Elder Cody Tiler Rose

Ia Ora Na tout le monde!

This week was a good one! I think this is week 7. Again, I lost track of time so I am just guessing at the weeks.

So for devotional this week we got to listen to David F. Evans of the quorum of the 70 and it was a really good talk on prayer and faith. Its so weird because its almost like the weeks here are themed. Everything I did this week seemed to somehow relate back to prayer. Anyway at the beginning of his talk he was talking about the change in the missionary age and how blessed we are to be here and how this is such an important time in church history. He just really made me appreciate this mission that much more. I already feel super blessed because my teacher told our district that for the longest time Tahiti had a missionary visa limit of 50 but it just changed within the last two years which is why so many missionaries are able to go to Tahiti now. So I just felt really blessed when I thought about that. And he also went on to stress that the Lord will bless us if we are keeping the commandments and that over time we will go through the process of having faith and being blessed so much that we will have enough trust in him to do whatever he asks of us. I would like to work up to that level for sure. So I guess my message to everyone is pray always. He will answer your prayer, sometimes its just not in ways you expect. But like my favorite scripture Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. If we are keeping the commandments and doing the best we can he will bless us for it.

But on to the rest of the week. So on Wednesday instead of being asked to host new missionaries Elder Edwards and I got asked to direct traffic. So for two hours on Wednesday I got to wear a sweet orange traffic vest and tell people where to park. And Thursday was the day that I have been waiting for weeks. I finally made it out to San Francisco to get my visa this week! It was only me and one other Elder that went to the french consulate that day which made things really easy. We woke up at about 2:30AM and were eventually to San Francisco by about 9:30(west coast time). Since it was just two of us we got to take a taxi to the consulate which was fun because for the first time in about seven weeks I got to talk to someone who wasn't a missionary or MTC worker. So we made it to the consulate with no problems and were in and out of the building in about fifteen minutes, which had to be some kind of record. Then right after that we went to eat lunch at this French cafe type thing called Boudin which was great because I got to eat normal food for the first time in seven weeks again. I ended up getting a bacon grilled cheese sandwich which was a good choice. Then after that we had to wave down another taxi and head back over to the airport. I wish we would have had more time so we could have done some street proselyting but I guess its cool because I get like 21 months to do that in Tahiti. But yeah we ended up getting back to the MTC at about 7PM so it was a pretty long day but a lot of fun.

For the rest of the week I really just focused on Tahitian. And I just want to give a shout-out to my teachers Soeur Buswell and Frere Roney for being the best teachers ever. I feel so blessed that our district got them. They have been great examples to me and have really shown me how to be a great missionary of the Lord and I am extremely grateful for that. They have helped me accomplish what I thought I couldn't in French and I know they will help me do the same in Tahitian. I know the Lord has blessed me with everything I know though and I would not be where I am now if it wasn't for Him. I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to share the gospel in two of the most beautiful languages on the planet. I feel really blessed to be able to be here in the MTC too because a lot of people who have served missions didn't even have the opportunity to go to an MTC. And I am so glad that I am able to play soccer during gym time while I have been here. Its been nice to just kinda relax my brain from two languages and play soccer. So anyway yeah that was my week in a nutshell.

A la prochain!

Elder Rose