Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!!!

Oa’oa Matahiti 'Api tout le monde,

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year filled with good health and fun times with family and friends.

Lessons:

Had quite a bit of lessons this past week. Got insanely sick Monday night for some weird reason. Threw up four times that night and then went to the doctors the next day. Everything was going smoothly until we got to the pharmacy where I proceeded to throw up at the checkout when the guy was explaining what all the medicine does and how to take them. Went back to the house slept till the afternoon time then did 6 lessons over the phone that evening.

On Thursday we did some contacting with our ward mission leader after a lesson and ended up having a few other impromptu lessons in Tahitian. It was a little weird being able to understand but not talk as much as I wanted to. But was still able to say the prayers, testify on key points and teach some principles of the gospel. 

Splits:

Had a split with Elder Yates this past Friday, I'm pretty sure this is our 4th split we've done together. One thing for sure is we've improved each time. The first time we went on a split together I was a greenie of 2 weeks and he had about 8 weeks in the field. We were both pretty brand new and didn't know how to speak that well. But now he's out of training and my language is doing a whole lot better and we're able to teach in unity during our lessons. 

I had a prompting that we needed to go out to the end of our sector, so as any good missionary does we contemplated for a few minutes and decided it was best to follow the prompting. We ended up biking to the end of the sector and called someone who hadn't been answering and guess what?!?!?! HE ANSWERED, AND WAS AT HOME!!! We were able to have a lesson with him and also just see how he was doing.

The fun didn't stop there. As we were on our way back I ran over a nail and my tire went from completely inflated to completely deflated in a matter of three seconds. We had to walk back to the house which took another 30 minutes after the 20 minutes of biking. As we were almost back we started running because we saw a storm approaching. We got back to the house and our gate was actually locked for the first time in forever. As we got to the gate we could hear the rain approaching and 5 seconds later the downpour reached us. You should've heard me yelling "Come on Elder, get that gate open!!" We got soaked and entered the house just laughing.

Other things:

We were leaving a lesson and passing a house when this dog immediately barked at me and pounced at my ankles. I barked and yelled right back at the dog and he got scared and jumped back. Guess I found out the trick when faced with angry dogs... Hopefully you guys can also utilize that trick.

Thought:

A scripture that has really stuck with me and one that I have been thinking a lot about this past week is found in Alma.

Alma 43:45 "Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church."

The nephites were fighting for a cause bigger than themselves. Not for power or for monarchy but for the things that were important to them... for their families, and for their liberty. Thinking about this verse made me think about focus, and how important it is to recognize where the focus in your life is. We need to focus and place energy in something good that betters ourselves, and the people we come into contact with.

Happy New Years... Kung Hee Fat Choy... Hauoli Makahiki Hou... Bon Année... Oa’oa Matahiti 'Api...

"Vents favorables et mer suivante"

"Mata'i haumaru e moana mania"

"Fair winds and following seas"

Standing by in Bora Bora,

Elder Ellis