Hooolllyyy moly transferrr (Week #12 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na!

Dang, what a WEEK! Huge week, with some big news. First off I’ll start with General Conference. I got to watch all the sessions, and it was awesome. It’s so great to hear the prophets speak, such a revitalizing weekend.

Elder Ball is transferring to the island of Tubuai

The work here was fantastic this week. We got 4 new investigators, with solid potential. We fixed a date for baptism November 2nd for one of them! She’s the granddaughter of a member who’s been going to Church, but her nonmember parents have been keeping her from taking the lessons until now, were super excited for her. Some great lessons this week, full of the Spirit.

We had a sweet, awesome experience Saturday. After Elder Ballard gave his talk in conference, we decided to go out and, like Elder Ballard counseled, talk to as many people as possible. So we went to the town hall in Pirae, and lo and behold: a huge religious gathering, with different religions sharing their religion from a concession/booth type thing! There was no LDS stand because of conference. So Elder Martinson and I looked at each other, seeing this huge group of people with open, willing minds... In other words, that field was ripe and all ready to harvest, so we got the heck over there. In no time, we were teaching a group of 20 Adventists, along with other smaller lessons. It was too bad, not a single person lived in our area, but we planted some major seeds. Man, that was a good time.

Alright, so there’s some big news right? But wait... it gets better! Transfers came this week, and my training has officially ended. I’ve had a great time with Elder Martinson, and he’s taught me so much. I love that guy and so grateful for him. So, who’s my new companion? Well, it turns out I’m training! I will be training Elder Firuu, from Teahupoo, just down on the smaller part of Tahiti. He’s a convert, and he’s actually in this very room with me at the Mission Office. He doesn’t know he’s my companion yet! But he’s super cool, I’m looking forward to it so much.

Now, other news: I will be training, but it’s too bad, because all that work we did this week, I won’t be able to see come to fruition. Yep, I will be transferred from Pirae 2. I will be going to Tubuai Wednesday morning! It’s a tiny little island about 400 miles south of Tahiti. It’s the first Pacific island to have received the fullness of the gospel by Addison Pratt (1844). Am I stoked? Yeah I am! But I’m a bit sad too. I wasn’t quite ready to leave Pirae 2, because I really wanted to see things grow there. But I’m sure the Sister Missionaries who will be replacing us will do well too!

Well, that’s the news! Yeah, I’m gonna be the only American guy on an island in the middle of the ocean for who knows who long... kinda intimidating, but I’m pretty thrilled too. Wish me luck, I’ll need it!

Love you all, A faaitoito!

Elder Ball
http://mormon.org

Check out the video below about life in Tubuai!

Beach soccer, ramming, and lots of chow mein (Week #11 of training in Papeete)

Ia ora na!

First off, a pretty slow week... all due to the beach soccer world cup which took place here in Papeete. Because of that, there has been a two week vacation for all work and school... ridiculous! So this week just about all of our amis (investigators) have been out of town, which means barely any lessons! Elder Martinson and I have been able to find some inactives to teach, but other than that, the most part has been contacting and door to door in some neighborhoods waaaay up high in the mountains. As usual, we didn't get anything from that either, other than a bible bash or two from hardcore Protestants. So it was soo slow this week, but it was great because we could tell when Tahiti scored a goal just from hearing  the cheering from every single house in the valley. Yeah, its serious stuff here, beach soccer.

I would also like to comment on the amount of Chinese food we had this week. Chao mein every single night, and im not kidding. I never expected how much Chinese food there would be in Tahiti, but truthfully there really is a ton of Chinese influence here. Its crazy... when can I have some fish again?

Anyway, I'm a little late sending this cuz we had a special activity today. To everyone who said I wouldn't be able to go in, or at least on, the water on my mission, you are all sadly mistaken. That's right, we went ramming (rowing) today, approved by mission president and everything. It was way fun, and no I didn't "accidentally fall in", my conscience got the better of me. But looking back, that would have been nice. It was definitely a nice break from the norm, and a good chance to regain some sanity and relax a bit after a tough week. Only in Tahiti!

