Ia ora na tatou!
It's been a relatively rough but crazy week, to say the least.
We've lost some investigators (P----- and T----, for example) as a result of
choosing to follow other religions. It's truly tough, but that's just when you
gotta buckle down and find some new amis. It's easier to find time to look for new
investigators when the current investigators in your list start thinning out.
We've found a couple this week, and hope to contact more next week! One ami is
named R-----, she's a 9 year old girl of a part-member family. Her mother and
siblings are all inactive members, while the father is a nonmember. He isn't too
quick to accept us yet, but at least he approves of us teaching R----- which is
great. It's a little difficult teaching R-----, since she has little to no
knowledge of Jesus Christ, and since she's young it's hard for her to grasp all
these new concepts. Luckily the Primary President lives just next door, so with
her help R----- will be moving along here soon!
We had a solid lesson with T-------- as well. He read the
chapter in the Book of Mormon that we gave him two times, and he said both
times he felt such a warmth and peace as he read, and he felt the same things
as he prayed. We told him that sure enough it was the Holy Ghost that let him
now that these things were true. After reading a little of the chapter with
him, he started to ask many awesome questions, like how to repent, importance
of baptism, why was Jesus baptized, even how he could become a missionary.
These are all questions that Elder Millett and I love to answer, without a
doubt. In talking about baptism, we asked him what his thoughts were about
being baptized and he said that he still wanted to. We invited him to be
baptized in November, but he didn't want to choose a date yet! It's frustrating,
but I know he'll make it to baptism soon enough. He progresses awesome! Just
like his brother N----. Their both just awesome bros.
As for the craziness, Sunday Elder Millett and I went to do
baptismal interviews for a couple. I ended up doing the interview for the man
of the couple. He was a super nice guy, and he had some truly amazing
experiences in his life that helped his testimony grow. Everything was perfect,
until near the end when he revealed something that was not yet completely
resolved. After talking about the sacred nature of baptism and of repentance, I
recommended that we push the baptism back a little bit to give him more time to
prepare. All of a sudden his countenance changed. Then he said this:
"Elder, if I'm not gonna be baptized next week, I'm cancelling
everything--the marriage, the baptism, and I'm kicking my wife and kids out of
the house." ...uh, what? I definitely didn't want that to happen. I tried
to explain to him that it's for the better if we push it back, but he just did
not want to. This is when the devil and the angel appear on your shoulders:
"Come on man, just let him get baptized, he's ready! It'll make the zone
look good!" Then on the other shoulder "who you gonna fear, God or
man?" Well, can't argue with that one, the Spirit was telling me he's not
ready. So despite the threats, I told him we'll have to push it back at least a
week. Turns out his partner wasn't completely ready either. They ended up
accepting the decision, however unhappily. But it was a moment in which I was
truly tested. I feel like I made the good choice!
Of course, just thought id mention how great it was to watch
general conference this week. I especially loved Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk from Saturday morning about finding truth. He talked about how long ago, scientists
believed that there was nothing outside of our galaxy the Milky Way because
that was as far as they were capable of searching. But as advancements in
technology and honest efforts to search even farther increased, scientists were
able to locate hundreds of galaxies and start systems, that there really is
more out there. Believe it or not, it's the same with the Gospel. The mysteries
of God will be revealed to us and truth will be found, if we search honestly
and diligently enough, careful not to harden our hearts to it. That's what
amazes me about the Book of Mormon; how could anyone reject this additional
counsel from our Father in heaven, or at least not desire to see for themselves
if it really is His word? People will only receive truth and light if they
honestly seek it out without a hard heart.
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| Sunset in Tahitit |
That's it for the week. Here's a picture after a lesson with
R---------. This is his backyard. That's mystical Tahiti for ya. I love you all,
and a faaitoito!
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