Movin' on (Week #21 in Tubuai)

Ia ora na tatou!

I hope everybody had a good week! Out here on Tubuai, it's been a tough week. Elder Teihotu and I had some problems with health that held us up this week, so there has not been a lot of excitement. Just thought I'd say though that my time on Tubuai has come to an end. Tuesday I got a transfer call; This next week will be my last week here as I will be transferred to the Tavararo ward, in the Faaa stake on Tahiti. Its been awesome here out on Tubuai, where its calm and chill. But I can happily say that I'm ready to get back to Tahiti, where life is a little faster and energizing. After I've told everyone that I'd be leaving to Tavararo, people have told me a little about how it's like there. Two descriptions that I've heard are "ganja central" and "tough guys". Awesome. As excited as I am to go somewhere new, I'll miss everyone here on Tubuai. Ive never come to love people in my life as I have here.

Aside from this piece of news, some disappointments have come up with some amis. H----, T---- and their children have, once again, been kicked out of their house. H-----'s mom told the woman who's renting the little cabin out to H---- and T---- to kick the family out. Come on, how far do ya gotta go... so, this family of 6 is living in their car now. The whole situation is tough. Its really hard to help them out, because they don't use their money in the greatest way (drugs, booze, etc.), and its really because of that that they don't have a place to live. But for now, were just trying to help them find a place to live, and encouraging T---- to find some work. It really is sad. The church is helping them out as much as possible, but a lot of it is on their free agency as well to do more to get out of this hole. Unfortunately we haven't been able to teach them, because whenever we show up they aren't there! Its so tough to see them like this, when we know exactly how to change their life, but they aren't as serious as is necessary.

We have had some great success with an inactive member. A------- last year he made a pretty big mistake and fell in that hole we like to call inactivity. For a couple months now, we've been making some visits with him and his family and have done a couple family nights with them. Its good to say that he's had the courage to go talk with the branch president and get things sorted out. We've seen some good progress with him, he's definitely more confident and humble now in searching for healing. Just another example of someone I've come to love enormously!

Not a whole lot else for this week. The normal P day activities consist of B-Ball and cleaning the house. We did just come back from some eel fishing in the river. Basically Elder Weeler took some extra fishing line, attached a hook with some bread and tossed it in the river. I don't think he was really expecting to catch something, but he came up with an eel! So were all like "do it again, bro!" Pretty good times just messing around.

That's about it! The next time i write, ill be in Faaa in a new area. Thanks for your prayers and your love, the work was great on Tubuai. Love you all!

Elder Ball

Saving Souls (Week #20 in Tubuai)

Ia ora na tatou!

This week we had the splendid opportunity to travel back to Tahiti for a mission conference with Elder Russell M Nelson, Tad R Callister, as well as Elder Pearson and Elder Tarati form the Pacific Area seventy, along with all their wives. It was an awesome week, full of personal revelation, blessings, and improvement.

Since we went to Tahiti, I don't have a lot of news concerning the area here at Tubuai. The only thing I think I can say is that last week H----- and T----- got married! And today, we ran into them to find out that they no longer live on their parents' property, but they found another place to live. They are no longer under the bounds of their parents. This is a huge blessing for them! This week, we will continue to teach them and see how we can help them. They missed us this week, we could tell!

It was a good week at Tahiti for sure. First day we had a good training meeting by the assistants. Those guys are studs, such good missionaries and spiritual powerhouses. They trained us on extending commitments, and they emphasized that we must not be shy but be confident that the Spirit will lead us in how to help them and commit them. These assistants are missionaries so powerful, they commit people to baptism in the first conversation and succeed. I don't really know how they do it, but it definitely makes me wanna be more bold! Always gotta listen to the Spirit though, and be sensitive to people's feelings, we can't go around forcing people to be baptized. Really good and inspiring meeting.

The next day, we had our interviews with President Sinjoux. Its been a while since I had a good interview with him, so it was great to talk with him. He asked me how many weeks I've been out at Tubuai, and i told him about 20 or so. He then said to me, "I think its about time Elder Ball. Expect a transfer call soon." Gulp. Not sure if Im ready to leave yet, but we shall see.

We spent our week at the missionary houses at Pirae. I slept in the same bed in the same house as my first sector, definitely brought backs some memories! We went on splits with the Elders of Pirae 1, they have some great investigators. We also had the chance to see some baptisms, one from Pirae 1 and another from my first sector Pirae 2. A woman named Wina, who I taught a few times before getting transferred, was baptized. It was a great, spiritual moment, and great to witness! It was also great to be able to chat a little bit with some of the members in the ward. It felt good to be able to speak fluently with them, since before it was a little more difficult!

Then of course, we had a great mission conference with the general authorities. I don't have enough time to discuss everything they said, every talk was solid. But one talk that struck me hard was given by Sister Nelson. She told the story of Oskar Schindler, who saved some 1000 Jews from the holocaust of WWII by hiring Jewish people into his business and bribing Nazi officials with expensive items and large sums of money. In spite of saving all these people from death, after the war he recounts that he could have done more. He said he could have sold his car for 10 more Jews. He could have sold his gold pin for 2 more Jews. He had so much more material worth to give to save lives, but he didn't. He said, "I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't!"

She then made the comparison with us, the missionaries. The only difference is that our mission, though it may not appear it, is much more serious. Its not just death we're talking about; its eternal salvation that is the question. As missionaries, our time is our money. How well are we spending it? Are we really doing all we can to open our mouths, talk to everybody and bring God's children home? Or are we too distracted by the luxuries of this island paradise? Are we serving in a manner that will please our Heavenly Father in doing absolutely all that we can? Or are we serving in a manner where we will say, at the end, "I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't"? That scared the bejeebers outta me. It totally put things into perspective for me. Our job is so joyous and really is a blessing, and it brings so much happiness and is a lot of fun. But it's serious stuff as well. This is a matter of saving souls. We are the ones who must do it, it is our mission and if there are people who could have heard us but didn't because of a lack of diligence on our part, the sin is on our heads. Doctrine and Covenants section 4 says it well; "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day."