This week, with the few lessons we had, I really focused on trying to listen to what the person we're teaching have to say. Many times before, I kind of get sidetracked when the ami is talking, trying to think of something good to say in advance. But honestly, that doesn't work nearly as well as just listening with love. I found, as it says in Preach My Gospel, that when I listen, I don't even have to think of what to say. The words just kind of come out, and they're much more helpful than what I would have said if I didn't listen. Listening is everything! Its really helped me grow in my teaching ability for sure, and its something that I wish i had done and should have done much sooner.

So some pics, and I'm out! Sorry I haven't had much to write, but next week is my last week of training... we'll see what exciting news we'll have next week.

1. Just drinking a coconut. Pretty tasty

2. Going ramming, missionary style

3. Hanging out by the ocean, dang look at that hair. No worries, it'll be all gone tomorrow

4. Other group of missionaries coming in. Didn't end up getting one of my group, a bummer but whatevs

Love you all, stay fresh and a faaitoito!

Elder Ball

Feelin chilly (Week #10 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na tatou!

Another week gone by just like that, and that makes 10 weeks in Tahiti for me. Some good things happened this week, and the potential is building up big time.

First of all, the weather here is nuts right now. The past 3 days have been pretty rainy, and today has been the worst with crazy thunder and lighting and hurricane status wind. That makes biking around pretty fun, getting completely soaked in not just sweat, but rain and mud and who knows what else. I realised the dangers of not having a mud guard on my bike... the backs of some of my shirts are completely brown! So yeah, I went out and bought one of those today. Today its been unusually cold too, so I brought out my sweatshirt for the first time. Needless to say, its chilly for us all... and its probably not any lower than 65 degrees!

So yeah, we got a new investigator, Patrick! He's pretty chill (just like everyone else I guess) and he was referred to us by the Elders in Pirae 1. He has a pretty solid testimony already of Joseph Smith, and he's read some of the Book of Mormon, so that's a great start for us! Only problem is, his job is pretty demanding so he can only meet once a week and can never make it to Church. So it'll be a little slow, but hes someone that we can focus on.

We engaged Ruta to baptism for November 16, a day that would be comfortable for her but would still push her, because she cant meet with us that often either. She said she would think on it and talk with her family... but she does want to get baptized! Its not really fixed, but shes feeling really motivated to go through with it. Were hoping that Orama will be encouraged by her example as well.

We also got a ton of references from the ward council yesterday... about 20! Bishop got everyone into doing this program that helps them focus on the missionary work, reading certain scriptures about it and also thinking about, praying about, and talking to certain friends that they would like to have receive the missionary lessons. They've been digging it, and now so have we! I can say that coordination with the members is the absolute BEST way to improve the missionary work in any ward. We'll see how things go with all these references next week.

I wanna just say that I love the Book of Mormon, so much. There's a chapter in there that could help with any situation. One that really hit me this week is now one of my all time favorites, Ether 12. It talks all about faith, and how it can truly bring about miracles, and as Moroni states it, "hope for a better world." The best is verse 27, when the Lord speaks to Moroni: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them." I realize that I have so many weaknesses, and so does everyone in this life. But with faith and humility, we can overcome these weaknesses and make them strong.

Yeah, that's a wrap for this week. Things are improving, and were gonna continue to pray that it will! Love you all, keep it cool in the states!

Je vous aime,

Elder Ball

Haere maru, haere papu (Week #9 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Bonjour mes amis!

After much toil under the Tahiti sun, things are lookin up!

Elder Martinson and I were able to fill our schedule up this week with some inactive lessons and good service projects. The inactive lesson were pretty awesome, a lot of these people have been inactive for a super long time and had forgotten most of the Gospel, so we got to testify of the restoration and the Book of Mormon quite a bunch, which is absolutely my favorite thing to teach! The Spirit was strong many a time, and it was awesome to see their face light up as they remembered why they were a member to begin with.

We had a couple of service projects this week, and they were both helping the cement walls of a house. Not easy work, especially when the cement mixer breaks and we gotta do i manually with a shovel! It was super funny though, because at one point Elder Martinson and I put all the water, gravel and cement into the mixer, and we thought we locked it into place (because it pivots from side to side)... but I guess it slipped or something. So I was just about ready to head over and eat a bit when I felt cement all over my foot... and I looked and the cement mixer had tipped over and spilled the cement all over the ground. Elder Martinson looked at me and said "what did you do?!" and I said back "no, what did YOU do?!" We had to hurry and shovel it all back into the mixer before it dried right there on the ground. All the other guys were teasing us, saying "you white boys..." yeah, pretty funny story.

