06/17/2014

            Sad day in Elder Fyffe town, I’m being transferred... I don’t really want to leave the sector. It seems that right when all of the work that we’ve been doing is starting to pay off, the Lord wants me to go start working somewhere else. But I know there is a reason why I will be sent over there. I know it’s because someone needs me. It’s just hard because a little part of me needs these people too. Sometimes I wonder if I love these people too much. I asked this question recently to a member in a past ward. Because the new missionaries in the ward are having a little trouble. I asked the member if maybe I was a little too close to the investigators, because at times I wonder if the investigators were too attached to me. The reply that he gave me helped me out a lot, he said, “I don’t think God could ever be too close to someone, or love someone too much." As his representative I should and I am loving these people with all that I have. All missionaries have a different way of working, for some people it is difficult to express charity or love. Even though they have those feelings inside. For me it has never been difficult to show my love. It just makes me too happy to see others happy. The Lord is sending me to a new sector to love his children. I hope that he will continue to use me in order to show his love to his children.

            Anyway, this past weekend we had 2 baptisms! Maeva and Heitiare, Maeva is like an Aunt Rebecca kinda figure, and Heitiare is more like Aunt Raja, I love those two so much! Their baptisms were really powerful, when they both came out of the water they were bawling. The spirit did his work and made a lot of others cry too. We even had an investigator say that she witnessed a true baptism. The baptism that Christ exemplified. The Lord really helped these two sisters change their lives. They both found the truth, and said that the baptism was better than they had ever imagined. The whole ward was there for both of the baptisms, and we all enjoyed accepting these two into our ward family. Then at church we had our class with our investigators and they promised us that they would be baptized in July. Stinkin sweet!  Writing emails is getting difficult for me. My joys keep growing while my vocabulary to express my joy keeps getting smaller haha. I never really know what to say. Just know that Life is treating me better than ever. Don’t be surprised if I miss my flight back haha.....joshn... I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Fyffe

06/10/2014

                It’s been really crazy lately, it seems that the closer I get to finishing up my mission, the more things I have to do and the busier I get. Even finding time to email is a little difficult. Mostly because we don’t have a key to the church building, so it depends on the schedule of others too. I’ve completely forgotten what it’s like to be around Americans. There was a time when a bunch of tourists came here and all my companions told me to go talk to them. It was culture shock to me, and I didn’t really even know what to say, and frankly how to say it haha. It’s true that there are other Americans that I talk to here, but, they are missionaries, it’s different. Anyway, talking to those Americans was a scary experience for me; thankfully I haven’t had to do it much.

            This week went by really well. Saturday we took all of the investigators that we are teaching on a little field trip to the temple. Our stake rented a huge tour bus and we took about 45 people to the temple to have a tour and stuff. It was really awesome to end our little outing with a fast so that the investigators that we invited would work towards having this eternal family that we talk about so much. We had about 15 investigators come from our ward, and normally all of these investigators will be baptized in the following 2 months while I am here. I pray that the lord will keep me here. I’ve been giving most all of my thoughts and efforts towards these two families, it’s practically all that I think about. So pretty much, my life is great. Life as a leader in the mission can be a lot to handle at times but I do my best to try and stay on top of things. I’ve come to realize that not reading scriptures and not praying is probably the biggest reason why I was having such a hard time spiritually before the mission. I didn’t really understand the importance of those little things. I wasn’t really looking for God. But now when my investigators need him, I’ve never needed him more. So, I started looking, and when I looked, I found. How can I get to know someone if I never talk to the person? I didn’t know God because I didn’t talk to him enough. How can I receive strength and answers to overcome personal trials if I don’t look for them? I was spiritually stagnant because I never feasted on the words of Christ.