It truly has been a great week, and I learned so much on how I can be a better missionary, a better instrument in the Lord's hands. I know the Lord has called me to the work, and I know that it is His work and His church.

That's about it for this week!

Love you all, and a faaitoito!
Elder Ball
http://mormon.org

The good, the bad, and the embarrasing (Tubuai - week #18)

Ia ora na tatou!

Another week gone by, it’s been officially 18 weeks that I’ve been out here on Tubuai. Feels like it’s only been a month! This week had some shining moments, as well as some dull, as well as some glorious language mishaps.

First of all, things are still going with H---- and T----. They are seriously dedicated! Despite their poverty and their busy schedule, they still want to take time to meet with us. It’s excellent because they have scheduled their wedding for February 14 (yes, valentine’s day), but they haven’t even broken the news yet to H---‘s parents, for fear of them flipping out since she’s marrying a Mormon. This week Elder Teihotu and I taught them the principle of fasting, and how they can fast to overcome their hardships with drugs and H----'s parents. Saturday we started a fast, and the following Sunday night they agreed to talk to H----'s parents about the wedding. They made it through the whole fast, told the parents, and they turned out to be really pleased with the news! According to H---- that wouldn’t have been a normal reaction from them. Goes to show that Heavenly Father truly does answer honest, sincere prayers that are fortified through a fast. Fasting and prayer will be the way for them to trust in God. I’m so happy and impressed by their faith!

There have been some other great moments this week. On Friday we had a branch family night with the branch of Mahu, with the branch conference the Sunday after. We spent a lot of time during the week challenging the members to invite a non member to these events. I’d say about half of them kept true to their promise. There was a great turnout of investigators! The family night theme was centered on the Book of Mormon, and it was awesomely done by the District President. Even R----, one of our normal investigators, finally came to church! So cool to see so many investigators. Sadly, no one wants the lessons yet... But it’s a start! 

But as usual, there haven’t been tons of lessons. We've been spending time searching for some newbies, through the members and the door to door. We've found that we've just kinda been stuck in  routine... and getting stuck in a routine gets kinda boring. So we've been discussing possible activities and resources to find new investigators with our Branch Missionary Leaders. Beach activities, hikes, feasts, maybe piano lessons? Whatever the Lord finds the most resourceful. Gotta think some of these things through!

To finish things off, I’d just like to report the greatest language blunder I’ve made my whole mission. At the family night Friday, I was talking with an investigator, when I saw another dude investigator wearing a sweatshirt nearby. I asked her " who’s that guy over there?" And she says "Which guy?" After that I say "the guy over there wearing the... how do you say it..." and I say the word which I think means "sweatshirt". She just kinda looks at me, "wha...?" Trying to clarify, I say to her "It’s what you’re wearing right now!" because she was wearing a sweatshirt too. She continues to look at me and just kinda smiles. Unfortunately, my companion was just behind me talking to someone else, so he couldn’t help me. But the conversation ended when the dude came over and talked with us. Much to my dismay, the next morning I was just flipping through the French dictionary when I came across the word that I used to say "sweatshirt" the night before. Nope, it’s not "sweatshirt", but it most definitely means "panties". I totally mixed up the words for sweatshirt and panties. I can only imagine what that woman was thinking at the time. Gotta have moments like those on the mission, even after 9 months.

Anyway, that’s it! Glad to share these moments with you all. I love you all, and keep on living life well!

Elder Ball

No long letter from Elder Ball this week (Tubuai - week #17)

We enjoyed a quick live email chat with him this week. He is working hard and hoping to find new investigators to teach.

Stand tall, it gets a little better (Tubuai - week #16)

Ia ora na!

This will be a little short, because again it's been a little bit of a less active week. First of all, life is good with Elder Teihotu. He's a good comp and very diligent, a good teacher as well. Thanks to him I've been able to pinpoint some of my weaknesses and become a more effective missionary.

I'll start off with some good things to say before i mention the difficulties. We found a new investigator this week, who is the aunt of our other investigator C-. Her name is H-, and she lives with an inactive member named T-. They have 7 crazy, savage little children who are totally hilarious. H- loves going to church with T-.and some of the kids, and she has seen the spiritual difference between this church and some others. She and T- have such a desire to change, so much that they even scheduled their marriage in February. She wants to be baptized, plain and simple! But the thing with her is, she has family opposition... that same grandmother of C- that i mentioned in the last email? Yeah, that's H-'s mom. Shes already threatened H- that, because H-and T- live on family property, they will be rejected and thrown out in the streets if she's baptized. And because they'll be thrown out in the streets, H-'s mom will call the social services and say that there are children living out in the streets. After that, she'll take their children. H-and T-.know that will happen, cuz its already happened before. That's the situation, and I'll leave it at that. Either way, they want to learn from us, so we'll teach them, help them feel the Holy Ghost, pray for them and her mom, and they'll decide for themselves what shall be done.

As I said, there have been some difficulties. C- decided that, because of his Grandma, he doesn't want to get baptized anymore. All in all, he doesn't want to start a world war, as he would say. Its been sad because he was really enthusiastic about it before. However, we've found with him that he hasn't been keeping his commitments to pray and read the scriptures, excepting our lessons with him. What we gotta do now is really help him know that through these things, he will have really powerful, spiritual experiences that will give him a testimony that these things are true. That will be the motivation for him to overcome the oppression, to stand tall despite the wall in front of him. He's been doing great with the word of wisdom, he's completely given up smoking for three weeks now. I don't know how he has done it without praying, but his willpower really is strong. We're still stoked for him anyway!

Things are all right with our other investigators. Not too many lessons this week, lots of talking with members and committing them to share the gospel with their friends, and to our dismay when we do our follow ups, not a whole lot of action done. It's been tough, but also a good experience to really encourage the members and show them how they can be a help in the Lord's vineyard. I know the members much better than before now, and things are great in terms of trust with them. Just gotta faaitoito!

