Week 62: Nicolas is ready, and Robert, while blind, helps others see through his testimony

I just have to start off by saying that the craziest thing happened today! We were at the store and all of a sudden I start to hear a song that seemed really familiar and it was by Kenny Chesney! My favorite! I was so happy...it was like the day started with a little miracle because they seriously NEVER listen to country music over here. Some wonderful Tahitian must have decided to listen to a little Chesney today just for kicks and giggles! Ahhh...the little things that make a missionary happy!

Point Venus lighthouse

So last Monday we went to Point Venus for Pday and there were a lot of great missionaries there. It was pretty dang fun! Then we had FHE with an old investigator named Kiro and that was pretty awesome...we rocked the message!

Tuesday was our busy day but a highlight was when we had a lesson with a new investigator named Hitiarii. He lives with the family "Brothers" (that's the name) and this family is one of those families where all of the kids went on missions and they are all pretty great! So Hiti is a terrific guy and he is super interested! It was a really good lesson.

Wednesday was a neat day.  We found a member that loves going to do lessons with us and he simply loves missionary work! His name is Robert and he is actually blind.  When he is with us we have to walk slowly and lead him to our lessons and I have to say that it is pretty awesome! He has a super sweet testimony and he is just a great person all around. I really enjoy having him with us.

We went back to have another lesson with Hiti on Thursday and man that guy is super humble. He is just ready to hear about the gospel and he gets the message in every lesson that we have had with him.  This guy is so great. Then later that day we went contacting down by the beach and of course we found the resident beach "crazy guy". He told us that he talks to Micheal and the Angel Gabriel and also to God. During the night he stays up and apparently that's when he talks to God. He asked us to write down our first and last name in his notebook and then told us we should come back the next day to receive further instructions after he spoke with God about us. He would find out for us if God really wanted us to be on our missions...oh boy!  We were doing everything we could not to lose it haha! Needless to say, we didn't go back the next day for our instructions. Ha!

Friday we stopped by to talk and do a lesson with Nicolas and it looks like everything will work out. His baptism date is officially set for the 11th of November because that's his birthday and he really wanted that memory on his big day.

Elder Boyd and Nicolas

We have quite a few Priests in the ward out here so Paxman and I decided to start taking two Priests with us every Saturday for like 2 hours or so to contact and teach some lessons.  It was a good experience and we were able to teach a few pretty good lessons but the very first house we contacted was a grumpy Asian guy that told us to go away! Haha! We kinda scared the Priests a little right off the bat, but things got much better after that and it was a good day! We are doing everything we can to involve the members in the work out here.

Sunday was a great day at church and then we set out to do more lessons. Saturday and Sunday are hard because so many people in Arue drink...and I mean they drink a lot!  It's tough to see week after week the same people sitting around yelling HALLELUJAH or THE HOLY GHOST IS LOVE or a few other choice drunk people phrases. I keep thinking of a few funny quotes from old movies when we walk by them (I haven't forgotten some of my famous quotes) but man I just don't see the appeal! We have got to get these people to want something better!

Our small missionary apartment in Aru'e

I finished the Book of Mormon and now I am reading the New Testament.  Tell Brendon and Kennedi that I am in Mark and will be caught up to them with their Seminary reading in no time.  It's so great to read about the life of Christ. 

Love you all and have a great week!

Connor 

Week 61: An investigator prays: Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief

Hey Everyone! It's just nuts how fast the weeks go by on the mission! Here is a recap of what we did last week.

P-Day ay Papeari

Last Monday we went all the way to Papeari (on the other side of island) to go on a hike with a bunch of other missionaries. It was super fun!  I really love chilling with a whole bunch of missionaries on Pday. We really have some great people out here in the mission. That night we visited a bunch of families and then we went and got some pizza for dinner. Heaven! Elder Sovereign and his companion stayed at our house that night because his companion had to go and get a check up at the doctor's office the next day.  It was fun to catch up.

