Week 97: Pit stop on the way to Hane, and you never know who is watching your example

Sorry again for the tardiness in writing, we went to help Aldo with some work. It was super fun because we all were working with machetes and were cutting down this huge area to turn it into a cage where he can put all of his goats! Sooooo yeah this week was super great here, very busy!!

Last Monday It rained like crazy, and when it rains like crazy that means that the WIFI stops working, and all stores close, etc. So we literally did nothing except sleep and studied in the scriptures haha!

Tuesday we went on bike all the way to Hane, but before that, Marie Christine made Puaka Toto (which is pig cooked in its own blood) and its sooooo good that I ate way too much and I threw up on the way to Hane, haha, but it's ok, I wasn't sick after. We were able to contact and meet new people that day! 

Wednesday the sisters had their Relief Society and we went and visited a good friend of Marie Christine (Tatiana), and she was super great and invited us to meet with them again because apparently her husband wanted to talk to us!

Thursday we went to see Moeata but she wasn't there so we had a lesson with L. That was good, but man, she has so much anger in her heart and she is suuuuper prideful so it's really hard to teach her. We tried to give her the BOM and she accepted, so I really hope that she reads it.

Friday our investigator Julie was doing an open house thing where she was making food and delivering it for people, so she could make money to buy a marble tomb stone for her son who died a long time ago, so we went and helped! Moeata was there helping as well, so we talked to her and apparently L is being kind of a dingus to her and telling everyone that she is mormon now and stuff like that, but she is doing in a persecuting way, so she had a hard week. She is still reading the BOM and working hard--she is a stud! All of our investigators are just champions because if someone is even seen talking to us, the whole island knows and they all start criticizing the person -- its super sad to see that.

Saturday we did a lot of meetings and a massive planning session. It took us four hours, haha, but we have a super good plan for this week coming up!

Sunday morning we met Tatiana's husband, named Teva, and we did a lesson with him. It was super great! He wanted to talk to us because he is just astonished with our sacrifice and our example. He said that he notices the way we treat kids, and he says that its rare to see people like that. He noticed how all the kids just love us, and he says that it's because kids have a pure heart and they go toward people who also have a pure heart! I liked hearing that! I'm just super glad that Elder Ugbah and I have been trying to be good examples on this island in spite of the persecution toward us and those we teach! You never know who is watching ;)!

Jesus Christ was our first and best example, and by being baptized we take upon us His name, meaning that we are also examples of Jesus Christ and His gospel.  Everything people do in this world is based off of examples of others, so if we strive to follow Christ's example, we will help others change, because you never know who is watching, but there always is someone watching!

Have a great week! I love you all.

Elder Boyd

Week 96: The Boat comes in, and the Mormon Elders attend a Catholic wedding

So this week was definitely a tougher week, but it was still pretty great!! The boat came this Friday sooo everyone on the island (literally everyone on the island) were busy preparing for the boat to come! Everyone who works at the stores gets ready to receive all the new products, or people get all of their fruit ready to send out on the boats to sell because everyone here has gardens of all kinds of fruits. Many either prepare their pigs or goats to be sent, or they send all of their cool tikis and stuff like that!! So it was a busy week for everyone here in Ua Huka! 

Monday we had a chill P-day and just relaxed again. and we then had a lesson with Aldo and he is doing super great! BTW, we are doing lessons with Aldo every other night, and when he doesn't have a lesson with us, he and Marie Christine read together! They both have been saying for this week that has helped them sooo much!! When they have had arguments, or trials, they said that reading the Book of Mormon together really helps them, sooo that is great!!M

Tuesday we saw Moeata and she is also doing great! We talked a lot about baptism again. She totally has this testimony and she is totally ready, but she is sooooo scared of her dad! Ha, it's funny because Aldo is scared of his mom and Moeata is scared of the dad! We are really trying to help those two! We understand them because pretty much this whole island is family and the whole island is Catholic, so it really is tough for these investigators, but i know with faith and hard work, we will definitely have success!

Wednesday our investigator, Mehiti, headed back to Tahiti!! She is going back to talk to her boyfriend Raimoana, and try to fix things and talk about marriage and baptism and she is hoping to come back in July! We are staying in contact with her. We alerted the missionaries in Tahiti and they are seeing her, and we are sending her some verses and stuff by text message!

Thursday we did a lot of contacting, and we had a few good lessons.

