Hello everyone!!
We had a great week this past week! We were really busy, we taught a lot of lessons, and did a lot of contacting. The usual missionary routine. I'm gonna miss that a lot, I love the mission so much. I love being here with the Tahitian people, I love preaching the gospel, I love spending all day every day doing the Lord's work. I love feeling the spirit all the time, and seeing that spirit touch other people and their lives. I love coming home every day dead form all the hard work of the day. I love meeting new people, and feeling like an emissary of the Savior as I help them know and learn the gospel and know our Savior himself. I love felling so good about every day, and I'm really grateful for all of the good that i have been able to do.
We were able to find 6 new investigators this week, which is more than the rest of the transfer combined. We found two different families, both of which were references from members. They are awesome and very potential, and I know that I won't be here to see what happens to them, but I know that the Lord's work will continue to move forward, and I have done my part. It is going to be really hard to say goodbye to everyone, man.
I had my last zone conference on Wednesday, and there I gave my "last testimony", with all of the other missionaries that are leaving. That was kind of hard, and a really weird experience. I am really really going to miss the mission...
Well, the 2 years have come to an end. I am incredibly grateful for these past two year, and for this amazing experience that I have had. I can testify that my mission has without a doubt completely changed my life. It has had an incomparable impact on me, and i'm sure that my life will never be the same. I do not regret anything about my decision to serve a mission, it was one of the best decisions that I have ever made in my life. I have loved every single day of the past two years. Was it hard? No not really. The only real hard thing is seeing people choose not to follow the Savior, and choose to stay in a life that could be so much better with the Gospel. It is hard to see investigators drop you, and fail to keep commitments. Because you love them so much and their poor decisions can be so painful. But I have loved every other part of the mission. If anyone is considering leaving on a mission, DO IT! Don't listen to what anybody says about how hard it is going to be, about getting homesick, or I don't know whatever other reason. Leave on your mission because you love the Lord and you want to follow him, and you will love every part of it, and will be forever changed.
The mission has taught me so many things. It has taught me that the Lord keeps his promises. Every time. I have learned that a life centered around Christ is the happiest way to live life. I have learned that the commandments are the principles of happiness, and that they are ALL there for a reason, and that they are there to protect us, and to help us have a better life and return home to our Heavenly Father. I know that he loves each and every one of us, no matter what stupid things we have done, no matter our age, no matter where were are in life. And he cares. He is in ever one of our lives, if we are humble enough to look for Him, and to believe. I have learned to love my fellow beings and to serve them. I have learned humility, although I still have a long way to go. I have learned patience, and have become a lot more like my Savior, I hope. And most of all, I know with every fiber of my body and soul that our Savior and our God is real, and that he lives. And I love Him so much.
And I love all of you, and I'll see you soon.
Elder McQuiston
Pics: Last goodbye to the Moorea elders, feeding a chicken some fries at McDonald's (totally normal here), jamming out with the boys, some more goodbyes.
Hey fam!!
This past week has been a crazy week. It was actually really tough. We had a lot of bad news this week, a lot of cancellations, lost a few investigators, and did a whole lot of door to door. But that's alright. God just wanted to test me to make sure that I would keep working hard and stay positive, even at the very end of my mission.
We had some bad news from all of our fixed baptisms, and had to cancel all of them. :( Looks like I won't be getting a baptism before I leave after all. That's alright tho! Raymond and Josephine are doing great they went to Moorea for the weekend and we'll be seeing them again tomorrow.
We had more bad news that was pretty shocking...last week we had a great lesson with mama Cecile, the Chinese grandma. This week we went back to see her again, ready to get things ready for her baptism, because the week before she had FINALLY accepted Joseph Smith and Baptism after taking the lessons for probably over 20 years. Well, when we get there, a neighbor told us that mama Cecile had a heart attack and passed away the day after our lesson. That was sad news...but also I really feel like my companion and I had been instruments int he Lord's hands. It almost seems like it was her time to go, but God wanted to make sure that she accepted the gospel before leaving this earth, and sent us over on his errand. I am really grateful that I was able to play a part in that miracle, as sad as it is.
I know that hit really is the Lord's work, I have seen it first had for the last two years. I know that he lives and that he cares about each one of us, and wants all of us to return to him. I love you all!
Elder McQuiston
Pics: The first two are from the top of a mountain, and the second two are with DMP and a huge plate of sashimi, sooo good.
Hey Fam!!