To wrap up I thought I'd just bear my testimony of the love our Heavenly Father has for us. In our life, we have all sorts of weaknesses and imperfections, and as a missionary, a servant of the Lord, I've found that I have plenty. While teaching the perfect gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and bringing others to His perfect, restored church, one cannot help but feel a little imperfect. But Heavenly Father knows this, he does not expect any of us to be perfect. All he expects of us is to do our absolute best in striving to be like Jesus Christ. Through His help and His guidance and His love, we can overcome these weaknesses. The Lord said to the prophet Moroni: "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." Faith in our Heavenly Father and humility before Him are what it takes to overcome these weaknesses, and do our best. I know that Heavenly Father loves each and every one of us, and he is willing to help us if we are willing to turn to him.

Anyway, that's about it for this week. Its kinda hard to remember everything that happened this week, felt kinda like a scramble. But with faith, hope and charity, the odds can be overcome. Things will get better! I love you all, and a faaitoito!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Il fait trop beau... (Tubuai - week #15)

Ia ora na!

It’s been an interesting week. Frankly, not too much has happened in terms of lessons this past week. However, there have been some changes and there has been improvement between the full time missionaries and the members here on Tubuai.

First change, new companion! Elder Firuu was transferred to serve back on Tahiti, and I received a new companion Elder Teihotu. He arrived Friday, and since then I’ve been showing him the island and introducing him to the members and investigators. he’s from my first area, Pirae! He’s cool, he’s been on the mission for about a year now. He teaches really well, and he knows how to work hard as well. I’m pretty stoked to work with him and explode the work here together.

As I said, we haven’t had many lessons this week, as sadly we have lost a good amount of them. Like M- and M-, they left for Tahiti for an indefinite period of time. Still searching for new investigators, new people on this tiny little island who want to receive the gospel. We've found some pretty good investigators, thanks to the members! We found V-, a woman who had already taken a few lessons from the missionaries before in her life. She lives with a man who has been excommunicated. In our first visit, she confirmed that through prayer she had already received an answer and a testimony that this church is true, and she wants so badly for her and her son to be baptized. All we gotta do is help them and encourage them to pick a date to get married, and all will be well. She understands the lessons and the scriptures very well, and thanks to her member friend who introduced us, she always has someone by her side to explain things when we aren’t there. She’s a great investigator, and I’m excited for her and her faith in Christ.

Aside from that, we've really been trying this week to improve our relationships with the members and leaders of the church. This week, we successfully had our dinners in the members’ homes every day, rather than them dropping the food off at our home. It was great, we even had some investigators present during the meals! The dinners with the members are just great times to help them out with the missionary work and leave them spiritually uplifted. We've been doing our best to do some service as well, such as working a little in the taro fields of some members.

In addition to that, we've had a district training meeting with all the leaders of the district and branches, which includes elders quorum, relief society, young men etc; all for the purpose of working together in the missionary work. It was just a great chance to lay down some expectations between the members and the missionaries, and form a plan of action of what were gonna do this year and how were gonna do it. Everybody’s in it and a little more motivated than before, which is excellent. Were only hoping for improvement these next few weeks.

Our investigator, C-, is doing great as well. He hasn’t smoked pot for two weeks now! Haha were so excited for him, and he’s been feeling great too. The only problem that rests now is his Grandmother who well reject and disown him if he’s baptized... we’re really trying our best to get him ready for the 8 February!

That’s about it for this week, life is good and beautiful. A little too beautiful... the weather has been sooo hot this week, id say even up to the 100s. Nasty. Anyway, love you all, and a faaitoito!

Elder Ball

Captions: photo #1 above of sunset: à la pêche

Photo #2: Those days when you find a pig head in your freezer

Photo #3: Couldn’t pass up a photo moment like this one

Photo #4 Departure of Elder Firuu

Photo #5 Arrival of Elder Teihotu

Quick note (Tubuai - week 14)

Hey Mom,

I got the two packages Christmas day! We've also had a good amount of rain this past week, but still not enough to keep the water flowing in our house, unfortunately. Also, I would love to send some pictures, but i don't have time today because there was no internet earlier today and I'm just here to say that I'm still alive. 

Hope life treats you all well, love you all and have a good week!

Casey

Party Animals Part 2 (Tubuai - week #13)

Ia ora na!

Happy New Year everybody! That makes 13 weeks here at Tubuai for me, and 8 months on the mission. Time is just flying, feels like yesterday that Elder Firuu and I just barely came to Tubuai. A lotta weird stuff to say about this week--probably the strangest on my mission.

First of all, good stuff happened--we fixed a baptism this week for the 8th of February! C is this 18 year old dude who is a total stud. Hes spent some good time partying in his days, but he is one of the most honest, truth-seeking guys I've ever met. His whole family is Catholic, and we've been chased off by them a few times. but C has such a desire to know more about Jesus Christ and has been looking into other religions. We told him that that's what we're there for: to bring him unto Christ through the fulness of His restored gospel. He likes to drink and he enjoys his paka (marijuana) but that can be overcome through faith in Christ. We're stoked for this guy.

We've found that we have some good success with the teens here. We just like to be friends with these guys and joke around with them and play soccer with them. This week we started teaching two other brothers, Te and Ta. Ta, who has 24 years, has already taken all the missionary lessons on the island Moorea and has already read the whole Book of Mormon. We were disappointed to hear that he never received a response through his prayers that the Book of Mormon is true, but he agreed to learn from us again and retry. His bro Te, 16 years, is pretty interested and just wants to know if God exists. They participate super well in the lessons, and they're fun to teach. They agreed to be baptized if they receive a testimony that these things are all true. It takes prayer and faith, and miracles can happen!

Sadly, there hasn't been much else going on here on Tubuai. Nothing but parties. Our other investigators, like H and F for example, have been so busy with family over that they have not had the time to have us over for the past 4 weeks. We've passed by many times and encouraged them to keep praying and reading the scriptures. They still come to Church, so that's great! But really, its been tough with everyone super busy. Also, it's been tough with everyone drunk.