All in all, these inactive lessons and service projects got us in contact with some potential investigators. We've talked to them a little about our message, and they were pretty interested. So we've planted the seed, no we just gotta water it and make it grow, we got hopes for next week! Also another great milestone: Ruta came to church yesterday! we were stoked beyond all belief, and she really loved it. We're gonna try to fix a date for baptism this next week. Things are looking good for her despite opposition from her Grandpa.

Aside from the work, its starting to gradually get more and more hot, and more and more humid at that... Its making biking up all the hills a little more difficult! On Saturday, it was super humid, more humid than usual. Those are the perfect conditions for these flying bugs called manumanu to come out and start mating I guess. So that night, these bugs were swarming all over the place; the air was literally thick with them. We were riding our bikes, and I'm pretty sure I opened my mouth for one second and like 5 bugs flew into my mouth. When we got back to the house, there were bugs crawling all up in our shirts and our pockets. It was gnarly, and it'll probably happen again.

The work is slowly starting to pick up, it looks like. The members are getting a little more motivated to do missionary work. The bishop has been really emphasizing it lately, so that's great for us. The DMP has been sick for the last two weeks though, so we haven't had a whole lot of help from him unfortunately.

A Tahitian saying that has helped me chill out a little and not stress is "haere maru, haere papu." It means go slowly, go surely, in other words chill out. Its like it says Mosiah 4:27, "And see that all these things are done in wisdom and ^aorder; for it is not requisite that a man should run ^bfaster than he has strength. And again, it is expedient that he should be diligent, that thereby he might win the prize; therefore, all things must be done in order." Its still possible to be smart and take it easy a little as to not burn out, but still be diligent. Something good to think about.

That's about it for the week. I love you all, I will do all that I can to bring good news next week!

Ua here au ia outou,

Elder Ball

In the Lord's hands (Week #8 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na ia outou!

Alrighty, I'm not really sure where to start off. I guess ill just say that this week wasn't much better than last week. In fact it was worse! But my attitude has changed. Ive felt better, and kind of different this week I guess you could say.

First of all, things aren't good with investigators right now. We lost our only fixed baptism, Vaitiare. She decided to split up with her fiance, and she moved back home with her parents about half an hour south, in Paea. She did it all without telling us too, so we were kinda surprised when we heard about it from her would have been in-laws at Church yesterday. The good thing is, she's not in concubinage anymore! Sad thing is, shes not in our area anymore. We haven't been able to get a hold of her yet, but were hoping that shes still clinging to the gospel and the desire to be baptised.

Ruta, Orama and Lani aren't looking so great either. The fear of being rejected by their Protestant families is starting to take hold of them. Its hard, were gonna keep doing our best with them and help encourage them to press forward. Not a whole lot of opportunities to meet with them this week.

Julie and William ducked out too. Turns out they were in it just to use the church gym for their reception. Apparently bishop made a deal with them that if they wanted to use the gym, they had to take lessons with us. So we taught em twice, and we taught them the truth. We were just kind of thrown in an awkward situation.

Still no sign of Tehaunui, we haven't been able to find him all week.

So after all that, I guess you could say were at square one. On the bright side, we cant get much lower than we can now! But in all honesty, its hard. Its so hard to lose investigators like this. So this next week, its mostly concentrating on Ruta Orama and Lani and the rest is just searching and motivating the members to help find people.

This week, Ive had a lot of time to think and to study. I realized that I'm out here on a mission to do the Lords work. This isn't my work, its his, so I gotta submit myself to him and just do my best. I remembered that before the mission I wanted to be tested and stretched more than I ever have before, more than any crazy school exam or any water polo game or whatever. And Heavenly Father is certainly making that a guarantee right now; this mission is the hardest thing I've ever done so far. So I've been praying super hard, acknowledging that this is definitely some hard stuff and that I'm being tested and getting what I wanted, all the while submitting myself to the difficulty and asking Heavenly Father for His help. Its been a faith-building, patience-growing week for me, and I'm positive that it won't stop there.

