Work Hard, Sleep Harder!!!

Kura'ora Kakou,

Kung Hei Fat Choy tout le monde and Happy Chinese New Year!!!

Experiences:

My companion has been really hungry this past week and has learned on multiple occasions the importance of patience. Patience in itself is a virtue that we all need. You can have a mango or avocado in your possession but if you decide to cut it open and eat it when it's not ready you're just wasting a perfectly good fruit. For my companion that meant eating a mango that was as hard as an apple and eating an avocado that didn't really taste too good. 

We had a meeting with the stake President and he started talking about how they want to split wards and build a new chapel but in order to do so we need more members. He started saying how many baptisms he was expecting for each ward and then looked over at me and my companion and said 26 and that absolutely shocked us. 26 baptisms and we have 11 months. The only thing we can do is hope for a miracle. We proceeded to clean up our Area Book (Online Planner) the next day and made contact with the over 40 friends, only to find out that most the people had our numbers now blocked.

Lessons:

We started off the week speaking a whole bunch of Tahitian. We had a lesson with an older inactive Mami and her husband who's just a friend. During the lesson she just kept going at us and didn't want to let us speak. We finally got the opportunity to speak and just started pouring our hearts out and testifying to her how we do love her and her husband and how we know that God lives and loves them as well. Things were still pretty tense when we left and we ended up visiting them later on in the week and her heart had done a complete 180. She was so glad we came to visit and see them and even invited us over to eat this week.

We visited with a inactive Papi and he told my comp that he was an active protestant and then just started laughing. He started talking super fast in Tahitian and with all the cars rushing past I couldn't hear anything and my face really showed it. He said "Do you understand?" My companion nodded his head, the Papi then looked at me and was like "He doesn't understand". We left after sharing a quick message and I asked my companion what the Papi was saying and he just shook his head and said "I don't know, I was just nodding my head along and it worked". It was a funny moment and just left me laughing.

We had a lesson with a little boy that same day and his Papi and the Papi's friend was there and decided to join in. The little boy speaks no Tahitian and the Papi's speak very little to no French. It was a fun time of speaking in Tahitian to the Papi's and then translating it into French for the little boy or working vice-versa.

Spiritual Thought:

Te mana'o no teie mahana i roto Te Buka Te Ha'api'ira'a Tumu 'e te mau Fafaura'a Tufa'a ono irava hitu, " ’Eiaha e tītau i te tao’a rahi, i te pa’ari rā ; ’e inaha, e ’īritihia mai te mau parau ’aro a te Atua i mua ia ’ōrua, ’e i reira ’ōrua e faufa’ahia ai. Inaha, ’o tei noa’a iāna te ora mure ’ore ra, ’ua faufa’ahia ïa". Ua here vau teie irava no ta mea te reira parau parau no ni'a te mau mea I teie ora. E Ua ite au I teie ora e nehenehe tatou e farii te mau horo'a a Te Atua na roto to tatou fa'aroo a Iesu Mesia. Ua ite au e teie mahana I te mahana ia rave te ohipa'a no to 'oe faaoraraa. A haere na roto I teie ora ma te ite tera Te Atua I pihai iho 'oe. A haere I mua I te po ma teie ite. Ua here au ia tatou, e pure au ia tatou I te mahana nei.

The thought for today is in the Doctrine and Covenants Section 6 Verse 7. "Seek not for riches but for wisdom, and behold, the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto you, and then shall you be made rich. Behold, he that hath eternal life is rich." I love this verse because it talks about the things in this life. I know that in this life we can receive the gifts and blessings of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. I also know that this day is the day to work for your salvation, don't wait for tomorrow but strive to be better this day, today. Go forward in this life with the knowledge that God is right beside you. Now go onward into the darkness with this knowledge. I love you guys and pray for you each day.

Aloha nui loa ko'u mau palala's...

"Vents favorables et mer suivante"

"Mata'i haumaru e moana mania"

"Fair winds and following seas"

Standing by in Bora Bora,

Elder Ellis