With that being said, the drunkenness has only increased since last week. We had some nice drunk dude encounters this week. Lotta beer cans thrown at us, some juicy profanity as well. A good experience was us just on our way home, and in the middle of the street, these two guys are staggering and yelling amongst themselves. they see us and immediately they get in our way and stop us. These guys are seriously in our faces (these are big Tahitian guys, too) with their alcohol in their hands and their eyes pointing in different directions, yelling at us why the heck were we here. We just told em stuff like "we're here to tell you that God loves you!" to spare ourselves from another whiff of alcohol breath. We got away pretty easily. It was a very pleasant experience.

Well, those are my experiences for this week. This next week, I hope I can bring in some more teaching experiences rather than funny drunk guy experiences. But that's just a taste of what I've seen this week. The chaos will end soon.

I love you all, take care and live and love the Gospel and the Lord! A faaitoito!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Party Animals on the Loose (Tubuai - week #12)

Ia ora na!

Its been so great to be able to skype with the fam on Christmas! thank you for that, even if my English is kinda messed up now... Definitely a highlight of the week.

Skyping with Casey

Other than that, thanks to the holidays its actually been the slowest week of my mission. First of all, I've never seen a Christmas like they have here... Everyone drinks, and drinks, and drinks, and I mean almost everyone except for most of the members of the church. First of all, we were unsuccessful in fixing any lessons on Christmas and for the rest of the week because everyone was too busy, so that left to contacting and talking with members. And I'm not lying, every single non-member house we came to was a total party wreck, with some inebriated dude stumbling and coming to greet us. Even just riding our bikes we'll see people passed out on the beach or in front of their houses. Needless to say, nobody has been super receptive this week. We've just been trying our best to spread the message that Christmas is about Jesus, not alcohol. Sadly, the party wont stop until well after the new years.

But hey, that wont get our hopes down. With what little amount of lessons we've had, its been solid with them. For a while we've been teaching M. She has had a tough life, being raised in a pretty messed up family, so she has a tough personality. She lives with her boyfriend H and they have one child together. Right now I could say that she is one of my favorite investigators. She is sharp, quick to learn and best of all willing to learn. Since we've taught her we can see now how she's already started to soften up. This week we taught her about faith and repentance, and during this lesson she realized how much she needs to change in order to be baptized and follow Christ. We challenged and committed her to sincerely repent, leave behind her troubled life and come unto Christ. She knows that she must keep the Law of Chastity, and she knows she has to forgive others for their faults. She knows what she must do, and right now we're just praying and praying that she will have the faith and willpower to take these steps. She really is amazing, and she is someone that i would love to see have a change of heart and be baptized.

Other than the few lessons we've had, not a whole lot new. Elder Firuu and I both passed through the transfers without a scratch, so we'll both be staying here for at least another 6 weeks. Also Elder Randall gets his new companion today, Elder Wheeler I believe. Anyway, Its been bizarre living here lately. Our shower no longer works in our house, so we've taken to the hose behind the house to shower off every day. Luckily there are enough banana trees and ferns to censor our nudeness, Garden of Eden style. That's how we roll here on Tubuai. Also, for the past week there has been a cricket in our bedroom. We have no idea where it is, but every night it starts chirping, and it's loud too. Kind of hard to sleep at night, but hey it's whatever.

This island is definitely an experience that I'll never have again in my life. I look back and realize that never in America, or even at Tahiti, will I have problems like these: no water, no shower, crabs and giant spiders in the house, eating raw fish straight from the ocean, and countless other bizarrities. I just wanna say that its been so awesome here on Tubuai. All the experiences I've had thus far are life changing, and I am sure to have more to come. I'm totally fine with staying here. We've got some work to do.

That's about it for this week! Love you all, and happy new year! A faaitoito!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Happy holidays from the middle of the ocean (Tubuai - week #11)

Ia ora na!!

Its been another interesting week! The first half was still spent on Tahiti, then Thursday we headed back to our tiny island Tubuai. Tahiti was a great experience, going on splits with other missionaries and getting to see how things work in other areas.

MTC district together again for mssion Christmas Party

For a lot of our time this week (both in Tahiti and Tubuai) we spent a lot of time doing street contacting and door-to-door... its been a while since we've done it, and man is it hard. In Tahiti there's been some real stingy contacts... first example: Elder Mariteragi and I, we came to a house with a huge gate in front of it (a lot of houses in Tahiti are like that). We can't see past it, so we shout over it to get someones attention. Suddenly the electronic gate slowly opens, and there's an old lady sitting there in a chair. All she does is look at us, wag her finger at us and then close the gate without a word said. Man did we laugh hard or what after that, so wicked. A lot of other houses there consisted of young French surfer dudes on vacation, who simply said "yeah brah i'm on vacation! Get lost!" It was a little tough, but you just gotta know as a missionary that, even though the message we have is easily the most important message in the world, there will be a lot of people who will reject us right off the bat. It's too bad, but just gotta faaoromai (persevere).

When we got back to Tubuai, we were disappointed to find that the drought has not yet ceased, and all of our investigators are at Tahiti for vacation. A lot of lessons have been cancelled for this next week to come, so it looks like for now we'll be spending most of out time looking for new investigators until the new year. Also, because Elder Maples, our zone leader here on Tubuai, has finished his mission, his companion Elder Randall has no companion, so we've been going around as a trio on the whole island to accomplish the work in both areas. A whole lot of biking, let me tell ya. Even if this island is tiny, its still big for us! I have no idea how they did it before with just two elders on the island. Not a whole lot of other news for this past week. Yesterday I did give my first 15 minute talk in French during sacrament meeting. Cool experience, I'm pretty sure I did well.

