La vie est belle (Vairao - week #5)

Bonjour tout le monde!

A solid week finished! Elder Larsen and I looked at our numbers at the end of the week and were stoked to see how well we did. We're starting to progress more and more every week, as well as the whole zone. Life is absolutely beautiful here in Vairao and Teahupoo, with beautiful weather and beautiful people all learning a beautiful gospel.

First up, we had a baptism Saturday. Surprise! We had the privilege of witnessing the baptism of Heimiri, who started taking the lessons not long before I got here. She was one of those investigators who progressed like crazy. She started reading the Book of Mormon in the beginning of May, and now shes already at Alma. She understands super well, and after receiving a testimony of the Book of Mormon, she just flew by the lessons. Heimiri was actually someone who went through some pretty difficult trials concerning her health and certain family members during the lessons. The awesome thing was that she never gave up during her trials, it just gave her more of a desire to seek Jesus Christ and His atonement. It was amazing to pray and read with her and help her on her way to spiritual and emotional healing. The baptism itself was packed with the Spirit, and I got to perform the confirmation the next day. Such a blessing to see this change happen.

We also found some new investigators, A------- and her two sons, N------- and T----. They were invited to a neighborhood family night that Elder Larsen and I put on a couple weeks ago with some other members. We gave a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and showed some Mormon messages on the topic, and we gave the amis a little card that showed the diagram of the Plan of Salvation. It happened to be the right lesson for the right people, as A-------'s husband passed away not too long ago. They were touched by the family night because they basically found out where the papa is right now. When we taught them their first lesson this week, and it went super well. Its just another example of the Lord preparing people to receive the gospel at the right moment!

Before I forget too, we had a marriage as well Saturday for a couple amis, A---- and G-------! They've been taking the lessons for a while now, and since they live together and they agreed to be married. They haven't agreed on a date to be baptized yet, but they do want to. There isn't much in the way now that's keeping them from getting in the water!

Also Friday we did a split with the Elders of Tautira who are in the zone, and I went over to Tautira with Elder Warren. We had a good time, their house is right on the beach so you go to sleep and wake up with the sound of waves. So awesome. But since I presumably know how to drive, I was the one who drove us around in this Pugeot Partner, which is nothing like the Toyota pickup that we usually drive. We went over to Taravao for a district meeting where there's tons more traffic. So over there we pull up to this intersection where it kinda goes up hill, and I get ready to go, and of course I stall the car. I laugh and start up again, get ready to go, and it stalls again. I look in the rear view mirror and see some cars pull up behind, and all of a sudden I start to get a little nervous. After stalling for the third time, I look over to the side and see some dudes just cracking up. None of this was helping, let me tell ya. I couldn't figure out why I was stalling, neither Elder Warren, all I knew was that the pickup would never act like this! I pretty sure I stalled about 10 times and the whole time Elder Warren was praying and finally with probably 7 cars behind me I succeed and jerk off into the intersection. We celebrated our success with some churros. There's another example of how the mission is a learning experience.

That's about all I can think of this week. Its been nuts. But we never stop having a good time. I love you all and A faaitoito!

Elder Ball

A weekend for the ages (Vairao - week #4)

Ia ora na tatou!!

Doing splits on bike

I am so stoked to write about my week, because it was genuinely one of the coolest weekends that I have ever experienced on my mission, maybe my life. This weekend was the 170th anniversary of the arrival of the Church in Polynesia, which took place at a stadium in Papeete. We were honored to have Elder Hamula of the Seventy there with us. It was a weekend that included singing, dancing, marching, laughing, crying, proselyting and testifying and eating and tons of other things that you could only find in Tahiti! Thousands of church members in the region came to participate, and it was something that us the missionaries were privileged to watch and take part in. I'm pretty sure most of my email will be about that!

