Bonjour tout ma famille et amis. Ia ora na to'u utuafare e mau hoa atoa.
Well this is the last full P-day in the MTC. It's really been quite the journey. Like I've said, time is weird in the MTC. It seems like so long ago I was back home but also just seems like yesterday. I've been out about three months but I swear it's been three weeks. I have learned more here in the MTC than I could have anywhere on the planet. The first few weeks I had a hard time getting adjusted and actually caring about studying, liking the scriptures, REALLY working hard, and loving and being kind and looking forward to serving everyone I come in contact with. I thought I was pretty great before this mission, I could never have been more wrong. I have come such a long way being here. I know that it's because I've committed to help God's children come back to him, so He's helping me become what I need to be so I can accomplish this. I'm still not anywhere near being done growing but I'd say I'm ready.
We taught a man this week who is a gold tag investigator (basically a real person because we're used to teaching each other and acting as investigators.) and I was really nice to actually answer real questions and teach a real person about the way back to God. So that helped me be excited to actually help real people in Tahiti but also pretty terrified because well...they're real people and real people have emotions and get angry and get freaked out when you accidently call yourself a missionary from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day chickens. (mo'a=saint/holy moa=chicken) Then again, real people have emotions and are happy and actually want to be baptized and stuff. So ya, excited and terrified. Plus I've forgotten what the real world looks like so travel day will be quite the day.
I've also worked my guts out this week. I've tried not to let even five minutes go by without something useful in it. I may not have done perfectly at it but it helped. I've upped my prayers from like 5 to double digits because I need so much help staying focused and have my mind on the work. Golly gee I have a long way to go, but I've also come a very long way. We saw a talk by Elder Bednar on Sunday from a few years ago about becoming a missionary. That was quite the speech. I learned quite a bit about using time wisely. I think we will actually be addressed by an apostle tonight. That seems to be the rumor going around. I'm pretty pumped for that. That will have been the second one we've seen.
I was studying when a rainbow fell out of the tree and landed on my scriptures
Good gantry we've been here for a long time!! I love the six weekers coming and telling us how long they've been here and then asking how long we've been here, expecting us to say a week or two. It's the same face every time we say "eleven weeks". They're eyes turn about the size of the planet Jupiter and then instantly realize how lucky they are. I actually am glad we've been here for so long. I needed it.
Well anyway, I'll email on Saturday one last time. I think I will be calling about 9 or 10 on Monday before we fly out. I'm the travel leader for all 16 of our Tahitians so that'll be cool but I'll have to be keeping everyone in check the whole time too. Oh also Orometua Hapairai said if there's anything I need to drop off to you I can leave it with him and you can pick it up from him. I'll tell you on Saturday if I did and all the info for that exchange. Heck, you might just want to stop by and say hi, he's just the nicest guy. Well, I'll go send a few pictures so "'Till we meet" (or Saturday actually). I really know that God lives and loves us and that He is helping me accomplish this mission. I know that Jesus is our brother that loves us so much that He took the tremendous weight of our sins and died for us all.
Je vous aime!
-Orometua Clements