Sourissez, l'église est vrai!

Ia Ora Na!

How are you guys going?  I hope the fires have calmed down and everything is fine.  Thanks for your e-mails and letters!  I love reading them!  Thanks so much for the doughnuts!  I shared them with my district and the other Tahitians, and we all loved them! Thank you so much!  Sounds like you guys had quite the week ha!  That flash flood sounds crazy (You should have tried to swim in it;)!  So jealous of the Japanese food ha!  That place was amazing!  I can't ever remember my dreams, but I'm sure I've dreamed about it before ha!  It was just too good!  I'm glad you guys are safe and having a lot of fun!

Elder Jessop and his companion, Elder Gilson

This week was...different? ha.  A sister in the other Tahitian district went home last Monday, after I emailed you.  She has been going through a lot of problems and we've tried to help her and give her blessings.  But, Monday she just decided that she couldn't do it anymore.  It was super sad to see her go, and it got even more sad for her on Tuesday.  Elder Scott came for our Tuesday night devotional this week.  He gave an AMAZING talk about prayer.  But, I thought about this sister throughout his entire talk.  I felt like it would have been just what she needed to hear to get through her trial.  I felt like if I could have helped her stay just one more day, she just might have been able to have a full, amazing mission.  So, that's been kinda hard.  But, I know that Heavenly Father will still help her get through her trials and make her the best person she can be.  Some of the things I liked from Elder Scott's talk were: "When He withholds an answer, it's to let us grow our faith...Express gratitude for His trust in you.", "Our Father did not put us on the Earth to fail, but to succeed GLORIOUSLY!...He's your Father...you're His PRECIOUS child who He WANTS to help.", and "His purpose is our eternal happiness."  He also gave us two apostolic blessings to help us learn our languages.  Our district felt like it was specifically for us because we are learning two languages and he blessed us twice haha.  The Spirit was SO strong!  As soon as he walked into the room, everyone knew it was an apostle of God.  We had no idea who was speaking, but, because of the Spirit, we knew it was an apostle!  

Yesterday, an old professional football player came and talked.  His name was Vai Sikahema.  I guess he was a 2-time probowler and he played for the Eagles, Packers, and the Cardinals.  Also, he played for BYU in college.  I guess he ran a famous punt back for a touchdown in the "miracle bowl" when they scored like 21 points in like 3 minutes or something like that ha.  He's Tongan, so I basically felt like he was my island brother ha.  He was really funny and really spiritual, as well.  He talked about his mission and brought one of his converts to speak a little and bare his testimony.  He also told stories about how he is a missionary still now.  He went to South Dakota on his mission, while all of his brothers and parents went back to Tonga on their missions (they're Tongan, but moved to Arizona when he was young).  He talked about how he wasn't very happy about his call, but came to love the place and people.  He said that his heart is South Dakotan and you could tell by how he talked that he really loves it!  I'm so excited to get to know the people in my mission!  I truly believe that I will become Tahitian on my mission.  Every time we talk about Tahiti, my heart gets super excited!  But, it's not because it's an island or there's good fruit.  It's because my Spirit knows that's where God wants me to go.  My Spirit feels so connected with the people and culture already!  I can't wait to see the joy of the gospel come into their lives!  

One of my "investigators," Vetea, struggled to keep his commitments for a couple lessons in a row.  So, when I taught him this week, I went into the lesson a little bit...I don't know what the word is ha lacking hope maybe?  But, he read and prayed finally!  I got pretty excited, and felt the Spirit pretty strong.  Then, I asked him about how he felt as he read and prayed.  I didn't understand what he said, but by his body language and low key personality, I was thinking he probably said he didn't really feel anything, or I don't know (pretty typical Vetea answers haha).  But, I asked him to please repeat it, and he said, "J'ai ressenti la chaleur dans ma coeur."  Which is, "I felt heat in my heart!"  And my heart was immediately filled with la chaleur!  We were sooooo excited for him!  He NEVER smiles, but, when we starting talking to him about it, he had the BIGGEST smile on his face!  His heart was smiling so big, his face had to, too haha!  I felt so much joy in seeing him and my other investigator progress this week!  It got me that much more excited to help real investigators, not just people trying to act like investigators they taught on their missions, because the joy will be so much greater!

Well, I have to go.  But, I hope you guys have a great week!

Je vous aime,

Elder Jessop

Tahitian word of the week:  Parau Mau- "true word"
   -I don't know any Tahitian yet, so the word of the week is pretty lame haha.  But, it's Parau Mau (you say it fast, so au sounds like ou in the word ouch).

French phrase of the week:  Sourissez, l'église est vrai-  "Smile, the church is true."