Tubuai dance

The activity started Friday night with awesome cultural dance and song show that was performed by the youth of each stake on Tahiti. It was awesome! There were dances performed that originated from different islands, like Tubuai, the Tuomotus, some Marquesian and Maori hakas, even some Hawaiian dances. It made me appreciate just how awesome and unique the Polynesian culture is. There truly is nothing as beautiful and intense as the culture that you find here. Even though Im a white dude, I gotta say I'm proud to be a part of the culture here! The next morning there was a pioneer activity to honor church pioneers in Tahiti as well as those pioneers in America. It was a total party. Members from every stake dressed up as pioneers, played games and just danced. Tahitian people honestly look for every opportunity they can to dance and party and feast, and this activity was just one of those examples of a good time. Totally fun to watch.

Some more dancing

Then Saturday night, we had a large fireside to honor the missionaries, past and present. There were talks given by President Tefon, the temple president, President Sinjoux, Elder Hamula as well as well as other area authorities. One of the greatest moments (maybe the coolest of the weekend) was the march that all us missionaries did to Called to Serve. Then at the end, former missionaries, us the current missionaries and future missionaries who received their call did an Olympic style march around the track. Normally you don't get too praised for your missionary work nor do you expect to, but not gonna lie, this was one of those moments where we were! As we walked around the track, I could see faces of old friends and members from my old areas waving and shouting out and all applauding as we walked around the stadium. It was surreal, its something that someone would dream about, and we were living it right there. In that moment, I could easily say, nothing beats being a missionary! It was a moral booster, you could say!

It was a great opportunity to meet with some old friends from the old wards as well. Saw some leaders from Tubuai and got to talk to them and joke around with them a bit! Even some old investigators who are now baptized! Maybe no one remembers, but one investigator that we had in Tubuai was Rohiti. When I left Tubuai, she wasn't too sure about being baptized, but she was a really good investigator who read and went to church. Not too long after I left Tubuai, she left to Papeete as well and ended up continuing the lessons there. I met up with her at the activity this weekend. I was surprised to find out that she's getting baptized next week! Word's cant describe my amazement and my joy to find that out. I could see how much she had actually changed since the last time I had seen her, and how much her faith has grown in the gospel. That's the wonder of missionary work. You have no idea how much of a difference that you make in the lives of others, and when you see the results, it truly hits you hard.

Papeete temple

I'm sure that those who first brought the gospel to Polynesia, such as Addison Pratt, had no idea how much of a difference that they were making in taking their voyage to unknown islands to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm sure that they never thought that just 170 years after their arrival, more than 10,000 church members in that very country would be honoring their names and rejoicing in the knowledge of the true gospel. One way or another, if a missionary works hard, they will always make a difference, even if they do not see the results on their mission. In the end, you will always see how much of a difference you made. As said in Doctrine and Covenants 15:6, "And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father." We shall all see those whose lives we impacted after this life, and we shall rejoice with them for ever.

I am so blessed and thankful to serve in this beautiful country, to serve my God. Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures at the last fireside, my camera died and my memory card was full. Fail! But I'll send what I can. I love you all!

Elder Ball

A remarkable change (Vairao - week #3)

Ia ora na i te mau taea'e e i te mau tuahine e i te mau hoa o te ekalesia!

We had a pretty solid week this week, our best in Vairao so far. I'll start off with the fact that we had a pretty rad zone conference with a couple other zones on Wednesday. Elder Larsen and I were assigned to give a training based on the training that President's assistant, Elder Vanderholm, gave in last weeks leadership meeting. It was about who exactly we're working for, why were here, and why our manual is called Preach "My" Gospel. We are here for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and no one else, we preach His gospel and we feed his sheep. As his servants we need to emulate everything that Christ is and develop his attributes, as well as understand the impact of his atonement in our lives. It was truly an edifying experience to teach on this subject, and it truly brought me closer to Him.

