Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Busy, Busy, Busy

Had a super busy week with 18 lessons! Never before heard of in Dumbea Nord! 

Last P-day was pretty solid. The weather was nice and Elder Tetuaiterai wanted to see mont dzumac so we drove up to the summit again! After we went to play a little soccer in the neighborhood, just the 2 of us but on our way to the field a random guy from Morroco stopped us on the street and asked us if he could join us on the field. We thought he was joking but he actually came! Turns out he was super super good at soccer but he wanted to help us learn haha. After playing for a little while just the 3 of us kids started showing up left and right. 3 turned into 30 and we had a big match. It was pretty fun. 

Thursday we had quite a few solid lessons. We had one with an inactive named Paula who hasn't come to church in 20 years but she said she would come this Sunday! First time she has ever told me that but she didn't come unfortunately. We are going to follow up this week. 

Friday we had a lesson with Eliane the inactive lady who stopped us in the store. Apparently the night before she has a huge miracle happen! She was hospitalized, scanned and was diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. She refused immediate surgery because she had a feeling not to. They re-did the scan a little later and there was nothing. She knows the church is true and still feels the holy ghost in her life! Also while contacting Friday a guy came out with his sniper rifle and asked if we had anything better to do. A little threatening haha. We saw Nels again too and the alternator in the car he just bought broke so he couldn't come to church! It just never ends with him. There is always something that goes wrong haha. We also found out the real reason why Thomas is hesitant to join the church. He believes its all true but he's a catholic church leader! He straight up told us he doesn't know how to tell his congregation that he would be leaving and joining a different church. 

Saturday we finally met with an ancient investigator named Marie-Roseline who really doesn't remember anything that the missionaries taught before which is nice. This time round her daughter wants to take the lessons too so hopefully this will be better! 

Sunday we met with Alex again. The guy who likes conspiracy theories. We ended up talking with his dad Jean for most of the time though. Jean loves talking about history and what not so we talked tons about WW2 and the history of New Cal and the Catholic church. We slid in a nice little message about the restored gospel too which was nice. 

Monday things turned south. I woke up at around midnight and started puking until 3am. I was bed ridden all day. It must have been something I ate for dinner the night before. Some wacko diseased fish or something. Not gonna lie it was probably the most miserable I've been on my mission. I'm still slowly recovering.

Tuesday we were back to work with some contacting and a lesson with Cecil and Manu. Definitely took the day slow and steady. Cecil and Manu surprised us with dinner when we got there which was super kind of them! I couldn't eat much but they made some super good tasting deer. 

That's its for this week! 

Love,
Elder Burbank

Pics: Mont Dzumac again (There were some people flying around in their parachutes when we were on the summit. It was pretty cool!)

Another burnt car







Sunday, July 23, 2017

Happy Bastille Day

Another great week! Last P-day I showed Elder Tetuaiterai the provincial park and we hiked up the gorge a little bit. We also had a big meal with tons of people with members and investigators in our ward. 

Thursday we started out early in the morning with some contacting. It actually went pretty well. Most people were pretty nice and accepting! We also had our weekly lesson with Nels. He'll be getting a car soon so he can come to church! We also had a random lady walk up to us and ask us if we do lessons a peoples houses. We ended up having a lesson with her a few hours later. Turns out she's an inactive from Tahiti! She hasn't come to church in some 10 odd years and she wants to slowly come back! 

Friday we stopped by a ward activity with Beniot for and hour or two. We ate some fresh fish that they had caught the day before! It was suuuper good. We also met this crazy shirtless white guy with super long white hair while contacting. He was super nice and accepting but a little strange haha. Who knows maybe he'll be a solid investigator!

Saturday we went up north to do a baptismal interview in our district. We have two baptisms coming up for the Dumbea ward the 29th. Not from our area but exciting anyways! We also had another lesson with Ludo! We've met with him for just a week total and he told us he wants to get baptized! There is one thing holding him back though. All his family is catholic and he is already getting some backlash for meeting with us. He told us he is going to really think about it because he knows his family is going to reject him. 

Sunday we had an unexpected investigator come to church! Its was the brother of one of the members in our area. As far as I knew he has no interest in the church but he came anyways with his daughter who is the only member in their family! After church we also stopped by our new investigator Alex. He loves talking about all sorts of conspiracy theories and what not its pretty funny but he asks tons and tons of good questions. 

Monday we went shopping downtown Noumea with Elder Glade one of the Senior missionaries. Elder Tetuaiterai needed some more shoes and pants. We also headed out to the hospital to give someone, a non member, named Waia Waia a blessing. All went well.

Tuesday we saw another new investigator Thomas! He told us that he wants to be a member of our church! He also told us that every time he reads the Book of Mormon he feels like a load is lifted off of him. We've only known him for like 2 weeks! The only thing is that all his family, including his wife is catholic! He told us he has to take it slow and share what he's learning with his family. In the same boat as Ludo! 

That's all for this week!

Avec amour,
Elder Burbank



Dumbea River

this spider though
 Beniot and I at the ward activity
 the ward fishermen
 Pic with the kids




Training

Well this last week has been super solid! Last P-day Elder Claveau cut my hair super short and then we decided to hike to a dam. Its was super beautiful and cool! 

