MTC

MTC
Elder Josh Garff

Monday, April 4, 2016

Long Time No See eh?

Hey everyone! I am sorry for the long time it took me to write you all! I'll explain below, but the past couple of weeks have been insane...

So, I'll start with 2 weeks ago! Happy Birthday Mom! I didn't forget you!!!! I hope that you had a great time sharing your birthday with the day that Christ was resurrected! I thought about you all day and I hope that you got my Heavenly SMS's!

And Easter was great! Definitely one of the best experiences of the mission this far! And during Easter weekend, we had a baptism for Maina and Tama! 2 people who didn't progress before and who I met in February. Maina told me the thing that was blocking her was prayer. She could not bring herself to say a prayer in front of others. After the first lesson, she prayed at the end, and offered to give the prayers every lesson after! The Holy Ghost really worked with her and Tama and Honoré, the dad, and thanks to one little prayer, a lot of faith, and the Holy Ghost, they got baptized. Another awesome experience that I got to see here at Maraa!
Maina and Tama's Baptism - "Awesome Experience"
After, we were at the hospital. Elder Davis had a serious knee infection that caused us to stay at the hospital all week! We went in to the emergency room Monday morning, expecting to leave in the afternoon... Then found out it was serious and ended up staying in the hospital for the whole week. Not exactly the best place to do door to door contacting, but we still were able to help people anyways! And, because of this incident, Elder Davis cannot walk. So, President gave me a new companion, Elder Putoa!!! Who is waiting to get his visa so he can serve his mission in New York! Elder Davis is still with me, and we are now a trio! He will just do proselyting with the Elders who have a car. When he is better, he will be with me all the time, not just for studies.

Even with the hospital, I was still able to watch General Conference! And this Conference was awesome! I liked a lot of my talks, and my favorite talk will be the spiritual thought!

I hope that you are all doing well! And if I am slow in responding to your emails, I am sorry, we have got very limited time with choir practices starting up and with 3 people sharing one computer... I'll try my best!
Josh amid Rotui juice containers - Fort or bar graph - you be the judge
Funny Moment of the Week: Definitely goes to Elder Davis being on medications:
Elder Davis: I think my pillow is radiating heat
Me: Ok...?
Elder Davis: Can you move it? It is ticking me off!
Me: Why! What on earth did the pillow do to you!?
Fun experience to say the least!
Culture Shock: Let's just say I was expecting an "American like" hospital when we got to Tahiti... It was still nice, but definately miss the American hospitals. I'll leave it at that
Spiritual Thought: The conference talk that stood out the most to me was given by Sister Durham. She talked about the father who was crossing the lake with his shoes that were weighing him down to his death. It was through the Holy Ghost that the father realized this and he was able, after much struggle, to take off his shoes and progress to safety. For me, it was a great allusion to our lives and the sins that weigh us down. Sometimes we have blind spots, but if we listen to the Holy Ghost and act on our impressions (even if we like the "shoes" or "sins" that are weighing us down) to leave our sins behind, we can progress in our journey and make it in safety to the kingdom of God.

I love you all!

Elder Garff


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