What I call a beautiful day

Yet again a great view from our house

Fenua aihere, the wilderness part of our area. Too cool

As for our lessons, we taught a new investigator this week. His name is R-----, and well, simply put, he's a drug lord. He's pretty influential in that kind of business with the pakalolo (that's marijuana if you wanted to know). Before I came to the area, Elder Larsen and his old companion Elder Clark had passed by his house, and R-----, who's this pretty huge dude, called over to them and talked to them about how his brother was baptized not too long ago and completely changed his life. He wanted to know more about what we got, so this week we taught him an awesome lesson on the Plan of Salvation. The Spirit was so awesomely present, and R----- accepted the invitation to be baptized and change his life, just like his brother. It won't be easy, but i know that he'll be ready by the date that we proposed. He has already had some awesome experiences with prayer since our first lesson, and we can see a remarkable change already in his eye. That will definitely be the key!

Again, a little short on time this week, but I'll post some pictures for you all!

I love you all, and until next week!

Elder Ball

The Spirit of Radio (Vairao - week #2)

Sup! (Sorry thought Id change it up to English this week)

Its been a fantastic new week in the new area at Vairao. I'm loving every moment of it! And id like to say that it was great to chat with the fam over skype on Mother's day. I love you guys!

Alrighty, news for this week? We actually spent a lot of time out of our area, down in Papeete. We had a meeting with President Sinjoux and the assistants, as well as the rest of the zone leaders. It was a good, inspiring meeting and it always leaves us missionaries ready to get working. Had the chance to go to the temple with our ward this week as well! Its always good to go to the temple.

And today, we came back to the city again to practice driving a little bit. I'm getting better at the whole stick shift concept. I haven't stalled in the middle of an intersection yet so that's good! Pretty soon Ill have it down pat.

This week we fixed a new baptism with an investigator named A-----! He's a guy who works at the radio station and every morning he has people from different churches come to read the scriptures and do a teaching segment over the radio. Every Friday that's what we do! So eventually A----- felt the Spirit and started wanting to take the lessons as the missionaries continued to speak over the radio. So this week he agreed to be baptized June 14th! We're stoked for him and he already has a pretty strong testimony. I love that guy.

Elder Ball & Elder Larsen

I'm sorry but that's about all the time I got today. We're a little short on time but next week will be better. I love you all!

Elder Ball

The Lord likes changin' it up a little bit (Vairao - week #1)

Ia ora na tatou!

Welp, a lotta stuff happened this week. I’ll start off by saying that I got a call from Elder Wheeler from Tubuai Monday night that kind of scared me. I pick up and the conversation went kind of like this:

"Heeyyy Elder Ball! Congratulations to the big zone leader! How do you feel?"

".......what?"

"....you don’t know yet...? Ohh hahaha well, I’m totally joking, you know how much of a jokester I am!"

So that’s how I found out that I was going to get transferred. I have no idea how other missionaries found out about the transfers, but before I even got a call from President I heard that I would be transferred to Vairao to be a zone leader for the zone of Papeari. So, Wednesday I left Tavararo and headed way down south to Vairao, and here I am now!

First of all, I would be lying if I said that I didn’t miss Tavararo. That has definitely been one of the greatest times in my mission, perhaps in my life. It was a blessing to serve with Elder Twede, and it was a time to see just how much the Lord is preparing his children to receive the gospel. All in all, it was a blessed area. So of course, I’m sad to leave all the people who are making so much progress in the Gospel, people I’ve grown to love so much. But, that’s just part of the mission, getting transferred. The Lord likes changing it up a little bit.

I'll also say that I’m humbled for the chance to serve as a zone leader. I know that it will be a chance to serve the other missionaries and work closely with the stake leaders as well. We had a meeting with the stake president last night, President Tupai. He's an awesome President and he really pushes for the missionary work. It'll be awesome to serve here. All the missionaries in the zone are awesome and it's going to be a good time.