Tuesday we got right back to work.  Out here Tuesday is like the day right after the weekend. It feels like Monday's used to feel when you had to go back to school and everything! Haha!  It is a super busy day with tons of lessons. I love it, but I'm always soooo tired after Tuesday. If I wasn't tired on a Tuesday, I wouldn't be doing my job!

Ferry between Pape'ete and Mo'orea

On Thursday we did splits with the Moorea missionaries. Elder Gonzalez came here to work with me in our area and Elder Paxman went out to Moorea to be with Elder Sekeme for the day. It was a decent day, but we didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped because Gonzalez got super seasick on the boat ride over. So for most of the split he was too sick to do anything. It was tough, but it was ok...we still got a few good lessons in.  Then we had our English class, so I taught the class and it was great (if I do say so myself) haha!

President Bize came to our district meeting on Friday and discussed our zone and the district of Arue and it was great to have him there. I'm proud of our missionaries, they work so hard and it's cool to see them work and succeed. 

Aru'e District in the Aru'e Zone

Then we had a lesson with S and R. They had a hard week but it's ok, they are going to be having some hard weeks and days in this healing process. They really are doing better and they are loving the lessons now. They are honestly starting to feel the Spirit. S said the prayer at the end of the lesson and it was a great prayer. He said many things in the prayer that showed his true heart, but the phrase that stuck in my head was, "Father, I want to believe in you." I thought of the story in the bible where the man asked Jesus to cast out an evil spirit and heal his son and Jesus asked him "Do you believe?" and the man replied "Lord I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (Mark 9:24). I love that verse! S wants to believe, he just needs to build on his faith week by week and let the Lord heal his heart.

On Saturday we had some complications with the parents of Nicolas and decided to push his baptism date back to the 29th. Pray for him guys! He is so ready, but just as we get close, something gets in the way.  

Sunday was busy with our zone leader homework and lessons and then Elder Brunet (one of the missionaries from Bora Bora) came and stayed at our house! Ahhh, I missed Brunet, it was so good to see that kid again. He is leaving today and going back home. Elder Bunet is one of the missionaries that I honestly look up to. He has given everything to the Lord and you can see it when you look at him and talk with him. He's a great guy and he will be a kid that I'll stay in contact with for a long time.

Elders Paxman, Brunet, and Boyd

This week was a little bit harder, it seems like all of our efforts with our investigators are just destroyed by temptation and bad influences and it is so hard to watch...especially when you know they are ready and just need to have faith and move forward. I know that we will see some miracles with these great people.  Paxman and I have gotta be a little more patient and remain full of hope! We ask our investigators to have faith and be patient...we need to trust in the Lord just as we ask them to do!

Have a good week guys!

Love ya!

Elder Boyd

Week 60: The power of the gospel of Jesus Christ changes lives

Hey guys!  So this week was a great but kind of interesting one! Elder Packer really wanted to go and play tennis on P-day so we did! It was pretty great! Then after that we had a lesson with Roger (Terai) and Moeata and it was awesome!

Last week's hike on P-Day

Tuesday and Wednesday we went about our lessons and we had a lesson with Nicolas.  He is such a dope kid, you guys would love him! I told him he needs to move to Utah after he goes on his mission because he and I would be good buddies! I wanna teach him to snowboard, because with kite surfing he would be a natural. He said he will teach me to kitesurf when we all come back after the mission.  

After our lesson with Nicolas, "R" called. She asked us to come to her house immediately if we could.  We show up feeling a little nervous and she said that her husband was a little out of control.   We tried to share a good message with the family,  just to talk about God and Jesus and the atonement, but it just felt so dark in the house. There was just a horrible feeling, and you could visibly see how scared she the kids and have been of their dad.  We asked them to pray together as a family, and then we left and scheduled another lesson for Sunday.

On Thursday we had "Leaders Council" and it was great! With the last round of transfers we lost a lot of the zone leaders because they went home so there were a lot of new guys which was nice  because I'm not the new guy anymore!:) It's hard being the new guy who doesn't know anything but now there are a few people that really think I know my stuff! Hahaha! Elder Sovereign has been called as a ZL so it was fun seeing him and  a lot of my good MTC mish buddies were there! It was a great day!