So I'm still pretty content, and growing more and more headstrong. Its hard to say it, but I really do love this work. Despite the difficulty, I would rather be here than anywhere else right now, because I feel the influence of the Holy Ghost every day, and that is something that I would never give up.

I love you all! Just some pics: me posing like an idiot in front of our house, Elder Martinson and I, Eugene the crazy homeless guy who does our yard work for free and who sleeps behind the chapel, a poisonous centipede on my arm, and a sweet view from the 'hood of Nahoata.

Peace out! Still livin life, keep the faith!

A faaitoio,

Elder Ball

-------------------------------------------

Elder Ball would love your letters of encouragement!  Please write him (Put 3 stamps on your envelope.):

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Elder Ball, Casey 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti 98713

French Polynesia

Feelin' the burn (Week #7 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na ia outou!

Alrighty, like it says in the subject of the email, things are gettin hot and we're starting to feel the burn, physically and mentally. First physically: i kinda got a sunburn, my first one here. And by kinda a mean pretty gnarly. I can explain Mom, we were playing rugby on P day at our usual time, 3 o'clock. I never put sunscreen on cuz its pretty late, but there was something different that day. It was hot, wayy hot, and the sun was cookin. So that night before I realize it I'm totally cooked, my face was completely roasted. But it turned out nice, kinda faded into a nice tan. So I wont complain! But ill learn from that experience... ça faisait mal.

The work is still slow as well. We've worked our absolute hardest this week. We went on splits with members visiting every inactive member and every old investigator. There were two inactives who accepted a lesson and came to Church. Everyone else has no interest of coming back, or they're just incredibly lazy. I can't believe they think they can't come back cuz they "don't have any shoes" or cuz they "don't have a wife"... excuses excuses, But as frustrating as it is, I could never have real malice or dislike for these people. I love em all, their so incredibly chill and nice it's ridiculous. They just need a little kick in the pants to get em moving.

Investigator lessons have been a mixed bag. Tehaunui and Vaitiare have been gone every time we tried to come over, and they wont answer their phones so we dont know what's up. But the three new women we found two weeks ago are doin awesome! Corine hasn't been there this past week, but another friend, named Ruta, joined in the lessons with Orama and Lani. She actually took the lessons before, but ducked out of the baptism last minute because she was scared to offend her family. But we committed them to baptism this week and they're starting to read the Book of Mormon. We can see that Ruta is really starting to feel what she felt before, and that's so sweet. We found a good member friend for them too, and they all hit it off well. Things are lookin awesome for them.

Other than those lessons, not very many investigators who progress. Not many investigators in general I guess! I won't lie, this week was tough for me. I've been studying so hard and working so hard to understand these languages and doing my best to teach and Elder Martinson and I have been rollin everywhere to find people, and by last night I was just wiped out. This P day could have come a little faster! All the other Elders were telling me to just relax and have faith that things would get better, and to be patient. Patience is definitely not my strength, I would be so content if results just came like that. But missionary work is seldom like that. So that's my goal, just chill out and enjoy this work. I realized that my impatience could impede on my happiness, and that's no good.

Anyway, this week will be the change for me! I'm gonna work hard but not stress to bad, and have hope and faith that if we work hard things will speed up eventually! Thank you all for your love and support, and I love you all! I promise pictures will come next week. I just gotta take some.

Love,

Elder Ball

Time flies! (Week #6 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na!

Another week flown by just like that! Already halfway done with my training, and it's ridiculous to look back and see how much I've learned in the past six weeks. I still plan on learning even more in the next six weeks, so now's the time to shine!

This week was a little slower, a little disappointing. Julie and William cancelled their lessons for this week and said to wait for next week. We're wondering if they just took advantage of us to use the chapel for their reception, but we're keepin' our hopes up high and we'll see about this week! Also Tehaunui pretty much cancelled every time we tried to meet with him, and he didn't show up to either the baptism or to Church. Let me tell ya that was frustrating! I love these people and its totally a bummer to have them flake out on us. We'll just keep pushing forward with them!