Thursday we had another lesson with Nels and he promised us that he would start coming to church every week now which is awesome! We had a lesson on eternal marriage and families and he said its something he really really wants! We also found an investigator from a long long time ago named Ketsia and had a lesson on the spot. 

Friday we found another new investigator via a phone call. It was a miracle. Elder Claveau called a random number from along time ago that he contacted back when he was in this area a year ago and it wasn't the person who we expected but we asked if we could stop by and share a message anyways and she said yes! Friday was also the first day for Elder Tetuaiterai! Not gonna lie I was a little nervous at first but this last week with him has been solid. The work has really picked up.

Saturday we had another ward activity at a members house. Good food good life again. I also had lots of time to talk with Beniot too. He's doing super well! He's right into the ward now and should be getting a calling soon! 

Sunday we found another new investigator named Alex with tons of good questions! Hes one of those guys who just gets it when it comes to religion haha. We also had our first lesson with Ludo a potential I met with elder Nulak! Turns out he's actually pretty interested in the church! He said that he had a dream after reading the restoration brochure one night and his whole room was filled with light like when Joseph Smith saw the angel Moroni. Crazy stuff. He's a bit scared to go all in with our church he said because his family is all catholic but he's a miracle! 

Monday we had some good success with some "yelling at house" contacting as I like to call it because every house has a gate haha. 

Tuesday we had a district meeting with president and his wife. Went well and we also had a meeting with all missionaries in 2 wards in the stake because we want to plan a huge activity about Lehi's dream for investigators. Should be cool. 

That's all for this week! I can't send pictures with this computer so I'll try another.

Avec amour,

Elder Burbank

Pics
New comp!
Barrage de Dumbea
This lucky elder, Elder Eronico "my grandpa" is going to the outer islands (Lifou, OuvĂ©a and Mare!) First time in a while that missionaries have been sent there.






Monday, July 10, 2017

Transfers and Happy 4th of July

Another solid week here in the VPVM. Last P-day the district went to Tjibaou, a kanaky cultural center. It was pretty cool! Lots of cool art and sculptures and what not. Pics below.   

On Friday we found out transfer info. Ill be staying in Dumbea and training a new elder from Tahiti!!! I'm low key scared but also kinda excited! Elder Nulak got transfered back to Vanuatu oddly enough. No one, absolutely no one saw that coming. He'll be serving in Port Vila again which is a little strange because he has lots of family there. Anyways for the week being I'm with Elder Claveau, another Tahitian here in Dumbea until all the new Elders and Sisters fly in on Friday. 

Saturday through Monday we visited tout le monde, all the members, inactives and investigators for Elder Nulak to say goodbye. He was actually super sad to leave. He made some good relationships with the people here in Dumbea. We had one big family home evening Sunday night with a couple member families and lots of investigators too. Its was super awesome. 

Tuesday Elder Claveau, who has served in Dumbea before, and I went to work! We found 2 new investigators which was a miracle and really cleaned up some old records. Its super nice to have someone here that has served here before. 

That's it for this week! Happy 4th everybody!

Avec amour,
Elder Burbank


Pics: Tjibaou, the district (which is about to change), tribal cases (pronounced "caz") 











Mountains of the Lord

Had some fun last P-day and decided to drive to the top of "Mont Dzumac". We figured there had to be a road up to the summit because we saw a ripped up flag on top. After a little bit of searching we found it! The view up there was incredibly beautiful (pics below) I had to take advantage and take some "proselyting pictures"

Thursday we had another lesson with Nels. He's doing well but he hasn't been coming to church! This week in general we didn't have a single investigator at church! Other than that all our lessons fell through Thursday :(

Friday was another unfortunate day with every lesson falling through. We did find one potential investigator though! We'll see if that goes anywhere. We also had an unplanned lesson with Bible smoker dude. Lets just say that we probably won't be stopping by him again haha. 

Saturday was a huge Tahitian party called "Heiva" Its went for most of the day and there were a bunch of traditional Tahitian games and competitions along with tons and tons of dancing. Each ward had been preparing a dance for the last couple of months. Tons of inactives and non members came so its was perfect for missionaries! All the parking at the chapel was closed off for games so we kinda had to park far away at the beach which proved to be a bit of a problem. Beniot was with us too and right when we got out of our cars there were these super drunk Ni-Vans waiting. They started harassing Elder Nulak and saying all sorts of flowery words in Bislama. One of the guys even threw some punches at Elder Nulak. It was a little rough but once we made our way to the chapel they left us alone. 

Sunday was pretty good. Beniot received the priesthood and will be doing the sacrament next week! We didn't have any investigators like I said earlier but what can we do. 

Monday one of our recent converts, Laurant, had us come over to do a little "service". His chickens stopped giving eggs so they had to go haha. We killed, plucked and cleaned all 5. He gave us one :). We also had a lesson with Celine again. She doesn't live with her boyfriend anymore because he had to go to France for the army so we are really trying to progress her to baptism. She loves the missionaries and I think has a testimony and now she has no reason not to get baptized! 

Tuesday we went to the brand new Hospital, Medipole, to give a non member a blessing. Went super well I think. We also had our district meeting up in Tontouta like normal and we also had a lesson with 2 inactives! A solid busy day. 

That's all for this week! 

Avec amour,
Elder Burbank


Pics: Mont Dzumac, Stake dance festival