Week 88: Just your average week on a mission

Hey guys!

After emailing on Monday we were super tired again and so we took a massive nap and just chilled haha. It was pretty chill.

We go on a run to this spot and back every morning

Tuesday we got back to work!! we saw sister Colette in the morning and she was doing great! We talked again a lot about baptism with her, she keeps on bringing it up!! We noticed that here in Ua Huka we talk a lot about baptism because they all ask a lot of questions about baptism and how that works, so we actually try to make that a center of every lesson; like if we are teaching the restoration or the plan of salvation we try to center those lessons around baptism!!

Wednesday we headed over the Hane, which is the neighboring valley (it's super pretty) to see some investigators. We tried doing a lesson with a crazy Catholic, but it was literally impossible to teach them! We tried so hard, haha, but we gave up after we talked about how the apostles were killed and the gospel was lost for a small while. They responded that the apostles were never killed they went and hid in a magic house that kept them alive for a long time hahahahahahaha. We tried to explain to them but you can't explain the gospel to someone who doesn't want to listen.

Friday the boat came so we went and picked up our stuff! Everyone on the island was busy with the boat and the tourists, so we did a bunch of planning.

We did some service projects and some good lessons on Saturday and we planned for church!!

Sunday we had church and it was good but we didn't have as many people because there was a big event on the island, but we still had ten people at church!!

So this week was good. It was just a normal week in the service of God, but we are motivated to help the church grow here, and the church WILL grow here if we are motivated and patient. The Lord knows best and knows how, and he works by the small things first. That is how His big and eternal plans are realized (Alma 37:6-7).

Have a great week. Love you guys.

Elder Boyd 

Week 87: Jesus us the light of the world

Hey guys, so this week was super great!!

A picture with Yolinda's kids Ramana and Parina at our missionary home

On Monday after our Pday stuff we  ate with Marie Christine and her family! Let me just say that she is our Marquesan Mom haha! She is totally mom-like; just like a classic Utah Mormon mom who won't stop feeding us and taking care of us haha -- its funny and awesome all at the same time!! Then that night we read with Melodie...every night we go over to read with her to help her stop smoking and to keep her mind on better things!! 

We got back to work on Tuesday and Wednesday and just had some good days of lessons!! We were talking with Marie Christine and Marie Chantal about how most missionaries gain weight on this mission, but for some weird reason I have lost weight!! I showed them a pic of me before the mission and they were freaking out haha, so this whole week they were trying hard to make me gain my weight back! They are just making a whole lot of food...bring it on Sisters! Haha!

Thursday we had a lesson with C. She has a bombin' house and it's decorated all local like and pretty! She was a lady that we gave a blessing to the week before and she really felt the Spirit. Apparently her husband moved to Tahiti and is living there and it's been super hard on her because she is alone and sad about him leaving. 

She loved the blessing we gave her and she is so focused on the things we teach her! When she talked about the blessing she was like "you guys are powerful, you have a power" (it kinda reminded me of when Ammon cut off the arms of those guys and the king thought he was the great spirit) but we simply explained the priesthood! The power to act in God's name...it's not us...it's Him. I'm so glad to be a priesthood holder! It's a privilege to get to see God work His miracles through you! I just really love it! She believes everything we have taught and she is honestly listening to her heart! We talked a lot about baptism!! 

Friday was a good day..had district meeting by Skype and a bunch of other stuff.

On Saturday we did service projects all day!! In the morning we went and cut C's lawn, (in Polynesia they don't use lawn mowers, they use weed eaters to cut the lawn so it is always pretty interesting) and then we had a lesson with Ronny...'twas great! Then we helped Aldo (Marie Christine's husband) with his work because he was super sick this week. We went and fed his goats and his pigs and all that. The Marquesan lifestyle here on Ua Huka is so simple!! They don't need a whole lot of money! If they are hungry they can either go to the store or they can go hunting for wild goats, cows or pigs, haha it's crazy!!

Sunday we had 15 present at church and that was soooooo great! Our first week we only had seven but now we have 15 and 7 of them are our investigators!! This Sunday it was my turn to do the lesson and I was grateful to do the lesson on Easter! (btw there is no Easter bunny here...yes I know that's pretty sad but it lets us focus on the right things). I did the lesson on the signs of Jesus' birth and death that we read about in the Book of Mormon. Samuel the Lamanite prophesied of the signs of his coming and his death, and it is a great thing to study. 

Samuel prophesied that when Christ will be born there will be continuous light for a space of a few days and then when He dies there will only be darkness for the space of 3 full days; no light whatsoever! In 3 Nephi 1 we see the signs of His coming and then in 3 Nephi 8-10 we see what happened during those three days of darkness. But what I love the most is when it says in 3 Nephi 10 that on the morning of the third day the darkness was gone and the light came back (the morning Jesus was resurrected). Then in 3 Nephi 11 Jesus appeared to the Nephites and said "I am the light of world"! 

I love that message our Father in Heaven shows us!! Jesus Christ IS the light of the world! Without Him there would be no light, no hope, and no way to get back to our heavenly home! Jesus Christ is a resurrected being and because he is living we have light, hope, and a way to move forward!!

Have a great week!!!

Love you guys!

Elder Boyd

Week 86: We learn through our experiences

Hello everyone!!! So this week was a super busy week!!

After emailing on Monday, we went and ate with a family and we watched a church-sponsored movie and just chilled haha we were tired after last week!! Then that night we had a lesson with Melodie and then Aldo and his son Ryan! T'was great!!

Tuesday, the sisters Marie Christine and Chantal had a full list of their friends that we can visit, they have been praying on their own asking God to show them where they should take us and that is pretty much what they have done! So we saw a bunch of people and had some really great lessons!

