April 11, 2011

Wednesday I feel like we really worked hard. We mowed a lawn, which isn't so simple here.. But we got it done way fast. There we're three of us with giant power weed wackers at the same time. But probably the worst experience of my life happened too. So I was cutting along and I saw some dog crap; so I thought to my self "mmm better not touch that" then the cord lengthened exploding the dog crap into my face and all over my body. I was in shock. It was a new experience for me to have dog crap all over me. Well I was diligent and kept at it for a few hours until I could go take a shower. Nasty man. Also the same day we had a lesson with an inactive family. Well the situation changed so I needed to change the lesson. I asked my companion to do the revision (as we had planned) so that I could quickly find something for the situation. He refused to teach, as he sometimes does, thus leaving me to do everything. Wonderful.. In the end they're all just funny stories. Otherwise this whole week I've been sick and finally Friday I just stayed at branch president's house to try and get better. It kind of didn't work. But I'm almost better now. Finally Sunday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. Everyone liked it but the thing that shocked me the most was Omer. He told me that it was "super" just imagine that in a French accent being told to you by a fat guy. I loved it! It's the nicest thing he's ever said to me. Oh yeah, first off Mike and Mayana got the package and they absolutely loved it. The towel for the baby, the candy for the kids, the CD for Mayana and the hard drive for Mike. They were soooo stoked. They love the CD so it just stays in their car and plays over and over. Tell Marshall he's a hit here in Rurutu and also in Tahiti. One more random thing, I finally saw Nelson and Clark's little video. I loved it! That was sooooo sweet! I saw you as well as other members. I love our ward man. Currently I am happy here just trying to do as much as I can despite the holdbacks and I'm looking towards a brighter future. I did see conference. Not all of it, and not in English but I saw more than anyone else on this island. The second most was Elder Marae who saw a little and slept a little. Then some youth got to see about 45 minutes. Other than that no one saw any of it except for me. I the best! (In Toads gayish voice).

April 5, 2011

Here's a last resort email. We're at an inactive member's house and he's got Internet. I talked to the branch president about it. He said it's good so long as he's here. I guess some missionaries used to come here when he wasn't here and watch porn. Yeah, okay missionaries... Anyways I won't write much, however- I can't believe that piece of crap photo card! Why couldn't they have stolen that one?! It's fine though, I've still got the back ups. That was everything though. I'll work on it next month when I am in Tahiti. Yes, I'm getting transferred in "one month, the end of this month or the beginning of May" but I don't know where. I'm going to get those darn photos to you guys if it's the death of me. Hang in there kids. The moment we all show real patience, which is not just waiting but also not get frustrated, we'll catch our break. That's a kind of a quote from the German in The First Presidency. So basically the moment you don't care about the burden, it gets lifted off you. I just thought I would let you know our president came here on Friday. He wasn't here for too long but it was awesome. We just went around and saw random investigators then our president just threw down the gospel for them. He is a POWERFUL man when he teaches. He mentioned to me that you guys emailed him, cool beans. Well after an awesome day we also contacted a couple of guys on the beach. They were nice; we committed one of them to take the lessons in a couple weeks when he goes to Tahiti for school. Then we said goodbye. Well today we went out to Naa'iroa to ride horses and go one hike. IT was all planned by an inactive member. Well when we showed up it was them. They took us out bareback riding on the beach. We ended up at a sweet cave. Then we left the horses and walked all the way to Avera on the reef. At the end we caught three octopuses. The videos are pretty sweet of him pulling these monsters out of the rocks and slaughtering them with a machete while they ink everywhere. Well there's a long rundown of the week. What four more emails and then phone call? Sotally Toked. Well I'll talk to you next week. Enjoy the snow. It's hot here in the afternoon but I can't imagine it's as hot as Brazil. Good luck with all of life's little tests, they are but a small moment. God said so.. Talk to you next week.

