and trust with our bishop and the other members of the ward, and things are
much better organized than they were before. This certainly is a blessed ward,
and I have come to complete gratitude for the hand of the Lord playing a huge
part in the work here, preparing people to receive the gospel and blessing us
the missionaries with chances to help people everywhere.
That’s the week! I’m sorry, I still have not taken a lot of
photos, and I realize that I’m not super good at taking them. I’ll do my best
to get some going next week! I love you all, and a faaitoito!
Elder Ball
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