L'Evangile Est Puissant (Power te Evanelia)

Iaorana tous le monde! This week was a little bit of an adventure. Again, we've mostly been focusing on our few faithful investigators. They're all prgressing, so that's good. I think there are a lot of potentials here.

On wednesday we visited some new converts. While we were visiting, their neighbor came by, sat down, and next thing we know we started a lesson. It turns out that recently she got really interested in our message, and when she saw us walking by, she took her chance and came to us. Super cool. She said that she was ready to get baptised, she just needed to get her husband to accept, and she said that he was already getting interested too. So we've been teaching her almost everyday. She shares spiritual experiences, like a sudden thought to help somebody, and that help was just what that person needed, or the strong spirit she felt when she prayed to know if our message is true. Right now, it's just a matter of teaching. Also, each evening she goes back to the new converts and they reexplain everything we taught and answer all her questions so she doesn't miss anthing.

So we still haven't seen Turumai or Maude this week until yesterday, so it's not looking good for the baptisms this saturday. They still want it, but it will just be pushed back.

Sam's baptism was great. It was him and another person that got baptised, someone the other elders taught. It was a great spiritual experience for everyone. Then after church on sunday bishop talked with Ailani*, his mom to give her a calling and help her to come back to church. Turns out she's not in the records, although her husband is, contrary to what we all thought before. She's ready though, nothing holding her back from being rebaptised.

That night, we visited the family. They all loved the feeling of being at church and seeing Sam get baptised. He was quite the example! Honestly, before I wondered if this little nine year old kid would just become inactive in a few months and this might be wasted effort, but that is definitely not true. That family is coming into the truth, and they will stay strong.

That was a good way to end Tautira, yes, I'm leaving. I didn't think two months here was very long, but I guess I'm needed elsewhere. Transfers have already happened, and right now I'm in Papehue at Paea. Yup, back to my first zone. My new companion is Elder Eperania, a Tahitian. On to  new adventure! I quickly said goodbye to everyone on sunday, and went on my way.

Anyway, That's the news for this week. The church is true, and it will bring anyone happiness in there lives. That's sure! I felt like a didn't do a whole lot in Tautira in those few months, but looking back, I can see that I at least helped a lot of people in little aspects of their lives. It's such a blessing to be a part of the Lord's work. Love you all!

Elder Lewis

1 Corinthians 13 and Moroni 7: Charity

Each week has started to go by so fast. I feel like we didn't really do much, but we must have done something! haha I'll try to make his week interesting.

Monday and Tuesday Elder Maltelour was sick so we stayed in. I got lots of studies in, that's for sure.

Lately we've only been teaching our core group of faithful investigators. The ones that miss out on a lesson during the week tend to slip away from our grasp. We haven''t officially dropped any investigators, but when you don't see them for a month, there's not much you can do about that. 

We've got a baptism happening this week! Things are looking good for Sam's baptism. We've been seeing him at the chapelle each week, and each time he says a prayer he thanks Heavenly Father for letting him get baptised.

We taught Nicolas and Giselle this week. I expected it to be a little tense from last week's fiasco, but it worked out really well. Elder Maltelour wanted to talk about the Law of Chastity, so that's what we did. Actually the spirit was really strong by the end. It wasn't a really powerful lesson or anything, but the spirit was there and I could tell that they felt it. They made us sushi, and at the end, Rehi, our DMP, shared the scriptures from 1 Corinthians 13 and Moroni 7 about charity, thanking them for having charity for us. That led to a little discussion on charity, inviting the spirit even more. Good way to end the lesson, and I think at least Nicolas is opening his heart more and more. We'll see what happens.

Things aren't looking great for the three baptisms on the 22nd. We haven't seen Turumai and Maude this week, and there are still a lot of important things to do before the baptism. With Lucas, the main problem is his family accepting, so we'll try tommake that work, but the date my be pushed a little.

Alright, that's about it for this week, and I have to go now, so faaitoito everyone!

Elder Lewis

Ups and Downs

Hey everyone! Here's the fun stuff of the week:

Last monday we did a hike in Papara. It was several hours long, had a great view, and we got some fe'i at the top. It was annoying though when we were half way down and I realized I had dropped my camera somewhere up there. We had to spend even longer going back up and finding my camera. Still worth it, though.

On tuesday, we went to visit Turumai. He wasn't home, but his copine was at the house across the street, hanging out with her member friend. We did a quick visit with her where she said she was ready to be baptised. Other missionaries had tried to set up their marriage, but she didn't think she was ready. Well, she's ready now. We set up her marriage and baptism for the same day as Tutea, the 22nd. We came back the next day, and found out that her friend was a really good member integrator. She had taught Maude*, Turumai's copine, how to pray, she taught her hymns, and they discuss the gospel all day long, from morning until evening. I feel like it was too easy for her to accept! 

