(Last Week's Letter That I Never Sent) 1/16/2017

We finally did a lesson with Kahoku by himself. To make things short, we got his baptism refixed for the fourth of march. 

With Kalili we were almost able to fix her baptism. She's planning on getting married in June, and the baptism will follow. It's not soon, but the most important thing is that she does it and that she's ready to do it. 

On wednesday we had interviews with President Bize. In our interview we talked about the transfers, because they're going to be huge this time. He said lots of "maybe"s but we thought by the end that Elder Eperania and I would stay together but go into a different secteur 

We got transfer calls friday night. The assistants told us that Papehue is getting whitewashed with sister missionaries, which we expected, and that Elder Eperania and I are whitewashing a secteur in Faaa. We were pretty excited to serve together again.

The next morning we got another call from the assistants saying that they messed up on the transfers. Actaully my companion is witewashing the secteur, but not with me. I'm going to the secteur next door with another companion. So that was a little disappointing, but the Lord knows where he wants us. So now I'm going to Tavararo in Faaa. That's the best baptising secteur in the mission right now. I would've prefered to go to an island, but that's good also. My new companion is Elder Fawson from Missouri. 

Anyway, that's about it for this week, not much to talk about but it was good. I'm sad to leave Papehue, but ready for another little adventure. 

Bonne semaine tout le monde!

Elder Lewis

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

Maitai te Noela e ia Oaoa Teie Matahiti Matamua

Iaorana everyone!

Nothing super interesting has happened the past few weeks. Normally the works slows down around the holidays, but for us it's been pretty much the same. I hope that's a good thing, but maybe it's just because we don't have that many Amis.

We should have had a baptism on the 24th but like I said before it fell through. But now we've been teaching Kahoku with increased frequency and he's ready, we just need to remix the baptism. It's a little hard because his mom descended for the vacations and, well, I'll tell you a little about her. She's Adventist but has been around lots of religions, and has basically just taken some doctrines out of different churches. For example, she believes that we shouldn't celebrate Christmas or the new year, but we can celebrate birthdays, or she believes that no one can see God except for Jesus, or that you can't get baptized in a church building, or that like the divinity has three members the devil has two "councelers"-the pope and the president of the US. So now Kahoku is convinced he'll get baptized in a river. That's another thing- there aren't really any rivers in Tahiti. Sooo, hopefully things will work out despite the influence of his mom.

At the end of one of our lessons with Kahoku his beau frere was there and we started talking. He has lots of questions about religion too, and our message can answer all of them. He's Catholique but doesn't believe it's true, and has searched other religions as well and hasn't been satisfied. Our church is the only one he hasn't looked into. I'm thinking another golden ami, but we'll see. Little experiences like that are always cool and motivating. 

For Christmas we had church combined with three other wards. It was packed and hot, but the messages were all really good. After that we skyped, and later had a Christmas/birthday party with some members. Super fun.

For New Years we didn't have much planned. The rule was still be back at the house by nine. We ate with some members which wasn't too exciting, so we left at around eight thirty and ride our bikes around for a bit. At basically each house there were people outside blasting there Tahitian music and getting drunk. We rode our bikes until until we made it to the family that we ate with for Christmas. We talked with them for a little bit and right as we were about to go home we got a text from the assistants saying we could stay out until 10:30. Yeah! If it weren't for that, the new year wouldn't have been to exciting. So we ate with the family, played some games like werewolf and chubby bunny and at ten thirty we went home and slept. Then at midnight we woke up, watched some fireworks, and went back to bed.

Well, that's about it for the week. Now that the fêtes are finished, the work should pull along a little more smoothly. Despite the slow work, we still have a few potentials and I'm hoping we'll be able to help them even more. I hope I'll be able to witness them make covenants with Père Céleste. For now it's just rely on Him, listen to His spirit, faaitoito and keep working. I have confidence that e Lord will bless us. 

Elder Lewis

Christmas Eve

A Gift is Given

Ia ora na! Recently it's been haere maru haere papu here in Papehue. 