Friday was a good day. We did a split with Elders Clements and Packer. I was with Elder Clements in my area and it was a good time.

Saturday was a pretty normal day but at 3 o'clock we did a fast with the stake for missionary work!!  Paxman and I have been trying to push the stake to get more involved in the missionary work, and it's getting a lot better. They are fasting with us and sometimes they even come to lessons with the missionaries!! It's getting better slowly, but surely.

This week I also saw my good buddy, Bryan Paofai, from Bora Bora. He was in Tahiti for a weightlifting competition! After his competition he called me and I headed over and talked to him for like an hour. We caught up and talked about Bora Bora, the ward I served in and his family. It was soooo awesome to see him. I miss Bora Bora way toooo much!!! I wanna go back someday soon!!

On Sunday after church we ate with Nicolas and his grandma and some of the ward then went to "R's" house for our lesson. Apparently by the time last Wednesday night rolled around things got worse with those guys! The parents started fighting and and there was some hitting and things got out of hand. "R's" husband ended up calling for some help and spent a little time in the hospital trying to get things in check. During that time "R" would say prayers with their two kids and I was so happy that she knew where to turn for help.  

Friday night her husband asked to leave the hospital and as soon as he got home they started saying family prayer together! When we showed up to the lesson on Sunday, there was a completely different feeling in that home. They looked happy, the kids were happy and they looked like a newly married couple! They spent time at the beach together and even did yard work together as a family.  The change was so quick and we could honestly feel the difference right when we walked in!  In the lesson we talked about the Restoration with the prophet Joseph Smith and the Spirit was so strong in that lesson! We asked them to pray about Joseph Smith and the church and to think about all the blessings that they can have as a family.

This week I saw firsthand the power of this gospel, how it can change people and families for the better. I know that if we live the gospel and just do the basic things, like saying our prayers reading our scriptures, we can be happy. The lord can heal every weakness and wound in our lives, and I saw this in action with our family this week. The gospel totally changed their whole perspective; it brought hope into their family, they now believe that they can be a happy family in spite of the mistakes that have been made!

If you ask me, that is what this gospel is all about.

Love ya!

Elder Connor Boyd

Week 59: Don't be a Dingus; Believe in Jesus Christ!

Hi Friends and Fam! Ok, so this was a decent week! 

On Monday we did a massive hike called the "Fachoda". It basically takes you to this super pretty waterfall, and at the top there are two "slick rock slides" and  a great swimming area. Unfortunately, we didn't get to swim :( but it was ok because there were a whole lot of missionaries that came with us. I got to see many of my good buddies, like Elders Sovereign, Murdock, Harrah, Elledge, Ford, etc. It's always nice to have a few moments each week to chill with them for P-day! 

The Fachoda Hike

Then we had two family nights so we did a split. I took Elder Clements with me and Paxman took Elder Packer with him.  It was a good time!

Tuesday we just worked to get lessons and checked in with Nicolas. Like I mentioned last week,  his dad will allow him to be baptized, but we had to move his baptism date to the 22nd because Nicolas wants his mom to be there. His mom is coming from New Zealand, and we still need to have the mom give her approval, so pray that the mom will accept his decision! Nicolas is super excited for his baptism! He is so funny!

Wednesday was just a busy day of lessons...it was good. Then on Thursday I got to do a split with one of the APs and guess who it was? Elder Teamotuaitau, my very first trainer in Tahiti!  I was a little nervous for the split, but it was actually super, super fun! Elder T has become an awesome, humble missionary and it was fun to spend the day with that guy! We worked in his area, and that area is really poor! Even more poor than where I am right now.  It is hard to see. It was interesting to see all that needs to be done by the assistants, there is a lot to do!

Friday we had our district meeting, and it was a tough week overall for the district of Arue, but Moorea is doing great...I am super proud of those guys!

