Week 7: Fa'aripo with Elder Teamotuaitau

Connor arrived in Tahiti safe and sound at 2:00 a.m. on September 29th. We heard from the mission office that he was serving in the Fa'aripo area with a Tahitian companion. He had his first P-day on Monday and finally got to write home. He sounds great and is really excited about teaching the people of Tahiti! He asked all of us to pray for him as he continues to work on the language but most importantly to pray for the investigators that he is already loving to teach. We feel each day the blessings of having a missionary in our home and love you all for being such a great support for our little Elder!

My MTC district newly arrived in Tahiti.

October 5, 2015

Hi Everyone!

Just letting you know that everything is well and I love it here in Tahiti! It's a beautiful island but I'm in a rougher part of Tahiti called Fa'aripo. Everyone is so nice, but they literally live in little shacks. Yet they are still so nice and happy! The members are like moms, they cook us dinner every night, so we don't have to cook at all...hahaha...I love it! My house is pretty cool. The front yard is the ocean and my back yard is a mountain! It is amazing! There is a stray dog that stays outside of our house...I named him "Aito" which is Warrior in Tahitian. My companion's name is Elder Teamotuaitau, he is awesome and we work well together. He is Tahitian and doesn't speak any English. We share a room with another companionship, Elders Drugeon and Ubani. They are both French and, you guessed it, they don't speak any English, so it's definitely interesting, and a bit lonely. I have some work ahead of me to learn Tahitian so my companion and I can communicate, let alone communicate with the people I came here to serve.

With my Trainer, Elder Teamotuaitau

My companion and I already have 24 people that we are teaching... it's really crazy. I guess the people here really like my companion! I can't speak the language, so it's not me :) I've been able to teach some lessons, and I'm actually teaching an investigator, Jean Nichelle, in English. He speaks English (thank heavens) so yeah, that is going well! We have had two baptismal commitments (I don't know how because I don't speak the language so I HOPE we have two baptismal commitments.) So yeah, all is well!

There is a huge problem with people keeping the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity out here, so that can really be a challenge. Each day we get up and pray to know where to go and we are guided. When we get to a home we just yell "Ia Orana!" (yo-rah-nah) which is "hello" in Tahitian, and the people come out to their yard and talk with us.

Conference was really good. Luckily I got to listen to it in English so I could understand. Elder Jeffery Holland's talk was amazing. I was also amazed that President Monson could barely stand, but he looked into the camera like he was looking straight at us and he was talking about Jesus Christ! That is amazing to me... it shows how much our prophet really loves us.

How is the family? I hear that Kennedi's tournament went really well. I love you all!

Pray for our investigators. They all have a great desire to know. I can't understand them and I worry that they can't understand me, but they have a great desire in their eyes. I see it and I know.

Have a great week and I love you!

Elder Boyd