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

Lunch in San Francisco, notice the bird who photo bombed my picture.

Cool Pic of the Provo Temple

What is it week 6? I can't even remember. Time is weird here in the MTC. I think its week 6 so lets go with that. Anyway, I had a great week this week.

So for devotional this Tuesday we heard it was going to be another general authority, someone big. So my district left as early as we could for devotional and got some super good seats again, some amazing third row seats. And oh my goodness was it worth it, I'll get to that later. So anyway before devotional we were all taking our guesses at who it would be (I was thinking it would be Uchtdorf). There was just this feeling it was going to be someone big though, it was weird. So we get through singing a couple prelude songs before they come in and then everyone starts to stand up, which means that they just came into the room. So I'm looking and looking and BOOM. Its Neal L. Anderson like less than 30 ft away from me. He ended up talking on love and sacrifice and how we sacrifice for the things that we love and we love the things we sacrifice for. His main point was that everyone will face hard times on their mission but through all the hard times we just need to remember that we are doing the Lord's work and what really matters at the end of the day is the service that we did for others and how that will change their lives. I think that can apply to more than just missionaries though. Everyone will face hard times in their life whether they want to or not, but at the end of the day we can always say that God has been with us every step of the way. I know that God answers prayers and that he loves every one of us infinitely. I can feel that love through everything in my life. Every experience I have gone through, the good and the bad, have been to help me learn and grow. I know that God has a plan for every one of us, and whether that plan works out the way we want it to or not it will be for our own good at the end of the day. Everything He does for is because he loves us so much. My time here in the MTC has really helped me to come to know that. 

But anyway after his talk and the devotional were over there was some pretty intense lightning so all the missionaries would have to wait out the storm. During this waiting time Elder Anderson decided that he would shake some missionaries' hands. So he exits to the opposite side of the stage from where we are sitting and then he goes to the rows just opposite of us. He almost came to our row and then he turned toward the choir. So he goes and shakes a ton of the missionaries hands in the choir. Then he starts to make his way back toward my row again. And then he started walking down my row! So everyone in my district is super pumped. Finally he gets to me and I get to shake his hand, it was cool just to be shaking the hand of an apostle. And then as he gets to Elder Gilson and he asks where he is going. Elder Gilson is just like "Tahiti" and he made this surprised face and said "well that's a nice place" and just kept going down the line. It was pretty funny and we were all on like this spiritual high after that. But then we got to walk back to the MTC in the pouring rain in our suits and that was fun. I was completely soaked by the time I finally got back. It was just a great experience. 

And I got my first haircut this week and I am very happy with how it turned out for it being a free haircut. Everyone in my district is starting to just get a little anxious just to get out to the field and work. Its just kind of difficult seeing everyone leave while we just sit here in the MTC. I will just have to make up for my time here when I finally get out to the field. 

On Thursday we started learning Tahitian! It is a sick language. Its just kind of difficult because it isn't a Latin based language so it sounds nothing like anything in English, which makes memorization for the words a necessity. I enjoyed French because half the time if I didn't know the word I could just say it with a French accent and it would be right. Its not that easy in Tahitian. But I know with enough prayer and practice and with a lot of help from the gift of tongues I will be able to learn the language. I'm just ready to get out to the field and do some teaching! 

Thanks for all the letters I get and for any prayers I get too. I can feel them as I go through my day. I love you all. Jusqu'a semain prochain!

My one month late birthday celebration at the MTC.

Hey everyone! Another week bites the dust. Again this week just seemed to fly by. I am starting to think the MTC is on some different time scale or something because these weeks go by so fast. 

So on Tuesday for our devotional we had Robert J. Maynes the president of the quorum of the 70 come talk to us. It was really great. What was even cooler was that some of the other Elders in my district and I decided not to sing in choir but just get to the devotional as early as possible and it turns out we got some of the closest seats doing that. Our seats were even closer than the choir so I think we will probably do that for now on. His talk was great! It was on how we (the missionaries) can make some huge impacts on peoples lives if we are listening to the promptings of the spirit. It really inspired me to be the best missionary that I can be. 