On the other hand, we found a few more investigators this week. We met three ladies out on the street the other day, Lani, Orama and Corine. They're all friends, and we taught em a little bit about God and the family, and they we're pretty stoked about our thoughts on that so they decided to start taking lessons together with us. They're super fun and ecstatic about having happiness in the family, so that's perfect for us. We teach them again tomorrow, and I'm stoked!

Other cool things that happened this week, we had a zone conference with three other zones this week down in Faaa. President Sinjoux is the man! He knows just how to motivate us to work our hardest. He also knows how to make us question if we work hard enough in the first place! So it was a good chance for me to reflect and ask myself if I was confident enough in my calling as a representative of Jesus Christ. I'm pretty shy sometimes, not gonna lie, and the language barrier doesn't help much with that problem. But I'm definitely gonna focus more on gaining confidence and trusting in the power and authority of my calling. Good stuff there!

We also had a Missionary Musical Program last night. It was a program that we've been preparing since I got here, and it was sweet! It was a choir of our zone, Papeete, with another zone Arue. I played the piano for all the songs, and it was way fun. Reminded me of my days in Zion Youth Choir! Hahaha good stuff, we're gonna be doing the same program three more times in the next few weeks. The purpose is to have investigators come and understand missionary work through a musical perspective. Unfortunately none of our investigators came last night, but that's why we have it three more times.

Well that's about it for this week. Language is getting better, I'm going on my first legit split tonight with the DMP for family night at an inactive family's home, while Elder Martinson goes with someone else to a member family with potential investigators. My French will be tested tonight!

Shout out to Grandpa and Grandma Call for starting their mission in Salt Lake City East! Love you two!

Ua here roa vau ia outou, e ua ti'ai au e e mea maitai roa te oraraa no outou!

Elder Ball

E mea maitai roa'tu teie ohipa (Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na i to'u utuafare e to'u mau hoa here!

Life is still good here in Pirae. Lessons have been a little short this week because of a lot of cancellations, but that just gives us more time to move around and talk to people.

Lessons with Tehaunui are still great. We engaged him to baptism (I extended the engagement--wattup) and he accepted. We don't have a date for him yet because we want him to come to Church first as to make sure we can realize the date. But he said he's got no work for this coming Sunday and that he's down, so we're pumped about that. He's also coming to a convert baptism in another ward that's on Saturday to see what it's like. We have big hopes for him in the near future. Also for the record, these lessons are in French, this guy's young, like 23 years old.

Julie and William came back from their honeymoon a few days ago, and we'll start teaching them again tomorrow. I can't remember if I said in the last email, but we had to change the date of their baptism to a month later, September 28, because they haven't even been to Church more than one time in their life. We're really hoping that they didn't do all this just to get the wedding blessing from the Church, but we'll continue to work with them and hope to spark that fire inside of em.

All other lessons are going great. We acquired a new investigator named Tonio, he's at the hospital here in Pirae but he's from Punauia down South. His brother insisted that he takes the lessons, so he is with us for now. We taught him once, but the four other times we tried to go and teach him he cancelled on us last minute. Kind of a waste of time when it works like that. It's a lesson in Tahitian so it's good for us, and we want to teach him for obvious reasons, but it's no good for anyone if he keeps cancelling. Kind of a bummer.

The languages are still doing alright. I've been improving at speaking French little by little, and the understanding depends. Sometimes I can totally understand everything that's being said, like if it's a younger person, but if it's an old dude with no teeth I have no chance! Tahitian is coming along too, I've been making more of an effort to keep up on it. The understanding Tahitian depends just the same; if they have teeth I can pick up most of it! It's getting better and better. I know I say that every week, and for me it's even hard to see, but that's what everyone says so it's cool i guess!

Well life is good and I'm loving the work. Food is still awesomely bizarre sometimes, like fried bananas or straight up fish heads or whatever. Sometimes I don't even know what I eat, but I eat it anyway because I'm so hungry! I ate octopus without even knowing it... I'm serious when I say that I can't remember what it was, just that my companion told me I ate it!

That's about it! I've been thinking a lot of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and how we can apply it to our lives only if we choose to. Just remember that the greatest gift our Savior gave to us was his sacrifice for sin and death, and that we should never doubt the healing, cleansing powers that it brings to us.

Ua here roa au ia outou, e ua hinaaro vau e e mea oaoa roa to outou oraraa! Mauruuru no to outou here.

