Monday, April 28, 2014

More Faith Than Fear

Iaorana to'u utuafare!

I'm excited for skype in a couple weeks!  For skype, we can either do it at 7 o'clock in the morning here or like 4 o'clock in the afternoon on the 11th.  I think that would be like 11 and 8 for you or something like that.  I had no idea it was Mother's Day the 11th until my dad said last week ha.  Mother's day here is two weeks after that.  But, I'm super excited to skype!  I have been practicing my English with my companion so that I can talk well haha.

Anyways, this week was good, but super weird!  They are doing a little film thing here of the first missionaries in Tahiti and they asked some missionairies to be in it.  They asked me to be in it, so I knew it wasn't that serious of a film ha.  So, my companion and I went and did that for a couple days and it was the weirdest thing ever.  It was super hard for me because I didn't feel like a missionary.  But, it was a cool experience and now I can go back to missionary work!  One experience that was pretty cool this week was with one of our investigators named Jeanne.  At the end of the last lesson, we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray to find out if it is true and, if she knew it was true, to be baptized.  She read and she gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon.  So, at the end of this lesson, we invited her, again, to get baptized.  She said no and then started explaining how she is living with her boyfriend and his family and they don't accept our church.  Then, she started explaining that, because of that, we need to stop coming.  It was a super weird experience because I already knew what she was going to say before she even said it.  It was like she was telling me something I already knew, so I wasn't taken back by it at all.  I just kept talking to her, definitely by the Spirit, not me, and after a while she said that she is going to go to her family's house in Paea to tell them the news that she is "mormon....going to get baptized" haha.  I loved that so much!  She almost counted herself as a member of the church already, and just before she was wanting to stop the lessons with us!  She then explained how much she just really wants to get baptized and was so excited and so thankful!  I really loved seeing the change that took place in her heart!  She knew the church is true before the lesson and after.  That didn't change.  What changed was her faith and her desire to follow the Savior.  I like to know that everyone is afraid.  We can't change that.  But, we need to have more faith than fear.  That's when we will follow the Lord.  That's when we will follow the path that leads to eternal life.  

I know that this church is true!  I know that God lives and loves us!  If we place our confidence is Him, He will lead us to eternal life, the greatest gift He could ever give.  I'm so thankful for Him and for you!  I'm so thankful that we can become an eternal family!  I love you so much!  Have a great week!  And have more faith than fear!  

Ua here au ia outou!

Elder Jessop

Monday, April 21, 2014

God Loves Us

Iaorana to'u utuafare!

Thank you so much for the emails this week!  I loved reading them!  The tropical activity (a Relief Society activity in Fielding) sounds super fun!  I'm glad you got to use the leis and the hat, too!  What tropical food did you eat?  I hope it wasn't fafaroo haha (the rotten  fish).  But, it sounds like you all had a good Easter weekend!  I didn't even know it was Easter until Saturday night haha.  I heard a lot of people talking about le pac (Easter), but I thought they were saying le bac (the huge test at the end of high school haha).  Just a little bit off.  They were talking about the Catholics walking up into the mountains for the weekend and I had no idea why they did that for the test.  Maybe meditate and be close to nature helps right before big tests, I dont know haha.  But, it was good for me as well.  A family gave my companion and I some chocolate eggs that were super good!  And, it was an amazing time to think about all the many blessings we have as members.  We are so blessed!  I am eternally thankful for you!  I love you all so much!  I'm so thankful that we can be an eternal family thanks to our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ!  

Elder Moller and I love the matching ties!

This week, we met a new couple named Marama and Hinaia.  They are both super young and are going to college.  Marama is an inactive member and Hinaia is Catholic.  It was so amazing talking to them!  They are awesome!  I got to see a little glimpse of how much God loves us all with the experiences they told us!  I could really see how much God has been preparing them to have an eternal family.  Like I said, Hinaia is Catholic with all of her family, but she got to the point where she didn't know if it was true or if another church was true.  So, she started praying.  Right after she started praying, God started answering her prayers.  She went to Arue, another town like a half hour away, with Marama to go surfing.  That day, the members of that ward went out to invite people to conference.  They came to her and invited her at the beach that day.  Then, she went to conference and started to build her little testimony.  By the time that we had our first lesson, she had read 14 chapters in the Book of Mormon (sometimes it's really hard to get people to read 1 chapter here ha).  Two days later, we had another lesson and between that time she read and changed her prayers to ask if the Book of Mormon was true.  She didn't think she had received an answer.  Then, we asked her if she felt anything after her prayer.  She smiled really big and said that she felt peace, a big peace.  She realized that her Heavenly Father really did answer her prayer and wants her to get baptized.  We then just briefly explained that, for the baptism, they can't be living together.  We asked them if they had talked about marriage and she said, "Oh, we aren't getting married until after his mission" ha.  We started Tuesday with two people who really weren't sure about God or religion and ended Thursday making preparations to help one get baptized and them both to serve missions.  If you fast forward the story a little, we can see the love God has for them, for their children, all the people they are going to help on their missions, their children and families and people they are going to help, and so on.  The work of God is so incredibly intricate!  It's insane!  This really is a marvelous work!  I am so happy and blessed to be the littlest part of it!  

