Peace (Vairao - week #18)

Ia ora na tout le monde!

Its been an interesting week, to say the least. Life is good with Elder Millett, he's definitely the life of the party.  Anyway not too sure what to share, but we've had some great lessons with our investigators! Last week we started the lessons with an investigator who came to the our temple trip. Her name is I---, and she's the total bomb! Her faith in Heavenly Father is already super strong, and she's looking for the truth, learning a little from the Adventists. Elder Millett and I had an awesome lesson with her on the Restoration, and when she learned about the Book of Mormon, she was stoked to learn that more scripture exists. She was even more stoked when she learned that God can answer her prayers through the power of the Holy Ghost. She said that if she receives a response to her prayers, she will indeed be baptized. We proposed her baptism by saying "there will be a service for baptism September 27th." like you should, but before we finish her member friend, sister H-----, was all like "oh really? For who?" That's when we kinda nudged our heads like "hello, it's hers!" Haha it was funny, she finally understood. I--- said "wow, you guys received that revelation just now for my baptism? So cool!" She's so open to the Spirit and her faith is incredible. She even wanted to join us and the ward missionaries in a fast this weekend, and she pulled through the whole way. We're excited for the progress that she'll make in learning the gospel.

Also, for a couple weeks now we've been teaching a man named N-----. Not a long time ago, his wife left him and his children, and he came to us as a reference from his member uncle asking us to find his wife in Papara. Well, it's sad but we couldn't guarantee that we could bring his wife back to him, but at least we could guarantee him peace through the gospel of Jesus Christ! Even though we told him this, he accepted the lessons, and we gave the reference to the sisters in Papara anyway to go see his wife. We had a great lesson with him on the Plan of Salvation. Seriously, there is nothing like the Plan of Salvation to give purpose to someone's life. He felt the Spirit super strongly, and he even came to church Sunday and had a great experience with the members who welcomed him and everything.

Haha, about the fast this week, awkward experience. I started fasting Saturday night. But Sunday, there was a little bit of a mix up because our dinner with a member family, the T family, was switched by them to the afternoon, since there was a fireside that night. I explained to them in advance that I wouldn't be able to eat but Elder Millett could (since he was sick and wasn't fasting), but that they could eat anyway, I could spend the time with them and that I could take the food home with me. Well when I show up, the food was all laid out, but they had seemed to forgotten the fact that I was fasting, so I reminded them. I was really torn by the choice between being loyal and continuing my fast with the ward missionaries or pleasing the members and eating. They told me I could do whatever I wanted and that either wouldn't bother them, but it was pretty obvious that they wanted me to break my fast. I couldn't blame them. But I went in the backroom to pray and ask Heavenly Father what should be done. I felt pretty clearly that if I started the fast, I should endure to the end, and that this family would understand, so I came back and told them. Then Frere T was all like, "that is a great choice Elder Ball. So, out of respect we shall wait with you and not eat until later!" That's when Satan invited himself over. The wife and children were like "What?!" and pretty soon the whole family was murmuring and the father was pretty much saying stuff like "don't let Satan get ahold of your hearts!!" The wife got up and went into her bedroom. I explained that I really didn't care if they ate in front of me, I just wanted to converse with them. Elder Millett started to say "dude, I'm uncomfortable..." Before things heated up too much, I quickly went and broke my fast, and we all ate together happily. It was just an unfortunate turn of events. Heavenly Father knows I wanted to make the right choice!

Well, there are many things that happened this week, but I could only fit the greatest in. I love you all and the adventures of Elder Ball and Elder Millett shall continue. Peace.

Elder Ball

Can I never leave? (Vairao week #17)

Ia ora na tatou!

It's been a fantastic week for Elder Tera and I. Some good small miracles that have happened here and there! First and foremost to talk about was the miracle or Aranui's baptism! At last! Aranui is the radio host that we have been teaching ever since I got here to Vairao. He's such a humble, shy guy, and he had a hard time understanding many of the principles of he Gospel that we taught, so it took slow, careful and patient teaching. But with the Lord's help, his life has been blessed. Not too long ago, his mother passed away, and that was a trial that took its toll on him. One day while reading the Book of Mormon, the Holy Ghost confirmed that what he was reading was true, and he felt a calm come over him. His mother came to his mind during this experience, and he felt the impression that his mother lived on and was watching over him. Since this experience, he has wanted to be baptized, but opposition from the rest of his family held him back, until finally after many prayers his family decided to support him in his decision. On Friday, the baptismal service took place, and when he came up out of the water i couldn't stop smiling! At the end of the service he bore a simple testimony of his experiences in learning the gospel, and he asked humbly that the members help him accomplish the ordinances for his parents. It was a beautiful night!