Oh and something else weird that has been going on this week. Everyone in my district has been starting to get sick (with like a really bad cough and some sinus congestion) but its funny because with the way our district sits at tables you can just see how it has slowly been spreading through everyone. But the sickness finally got over to my table later this week and I am still waiting to get hit by it but nothing has happened yet thank goodness. Another kind of funny thing that happened this week. So one of the elders in my district has a really bad cough that kept him up all one night and he said that night that he heard three people sleep talk. One of which was me! I didn't think I slept talked so that was kind of funny to hear. But he said the two other elders who slept talk just sounded creepy and kind of moaned/whispered something in English but he said that I said like a full sentence in clear French! So I guess that means I am dreaming in French even though I don't remember any of my dreams. I just like to tell all the other elders that I'm already fluent thought because I sleep talk in French!

Speaking of French, I am starting to understand the language so much better now! The gift of tongues to the max. In TRC this week Elder Edwards and I taught one of the same sisters that we taught last week and after the lesson she said that she could understand us so much better this week than last week, which was very comforting to hear. 

And on Friday I think we hit our half-way mark which was just crazy to think about. It doesn't seem like we have been here that long and its a little intimidating to think that we are all that much closer to being sent out to Tahiti to speak only French and maybe Tahitian to everyone. Its just crazy. Its just going by so fast! I feel like I won't know French well enough when I leave but I would probably feel that way even if I left another month later. And its confirmed I am going to San Francisco on Sept. 5th for my Visa! Finally! But yeah, that was my week in a nutshell.

A la prochain

Elder Rose

Two Languages Does Not Come Easy! 

Ia Ora Na les gens! So this week was pretty good overall. The weeks are starting to go by so much faster now though. It seriously only felt like two days since it was last Monday. 

So, on Sunday I decided to sing in the choir this week since we knew we had a general authority coming to the MTC devotional on Tuesday. This turned out to be a really good choice. We sang "Jesus Once of Humble Birth" and it was close to the strongest I have felt the spirit here yet. And that was just at practice! But the choir director was super cool and had a lot of insight into the scriptures. By the end of the song I felt like I really appreciated the song a lot more, just because of the director. But anyway, so on Tuesday the whole choir went over to the Mariott Center early to practice and that went well; but after the practice was done we were all kind of just waiting to see who it was. A couple minutes before the devotional started everyone was making their guesses ( I thought it was going to Neal. L Anderson). So it gets to about 7 O' clock and then everyone just starts to get really quiet because people start to walk in. Then all of the sudden people sitting toward the front, near where the people were walking in, started to stand up. It was Richard G. Scott! His message was on the power of prayer and how we can receive revelation through prayer. This was very ironic because this was the same subject my whole district had been studying for the past two days. He actually quoted a couple of scriptures that we had all read together which was really neat. But that was one of the best talks I have ever heard. The spirit was just so strong and really helped to strengthen my testimony on the power of prayer. And something else that was funny was that he gave two separate apostolic promises (one at the beginning of the talk and one at the end) that if we were learning a foreign language that through faith in the lord and through hard work we can learn our language and be successful. My whole district was convinced he was talking to everyone going to Tahiti because we thought he gave two promises for the two languages we are learning! 

On Thursday we had TRC again and it went great this week. I was a little nervous again going into it but by the end of it I was very glad that it happened. The first guy we taught had such good feedback for us it really helped boost our confidence. I really enjoy going to the TRC because speaking with fluent French speakers here is almost priceless. We can talk to the other people in our district all day but it just doesn't compare to fluent speakers. But yeah, that was pretty much the major parts of my week, other than my lessons which (which went good). Thanks for everyone who reads this! I'm glad that I'm not just writing all of this for nothing haha. But I'll have more cool stories for next week! A la prochain! Oti!

Elder Rose 

So I finally took my cliche map picture.

 Here is a picture of me just chillin in a tree during our temple walk.

Hey everyone,

Week 3 done and the language is getting better. So this week started out kind of bad but it got better. On Tuesday we taught Teiho(tay-show) (played by my teacher Brother Roney) and that went well. So on Wednesday when we were teaching Hutia(who-tee-uh) (played by my teacher Sister Buswell) we decided to change the next lesson a bit and try to do it with no notes. Big mistake. It was easily the worst lesson we have had yet. We both felt terrible after it and it really just confirmed to me that in order to have a good lesson you really do have to prepare. At least for me right now I need to be preparing every single lesson because my french isn't that advanced yet. But after that Elder Edwards and I decided we were going to plan out every lesson and just always put our time toward something productive.