Beautiful Mo'orea

I was excited for Saturday, and as expected, conference was great! Elder Holland murdered it again in Priesthood session (make sure you do your home teaching guys, hehehe). That man can talk about anything and make it super spiritual and inspiring (maybe he needs to go off on Diet Coke so that every Mormon mom will stop drinking it...ha!). Then that night we went to the hospital to go and visit an Elder that's in the hospital and help him out with some stuff. His name is Elder Nathan Lloyd and he is from AF High School.  He is a great kid and super funny too! He is not feeling well right now but he will be ok. Then we went to give a blessing with Elders Clements and Packer. They wanted us to come because they were a little nervous about the lady that asked them to come and give a blessing to her cousin. The girl really struggles and used to slit her wrists and do some self-destructive things. She was obviously having a really rough time. We also talked to the cousin and she is struggling as well because her husband was not faithful.  We gave her a blessing and it turns out that she lives in our area so she wanted us to come by the next day!

The Sunday session of conference was nuts again! Elder Bednar slayed! Ha! After conference we went to the house of the lady that we met the day before.  Her name is R, and her husband was there too. He is a French guy and it turns out that he really wants to save his marriage and stuff. I felt bad for the guy because you could see that he was feeling horrible, that his sin was tearing him apart.  But it is making him really humble which is an upside, and the fact that we told them that there is hope if they repent and choose the gospel, we saw a little more hope in them. It was cool to see, because the French guy had been searching for help and everyone that he talked to told him that his marriage was finished and that he ruined it. We are the first people to say that there is hope if he really wants to change! 

The gospel is awesome guys! Just live the gospel and follow the commandments every day because it makes you happy.  So follow Jesus Christ and find your joy!

Love you all!

Elder Boyd

Week 58: The faith of Nicolas, and It's all about families being sealed together

Hi everyone!

I have to say that this week was pretty "baller"!

Elders Paxman and Boyd

After emails on Monday we all hung out with the Mahina zone. Elder Dalton is one of the zone leaders over there and it was fun to chill with them! We went to the beach in Tiarei and after that we had our family night.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Nicolas and he is doing great spiritually, but there was a problem; his dad is a member, but at 18 years old he decided he was going to leave the church and do whatever he wanted. His dad was speaking with Nicolas and told him he to wait until he is 18 before he gets baptised. So we talked about it with Nicolas and explained why it was better for him to be baptised right now because he is truly ready.  He said that he would go and talk to his dad about it.

Wednesday we got to talk with Roger and Moeata about the fast we had together. They have decided to try and set a date within the next two months for their marriage and baptism, they just need to settle some family situations. It's hard because Roger's side of the family is Protestant and Moeata is Mormon, so the family is kinda fighting about how and where they they should get married. Roger and Moeata want a Mormon wedding of course...it's just hard with the family, so we are going to really pray for them to get the help they need with this situation! 

We also had a lesson with this lady named A. Her husband is JP and he is the nicest and kindest man ever. JP was baptised about 2 years ago, but his wife (A) is a heavy drinker and heroine addict and she has been like that for about half of her life. Her body is really destroyed right now. About a year ago A got sooo close to baptism and so close to leaving her old life behind, but the day of her baptism she didn't show up to her baptism and they found her drunk of the side of the road later that day. A went downhill and JP also went downhill and fell back into habits with alcohol and stuff. It's super sad!! But Wednesday we visited JP, and A was there. She said that she wanted to change and that she wants to quit her old life, so we are teaching her again, and we are going to be working really hard with them.  They are great people! A is a french woman and JP is Tahitian! They are both great!

We kept busy with lessons at the end of the week and had district meeting with the gang on Friday.  We talked about our normal missionary stuff and it was pretty fun! And THEN (I'm getting excited just typing it) we went to the TEMPLE! Man it has been so long since I have been able to go! 

