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

So much power in one little book part 2 (Vairao - week 11)

Ia ora na!

First week with Elder Tera was a success. He's the bomb, and its good to be the getting the languages down with the native companion. We've had some ups and downs in our area this week, but we're expecting things to improve with the coming weeks. We've been working HARD, man.

First off, there's been tons of things happening here in Vairao this weekend. For one, it's the world cup finals so everyone turns off their brain for a bit to watch the tele. For another, there were town elections, and I'm not joking politics here are like a sporting event. The elections take place Sunday, and the Saturday before is madness. Everyone goes out in the streets with their cars and huge speaker systems and parades around the city with colored flags and T-shirts representing the political group that they support. They play super loud music and honk their horns, and the different groups go into open fields and do cheers... What? Even my Tahitian companion scratches his head about this behavior. Its absolute madness, all about a town election that probably makes no difference in the outcome. Like I said in another email,, Tahitians look for excuses to party!

Its been a pain for Elder Tera and I, mostly because the work dwindles. In spite of the neighborhood family night, the sacrament meeting in which we spoke, and our Sunday night fireside that we put on this week, we didn't have much fruit, since members and amis were out doing other things. Its good to see where everyone's priorities are! We saw it coming, but that's why we pushed for so much activity in the ward for the week. We're hoping that next week will yield greater results in terms of our activities with the ward.

Like I said, we were blessed with some ups to balance out the downs! Friday we had a lot of free time, so Elder Tera and I decided to go out to Fenua Aihere to do look for some teaching opportunities. We met some cool people who are interested in the gospel. Among them is the grandmother of Elder Firuu, my old companion! She's already received the lessons, and she received us and was impressed with our Tahitian, so she wants to see us again. We expect to go even further out into the wilderness some other time to find others who are ready to receive us. Also,I  snapped a sweet photo while we were out there. It was a full moon that night, it was rad.

Full moon in the Fenua Aihere wilderness

We also had a sweet lesson with T-----. He has had a hard time believing the importance of authority in baptizing, since he was already baptized Protestant. Last week we read 3 Nephi 11 with him, and asked him to pray about the Book of Mormon and its teachings on baptism. Sunday we were able to meet with him, and in doing the follow up he said "I thought about it a little bit... I want to be rebaptized." Score! He said in the past week he's had really powerful, spiritual witnesses in reading the Book of Mormon, and he recognized the need for proper baptism. What a blessing to have after a somewhat difficult weekend!

Like I said maybe two weeks ago, the Book of Mormon is absolute power. That was actually the subject of my talk in sacrament meeting on Sunday. When the Spirit testifies to us of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, it all becomes clear what needs to be done in our life. Without the Book of Mormon, we don't have all the information that we need, despite the existence of the Bible. Its pretty clear, seeing how many churches can't agree with one another in their interpretations of the Bible. Surely God didn't want so much confusion among His children. I once again bear my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true, it is the word of God.

That's a wrap for this week! Love you all.

Elder Ball

Good changes (Vairao - week 10)

Ia ora na tatou!

This week brought a ton of new changes into the missionary life. First of all, we had a transfer happen this morning and Elder Larsen was transferred to Hitiaa, on the other side of the island. It was way tough to see him go, because for him he truly loved our ward and him and I grew pretty close. He'll boss it up over there in his new area. That means that Elder Tera will be my new companion! He's from Papeete, and he's already 22 months through his mission. I could be the one to "kill" him (meaning I'm his last companion). He's way chill, hes super into surfing and long boarding, so we get along good. It also means that for a few weeks I'll be taking the reins and leading the area, in addition to the whole zone (gulp...). Hopefully I won't utterly destroy things while leading!

We had some very special opportunities this week. Were continuing the lessons with R------ after a small stand-by, since he's been too busy to see us recently. He's doing great, he's been awesome in terms of the Word of Wisdom and he smokes rarely these days. Even without the lessons he hast ceased to pray or read the scriptures. What a stud!

