No E-mail

There's no big email from Elder Lewis this week but I thought I'd fill in the gap by posting a few things he sent to his mother.

In regards to getting sand in his shoes:  Everyday, multiple times. And it's annoying with my sandals because they are ridged on the edges, so sand can't just fall through the cracks. I have to turn my shoe upside down. Fiu!

His favorite Tahitian food:  Probably sashimi. I guess that's not actually Tahitian food, but they eat it all the time. Maybe poulet citron? breaded chicken with a lemon sauce and rice. Anything with fish is good too.

His favorite missionary teaching experience:  I can't really think of a certain one from all my mission, I'll have to think about that one. But there have been a few times where my companion and I have shared testimonies using personal experiences and the spirit comes in strong, then we testify of God's love for that person and you can see them gain understanding and knowledge, remembering things they knew at one point before they were born. That's really cool to see.

In regards to coconut water:  With the coco water, it's disgusting at first, but you just gotta keep drinking it. At one point, it will become the most delicious taste!  After like twenty, thirty times, it suddenly tastes amazing. Yeah, I hit that point a few months ago. I just couldn't drink it at first.

It's Only Through Christ That We Can Be Saved

Iaorana tatou!

The work is still struggling here a bit but it's not entirely bad.  We've spent a lot of time finding people true desires- to stop smoking, to get baptised, etc. Sadly, there are some that openly will say that they want to be better, that they want to change, but inside they don't really want that. We have seen some good progress though!

Things are going better with Beau. We've talked a lot about prayer and persevering in the gospel and the blessings we can recieve. We've been trying to get him to pray, and we finally did! Each time he says that he's not ready, but he'll try to do it on his own. Then he did it! He warned us that it wouldn't be long, but he'd try. than he gave a short but pretty meaningful prayer. After, he admitted that he had been thinking all day about what he would say. haha dedication right there!  

At church this week we had some unexpected investigators. We had six show up, probably the most I've seen at Takaroa, and five were ones that never come. Aimee, her grandson, Anne (Moeava's sister, we still haven't managed to start lessons with her though), Mahana. Let's hope these experiences will strengthen their desires to get baptised.

Honestly, not many other exciting things have happened this week, we're just continuing the work.  The weather's cooling down, July fetes are going to start in the next few weeks, and around then the island will come alive. 

Sorry there's not much  this week, maybe next time. Have a good week everybody. Remember that the church is true and that it's only through Christ that we can be saved.

Elder Lewis

They cut a bunch of trees down to put in houses, so we took the chance to get coeur de cocotier. It's pretty good in salads

 

And we drank coco 

And ate some

 

Made some onion rings and burgers (if you can really call it that)

Pressing Forward in Faith

Hey everyone! We're starting to pick up the work again over here. We've seen lots of blessings this week.

There has been lots of improvement with Nunui. He works more now and is not always there for the lessons, so our progress has been slow with him recently. But this week we found him again. We taught him and his girlfriend about the temple. They've chosen the fourth of august for their marriage. It's not for sure going to happen then, but that's the plan. They don't want help from the church or anything. At the end of that lesson, Nunui asked Elder Terry if he could borrow his sneakers for futsal. Elder Terry had been planning on giving them to him, so he did right then. I've never seen a look of more joy on his face when he found out he would be getting free nikes! Now he's best friends with Elder Terry, which is pretty good for the missionary work.

A few days later we taught them again, this time about the word of wisdom. Basically anyone who isn't an active member of the church smokes and drinks, so we decided to get that out of the way early to help him really prepare for his baptism. We talked for twenty minutes and by then he gave a huge nod and a loud yes! that he would keep the follow the word of wisdom. Woah! That's the first time on my mission that someone has agreed to do that! What a blessing! He's really ready, it's just a matter of time, and we're trying to set up his baptism date for the same day as his marriage.

Jean*, our member integrator for Beau, and also an inactif, has made a lot of progress. He was touched by a lesson we gave about a month ago and from that moment on stopped smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol. Paka was a little harder but two weeks later he quit that also and went and talked to president.  We're super excited for him! He's working on getting the priesthood soon.

We also taught Adrien, another inactif, about faith and the things that God can do through our faith. A while ago he stopped smoking cigarettes completely, but stopping paka is really hard for him. It was cool to see his understanding grow as we taught and he gained an even stronger desire to stop, and to show God that he has faith in him, to show god his works so that God will give him help. I wish all of us had that mentality all the time.