On Thursday everyone in my district went to this teaching session called TRC (training resource center) where you teach two 20 minute lessons to volunteers that come in to talk with us. So I was super nervous about that but we both prepared for the lesson and we prayed a lot before we went in and it actually turned out pretty well. I couldn't understand everything that they were saying but for the most part I was able to get the main idea and respond with a very basic response and even bear my testimony for a bit. I couldn't remember all the words I wanted to say but I was eventually able to get my point across and leave them with a good message in their hearts. I was very happy when we got our review cards back from the volunteers because both of the volunteers said they could really feel the spirit during the lesson and they both felt like their faith in the Lord was increased. That was much needed after bombing my lesson on Wednesday.

So Saturday rolls around and we have been prepping for Hutia's lesson like crazy. So after much prayer and rehearsal we head in to teach her and even from the first second we began teaching I could already tell it was going to be better. When we finished the lesson Elder Edwards and I just couldn't stop smiling, it was such a good lesson compared to the last one. Sister Buswell even said she felt the spirit really strongly and that we accomplished a lot in the lesson. The only thing now that we really need to work on is our small talk and transitions into the lesson. For example, this is how most of our lessons go now: "so what are some of your hobbies? (they respond).  oh that's good. So how was family home evening with your neighbor?"  Its just usually like that. But the more we work on our French the better we get at it. I'm just glad I have got praying and my testimony down in French. Those are really the important things to know.

Oh and I guess my Mom figured out the whole visa situation. So I should be heading out to San Francisco on Sept. 5 with all the French noobies that just showed up. Should be fun!

Thanks for everyone prayers and thoughts. I love you all!

Elder Rose

My awesome district with some shell lays! And Sister Buswell in the middle! 

Some of our Zone

Most of our French Zone

Hey everyone! Week 2 done!

So much has happened this week it will be hard to fit it all in one e-mail but I'll do my best.

So starting off this week we continued to teach Vatea en Francais and that was going well. I was super happy because my companion and I were able to get through basically the whole first lesson withough looking at our notes. Granted it did take about an hour to teach him everything, just because it takes us so long just to come up with basic French phrases, but I was just happy I didn't look at my notes at all. It was really amazing because I could remember the most obscure and random words that I know I would have not been able to remember on my own.

But later that day our teacher, Sister Buswell, told us that we would be getting another French teacher soon so we were all really excited about that. But the next day when we saw our teacher we found out that our new teacher, Brother Roney, was actually the guy who was playing "Vatea", so we were all really surprised about that. But he is such a solid guy. You can tell just by his attitude toward everything that he was a great missionary. But now that we have two teacher, we have two new "investigators" that we will be teaching. One investigator will be played by each of our teachers and we will be teaching each investigator two times a week. So that means we will be teaching four lessons a week to investigators and we also have something called "Training Resource Center" where we teach random people lessons (usually members) once a week. So that means that we have five lessons a week to be teaching. I'm ready! I'm just going to work my hardest and I know that the Lord will fill in the rest for me.

My whole district has been working so hard at learning French though. We have started to SYL "speak your language" for an hour a day and basically as often as we can. Our French is greatly improving though and we know its because of the Lord!

So earlier this week everyone in my zone went to San Francisco but me and one other elder in my district (and the reason he didn't go was because he is from Canada so he is already cool with the French I guess). But that kind of made me worried because I need to go soon to get my visa. So I went to the travel office today and talked to a lady there and told her my situation and she said they didn't send me because in the computer they have me only speaking Tahitian??? So she said she would call Salt Lake and get thing figured out with them. So I will hopefully be making a trip to San Francisco this week but I'm not sure how that would work out because no one else needs to go except me.

But another crazy story. So my companion Elder Edwards was best friends with my neighbor up at BYU-I. It gets crazier. I remembered that during winter semester someone was visiting my neighbor at BYU-I who was going to Tahiti. Crazy thing was, I tried to go see whoever that person was and just barely missed them. It was Elder Edwards that was visiting! I almost saw my companion before the mission, which is crazy. And I guess while I was in New York with my family I was really close to two other guys in my district! Crazy stuff.

Recently we inherited a great amount of church pictures and random items from some of the 10+ missionaries on our residence hall leaving today for France and the Congo. They were super cool to us so we are really going to miss them but it is nice to inherit things here haha. But we are getting 17 new elders going to France this Wednesday, so we will no longer be the noobs of the hall! But anyway, thanks to everyone who wrote me! And thanks to everyone who is praying for me. I can feel the strength from your prayers.

Elder Rose

 My Classroom.

My 2nd P-Day.