Concerning our own area, Vairao, I am serving with Elder Larsen from Idaho. I love this guy! He's one of the most humble, spiritual people, and it's great to serve with him as well. I’m stoked for the time that we'll have together. As zone leaders have several blessings. For one, we have a car, a sweet Ford pickup. Since its stick shift, I have not yet mastered it, but that will come. That makes getting around in the area a lot easier for sure! This area is also in striking contrast to that of my last. Vairao is located at the "presquile" of Tahiti, which means "almost an island". It is much less developed and much more preserved here in this area. Part of our sector consists of where the main road ends and we are obligated to go on foot out in the boonies. To get to one of our lessons there, we're also obligated to cross a river and walk on the beach and stuff. The beauty of the area truly compares to Tubuai. As for the members of the ward, I’d say about a third are recent converts; the elders before did an awesome job. They are all super strong and good member missionaries. It’s a great ward all in all. I also get the chance to play piano for sacrament meeting again.

I have a lot of things in my head and its super hard to figure out everything that I want to say! But, I’m glad that I’m here and it’s a real good area. That’s the news for this week and I’m excited for what will come next week. I love you all!

Elder Ball

This missionary's about to get famous (Tavararo week #8)

Ia ora na tatou!

What a week. Probably our best so far.

I’ll start out by saying that yes, I’m gonna be famous. Several other missionaries and I have been chosen to be in a church film about the beginnings of missionary work in Tahiti. On Friday and Saturday we spent time out on the beach doing some sweet film shoots. We get to dress up in ridiculous 1850s outfits and act as some of the first missionaries. We get to do cool manly stuff like build a boat and carry heavy bags and preach the gospel to people. We even got to go in the water a little bit, which was super sweet. A couple other elders got to do some baptism scenes in a river which was cool too. All in all, people are gonna be turning heads every time I walk by, "Hey you were in that movie!" Tahiti's next celebrity.

But not really. The film is gonna be used for missionary work mostly, to teach people about the beginning of the church here and kind of attract people to the church in that way. It really is a cool experience, and pretty low budget but hey what do you expect when it’s us as the actors? Definitely a fun time and I’m kinda excited about how that's gonna turn out.

As for the work we did (yeah sorry it wasn’t all playing around on the beach this week) it’s been the busiest so far! We had so many lessons this week its nuts. We've been going on splits with the members a lot to be able to fit in all these lessons. Among the lessons that we've had, a great one was with Hendrick and his family, one of the families that President invites to his home for family night often. At the end of the lesson, Hendrick said that they've discussed as a family, and they have decided that they all want to get sealed in the temple. Now if that isn’t music to a missionary's ears, nothing is. They all want to get baptised together, and soon we'll figure out a date for them. There's 7 people in that family. They really are a miraculous family. If they are baptized, i have a feeling that most of the neighborhood will follow. The neighborhood would be rid of drugs and alcohol, which would definitely be one of the coolest things ever.

On Sunday we had a sacrament meeting based on the theme of missionary work. So of course, Elder Twede, our DMP Diego, and I gave talks. It was definitely a blessing to have the opportunity to speak to all the members of the ward. We talked about the imortance of Preach My Gospel for every member of the church in doing missionary work, and we committed everyone to start reading it and applying the teachings inside. That is a book that, if everyone read it, would unite members and missionaries in the work forever. So, in addition to the scriptures, read it, all of you! Your life will be blessed if you do just that.

As the days go by here in Tavararo, the amount of criminal activity never ceases to amaze me. Every day we pass by seriously conspicuous drug deals in broad daylight. It's pretty funny, when we pass on our bikes the dealers start to freak out a little because at first they think we're the police, then they see that it's just us and wave to us. On our way to one lesson, we were passing in an alleyway behind a store where there was a huge group of people gambling for marijuana. They started to get scared at first, but then continued playing when they saw that it was us. After the lesson, we pass by the same alleyway and there’s a ton of cops searching the area and some dudes laying on the ground in handcuffs. Busted. The druggy lifestyle here really is pretty sad, because kids start getting into that stuff at like 12 years old. Simply put, they all need the gospel!