We had an awesome week this week, and it flew by. On Tuesday we did a split with the Elders at More, and I went over there and spent the day with mu son, Elder Arrington which was way fun. I left on Monday morning instead of Tuesday, that way I had the p-day to spend over there. It was pretty chill, Moorea is way pretty, and brought me back to the life in the islands. We were able to check out a suer pretty hotel that is pretty cheap, only 1000 bucks a night if there's any takers out there. We lucked out and got to see a dolphin show while we were visiting the hotel for free, not a bad deal. We also checked out some cool sights, did the tour of the island, and checked out the huge juice factory Rotui. The split was sweet too, I had some good times with my son, he's learned a lot since the last time that I taught with him. We fixed a baptism together as well which was pretty sweet! Except that was the first time since I've gotten on a bike in 7 months, and WOW is that different than the car. My butt and thighs were on fire the whole day hahah. It's been too long.
I'm getting a little bit nervous living at our house. We live in a little house behind the chapel in Pirae. Our stuff has been getting stolen during the night, and it's been really annoying. Well the other day, someone my clothes out of the dryer in the middle of the day. ROBBED! Literally haha! And in addition to that we have started to wake up int he morning with drunk/stoned homeless people sleeping outside our house. They start walking around like zombies when they wake up no joke haha. I just gotta hold out 3 more weeks hahah then I'll be back in the safety of Utah lol. I made it a little more dramatic than it is haha. I'll be fine don't worry mom.
There was a funny story this week about my companion. He is gluten intolerant, which I think I already told you all. The other night we went to pick up some food that a member had made us. When we get there he tells us, "I know that one of you is allergic to gluten, and so I didn't want to play around with the, so I made sure not to make any rice. I put some wheat bread in instead, with the fish." And he was completely serious. Haha. Thanks Brian for the bread.
There is some big progression going on with Josephine! We met her husband Raymond this week, and we invited him to come to church with his wife. They came together on Sunday with the son! Our stake president happened to be there with us and took the family in an interview with us during the third hour. They talked a lot about marriage, and Raymond accepted to follow the lessons! That is awesome news, pray for them that all goes well!
On Saturday we went to Pare's baptism. The baptismal service was awesome, and the convert bore an awesome testimony, in front of all of his family that was there. The spirit was so strong there, as at all baptisms. It really hit me, I love this work so much. I love teaching the gospel, and I love helping people prepare to meet God. I love seeing them live the gospel, and make changes in their lives. I really really am going to miss that, this really is the best and most important work on this earth!
I love you all!
Elder McQuiston
Pics: riding the bike at More this is my view, just turned around and snapped a pic from one of the houses at which we taught a lesson, from the top of the hill in our area, Elder Torres' birthday cake, some pic's of the hotel in Moorea and the dolphin show that we invited ourselves to, more pic's of Moorea and the Rotui juice factory.
Family so dear,
Happy Father's Day Dad!! And to all of the other fathers out there as well, even to those who are soon to be fathers (Zach!) For father's day here, we got invited to a big family get together. They prepared a table full of man Tahiti, and man it was super good. Nothing beats a good man Tahiti. I hope that you all had an awesome day yesterday, and a great week this past week.
Personally, I was pretty sick this past week, with a sinus infection or something like that. It hasn't been too bad, luckily I've been able to keep working all week. That has been a blessing, because we had a pretty busy week last week, and saw a lot of investigators that we needed to see. There was one day that was pretty bad, last Friday. I had some sinus migraines, and lost my voice. We were out contacting and I started getting lightheaded and I was worried about passing out. But I haven't taken a sick day yet, and I wasn't about about to now with only a few weeks left. Well, at 3:00 we had our interviews with President and Sister Fox and Sister Fox told me I was being stupid and should take a nap after the interview. So yeah turns out I didn't push through it after all. I was out like a baby for a couple of hours.
We had a pretty fun day activity last Monday with the district. Elder Claflin and I wanted to make a couple of local ties for some souvenirs and the rest of the district was down as well. They don't actually sell Tahitian ties, you have to buy the fabric and sew them yourselves. The week before I spent a couple hours with Tomasini, ,and he taught me how to sew them. Thank goodness I took sewing way back in 8th grade. And then for p-day last week, we borrowed a couple of machines from some members and we all 8 went to a member's house to sew our ties. We got an assembly line going, and started cranking out ties in record time. Usually it takes 30-45 minutes to make a tie. In 3 hours we whipped out 34. Good times with the crew. If anyone needs any sewing help when I get back, I'm your man. ;)
On Wednesday one of my investigators that I taught at Mahaiatea named Jean-Yves got baptized!! He called me a few days before to ask I could be there. The assistants said that it was cool with them, and that I could spend some time to say goodbye to everyone over there while I was at it, so that I could get that out of the way (because of the culture and the small size of the the island, missionaries always go say goodbye to everyone before they leave). So on Wednesday I headed on over to Mahaiatea, on the opposite side of the island. The baptism itself was kind of disappointing, it was poorly announced so no one in the ward was there, they forgot to fill up the font, and it started two hours late. The missionaries and the dip didn't do their job. But once the actual device got started, it was great, just like every other one. A baptism is a baptism, and I am so happy to finally see my friend get baptized!