Friday the boat came and we had to go down to the boats and pick up some stuff the office missionaries sent us, and then we had district meetings and we planned for the next week!

Saturday we were invited to a little kid's birthday!! His name is Teanu, it was awesome becuase we got a chance to talk to more people and develop some good relationships with some people! Then there was this huge marriage that everyone on the island went to. It started off in the Catholic church, and we totally went haha. It was funny because everyone looked at us like we were crazy!

Catholic church services are extremely different! The bishop was there and they call him "my lord" which weird,  but idk, I'm just really glad and blessed that I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ! The reception was super cool because they had a Haka and all this really neat cultural stuff!! I took some pretty sweet videos!!

Sunday we had a great day at church. We talked about fathers and the influence of their examples!! 

Things are going great here, we had a super good weekly planning, and we have some pretty great goals and plans set up! So we are praying and are excited to see what happens!! love you guys have a great week

Elder Boyd

Week 95: Dad runs up the mountain, and staying in Ua Huka to the End

Hey guys!! So this week was a pretty normal week!

Monday, because elder Ugbah was sick, we pretty much just chilled in the house and he rested and yeah that was pretty much our P-day! haha. But it was great because it was a nice break and we got to rest a little bit!!

Tuesday we had a few good lessons but we also had like three lessons cancel which kinda sucked.

Wednesday: Sooooo this boy named Ronny, he is Marie Chantal's son, really wants to get baptized, but we kept hearing that the dad is not ok with him being baptized. So we planned to do Ronny's lesson later in the day so that the dad would be there and then we can talk about that with the dad, but while we were walking up to the house the dad saw us and totally went and hid up in the mountain behind his house. We were pretty disappointed and its obvious that the dad doesn't want to talk to us, but it's okay -- God has a plan for him and his son. Marie Chantal is being awesome and obedient, so blessings will come.

Thursday we had some decent lessons and there was a conference back in Tahiti so we got to tune in by Internet and be part of it! We learned a lot. President and sister Bize are super powerful speakers! You can see how much they love their missionaries just by the way they talk!

Friday we had district meeting and yeah it was great!! 

Saturday morning was great! We went to see Moeata. She is doing great btw, and also her mother-in-law's (her name is Leontine) story is super long and hard to explain, but basically she was cast out of everything political and the Catholic church just because she was the leader and people didn't want her to lead anymore. For years she just became super bitter and then we she started hearing how we pray she said to us that that scares her, because when we pray with Moeata she feels something and she is scared of this change. But anyway, she finally came to us and asked for help and she needs to get all of this bitterness and anger out of her heart, so yeah, we started the lessons with her!! So that was cool! 

Then we saw Monia, who studies with the Jehovahs Witnesses, and she loves it, but she says that she feels something different with us! Of course, she asks a JW what that means and they tell her that that's from the devil and that satan can disguise himself into light and stuff like that... haha.  So yeah, we are working with her on that! We talk a lot about the influence of the Holy Ghost.

Sunday was great as well we had a good day at church and a good day spending it with our members! 

Transfer calls were this week, and it turns out that Elder Ugbah and I are still staying together!! This was the last transfer before I leave! So it's for sure that I'm staying here in Ua Huka until the end of the mission and I'm staying with Elder Ugbah to the end! Yay! I'm super pumped to finish here!!

Love you guys. Have a great week,

Elder Boyd

Week 94: The highs and lows of missionary life

Hey guys, what's going on? Sooo, this week was a crazy one! It was kind of a spiritual rollercoaster if you know what I mean!! 

Monday we worked in the morning. We had a few lessons because some of our investigators couldn't see us during the week and they were great lessons!! And then we did our mail and other P-day prep.

We got back to work on Tuesday and man it was an intense week. We saw Moeata and we talked about prayer! She has had all these crazy awesome experiences with God, but the only thing that's delaying her is to pray and ask if its all really true! So we talked about that and she said that she would do it! At the end of our lessons she said that she wanted to say the prayer. She said a super super long prayer and she asked God right in front of us if our message was true! At the end of her prayer she was all teary eyed; it was definitely one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard! The spirit was super strong!

Then Thursday SUUUUCCCKKKKKEEDDD!!! We have another investigator named M and she is super great. She has gained a testimony and everything. Of course her husband is not ok with it and says that if she chooses to be mormon he will divorce her! So she chose to stay Catholic and avoid the drama! I don't like that decision, but it's okay. I mean I understand her situation and why she is so scared, but also, I understand and know the joy that she could have with this gospel. It's okay, she will probably have another chance! It's never too late! So yeah, Elder Ugbah and I took it pretty hard because we worked hard for her to come so far, so it was sad!

