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.

March 14, 2010

Well I'm not going to lie- that picture of Mount Olympus in the snow was looking more like paradise than the Palm Springs one. It may be less hot here in Rurutu but it's hot dangit. Anyways it sound like your never really home, which is awesome actually. We've got to see the world sometime.. Here it's actually been moderately interesting. First off Wednesday we went to cut a really old guys lawn with our ward. We had weed wacker, which here they use as a lawnmower usually, one lawnmower, and a rake. Then we ate at the only restaurant in all of Rurutu paid for by a guy in our ward. Life was good. We had a lesson Thursday where I apparently predicted the tsunami? I made a comparison that if we said there would be a tsunami tomorrow it would be the same as if God himself said it. Now I'm pretty sure these kids twisted my words a little but sure enough the next morning I woke up to the tsunami warning siren and our phone ringing. The assistants called us and they told us we were going to die. "There's a ten meter wave! Run to the mountains!" We took the essentials, locked up our other stuff and peaced out on our crap shack. After waiting forever with the ward, we got bored and played soccer until finally they said it was safe to come down. Then we went to the dock where there actually was a really, really weak sauce tsunami. The ocean pulled way back then just filled up again. Then we left. I went with the branch president and we had some real success with the inactives and our investigators alike. Also we got some new investigators this week. I can't really say how many cause I don't know how many will actually stick with it. The work is moving forward here, it's just really slow. I'm learning a lot about patience everyday. We're leaving Wednesday for a zone conference in Papeete and coming back Friday. Then we'll see about transfers. I'm praying it's me. Although a guy in my district who is now a zone leader heard rumor that my companion will be the one who leaves. DANG! We'll see though. Well that's about all for now. I'm just looking forward to that Mothers day phone call.

March 7, 2011

Yo everyone, how goes it? I'll just get right to answering the questions- our mission leader guy likes almost everyone but me so I don't know what's up. But we're cool again. Also I don't really talk to my companion about obedience the way you'd think. I know what happens, usually they go twice as hard in the other direction and they stay mad for a long time. So I show a good example and talk to investigators and stuff about all the rules we keep. It actually works, he is soooooo much better than before. It's much better. Plus we get along incredibly well, we never really disagree at all. To kill a pig you knock it down on it's side, then you place the tip of the machete on his chest and give a good push till you get the heart. Also you can go from the side in between the ribs. I've done both now. Well anyways here's this week in a nutshell- Tuesday I ate a sea urchin and they are as gross as they look. My companion crashed on that crazy hill I told you guys about. Normally we try and go way fast but that day we were like, "Let's just take it easy today." Then I heard him go down behind me. When I stopped to see the carnage miraculously he came out of the wilderness almost untouched. But he broke the rim of his bike. It didn't just bend, it broke. He's a big guy. Otherwise we had a few lessons and even gave a couple blessings this week. Things are progressing here but very slowly. I'll be sad to leave here but also stoked at the same time.

February 28, 2011

Today has been nuts, first off we went out fishing this morning. The branch president caught the first fish after only his second cast. So I went out too and on about the third cast I got a hold of something giant. But he was too big and he broke the line. Same story for my companion. I can't believe The Bear is headed in Wednesday. I know if he toughs it out the first couple weeks he'll power through his whole mission. Tell him the we need him here. We need a champion dang it! Well as for me it's been an aalright couple of weeks I guess. We've done a ton of service projects. I think almost every day this week we had one. I'm getting real good at planting taro. Too good in fact. Also I'm a better raker than I have ever been. And now I am getting good at going into the jungle and searching for palm leaves. Nothing is quite so manly as heading into the wild with a machete killing nature. It's nuts in there. Hmmm, pretty much all of my experiences are temporal; I have no good spiritual stories. Sorry guys, hang in there. It's hard on a small island but the work is progressing anyways. Little by little we are finding new people to teach who are very interested in the gospel. Not the those eternal investigators that we have had for years. We have gotten a couple in the last few weeks - Edé, who found us, Ari Fara, who we found, and finally Terio, we speaks only really fast pure Rurutu and who we have taught the first principle of the gospel to three times and he still says we haven't taught anything. Rurutu is for the most part Tahitian except they've changed a few words and the don't pronounce the f's or the h's. So it's just t's and vowels. And it's fetchin hard. Anyways back to the experiences - We did a random service project in our church clothes the other day, random. Also at another service project my companion caught a rooster while the two of them were fighting; it was way funny. Oh yes and as for the second pig I killed, it was a big one. At least bigger than me. It was a nuts kill. You guys will love the pictures. I'll fill up a couple of memory cards and send them to you guys.