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father, for His love for me, and for this opportunity to serve Him and show my love for Him!  I really love Him so much!  And, I love you so much!  I know that we can be an eternal family through Him and His gospel!  I'm so thankful for that!  Thanks so much for all you do!  I love you and pray for you always!

Ua here au ia outou!


Elder Jessop

Monday, April 14, 2014

There is Always an Answer

Ia ora na to'u utuafare!


Thanks so much for the love and support that you give me!  I'm really so blessed to have such a great family!  I love you!

This week was pretty good.  I started saying sentences in English for my companion to translate in French and it made me sad because I mix things together now ha.  Random French words get thrown in and some English words that aren't right ha.  But, I think I'm improving.  Anyways, this week we had an amazing experience with a couple named Gisele and Jonario.  (Gisele is actually the daughter of Marie and the sister of Henry who were in my old e-mails.)  Anyways, for the last two weeks, we have invited them to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true, but they hadn't done it yet.  They said that even if they did know, they didn't want to get baptized yet.  But, this week, they did it!  They read, and prayed, and, like always, Heavenly Father answered their prayer!  The very first thing they said to us after we started the lesson was, "We read and prayed and God answered.  We know that the Book of Mormon is true."  So cool!  After, I asked them what the next step was and Gisele said, "Baptism."  After, we invited them to get baptized May 31 (Just for you Carson ha!).  They thought about it for awhile, then said it was too quick and that they weren't ready.  I told them that it's true that they aren't ready now, but we had prayed and we know that they can be ready for May 31.  After, we did a little lesson to talk about how they can prepare and asked them to pray right then to know if they should prepare to get baptized that day.  They were super surprised, but they did it and, like always, Heavenly Father answered their prayers.  They want to get married and baptized May 31.  But, my favorite part was at the end.  Jonario said, "So, are you going to come pick us up Saturday?"  I don't know why, but he thought May 31 was that Saturday haha!  He was ready right then and there.  Two things that I really like with this experience is 1) that God loves us all so much and ALWAYS answers our prayers and 2) we need to decide right now to follow Jesus Christ.  This day is the day to prepare to meet God.  If we put something off until tomorrow, it might never get done.  I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  I know he loves us all personally, his children.  I know that Jesus Christ lived, suffered, died, and resurrected for us.  If we choose to follow Him, we can be saved.  I LOVE them!  And, I am so thankful to them!  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church on the earth today.  I know, through Christ and his gospel, we can have an Eternal Family.  I love you so much!  Thanks for all you do for me!  

Ua here au ia outou!


Elder Jessop

Monday, April 7, 2014

The Difference is Love

Iaorana to'u utuafare!

Thanks so much for the emails!  I loved reading them!  Also, I got your package this week!  Thanks so much!  I loved everything in it!  My companion loved his matching tie ha!  And we hung up the HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign in our house.  I'm so excited to read the Tahitian and French picture book of the Book of Mormon!  

For this week...CONFERENCE...I feel like that's all I should say ha.  It was so amazing!  We got to watch it the day of, which is a huge blessing!  We watched it at our stake center, which is just our church.  But, it was super cool!  They had it in the chapell in French, a room in Tahitian, and another room for English!  I watched one session in French because the  English was broke for a while haha.  I felt bad for my companion because he didn't understand hardly anything during that session.  But, the first talk, I think, that was given was about being thankful.  There's no way that was a coincidence!  I really am so thankful to be able to hear conference the day of!  It was such a huge blessing!  There were a lot of talks on technology and conference is one big reason I'm super thankful technology!  

This week, we had another experience with angry parents that have been calmed by the Spirit and are now going to take the lessons.  But, this week, I wanted to talk about something more simple and more powerful.  A strong theme of love and support from conference made me think about an experience we had this week with two investigators, Roselyne and William.  They want to get married and be baptized and they are super good with everything but the word of wisdom.  They have stopped everything but cigarettes.  We tried fixing goals with them for a plan to diminish the cigarettes.  But, it wasn't really working.  So, my companion and I decided to come and visit them every day.  Every night we go there, see how they are doing, share a quick message, and then fix a new goal for the next day.  They have already diminished a lot!  The difference between the two plans is love.  We didn't do anything big, but we show our love and support for them in a little way EVERY DAY.  I'm so grateful for the little and big things that you have done and continue to do for me every day.  I feel your love and support, and it makes the difference.  I know that if we look for little ways to help people every day, God will prepare people for us to serve and help and He will guide us to them.  Thanks so much for all you do!  I love you all so much!

The Taata'e Family
This week was the baptism of an amazing family, the Taata'e family!  The mom is Ariéta and the dad is Frederick (He basically only speaks Tahitian, even though his name isn't haha).  Their daughter isn't in the picture, but she is already a member.  She comes to church every week with other members.  One of my first weeks here, I talked with the dad and they accepted for us to come have a family home evening with them.  After, we started coming every week.  And, after a couple weeks, they decided to change their lives and prepare to get baptized.  They have changed so much!  I'm so excited for them!  And I will be even more excited when they go through the temple in a year so they can be an eternal family!  

Ua here au ia outou!

Elder Jessop