We've been making progress with Yves*. He's more and more ready each week. He's still not willing to give a date, but he's getting there. The other day he asked us if we could talk about eternal marriage, so that's what we did (or tried to do). Every time I we try to talk about eternal marriage, something prevents us, usually Yves talking a lot or trying to feed us and get the lesson done in an hour. This time, it was the talking. Man, the devil must be trying hard on this one, because that's probably the most important lesson we could teach him right now. If he understands this principle, he will be able to resolve a couple problems that he's facing and then baptism will be underway! 

We did some contacting and found this very accepting témoin de Jehovah. We did the first lesson, and she seemed to really like it, although there seemed to also be a miscommunication going on. To make things short, we left not knowing whether she was a member of the church or not. Yeah, that's a little weird.  So we came back a few days later where we went over the first lesson again because she forgot how to pray and she forgot lots of important points, and we had her end with the prayer. She prayed to Jehova, but it was a pretty good prayer. It was in this second lesson though that we figured out that she thought we were témoins also. I feel like we must have mentioned that we were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints at some point. But anyway, that explains the miscommunication of the first lesson. She never got that we are Mormons. Anyway, I think she figured it out when we came back on Saturday and her father started yelling at us and saying that we could never come back again. Quite the adventure. We're going to keep trying to teach her, but it will be a little harder now.

The baptism of Kahoku isn't good for this week. It's hard only being able to teach him once a week. He's not quite ready to be baptized, there are still some things he needs to know before he contracts an alliance with God. He still has the desire though, and I think that if we push it a week or two he'll be ready. 

Yesterday we had a stake concert where each ward sang some songs for Christmas. The Christmas season isn't quite the same as back home, but that concert helped me get in that Christmas spirit. I've just been thinking recently about how much we expect good gifts from our parents and we want people to do things for us. We tend to ignore what we've already been given. 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth on Him might not perish but have Everlasting life."

Our Father has given as a great gift, his Son. Imagine how hard that must have been. I definitely wouldn't be that willing to give up my only son. And He did that so we have a way for the greatest gift, eternal life. What could make us happier than eternal life?

Anyway, there's not a whole lot going on but the work continues. I'm very grateful for everything the Lord has done to help me in this work. I know He lives. I know he sent the Christ into this world to be our Savior. This work is our Father's work and glory. Merry Christmas everyone! E mea maitai te Noela! 

Elder Lewis

Just Golden

Ia ora!

Well, here's the parau api of Papehue:

Last week we had someone call us and tell us that while we were contacting in a neighborhood, someone had tried to stop us and ask for the lessons, but we were too far away and didn't notice them. So we came back on Tuesday and taught the first lesson. It's a really old chinese guy that can't walk named Julien*. He's never been baptised but he loves religion and he's interested in learning about all religions. He even started it off with How to Beging Teaching points! What?! At the end of the lesson we loaded him with a LdM, brochures, an image book, and some other stuff. He talked about how precious all of that stuff was to him. What a cute old Papy! We'll try to fix a baptismal date tomorrow with him. What a cool experience!

We also started lessons with a guy named Kahoku*. In fact, we first found him a month ago and invited him to our cours d'anglais. He said he would come, but never showed up. Then, last week again, we found him again and set up a time for a lesson this time. We taught him this mahana toru and because we ran out of time, we only taught him until the Great Apostasy. It was good that we left him on a cliff hanger because he was super interested in what else we had to say. At the end, he asked us if he could do a soirée familiale with him. We never even talked about those with him. During the week, we also got this text from him:

Bonjour Lewis, c'est moi Vaiarii, je voulais te demander pour lundi si tu peux venir avec une femme membre de l'eglise.

Hahaha sweet, he's integrating himself! I think we'll just talk about eternal mariage the next lesson.

We had our second lesson with him this morning (yeah, pday, but totally worth it). We finished the Restoration. As we were going over the Priesthood, he told us a story that he had had during the week. He and his brother were sitting and talking when suddenly his brother got a big fever and started going crazy a little. Kahoku couldn't control him, and a thought came into his head to call his friend's dad, who is a priesthood holder. He said that within five minutes after the guy said a little prayer, his brother was back to normal, no fever, no convulsions, nothing. Kahoku then testified to us the importance of the priesthood. Wow. 

At the end of the lesson, we invited him to be baptised. At first, we didn't think that he quite understood the question, because he asked if there was anyone getting baptised the date that we gave him. But it turns out he was just curious if others would get baptised the same date as him or if he was the only one. He didn't even give baptism a second thought, it was just logical for him. He said that he just wanted to repent before he was baptised. Can do! Anyway, the 24th of December Kahoku will be baptised. That's exciting!