He also asked us to give blessings to his parents, who also aren't members. So one day Elder Larsen and I show up to their home to do a lesson with R------. He wasn't there, but his parents were, and they asked us to give them blessings for some sicknesses that they have. This is a golden opportunity for any missionary. We gave both S-------, the mother, and M-----, the father, blessings, and the Spirit was so incredibly strong during those moments. After we finished, M----- went to go get us something to drink while S-------, with tears in her eyes, explained to us that she felt a real warm feeling while we gave the blessing. She said it was something that she felt like she needed for a long time. What an incredible blessing it was to take part in that! We feel that this family could be a huge potential. We'll be keeping close contact with them.

We also had a mission conference with our new mission president, President Bize. He truly has a different personality that President Sinjoux, but he is way awesome. He is incredibly energetic and pretty hilarious, and he has a solid testimony on the Book of Mormon, him himself being a convert to the church. He'll bring a lot to this mission, he's someone who is easy to love and very personable.

Life is good in the zone and in the area. Just trying to keep cool and love life. I love you all and have a good week!

Elder Ball

So much power in one little book (Vairo - week 9)

Ia ora na tatou!

Solid week. We were blessed to have baptisms this week for two girls, H---- who is 9 and H----- who is 10. Their story is awesome. I'll do my best to tell it how it was told to us by their mother.

H---- and H----'s mom, H------, is a very inactive member who truly wants the best for her family. One day she was a little worried and discouraged about the welfare of her little family in the midst of many trials. And while overcome with these feelings of sadness, she felt the urge to look for something in a certain sack in the garage to help her. She figured out what she was looking for before she found it: her old Book of Mormon. She was flooded with feelings of comfort and relief as she leafed through the pages of her old scriptures, and she figured out what she needed to do to have the happiness that she desired in her family. So the next weekend she came to church with her children, found me and Elder Larsen and asked for lessons for her children. You don't normally have people come up to you asking you for lessons, so of course Elder Larsen and I fixed a date and the rest is history! The father, who isn't a member, was very touched by the baptismal service, and were praying that he will accept the lessons soon enough so that this family can be one step closer to an eternity together.

The whole family

In other news, Elder Larsen and I were super sick one day during the week. We ate something nasty. Were not really sure what it was, could've been the 2-day old chow mein sandwich that a member gave us or the pounds of sashimi we ate later that night. Either way the next day was spent groveling either on the toilet or in bed. Elder Larsen luckily didn't get it as bad as I did. I felt pretty bad because I'm sure he wanted to go out and visit people. Well, its the price to pay for eating gourmet Tahitian food.

After a nice recovery, we were blessed with other rad experiences. Soeur T------- (who we call Tati which pretty much means "aunt") is one of our rad member missionaries in the ward. Shes the member who helps us out with K---- and A-----. The lessons go super well with them, and A----- is way into the Book of Mormon. However, shes not too quick to accept the invitation to be baptized even though she understands the need for authority, shes still way attached to Catholic tradition. Luckily Tati is there! She visits them every day when Elder Larsen and I cant and does family nights with them every Monday. It pays to have solid member missionaries, and things progress so much better when they're always next to our investigators.

Speaking of Tati, I guess you could say that she received revelation for us that all the investigators who gave us food to eat during the course of their taking lessons have ended up being baptized. We looked back and yep sure enough that's the case, even H------, H---- and H-----. Then Friday we were supposed to have a first lesson with some new potential investigators named T---- and H---. When we get there, they invite us in and we see laid out on the table fish and rice and crepes and a whole meal. Tuare says "before we get start talking all gospel, lets eat first!" Elder Larsen and I look at each other. I saw fish, but I smelled baptism. We ate and had a super good time with each other, then Elder Larsen and I shared a simple message on the atonement of Jesus Christ. The Spirit was way strong in that house, and after inviting them to continue lessons with us they accepted. It was a great night, and we already built a good friendship with them. We'll see if the Tati prophecy holds true!

Elder Ball and the others that live in the same house together.

Finally and sadly, we said goodbye to President Sinjoux and his wife and welcomed President Bize and his wife this weekend at a last missionary concert. I'm going to really miss President Sinjoux, he was someone who truly loved the missionaries and was as a father to us. I am also looking forward to working with President Bize. He has a good vision of moving the work forward and will be solid I'm sure.