Elder Clark, Frere Teaue, Aranui, Elder Larsen, moi, Elder Tera, and Tati!

We also started the lessons with an investigator who came to the temple. Her name is T------, and she is the sister in law of one of our ward missionaries. Shes 16 years old, and shes already prepared to be baptized. About a year ago, her member cousin came to stay with them and spent some good time sharing the gospel with the family. He taught them about the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation and everything. Then he left, and no follow up was made! What?? So basically for a year T----- has been reading the Book of Mormon, and she already knows that its all true! She even keeps the commandments, and is just super righteous. Yet, she says that shes not ready for baptism and doesn't want to fix a date... she hasn't admitted it, but we believe that it could be the her parents who don't want her to be baptized. We've had some awesome lessons with her this week, and we definitely realize that its definitely about time that the Lord sent us to help her make the decision now.

Me and our humble Toyota pickup. We get anywhere together.

Another small experience, while one of our lessons were cancelled, we felt the impression to go visit an old investigator. She ended up not being there, but we met and talked with her grandson. It was hilarious, we introduced ourselves, and then he said "ohh, so it was you guys that I saw on TV Monday night, at the Billabong Pro!" Heh, yeah that was us I guess.This guy is the bomb! He talked to us how he doesn't belong to a religion, but he believes firmly in God and prays every day. He doesn't smoke or drink, and he and a group of friends basically pass their time talking about God and encouraging other youth in the neighborhood to stop smoking and drinking. We basically told him that that's exactly what we do, but we do it in all of Polynesia, and that he could become a missionary too if he listened to our message. He was down, we'll be seeing him this week! I feel that the Spirit truly led us towards this young man. I hope he'll accept us!

Me killing Elder Tera

Like I said, it was a fantastic week, but it ended bittersweet. I said goodbye to, or "killed", my companion, Elder Tera, since he finished his mission in time to head over to France to go to school. I loved Elder Tera, we were two guys with pretty similar tastes, and he's one of my best buddies. I'll miss him for sure! But, I'm happy to be with my new companion Elder Millett! He's from Seattle, and I don't think I'll ever have a dull moment with him. Hes very enthusiastic and a real jokester, and a solid worker at that. Life will be good with him.

A pretty sweet photo that a member found for us on Tahiti's news website. Model status.

I love you all! Have a great week.

Elder Ball
http://mormon.org

"Now that's the mission!" Catching the wave (Vairao - week #16)

Ia ora na tatou paatoa!

Elder Pearson, Elder Tera, Elder Ball, President Bize

What a week, what a week! I have absolutely no idea where to start, since everything awesome happened. I guess I'll start with the fact that we were totally blessed to have Elder Pearson of the Seventy come to the mission to train us all. On Thursday we had a leadership meeting at President Bize's home and Elder Pearson assisted. It was funny since it was all in English. We did our normal zone reports (a little nerve wracking in front of a general authority, and it didn't help that doing it in English messes with your head) and then Elder Pearson taught us how to be good leaders and how to truly help and

Leadership Meeting

love the other missionaries in the zone. He also came by Friday and we had a mission conference, and taught us how to truly serve with all our heart, might, mind and strength. Definitely boosted our morale and pumped us up to get working. He's a truly powerful man, called of God, and it was a blessing to hear from him.

We also had an amazing experience this weekend. We had a temple trip that we've been planning for a few weeks now. A couple buses were rented to pick up investigators and their member friends for our ward and the neighboring ward Toahotu, and we went off to the temple where we had groups go into the temple garden for a tour, and other groups go into the visitors center for a small lesson from the sister missionaries. It was concluded by our stake president, and finally everyone feasted a well prepared meal. It was an absolute success! Between 40 and 50 investigators came, and the Spirit was absolutely powerful the whole way through. Some of our investigators, such as Pamela and Tuare, Karl and Arieta and Aranui were all there and were super touched. The whole thing fell into place, and it was truly a blessing to see that happen.