Wednesday we had a bunch of lessons and then Christine and Chantal took us to see Moeata (the sister in law of Christine) and her father in law Rataro! So they were accepting and we started talking about prophets and the restoration and they loved it!! They just kept asking questions and then Rataro asked for a blessing, he has prostate cancer!! So we gave him a blessing, and after the blessing he just got teary eyed and they invited us the come back over!! Oohhh man it was great!

Thursday the sisters took us to one of their friends named C who is having some pretty intense marriage problems so we gave her a blessings and it is sooo amazing to watch the power of the priesthood change people in an instant!! This week we gave maybe 15 plus blessings and man this island really needed the priesthood!

Friday we did our district meeting with the elders of Nuku Hiva, it was good to see them again even if it was by Skype! They are doing great and then we went and saw some more people!

Saturday: is the day that everyone goes and plays futsal and drinks and stuff like that so we put that day away to do all of our planning. We did our weekly planning and then a planning with the sisters to plan this upcoming week, and planned church!

Sunday: Church is a little different here. Because there are so few members, we do primary first and then a sacrament meeting, with a little lesson instead of a bunch of talks. It was actually super great. I like it!! We had 10 people there and 5 of them were investigators!! We should have even more next week

In the church we LEARN many valuable principles but sometimes we cannot fully understand them until we experience them. This is the way God lets us fail, and this is why we are free to choose what we do, because God can then help us UNDERSTAND His principles through our experiences!! That is what I came to realize even more strongly this week!!

Love you guys have a great week

-- Elder Boyd

Week 85: Ua Huka My Nose

If you guys were to ask me how this week went I would probably reply "Holy moly it was nuts!", because holy moly it was!

A Marquesan Sunset

So Monday we went fishing with Brother Bonno and while fishing Elder Temahaga and I decided to move a little further out on the reef (because we were shooting for the big fish, even though in the back of both of our minds we knew we wouldn't catch anything :) ) and while we were out there fishing I was just chilling and then all of a sudden I get DRILLED in the face by a fish hook! Ha! Elder Temahaga's pole got screwed up and something happened with the string so, yeah, the hook flew up and caught me in the nose and made a huge gash on my nose! Haha! Elder Temahaga was freaking out, but I was totally ok -- even though I was bleeding ... a lot! 

Brother B and the other elders made me go to the hospital, and the doctors were super cool. They gave me a bunch of patches and stuff and cleaned it and (boom goes the dynamite) I was on my way! Don't worry mom, I'm ok! I don't understand why my nose has just gotten murdered in this life: in second grade I drilled my nose on a pole, junior year I shattered my nose by getting hit by a baseball, 

Broken nose from a baseball off a line drive to the pitcher (2014)

... and now I have some cool scars from a fish hook to add to that!

Tuesday morning we got everything loaded up and we took the boat to Ua Huka and wow was that cool. The Marquesan Islands are so pretty! The ocean was not very calm and we started to get sea sick.  Elder Ugbah got way sick! Dang! When we got to Ua Huka Sister Marie Christine and Marie Chantal came and picked us up and we got all settled in!! It's really good to be back in Ua Huka, because man I really, really love this area! 

The boat to Ua Huka - farewell to Nuku Hiva

Wednesday - Saturday: we spent a lot of time seeing investigators. Marie Christine and Marie Chantal had a whole bunch of people that they wanted to see and they have definitely been doing their part of the work! Because of them we have found a lot of new investigators!! They are really amazing. 

Basically the deal here is that there is really only one religion on the island and it's Catholic. The Catholic church and their leaders pretty much run everything here. Much of the community is full of Catholics who are pretty critical of everyone and they definitely talk badly about us!! Most of our investigators say to us is that the people here have a big problem with criticizing and it is hard on our investigators.  I can really see that a lot of people are searching for the truth in their lives but are SCARED to look for it! Now that we are staying here on the island full time it'll give more people an opportunity to learn the truth!! I totally feel like I'm in Joseph Smith times where we are trying to establish the church with just a few members and there is a lot of persecution and stuff like that! Ha it's crazy!!! I honestly love this place, and Elder Ugbah and I are working really hard. 

We are still teaching our investigators who have been taking lessons with us by Skype and it is so great to be closer to them! Aldo (the husband of Marie Christine) is doing super great! He is a hard worker and has a great desire to do what is right.  Melodie is my homie...you can tell that she has had a tough life. She was abused as a child but she is 20 years old now and has a big desire to do what is right.  She just has a hard time with smoking so we have her on a strict program! Julie is doing great, and the list goes on. We have a lot of work to do here. 

Sunday was crazy because we couldn't get conference here this weekend. The Internet is not great here, so we did a sacrament meeting.  It was the smallest sacrament meeting I have ever seen! We had just a few adults and their kids attend, but it was super great.  It humbles me to see the faith of these sisters that are so strong in the gospel in spite of the persecution and the trials!

So here we are again at Pday! Poi poi roa!!! (Shout out to my buddy Paxman) haha! We got up and went running, ate something, and did emails!

We sometimes take for granted the blessings that we receive everyday. This island has just begun to have an opportunity to receive the blessings that we have access to in our lives everyday! I'm so grateful for our Father in Heaven and that he has given me the chance to share His gospel with these wonderful people. 

Have a great week guys! Love you all!!

Elder Boyd

Week 84: Transition week to Ua Huka

This week Elders Boyd and Ugbah made the move to Ua Huka and had no time to write home, but here are a few pics from their last days on Nuku Hiva.

Saying goodbye to the Ah Scha family

Saying goodbye to Jacob