Lastly (this emails way longer than i wanted) I wanted to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon that it is no doubt the word of God. It is proof that God exists, that Jesus is the Christ and most importantly, that His true church, the one true way, is restored to the earth. I was impressed by a Jeffery R. Holland talk that i rediscovered this week about the Book of Mormon. To quote a part from his talk, "No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.” I know that the Book of Mormon is true. That is something that I will never be able to deny. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng

That's it for this week! Thanks for reading even though it was years long, I love you all and a faaitoito!

Elder Ball

Elder Ball's favorite place within his area (watching world class surfers).

No long email from Casey this week (Vairao - week #8)

[This was an email from Casey. It was the height of the World Cup, with everyone glued to their TVs.  I think the missionaries underestimate the impact that it has on their work. I had asked him if the World Cup was a big deal.]

Hey Mom,

Thanks for the email! We actually don't have a lot of free time today so I'm not gonna write a big email. The whole zone had another tough week this week, we ended up not having a baptism in any of the areas, but it's probably because of the transfers. We had a transfer in almost every single companionship, except for mine and Elder Larsen. We got a new elder in our house named Elder Abbate from France, he used to be Jehovah Witness and he's way awesome. He's being trained by Elder Brown, who just finished his training. Things are great in the house.

It was tough this week because we have spent weeks preparing a ward activity which consisted of multiple activity stations like dance, sport, cooking, stuff like that. Saturday, the day of the activity, about half of the people responsible for the groups cancelled last minute, and basically no one came to the activity despite being announced like everywhere. Needless to say it was a failure! But Elder Larsen and I decided that failures make grown men out of babies or babies out of grown men, depending on how you react. We decided to be grown men and kinda forget that it all happened I guess! Were hoping for a better week. We actually do have two baptisms scheduled for us next week.

And yes the World Cup is big news here, since it's a French territory. Of course the missionaries stay in a state of oblivion but that's normal.

That's about it. I love you mom, hope that you are all fine.

Elder Ball

Sometimes you hit a wall (Vairao- week #7)

Ia ora na tatou paatoa!

Alright, this week has been great overall. But like my title suggests, sometimes missionaries hit a wall. And I admit that this week was one of those weeks! After a succession of pretty action packed weeks here at Vairao, Elder Larsen and I got a little unlucky with tons of lessons cancelled, some baptisms pushed back and sickness. It felt like that we hit a straight up wall because we were building a lot of momentum the past few weeks, and this week felt like one of the slowest, progress-lacking weeks that we've had in a while. But that's alright, because despite the trials there's always some highlights in the week and hope for better weeks ahead! Its good to have a nice P-Day to recharge a little and get our heads together.

This week we actually went on splits with a couple of Priest-age young men one day, Curtis and Hitinui. It was an awesome learning experience for everyone and the young men had the chance to practice teaching and proclaiming the gospel. I went out with Hitinui, and we were able to talk to a lot of people, practice our OLB (ouvrir la bouche=open the mouth) and do a couple of lessons. It was good times, and doing splits like this strengthens the bonds between us and the members, and I hope that it helps the young men out a ton too in preparing for their own missions.

We had a couple lessons with A----- and K--- this week. Our first one was Tuesday, and we had a super lesson with them about the Restoration that answered all of A-----'s questions about where to find the truth. She and Karl dug it. Then during the split, Elder Larsen and Curtis went to see em again (sadly I wasn't there for the lesson but I wanna talk about it anyway cuz its flippin sweet). According to what Elder Larsen told me, A---- had read up to 1 Nephi 15 in the Book of Mormon since the visit just two days before and was talking about it like she was a BYU religion professor. She then asked if we had more scriptures, and when they replied yes she demanded that she have it all. Next time we plan on giving her the triple combination as well as some teachings of the modern prophets. That is what you call hungering and thirsting after righteousness.

There are always amazing things that happen in the work, despite the other difficulties that are so common in missionary life. I can say that there is nothing at all in this world quite like being a full time missionary. I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything else, and I probably wont realize the impact that they have had on my life until I return home.

That's the good stuff for this week, I love you all and keep the faith!

Elder Ball