Monday, June 15, 2015

Gale force winds, big men, and beach cruisers should not mix

So this week was interesting. To explain this week a little...here in the Tuamotus there's a superstition that when it rains it means that someone died. This last Tuesday, three old papis from Tiputa died which is a big deal, especially because theres only like 300-400 people there. The superstition says that after a death it rains and becomes super stormy for a week or two. And holy cow is it true!!  I've never seen more bizarre weather. For the past 4 days this is how the weather is, It rains incredibly hard for 20 minutes, then it becomes super hot and sunny for another 20, then rainy, then sunny, etc....and the Wind is super powerful!!! My legs have never been so exhausted. Beach cruisers are not built to withstand or even work against this kind of Wind. Luckily my regular bike is fixed and its arriving by boat this wednesday. 

​We had a couple of cool lessons this week. We did a lesson with the Adventist man​ yesterday. It went good. He's starting to soften and hopefully he'll recieve an answer to his prayers soon. 

We also started doing lessons with a man named Calford. He's crippled and in a wheel chair. He's Catholic and he understands the Bible amazingly so he sees the problems of the Catholic Church. His heart is turned toward God and the Lord and we have high hopes for him. We taught Moerava and Michel this week. Moerava is an investigator and she's super nice and extremely ready to get baptized. Her fiance Michel, is excommunicated but he's ready to get rebaptized. But They have to get married first. Their marriage is in july and thenthey're  going to be baptized on her birthday which is august 14. So wednesday we taught them at 6:00 and then we were going to go eat afterwards. We didn't have a lot of money so we were going to go get these sandwhiches which are alright but we've eaten them alot and as we were going to go eat, Moerava and Michel called us and invited us to eat with them at a really good restaurant. I wanted to cry because they were so nice. People here are so giving and loving.

One thing I've learned on my mission is that some people have an incorrect view of repentance. Sometimes we think that repentance is for after we have sinned or for after we have overcome the sin. But repentance is a change of heart, its for people who are struggling with sin right now. A lot of people procrastinate repentance because they want to be ready or worthy, but repentance is how we change. It's how we become worthy and clean. Its our job as missionaries to teach people that the love of God is extended to all who reach out to grab His hand.  His grace is sufficient for all those who humble themselves before him. I know He loves us and that He wants to forgive. 

I love you all! Talk to you all next week!

Elder Porter

I was finally able to send one picture out...




No comments:

Post a Comment