Another Week in the Mission

Iaorana!

There's not a whole lot to talk about this week, just another week in the mission. We taught twenty five lessons this past week. Not bad, considering we play sports for a few hours almost every day. Most of those lessons are with inactives. I would like to see more with investigators, but it's been really cool to see the progress with everyone. 

We have a few inactives that we teach who have really progressed and have seen what they have been missing with the gospel. It really strenghtens my testimony of the Gospel and God's plan for us. He loves us all and he really does have a plan for each of us individually. The choices we make determine our destiny, and I've seen how the bad ones turn a life into one of sorrow and regret, and the good ones bring happiness and peace.

With our investigators, we've talked a lot about baptism. Still no baptisms set up, but close. The two biggest things that prevent them are other family members and drugs. We have two investigators who know the church is true but due to parents not accepting, they haven't arrived there yet. We have another few investigators who need to obey the Word of Wisdom, but they too know that the church is true and have strong testimonies. 

One example is Mafatu*. It was my first lesson with him. We talked about baptism. At one point, Elder Terry said:

"The fist principle of the gospel is faith, and you have faith. The third one is baptism." Before he could continue, Mafatu asked:

"What do I need to get there?" We talked about repentance, and he's really sincere and trying hard to change his life. We tried to set up a date, but he doesn't want to until he's fully repented, although he did say he wants one of us to baptise him, and he's pretty excited.

We lost electricity this week. And to get the part to fix it, we had to wait for the next plane to come. That means limited showering water, no fan, no laundry. It was awesome for everyone when they saw the plane land and the electricity went back on.

Other than that, life is the same here. My testimony is growing, the spirit is helping, we continue to teach, people continue to progress. It's fun to have two new elders who can't speak or understand the language super well. We both have to rely on each other. 

I know that God lives. I know he created a plan for us and we all accepted it. I know that when we obey the commandments we are blessed. This week, we used President Monson's talk from last general conference "Keep the Commandments" a lot. It's such a simple message, yet that's what God askes of us. I have a testimony really strong on the subjest of repentance. People who try to stay away from that topic, DON'T. Repentance is there to help us, Not make us feel guilty. It sweeps away guilt. You can only find peace in this life with repentance. I've seen on my mission the results and blessings that people receive in following the Prophet, in repenting of their sins, in using the Atonement. We are all broken children of God who need to be healed. We all need to be forgiven. We all want to have Eternal Life after this life, and there's one way, and that's under Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I guess that's my little though this week. The Church is true, and never forget it!

Elder Lewis