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
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