We taught Nicolas and Giselle this week. We started talking about why they had such a strong faith in the bible, what made them start to believe, and they said some good stuff. We talked about how you need to ask God, without doubting, with faith, humility, real intent in order to know if it is the Word of God. We can receive the answer through the Spirit, who will tell us by feelings of love, peace, etc. Let me tell you, the spirit was strong. That's when I pulled out the Book of Mormon and read the verses from Moroni chapter ten. We engaged them to do exactly what they had done to find out if the Bible was true, and do it for the Book of Mormon. 

That's when Giselle quickly excused herself and came back with a stack of papers. She told us that she had actually done some research on the Book of Mormon. She had looked on the internet and found some stuff that "proved our religion false". Even she didn't understand why this stuff made the BoM false, be she was quick to believe this internet site. They both told us that they had actually known that our church was false for years, and they did that to prove it to us, not for them. To make a long story short (that lesson lasted about two and a half hours), they refused to ask God if the Book of Mormon was true. That's some heartbreaking stuff. The spirit was so strong, testifying of the truth, and they wouldn't even ask God, but stuck to an internet site to find the truth. That was so hard to have this spiritual couple flat out reject the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I'll admit, I was actually really angry at them for not understanding, for not trying to ask in faith to the Man who knows everything, loves us, and wants that we know the truth. Well anyway, at the end of the lesson, we ate dinner with them (which was pretty awkward), and invited us back next week to talk about just the bible. *sigh*. Well, no one ever said it would be easy.

Saturday and Sunday were great, I loved General Conference! Even if we had to wake up at five to be there on time. There were so many good talks, and I could quote them all, but here are a few cool quotes:

"When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation... and Jesus’s gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. "-President Nelson

"I can promise you your prayers will be answered, and as you act on the answers you will receive, you will find joy in the Sabbath, and your heart will overflow with thankfulness."-President Eyring

"To abide in God’s love in this sense means to submit fully to His will. It means to accept His correction when needed. … It means to love and serve one another as Jesus has loved and served us. It means to learn “to abide the law of a celestial kingdom” so that we can “abide a celestial glory” -Elder Christofferson

 “If we love the Savior more, will we suffer less?”-Elder Hales

All of these quotes and more made me really think about how to be better and to appreciate more the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the Restored Gospel, and God's Plan for us. We are so blessed!

Have a good week!

Elder Lewis

Cool

Alright, We've finally started to get the work moving over here. There hasn't been much to report for the past few weeks, but I suppose fixing three baptisms is worth telling you about.

Sam- a nine year old kid who loves the missionaries (surout their bikes and helmets). He comes from a family where his parents used to be LDS. The last time the family came to church was five years ago to give their baby a blessing. He's getting baptised the fifteenth of Octobre.

Turumai*- he's been taking lessons for a while, but it's always hard to find him each time for a lesson. He's a young dad and his girlfriend wants to follow him. She hasn't started the lessons yet, but when she does, she'll get baptised too. The baptism is set for the 22 Octobre. He struggles with praying, reading the scriptures, going to church, etc, but we're working on that, and he should be ready by then.

Lucas*-20 years old, has taken the lessons already. I had actually tried to teach him but never actually met him until now. We were going to visit a mami, but he was there instead and invited us over. We just talked with him  and he revealed everything. He's really spiritual and he wanted to be baptised. He told us that we would fix the date the next day for his baptism, but in talking right there, we ended up fixing it for the 22 also. He's already been chased from home by his mother for wanting to get baptised, and he has nothing holding him back. Awesome!

There is also a family that we taught more than a month ago that was really potential, but it was always really hard to get the second lesson in. Well, we got that second lesson in yesterday, Plan of Salvation, and it was really good. This time it was just with Jeremie, but last time Manihi, his wife, was there too (I'm pretty sure I've talked about them already in a previous letter). They're really sincere, and they are definitely starting to believe. Hopefully the next lesson we'll be able to get them to commit. That will be the two parents and their two children. One of the children already reads the BoM all the time, it's great!

Still doing a lot of contacting, our amis don't like to stay amis very long. We've contacted quite a few this week, so I'll just tell you if anything interesting happens with them.

Okay, I have to go now, not much time. I know God lives, I know he loves us all. I know that each soul has great worth to God, and I know that I'm doing the Lord's work. Love you all!

Elder Lewis

The Gospel--Gotta Love It

Hey everyone!

Honestly, there's not much to report for these past few weeks. It's been quite the struggle to get things going here. We think we just found a really potential investigator and then the second lesson never happens. It's not that they don't actually want the lessons, it just doesn't happen. So we just do a lot of one time street lessons.

