21 July 2014 Bora Bora
This week was super long, probably because we didn’t have very many lessons. Lots of port à port (ed. note: door to door)! We decided to focus this week and last on looking for new investigators, because it seems like it’s just the same people that were being visited before and frankly there aren’t very many potentials anymore. So just like what happened at TIAPA, we hit a “reset” button and went out searching for more people. I'd forgotten how great tracting in the islands is. The people are a lot nicer than those that we port à ported at TIAPA.
We had some pretty awesome experiences with the port à port. One of them we randomly decided to stop at this house and this old Papi came out. There were dogs barking and snarling everywhere. We were talking with him and he was having a difficult time understanding us. Then we realized he was pretty deaf. So once we started yelling it went better.
It was a pretty bizarre experience all in all. It might be the only OLB (ed. note: ??) experience I've done yelling, in Tahitian. We talked then he said he had back pain, so I offered to give him a blessing. He accepted and we went inside. Then-still yelling- I explained what we were going to do. In Tahitian things come out really blunt, and it’s pretty funny. What I said was.
"Papi, E horo'a matou ia oe the hoe haamaitairaa na roto te mana na te Atua. Te mau nei matou, ta'na mana, no te mea e mau tavini matou na te Atua!"
The translation is, we are going to give you a blessing through God's power. We hold His power, because we are his servants. Elder Peterson said it was pretty epic, especially since I was yelling the whole thing. Then we gave him the blessing, gave him a Joseph Smith Brochure and left.
After we’d pedaled away for a little bit Elder Peterson starts laughing and says, "what just happened?" Which made me laugh because it was pretty funny. Then he asked what do you think the papi thought? For all he knows we could have been three random angels - speaking Tahitian. He might have thought it was some kind of bizarre dream.
All in all tracting is pretty fun in the islands.
I got the package, and it was soooo awesome, thanks a ton I love you guys! Everything was there in it. The ant proof container is especially awesome. The Rubiks cube, while the [insert Chinese word] Cube is pretty cool, its super light and turns super easy. I like messing with it before I go to sleep it relaxes me.
The ward division is probably going to be the 9 of August, I think? We will see, everyone is pretty sure it’s going to happen. They found Elder Peterson and my house. I haven’t seen it yet but it’s on the other side of the island kind of next to this resort called Sofitel, just after Matira. It’s apparently in a pretty nice spot, everyone said its small, but that doesn’t bother me because the house at Uturoa was probably tinier!
My reflections this week were about trials. Trials can make life difficult and god gives trials to everyone. However, some people have to deal with more because they don’t know the gospel and they transgress against the law they don’t know about. Although they are not punished for it, they still end up suffering the consequences of their actions, whether or not they knew it was a commandment. Therefore, by teaching people the gospel and helping them follow the commandments; life is made easier because most of the bad consequences are removed when you follow the commandments. The trials stay but the other bad effects go. There’re my thoughts!
Love you all. Have a great week!
Elder Molinari
