MY BEST FRIEND IS LEAVING: November 22, 2010

Dear Family,

Elder Oldroyd is getting transferred to Rurutu tomorrow.   He is the best and coolest Elder that there ever was.   If you ever get a chance to see him say thanks!

Yesterday we had zone conference with President Hinckley's son.  He gave us some great instructions. He told us that it is very important to work with  less active members.  There was a mission that worked just with these members  and their baptisms also skyrocketed.  He didn't really explain how that worked, but it did. So, maybe we should all give some of these members  some cookies or invite them to FHE.   It was super cool listening to Elder Hinckley speak.   It was just like listening to his Dad.   Also we got to ride back with him in the car and hear lots of cool stories about his Dad and what it was like being the son of the prophet.   His dad was called to be an apostle while he was on his mission, so he said that they had some pretty powerful lessons about how the church was organized the same way it was with Jesus.  

Also, I royally crashed on my bike.   Let's just say it hurt and also don't do stupid things. 

 Missionary work is awesome and super difficult.  I've learned alot and I feel like I've been here only a few weeks because there is so much more to do and learn.   The time is short.   Happy Thanksgiving. 

Love yall

Love Elder Cosby

ONE LEARNS A LOT ON A MISSION: November 15, 2010

Sent by Elder Oldroyd's Mom:  Elder Cosby and Elder Oldroyd

Hey Family,

I love you.  Sorry I didn't have a chance to email last week.  We almost didn't have a chance this week also.  That's just the way it is here.  I told president to call y'all the instant I died or went to the hospital, so don't worry if I don't send emails for a while   I also told him to call if I don't love you anymore, so that's not a reason either.  I don't have any time to write, but if anyone is thinking of sending me stuff, I really really want flash cards, ties, and white shirts. Stay cool.   I love you guys and thank you Sam And Heather family for the package.

The mission is good and hard and one learns a lot on a mission.

Love,  Elder Cosby

THIS IS THE GREATEST ISLAND IN THE WORLD: November 1, 2010

                                                 Tahiti is an island in the South Pacific Ocean


Dear Family,

We just got back from the most amazing boat ride in the world.  We went out to this little island off the coast and you could see all of Tahiti almost.  The water is so clear it's almost not there!  Our neighbors would pull  these huge beautiful conch shells out of the ocean,  stick their fingers down in there and pull out the slug thing and we ate them with lime on them.  It was awesome and pretty good. 

This weekend we will have 5 baptisms, 2 of which will be the first family that I taught from beginning to end.  Sara is one who will be getting baptized next Saturday.  She is super super awesome and she stopped smoking in one week after smoking 26 cigarettes a day. I feel like I just got on my mission and I've already been gone 6 months almost. Love Yall,

Love Elder Cosby

12 CHICKENS, 2 CATS, and a NAKED LITTLE BOY: October 25, 2010

Dear Family,

We finally got Brother Atche to let us baptise his daughters. Every time I think of him I remember the first time I saw his huge half naked body walking across his yard towards us with 12 chickens, 2 cats and a naked little boy following obediently behind him.  The mission is super awesome.   I really really like it.

Love Y'all

Love Elder Cosby

TAHITIAN DRUMMING LOGS AND ELDER PAITIi: October 18, 2010

Dear Family,

Oct 18

I've found lots of intriguing people here in Tahiti. Yesterday at church an old man with sunglasses on came up to me and said "I'm gonna break every bone in your body" and right after he said "I love you" and walked away.  I think that might be the only English he knows.

Also there was a man who looks exactly like one of those little troll dolls with the hair that sticks straight up and this was his entire talk translated: "Hi kids! Everyone should go on a mission. and we can prepare for our missions right now," and then he sat down.

My new companion is Elder Paiti.  He is a big jolly guy.  We are three now.   Today we are going to our bishop's house and he is going to give us Toeres  -- Tahitian drumming logs, so tonight we will be having a jam session.  

Dogs hate me.  They never go for my companions, they always go for me.  We have done several experiments to prove that theory right.  All the dogs here are disgusting and everyone here has red eyes because everyone here has conjunctiveitis.  I feel like I am in the movie I Am Legend.

We found a random guy on the street who was taking out his trash.   We saw him and passed him, but for some reason we felt super strongly that we needed to turn around, so we did and talked to him.  He was super interested because he went to the temple open house here and he loved it so much he went again.  So  we are going to start the lessons with him. That's about it.

