Today I'm not gonna take too much time, but its been another wet week! The first 4 days of the week it did nothing but rain, and hard! There were some pretty gnarly floods in some of the neighborhoods where we went. We keep hearing things from people that its cyclone season and that its been a good while since there has been one, like 5 years. So its about time that one comes around here pretty soon! I wonder what that would be like to be in a cyclone. We'll see!
But anyway, it rained all week, up until Friday, just in time for the Hawaiki. The Hawaiki Nui is this monster canoe race that happens every year in November. The race takes place over a few days. The first part of the race starts on the island of Huahine until the island Raiatea. The next day, there's a sprint between Raiatea and the island just adjacent to it, Tahaa. The final stretch of the race is Tahaa to Bora Bora, which happened Friday. It's crazy! Since Bora Bora is the finish line for the race, you can bet that there's a good amount of celebration. We headed over there to Matira Beach in the afternoon after the first canoes made their way in, and the sight we saw was insane. The lagoon was filled with boats and tons of people were on the beach. Pretty much the whole island was there partying, in addition to tourists and people from the other islands. We were hoping to get some contacts, but I don't think that worked out too well. To much beer and partying, so we didn't spend too much time there.
But the worst was later that evening. Our dinner appointment was with a family who lives at Matira, so we were obligated to ride over there. The partying didn't seem to die down since the afternoon. I couldn't tell you the number of fights and passed out people that we saw as we rode by! It was sad to see all that stuff, all caused by alcohol. I guess you could say that my testimony of the Word of Wisdom was strengthened that night. I saw only sadness and pathetic behavior, all caused by alcohol. Something so subtle as to dumb down the potential of a child of God with just a few sips could only come from Satan himself.
Coincidentally, we had the chance to teach the Word of Wisdom to A------- this week. He has no problems with alcohol or cigarettes, just coffee. He's got real potential and he progresses well. He reads the Book of Mormon and prays with K--, and he participates in family nights with his family in law. He's been prepared to receive the gospel for sure. We just gotta get over the concubinage block and we'll be good!
Life has been hectic this week, hopefully things will calm down this next week and we'll be able to leave our house and still feel the Spirit. A couple pictures below of the race day at the beach, and of the victoires. Pretty cool. I love you all and have a great week!
Elder Ball
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| Race day at the beach |
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| Victoires! |
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