A faaitoito,

Elder Ball

Please write Casey; he'd LOVE to hear from you (put 3 stamps on your envelope):

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Elder Ball, Casey 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti 98713

French Polynesia

Improvement (Week #4 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na i to'u mau hoa!

Another week out and it's crazy to look back and see that I've already been out here for 4 weeks. Time flies by so quickly in the field, it's ridiculous.

We had a lot going on this week! Our investigators are still comin along. Julie and William had their wedding this week, so we had a chance to talk with some of their family at the reception (and eat some more fafaru as well. Thats beside the point I guess). They liked the service, but none of them seemed too interested in our message. They're on their honeymoon for a week so lessons with them are on hold.

Our lessons with Tehaunui are probably my favorite. We had some sweet lessons with him. When we shared the lesson on the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, it was pretty sweet to just give him the book to have in his hands and read, and he said that he felt something different during that lesson than during any other catholic service or Jehovah's witness lesson. He's only finished the intro and testimony of Joseph Smith, so hopefully by tomorrow he will had read some of 1 Néphi. I'm hoping so bad that he'll have gained a testimony! That's all it takes to be willing to do the other commitments, like going to Church. He has to work every Sunday, so we're working with him to find a solution. We'll see soon what will happen!

This week we had the chance to go around with the DMP (ward mission leader) and visit a ton of inactive members, including ones who requested blessings at the hospital. It was pretty sweet, I gave a blessing in French and a couple in Tahitian. It seriously is not easy, but it came! We also gave a lesson to this one inactive family, however the Grandpa only spoke Tahitian, and the parents and children spoke mainly French, so during the lesson we would say every sentence twice in both languages so everyone could understand. That was actually pretty fun! These moments were filled with the Spirit, and to have these people feel that again was great, and we encouraged them to come back to Church and Sunday, and the most part of them did. Truly some really great experiences.

Speaking of the languages, they're coming bit by bit. The comprehension is still increasing after all, and I've been really striving to start thinking in French to make the speaking come more naturally, and the only way to do that is by speaking French alll the time, no English at all. It's working I'd say, but it's working slowly. I can say now though that my French has surpassed my Tahitian. That's okay for right now, once I get comfortable with French I'll start focusing more again on Tahitian. It's not as easy as I thought it would be... definitely underestimated balancing out the two!

Well, I just want to say how glad I am to be here in Tahiti and preaching the gospel. Life is just so great in general, and it really is a blessing. We taught Tehaunui about the Fall of Adam as well, and he was so stoked to figure out that the fall wasn't really a bad thing, and that the fall brought about the joy and existence of mankind. Like it says in 2 Nephi 2:25, "Adam fell that men might be, and men are that they might have joy." Like it says, we're alive to have joy and to be happy! We have so many sweet experiences to have and so many moments to share with others, so lets live it with the best of attitudes.

That's it! Just a picture of me and my homegrown bananas to send off too. Peace out everyone, gotta go out and play some weekly rugby soon. Fun stuff!

Ua here au ia outou,

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Please write me: (Put 3 stamps on your envelope.)

Tahiti Papeete Mission
Elder Ball, Casey
B.P. 93
Papeete, Tahiti 98713
French Polynesia

Things are pickin up (Week #3 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Bonjour mes amis!

The work here is starting to pick up a little again! Just when things were difficult, we were blessed with three more investigators! One is a couple that the DMP found (Dirigeant Mission de Paroisse aka Ward Mission Leader) and the other is one that we found through OLB (Ouvrir La Bouche aka contacting)! The couple, Julie and William, want to get married soon and have taken the lessons before, and so now they are interested in getting sealed in the temple. So hopefully they stick with that desire and follow through with baptism! The other is a dude named Tehaunui, really laid back guy who just wants to know the truth. He's been chatting with the J-Dubbs (Jehovah's Witnesses... yeah we got a lot of lingo) but so far he likes what we teach better. I'm thinkin' it will stay that way! We've only taught him the first half of the first lesson because of a time crunch, but next lesson we'll go over Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I'm so stoked for it!