Love y'all

Love Elder Cosby

YOU CAN READ ABOUT NEPHI BUT YOU CAN HANG OUT WITH TONY: Oct 11, 2010

Dear Family, 

This was a good week.  Elder Oldroyd and I will be getting a Tahitian companion Tuesday which is good.  I will be able to learn French and Tahitian better now.  

Our house has a lot of ants.  When we spray them with poison the whole colony comes out.  It is awesome.  So we kill all of them, but somehow there is like 7 colonies so far.  Also we had a random flying ant attack thing the last 2 days.   Out of nowhere a zillion flying ant bugs covered our entire sector for an hour each night.  Then they would disappear and then they would come back the next night.  They got in all my clothes.  As we would ride our bikes it was like it was raining with them bouncing off of our helmets.  That was exciting.  

Yesterday we had a wedding and then a baptism right after.  (That happens a lot here because alot of people just live together until we tell them not to.)   The wedding music was awesome.  I'm pretty sure that it was from the Mario Kart soundtrack. 

The other day we met Tony.  He is the coolest guy ever in the world.  We randomly found him while searching for a reference.  We see him at church but we'd never talked to him.   He invited us in to eat after an unsuccesful reference and I am convinced that he is the most righteous man on earth.   He told us that he was having a lot of trials and that he prayed to know why and God told him he couldn't go to the celestial kingdom unless he had trials.   Now that I write it out it's different, but when it came from him it was super powerful.  They were all super simple questions and super simple answers, but I just can't explain how awesome he is.   And after he would just kind of laugh and say cool right?  You can read about Nephi but you can hang out with Tony.

Love y'all,

Love Elder Cosby

I CAN'T REALLY EXPRESS HOW AWESOME IT IS TO BE HERE PREACHING THE GOSPEL

STARFRUIT & PAKAI

Dearest Family,

It's not as easy to get to email here as it was before. Sorry.  This sector is amazing.  Our week is literally just full of lessons.   This is the biggest biking area in the mission.  It's like 20 something kilometers of the main road and a bunch of super long roads that go up the valleys.  Also this is the rainyest area from what I hear.   It rains every single day.   It's awesome.  

So many people here have awesome names.  Our neighbor's name is Sky King (translated).   Our mission leader's name is Blacko and he is black.   Also,  there is a guy we keep on trying to take the lessons named Billy Boy and during one of our baptisms he started to sing really loudly.  That was fun.   Also, we are teaching a deaf guy whose name means "love of boogers."   It is super difficult to teach a deaf guy.   I always thought that I had a cool name, but now I see that that is not true.   Also,  one of my good friends in my old area is named "Poop of the Fire God" but we just call him Poop for short.   I say this because I think we should start getting a little more creative with our names.   I think we at least need to forbid one syllable names in our family. 

 There are all kinds of crazy awesome delicious fruits here, and they just grow everywhere.   Everyone here says "cool the life."   Preaching the gospel and eating starfruit and pakai is the best.   Some priest from the priest quorum came to learn about the mission but they had these tiny BMX bikes and he got super tired, so I rode a tiny BMX bike for like 10 kilometers.  It was not a fun experience at all.   Also, the other day we made a random visit to one of our investigators and everything seemed all fine and good until she just broke down and started crying and said that she was just about to commit suicide when we came to her house because her husband beats her.   Somehow 2 goobery 19 year old white guys who can't really speak French (with a lot of help from the Spirit)  got her to be smiling after that terrible experience.   I now know why so many missionaries say they don't have a testimony until after their mission because it is true.   It is impossible to get a testimony by working at Hobby Lobby and playing video games.   Your testimony becomes super strong when it's one of your only tools against addiction, violence and all other bad things.  I can't really express how awesome this is being here preaching the gospel, so I won't. Love Yall

Love Elder Cosby
Dear family,  I forgot to tell you that Elder Oldroyd is Duncan Fetner. His name is even Robert. He is literaly Duncan. Everything he does convinces me more and more that this is Duncan Fetner that I am preaching the gosple with.  (Ed. note for those who don't know Duncan Fetner.  Duncan was one of Seth's best High School buddies.  He is a wonderful, unique young man (not LDS). We often heard Duncan stories at the supper table from the time Seth met him as a freshman.    It is hard to imagine two Duncan Fetner's in the world, but apparently Elder Seth Cosby attracts them.  He truly is in heaven if he is preaching on a paradise island with a Duncan Fetner personality).  