Thats about it for this week. To finish I’d just like to bear my testimony about the fact that we are all children of our Heavenly Father. This week I've thought a lot about that and who I really am, what I’m really worth, and our life before this one. I feel so much peace to know that I chose God's plan to come here to Earth, despite the knowledge that this life wouldn't be easy. Thanks to the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, now I know what needs to be done in this life to return to God's presence. Unfortunately, there are so many other children of God who have chosen to come here, but have no idea how to return to him. But thankfully, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints know. Let each and every member reach out to their neighbor and share this knowledge that could save their life. "The worth of souls is great in the sight of God." (D&C 18:10).

I love you all, and have an awesome week!

Elder Ball

http://mormon.org

He lives! (Tavararo week #7)

Ia ora na tatou!

Its been a fantastic week this week for Elder Twede and I, very tiring indeed, but we have had some great teaching experiences, as well as some not-so-great... thats the mission right?

Last Monday we had a family night at Y--- and H-----'s home. Im so stoked for the day when Y--- becomes fully active, cuz he'll be a powerhouse in the missionary work. For the family night he invited a couple nonmember friends to come! It was a good family night and the spirit was strong, but sadly one of the friends wasn't to open to our message. The other accepted, but he lives outside of our area. It was a good family night, and  we were way impressed by Y---'s desire to share the gospel already. I love those people.

Tuesday we had another good lesson with H---. This lesson she was way open and talked so much more than she had before, and she said that she knows that this is the true church. So we committed her for baptism for the 31 May, and she said shell pray about it and tell us next week. We're really praying for her so that she can accept this date, because we know its whats best for her! 

Later that day we started the lessons with a new investigator named M---. His story is interesting. He does canoe racing, and in November he took part in the annual races that go from island to island. When he was on the island of Tahaa during the races, he actually took the lessons from Elder Twede and agreed to be baptised. Sadly, after the races ended, he returned to Tahiti and never got in contact with the other missionaries. But, the good news is, we found him last week! It was certainly an answer to Elder Twede's prayers. M--- still wants to change his life and follow Christ. It wasn't coincidence that we crossed paths!

Wednesday night was another great lesson with M---- and her kids. The lesson went very well, and we committed them for baptism like we planned. M---- said that she wasn't sure yet because her husband hasn't been present for the lessons and she would like him to follow her. But her son, K------, agreed to be baptized June 7th! We're hoping that the rest of the family will be able to follow on this day as well. The Spirit is truly working with this family.

After we had our lesson with Y--- and H-----. Sadly they refused to go with May 24th for their baptism. Their family wont be able to make it down in time for their wedding, so they said they'll agree for a date in July, maybe August. When you look at it, July or August is perfectly logical to plan a wedding but for a missionary, waiting that long is an eternity! We asked them to pray more about it, and we'll do a fast here soon to figure out a good date.

Thursday, I participated in probably my first bible bash. We taught this family who was a reference from a member, so we went with the member to visit them. We weren't quite expecting the teach a Sanito, a member from that Reformed Latter-day Saint church. This investigator was a deacon... and she was tough. The whole time she was arguing why women can have the priesthood, with no biblical reference. She was starting to get a little angry, screaming in Tahitian and spitting all over the place. We weren't getting anywhere so we called it quits and thanked her for accepting us. Wasn't really what we had in mind, but for the future i think ill avoid the bible bashing idea. The Holy Ghost ain't there. (And for those who want to understand why God gave only men the priesthood, I'd like to refer you to Dallin H. Oaks' talk during the Priesthood session of the recent General Conference.)

Those are perhaps the highlights of the week. We've had a lot of blessings and miracles occur, and I know its because of obedience. When Elder Twede and I strive to be exactly obedient to the mission rules and the commandments, that's when we succeed.

Spiritual thought, since its Easter! Just a verse from the Book of Mormon in 2 Nephi that explains the importance of Christ's atonement and resurrection. "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, ^asave it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who ^blayeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the ^cresurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise." I know that Jesus Christ lives. He was crucified for our sins, and on the third day he did rise again. Thanks to his sacrifice and resurrection, we can one day be resurrected and live with our Heavenly Father again.

Voila la semaine derniere! Je vous aime, et je vous souhaite une bonne semaine!

Elder Ball