Our protestant friend Simon* chose the topic for our lesson this week. The life of Christ between the age 12 and 30. Not really spiritually uplifting, but interesting, I guess.

This week we found out two things about our DMP: That he's a seventy, and that he's being replaced. Yeah, I guess it just never came up that he's a seventy. Because he can't really work with us-he has a lot of trouble walking- we got a new one, an RM. Hopefully we'll get some missionary energy in this ward!

Well, things are doing better here. I hope it continues. Here's a scripture;

1 thessaloniciens 5: 16  Soyez toujours joyeux. 

There are good and bad times, easy and hard times, fun and boring times. No matter what time we're in, we need to keep the commandments of God, including this one. If you're not happy right now, repent, and be happy! 

Elder Lewis

Little Miracles

Hey everyone-

I could say that these past few weeks have bad, we've been having only a few lessons here and there, and I just had my lowest stats for the week on my mission, but it's good that that doesn't determine success. We have seen a few cool things recently. A few little stories that I hope will help you with whatever situation you're in.

A few weeks ago we had a reference for this guy, and set up our first lesson where we found out he was a protestant deacon. He said straight up that he wasn't going to change religions (we'll see about that) but he wanted to talk about God. This week we had the first real discussion with him and we talked about the Plan of Salvation a little bit. He started by asking a lot of questions, trying to stump us a little. He said that he was asking these questions to help us prepare for the things people would throw at us. He didn't think we were that bright, or knew the bible that well, but he was a little surprised when we answered all of his questions, or when we showed him a verse that showed that we lived before this life, even though he didn't believe in that.

When we talked about after this life, we used 1 cor 15 and talked about the Kingdoms of Glory. He was very surprised that there were scriptures to prove what we were talking about, and said that he would reread and study that chapter afterwards. I think that was when he started to realize that we knew what we were talking about. We also talked about mercy and justice and I asked him what his thoughts were on that. He thought for a while, and then said that he thought it was mostly mercy that would let us go to heaven. He then asked my opinion and I shared the story of the farmer who borrows money. He signs a contract that if he didn't repay in time, he would have to go to prison. Well, after the time is up, this farmer hasn't gotten enough money from his crops to repay the man. He must go to prison. But another man comes in and pays off the debt for the farmer. Now the farmer owes this man everything. The man says that it will be hard to repay, but it will be possible. So we talked about how in this story we are like the farmer. We can't enter into God's Kingdom, unless Jesus is there to pay for our sins. Thanks to Him, through hard work and repentance, we can receive mercy and God can have justice.

When we told this story, you could see him being enlightened and gain understanding of Christ's Atonement. That was really cool. At the beginning of the lesson he didn't really want to learn, but by the end he felt the spirit testify that what we said was true, and he accepted it. I'm sharing this story not to talk about how good I am or how much of the bible I know, because that's not true. Je me vanterai de mon Dieu, car avec sa force je peut tout faire. Looking back on this experience, we talked about a lot of different things and I'm surprised at how I answered them.  It's definitely the spirit working through us!

We also have an investigator who is Catholic, but he wants to get baptised. However, he wants to get divorced from his new convert wife before he does. We've tried to talk about eternal marriage, but he wasn't interested, as he wanted to get divorced. Then, yesterday, he came to church. Normally he goes on the other side of Tahiti, but he felt like he should come to our chapelle that day. It was then that we found some good member integrators for him, we talked a lot, and invited him to a Fireside that night. At the fireside, they talked about eternal marriage. He was really interested, and want's to learn more. If he had spent the day on the other side of Tahiti, we wouldn't have been able to invite him to the Fireside, and he wouldn't have learned about eternal marriage. I just love to have those little miracles here and there.

Well,  those are a few cool stories. God is really there to help His children. He loves us so much. I know that there is always a way to get though our difficulties and there are blessings hiding behind each trial. Faaitoito everyone! Bonne semaine!

Elder Lewis

Warning: When Tahitians get hold of a camera, they take pictures of anything...like old men holding papayas...

The moon

Haven't seen Francois in almost a year- First baptism here in Tahiti