Sick Week

28 April 2014 Tiapa Paea

Well Tuesday I got my first mission migraine. It was awful, just went home and crashed. Then to top it off, I got sick after it. And because of the migraine I couldn’t even read! So I've basically been sick this entire week. But don't worry I'm better now.

Finally we found a new investigator, the step sister of DMP (ed. note: Ward Mission Leader). I think she was really ready for the lessons. Also DMP is preparing another potential investigator for us. We had a Family Night at his house and he invited the potential investigator. She is about 20, and speaks only Tahitian -by choice- you should have seen the look on her face when we broke out the Tahitian as well, never gets old. So we had a good Family Night in all Tahitian. We are going to go little by little with her because she is active in the protestant church, and her adoptive father is VERY active, chase-away-missionaries-active ;)

So the work progresses here little by little. Since we now have the confidence of the members a little more its starting to pick up. And pick up for Tiapa is just a few here and there. Sadly it wasn’t fast enough for someone, so this week we are going to get the "traveling assistants". I'm not exactly sure what we are going to do, but I’m excited to get some help if they can offer it.

We did our last concert last night. It was kind of sad to finish since it was fun to see all the other missionaries every weekend. I had a nice surprise that night though. Frère Guilan was visiting his daughter at Tahiti and they decided to come to the concert. It was so awesome to see him there.

Frere Guilian et moi

Papaya

Papai. It was sweet and delicious. Not like whatever they call papaya at home (ed. note: he may never be able to eat fruit at home again). It’s not exactly squid, but it will have to do! 
(ed. note: for reference, go to molinariintokyo.blogspot.com This is his sister's blog.)

Other than that nothing much else has happened. Elder Smith and I made some videos. He has a "super slow motion" setting on his camera, so we had some fun with it.

Well that’s all for sick week!

Bonne semaine! Love you all!

Elder Molinari

Good Week!

21 April 2014 Tiapa Paea

We had a little bit of progress this week. We had a service project at DMP's house. We helped him clear out his garden, which was incredible overgrown! It went well, then we made some new mounds for plants, and planted I think cabbage? So we’ve gotten pretty close to our DMP recently and we were pretty united in our coordination meeting this week. In an interview I had with President Sinjoux he just told me to "faire bouger les choses", simply get things moving. So we got some things moving; planned family nights with the ward leaders. Elder Smith and I made a reading calendar for the book of Mormon and the bishopric is going to start a ward reading program - because no one does- and we have a few open houses in the run.

We have a slightly crazy man that we visit that thinks Elder Smith is related to Joseph smith. Its just easier to say yes than to try to explain anything. However the other day I was talking with his wife and he was talking with them and he accidently said yes that he is going to be the future prophet...oh boy don’t know how we are going to get over that little bump.

We helped a drunken man out of the street Friday. He smelled sooo badly of alcohol. Mind you this is before noon. He had fallen in the gutter and he was staggering in and out of the road. We got him out of the road and then the police turned up thankfully because I wasn’t really sure what to do after that. It was funny.

OK, so this Sunday Elder Smith and I gave a special musical performance. So Saturday night the Bishops wife asked him if he could sing in Sacrament meeting, and Elder Smiths go to response is "oui". So we ended up having to sing/play piano on Sunday. He picked how firm a foundation, which honestly wasn’t too bad to play. But we sped off to the Chapel After the meal Saturday to practice a little. It was sooo funny. It worked out in the End. With Divine help I didn’t mess up on the piano and his singing pronunciation wasn’t too bad :) Actually the piano playing is coming along, its not too hard to play things now!

Today we hiked into the valley to see the waterfalls. The waterfalls were pretty lame since it hasn’t rained in like 4 weeks, but other than that it was an awesome hike. We actually ran into Frère Mairau. He is from Rurutu in the Australes but he has land here that they live on. He’s got this faaapu next to a cliff built on an ancient group sleeping site.

He has lots of goats and a pig and duck and chickens.

He cleared all the land himself. It was pretty neat. We met him walking up the path with a chainsaw over the shoulder, followed by his three dogs. It was pretty funny. I think he is in one of the pictures.

Umm...Still stuck and slowly moving through Isaiah in 2 Nephi in Tahitian right now. Isaiah 15 was pretty neat, talks directly about our day. There was a quote that I really like from general conference:

"The day's complexity demands further simplicity" - L. Tom Perry

Interpret it as you will, it just hit me hard. I also liked:

"Knowledge comes only through prayer and study" - Boyd K. Packer

These quotes are invaluable help for seeking new ideas for ourselves spiritually and temporally.

