Papeete Tahiti Mission: Diamonds in the rough (Bora Bora

Ia ora na!

Its good to be writing off another email after another week. Its been a long one! Elder Lee Chip Sao and I had our share of difficulties with plenty of lessons cancelled, getting stood up by references and lots of rain, and lots of sand and lots of mud, everywhere. It becomes exhausting! But there's always some beautiful diamonds in the rough that keep us on our feet and help us remember what this work is really about. Not forgetting the fact that we're on Bora Bora, as well.

The week before last, I got a call from a member from Vairao with a reference! She told us to go visit her cousin named M--- who lives in Anau to give her a blessing. So we fixed a rendez-vous for Tuesday and we drove over there with our DMP. M--- is this super nice woman who suffers from bipolarity. Her companion is named H------ and together they have a 6 year old son named M----- who is handicapped and has no usage of his legs. Recently they've been burdened by these conditions and had questions as to why God gave put them in these conditions. We answered their questions saying that God loves them so much and that they have these burdens to help each member of the family grow stronger and look to Heavenly Father for help. Afterwards we gave them all blessings. It was a sacred moment! I have good feelings about this family, and they accepted another rendez-vous for this coming week.

We also had an awesome lesson with a family, comprised of a couple named T------- and R------, the father of T------ named R----. We taught them an amazing lesson on the Restoration, Elder Lee Chip Sao and I both felt like our mouths were filled with words to say and our minds were clear while we taught. The family completely understood the lesson, and when we told the Joseph Smith story I just about teared up the Spirit was so strong. For me I feel like it was one of the best lessons I've been in in a while. We invited them to baptism and Tehapa'i said "If it's for the best for my family, then yes." R---- had some objections, as most Tahitian papis do, but we'll help him out with that. Sweet experience.

Now that I'm writing, I'm seeing how flippin' sweet this week was haha. We had a lesson with C--- the uncle of T-------, who had an aneurysm about 5 months ago. So he's basically sentenced to a hospital bed at home in a paralyzed condition. He's able to understand what people say, but has a hard time speaking. He accepted to have us visit him personally as well, with T------- as sort of his translator haha. We taught him a short lesson this week about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and during the lesson he testified in all the breath that he could, saying "I know Heavenly Father loves me. He is my source of life." Even as we shared John 3:16, he mouthed the words along. He has so much faith in spite of his condition, he even knew the words of "I Need Thee Every Hour" which we sang at the end of the lesson. I almost lost it!

It was actually a special week, after a bit of retrospection. Sure there have been a good amount of trials, but through our efforts the Lord has placed people in our path that need help. I love being a missionary.

I love you all!

Elder Ball

P.S. Pics finally!