I'll do a better job of concealing them, too. Thanks for the packages. I'll see if they beat me there. It's the 16th we go up. Then yes, hopefully I'll come back for a week and get transferred. I'll keep on working on that baptism for here until then. But either way, even though I love this sector I can't wait to get to a new one. Well that's all for today, see you next week.

February 14, 2011

I did a year. That was probably one of the more significant moments on my mission. From now on it's less time to go than I have done. I burned a shirt as tradition goes, also I damaged the church's fence as tradition goes. It was totally worth it! Although the next day I had to go wash it with gas and repaint it, too. Then the next day we did some wild stuff. First off we went to Auti for a lesson; it's not really that long but it tires you out fast. But then we needed to go to Avera which is ridiculously far away because you need to go around like the whole island. Well we weren't doing that! So we took some random "short cut" road into the mountain. We walked up an almost 45 degree slope for nearly an hour. Then when we got on top we realized we were on the top of the island. Then we went to this random facility up there to ask the best way down. some random old man speaking only Rurutu invited is into his goat farm thing. He us some much needed water and even watermelon. It was a life saver. Well we went our way and took the nutsiest decent ever. The road was full of ruts and rocks. Only the strongest trucks can handle a road like that. Well anyways we were hauling down that mountain like none other cause it was so steep I don't think we could have stopped. Then the wire for my back brakes slipped so I no longer had use of them. I came flying out at the bottom only having my front brakes in action. But I survived and I totally loved it. We fixed my brakes so we're definitely hitting that up again next week. And later to make it all worth it I ate my first ever hamburger in Rurutu there. Really that's it as far as stories go. It really was a great week though. We are really starting to see some progress in this sector. All the work is paying off. We're seeing some new investigators and a few more lessons with them. so yeah just know that even down here in the middle of no where, where no one looks the work is progressing.

February 7, 2011

I'll leave around the 14th for a zone conference and then pretty soon after it's transfers. I'm kinda bummed though cause I know I am just due to head into the ghetto streets of FAA'A. No more beaches, there's more crazy people too. Anyways for now everything is good out here. The work is starting to move along a little better. We're making friends with more and more people. Investigators and lost sheep as well. There are entire villages who have all fallen away from the church. Villages man! But it's okay we're there for them. Pretty soon this area will see success and our tiny church will fill up. This week not all that much really happened. We had one sweet lesson yesterday. We taught lesson one - simple.. So I taught about God. On all the islands that is a very simple subject cause they already know. But this guy straight up had no idea who he was or how to pray or anything. It was the first time I had ever met anyone like that. Well we taught the crap out of him and it was so cool to see that knowledge come to him. Normally he is way timid but by the end he was pretty talkative. The spirit was there even though at first we listened to their Protestant fireside thing. That's really all that happened lesson wise. I also cut a huge field with weed wackers. It's a weird culture, like no one has a lawnmower. They loved to see the Marite out there in action. Anyways that's all I really have to say. Oh and of coarse I am stoked for the year mark. It's kind of cool actually to think I have been out for that long.

January 31, 2010

Hopefully the prayers of a ton of missionaries will do a ton of good.Just the other day my companion received an answer to his prayer. We stopped by the ocean to have a little lunch and before we prayed I took a bite out of my pamplemousse (It's like a grapefruit but white inside and green outside). Hah I love the name... Pamplemousse. Anyways it was way super sour, I hated it. Then he stood up to say the prayer. He asked- "Please bless my companion's pamplemousse to be sweeter." I kind of laughed and took a bite- sour as ever. Then when I took the second bite it was ridiculously sweet. My eyes went all wide and I thanked my companion and Heavenly Father, too. Such a stupid little thing but it was awesome. This week was better than the others. I feel like the work worked a little better. Despite three quarters of our lessons always canceling things went well this week. We're really getting in contact with more people now. People are starting to accept us and they invite us to come and talk with them. Just the other day we received our first ever reference here in Rurutu. The guy approached some members and asked about the church. They told him that we would pass. Well we did. And he couldn't have been more stoked. He loved that we were out preaching and that I spoke the native language. Really that about sums up the week. It's great to see the work progressing here. I know when I leave they'll have tons of baptisms, as the mission goes. It's great though; we've taken some eternal investigators and really gotten them to turn around and prepare for baptism. I love the work and despite how hard it is sometimes it all pays off in the end. If every missionary in the whole world does his best pretty soon every single person will hear the gospel.