We found a family consisting of a father, an inactive mother, a nine year old boy, and a five year old boy. We're preparing Sam*, the nine-year-old, for baptism. The family wants to come back, and so far they've kept all our engagements of praying each day as a family and reading scriptures. The baptismal date for Sam* isn't fixed yet, but bientôt.

In our lessons with Nicolas and Giselle sometimes they choose the topic. We're not going to do that anymore. Here's why:

On Saturday we did a lesson with them, and the topic was "la parole de Dieu" and so he immediately opens up to Revelations 14 and starts talking about the meaning of the three angels in extreme detail. I don't know where they got that stuff from. They also started quoting Ellen White, and we didn't get a single word in. Next thing we know, they're talking about the devil's number and Giselle told us that it was talking about the pope. Apparently on his hat there are some words in Latin and if you take the letters and put them with roman numerals, you get the number. They pulled out some paper and showed us. Let's just say the spirit was not at all there. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to take control. Yeah...

Also, transfers have come and have taken Elder Murdock. He's been here for seven months, so it wasn't a surprise. My new companion is Elder Maltelour, who was also on Takaroa the same time I was (also the old comp of Elder Murdock). That will brake my streak of only having Utahn companions haha.

Anyway, not much else to say, so I'll leave you with a scripture:

"Et le Christ a dit: Si vous avez foi en moi, vous aurez le pouvoir de faire tout ce qui est utile en moi."

-moroni 7:33

All we need is faith and then we can do everything we need to do. Pretty simple. If we trust in God, we can't go wrong. I'm grateful for a loving, helping God that will always be there for me and that will support me despite my weaknesses. 

That's it for this week. à prochain!

Elder Lewis

Photographie

The baptism of Tupiti

Saying goodbye to Takaroa

First views of Tautira

Us playing some Tahitian instruments. I'm at the to'ere

Zone service project

Taro faapu

In these next pics, we hiked to the top of a little mountain overlooking Tautira. There's a big cross up there that lights up at night that you can see from all around.

It wasn't me who dressed up Elder Murdock like that...

Lots and Lots and Lots of New People

Hey, Iaorana everyone! Sorry I didn't get the chance to write last week.

Last week wasn't super interesting. We're still trying to get the work going. For some reason, we just can't seem to get lessons in with any of our investigators. We found seven new investigators last week, so not bad. Most of those were thanks to a blitz we did in our sector with the zone. It's ridiculously hard to find those people and teach them again, though. One by one, very slowly, we find them again. This week we found six new investigators, so again, not bad.

Last week, I had a fun experience with that couple who only reads from the bible in lessons. I guess I haven't mentioned their names. Nicolas* and Giselle*. The cutest couple, sweet, loving, basically like a second set of parents. And the feed us at the end of each lesson. The lessons are always full of spiritual thought after spiritual thought, scripture after scripture. It's really cool to see how excited the couple gets over these discussions. This lesson was about the Holy Ghost. At one point Elder Murdock shared a few quotes from Harold B. Lee. Nicolas and Giselle LOVED them! They talked about how true those quotes were, and were super excited about them. Of course, we didn't say that a living day prophet said those things. We kept talking, and the scripture in 1 Corinthians about the gifts of the Spirit was brought up. We talked about that, and I decided to pull out our modern day scriptures to bring in a second witness of the truth. Risky move. Note that that was the first scripture that we've shared that does NOT come from the Bible. I talked about how I have a testimony that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Normally, one of them would agree with what I said or share a scripture to back up what I said. Nothing. There was an awkward silence for about ten seconds, and then they started talking about how they don't want to change religions and how they believe wholeheartedly in the Bible and other stuff like that. Wow. It's just mind blowing to me. I don't have the words to describe this, it's just crazy that they accept everything so much, but can't accept other scriptures. 

This week it rained a lot, we had a multizone conference, and some other things come up, so it wasn't super effective. We pulled it off in the end, though. Yesterday,I had the most successful day in Tautira so far. I'm used to teaching easily three or four lessons a day, but here in Tautira it's one, maybe two. It takes a lot of work to find each person and teach them. On Sunday, after church we taught an ami, our one planned lesson for the day, then we went and tried to find some other people. First person we tried let us in. Usually he will repush the lesson a week or two in the future, so it's nice to get in a good, spiritual lesson. 

After that we went to a little neighborhood that we had never been down before. We contacted it for the first time a few days ago. First house we tried, we hadn't talked for more than fifteen seconds before this woman let us back. We thought it was way too easy, and that she was just messing with us. Second house, a mami who told us she was Sanito, but would welcome anyone willing to talk about God. Third house, An inactive family who wants to come back into the Chruch and baptise their nine year old son.

So on Sunday we did the first lesson with the woman from the first house, Manihi*. Her husbad said that he was really interested, so he joined us. So we taught Manihi and Jeremie* the Restoration. I'll admit, that was the first time I ever taught a lesson with someone breastfeeding right in front of me the entire time. Anyway, this family is golden, and don't be surprised if we soon have three baptisms fixed from this family. They're super sincere, and they asked all the questions that we have answers to. 