Saturday is normally our best day with about nine lessons planned. They're starting to fall apart. We're losing some investigators, like Mahana and Mafatu, but this Saturday ended up well. We had a list that DMB gave us of the nonmembers of the island, so we had him give us directions to some of them. He gave us seven references, and five worked out. Not bad!

The first was Sasa'e and her sister. They're Catholics who went to an open house for the church and are interested. They were really excited to do the lessons. Then, Sasa'e asked me if I could speak Tahitian. She asked me that because her father (who happens to be Akamai's brother) only speaks Tahitan. She said that he had talked with Akamai who had talked about some of the lessons we had done with him. That perked his curiosity and he wants to learn more. I'm amazed because the person who did the missionary work here was Akamai, the same Akamai with whom we spent an entire lesson the other week explaining that God isn't the Sun. But hey, no complaints.

The next person we found was Lael*. We actually shared a message one time with him, but he didn't know if he was interseted yet. This time he gladly set up a date and let us help him with his coprah. He's Aimee's son-in-law, by the way. The fifth was Maaravi, who happens to be Sasa'e's husband. He wasn't as willing as the others, but he accepted anyway. We did coprah with him, too.

It's so cool to see God work miracles here on this little island. He's leading us to make a difference here, and I'm so grateful to have him on my side. Hopefully as time goes by these people who have desires to do good will finally make the covenants with God that will allow them to enter the Celestial Kingdom.

That's it for this week! E parau mau te Ekalesia!

Elder Lewis

Boat photos

Plenty of boat pictures

I think it's working!

They just love having the elders perform

pork cooked underground, maa Tahiti

coco crab

haha

One of the monthly boats

God's On Our Side

This last Pday we went on a two hour bike ride au secteur to see the boat. That was pretty fun. Basically the only reason people would come to Takaroa is to see the boat. Pretty fun. Bien cramé, though. 

We ate some strange foods this week. One family gave us some "mystery meat" and told us that they would tell us what it is after we finished it. It had a texture a little bit like ground beef. It ended up being fried turtle blood. Just make sure that if you ever it that, you put salt on it. We also had coco crab and 'ipo, and Manioca, all very Tahitian foods. I can't say they were all excellent, but they weren't bad.

As for more spiritual stuff, it wasn't a super exciting week. Some people are progressing a little, some not so much. The situation with Mahana: Her mother doesn't accept her baptism and is discouraging it. Things are going tough with that. It makes it harder with her, and Taaveti, her brother, who is also close with baptism. On the other hand, Maake, Mahana's husband, is getting the priesthood this Sunday, fully ready to baptise her when the time comes for that.

It was really fun to sing I am a Child of God (in English) this Sunday. This week has been Semaine de la Famille, with activites three times a day throughout the week centered on families. To end it, we had a soirée at the chapelle and they had the missionaries sing. They're taking advantage of us. At a wedding, ward activity, whatever the event may be they have the missionaries come sing. I promise my voice isn't that good, but the Tahitians must get a kick out of it.

  In studies this week I came across a scripture that I always love. Alma 26:12

"Oui, je sais que je ne suis rien; pour ce qui est de ma force, je suis faible. C'est pourquoi je ne me vanterai pas de moi-même, mais je me vanterai de mon Dieu, car, avec sa force, je peux tout faire; oui, voici, nous avnons accompli, dans ce pays, beaucoup de grands miracles pour lesquels nous louerons son nom à jamais."

It's so true that without God we are nothing. We can't accomplish anything without him at our sides. It just won't work. But, as long as we worship Him, remember Him, and ask for his help, he will be there for us and we can accomplish everything that he needs us to do. I'm so grateful that God is there for me and that I'm never alone in this life. He's there, ready to pour blessings on our heads. That's a blessing in and of itself.

Have a good week everyone, and keep God close! Never leave Him.

Elder Lewis

The Power of the Gospel: Just hearing it makes you want to be a better person

Iaorana tatou!

This week was actually really...not good. We had seven amis lessons, and four were with the same person. Just a little weird. It was probably that bad because there was a lot of rain this week, and Tahitians think that everything is cancelled with the first drops of rain. Oh, well, better luck next week.

This week we had a soiree familiale chez an "ami". He doesn't want lessons, just soirees where HE teaches, no one else. Last time there was a lot of false doctrine going around. Anyway, we taught the lesson. We talked about prophets, basically the first lesson, and we used a bunch of scriptures from the bible to back us up (the ami doesn't like to use the BoM). Really cool to see the truth come out. Even the Bible agrees that this is the true church.