Friday we had all of our meetings and Saturday we had some great lessons again and a lot of success! We are teaching a woman with same-gender attraction issues, but with the Lord everything is possible haha!! She is actually doing super great and she loves the gospel and is believing it. She knows that she has to change so she is making efforts! 

Also, at the beginning of my mission in Fa'aripo, in my first area I taught a girl named Mehiti and her boyfriend Raimoana. My trainer, Elder Teamotuaitau, and I ended up fixing their baptismal date, but a few weeks later they disappeared! Sooo get this: Mehiti is from here in Ua Huka and is really good friends with Marie Christine, so we talked and she said that they disappeared because of their in-laws; they kicked them out because they wanted to get baptized!!! Sooo mystery solved! It's like God has prepared Mehiti for all this time until now because we started the lessons with her. She still wants to be baptized and she knows that it's all true and stuff like that!! So we will be talking about that more this week. Raimoana is in Tahiti working. I haven't seen him yet, but apparently he is doing super great!! So that was a cool miracle.

On Sunday, we conducted church. Testimony meeting was super great!! Ugbah got super sick after church so we just chilled the rest of the day while he rested! 

God works in mysterious was and he always will!! Most of the time we won't understand how He really works, but all we need to understand is that listening to the spirit and having faith in Him will allow Him to work miracles prepared for us!! 

Love you guys! Have a great week

Elder Boyd

Week 93: People are progressing and Moms are awesome

Hey guys! Sooo this week flew by way too fast; and I say too fast because I feel like there is not nearly enough time in a week to get everything that we need to get done, done haha!! I feel like there should be 30 hours in a day instead of 24.

For P-day on Monday we went with Aldo and killed a pig and prepared it! So I learned how to dress a pig and how to kill a pig too, haha, and then Marie Christine cooked it and we ate it the next day!!! We were tired after that so we just did mail and chilled, then we had a few lessons sooo yeah we did that!

Tuesday, we went back to work! In the morning we saw sister Moeata and she is doing super great. She is just the perfect investigator because she understands scriptures super well -- she just has a mormon brain! That night we had a super great lesson with Moerani, and she is also doing great She keeps reading and progressing, but we really invited her to pray and ask God if it is all true because she hasn't done that yet!! 

Wednesday was a great day of lessons. We got Melodie on this intense 12 steps to change program that the church did to help her with her addition problems. She is only 21 years old, but she wants to by freed from all that stuff and we are trying to help her out.

Thursday we saw Moerani again and she came with good news!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She got an answer, and she now knows for sure that this is all true and she knows what she has to do........baptism. But of course there is definitely a trial that she will have to overcome and that is her dad, who is very against our church and does not want her to get baptized at all. We talked with her about faith in Jesus Christ, and she said that she would go and talk to her dad! We have a lesson with her tomorrow so wish us luck!!

Friday the sisters were busy in the morning so we had to ride our bikes all the way to Hane, but it was totally worth it because when we got to Moeata's house her boyfriend, Rataro, was there and totally talked to us and even assisted in the lesson with us!!!! Oh man, that was awesome!!!! That was totally a miracle, and Moeata was sooo happy!!!

Saturday was a less busy day, so we did all of our planning.

Sunday was Mother's Day here on the island, so we did church on the theme of mothers, and it was great.  Elder Ugbah and I gave talks on moms and then Parina, the little girl that was baptized a few weeks ago, gave a small talk as well!!! All the sisters we sooo touched; especially Yvonne. She was bawling and said that that was the first time that anyone had ever celebrated mothers for her, and she has been a mom for a long time! It was a great day!! I'm sooo grateful for my mom and for all that she has done for me. I love you mommy!! And thank you to all the moms out there!

Aldo is also doing well; he is just trying to stop smoking! He keeps reading everyday and everything!!!

I have learned on mission that God is not going to let things be easy for us!! For example; for those who wanna be baptized there is always a trial that can prevent them from being baptized!!! It's like God is saying to them, "Oh, you want to be baptized? Prove it!" It's sooo true!!! It is neither easy, nor comfortable, to follow God sometimes, and it's not meant to be easy -- but the reward is huge, haha! 

Have a great week! Love you all!

Elder Boyd