            A mission is a spiritual eye opener, it’s been hard, but I think I finally get it. We have a lot of investigators who struggle at this moment, the reason being, God is not their priority. Men are that they might have joy, if were not happy, then there is something that needs to be changed. Eternal happiness comes through the personal relationship that we have with the Savior. I’ve learned what true happiness is on mission because I have come to learn who the Savior is. I owe it to all the prayers, fasts and scripture studies that I’ve done thus far. That’s what makes me so happy. If I’ve come this far in 20 months, if I’ve become this happy...imagine how happy I will be in a few years after all the scripture studies and prayers that I will do. Well, I love my life, and I owe it all to the Lord. Stay safe this week,

Elder Fyffe

06/06/2014

                Okay, so it looks like I won’t have time this week to send you some more pictures. But I will try to do better next week. This week has been really great, full of a lot of moments where I thought that I would explode from too much joy. I’ve noticed how much that has been happening to me lately, it’s almost becoming an every second of the day sort of thing if I let it. Then again, there are those times when we see an investigator struggling or we get rejected and such. Those moments are filled with sorrow, but then the Lord picks my spirits up with another tender mercy. For example, there were 3 big miracles this week.

            First off was this family that we are working on, we stop by their house pretty often just to make sure that they are all doing well. This past Monday we stopped by and the mother of the family asked if we could bless her daughter who has been having problems with her legs, trouble walking because of pain, things like that. So of course we accepted to give her the blessing. We had only taught this girl once up to this point so we didn’t really know her too well. It was also the first blessing that she had ever received so she was a little nervous. She asked me to give the blessing and when we finished she just sat there teary eyed. It was great because after we had left, the mother called us and told us that when she is baptized, her daughter wants to be baptized too, she said that the blessing we gave her was a really powerful experience and that she had felt something that she had never felt before. It was such great news!

            Second miracle was when we went to their house again for our lesson a few days later. We started the lesson off where the Sister told us that she wants to be baptized in one year. After my companion talked it changed and she said she wants to be baptized in a few months. Then when I finished talking she told us that she will give us an answer this weekend to confirm her baptism for the end of this month! It was so cool to see the evolution that took place during the lesson. All we had to do was listen and follow the spirit. It works every time! This month if everything goes well, we will have 5 baptisms! I can’t wait, and I need you all to pray for them.

             This week has been going pretty slow, I’ve been tired. Maybe I should stop staying up a little later just to finish up an art project that I’m doing for my Companion. I found a satellite dish on the side of the road. My old pack rat habits got a hold of me and I took it home and started drawing on it. Something that I was doing just to relieve a little bit of stress turned into an art project that my companion wants to hang on his wall! Crazy. I love art too much; too bad it’s not a stable career! Anyway, I love my mission more than ever. Thanks for being patient while I took this 2 year bathroom break! I will be back soon enough! I love you all, stay safe!

Elder Fyffe

06022014

I will have to find more time this week to send other pictures, I really only took videos this week so I don't have much to show... Forgive me.... Anyway, I don't have time right now to send a normal message, But I will find the time this week! This is the only picture that I could find with me in It for this week! Talk to you guys again soon! Sorry!

Elder Fyffe

 

05/26/2014

            This weekend was great! We celebrated the 170th anniversary of the church here in French Polynesia with a bunch of dances from every stake here in Tahiti. It was really incredible to see all of the members there participating. I recorded most all of the dances and that filled up one of my memory cards. So I don’t think I will forget that night. Saturday night was a huge fireside that we did, where we heard talks from the area 70 along with our mission president and then the president of French Polynesia. It was all really great. My favorite part though was when they asked all of the returned missionaries to come down and walk around the track of the field walking with the flags of the missions that they served in.

            I got to see a ton of the old members that I knew when I started my mission. Then they asked the full time missionaries to walk around the track. It was a really spiritual moment for me, because when I walked around the track, I saw all of the investigators that I baptized and all of the members that I served for these past 20 months of my mission. As I walked around they all screamed my name and waved, all the children wanted to give me a high five, they all took pictures and I believe that all of the missionaries felt like royalty as we saw all of the lives we touched. It really made me think of how much of a difference one person can make in just two small years and all of the lives that I’ve been blessed to be a part of. All of these people have become family and I could feel the genuine love they had for me, because I am their missionary. It seriously was one of the coolest moments of my life. I really need to find a way to come back here after my mission. I’ve told them all that I will come back, so I need to do my best to make sure I can live up to my word.