Like I said, I said goodbye to everyone while I was over there. Man that was way harder than I thought it was going to be. I'm not really a sentimental person at all, but it was pretty sad. Just driving through the area, through the streets, after a year or so was really touching, so many memories flooded my mind. All my missionary friends that are gone, and all of my friends, investigators and converts that I may or may not every see again. I really love these people, and I love serving here. I am going to miss everyone so much man...but it was awesome to see them.
I love you all!
Elder McQuiston
One more week cracking pavement as they say. Things are getting toasty out here in Taharaa, not really on the temperature scale tho, I'm getting pretty chilly actually. I've woken up in the middle of the night a few times this week and had to put on the sheet. We're getting into the lows of winter now, probably like down in the 75's. I'm pushing through the trial though no worries, I'll endure.
But yah things are going pretty solid with our investigators. We had 5 investigators at church yesterday, which is pretty good for this ward. It's the most that I've seen since I've been here. We've got Sandrine that has come a few times now with her 10 year old son. She is doing great and preparing to get baptized, and we are trying to work on her son as well. Josephine has come a few times as well. The first time that we visited her she was super prideful and unloaded the four lettered word cannon on us, and I though there was no way she was potential, but figured might as well come back to share the restoration anyways. Well since that day she has completely changed, loves coming to church and is also preparing to get baptized. That's what I love so much about the Gospel! Timothee is doing well as well, pretty much the same old.
We have been able to find a bunch of new investigators recently, a lot of which are pretty potential, and are really curious with the church and our teachings. Their names are Ayron, Raiteva, Poe and Cicil. Keep all of them in your prayers if you remember!
Speaking of mami Cicil, she is a Chinese mami, that only speaks Tahitian and Mandarin. It is the very first investigator that I have taught that doesn't really understand French. It is kinda fun teaching her, it reminds me of the beginning of my mission. I understand the majority of what she says, and then my companion and I struggle to respond in Tahitian.
We had a ward sports activity on Saturday morning, and they pulled out the petanque. I'm getting pretty good at petanque, I've considered putting my missionary career to the side for the last few weeks to try out a petanque career. I haven't decided yet, I'll keep you all updated.
Funny story, we were contacting and we met an inactive member that is the brother of an active member that I know. I asked him if he had served a mission and he gives me a weird smile and says, "yah, the mission of Satan". Classic. It's only in Tahiti that saying something like that and being serious is normal.
Saturday night a family from Canada came and did a concert in our stake. It was soeur Dumoulin Morphis' family, from Raiatea. She has 7 younger brothers and sisters, and they are all way musically talented. They theme of the concert was on the family, basically talking about how important it is to have family unity and love and the Gospel, and to raise your kids well and stuff. The Tahitians loved it, and were all dumbfounded that there exists family's like that united and with so much love and stuff. That made me think of my fam, and made me way grateful for my family. It is sad that the family here isn't very strong. There is a lot of violence and arguing and a lack of parenting. The family is so important, and is central to the plan of God. Our family relations have a big impact on our spiritual and temporal lives. We should be extra careful how we treat the members of our family, and do all we can to make sure that the Lord is at the center of our life and our family.
I love you all, have a good week!
Elder McQuiston
Pics: some pics with Timothee and with mami Cicil
Hey everyone!
We had a great week this week! Transfers came around, and I'm going to finish my mission in Bora Bora!! I'm leaving this afternoon, I'm way excited! I thought for sure that I was going to finish my mission here in Arue, but hey I'll take the island life again. I may or may not have asked president to send me there to finish, but as they say, ask and ye shall receive. The area is Vaitape, and my new companion is a Tahitian named Elder Haavare.