March 28, 2011

Brazilian vacation, how are you? It sounds like Brazil is fun. I would love to visit other missions sometime. Maybe we can go see the Johanson's or someone sometime. I've recently gotten the desire to explore the world, random huh? By the way I got the earlier mentioned packages and I have thoroughly enjoyed all the contents. Thank you so much. Tell the Sunday School thanks, too. Loved it! As for the other two I expect them within a couple weeks. Also I sent an 8gig memory card home last week which should arrive next week or maybe the week after. And yes, it's full. Here we've had some interesting changes. We got our new companion, he's actually in the same district as Elders Marae (my current companion) and the one before (Alvarez). His name is Elder Penehata and I love the guy. The reason he is here is cause apparently he punched an investigator in the face? I don't know what all that's about. It makes life interesting though.. This week was more of the same. I realize I'll never understand God's will until after. But I had two lifesavers this week. First off an inactive member made us tacos. I can't even express in words my love for tacos. And the second happened yesterday. After church we went to a lesson with a somewhat new investigator. He's twelve years old and very interested. Well we taught him about the Book of Mormon and he seemed kind of out of it.. Well at the end of the lesson I asked him if he had prayed about Joseph Smith. That was it. He immediately began telling us of the night he had asked. I won't go into too much detail now but basically he had a vision of his search amongst all the false churches until only one remained. That's my thought but it was coded with trees and stuff. Nuts though huh? I may or may not have taught a soon to be prophet. Anyways that's about all. I'm just going to press forward and hope for a brighter future. But for the meantime little experiences like that let me know why I'm here. Hopefully you'll get to see me soon via memory card. That way I won't turn into some kind of imagined being only recognized as words on a Blackberry screen.

March 21, 2011

Well I'll cut right to the chase- I'm not leaving this crazy place. We're actually receiving a third elder here. He should be getting here this week or next and we have no idea who he is. Although we both think it's a new guy. Then after "a few weeks" I'll be leaving. I'm stoked actually; maybe that's what this sector needs in order to really get going. Looking back though this sector has really improved since when I first got here. Despite the MANY obstacles we've pulled it off until now. Wednesday we went up to the main island. What a difference. I went with a couple other missionaries to teach some lessons and stuff and I thought I was going to die for sure. I was just waiting to get knifed by someone at the houses. Then on the road we just cruised in between cars through red lights over curbs through sketchy metal poles just wide enough for a bike and many other things. It was way fun though. Then our conference was killer as ever. I'm pretty sure the elders in that zone are like the highest baptising in the world.They had done a hundred this year alone. Also we went to the French wanna be Costco and finally bought all the things we need. And finally the best part was I was able to go to McDonald's with Elder Redding from my district. I nearly died. Then we got to teach together and finally we all slept at there house. He's a Zone leader; that makes three of the six from my district who are currently zone leaders. Nuts huh? The next morning we almost missed our flight. When we got there, they escorted us to the fronts of all the lines. Then we went out to the airplane and a friend of ours was the guy waiting to close the door. He put us to shame. But we made it in, sat down, and not but thirty seconds after we took of. We were soooooooo close. Then we got a way sweet contact with a guy who was at an investigator's house. The investigator wasn't there so we just started chatting with him. Then both at the same moment we felt the need to ask him to take the lessons. Nailed it! He totally became interested. Later that night we had and activity at the ward and I was making sweet progress with a non-member who was there until a fight broke out right next to us between the two former branch presidents. Uhhhh...Okay. Lost that one. Fortunately the got stopped before they actually hit each other. The final news is a very good one- We challenged an investigator named Mahao to get baptised April 16th. I really hope that it will go through on the said date. If it works out I'll have at least one baptism while here in Rurutu. Hope and pray with me. We'll see what happens. Oh and one very last thought, we officially know what day we will come home. An elder from our district asked the office couple. Well, I'll see you guys March 1st I guess. Two years just isn't enough for us. Gotta love it baby.