            I forgot my cable to transfer pictures so I will have to find the time during the week to send you guys the pictures. It really was an awesome night; almost like the stadium of fire Tahiti style! Kinda made me dread the day when I will have to get on the plane and leave Tahiti. I can Imagine all of the people I know being there and me crying like a baby because I don’t want to leave them. SO, I might as well make it as hard as I can for myself and work my butt off these last few months so that they can all be at the airport when I leave.

            I love you all so much, and thank you all again for helping me come out here on my mission. I will never regret these two years. Scares me to think that I almost passed this blessing up!! Have a great week!

Elder Fyffe

05/22/2014

            This Week has been pretty crazy, anyway, in 2 days; we will be celebrating the 170th birthday of the arrival of the Gospel here in French Polynesia. So of course, we missionaries are a huge part of the celebration. We will be doing a little show for all of the people. So the pictures that you see are of us practicing for the thingy. It should be pretty fantastic, since this sort of celebration only happens once every ten years. I seem to have come to this mission at the perfect time haha. I’m way too blessed to be serving here.

            Other than this celebration that is going to be happening this weekend, I was able to go to a wedding of a missionary that recently finished his mission. My companion Elder Mendelsohn was his witness. It was extremely weird to see an elder that just got off of his mission, get married. It freaks me out to know that this is the next big step in my life! I’m doing my best to serve the Lord so that he can help me find the perfect wife, and I’ve been really careful to not drop my scriptures... wink wink.

            We’ve been teaching this family lately, a family of 6, and yesterday during our lesson, we invited them all to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptized. They ALL accepted! I feel nothing but pure joy when I go over to this lady’s house. She needs the Gospel so much in her life. The best part is that she knows it. So she is absorbing the doctrine like a sponge! They will all be coming to church this Sunday. I can’t wait. Life is going by way too fast. The saying "time flies when you’re having phun," has never been so true. I have a great companion, I love my ward, and I love all of our investigators. I just simply love my life as a missionary. Even though it’s hard as heck, I still find the time to thank my Heavenly Father for loving me enough to send me to Tahiti in order to experience these trials.

            Seeing my family for the last time on Skype was really great. I got to talk to my sister for the first time on my mission. She hasn’t changed a bit; although, her eyebrows looked especially nice this time around. I shared an experience with her that made me shed a few tears. I was in the temple a few weeks ago with a family that I had baptized last year. While in the temple, I saw a brother and sister stand and pray together, and when I saw that, I was hit by this feeling of calmness that took over my whole body and reassured me that I would be in that brother’s place one day; in the house of the Lord with my sister. The lord had sent me a confirmation that I have been looking for during my whole mission. I don’t doubt or worry anymore. I just do all I can in order to realize this experience. I love my sister too much to let her slip away. I think my parents are right there with me when I say I will never lose hope, or give up on her. I’ve learned a lot about the love and patience our Savior has for us all through my mission. Seeing how often we wander from his presence. Seeing how it is always us, who choose to turn away. His life is full of rejection; yet, he stays, with his arms open, waiting patiently for the day that we will decide to come back; either by ourselves, or being pushed by the wind. I thank Him every night for being so patient with me. I thank my parents too, for putting up with me throughout my trouble years!

            A 70 recently talked to us, and he said something that I really liked. He said, "If the ladder that we are climbing on is leaning against the wrong wall, what good is it?"  I realize that my ladder was on the wrong wall before my mission. But, I’ve climbed back down through many prayers and humbling experiences, and now that I’ve positioned my ladder on the right wall, I can really feel the difference. I know one day, I will reach the potential and the expectations that the Lord has set for me. I just need to keep on climbing. Every day is a test, and another step up the ladder. It’s true, we will get tired at times, and maybe even slip, but I know that we are not climbing alone, and that’s what keeps me going.

I love you all so much, I pray for you all night and day. Thanks for the prayers and the mail!

Keep safe this week!

Elder Fyffe