This week I feel like I've been making a real break through with Tahitian as well. We've had some good contacts with people in Tahitian, and I swear the gift of tongues worked its magic with these people. I understood everything, and my tongue was loosened and the words just came. So cool, its after experiences like that when you feel like a champion. Then after, we go and talk with some members in Tahitian, and suddenly I understand nothing again. Haha, weird how that works. We got some good potential from these contacts however, and we'll pass by them again this week to see if they will continue to follow the lessons.

Life is good, good. We're pretty stoked for Christmas to come, its been such a good time of year here... a little different because there are no Christmas trees or snow, but its been great. I want to testify that this is the time of year when we can really celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our Savior, the Son of God, was born in such humble circumstances, and left His heavenly home to dwell here on Earth as a mortal man, to atone for the sins and pains of the world. I know He is our Savior and Redeemer, and in humility He was born among us on the earth.

Remember the Savior during this fantastic time of year! Faaitoito, e ia oaoa i te Noela!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Exquisite Opposition (Tubuai - week #10)

Ia ora na!

First of all, greetings from Tahiti. Friday we flew in for a Christmas activity for all the missionaries. It was excellent to see everyone again and remember the good old MTC days. Had a great meal and some skits going on, it was definitely a good time. But, I am all ready to get back to work at Tubuai. Its been quite a crazy week here.

Before heading out to Tahiti, we had a great teaching experience. The nephew of F, named M, came in from Tahiti to stay with family. He's a champion canoe racer, super chill dude. We came over to teach his parents, but they ended up not being there, so we taught him instead since he was interested. I don't think Elder Firuu and I ever taught a better lesson than that. It was smooth, simple, clear, and precise, and it brought the Spirit in heaps. We answered all his questions with exactness. We taught the Resoration, and after we had just finished telling the Joseph Smith story, we paused and let it all sink in. After about 30 seconds of silence, he basically said "yeah man... that is way cool. That touched me, man" He really is interested and has a love for God and a desire to know the truth. I'm excited for what comes next with him.

Other than that, not too much awesomeness went on before we left Tahiti. Its been pretty nice here in Tahiti... nice and hot. We got to go to the temple on Saturday, which was another great experience. We've been staying with two other Elders in Punaauia, Elder Gervasi and Elder Mariteragi. Its been good, but since theres only two bikes with them one companionship has to go out on foot and the other on bikes. And like I said, its been hot... Never sweated so much in my life. Its good to see what the work is like in another area and with other missionaries.

Apart from the good times, this week has been rough... Saturday morning we were met with some heartcrushing news. Two sister missionaries were hit by a drunk driver Friday night on their bikes. One came out alright, but the other was left in critical condition. She went to the hospital and was put in a coma. She was a sister missionary in our district in the MTC, and for us all it was difficult news to bear. We love her so much and want her to recover so badly. We've been fasting and praying all the weekend for her and her family. Keep Sister Taylor and her family in your thoughts and prayers. She is an excellent missionary, and her faith and confidence truly inspired me as a missionary also.

What I want to say is that I know God is our Heavenly Father and that he loves us. He is mindful of all his children, and he wants only the best for us. In life there are the most exquisite pains, with the opposition of the most exquisite happiness. Ive just about felt the two this week. But all these things are done in the judgement of God, because he truly loves us and knows how we can grow and progress in life.

Keep the prayers comin, and love life no matter what! Nothin can stop this work, its on a roll.

A faaitoito,

Elder Ball
http://mormon.org

When the going gets tough, the tough get going (Tubuai week #9)

Iaorana!

Its been a while! Sorry that I missed last week--internet was down and out and thus the email was a no go. But to say the least, its been a testing two weeks for me and Elder Firuu, a lot of experience gained.

Our investigators are doin alright for the most part. For most of our investigators, however, there lies two problems: drugs and concubinage, two things that, without faith, are so hard to overcome. So, it's been so important for Elder Firuu and I to focus and bringing the Spirit into the lessons, because in all things, the Spirit is the one who converts them unto Christ. All we can do right now is do our best to invite the Spirit and testify and continue to teach, and then its up to them to make the decision based on the testimony they have thus far received. Its hard... but like I said, I have such a strong feeling that they will make it.

The lack of rain has continued here on Tubuai, and now we are officially at drought status. The water reserve is cut off for most of the day, and some mornings, because of such low water pressure, its either cold shower or no shower for us! It hasn't been easy for all the farms here either... its a real trial for this island. Right now our prime water supply is bottled water, not exactly the cheapest! We've been praying for rain, and now we just gotta wait it out and endure. The drought shouldn't last too much longer, because seriously, this is Polynesia, not Africa. The rainy season should be starting any day now...

Summed up in a short email, that's been our two weeks! A lot of people have already left for Tahiti for the holidays, and so many of our investigators will be gone for the next month. But, no matter the trial or wall in our way, we just gotta stand tall and break it down together. This Gospel is what makes us realize that adversity and weakness is in our life to strengthen us and help us rely more on the Lord for help in our lives. The Lord said to the prophet Moroni in the Book of Mormon, Ether 12:27, "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." Thanks to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can know how to humble ourselves and rely on the Lord to make us strong in our afflictions and in our personal weakness as well.

Life is good! Love you all and keep the faith!

Elder Ball

No email from Elder Ball this week (Tubuai week #8)

We hope to hear from him this next week on Monday.  :(

Whackness (Tubuai - week #7)

Bonjour tout le monde!

I'll start out by saying that it was a pretty rough week for us. Lots of lessons cancelled, and I was out for a day with the stomach flu, so that caused some problems. All in all, the work was slow this week. But, despite the slowness, some great and memorable, and also bizarre, moments.

Keali!

First of all, baptism numba two with Keali! Man I love this kid and his family. Such nice people, and they still support the Church even if some members aren't active. They decided that I would be the one to baptize, and it was such a privilege. And this time I didn’t mess up. One and done baby! Maybe it was easier cuz it was in the ocean, another cool experience. But the Spirit was strong and it was such a unique experience to be the one to bring this person into making a covenant with God. The service was great, and the father, M, was really touched. We will continue to help this family for sure.

