This
week was a good one. It was not the easiest week ever, but it was a
good one. We are still having a bit of slow start, thanks to the Heiva
here, but we are doing our best. Heiva is like the big yearly
celebration, with dances and sports and competitions. Heiva started
here, last Monday, and will continue until the end of this week...
EVERYONE and their dog is at Heiva, and when we talk with people, they
say we can come by, but "after Heiva." We've had lots of potential
investigators, but not a ton of lessons. I hope that it will pick up
after this week!
Fakarava, despite the Heiva,
is AWESOME. I am very happy to know the people here, and to meet some
awesome members. Elder Bakow and I know most of the branch now, and we
are working on plans to help re activate the less active members. This
Sunday was good, but attendance was like thirty again. Not a whole lot. I
think we are more than one hundred members, on paper. Gotta rescue
those who aren't coming! Our DMB (dirigeant missionnaire de branche AKA
Branch Mission Leader) is awesome! He is a nice man, who served his
mission like twenty years ago. He went with us to do some door to door,
and he has been a good friend this week. He grew up on this island, and
knows EVERYONE. It helps a lot.
One interesting
thing about Fakarava, has been the amount of tourists. We see, and chat
with Americans, New Zealanders (or ites?), English, German, and French
tourists. It has been fun. I ordered some copies of the Books of Mormons
(ha! I pluralized it 3 times!) and some pass a long cards in English,
just so we can give something to the people who come here. Many people
come on yachts, and all they do is read durring the travel. I would love
to be able to offer another book for them to read! We'll see how it
goes, when the books get here!
Last night,
Elder Bakow and I had a cool chance to participate in a family night
with our branch president and some other members, and one of our
investigators! We taught using the story of Enos. It was fun, and we ate
really well afterwards. I think I might have gained a couple Kilos in
the last 10 weeks. We'll see though. We ate GOAT and POULET CITRON!
Sooooooooooo goood! The goat was made with coconut milk. It was good.
After the lesson, and after eating, we talked about fishing. The brother
who made the goat is a big time fisherman, and he told us about all his
shark encounters and about the time he spent on a Tonier (Tuna fishing
boat). Cool man. I told him about ice fishing, and he was amazed. It has
been fun to meet other fishermen.
This week, I
read lots of general conference talks, during my studies. I spent some
time reading the talks from when President Monson was called as the
prophet, in 2008. I had thought about it because of the recent passing
of Boyd K Packer and L Tom Perry. It made me remember Gordon B Hinkley's
passing, and how the organization of the church changed. I wonder who
the new apostles will be. I can't wait for conference, just so we can
find out, and sustain them!
This P-day has been
a nice and calm one. No big stuff going on, and lots of time to read
emails and clean the house. This evening we will have a lesson, and an
FHE! Sweet! Gonna get a good start on the week!
I
got my itinerary officially today. I can forward a copy of it to you,
in-case the mission hasn't already done so. It is weird to see my name
on one of these. I saw TONS of them when I was in the office, but NEVER
with my name on it. It's a bit eerie, though I am very very excited to
see you all! I hope that we can have a good impact here on Fakarava
during the next few weeks.
Thanks again for all your love and prayers. I love you and I pray for you!
In a few weeks, I will pray WITH you! Cool huh!
Have a good week!
-Brigham
No comments:
Post a Comment