We have seen a lot of miracles in the past two weeks. Its weird because it seems like after every transfer the missionary work really jumps in the area with the new companion. We have been able to see this phenomena in our area and I know that we are being blessed by Heavenly Father right now. 

Here are some cool experiences we have had in the past two weeks. We went to teach an inactive member and we ended up teaching his girlfriend who was at his house also. Her name is Mireille (pronounced meer-aye) and she is a deaf mute. We have found it a little difficult to communicate with her because she doesn't really know how to read and we don't know sign language (I'm really wishing now I would have paid more attention to my mom's sign language classes that I sat in on as a kid). To teach her we show pictures and we try to act things out with our hands. We don't know if she is really understanding everything that we are teaching her but she seems to be happy and has even expressed a desire to be baptized. I'm so happy that the spirit is the one that converts people and not words. Now we are just looking for someone who knows sign language. 

We have been able to find a considerable amount of new investigators during these past two weeks also. We were able to find a young adult named Tenoho who thought he was baptized but when we looked for his name in the ward directory he wasn't there, and we weren't able to find his name in the church records. That means that he has to be baptized (or re-baptized if he was already baptized). The crazy thing was that Tenoho told us he hasn't been to church in over five years and this past Sunday he came to church and had a really great time. Every time he sees us there is a great big smile on his face. Its great to be able to see the changes the gospel can make in peoples' lives. 

Also we went to visit an old investigator named Rose (no we are not related) who had told us a couple months ago that she didn't want to follow the discussions anymore. We decided to go visit her to see if she had changed her mind and when we showed up to her house she was very surprised to see us.  After a couple minutes of talking and presenting my new companion she happily accepted to follow the discussions again. She told us later that she had been touched that we came to visit her randomly. I know that it was the spirit that touched her heart. Last week we were able to help her set goals to stop smoking and she is very determined to stop. We are excited to see her progression. 

My last story for this week is from last night. During the week we were able to contact an older man and we set up a lesson for the following Sunday (last night). When we got to their house, we stood at the edge of their property line and shouted Iaorana but it seemed like no one heard us. We could see that there was someone watching TV. A couple seconds later the man came out and said "I completely forgot that I had invited you two over." but he invited us into his house anyway. After we had started the discussion he explained to us that a couple minutes before we got to his house he had sat down to watch the news and all of the sudden he didn't even know why but he got up and walked outside, which was very abnormal for him to do while he was watching the news. That was when he saw us standing there and invited us in. I acknowledge that we are receiving divine aid and I would like to thank everyone for all of your thoughts and prayers for me and the missionary work. They are being heard. 

Have a great week everyone. I hope it isn't too cold in America. Its raining cats and dogs over here and its still humid as ever. 

Elder Rose

 

I hope everyone's holidays went well. Things went pretty well for us at new years. From what everyone was telling us usually people throw big parties with loud music on new years' eve but this new years' eve was pretty quiet. We think it was because of an epidemic that is going around right now called chickungunya. The effects are a massive fever and intense body aches (and evidently a lack of desire to party on new years' eve also). Something funny about holidays here in French Polynesia, whenever people ask how a holiday went for us the first thing they will ask us is what food we ate. This is a very food-centered culture. 

Also, some news for this week. My old companion, Elder Teihotu got transfered and I got my new companion, Elder Lee Chip Sao. He is a 19 year old Tahitian that has been on his mission now for about 15 months. He has been in leadership positions for over a year now so I have a lot I can learn from him. We have been able to talk about our hopes and expectations for the zone and I am excited to see the progress we will be able to make here in our Raromata'i zone. 

Last week we were doing some tracting also and we had a nice miracle. The third house that we contacted there was a member there that was on vacation from Tahiti. She immediately introduced us to all of her family at the house (about 8 people) and we were able to set up a family home evening in their foyer that next monday. At the FHE we taught about prayer and the restoration of the gospel and afterwards we committed everyone to pray and ask for themselves if our message was true. Right after we asked that question one of the older men that was there responded "for me its not even a question of if its true or not if you two are here in front of us telling us this story". So that was a pretty interesting experience. We will be continuing the lessons with them so we will see where that will go.

And this week we had a baptism. He is an 18 yr old named Leywilson. He bore a simple, yet powerful testimony of his knowledge of the truthfulness of this Gospel. It is such a blessing to be able to be a part of these peoples' conversions. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers and I wish everyone a great week. 

 

 

                                              New years breakfast with some of the ward

Its Christmas already?! This past week we were able to celebrate Christmas as a zone and we did a white elephant and played games and ate raw fish and beef together; we had a blast. I would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas. On my mission I have really been able to appreciate the real meaning of Christmas. I am extremely grateful for our savior Jesus Christ and for this time to show him our love and appreciation. Through service we can help others feel Christ's love for them. If any of you have friends that you think would be interested in the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ of the please don't hesitate to contact the missionaries. That would be the best gift to receive or give this holiday season. Thanks for all your prayers and support and I pray that everyone will have a great Christmas. Merry Christmas to everyone!

​                                                               Best Christmas present ever!

This is Tepoihere. She is 9 and lives in the Tuamotu islands (islands really far away without a church on it). She came here to Raiatea so she could get baptized se we had the honors to prepare her for her baptism. She was baptized by her grandpa on the left. ​

 

This is a famous rock here at Raiatea. The legend of this rock goes like this; A long long time ago here at Raiatea the men were taller than this rock. If a boy reached the age of 18 and wasn't taller than the rock they would cut off his head. I don't think I would make the cut :( 

We had another baptism this week. Wesley (left) and Ocean (right) were married last week and Ocean got baptized last Friday even though she was really sick that day. 

So news for the week, I got transferred again! This time I went very far, from Tahaa to Raiatea (neighboring islands, about 5 miles apart). I am in the city of Tevaitoa and our area includes the ward of Tevaitoa and a neighboring branch.  One of the best things about this transfer would have to be the truck that we have now, a beautiful Toyota Hilux. My legs are sighing in relief right now. It was sad to leave Tahaa with Elder Franco because we were really making some good progress in that branch and I was really attached to our investigators and the members over there, but I found that the members in my new ward are very inviting also. We eat very well over here, the members feed us at least once a day, so we shouldn't have any problems with that. Also we have a good amount of progressing investigators and we even had a marriage last Saturday for one of our investigators who will be baptised this Friday. 

The work is good here. This gospel is such a blessing to us all and it is such a joy to be able to share it with everyone. We are all so loved and blessed by our Heavenly Father and I know he hears and answers our prayers. Thanks for everyone's thoughts and prayers. Also because people only celebrate French holidays here I forgot that Thanksgiving was last week so I would like to wish everyone a happy late Thanksgiving. I hope everyone got all their black friday shopping done in safety. Now we start the Christmas countdown. Have an excellent week everyone!

 

​So the story to this picture goes like this. Our door can only be unlocked by a key from the inside and outside. Elder Gouttin, the Elder that I replaced, took the 1 house key with him when he took the plane to Tahiti. We asked the couple that works in the mission office to send us the key but they weren't in too big of a rush to get it out to us. For 5 days we climbed through the back window to get in and out of our house. We didn't want to let anyone else see how we were getting in and out of the house so we had to keep it on the DL every time we did it. That was fun. ​

We had a baptism this past Saturday. In the middle is Marama, the new convert, and on the right is my companion, Elder Teihotu. I had the privilege to give him the gift of the Holy Ghost.