I'm starting to see some improvement in my French! I seriously had a lot of great practice this week. We had mini missionaries come and work with us, basically some guys from Young Men's so they could see how the mission life is. We went on splits throughout the day, and since these guys spoke no English I had no choice but to speak French. We also had an awesome opportunity to go the temple on Saturday. Again, it was all in French! Way fun, and a little difficult. Also yesterday, I taught our entire gospel principles class for the investigators who came to church. It was no problem! At the end of the week, I can say that I can just about understand everything in French, no lie! The change is amazing, now I just gotta work on speaking. The gift of tongues is real!

No weird things eaten this week. But I did play a Tahitian ukulele! It's not like a normal ukulele like they have in Hawaii, they call that a kamaka here. It's like this big banjo type thing, with the same notes as the kamaka but all the strings doubled, so there are 8 strings. It's way fun to play! Hopefully Ill find one to bring home. Also every house we stop by there's a guitar, so the word is spreading that I can play the guitar decently well and they all ask me to play. How can I say no?

Well, life is good! Some good stuff from the Bible has been dwelling in my mind, Romans 8:36-39. I only have my French scriptures with me, so I'll just summarize and say that it says nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not our trials and tribulations or mistakes or anyone, because God is our Heavenly Father and we are His children. He loves each and every one of us and is watching over us during all of our hard times. Because after all, His only begotten son atoned and sacrificed himself for all our sufferings, so that we wouldn't feel alone during these times and so that we may be able to overcome them and find peace in the life to come. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. I don't know how many times I've said that in these emails but it's true. It's the most important fact a missionary will tell anyone.

Take care everyone, I gotta split! Love you all, and I hope life continues to treat you well.

A faaitoito,

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Please write me: (Put 3 stamps on your envelope.)

Tahiti Papeete Mission
Elder Ball, Casey
B.P. 93
Papeete, Tahiti 98713
French Polynesia

Missions are tough, but Worth it!! (Week #2 in Papeete)

Ia ora na, to'u mau hoa!

So, Ill be quick but sincere at the same time. Life is tough these days, and the work here in Pirae 2 is actually a little slow. Our only progressing investigator, Vetiare, cancelled on us twice this week, and all our other lessons with inactive members and the few other investigators we have were few or cancelled. So we spent a lot of time talking to everyone! Door to door, street contacting, encouraging members to find people. Usually members don't have such a hard time doing that, but for some reason they are. Its no biggie, we'll change things soon. Of course, its just kind of frustrating at first because teaching is the best part of missionary work. It's also all that I can do in terms of the languages!

Speaking of which, they're coming along... I think! I'm starting to actually tell the difference between French and Tahitian! In fact I think Tahitian would be easier to understand than French, if it weren't for the fact that all the people who speak Tahitian are old and have no teeth. Kind of makes it hard to tell what they're saying. But we've been speaking about half and half, I would say! There's plenty of both, and it gives me a chance to practice both pretty frequently.

I ate fafaru for the first time on Thursday! Basically what it is is raw fish, fermented in super old, gnarly sea water. And it straight up smells like an outhouse. But not gonna lie, it didn't taste so bad! It's just a Tahitian traditional food, and its kind of the thing you gotta do if you're new, kind of like an orientation. And I ate a bunch of it, like 6 big pièces. So everyone gotta kick out of it. Id eat it again for sure!

So a scripture that's been on my mind this whole week has been D&C 10:5, which goes along the lines of "Pray always, so that you man come off conquerer." This week I've been weighed down by a lot of feelings of uselessness and confusion, mostly concerning the language and partly concerning the slowness of the work right now. This prayer really helped me to haatane, man up and keep pushing on. The thing is, prayer is our wild card to play against the adversary when we feel discouraged or are tempted. The opportunity to talk to our Heavenly Father and ask Him for His aid is such a blessing, and He most definitely reaches out to us and lifts us up when we feel down. His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, suffered these same feelings and more for us. So with prayer, I've been given the mindset to keep moving on, the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and that through the atonement of Christ I can overcome any challenge in thiw world. And so can everyone else! Prayer and the blessing of the atonement is given to everyone.

Well that's about all I got, and some cool pictures to go with it!

I miss you all, and I got some letters this week! Thank you all, ua here au ia outou!

Elder Ball
http://mormon.org

Last day with the district!

