It's Not Every Day You Fly In For Meetings...

These are the Raiatea Zone Members.  Sisters: Sanchez, Noho, Kenny, Ladd, Olson and Mendenhall.  Elders: Paulsen, Garff, Lasson and Ivie.  The other members of this zone are found on Huahine and Tahaa

Well, this week was pretty awesome! It was definitely a change of pace and was crazy!

As a said last week, we had a 4th of July BBQ with our District on Raiatea and it was awesome! I love all of our zone and we are doing our best to keep the work progressing on this tiny island!

Plane Buddies - Best part of the flight: the free pineapple juice:)

After, Elder Paulsen and I had the privilege to go to Tahiti for leadership council, and, as the title says, we got to fly in! Definitely not something you can say every day! And the best part of the plane rides, definitely the free pineapple juice! The conference was good, and we also got to go to the temple! We got to go to the last session, and we got some amazing pictures of the Tahiti temple! It is small, but beautiful!

Awesome view of the temple at night huh?  E mea nehenehe tera!

After, for the rest of the week, we ran a lot of errands, did a lot of contacting, and gave a formation at our zone meeting (See the spiritual thought below). Things are going well in our sector, and we are always trying to improve! We talked to many people who have a great baptismal potential, we'll see how it all works out!

Culture Shock: Always a great moment when you don't have utensils and you realize you bought raw fish. What could get more Tahitian than eating raw fish with your hands?

Raw Fish for a Raw Man (Does that even make sense?)  As a family, we have decided that it does not.

Funny Moment: Will go to me and Elder Paulsen rocking out in the truck, with our sunglasses, at night, radio blaring and top speed and us singing at the top of our lungs "God Bless the USA". After the mission, this sneak peek will be available :)

Thanks for the toothbrush holder Katie:)

Loved the Package - Thanks!

Spiritual Thought: I don't know if I have shared this or not, but I was impressed to give our formation on finishing. President Monson gave a talk in 1983 called "Finishers Wanted". In it, he states that we need to have 6 things:

1. Vision

2. Effort

3. Faith

4. Virtue

5. Courage

6. Prayer

I am a strong witness that as I have developed a vision for me and my sectors, as I have worked to make my visions realities. With faith it was possible, doing all I could to be clean to have the Spirit, making decisions without fear of the result, and praying with all my might.  I have seen success.  For all of us, we need these 6 steps to be finishers in our lives. There are many who start, but few who finish. Do you want to be known as a quitter? Or a finisher? There are only two options. Choose today.

Love you all, don't do anything I wouldn't do! ;)

Elder Garff