Okay, one more cool experience, and I'll finish up. In that same neighborhood with a lot of success, we found this young mom and her two little kids. As we talked, we found out a lot about her. Life's not easy, her husband is rarely home, and when he is, he's drunk. She has a lot of other problems and questions, and if we could, we would have taught her all the missionary lessons right there. We settled with teaching about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. 

What I noticed most about this conversation is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ really answers all of our questions. Any worry, doubt, question, or trial in our lives can be solved by the Gospel, by Jesus Christ and his Atonement. I'm so glad that I am a missionary and that I'm able to spend two years of my life helping people receive these blessings. There are so many people out there with so many difficulties, and they can't quite find the light, the relief that they need. 

Oh, I remembered another really potential ami we found. Revatua* was a reference from another missionary who had gone to school with her and they kind of knew each other. Not much to go off of, but it worked! Revatua went to school, so she's smart (you wouldn't believe the difference going to college makes, or even just finishing high school). She has a lot of mormon friends who have talked about religion, and she's super interested. Right now, she's just waiting for the response to know if this church is true, so another baptism is coming up pretty soon haha.

Anyway, sorry the letter is really long this week, I guess it make up for last week, too. That's just some of the adventures that are happening out here in the islands. May the grace of God be with you all.

Elder Lewis

"I'm in the cool, rainy, green, mountainous part of Tahiti, so that's a big change from Takaroa."

Iaorana!

I'm emailing from Tahiti right now. Yeah, the transfers should have happened in a week, but they took me early. 

This week hasn't been super eventful. A lot of the lessons were cancelled, and the ones we had weren't that interesting. We did have two baptisms though. The baptism of Kiai was on Monday. Elder Nelson baptized her. There were a lot of members there to support her, although none of her family showed up. She was confirmed this Sunday. It was supposed to be me that confirms her but I left right before. 

Tupiti was baptized on Thursday. I mentioned last week, but his mom suddenly accepted his baptism so we got everything together and did it. Again Elder Nelson baptized him. I missed his confirmation, too. He was so thankful to be baptized, and his testimony afterwards was powerful. 

Also on Thursday I got a call saying that I would be leaving this Saturday, not next Saturday. The next day I packed up my stuff, Saturday I sent it on the boat for Tahiti, and took the plane in the afternoon. I got on Tahiti at 5:00. No one showed up. I waited for almost four hours and no one was there. It turns out that everyone thought I was supposed to come in a week, so no one knew I was there. That was lots of fun. Finally I was picked up and stayed with the Zone leaders that night, went to church with them on Sunday, and they dropped me off Sunday afternoon. And here I am. 

Quite an adventure. Anyway, my new sector is really big, there are four missionaries taking care of it. They just got finished with a baptizing streak, so I'm coming in right at the end of that. I'm in the cool, rainy, green, mountainous part of Tahiti, so that's a big change from Takaroa. We'll see how it goes!

Okay, gotta go. Sorry this was so short.

Elder Lewis

"I'm in the cool, rainy, green, mountainous part of Tahiti, so that's a big change from Takaroa."

Iaorana!

I'm emailing from Tahiti right now. Yeah, the transfers should have happened in a week, but they took me early. 

This week hasn't been super eventful. A lot of the lessons were cancelled, and the ones we had weren't that interesting. We did have two baptisms though. The baptism of Kiai was on Monday. Elder Nelson baptized her. There were a lot of members there to support her, although none of her family showed up. She was confirmed this Sunday. It was supposed to be me that confirms her but I left right before. 

Tupiti was baptized on Thursday. I mentioned last week, but his mom suddenly accepted his baptism so we got everything together and did it. Again Elder Nelson baptized him. I missed his confirmation, too. He was so thankful to be baptized, and his testimony afterwards was powerful. 

Also on Thursday I got a call saying that I would be leaving this Saturday, not next Saturday. The next day I packed up my stuff, Saturday I sent it on the boat for Tahiti, and took the plane in the afternoon. I got on Tahiti at 5:00. No one showed up. I waited for almost four hours and no one was there. It turns out that everyone thought I was supposed to come in a week, so no one knew I was there. That was lots of fun. Finally I was picked up and stayed with the Zone leaders that night, went to church with them on Sunday, and they dropped me off Sunday afternoon. And here I am. 

Quite an adventure. Anyway, my new sector is really big, there are four missionaries taking care of it. They just got finished with a baptizing streak, so I'm coming in right at the end of that. I'm in the cool, rainy, green, mountainous part of Tahiti, so that's a big change from Takaroa. We'll see how it goes!

Okay, gotta go. Sorry this was so short.

Elder Lewis