Some good news avec Beau*. Apparently he's been drinking and smoking less, just on his own. That's a big change because those are the things he like most in life, basically the only thing holding him back from being baptised. So without us specifically engaging him to stop, his just started on his own. I think that's really the power of the gospel. Even just hearing it makes you want to act and be a better person. I hope that's how we all feel all the time. The gospel changes lives!

All is good again with Aimee. Last time, she said she would keep her religion. This time we talked about baptism. Yeah, she didn't even have to bring it up herself! It went well, and it seemed like that last lesson didn't happen. She also mentioned something about her husband being content avec her for quelque chose. She's starting to progress again! Also, she's related to the thief that stole from us and she's helping us get our stuff back. She noticed how he recently gained a bunch of money. Yeah, that'd be from me.

It looks like Mahana's baptism will be pushed back a week or two, but we're not sure yet. Keep her in your prayers. We're hoping it will all work out all right.

That's all the news for this week, sorry, not much. Hopefully more will happen next week.

Bonne semaine! 

Elder Lewis

Alliances With God

Happy Mother's Day! There's not a whole lot to talk about this week, but it was good. Skype with family was fun. Not a whole lot of other news, but I'll give you what I've got.

We started the lessons with the thief's little brother this week. We'll see how that turns out.

I didn't mention this but when we fasted last week we broke it with Nadim*.  Nadim says the same exact prayer each time. This time when he broke our fast, he said the exact same prayer as usual, but this time he threw in "Bénis-moi afin que j’arrête toutes les mauvaises choses sur la terre." Best quote!

We taught Aimee, and it was not at all what I was expecting. Not far into the lesson, she interrupted us and brought up baptism again. This time, instead of telling us that she wants to be baptized and asking questions about how she can do it, she just told us that she didn't want to get baptized anymore, that she  wanted to keep her religion. If you've been following her progress, you'll know that that is super contradictory to everything that we've done with her. I think she's REALLY scared of her husband and what he'll do if she tries to get baptized. We'll still work with her and try to help her out, but it's not looking too good right now.

This Saturday we had a baptism. Do you remember Luc, the inactive (active now) that we've been working with? We blessed his baby in church, and I baptized his daughter, Tehani* this week. Not a convert baptism, but that doesn't at all mean that it isn't that special or important. The morning of the baptism it started POURING! The ground was completely flooded. We started the baptismal service and the rain and wind only worsened. Then we walked through the rain with umbrellas directly in front of us because the rain was going horizontally. So we were completely soaked long before we entered the lagoon for the baptism. But it all worked out, and the spirit was strong. I almost felt like I was baptized myself. That's just a great feeling.

Early morning before the baptism.

At the baptism

The baptism of Mahana doesn't look completely certain right now. Her husband who is "inactif" just needs to come to church with a tie for a few weeks and then he can get the priesthood. Then he can baptize her. As for her, right now she's afraid of how her family will accept her baptism. She still hasn't told anyone, but she decided (on her own) to fast for help. A real testimony right there. She really wants to do it and sh's praying a ton. 

We're also still teaching her brother Taaveti, and I think that her getting baptized will motivate him to do the same. He only needs to pray to know what we're teaching is true, then... baptism!

It's really cool to see some of these people act on their faith and make the changes necessary pour their salvation. It's also really sad to see some investigators release their grip on what they should know to be true and stop progressing. No matter what happens, my testimony doesn't waver. My testimony is only getting stronger that God is our loving Heavenly Father, that he sent his Son Jesus Christ to the earth to bring to pass the plan for our salvation, that par his Atonement we can recieve salvation and have eternal life, that there's more to life than in between birth and death.

Have a great week everyone! Continue in the faith and don't let go of the iron rod!

Elder Lewis

Spaghetti, chicken nuggets, topped off with chili sauce and a singapour soda. Can't beat that kind of dinner!

At my birthday party

It's pouring right now.

Tel est le Chemin

Another successful week! Things are picking up here little by little. 

We had a few investigators tell us that they knew this is the true church. Aimee told us that. We've noticed her progress and gain a testimony, but she straight up told us. The only problem is her husband who is Sanito. He doesn't at all want her to change religions. We'll keep doing the lessons, try to talk to the mari and pray for her. Also, Tita said the same thing. We've been pushing for him to gain a testimony and pray to find the truth, and he told us that he knew it was true. He's just afraid to start that stuff and stop the not so good stuff he's doing right now. He was actually almost baptized a while ago. He was going to get married and baptized, but things didn't work out. He wants that to be the case again for his baptism.

