Grateful for the rain

Ça Va ??? , 

The rain is nice... till you go through a few pairs of pants in one day. Nevertheless life goes on. You can't stop the rain but, you can cook a Sapporo Ichiban, change your pants, and keep smiling because life is cherreh. 

Throwing it back to last preparation day, we met a member, had dinner near the docks and got to try "ninja" aka honu. My companion was extremely fast to pass the entire bowl over to me and well I couldn't be rude. The honu was already killed and although it might be illegal to catch/eat, I think Heavenly Father found a way to nicely get back at me for eating it because I ended up with an extremely upset stomach for a few days following the "ninja" experience. The meat itself is super tender and falls apart like a nice pot roast, and has a strong flavor that can only be described as the ocean. It just tastes like ocean flavored meat. Oh, and imagining a turtle swimming doesn't help it go down so eat a little and keep talking to get your mind off of it. All in all, if you get the chance, try it, and hopefully all is well. 

The days following that experience were wet. It was as if someone turned on a faucet and left it running for a few days. Lessons go on nevertheless and well as my companion Elder Parau says, "We walk like Jesus walks".  So we ended up walking an hour down the road only for our lesson to be gone but our other lesson another forty minutes down the road was home so it was a win, and they were super happy to see us. 

Later in the week we got to fly over to Raiatea for our zone conference. We got in the night before and stayed at another companionship house. We only brought a change of clothes, our toothbrushes, deodorant and scriptures so we ended up using our bags for pillows and some extra fitted sheets as a blanket to protect ourselves from the mosquitoes since we were sleeping outside. Zone conference was mean. My companion and I sang "He Sent His Son" in French. I was a little lost when things were being explained in French but still understood the general idea of things. We sadly missed the leg of Hawaiikinui where they stopped on Bora because we were off to Raiatea. 

The weather has changed from being super wet to super hot and humid with passing showers and even if we're not getting drenched it looks like we've been through a rainstorm. Oh and Elder Parau got a new bike thanks to a member in the ward that had an old one they weren't using. We got the chance to help out an older couple that was moving out of their place and it was crazy how clean and organized their house was. Their accents were super thick so we resorted back to the old method of just pointing to what you want us to move and we'll move it. 

Spiritual thought:

Keep pressing forward in whatever you're doing, whether it is walking, biking, or learning. In 3 Nephi Chapter 13 Verse 33 it reads, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you".  We will head not what the wicked may say but the Lord alone we will obey. 

"Vents favorables et mer suivante"

"Mata'i haumaru e moana mania"

"Fair winds and following seas"

Standing by,

Elder Ellis