Ua haamaitaihia maua teie hepetoma! Ua maua i paraiiho Te Atua i te mau mahana atoa. E ere faamana'o ore ona ia maua. We've been blessed this week! God is with us every day. He never forgets us. We've seen some good things happen here this week, and that's not thanks to us.
First, some updates:
We still haven't talked to the father of Moeava, and it doesn't look like it's going to happen soon. Some people lack faith, and don't think it's a good idea. Also, there are some more things that we need to do to help him be more willing to accept. Faaitoito ia maua! Thanks for all the prayers and help with her!
Purotu still hasn't prayed to know her baptismal date. We're still trying to figure what's holding her back. Meanwhile, we had a lesson with her this week. We talked about Eternal Life, and the road it takes to achieve it (see 2 Nephi 31). We talked a lot about God's plan for her, the happiness she'll receive after this life and other blessings, and our purpose as missionaries to help her receive Eternal Life. The Spirit was strong, the only one who really taught in the lesson. We're just hoping she'll act on that.
Okay, and now for some good stuff that happened this week:
We got three references. One was for this old man who speaks almost only Tahitian. We went with DMB who talked with him for about seven seconds in Tahitian and we set up a lesson with him. I'll talk about him later. We also got a reference for a woman and her husband. We set up a lesson with her. When we came by, her husband wasn't there, but her eight year old son was there and seemed really interested in the lesson (mostly the pictures, but he also gave some input). Aimee*, the wife and mother, is quiet, and isn't familiar with religious stuff. Her son, onthe other hand, knows quite a bit, and he answered some harder questions. Definitely some potential there.
Two nights later, we hade a dinner appointment with a member who said he invited a nonmember couple. We would be able to give a quick lesson, gain two new investigators, and eat. That night, the guest came in (her husband couldn't make it) and guess who it is? Aimee! So we gave another little lesson. What are the chances? We still haven't taught her husband, but hopefully this week we can.
This week we were able to participate (and by participate, I mean give entirely) a lesson-soirée thing for the Priesthood. We watched some films and talked about them. It was really good. I think everyone left edified. Also, probably about a fourth of the people there are people we teach, members or investigators. Sweet!
One day this week, Elder Terry got super sick. We ended up staying in most of the day. C'est dommage because we had a lot of good stuff planned. The thing was that when he got sick, he started having hallucinations. The whole day. I ended up taking care of a sick guy trying to get me to massage his calves and convinced coke would make him feel better. That's an experience I won't quickly forget. At the end of the day, We managed to get in a lesson. I went on splits with Elder Nelson and the two of us along with DMB went to visit this Tahitian speaking reference. It started out all right. I spoke slowly in french, speaking tahitian when I could, and when this Tahitian couldn't understand, DMB would translate. The problem is that once a tahitian starts talking in tahitian, they generally won't switch back. I was left to rely on the few french words thrown in there and the few tahitian words I know. I kind of got the idea of what he was talking about. The big idea is that he feels really close to God. Everytime he goes fishing, he prays for protection from sharks, etc and he loves talking about the gospel. He's also catholic. I think we could make a lot of progress with him, but I don't know how much we can do in just french. Time to start studying! That's also the second time I've taught an investigator in tahitian so far on my mission.
Also, do you remember the story about the mami obsessed with finding the five elders who proposed to her? We were eating at their house this week when we get a call from an ancient elder who's trying to come back. Somehow he got our number and tried to get us to help him find a place to stay. Anyway, he called and mami said "Ask him who his branch president was!" So we asked, and sure enough, it was the branch president from some elder who proposed to her. You wouldn't believe how excited she got. Finally we got the name of the elder, and he was the companion of one who proposed to this little mami at whose house we were eating that night. What are the chances?! That's another thing I'm not going to forget.
Things are good here, and the work always progresses. God lives and loves us! He's always watching out for us.
Elder Lewis
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