07/29/2013

            Ya, I pretty much feel the same way, this week has gone by way too fast, but If I think about it, we really did get a lot done. Had about 20 lessons, this week, which is pretty high considering there are only 4 people living on this island it seems! We also got 3 new investigators this week; hopefully we will engage all three to baptism this coming week too! That will make a total of about 10 baptisms so far on my mission, 2 already in the ocean! Such a huge temptation every time I walk into the ocean with an investigator, I always have the urge to "accidentally" fall in and swim back to shore haha!

            I’ve been Learning a lot lately with an investigator that we just got, who has some pretty strange ideas of how God works, he thinks at times that he knows more than God. There are times in the lessons when he stops people who pass by his house and tells them which kingdom of glory they will go to. It freaks me out at times... But then there are the times that he poses good questions that make me think, and through the research that I do, my testimony grows and I gain a stronger understanding of the amazing plan that God has created for us! This week my companion and I have decided to strengthen the members here. I remember in Alpine how much my ward really was just a big family. We really need something like that here! That will help us enormously with the work. Pray for us so that we may accomplish our goal si vous plait!!

            I feel so out of the loop right now too, usually I’m home watching fireworks and making all sorts of dangerous explosives with my cousin Austin. I haven’t seen a single firework this year! The only thing I’ve seen that is close, is when someone throws a rock at a dog and it yelps when it gets hit. Pretty much the same idea haha. When I was in the MTC for Christmas, I didn’t really miss the whole family get together thing, yet right now, I’m starting to miss all the family traditions! 9 months out already the 14th of next month, I’m not liking how fast things are going! Thank you all for the support, I know I wouldn’t be having too much phun out here if it wasn’t for all your prayers and letters! Stay safe this week! I love you all!

            As for the pictures, they are specifically for the upcoming missionary named Austin Fyffe! This week I ate pasta for dinner and I instantly thought of Austin and all the times we gorged down pasta and cheese until we wanted to throw up. Then it’s a picture of me and my very first and favorite missionary companion Elder Fyffe. I think that was taken the night before I left, hopefully we can recreate this picture after our missions to see how much we’ve changed! Anyway, I love you Austin and I am so proud and excited for you to serve a mission!

 

Elder Fyffe

 

07/22/2013

07/22/2013 

            This Week has been pretty good, It passed way too fast, that could mean two things, We didn’t do much...or we did so much that we never really noticed the time. I hope for the latter! The work is hard here, we are told this every week by our Church leaders, they tell us that we do a great job and to not be discouraged. It helps me a lot when I let the natural man out Inside of me sometimes and let myself get discouraged! I see why the natural man is an enemy to God, he doubts too much, is too negative, rarely smiles, judges too easily, is too easily persuaded and so on and so forth. He's definitely an enemy of mine and I pray often for forgiveness and strength in order to get rid of this side of me! God in his endless love and Mercy always lifts my spirits though personal revelation in the scriptures and the comfort I feel when I pray to him. I Love this plan that he prepared for us, along with our free agency.

            Happiness is always on the other side of sadness. It stinks that there are times when we make the wrong choice and have to go through sadness in order to realize the mistake we made and then choose to make the right choice in order to be happy. There are still a lot of things in this life that I don’t fully understand, like, why did God make mosquitos?! No idea, but He’s perfect, so I wont question his creations. Being the weak beings that we are, there are times when we question the many plans of our Heavenly father. I for one do not see this as something bad, it’s an occasion for us to search diligently for the answer through prayer, fasting and the scriptures. God will help us find the answers with the help of his Holy Spirit and eventually we will find the answer, and if it needs be, repent for doubting or questioning Our Father’s perfect Plan. Of course I speak only for myself, based off of the experiences I’ve had thus far, I’ve learned so much about God’s perfect plan, through the many trials and mistakes I’ve made and lived through.

            I love this gospel and the ability that we all have to find and have a true conversion within ourselves through the many experiences in our life that we choose to live through. I hope that you are all choosing to stay safe spiritually and physically! I love you all so much! 

            As for the pictures, Just a doodle, a puppy that we found sleeping halfway Under a gate because his tushy was cold and Elder Tumarae being interviewed by an investigator named Ernest! 

Elder Fyffe

 

 

07/15/2013

            For this week’s adventures, I ate turtle, It tastes a lot like dog, which tastes a lot like liver to me, so that means it tastes good. We’ve had a lot of lessons this week and have been working a lot with a sister in our ward; she has found us 4 new investigators! The Lord will surely bless her for her efforts! She also fasts with us practically each week, She never served a mission in her youth, but I think the Lord called her at this time to "serve a mission" with us! I’ve been listening a lot to general conference talks lately, and each time is smack myself in the face and ask myself why I slept through all the other general conferences before! That stuff is pure GOLD! They don’t only bring me answers and help in my personal life, but also care for the needs of our investigators. The Lord really has called his prophets and apostles in our day to lead us and guide us to the waters of eternal life. I will definitely be downloading all the talks I can when I get home. Who needs SpongeBob when you can hear the words of God flowing into your soul by the mouth of his holy prophet?!