COMING ALONG: October 4, 2010

Here are some pictures.  My camera was dropped and the zoom and focus were affected so some are blurry.  (Ed Note:  Many of the pictures Elder Cosby sent have been dropped into his past emails/blog entries.)  These are other pictures that I took in my first area [Faripiti], before I was sent to the pink house in Flower Town [Hitiaa].

 Part of the park we ride through and Moorea across the ocean.
 A Va'a race about to start . . .

Va'a is the Tahitian word for canoe. Canoe racers from Tahiti, the Tuamotus, the Marquesas, New Caledonia, Hawaii and France are the best canoers in the Pacific and in the World.  The Hawaii Nui Va'a Race is a major sport event in Polynesia:  this outrigger canoe race is organised every year in October,  where for 3 days,more than 100 traditional canoes compete between Huahine and Bora-Bora.

The first day brings the 2000 racers from Huahine to Raiatea 44.5 km away, after a 4-hour crossing. The second day is a speed race inside the lagoon between Raiatea and Tahaa, in less than an hour and a half. The third day is the most spectacular leg of the race:  a 52 km race across the ocean to reach Matira Beach in Bora-Bora, for more than four hours.

Preparation is intense, the show is also with the many supporters cheering the teams from fishing boats, outboard motors and official boats and with all the spectators cheering at the finish line.

A picture I took of a Va'a race/preparation in my first area.

Dear Family,
I'm glad everyone is doing well.   I hear my package is here on the island but my zone leaders haven't gotten it to me yet. I never thought I would get a better companion than Elder Punu but Elder Oldroyd is awesome. Also, the language is coming awesome.  I can understand and be understood in French pretty easy.  I wouldn't say fluent yet.  In Tahitian I can talk alright,  but I can hardly understand 'cause they talk so fast, but everything is going awesome. Happy Birthday Mom.  I'm sorry I didn't get to email you before your birthday.  It's not as easy to get emails done now that I'm not in the middle of the city.  I hope your birthday was excellent.  Keep being an awesome Mom.  I Love you.

Love, Elder Cosby

A picture of the scenery from the 3 Falls hike I took on my first p-day here in Hitiaa with Elder Oldroyd.

THE PINK HOUSE IN FLOWER TOWN: September 20, 2010

My last few moments in Faripiti

My last few moments in Faripiti

Dear Family,

Taaroa was baptised and confirmed a member of the Church this weekend . . . .but I wasn't there.  I was transferred  Friday afternoon at 2:30ish after President had called me at 10ish in the morning.   I  was supposed to confirm Taaroa,. an amazing opportunity missed, but I guess there is more than one side to the Lord's work, and that's being willing to move around a lot.

I've been transferred to the beautiful, beautiful sector of Hitia and Tiare. President drove me down and gave me a super awesome tour of Tahiti on the way.  He knows a lot.   Tiare means flower in Tahitian and we live in a pink house.  A little gay I know, but the house is the most amazing house in the world.   We live literally on the beach and the house is super high quality, which is rare here in Tahiti.  I can't really describe it, so I will take lots of pictures.  All I can say is that the entire inside of the house is pink:  the walls,  the table,  the chairs--- everything.

The pink house in Flower Town

On the beach

View from our pink house

The neighbors are also super awesome.  Sophie, the wife of the guy that rents out our house to us (He has 3 houses with different color schemes that he rents out), insisted that we take her phone 'cause ours got lost in the transfer.   Would you give 2 random white guys your cell phone for who knows how long?   I think not.

 I am now with Elder Oldroyd.  He has been out for 3 more months than me and is from Utah.   The day after my transfer we had a surprise visit from our Bishop who told us that we had a baptism interview which we didn't know about.  (It seems that Elder Oldroyd's companion wasn't very communicative.)   After we painfully got the interview set up and in turn finished,  the Bishop drove us back to the chapel and said that it was time for the baptism. Again, we were super surprised.   So I guess I had my first baptism.   It came very suddenly and unexpected.  