Tahiti Temple

A family that Paxman baptised a year ago went to the temple to get their endowments and to do their sealing and they invited him, and because I'm his companion I got to go haha! It was great experience to go into the temple again, it made me realize that if I go to the temple regularly when I get home that it will help me so much when it comes to school, work, and family. It just relieves all stress and worry and you get a chance to connect with God. The sealing was so cool and that was the first time I saw a family getting sealed together since I have become a missionary! It was so powerful to see that!

Saturday we went to go and talk to Nicholas's dad, and he just asked us to let his kid make his own choice (which of course we would) haha! And then he told us Nicolas wasn't going to come to church because they were going to go kite surfing and all that stuff on Sundays now.

Well on Sunday we headed to church and guess what? Nicolas came to Church! He said that he was talking to his dad and he told him that he really wanted to get baptised. His dad told him to stay with him and go kite surfing, but Nicolas totally chose to go to church instead! At Nicholas's age (16) I hope I would have been strong enough to not pick the kite surfing! But that is faith, Nicolas has faith! So Nicolas is going to be baptised as planned, but you can see that God tested this kid's faith, and he showed God that he has enough faith to follow Christ. And because of his choice, the dad finally said yes to the baptism!

This week was full of miracles, and the biggest miracle of all was the sealing in the temple.  The fact the families can be sealed forever is a massive miracle, that is one of the biggest gifts that God has to offer us. That is something that is worth waiting for...even worth sacrificing everything for!!!

Have a great week pals!

Love you all so much,

Elder Boyd

Week 57: The Aru'e zone is on fire

Hey guys! So this week was a great one!

After we emailed last Monday we went and played basketball in Pape'ete with the Pape'ete zone...church ball at its finest! Then we had a family night with the family Tepahauatepari and it was great. After that we had to take some of the missionaries that were going home to the airport. It was a little sad since that group of kids were all of my buddies from the beginning of my mission; Elders Urbani, Hill, Fuller, and Tripp! It was so weird to see them go because in a year that will be me! It doesn't even seem real...time goes by super fast!

Tuesday was a normal day of lessons, and then that night we had to go to the airport again to pick up all the NEW missionaries. I totally saw Elder Bradshaw (Jerem from Lone Peak) and it was cool to see that kid again. All of the new missionaries spent the night at our house and it was so funny because it reminded me of my first night. You come in feeling all nervous and excited about Tahiti and you ask all the older missionaries these "rookie" questions. It was really funny--feels like yesterday! Haha!

The next day we had our scheduled lessons then went to President's house to give a lesson to the new missionaries about their training. We talked about the "Standard of Excellence" and the importance of that. It went really well. It was kind of funny because we had to do it all in French so they probably didn't understand very much but we tried to make it simple and fun!

On Thursday we were super, super busy again with lessons. We called the stake president (President Estall) and asked him to come with us to a lesson. We are really trying to form a good relationship with the stake president. That has been one of the problems in Aru'e, the missionaries weren't really communicating well with the stake president and using that as a resource, so we are trying to change that! We are starting to see a lot of good things in our zone and we are pretty happy!!

Friday was our district meeting and then we went to teach more lessons. We had a lesson with this kid named Nicolas, he's super awesome, and his grandma is a Mormon. She is just so happy that her grandson is taking the lessons and progressing so well. She went and bought him everything for church, like the BOM, D&C, a bible, and even the hymn book. Seriously EVERYTHING she could get her hands on, because she is just so happy that he is taking the lessons. She is a classic grandma and the first question that she asks her grandchildren or us is, "Have you eaten??" hahaha! She is the best! 

Later that night we started a fast with Roger and Moeata. They wanted to fast for their marriage and for their baptism, it was so awesome.  We have them committed, and we are hoping to have them on date soon.

So on Saturday we set a baptism date for Nicolas (October 8th) and then we showed up to have a lesson with our investigator "V". The moment she saw us she started crying! She told us that the night before her mother was drinking and her mother told her that she had always loved her other child more than her. How horrible and heartbreaking is that? "V" is about 35 by the way, and she was so sad. I guess in a way it was kind of a miracle because she is ready for baptism and the only obstacle was her mom.  It just makes it easier for her to choose to get baptised, but I still know she is hurting.