In the ocean. Awesome

Lessons are getting intense as the commitments start being extended... The F family is starting to get nervous from the outside pressure from family members to not join the Church. Also, because we’ve been experiencing a drought and a shortage of water, F has been extra busy at their watermelon field and hasn’t been able to be at the lessons or progress as much as we'd like. It’s difficult, and the same thing has been happening with other investigators as we've extended commitments. It's all thanks to one thing: fear, Satan's secret weapon. As a result, with all our investigators we haven’t been able to fix one baptism this week. Just gotta keep at it I guess, and rely on the Lord for help and inspiration!

Yeah, its been a weird week. More so after some excitement yesterday. We came home from Church in the morning to do some studies, and we see our neighbor Mike totally asleep, unconscious under a coconut tree. He's known for drinking and smoking a TON so we thought nothing of it and moved on. Just a few moments later, we look out our window and see his cousin waking him up. Mike wakes up, and all of a sudden he just freaks out, seriously freaks out. He’s all yelling and shouting stuff in slurred Tahitian and just takes a barrel and throws it through his glass sliding door. Then he starts chucking pieces of the broken glass at his cousin. His cousin gets all cut up and angry, so then he starts getting in this fist fight with Mike. They duke it out for a few minutes, and all the while Elder Firuu and I are calling the cops and watching the whole scene unfold. They stop and the cousin retreats, and Mike continues to freak out and throw chairs and a boom box and all sorts of trash out of his house. Then, he passes out. The police and an ambulance came and took him away. I think that’s the last time we'll be hearing from Mike for a while.

Just one of those beautiful days when you gotta take a beach photo

On a more positive, spiritual note, I would like to share a little scripture about the Word of Wisdom and the dangers of alcohol and drugs. Paul in 1 Corinthians talks about how the body is the "temple of God" and how we must respect this body that God has given us. That is why through revelation through Joseph Smith, God has given us a law, a Word of Wisdom, to not drink alcohol or partake of drugs, and therefore to protect our body. 1 Corinthians 3:17 states "If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy." As we can see, as a result of alcohol, Mike was destroyed, as well as his house. Plain and simple, life is a lot cooler and drama free without all that stuff. And, God won't destroy you, so that's good too.

Love you all, and peace out!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org
http://elderballintahiti.blogspot.com

Another daily farm animal encounter

At Last (Tubuai - week #6)

Ia ora na!

Well it was a great week to say the least! Some great teaching moments, learning experiences and a baptism.

This weekind Tatu was baptized. It was such a cool experience for me and Elder Firuu, and it was a great day for Tatu. It was also pretty cool being the one who performed the ordinance, actually using the Priesthood of God to bring Tatu into the Church and to make covenants. The baptism... well, let’s just say that it got done. Haha, it’s true, it took me three times to get it right. What can I say, it’s the first baptism I’ve ever done! The first time I didn’t say the prayer right (in Tahitian) and the second time I didn’t get him all the way under. Third times the charm right? But I felt pretty bad for Tatu, that water was cold in the font. But he said it was all good and that he felt totally clean and pure. So, despite Elder Ball who messed up, it was a great moment, the Spirit was strong and truly testified.

We had some awesome moments with the F family this week. Right now they want to get baptized, but they really do not want to pick a date yet. Nonetheless we’ve been able to see just how much they have been prepared by the Lord for us. After a lesson, H, F's wife, told us an experience a few years back when she talked to her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law said that soon, the "maitai" (the good) would come to their door, and that it would be a difficult but life changing "maitai". She said that after thinking and praying, she felt strongly that we were the "maitai" and that these were the things that Heavenly Father wants her and her family to do. Man, was that crazy to hear. I know for a fact that this family will choose to follow Jesus Christ and join this Church whether I’m here to see it or not. They have some difficulties to overcome, such as opposition from outside family, but I know they will get there, and as missionaries Elder Firuu and I are going to do everything we can to help them.

We found some other cool investigators as well. Rohiti is a teenage girl our age who hates Tubuai. Haha shes here to help her family with work, a little store on the side of the road, and she hates it because there aren’t very many people her age since they are all at Tahiti for school. One day Elder Firuu and I stopped by to buy some ice cream, and we chatted with her a little bit about the Gospel. She said she was interested, since she doesn’t have much else to do, so a few days later we shared a message on God and prayer with her . She said she was touched by the lesson, and wanted to learn more. So in the coming week we'll have more lessons with her. Just a cool little experience in "opening our mouths" to share the Gospel.

Its been a good week. Something we need to work on is to really engage and commit our investigators. Sometimes its easy to be a pushover and not ask our investigators right away, but the thing is for the investigators to really progress, they gotta step out of their comfort zone. And to help them do that we as missionaries have to be bold and confident in asking them to do these things that are essential in helping them come unto Christ. Something that we've been really working on this week, and I can testify that boldness through testimony and comittment are a powerful tool, if used correctly.

That’s what I’ve got for this week! Some pics:
1. Tatu! all set and looking studly for the baptism. (see above)

2. Doin hikes on P-day, fun stuff.

3. Mount Taitaa, after the climb, not often you get to see a 360 view of an entire island like that.

4. Elder Randall and our Tahitian climbing possee.

5. The Addison Pratt memorial rock.

Love you all! A faaitoito, live and love life!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

Just keep on goin' (Tubuai - week #5)

Ia ora na!

Alrighty, not gonna lie this week was a killer. Lots of lessons cancelled on us, which is the greatest disappointment, and we didn't find a whole lot of people to teach this week. But, with the lessons and investigators we did have this week, we saw some nice progression.

The F family is doing well! We found that were gonna have to go slowly with them. They have a hard time quitting the prayers their old way and doing it the real way, but we can see the Spirit working with them and giving them a desire to learn more. We committed them to baptism; H said she wants to, the others aren't so sure yet. Its slow, but its progression! Were hoping that they'll accept a date for baptism in December. They went to Church this week and they totally loved it. The desire is growing and growing, I absolutely love to teach them.

