Fight to the End

Each week here starts out awesome and I think that the rest of the week will be like that, but then everything goes kind of down hill. But that's okay, as long as we're trying our hardest. This week we had a few good miracles. We went to try and visit a person that we had contacted a long time ago. We had thought that she was pretty potential, but then we never saw her again. It was the same this time, so we decided to ask her neighbors to see when she might be home. We found this guy that talked to us a little bit, not much about religion. He's a DJ and did the music for a New Years Ball for another stake that went until six in the morning. Normally everyone is out at danses long before, but because no one was drinking, they had energy until six a.m. Haha way to set the example, mormons! Anyway, he said that we could come back, so we did. Before we could even talk about religion the second visit, he asked about a book that the mormons have. So we gave him one and explained it, and right there in front of us he read the intro and the first four chapters. He was super interested! We came back two days later and he had almost finished the first book of Nephi and had remembered perfectly the story. It's pretty interesting, he's studied with témoins de Jéhovah, catholiques, and muslims. He's been looking for the truth, and now he's found it!

We also started teaching (or trying to teach) a short fat Tahitian papi who only speaks in Tahitian and keeps asking for the phone number of the temple president. He wants to get baptised (I think) but can't read, and it's a little difficult. 

Kalili* came back from Hikueru this week. Normally her baptism was fixed for this week, and normally she should've gotten married at Hikueru, but that didn't happen. We had thought that she would've fallen a little bit at Hikueru, but actually it worked out well. She had gone to the Chapelle each week, and had pretty much been immersed in church stuff for the past month. One of the first things she told us when she got back was that she and her Tane had made the goal to come to church every week without missing, and that they would pay their tithing fully. Woah!! The mariage might not have worked out, but there was some change that took place, and now she's closer to baptism.

Oh, also we met the weirdest religion the other day. We didn't even mean to talk to these people, but when they saw us outside, they invited us in. They offered us some water, and we accepted. Then, after we drank it, they just stared at us for twenty seconds, and then one of them asked "don't you feel dizzy?" We then asked why they had asked. They responded "because you just drank holy water."  Is that how you say it in English? L'eau béni. Anyway, they then started talking about their religion, the five gods that they pray to, the cleansing bath that you take before entering into their religious building, their prayer to bless the food which is in English and includes the phrase "We ask to the five gods to take out the nuclear poison out of this food". They asked me to translate that prayer and I had now idea what to tell them. That was one of the most interesting experiences of my life, that's for sure. 

Other than that not much news. Transfers are next week. We should be getting the call on Friday. It's not sure, but it's almost sure that we're going to whitewash the secteur. I bore my testimony in Tahitian yesterday at the Chapelle. My compagnon rated it a six out of ten. The members laughed at it afterwards, but one thing that was cool was when afterwards our old DMP came up with a lit up face and told me I did a good job (in tahitian of course). If you remember, he has refused to say one word to me in French since I've been here.

Anyway, love you all, have a great week, until next time. I'll leave you with a scripture:

2Timothée 4:7

J'ai combattu le bon combat, j'ai achevé La course, j'ai gardé la foi. 

I hope that we can all say that when we meet our Father at the end of this life. I hope that we can use this verse throughout our lives to persevere, to not give up. Keep the faith! Finish the race! Keep going, even if you don't think you'll make it or if you're losing hope. The prize at the end is priceless. 

Elder Lewis