Ia orana!
Hi everybody!
This week has been a good one, and it went by really fast!
We
started this week, with a Tuesday that was filled with lessons. We were
able to teach about 17 lessons with investigators, and 13 or 14 with
new or non active members. Teaching the less active members and the new
converts has been really fun. I love the people here!
This
week, we had 58 people at church! Woohoo! New record for us! We had
five investigators, and some of their children. We were super happy
about that yesterday. At the chapel, we watched the broadcast from
elder Cook, about the sabbath day. It was all in Tahitian (when it was
in Papeete, and I saw it live, it was in English :D). The translators
speak SO FAST! They say all of the phrases in Tahitian, as the speaker
says the untranslated phrase in English. BUT big and complex thoughts in
English take a lot less time to clearly state than in Tahitian. That
means that in order to keep the same time limit as an English speaker,
the Tahitian speaker must either dumb down or simplify all the comments,
or speak at WARP SPEED! I think that the translator did a bit of both.
The talks aren't simplified too much, so the speaker has to speak VERY
VERY fast. It was cool to hear. He spoke CLEAR and crisp Tahitian, but
spoke faster than you will ever hear it spoken in french Polynesia. I
was blown away.
This week, Elder Bakow and I
ate some weird crab thing. It's fermented crushed crabs and little
crustaceans in some sort of white paste that we ate on coconut bread.
Its like island sauerkraut. The
coconut bread was made not with the normal white flesh of the coconut,
but it was made with what they call nou-nou (you let the coconut sprout,
and then cut it open and cultivate the heart of the sprout, it is white
and spongy and sugary!). In the Tuamotus they make bread using it and
they call it feraua nou-nou. Anyways, it was way good. I thought I'd
tell you about it. The crab gunk was alright, but the bread was amazing,
and together, it was good.
This week, one of
our few precious investigators took the plane with her husband to go to Tahiti, and they wont be back for another week. They left to Papeete to
get married!!! WOOHOO!! Our investigator will likely be baptized here
when they get back. We fixed her baptism for the fourth or July! We
called it Independence day (not American Independence, but independence
and liberty from sin! :D ) We are super stoked for them. The cool thing
is, that I know their family very well. The husband of our investigator,
he is from my old sector. I did Skye at his
sister's family's house on Christmas and Mothers Day. SO anyway, it has
been cool to teach this family, and I just hope and pray that all goes
well for their marriage, and that she will be ready to be baptized on
the fourth!
This week we should have two
baptisms. We are having some interesting challenges coming up with the
family of one of our investigators though. I hope and pray that all goes
well, and that our ami will be alright.
Our other investigator is a seventy eight year old angel! She is so
nice, and teaching her has been so fun! She speaks ONLY Tahitian, and we
have been teaching with her member son-in-law with us. He helps us when
we mess up or don't clearly teach a principle, and he is a way good
translator. He calls us Kolipoki! It has been fun teaching with him. His
mother in law is sooo cool! We are just praying that the lagoon is nice
and calm, and warm for her Saturday baptism! :D
This week I am studying the atonement. I
have started by studying several words like LAW. I was interested by it
in Alma 42, and I have been looking at its use in passages all over
the scriptures. When prophets use the word law, they often speak of
redemption or intercession too. The plan of redemption. I had a cool
insight about what intercession means, and why Jesus gave the
intercessory prayer. I'm still studying that. Last night we had a great
lesson with a less active family. We talked about the atonement, and I
felt the Spirit really strongly. I KNOW that Jesus loves me, and all of
us, and that is what makes this whole thing real, and right! I know that
He is our Savior, and that we can have joy through Him.
I
read about fifteen chapters in the book of Mormon this last weekend,
and my goal is to get through all of Helaman in the next week or so. I
love the book of Mormon! When you read the war chapters in one sitting,
it is AWESOME! The story is easy to follow, and you realize what a
looooozer Amalickiah was. WICKED dude. Moroni is the coolest guy ever! I
love the Book of Mormon. Elder Pearson promised us that if we read it
everyday, we will never feel doubt, and we will be protected. He said if
we read it everyday, we will never fall! I was impressed by that
promise, about a year and a half ago, and I want to put it to the test!
These are my thoughts for this week! Thanks
for all your love, and for writing to me! I loved all the emails that I
got this week and last week. Thanks for everything! I am doing well
here, and I am doing my best. I know that the Church is true, and I am
so thankful to be a missionary.
Have a good week!
-Brigham
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