Bon Semaine! Faaitoito! Ua here au ia outou

Elder Molinari

The Longest Week of My Mission....so far.

14 April 2014 Tiapa Paea

I don't know why but this week just felt like an eternity. Don't get me wrong. we've been having a good time, but when we hit Friday it felt like we had been here for years. Something about this sector just ages you; I’ll have gray hairs soon. We still haven’t found any new investigators, but we have a few plans. Well, one plan, left. 

We are going to sponsor Genealogy Jedi for nonmembers and invite everyone. We’ve titled the phases of our plan "Genealogy a New Hope", "DMP (ward mission leader) Strikes Back", and "Return of the Investigators". But seriously, we're pulling straws here. Well, four years ago last week... I kid.

We are doing a concert right now in all the stakes around Tahiti we are almost done. We have 2 left to go. I get to sing in a quartet, bass, so that’s pretty cool. It’s normally in front of TONS of people, so it’s definitely a new experience. We sing lots of songs, and there is this slideshow going at the same time behind us, so I have no idea what it shows. It’s all the missionaries on Tahiti and Moorea that sing.

 There’s this sister here that I affectionately call the crêpe lady. She’s this big Tahitian and she loves to tease Elder Smith in Tahitian. Every time we visit she makes us crêpes and you have to eat a minimum of 3, and even when you eat three she goes and makes more, even after you say Pa'ia(full). The best part was the first time we went Since Elder Smith didn’t get too much of what she was saying, she just kept funneling him more and more crêpes. Each time he would say "done," she would pour out another one and smack it down on his plate, half on the plate half on the table. Then she would tell him to "faaafaro" (straighten out) the crêpe. Then, after he had eaten 4, she sat down, looked him in the eyes, and said "Faahou Toru?" (Again three?). I was cracking up, I told him to say yes or no. She was loving every minute of it. In the end he said no (It was a good guess ;) ). We encountered her again yesterday at our faatamaraa, and she made him eat 2 bowls of ice cream. This was after she asked him if he had eaten Crocodile in Tahitian. That sister is hilarious.

Normally one or two times a week we ride all the way into the valley to visit Christian, but he’s usually not there. It’s ok though because it’s really nice and peaceful in the jungle.

Up in the mountains where no one lives. The rock piles are ruins of an ancient village.
This is still our sector, but its nearly uninhabited.

This week I got to water a driveway. That’s what most Tahitians do, they just stand with a hose and let it fall on the driveway. I’m not sure why yet. But I joined in this week, so I’m officially Tahitian. I bore my testimony in testimony meeting in Tahitian, and most of our meetings with Bishop and the Faatamaaraas are in full Tahitian now. So that’s good. Maybe I can hit my goal to be nearly fluent by June.

Same place just with all the trees that have flowers.
Sometimes I think it's fall, but then I realize its the flowers on trees.

Umm..Spiritual... In my lecture of the Book of Mormon in Tahitian sometimes verses I would read over stand out really powerfully in the Tahitian language. I particularly like 2 Nephi 7: 7, I believe the Lord will give us this steadfastness and pride in our beliefs if we are faithful to him. The Psalm of Nephi was also powerful in Tahitian, 2 Nephi 4:31 was a favorite of mine. "Ia rurutaina vau a fatata mai ai te hara" I shake at the closeness of sin. Take a minute and read this chapter, chapter 4, and look for the qualities that Nephi prays for that we should seek to have as well. It was a great wake up chapter for me! 

Ok, Love you all, Have a good week!

Orometua Molinari

Last Week's Entry

8 April 2014 Tiapa Paea

Editor's note: Elder Molinari emailed a day late last week. The editor was unable to post to his blog due to scheduling constraints. Sorry for the delay. Here is last week's entry and we anticipate another to arrive later today.

Things don’t really change much here. 

We are doing our best to find new investigators, but i think its been 2 weeks without a new lead. The joys of a tiny sector. Oh well, learning lots of other things at the moment. Elder Smith and I laugh like crazy all the time, its great. I haven’t laughed this much in a long time. We need it or we will go crazy in our hamster cage. I think I need to speak a little more French with him as well *cough* *cough* It’s been several weeks since I made the switch to doing everything in Tahitian. Sadly I realized my French ability has decreased just a little bit. Not dramatically, but enough that sometimes I don’t get what people say to me at the first time. OH the joys of having to learn two languages!