Sunday was awesome because we had 11 investigators at church! Let's go! And every companionship in our zone set baptism dates this last week! Our zone has 16 dates set and Pax and I are so happy with the progress of our zone, they are all working super hard! It has been neat to see the changes coming along in the past month. This week was really great!

In my study I've been reading in 3 Nephi. It's amazing to see what was going on with the Nephites while Christ was on the earth.  It's one of my favorite sections in the BOM.  Keep up your reading everyone!

Love ya!

Elder Boyd

Week 56: Couscous cracks me up and Au Revoir to Elder Urbani

Hello Family and all!

Last Monday after we finished our emails, we went to Pape'ete to play basketball with some of the zones right around us.  I got to hang with Elder Terry, my companion from the MTC! It was super fun! There were even a few other guys from my MTC group. It's always super cool to go and catch up with all of my buddies from the MTC. After that we had a lesson with Roger and it was super good.  That night we had FHE with an inactive family and two more people who were living with this family. It was really good! The two living with the family (Karine and Vaimiti) wanted to take the lessons right after the family night! How sweet is that?

Tuesday and Wednesday were really strange days. We had sooo many lessons cancel and everything just went wrong. But you know there are going to be days like that on a mission so no big deal! Chin up and keep working!

On Thursday we had our "Leaders Council Meeting" with all the zone leaders and assistants and with President Bize! It's a super long meeting haha!  We start at 9:00 in the morning and go until 3;00 in the afternoon!! It nuts, but the meeting goes by super fast because there is always a lot to talk about! So for lunch we ate couscous and all that I could think about was the scene with the pharaoh in "Night at the Museum 2" when he was like "Oooohhhh he is nothing but a little grain of couscous!" you know, with his lisp and everything! Remember how all of us could not stop laughing! I was cracking up and seriously no one understood why I was laughing. I guess all the other missionaries didn't have a life before the mission...how do you miss that movie? Hahaha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQOV0rcHLe8

We had a our big zone conference reunion on Friday with all of our zone.  Paxman and I talked about what we discussed at the leaders council. We were really trying to motivate our missionaries to take the work more seriously! The entire time that I have been on my mission, the Arue zone has been the lowest producing zone! Elder Paxman and I are super motivated to get the numbers up!

Sunday was the best part of the week.  We went to church and we finally had investigators come to the meetings! I was sooo happy! We had 10 investigators come and even the family Teheiura came! It was so awesome! After church we went to the family Orbeck's house because they made "Maa Tahiti for Sunday dinner and it was super super good! 

Then we went and did our weekly report and went to ward council meeting.  That day was Paxman's birthday so we went and celebrated it with the Sisters because they made a big cake for him.   We just ate the cake in the parking lot of their apartment complex because we can't go in but it was great! Haha! 

So this week was a hard one but there are going to be weeks like this when you are preaching the gospel. In the mission field and in life, sometimes there are just things that we can't control.  We just press forward with faith so we can let the Lord guide us.  I know He is in control!

Oh! Today I saw Elder Urbani! He was one of the missionaries in my very first house when I arrived on Tahiti. He stopped by to say goodbye to me...he actually heads home to France today.  I haven't seen him for almost a year and he just came back from one of the outlying islands and now he is going home!  It was weird because a year ago when I was in the house with him and we were talking we couldn't really communicate. 

We were amazed because back when we were in the same house we were trying to communicate in English and a little French but mostly just laughed when we couldn't understand each other.  Now we speak in straight-up French and it's easy! I'm gonna miss that kid...he told me to come visit him in France!  Then the assistants asked the zone leaders to pick up the new missionaries so I'm going to go and pick up Elder Bradshaw (from Lone Peak) tomorrow!  Cool! I'm super excited to see him!

Have a great week and love you all!

Connor

Halloween package is on the way this week ...