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 

Week 92: Touring Ua Huka by boat -- with lemons

Hey guys so this was a pretty decent week!! 

Monday we took a tour of the island by boat. We went with Julie (the sister in law of Aldo and Marie Christine), and Aldo!! The person driving the boat was this guy named Noho; he is totally a guy that just lives at sea, and he loves his boat!! The island of Ua Huka is soooo pretty!!! It was super cool to take a tour around the island!! I also learned a lot of tricks too, like apparently when you are at sea it's good to bring lemons with you so that if you get tired and feel gross because of all the salt, you eat a lemon haha.  It sounds gross, but when you are in the ocean it's actually super good and it makes you feel more energized!!

Tuesday and Wednesday were some harder days because there were futsal games going on so everyone was busy and most of our day-time lessons got cancelled. We were able to do a bunch of lesson at night though.

Thursday we went all the way to Hokatu to see some investigators, and later on we saw Moeata after her futsal practice. She came to Marie Christine's house and we did the lesson there. We talked about the law of chastity, and we are really trying to talk about marriage with her because she is not married but she is living with her boyfriend (that is super common here in French Polynesia)!

Friday we did our district meeting and a lot of planning!

Taking over the Mayor of Ua Huka's office. He likes us.

Saturday was also great. We had a bunch of lessons to do!! We saw Moeata again and we reset Aldos baptism date -- we are going to try and to it the 24th of June!! We set up a program for him to stop smoking, so we are going to try for that and he is going to try to talk to his parents, which is going to be pretty crazy because their parents hate us!! The funny thing is that Moeata and Aldo are our most potential investigators!

Sunday we had 18 at church. We are pretty happy because we are averaging about that much at church each week now!! 

I've really been studying Jacob 5 this week, and it's super great!! I like reading it from a missionary's point of view. I really like how it talks about how the servant and the Lord worked together in the vineyard, and then the servant harvested the fruit!! We as servants of the Lord are working with him, he cannot do it alone, but he needs us to help him plant, nourish and harvest!! 

Have a great week. Love you all!

Elder Boyd

Week 91: 20 people at Church service and seven investigators making progress

Hey guys so this week was super great!!!

Monday, after emailing, we went to watch the futsal tournament again and it was the two best teams playing so it was super fun. After that we played volleyball with some of the people there in the street, and I learned again that I suck at volleyball haha! 

Tuesday we had a pretty decent day of good hard missionary work!! 

Wednesday was definitely a tough day, haha, because the boat arrived on the island. The island gets all of its supplies by boat sooooooo when the boat comes everyone is either picking up stuff that they ordered or they are bringing tourists around, or they are selling stuff to tourists because tourists are suckers and its easy money, haha. Sooo everyone was super busy and didn't have time for us. We tried to make the best of our time and decided to study and plan some stuff for the upcoming week!!

Thursday we went to another valley called Hane, which is the middle valley of the three. We saw some of our potential investigators and had a great day with them!!! Buuuuttttt, oh man, apparently Hane is totally just blowing up with the persecution!! Like holy cannoli it's startin' big time because we have a lot of potential over there! Seems to always happen this way.

Friday we did our meeting and did work and boom goes the dynamite!!!

Saturday we were pretty busy early on and then we had planning meetings.

Sunday was totally bombin because we had a record of 20 people at church!! Woooooooooo, we are sooo happy with the progression, I'm gonna cry!!!!!!!! We started off with only 7 the first week!!!! Oh man, hard work pays off, but we still have a lot of work to do!! Then I called home for Mother's Day -- my last call home from the mission.

I'm sorry that this letter was a bit small and boring haha I'll write a better one next week. I read a verse in Alma 26:22 that if we prove our faith and repent every day, God will give us amazing things. I will let you guys look up that verse and figure what He will give us!!! The goal of this life is to make covenants and keep them through faith and repentance using the gift of the Holy Ghost!! There is no greater plan, and no greater reward!!

I love you guys! Have a great week

Elder Boyd

Week 90: Parina gets baptized. If you are down and need to laugh, play volleyball with a drunk guy

Hi guys!!!!! So this week flew by super fast!!!!!

After emailing on Monday,  we went to watch this huge Futsal tournament that was going on! Futsal is like the only sport here, so its pretty intense! We later played volleyball with Melodie, Moerani (who are both investigators), and Siki (who was drunk at that time). so we were all messing with Siki big time! If you are ever down or need to laugh, play volleyball with a drunk guy!!

Tuesday was a great day!! Almost everyday of this past week was filled with lessons, like we had at least 5 or 6 lessons a day!! If you ask me, thats nuts! But yeah, bad news about "C"; let's just say that she let the persecution and the criticism got the best of her, so she said that she didn't want to keep going with the lessons, which is sad. It is so astonishing to me how quickly people can forget about the spiritual experiences that they have had! Looking back on it she never kept the commitments we gave her, and even though the lessons were super spiritual she never read or prayed in-between on her own!  Sooo.... lesson learned, never stop studying and praying or we will forget the spiritual experiences that we have had!

Wednesday we were able to recontact Marcella, also a very potential investigator. She had a lot of work and was super busy, so it has been hard to reach her, but we can totally see that she has been reading and praying during her free time, and so she had progressed even though she wasn't able to see us often!

Later in the week we had a bunch of lessons and we saw Moeata again during this week and man she is doing great! We talked a lot about baptism and the word of wisdom! 

We held our district meeting on Thursday, twas great!!

Saturday, everyone was super busy so that was our planning day, but we did our fast and it was good.

Sunday, we had a great turnout at church again; we had 18 in attendance, so we are keeping it up!!! It's a lot of work planning and running the church here, but man it's super super great, and its definitely a rewarding experience!!!

Finding the perfect baptismal spot

So today (Monday) was a special day because Parina (the daughter of Yolinda), who is 8 years old, was baptized!! Yesterday Elder Ugbah and I found a really really pretty spot to do the baptism, and we did the baptism there this morning, it was super super great! We had a bunch of investigators come and they loved it! Don't worry, I'll send some pictures!

So all of our investigators like Aldo, Moeata, Mercella, Moerani, Melodie, Reiata, etc. are all doing great, and progressing!! 

Have a great week guys 

Elder Boyd