Elder Firuu and I also committed another investigator to baptism, M. He lives in concubinage with an inactive member and they have a baby boy. He absolutely loves his family and he is really interested in the Gospel, hes totally nice. He accepted the invitation to be baptized but he doesn't want to choose a date yet. He still has to pray and ask Heavenly Father if it's all true, and when he gets an answer that's our moment to help him progress.

Other than that not a whole lot that happened. We do have a baptism this Sunday, for Tatu! Normally we do them Saturday, but the 17th is a special day for him for a personal reason, so were not gonna argue with that! And he chose yours truly to baptize him. Haha I'm excited, not gonna lie. The Saturday after is Keali's baptism, so were excited for the next few weeks.

That's about all i got! There will be more next week for sure. Love you all, and keep the faith!

Elder Ball

Piano Man (Tubuai - week #4)

Ia ora na tatou!

Allrighty, that makes 6 months out in the mission! Man it’s gone by pretty fast, its kinda scary. But I’m looking forward to another awesome year and a half.

This week has been just a little slower in terms of finding new investigators and attaining our goals, but we have had some great lessons nonetheless. The F family is amazing, simply put. It turns out that they have been to a sacrament meeting, and the baptism of their niece, and that they have already felt the Spirit in these experiences. You could say they've been prepared by God to receive us! We've committed them to read the Book of Mormon and to pray if it is true, and they said that they would totally do it, because in their other prayers that wave committed them to do, they've felt the Spirit testify of our teachings. Things are going great with them, absolutely kind and loving people. It’s not even us converting them, totally the Holy Ghost.

We had an interesting lesson with Puaihina also, the sweet old lady that I mentioned in another letter. She’s been having trouble reading the Book of Mormon, and accepting the true baptism through the priesthood. After some discussion, Elder Firuu shared a great scripture, Alma 32:28, about the gospel being like a seed helping our faith grow, and how we can come to know the truth of these things in that manner. After that, I promised Puaihina that if she read a certain chapter, 2 Nephi 31, and if she prayed, she would receive an answer that these things we're true, without a doubt. I have no idea why I promised her that, but it felt right I guess. We'll see what will have happened this week--I’m really hoping she did get an answer!

Other than these lessons, not too much else. People are starting to find out that I can play the piano. It turns out I’m one of 2 people who play the piano in the district, so now I’m playing for the musical numbers in the mission conference in a few weeks as well as the primary program for Mahu. I’m pretty sure I’m down for the Christmas program as well, I have no idea. Oh well, it’s fun being able to serve in a variety of ways!

I’ve been really gaining a desire to learn this week--just learn everything about the gospel. It’s so great to be able to have the fullness of the gospel, the truth, right in our hands, all the questions about God, life, the teachings of Jesus, this Gospel has all the answers for it all. And with this desire to learn and fully understand the gospel, my testimony has grown so much with just being able to study it all, and not just study it but live it as well. Man, I love the Gospel.

Well, that’s about it for this week! Thank you for your love and support, take it easy brothas and sistas!

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

Tubuai from atop Sleeping Man Mountain.

Life is tight on Tubuai (Tubuai - week #3)

Ia ora na!

Yeah, not a bad week! Definitely some great accomplishments for me and Elder Firuu, some fun things and good personal strides of success.

First of all, two new baptisms fixed for November! We got it for Tatu, November 16th, and Keali for the week after. The lesson with Tatu... That was such a great lesson! We went in with President Noel, the Branch President of Mahu, with nothing planned because he had already received every lesson. We wanted to just talk with him and see what his worries were. He ended up wanting to learn about baptism again, so we taught him and explained it to him. He then said he was afraid of it, and that he didn’t want to sin and fall again. Perhaps a great moment of spiritual worth for me, was when I really felt prompted to share a scripture that I had read a week earlier, Alma 7:14-15 I believe? I didn’t really remember it; all I knew is that it talked about baptism. It ended up talking about fearing not, and trusting in the atoning sacrifice of Christ to cleanse us of our sins, through repentance and baptism. Man was that perfect! Elder Firuu and I worked together so well to testify in that lesson as well, the Spirit was strong, and all in all it convinced Tatu to go with it, and fear not. I’m so happy that I was just able to be an instrument in the Lords hands, and be guided by the Spirit to say what needed to be said.

Keali is the 9 year old son of an inactive member, M, who we've been working on to come back, and he’s been doing pretty good coming to Church. We're hoping to help him get ready and worthy to baptize his son, and bring the family back into full activity. That would be awesome, and definitely a blessing to see. It’s such a blessing now to have these baptisms fixed, it’s amazing!

We're finding a lot of potential here, thanks to the references we're receiving! We found the F family, F and his wife H, and we started the lessons with them last week. Such humble, nice people, who let two funny-dressed kids into their home to teach them about God. We have hope for them, they aren’t too familiar with the LDS church, but that a good thing that we're there right?

The Tahitian is coming, slowly but surely. I’m starting to understand a little bit more if I listen super carefully. The speaking is getting better as well, still miles ahead of my understanding. Eventually it’ll even out.

Sleeping Man Mountain in Tubuai.

Today we got to go and hike the mountain on the island! We didn’t get to the top, but it was fun nonetheless, and were gonna go a little earlier next week so we can climb the whole thing. This island still continues to amaze me with its beauty. There are tons of cool things. Like random tortoises... yeah, don’t mess with em. I picked one up, and it totally bit my thumb and wouldn’t let go. I got a good penny-sized chunk of dead flesh just chillin on my thumb now, gnarliest blister I’ve ever had. Yeah, lots of fun things!