I'll end quickly with our experience for today. It is the middle of August in Teahupoo, and guess what that means? Billabong Pro surf competition, of course! Since such a thing would interest Elder Tera and I, we worked up the courage to ask President if we could catch a boat to go watch some of the competition. Surprisingly, he said yes! Under one condition... that we go in our missionary attire. Well, we won't complain! So we went with some other Elders, bought ourselves onto a taxi boat and headed out there to the spot. Oh man, when we arrived, you wouldn't believe the ruckus we caused. Everyone's chillin' on their boats with their shorts and tank tops and hats and bathing suits, and a boat pulls up with well-dressed men sporting black name tags. Everyone pulls out their cameras and starts taking pictures, and even the television crew on their boat pulls up to film us. Were all just laughing and waving all stoked to watch some surfing. A member pulled up in his boat and said to us, "now THAT's the mission!" We had an awesome time, the waves were so fat, its not often you see awesomeness such as that.

Found on surfingmagazine.com

We understand a little why President told us to go in our missionary attire. His goal is to make the church known to the world, and no doubt, we were well behaved in that boat, and we took every opportunity to talk to people about the message we carry. Just make sure to look in the next edition of Billabong magazine. Maybe you'll find a picture of a boat full of missionaries inside. :)

That's a little of the week. So awesome. I love you all.

Elder Ball

Pineapples (i didnt know what to put as the subject so voila) Week #15 - Vairao

Ia ora na!

Life is beautiful again here in Vairao. Finally the vacation season is about to end so people will stop leaving and doing all sorts of dumb things and get back into a gospel-learning mood. Elder Tera and I have found another new investigator named T------. She's the cousin of a ward missionary in our ward, who actually wanted to talk to us just to ask why her boyfriend on another island was being faithless going out with a member of the church. Basically it started out with her a little ticked off, asking why her boyfriend would start to leave her and what the heck was so special about our church. Happily, we started to teach about the Restoration of the church of Jesus Christ and that families can be together for ever. We gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read it to find more answers to questions. Thankfully she started to calm down a little bit. At the end of the lesson, she said "hey, I heard your church gives blessings. How can I get one of those?" Just a question that gets missionaries excited. She happened to have a broken ankle that was in the process of healing. We gave her a sweet blessing, and before we even started the Spirit filled her room and she started to ball, seriously. At the end, without us even asking, she told us to come back again next week and keep teaching her the gospel. Whatever you want Sista!

We also had the blessing to go to the temple this week. Its always good to get an endowment session done, and receive inspiration for the work. Since the zone has been struggling to find new investigators and fix new baptisms in the past few weeks, the temple was the best moment to seek counsel from the Lord. Naturally, I had the revelation that I needed to report with the other missionaries in the zone more frequently, to help them more personally and know more thoroughly their investigators. It was a chance to evaluate myself, and I felt so motivated leaving the temple to go work my guts out. My love for the other missionaries grew as I thought about them and their hard work, same for the investigators in our ward. Man, you gotta love the temple!

Its been a real workout, but also a privilege to be a zone leader. After thinking about this privilege, I realize that it is most definitely preparing me for future callings, but more importantly it is shaping me and molding me to become like our Heavenly Father. Only in being a leader or in having any responsibility in the church can we learn to love others, make just decisions, make plans and help and guide others along the way. The Lord gives us these responsibilities for this purpose. As President Spencer W. Kimball said, "Jesus gave people truths and tasks that were matched to their capacity. He did not overwhelm them with more than they could manage, but gave them enough to stretch their souls." https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/07/leading-like-the-savior?cid=HPMO080414376&lang=eng

I love this work, and i couldn't be happier to be a part of it, even though it is stretching the heck out of my soul. I love you all, thanks for you love and support and your prayers!

Elder Ball

Small but significant progression (Vairao - week #14)

Ia ora na tatou!

I'll be brief this week, but its been a good one! Elder Tera and I have had a lot of lessons this week, so things are starting to pick back up again after summer vacation. Were really trying to get the members going in the missionary work. Were in the process of planning a temple trip in a couple weeks that should yield much fruit. Were looking forward to exploding this sector. Some solid lessons that we've had, we've started teaching a less active member named E------ whose companion is not a member. They have a son whose a member in the Teacher's quorum whose been having a hard time coming as well. We had a solid lesson about the atonement and repentance. We cut right to the chase and invited E------to get married, and he accepted. Hes someone who wants to change his life and come back to the goodness that he once know as a child, as well as be a good example for his son. Unfortunately his wife hasn't accepted the lessons, but we'll see in the next little bit.