 This morning we hiked to these three waterfalls and it was awesome.   Also, from our beach you can see this island out in the middle of the ocean with a single tree on it.  I will take lots of pictures.   It is super beautiful here.  Cool,

Love Y'all,

Love Elder Cosby

 3 Waterfalls Hike.  My first P-day in Hitiaa  Blue shirt is my super cool neighbor Rukrii, then  Elder Oldroyd

 Me and Elder Oldroyd

September 13, 2010: I ALMOST TAHITIAN -------------------------------IT IS AMAZING TO SEE THE GOSPEL TOUCH PEOPLE'S LIVES

Elder Atiu, Elder Cosby, Elder Punu

Dear Family, 
Me and Elder Punu got a new companion, Elder Atiu, this week. He is 5 foot almost nothing and a professional fighter from Bora Bora.  He has a tatoo of 3 dolphins on his back.   If  I haven't told you yet about 2/3 of the missionaries here are from here in Tahiti. I can't even imagine how hard that would be. It would be like me serving in Flower Mound and the furththest away I could get was Lewisville.  We see Elder Punu's Dad all the time driving around town and we just wave and somtimes we even see his girlfriend.  He always says in English "not good, that is my gorgeous."   Everyone here knows each other from either school or is family.


 I have a super awesome tan now.   I am tan from just above my elbows and halfway above my neck.  I'm eating poo fish and becoming brown.  I almost Tahitian.

                                        Elder Punu, Anna, Taaroa, and me.  Taaroa is getting baptized.


 It is amazing to see the gospel touch peoples lives.  Yesterday we taught Taaroa's adopted mother about repentance and at the end she bore her testomony and thanked us for helping her change.  Before she was against his baptism.   By the way, his baptism is set for this Saturday.
Thanks all 

(Left to Right): Elder Pikette (assistant), Me, Elder Delezer (assistant and I love him a lot), Elder Villierm  (I like him a lot), Elder Crump (MTC with me), Elder Punu (my companion, I like him a lot), Elder Childs (transferred just after this photo.  I love him.  An awesome missionary.)
Love Y'all,
Love Elder Cosby

IT WAS THE BEST, IT WAS THE WORST: Sept. 6, 2010

Me Studying

Dear All,
     The only thing in our fridge is cake, literally. and it is full.   Just cake.   Somtimes I eat cake for breakfast.  Don't make fun of me if I am huge when I get back.  There is this one family that keeps on giving us these little nasty cakes, but me and Elder Punu found a better way to use them than eating them.  The other morning there was a rooster just outside that kept on interrupting our companion study.  Elder Punu grabbed one of those cakes and stood on our little balcony thing and waited.  Just as the beast reared back its ugly head and puffed out its chest to release its work-of-the-Lord-interrupting-cry (I now know  know why roosters are so loud, they use their entire body to scream),  Elder Punu launched the cake, and because the rooster was using all of its energy to ruin our study, it wasn't able to move and dodge the cake and got hit square in the chest. Unfortunately, he didn't die, but at least he stopped yelling.  (By the way, if you didn't know chickens don't crow when the sun rises, they crow starting at about 3 a.m.)

Taaroa

  


This week was kind of rough.  We had 8 cancelled lessons and 3 investigators tell us they didn't think they could continue taking the lessons. But on the other hand, we had a lot of sucess also.  One of our investigators, Taaroa, (from my candlelight FHE family) stopped cold turkey drinking, smoking,  coffee when we invited him to.  He is super funny.  When we come over to teach Taaroa he always dresses up, but one time this week we came for a surprise visit and he was just in his swim trunks like everyone always is, so he got this goofy poncho dress thing with lace and all so I exerted much of my power during that lesson not to laugh. I wish you guys could come and see Taaroa so you could know what I was talking about.  Anyways at the end of the lesson Taaroa asked us to close our eyes and he sang us a song about the gospel that he composed himself.  It was an amazing experience.   He sang about the Plan of Salvation and the Book of Mormon.  Also the next day we did another Family Home Evening for his family and he bore his testimony.  It was nice to hear someone bear testimony after a week of people rejecting the gospel.  I super love my mission.    It  is awesome.

