Ia ora na tatou!
What a week. Probably our best
so far.
I’ll
start out by saying that yes, I’m gonna be
famous. Several other missionaries and I have been chosen to be in a church
film about the beginnings of missionary work in Tahiti. On Friday and Saturday
we spent time out on the beach doing some sweet film shoots. We get to dress up
in ridiculous 1850s outfits and act as some of the first missionaries. We get
to do cool manly stuff like build a boat and carry heavy bags and preach the
gospel to people. We even got to go in the water a little bit, which was super
sweet. A couple other elders got to do some baptism scenes in a river which was
cool too. All in all, people are gonna be turning heads every time I walk by, "Hey
you were in that movie!" Tahiti's next celebrity.
But not really. The film is
gonna be used for missionary work mostly, to teach people about the beginning
of the church here and kind of attract people to the church in that way. It
really is a cool experience, and pretty low budget but hey what do you expect
when it’s us as the actors? Definitely a fun
time and I’m kinda excited about how that's
gonna turn out.
As for the work we did (yeah
sorry it wasn’t all playing around on the
beach this week) it’s been the busiest so far!
We had so many lessons this week its nuts. We've been going on splits with the
members a lot to be able to fit in all these lessons. Among the lessons that
we've had, a great one was with Hendrick and his family, one of the families that
President invites to his home for family night often. At the end of the lesson,
Hendrick said that they've discussed as a family, and they have decided that
they all want to get sealed in the temple. Now if that isn’t music to a missionary's ears, nothing is. They
all want to get baptised together, and soon we'll figure out a date for them.
There's 7 people in that family. They really are a miraculous family. If they
are baptized, i have a feeling that most of the neighborhood will follow. The
neighborhood would be rid of drugs and alcohol, which would definitely be one
of the coolest things ever.
On Sunday we had a sacrament
meeting based on the theme of missionary work. So of course, Elder Twede, our
DMP Diego, and I gave talks. It was definitely a blessing to have the
opportunity to speak to all the members of the ward. We talked about the
imortance of Preach My Gospel for every member of the church in doing
missionary work, and we committed everyone to start reading it and applying the
teachings inside. That is a book that, if everyone read it, would unite members
and missionaries in the work forever. So, in addition to the scriptures, read
it, all of you! Your life will be blessed if you do just that.
As the days go by here in
Tavararo, the amount of criminal activity never ceases to amaze me. Every day we pass by seriously
conspicuous drug deals in broad daylight. It's pretty funny, when we pass on our
bikes the dealers start to freak out a little because at first they think we're
the police, then they see that it's just us and wave to us. On our way to one
lesson, we were passing in an alleyway behind a store where there was a huge
group of people gambling for marijuana. They started to get scared at first,
but then continued playing when they saw that it was us. After the lesson, we
pass by the same alleyway and there’s a ton of
cops searching the area and some dudes laying on the ground in handcuffs.
Busted. The druggy lifestyle here really is pretty sad, because kids start
getting into that stuff at like 12 years old. Simply put, they all need the gospel!
Thats about it for this week.
To finish I’d just like to bear my testimony
about the fact that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. This week I've
thought a lot about that and who I really am, what I’m
really worth, and our life before this one. I feel so much peace to know that I
chose God's plan to come here to Earth, despite the knowledge that this life
wouldn't be easy. Thanks to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, now I know what
needs to be done in this life to return to God's presence. Unfortunately, there
are so many other children of God who have chosen to come here, but have no
idea how to return to him. But thankfully, the members of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints know. Let each and every member reach out to their
neighbor and share this knowledge that could save their life. "The worth
of souls is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10).
I love you all, and have an
awesome week!
Elder Ball