Who knew most of my trials would be mental? I think I’m a bit too much of a perfectionist. I’m not very good at setting obtainable short term goals; something I really need to work on! I think my problem is I look too far ahead! Time to learn how to set reasonable goals I guess. I think that’s an important life skill that we all need to learn how to develop, or we will just end up getting nothing done, well not NOTHING but we will not be maximizing our focus.

EIAA!!!! I have a small amount of "skinny-chub" as Elder Gilson would call it. Don’t worry you can still see my abs, but there is probably a perfectly normal amount of body fat on my belly that I’m not used to having. O.O

Right now we don’t have any gas so the shower is freezing. More freezing than it was at Raiatea, it stings when it hits your skin. It’s getting cooler here as well. I’ve had to break out the second blanket at night again (even though it can’t be less than 75 degrees). Elder smith is currently dying at "had to break out my second blanket" line. Oh boy, I’m loosing it, I will turn into an icicle our first winter at home!

This was a valley we visited 3 weeks ago, very deep into the center of the Island. The blue thing is a bridge that leads to a water control plant or something.

These are the missionaries we were with in the valley. We are on top of the bridge. There were MASSIVE eels in the water, but my camera battery died and I couldn’t take any pictures! Kirstin you’ve probably already eaten eel at this point ;)

Well that’s all for this week. Know that I love you all. I’ll keep plugging along here. 

I saw a pole vault pit the other day, It was while we were driving into the city. It distracted me too much. xD 

Love you all Elder Molinari

A New Companion

31 March 2014 Tiapa Paea

My new companion is amazing. His name is Elder Smith. He is from Micronesia Saipan. His parents are from California and he has lived on Saipan his entire life. However, he only speaks English. ;) I am pretty sure he likes our secteur, even though it’s really little. Training is awesome; it’s all I wanted to do in the MTC and now I get to do it. Our daily schedule is as follows. Since he’s in training we have to do a supplementary hour training every morning. We wake up, do sport, then 1 hour personal study, 1 hour companionship study, 1 hour training study, 1 hour language study, and then its 12:00. We eat lunch and then go out, so the morning is pretty long but I like it. Since we don’t have many lessons a week, we do a lot of member visits, which I think personally is the best way to learn the language. It’s stress-free, and they keep talking with you, so it’s great for Elder Smith's French. And at the same time, they speak Tahitian with me so it helps me as well. So awesome; he’s already caught on so fast. He’s one of those people that I don’t think would ever complain about anything.
 District leader just adds a few more things that I have to do. On our Friday district meetings I have to give trainings. I gave my first last week and a lot of the sisters said they really liked it. Luckily I’ve already given a couple when I was at BYU as Sunday school president, so the only difference was speaking French in front of 12 people, which isn’t really that bad. Honestly I’m more comfortable teaching in front of people than leading meetings.
 We gave talks in sacrament meeting this Sunday. Saturday night the Ward mission leader calls me and tells me we’ve got talks tomorrow. Luckily our church starts at 10, so I could prepare it before hand, and Elder Smith bore an awesome testimony. I talked about Ammon, and his example to the King Lamoni. He didn’t start preaching the gospel right away. The first thing he did was offer service, and provide a good example. This softened the heart of the king and prepared him to receive the gospel. So the message was we need to provide service and show good examples if we want to soften the hearts of others for missionary work. (Good examples are a problem here). Piano is coming along as well. I can almost sight read easy hymns. On Sunday I sight read “Where Can I Turn for Peace” and it went pretty well. 

Oh, the training I gave was on Helaman Chapter 5, starting at verse 29 or something. It’s the story of 2 missionaries, Lehi and Nephi, and what I called an example lesson. The Nephite, Aminadab, was an inactive, or a member integrator. I thought it was interesting that the Lamanites directed all their questions to him, and it was he who responded because of the example of the two missionaries. In fact, I was astounded that Lehi and Nephi didn’t really talk at all throughout this encounter. They were just there to invite the spirit and it was with the church member that the Lamanites learned what they needed to do. So I applied this story to how it is important to have members at lessons because the people we teach will be more willing to believe what we say coming from another fellow person than the missionaries. We just need to have the spirit with us at all times. Voila, the insights that the spirit gave me on that one.