Yeah no, I'm not actually getting transferred, that would be fun though. The work really went forward this week! We were able to find several new investigators this week, and fix some more baptismal dates. I'm really hoping to be able to get at least 1 more baptism before I leave, and the odds are looking pretty good. We had a cool experience the other day, in the search of a reference that we had got. We knew the name of the neighborhood, but that was about it. We went into the neighborhood and drove all the way the mountain to the top, just to scout out the territory. We decided to try a random house near the top, and what do you know the bishop of the ward right next to ours comes out! He was visiting his daughter and son-in-law, who isn't a member for a couple years. So we got a reference from him and then got back in the car. We went back near the beginning of the neighborhood and go up and start talking to someone working on his scooter. What do you know, it was the reference that we were looking for! We had a good discussion with him, and fixed a time to meet with his family. If that's not being led by the spirit idk what is.
We were able to do a couple service projects this week, which was awesome. I love service projects so much, especially for people who are really in need. One of them was for an investigator that is a widow, she just lost her husband a couple months ago. We got the district together and moved a huge pile of rotting wood and leaves and stuff, to a place where she burn it. It took us a couple hours, and it made her super happy. That would've taken her an entire day to do that by herself. That felt really good.
I also got in an accident this week, and I'm super lucky that nobody got hurt. I was turning left pulling out of a dirt road onto a 2 land road. The traffic going right was backed up. The car stopped to let me turn, and as I started to pull out a scooter flew out from behind the line of cars going about 30 mph. He was doubling all over the traffic and I couldn't see him hidden behind the cars. Luckily there was minor damage, and he didn't get hurt, he could have gotten really injured. But we're all good!
I had a testimony builder on prayer this week. We had a n investigator that was really worked up the other morning, and called up pretty upset. I prayed for him to be able to calm down, and for something that I could share with him. During my prayer a random story from the old testament came to mind, that was perfect for him. And then 10 minutes later while I was studying the story, the investigator called back all calm, and apologized. I really believe that God answers our prayers of faith, and prayer has been a huge blessing for me during my mission. It is somethings simople that we do every day, but we shouldn't let it become routine or take it for granted. God really listens to us, and wants to bless us.
I love you all!
Elder McQuiston
Hey everyone,
Another week has come to an end out here on the mish. I got the sad news this morning about grandpa passing away...that's a bummer. I love him a lot, and I have a lot of great memories with him, fishing, hunting, golfing, political talks and impeach Obama stickers, going out to eat at Mexican restaurants or buffets, the doorbell with triple knock combo, just to name a few. But he's moved on to a better place, no more suffering in an imperfect body. I really like Alma 46:39-41,
39 And it came to pass that there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing.
40 And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land-but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate-
41 But there were many who died with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose.
Grandpa went out rejoicing and happy, as we all can hope to be if we keep the faith. I love you grandpa mahoney!
We had a pretty good week this pat week. We had a zone conference on Wednesday, with a big focus on baptismal invitations, because our baptismal statistics are way down from last year. We did some role plays, and it was really well done, and motivating. Coming out of that the next day, we went to see our investigator Sandrine. On Sunday we had invited all to the investigators in our gospel principles to get baptized the last Saturday in June. Well we did the follow up with that and she agreed! And not only that, but she talked with her kids, and they are also interested, and we will be starting the lessons with them this week.
On another note, I realized this week that I'm pretty bad at door-to-door contacting. We spent some hours doing that this week because of some holes in our agenda. And yah we didn't find a single person to teach. Contacting already isn't very efficient here, and after 20 months of doing minimal contacting, I never picked up that skill. That's alright, thumbs down to door-to-door!
On Tuesday we did a split with our district leader. I went in his area, and we had a pretty good day together. I had kind of an interesting experience while contacting a reference that they had received. It was a mamie named Rangi, and when we started talking to her, she started talking to us pretty rudely in broken French, as usual with Old Tahitians. Well as we got further in the conversation, we found out that she was from the cook islands. I asked her if she spoke English, and she responded to me in perfect English. So what do you know, I contacted someone in English for the first time on my mission. She was actually really nice and loving and polite in English, kind of interesting. And she accepted us to come back, woo!
On Sunday there was an American couple that came from California. We translated Sacrament meeting for them, and it was funny to hear all of their commentary about how different things are here, things that I have long forgotten about. The translating was a little rough. I dont' think that that lady understood my English at all haha whoops.
Funny story from this week, we were waiting in the car outside DMP's house for him to come out. Well a drunk guy came kup and started chatting with us, and starting talking nonsense. So we started speaking to him in English, and he definitely didn't understand anything we were saying, but I don't think that he realized it. So we just had a nice 10 minute English-French conversation in teh car waiting for DMP. Good times.
I love you all, have a good week!
Elder McQuiston
Pic:
1-Tim and Elder Kimball with the beer before Tim dumped it out
2-Classic road in Tahiti
3-Just walking like a gomer
4 & 5- Some pics on top of a mountain while contacting