This week I had the time to read the book Our Search For Happiness by M. Russell Ballard. Reading that book was excellent. From such a point of view, it made me realize how much of a blessing this restored gospel is. The true priesthood of God, which is the heavenly power held by prophets of old and Christ and his apostles to perform sacred ordinances, like baptism for instance; it is on Earth again! It’s thanks to this restoration that we have the knowledge that God has not ceased to communicate with His children. He loves us, and has from the beginning of time. It was man, not God, who decided that no one could communicate with Him after the death of Christ and the apostles; that all changed with the humble prayer of a 14 year old boy, who truly believed that he would receive an answer, and did. This gospel brings comfort, joy, and an eternal perspective on things. It helps us understand why we are here, where we come from and where we are going. It gives us a greater sense of self-worth and of our true potential. It helps us avoid danger and the heartache of bad decisions. I am so happy to be part of this Church, and to share the truth with everyone as a servant of the Lord. I know this Church is the true Church of Jesus Christ, restored to the Earth by a prophet.

Well, that it for this week! I love you all and whether you are a member of the Church or not, I encourage you all to read the Book of Mormon. If you want to understand who God is, what Christ has done for us, or find guidance to make life better, read it. Plain and simple, it’s through reading that book that you can find answers.

A faaitoito!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

This place is magic (Tubuai - week #2)

Ia ora na tatou!

It’s been a good week here in Tubuai! We're still getting adjusted to the new area but things are starting to get moving.

We spent a lot of time this week going around with the Mission leaders of both branches to meet all the members and find where inactives and investigators live, etc. It’s been great, the members here are truly awesome Everyone is so engaged in missionary work and totally love sharing the gospel and giving references to the missionaries. We've already received quite a few references, and we've visited them all. Of course there have different results from them all, but we have found some good potentials! Man, it’s so good to have members on our side. So good!

Like I said, we've found some solid potential investigators, some through references and some through some good old door to door. (Door to door is different here, with the fact that every door is probably 100 meters apart!) We are gonna teach the F family tomorrow, a solid find for us. Also another dude named Arii, who has never heard of our religion somehow but is totally interested. Just some good things that bring hope to us!

Our investigators now are awesome as well. Tatu is a guy who has been taking the lessons for a while now. He’s one of the nicest, humblest guys I have ever met. He’s been scared of baptism, and has pushed back the date several times now. So we gotta fix another date with him and help him find the courage and the faith in Heavenly Father! Also Puaihina, a super sweet old lady who we've been teaching. There are so many investigators that I can’t name them all, but they are so great. All of em, so great.

This island is also just awesome. Honestly, it’s like the craziest beach-farm place I've ever seen. We were at a members place, and he has a pretty good-sized farm complete with pigs and horses and goats and chickens and all that stuff. The coolest thing is, like on most of the island, there isn't really soil, just sand. But stuff just grows in the sand, it’s crazy! We were walking around and this dude just pulls a carrot right out of the sand for us to eat. How does that even grow there?? And he’s got pineapple and taro and tomatoes and banana and coconut trees. Its magic.

Our house though... that's another story. This place is totally ancient! It hasn't been used in a while, so there's a billion wasps nests inside. I'm pretty sure its full of mold as well, because i got a major allergy reaction on Wednesday. And I don’t know if it’s the house or the island in general, but it’s a little freaky to be taking a shower and have a crab come crawling out of the drain. But it’s all good, it’s not like we spend all day in there anyway.

Language is still incredibly difficult. I don’t know why, but Tahitian is so much harder to understand than French, yet much easier for me to speak. Yeah, just takes time a guess.

Well, that’s about it. I got the photos to work! Check it out:

1. Newbies at Tubuai, airport

2. Our house. Check out that mountain

3. One of the many awesome beaches here at Tubuai

4. Found this gnarly thing in our house. Name tag to reference size, sorry that's as close as I wanted to get to that thing... It bites

5. People love to fish here. That's a members. Its a good catch I'd say.

6. First LDS church building on Tubuai.  (No attachment.)

7. Sunsets like this everyday  (No attachment.)

Love you all! I know this Church is true, and its awesome to be a servant of the Lord on the island of Tubuai.

A faaitoito,

Elder Ball

Learn more about what I am teaching: http://mormon.org

Woah (Tubuai - week #1)

Ia ora na!

It’s been a busy week... so much to say I don’t know exactly where to start! Everything is going well here in our new area, Tubuai. Man, is it beautiful! No cars, no buses, no awful reggae remixes of Bruno Mars playing everywhere we go... It's peaceful here, to say the least. Beautiful coconut trees everywhere, white sandy beaches all around the island, blueeee waterrrr, yeah you guys get the point. It’s a little cooler here than it is in Tahiti, which is awesome cuz it was really starting to heat up there. Weather is perfect here!

I guess I’ll explain a little bit how things work here. There are actually now 4 Elders and a couple serving here right now, and Elder Firuu and I are on the side of the island with poor phone service and no store... awesome! And because it’s far from where the Elders before normally live, there aren't as many lessons going on here. It’s been a little hard and a little slow getting all settled in and finding where all the members live and so forth. The other Elders have helped us a good amount, but again they’re on the other side of the island so it’s a little tough to get together right now..

Anyway, our branches are Ziona and Mahu. We’ve met a good amount of members in Ziona, so this week we really hope to get in touch with a lot of members of Mahu and find some more references. The members here really love to do missionary work. The few lessons we've taught have been pretty awesome, however. We have one investigator, Yanick, who pretty much knows all the lessons because he’s read like half the Book of Mormon on his own. We expect great things with him!

Things are pretty good with Elder Firuu. He's already a pretty good missionary; he has a strong testimony and he already knows a good amount of scripture. Only problem is I don’t really understand him sometimes... he refuses to speak French with me, only Tahitian. I'm not gonna complain though! By the end of this transfer, I expect my Tahitian to skyrocket. I can speak the language pretty well, but my comprehension right now just stinks! I bore my testimony in Tahitian in fast and testimony meeting yesterday, and afterwards everyone came up to me and starting speaking to me in Tahitian, and I was so lost. They wouldn’t stop too, I guess they didn’t notice my blank face when they were talking to me! French, that’s all good. It’s actually a relief when people talk to me in French.

That’s about it I guess! I have some pictures but for some reason, it won’t upload on this computer. Next week I guess! Love you guys, and take care.

Elder Ball

http://www.mormon.org