So much power in one little book (Vairo - week 9)

Ia ora na tatou!

Solid week. We were blessed to have baptisms this week for two girls, H---- who is 9 and H----- who is 10. Their story is awesome. I'll do my best to tell it how it was told to us by their mother.

H---- and H----'s mom, H------, is a very inactive member who truly wants the best for her family. One day she was a little worried and discouraged about the welfare of her little family in the midst of many trials. And while overcome with these feelings of sadness, she felt the urge to look for something in a certain sack in the garage to help her. She figured out what she was looking for before she found it: her old Book of Mormon. She was flooded with feelings of comfort and relief as she leafed through the pages of her old scriptures, and she figured out what she needed to do to have the happiness that she desired in her family. So the next weekend she came to church with her children, found me and Elder Larsen and asked for lessons for her children. You don't normally have people come up to you asking you for lessons, so of course Elder Larsen and I fixed a date and the rest is history! The father, who isn't a member, was very touched by the baptismal service, and were praying that he will accept the lessons soon enough so that this family can be one step closer to an eternity together.

The whole family

In other news, Elder Larsen and I were super sick one day during the week. We ate something nasty. Were not really sure what it was, could've been the 2-day old chow mein sandwich that a member gave us or the pounds of sashimi we ate later that night. Either way the next day was spent groveling either on the toilet or in bed. Elder Larsen luckily didn't get it as bad as I did. I felt pretty bad because I'm sure he wanted to go out and visit people. Well, its the price to pay for eating gourmet Tahitian food.

After a nice recovery, we were blessed with other rad experiences. Soeur T------- (who we call Tati which pretty much means "aunt") is one of our rad member missionaries in the ward. Shes the member who helps us out with K---- and A-----. The lessons go super well with them, and A----- is way into the Book of Mormon. However, shes not too quick to accept the invitation to be baptized even though she understands the need for authority, shes still way attached to Catholic tradition. Luckily Tati is there! She visits them every day when Elder Larsen and I cant and does family nights with them every Monday. It pays to have solid member missionaries, and things progress so much better when they're always next to our investigators.

Speaking of Tati, I guess you could say that she received revelation for us that all the investigators who gave us food to eat during the course of their taking lessons have ended up being baptized. We looked back and yep sure enough that's the case, even H------, H---- and H-----. Then Friday we were supposed to have a first lesson with some new potential investigators named T---- and H---. When we get there, they invite us in and we see laid out on the table fish and rice and crepes and a whole meal. Tuare says "before we get start talking all gospel, lets eat first!" Elder Larsen and I look at each other. I saw fish, but I smelled baptism. We ate and had a super good time with each other, then Elder Larsen and I shared a simple message on the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was way strong in that house, and after inviting them to continue lessons with us they accepted. It was a great night, and we already built a good friendship with them. We'll see if the Tati prophecy holds true!

Elder Ball and the others that live in the same house together.

Finally and sadly, we said goodbye to President Sinjoux and his wife and welcomed President Bize and his wife this weekend at a last missionary concert. I'm going to really miss President Sinjoux, he was someone who truly loved the missionaries and was as a father to us. I am also looking forward to working with President Bize. He has a good vision of moving the work forward and will be solid I'm sure.

Lastly (this emails way longer than i wanted) I wanted to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon that it is no doubt the word of God. It is proof that God exists, that Jesus is the Christ and most importantly, that His true church, the one true way, is restored to the earth. I was impressed by a Jeffery R. Holland talk that i rediscovered this week about the Book of Mormon. To quote a part from his talk, "No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” I know that the Book of Mormon is true. That is something that I will never be able to deny. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng

That's it for this week! Thanks for reading even though it was years long, I love you all and a faaitoito!

Elder Ball

Elder Ball's favorite place within his area (watching world class surfers).