Kia ora!
Its been a pretty solid second week on Bora Bora for Elder
Lee Chip Sao and I. We've been blessed again to find a large amount of new
references, and we haven't even had time to contact all of them! But after being
here for two weeks the excitement and the whole idea of being on Bora Bora is
starting to calm down a little bit. Of course the island is beautiful and I'm
stoked to be here, but when you start getting to work it feels like any other
area. You see a little bit past the cliché paradise and you rather see the
working life, the everyday struggles of people who live here. The other side of
the postcard, you could say.
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| Front side of the postcard |
Our week started out great Tuesday with A------- still
progressing. We finished talking about the Restoration with him and he
understood everything completely. The Spirit was powerful, and things were
looking good, and we extended the baptismal commitment... and he said he'll
think about it. At least he didn't say no! He said he'll read the Book of
Mormon, and when we came back, you know it, he read the Book of Mormon! He
still needs to pray and ask God if it is true, but its sure that once he gains
a strong testimony of these things he will make the decision to be
baptized.
Then Wednesday, life got even more awesome! The 4 of us Bora
elders had the privilege of going to Raiatea for a multizone conference with
Elder S. Gifford Nielsen of the Seventy, along with hes wife. He's one of the
coolest guys of ever. He's an old quarterback for the Houston Oilers, and he
gave an awesome talk two or three conferences ago about having a missionary
work game plan. We had a sweet conference with him, and the thing that stood
out to me the most that he taught us is that we are on missions to become
better parents. So basically I'm a dad in training. And its totally true, where
else are you going to learn how to teach others the gospel, and acquire
Christlike attributes like patience, charity, faith and the like? It was
awesome, and I also got to play a hymn arrangement on piano for the conference.
Its been a while since I've performed!
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| Multizone Conference with Elder Gifford Nielsen |
The coolest experience was after the conference. Elder and
Sister Nielsen were headed back to Bora with us, so we had the chance to spend
some time at the airport with them. While we were talking, Sister Nielsen told
us to listen carefully, and we all heard the song I Am a Child of God being
plucked on a ukulele behind us. We looked and there was this big dude with long
hair with his ukulele playing a children's hymn. He must be a member! So Elder
Lee Chip Sao and I head over there to go talk to him. We find out that he's an
inactive member, and he was waiting for a plane to Papeete. Then Elder Nielsen
comes over and asks him to play the song again. It was pretty funny! He talks
to him as well and finds out he's an inactive member, and then invites him to a
stake conference in Faaa Saturday and Sunday. He said that he would come! After
parting ways and getting on our plane, Elder Nielsen asked what we all learned
from this experience, and probably the biggest thing that we learned was that
this was a member who needed help, who wanted to come back and wanted us to
find him. If not he wouldn't have played I Am a Child of God. There's people
everywhere who must see us and want us to find them and help them come back.
Puts things into perspective a little bit!
That's about all I have time for this week. The mission life
is extraordinary. You learn a lot. I love you all and until next week!
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