            Also for this week we’ve been watching a few of the traditional games here, it makes me laugh each time I see how simple and pointless some of these games are. For example, basketball with a coconut instead of a basketball, throwing a javelin trying to stab a coconut suspended on a huge pole and then the cream of the crop, opening a coconut with your teeth, no Wonder a lot of Tahitians are missing teeth haha! I love these people, honestly I feel blessed to be able to call them my second family! Also I included a picture of an example of what our lessons look like, on the beach, I honestly have the best mission! They’ve given me a name this week, Tekiva. It’s every missionaries dream to be given a Tahitian name! I’m finally a Tahitian! Anyway, not much else has gone on this week, I weighed myself and now I know I’ve gained 40 lbs.! Huge blessing of the mission! I love you all so much and hope you are staying safe! D&C 6:36-37, my scripture for this week. Ua here au ia outou!

 

Elder Fyffe

(I wonder which chapter he really meant) ...David

07/08/2013

                Well might I just start off by saying thank you for all of your prayers and Fasting! It really works when we are brought together humbly before the Lord, to accomplish the Lord’s will! I’m pretty sure that Jesus wants us to have success just as much as we do, so this week we’ll get to work, and bring back some of his lost sheep!

            Right after the fireside that we had, we talked to all of the investigators that came and about 75 percent; including two whole families accepted the lessons! One of my goals for my mission is to baptize a whole family, I think that the closest to perfect joy that I will ever feel in my life! Speaking of families, while listening to a general conference talk last night a thought popped into my head. I started thinking about the people who don’t believe in a life after this, or perhaps the people who don’t know yet that there IS a life after this life. I thought to myself, "Why would God give us families, if we were to just lose them at the end of this life? It wouldn’t make any sense! He gave us families so that they could go WITH us after this life!" The thing that matters most in this life is the thing that lasts the longest! Eternal Families! It made me so happy to testify about eternal families last night to all of the investigators. But at the same time, it brought a sharp pain to my heart knowing that one day I might not be with all of my family for eternity... That’s why we need to pray together, read the scriptures together, fast together, and be warmed to the very core by the love of our savior Jesus Christ, Together. The Family is everything to our Heavenly Father, the Family is everything to me. I’m so thankful now for the testimony that I have of eternal families, it along with the reestablishment of this gospel is something that sets us apart from all of the other religions!

            I remember the many times I went to catholic mass and never really heard a message about the family, and come to think of it, I don’t remember anyone else of a different faith telling me that they believe they are in the true Church. But even in the primary we teach to 4 and 5 year olds that they are in the true Church, and it’s always through a testimony and the promptings of the Holy Spirit! I love this Gospel, I love this Church, and I love Each and every one of you in my life, I will be doing all that I can so that one day, we can all play Uno together in the celestial Kingdom! Stay safe this week, Ua here au ia outou!

Orometua Fyffe 

As for the pictures, it’s been stormy this week, but the people here still celebrate the Heiva, they really like to have phun! Just some traditional Tahitian games like sack races and also extreme piggy back riding! Also last p-day I had phun burying about 15 of the islander kids in the sand haha! Anyways I think that’s it!

 

 

07/01/2013

07/01/2013

            This week has been full of the spirit for me; we were able to do a conjoined fast with all of the leaders yesterday in order to get the missionary work moving. I really felt unified with everyone, and like I said last week, real success comes from working with the members! Also just after we finished our fast we had a little testimony meeting where each person got up and told of their spiritual moments they had during the fast. The wife of the bishop got up and bore testimony of how capable we all are of sharing the gospel with our friends, but the thing that holds us back, is the fear and doubt. Satan is really good at his job, he knows our weaknesses. Doubt and fear play a massive role in his plan to make everyone miserable like him. A phrase that I say often is that doubt doesn’t exist in faith. We must have faith in our divine origin as spirit children of our Heavenly Father, that our message of his gospel will touch the hearts of our friends and family. There is no way we can lose with Him on our side.

            Later that night we had a meeting with all the youth in the ward, the bishop invited us to share our testimonies at the end then he closed with his personal testimony. Something that he said really made me happy, he said to the youth, one day, I hope that you all will be like these two missionaries here with us tonight. Even if he didn’t mean us two personally, but a missionary in general, he helped me remember of how important of a work I am doing right now. Not only is a mission a huge blessing for the people you contact, but an even bigger blessing for yourself. I gained and I continue to strengthen my testimony thanks to my mission. I know what real joy is now; I see what a difference this gospel can make every day on my life as a missionary. The Holy Ghost was something I didn’t really pay attention to before my mission, but now, I know He was always there, and I yearn for His promptings every second of the day! It’s been a very good week for me spiritually; I love you all so much and hope you are all keeping safe and healthy! You are all in my prayers! 

Elder Fyffe 

The two pictures: 

The first is a really phuni story, we walked into a members house just this week and I heard a familiar song playing, then I looked at the TV and I saw MY video playing! I was freaked out a first and wondered how in the Sam hill this Tahitian family found and downloaded my video... they told me that they searched my name on Google (still a tad freaky...) and ten they found the video, they youngest son of the family is obsessed with it now the mom said haha! 

And the second picture is of an awesome plant that grows geometrically, all straight edges, I’ve never seen a plant like that, it was worthy of a picture. I love you Dad keep safe and be careful of your back!