We had an interesting lesson with an Adventist pastor as well. He's actually the father of one of our other investigators, P------, so he was there for her lesson. Surprisingly it wasn't a typical bible bash on the Sabbath day. We started out by teaching P------ and explaining how to recognize the Holy Ghost, then the father starts telling us how he felt similar things one time, when he received the gift of healing... He told us about when he went around at the hospital one week just healing everybody with his gift that he had. My companion and I didn't really know how to respond, but we just said yes that was the Holy Ghost that he felt and the the Holy Ghost could help him know other things, like if the Book of Mormon is true, then we just taught him about that. He's a super nice guy with tons of faith. God must help his children through their faith even without the Priesthood. But next time we meet him, were ready to talk about the Sabbath.

Recently I've been struggling with the fact that a lot of our investigators progress slowly, whether it be not receiving answers to prayers or thanks to many worldly problems in their life, such as drugs, couple abuse, poverty, even crimes that have left them fairly scarred. However, these are people that want the Gospel and want to learn, and find solace in our lessons and in feeling the Spirit. Little by little their life does get better, but like I said, i struggle with the fact that its little by little and not miraculously in one week, and sometimes get impatient. Luckily I saw this video this week. http://bcove.me/0djeoayt

It made me realize that God works with his children according to their needs, little by little, according to a timing that He himself sees fit. Not always will people be able to change their life so quickly like I've seen with other investigators. But as long as they learn the Gospel and strive honestly to apply it, Heavenly Father will bless them and help them simply because He love them. But it takes patience.

That's the week! Thank you all for you love and your prayers, have yourselves a great week as well!

Elder Ball

Tera ava'e no Tiurai (Vairao - week 13)

Ia ora na!

Its been a good week yall. We've had some small successes in finding new investigators this week and some solid progression with our investigators. Aranui, the radio guy I talked about before, has been having a hard time accepting baptism because of family opposition. This week however, we learned that his family has finally accepted that he be baptized! It’s truly the answers to our prayers and surely his prayers. Since our first few lessons, he’s had powerful spiritual moments with the Book of Mormon, and he knows without a doubt that it’s the true church of Jesus Christ. He shall be baptized in August!

We also found a new investigator while we were out on the streets. We talked to him a little bit, and it turns out he had taken the lessons previously but left town for a time and just came back. His name’s Brandon. He’s a 19 year old dude whose dad is an inactive member. He told us about the first time he took a trip to the temple when he was invited for a ward activity about half a year back, and he felt the Spirit super strong when he touched the walls of the temple. We had a super solid first lesson with him, and he accepted right away the invitation to be baptized. He’s super shy, but he’s someone who has a real desire to change his life. I felt a real strong love for him while we taught him. We’re hoping things will continue well with him!

We also had a super great sacrament meeting this week when our stake president, President Tupai, came to speak about missionary work to our members and also teach the Gospel Principles class for the investigators. The Spirit was especially strong during this sacrament meeting, and the members were super motivated to work after such an experience. We had a member bring a new investigator originally from Tubuai that day, and were hoping to start the lessons with him this coming week.

I just wanted to share my thoughts about the atonement of Jesus Christ. Nothing can free us from the stinging burden of sin but the atonement itself. It is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can find a true happiness through his sacrifice. Alma in the Book of Mormon lived through it all as he was converted. "I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" So many people regret or sorrow over poor decisions that they have made in their life, and they often don’t know where to find relief for that. I testify that Jesus Christ is the way to find relief, He offered himself as a sacrifice and carried the burdens of our poor decisions so that we wouldnt have to.

That’s about it for this week! Here’s some pictures of chillin at the beach in Teahupoo. Love you all, have a good week!

Elder Ball

Too busy for an email (Vairao - week #12)

Hey mom, thanks for the email. Sadly, I wont be writing a long email this week, just because we don't have much time today. We have an activity planned, and normally because of emails we don't have time to do much during Pdays so for today I'm taking a break. I hope that doesn't bother you too much! We had a good week, found some good new investigators and we'll be doing some good things in the stake to find new investigators. I love you mom!

Casey Ball