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