One example of the hills we have to ride up on our bikes...

...and one example of the views we get to see! That's the other island Moorea off in the distance.

Centipede!

Food! That's fafaru in that tub there... grody

Oh man! Now in Tahiti (week #1 in Papeete Pirae 2)

Ia ora na!!!

Alright first off a disclaimer, I'm typing on a French keyboard, so if some of my words make no sense, I'm sincerely sorry!

With Elder and Sister Hemmings from the Tahiti mission office

Well, I made it to Tahiti! Let me just say... man it's awesome. Weather is beautiful, mountains are beautiful, and the people are absolutely beautiful! Some of the most kind and gracious people I've ever met, even the nonmembers.

I guess I'll start with the travel! All went well, and we made it safely. We met some friends along the way, including a member family from Texas going to Tahiti on vacation and a guy named Mike who served in Tahiti in 2000 who's going back to visit, It was pretty awesome! We got to Tahiti and realized some of our bags were not there... including mine! It was kind of stressful, but they turned up the next day, so it was all good in the end. The flight was one of the nicest I've ever been on! Pretty good food and comfy chairs. Not a bad deal at all.

Mike Buckner the former missionary who Casey referred to as the guy who served in 2000 took this picture and emailed it to us with a very nice email: "I had the opportunity to meet your missionaries in LA, and took the same flight with them to Tahiti. My name is Mike Buckner and I served my mission in Tahiti in 2000-2002. I was on my way back to Tahiti to visit some people when I ran into these fine missionaries. They were each so excited and anxious to go, and would not talk to each other in English. I was so happy for them as I knew what it was like, and the many adventures that lie ahead. They made it safely and I told them I would send you a picture of when they got in. "  This was so nice to receive!

So the first day after arrival, we met President Sinjoux and his wife. They are super nice, and very humble and intelligent people. Clearly called of God! We took care of business like our bank accounts and visa requirements as well, Then, we got our assignments. My assignment is... Pirae 2! It's a neighborhood of North Papeete. It's not next to the beach however... The Lord knows what tempts me! So, we're closer to the mountain. and that means a lot of hills that we get to bike up and down. It's way fun, especially going down! My trainer is Elder Martinson, from Salt Lake City. This will be his last transfer before going home. He speaks French really well, and Tahitian pretty well too. He really helps me with the language and correct pronunciation, grammar and phrases. All in all hes super nice and patient with me.

Speaking of the language... well, lets just say that I'm lost, all the time! When I came here I couldn't understand a lick of what people were saying. I couldn't tell if they were speaking French or Tahitian or either for that matter! They have such a thick accent, so different from conventional French, and they like to mix French and Tahitian together often. Now, I'm at the point where I can distinguish between French and Tahitian, but I still can't understand a whole lot. I can teach lessons though, and that's about all that matters right now!

Teaching is pretty amazing! We have a good amount of investigators, I'm not exactly sure how many, but Ill talk about some of them. One is a woman named Vetiare, who lives pretty high up in the hills. She's so ready to be baptized, but she needs to get married to her boyfriend first, they live together and have two children. However, their marriage is scheduled for December... so we're gonna try and persuade her to move that a little closer. We don't want to rush, but that's just so far away. We also teach a man named Jacques, he's an older guy who's a little depressed, but he has such strong faith and prays often, and I can really see him being baptized within this transfer. also we have Alec and Kahaia, another couple who live together, and they are way fun to teach as well. Teaching is definitely what makes the mission awesome, the Spirit is so strong and it's so much fun to help change lives.

The food here, its pretty bomb! And thereis lots of it! Usually mornings are pretty light, just a bowl of pops, but after noon we stop by peoples houses and they give us all kinds of fruits to eat and pastas and meats to much on, so by the end of the day we're full and happy. Good, good stuff. Fruit is absolutely delicious here, and so is the fish. Nothing too crazy like fafaru yet but we'll see soon!

Life is great, not much time left so I gotta finish up. Here's a picture, i'll send more next week, and I love you all! Life is beautiful!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Please write me: (Put 3 stamps on your envelope.)

Tahiti Papeete Mission
Elder Ball, Casey
B.P. 93
Papeete, Tahiti 98713
French Polynesia