5 August 2013 Week Two MTC Provo Utah

Ia Ora Na

We're finally settling into things. Teaching investigators nearly every week in all French. Thanks to the gift of tongues my language skills are progressing quite rapidly- I just wish I had someone to talk to in French at all times. I'm not sure I gave you my scheduale last time:

1. Wake up 5:45
2. Breakfast 6:30
3. Personal study time till about 10:00, then the teacher comes in
4. Instruction time till Lunch, then Lunch
5. After Lunch more Instruction time, till about 7:00
6. Then personal study time till 9:00

It's pretty hectic, but it keeps me busy so I'm not complaining. When we finally get into the field I'll get to sleep in for 45min in comparison to what I've been doing. On sundays we are let out of the hamster cage and get to go walk around the temple, it's still not open yet though. We have two teachers now. Our first teacher Soeur Boswell is absolutely amazing. I can pretty much understand all her French, and she gets all teary eyed whenever she talks about all her "family" in Tahiti. Our first investigator, Vetea, was actually our second Teacher, frère Rony- no surprises there. He's a pretty quiet kid from Heber, but he is really good at teaching how to present lesson material. I think He's more comfortable speaking French than english. When ever we have a "new" investigator they make a little introduction video. So, Before it started I said, garauntee you this investigator is going to be Vetea with a different name. The tape came on, and the queit slightly monotoned french came in, and it was almost exactly the same, so we all ended up bursting out laughing. His favorite line in discussions is "Je ne sais pas"... after everything. I've neraly got 200 memorized verbs. I have a goal of 2,000+ words in French before I leave. Hopefully I can just memorize most of the tahitian words before I go as well, since thats about how many there are in the entire language.

Aparently since they are expanding the Tahitian mission they are opening new islands. So there is a chance I could end up on an island that no one has been to before, which would be awsome. The Soers stay mostly on Tahitia and Raitaea. soeur Boswell said she actually liked her time in Tahiti proper because you were always busy, 28+ lessons a weeks busy. When you go to the outer islands she says some people get frustrated because its so different, and the work is really really slow. I wouldn't mind that though, more time to get to know the people. She said you can wade in the water in shallows. And sometimes the members et up volley ball courts right on the water..which is really fun. Also the mission president can authorize you to go boating and fishing with members. Soeur Boswell said a trick is to get invited to do things by investigators, then ask the mission president. ( you can edit this from the blog but she also said most missionaries never have a solid poop their entire mission. not one. and toilets can be REALLY sketchy.)

Sunday is probably my least favorite day, mostly because I have to be in a suit all day. Not having music is getting a little annoying, I'm kind of like an addict when we get to sing at church in French, but we pick all the wierdest songs. The french hymn book also has several we don't have in the english hymn book, there a a few clasical songs that were adapted for hymn use.

We watched the Joseph Smith movie in French last night, the one with the steamboat on the mississipi vignet style. By 40% through I was getting the gist of what the actors were saying. Still makes me wonder why they had to suffer so much and we have incredibly plush lives in comparison. But it really helped me think about how to preach the gospel like how joseph smith did. I reccomend going over church history this week! It's really great to refresh your mind on all the stories from time to time- and I'm sure Nicholas doesnt remember much from it!

So long

Elder Molinari