A lot of success with one of our inactifs. He had a strong desir to repent and we've been helping him, encouraging him. Then we found out he had completely stopped everything. This Sunday, he came to church. The past few days, he's acted a little weird. The best way to explain his expression is a knowing look, like he knows something no one else does. After our lesson in church, he mentioned something about a miracle. Then after church, he went and talked to the branch president. He came out and immediately found us and started shaking our hands and giving us "bones". The same expression on his face. You could tell he was super excited. Then he asked if we could take a picture with us. It's super cool to see that change. A month ago we shared a scripture with him-Alma 36. He said he felt like Alma described- torturé par les souffrances d'une âme damnée. Now you can see the joy "aussi extreme que l'avait était mes souffrances." Repentance is real. I've definitely seen the power of this gift. It saves souls.

Also, with this inactif his wife just came back from Tahiti with their new baby so we blessed him and the baby of Mahana this sunday. Also, another one of his daughters just turned eight and they asked me to baptize her. That will be this saturday.

Actually, almost all the success we had this week was Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we refound Taaveti*, an ami we did the first lesson with and haven't found him since. We come by every once in a while, and usually his mother is there. We might share a small message with her. She doesn't want the lessons, but super nice. Anyway, We taught him again. We also found out he's the sister of Mahana. He's really sincere, and he said he would pray to know if our message was true and if he got a positive response, he will get baptized. Who knows, maybe we'll baptize the whole family.

We also engaged Mahana on Saturday for a baptismal date. They got back to us on Sunday. So on Sunday, we went to church, blessed Mahana's new baby, Kafu, blessed our inactif's baby, Tehautiariiatua* (something like that), had the inactif talk to president, then later, we talked to Maake* and Mahana. She accepted the 21st for baptism (woot woot!) and she wants Maake to baptize her. Because he's inactif, he needs to do some things before he can do it. After discussing, we found out that really the only reason he's "inactif" is because he's afraid to get a calling. He says he's not that intelligent and doesn't want to mess up. We gave encouragements and he'll talk to president about getting the priesthood. Hopefully it will all work out!

We got poisoned this week, and got robbed. Fun stuff! We got poisoned at a four year old's birthday party-by the four year old. Don't ask why the missionaries are invited to everyone's birthday parties. Anyway, the kid had grabbed a bottle that had held gas with the drinks. It was filled up with juice and given to us. Honestly I didn't notice it at first. I smelled gas as I drank, but I thought it was from outside (I was right by the window. Then my companion told me he had tasted it. So I smelled the bottle and sure enough, a strong smell of gas. Next thing I knew, someone chucked the bottle out the window, ran our cups in the kitchen, and came out with coke instead. We also started a fast right after that. Not good. I could taste gas for a long time after.

Yeah, we got robbed. The other elders got robbed, then one morning they returned the sneakers I didn't even know got robbed. Then we got robbed again yesterday, more stuff. Don't worry-nothing too bad, and they know who did it and where most of the stuff are already. Stealing on an island with so few people doesn't work out that well. 

We had this pork soy thing for dinner one night. The pork had a ton of fat. At closer inspection we noticed that it was not only fat, but the skin, and some hair that they had missed when they prepared the food. Just thought I'd throw that in there. You eat weird stuff here...

I've seen lots of blessings this week. Inactifs using repentance and finding the joy that comes from it, investigators acting on their faith. Our newest investigator is the next to be baptized. We've seen people making bigger efforts to change, like fasting (Fasting for a Tahitian is almost as hard as stopping an addiction to alcohol). The Lord has blessed us a lot. I'm so grateful to be a part of this change in so many lives. This is Christ's true church, and the only way to save our souls is by his gospel-faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I love that I can help people step on the path that leads to Eternal Life. That's why I'm here. That's my mission. And I've been filled with joy as these people find the truth. 

Have a good week, everyone! Faaitoito! Eiaha outou e haamana'o ore e e ekalesia mau i te Ekalesia a Iesu Mesia i te Fei'a Mo'a i te Mau Mahana Hopea Nei! Ua oaoa vau no to maua ohipa i Takaroa. E haamaitai-roa-hia maua. E mea ti'a ia faaroo tatou i te Mesia e to'na mau haapiiraa. Ua here au ia outou!

Elder Lewis