Love, Elder Cosby

FAFARU AND GOING UP A MOUNTAIN: August 30, 2010

A family home evening with members (the one where I ate Fafaru)

Dear Family,

Last Monday me and Elder Punu taught a Family Home Evening lesson and after the lesson they fed us.   As the dinner was being placed on the table and we were talking to a Brother it began to smell like someone had terrible gas or something of that nature.  I thought maybe the smell would pass but it never did.  And then Nora opened the bucket of Fafaru and I figured out where the smell was coming from.  She told me that if I didn't eat fafaru I didn't come to Tahiti after I told her that if you come to Texas you have to stay on the bull for 30 seconds.  I served myself some fafaru. I kept on searching for the smallest piece,  but as I searched in the big plastic bucket,  I kept on pulling out bigger and bigger pieces, so I gave up.  To make things worse, you eat fafaru with your hands, so my hands smelt like poo as I was eating my other food.  So everything tasted like fafaru.   I couldn't finish it,  so at a well planned moment,  Elder Punu saved me and ate the rest of it for me.  I don't know which was worse, the cockroach in my mouth or the fafaru.  Basically fafaru is rotten fish if you want to know.  


The work is going great here.  The other day Elder Punu said, "We gotta go up this mountain.  I don't know why." Going up a mountain is usually not my favorite thing but we did it anyway.   We stopped next to an elementary school and Elder Punu said we need to wait here,  so we waited for almost 30 minutes just sitting there.  Then a couple walked by and told us that they were former investigators and had moved from Moorea a few years ago and had been looking for the missionaries.  We talked to them for a while and went on our way. The spirit is here in Tahiti that's for sure.

District Meeting

Carlson and Alvarez from Rurutu came and stayed with us for Zone Meeting

Zone meeting

I Love Yall
 Love, Elder Cosby

THE MOST INCREDIBLE VIEW IN THE WORLD: August 23, 2010

Dear Family,
This week was good. We ate at this house with the most incredible view in the world. 

This week we gave a blessing to a very old woman in the hospital.  We had to wear gloves and aprons and masks and things.  It was awesome.  We also ate at this house where we had to hike up the side of this mountain at night and jump over stuff and fight off dogs at every corner.  It was like a haunted house. 


 Here in Tahiti they have the best sandwhiches ever.  They are sandwhiches with steak and fries in them and barbeque sauce.  I really like them.   Also, our investigator Christopher returned to France.  It was sad. Love Y'all. 
Love,
Elder Cosby

HOUSE ON STILTS, INVESTIGATOR FROM FRANCE, & COCKROACHES!: August 16, 2010

Dear Family,

I have never eaten so much meat in my life.  All we eat here is meat and rice or bread.  I super love it.  It is a dream come true.  My whole life I've wanted to go somewhere where I could just eat bread all the time.  Who would've thought it would be my mission to eat bread alot. 

In answer to the many questions asking if I have gotten fat, the answer is you will have to wait 2 years and see. Our new house is awesome.   It has a big garage under it so it is up on stilts, so the wind blows through it real nice and it is always a nice temperature.   But the sad thing about the wind is that there are no mosquitoes.  I was really enjoying killing mosquitoes every morning and night.  The shower has this box next to it and it is a heater thing that we have to light with a match to heat hot water.   It is awesome.  I literally can't complain about anything now because our other house had no hot water. 

I can pretty much understand everyone now except for when old guys speak Tahitian they like to speak really fast and during sacrament meeting I can't concentrate for that long, but I couldn't do that at home either so no surprise there.   Speaking of sacrament meeting, in our first ward this Sunday they surprised us by asking us to bear our testimonies because one of the speakers didn't show up and the theme was missionary work;  after that they surprised us by asking us to sing with some other guys a song in front of everyone, so that was also awesome.  In our other sacrament meeting there is a lady who sings as loud as she can and it is deafening.  I have never heard anyone screetch as enthusiasticly as she does.  Me and Elder Punu can never sing because we are always laughing too hard.  


We have a new investigator from France and he is incredible.  His name is Christopher and he knows nothing about the Bible, but he is incredibly smart and quickly accepts the doctrine.   Towards the end of Elder Punu talking about prophets,  Elder Punu asked Chrstopher if he had any questions and Christopher said, "Yea, just one.  Who is our prophet today?"  That was awesome.  Elder Punu said, "It seems like you have understood this concept well!"  and laughed a little bit and we talked about Thomas S. Monson.

One quick last story before I finish.  In our new house, there were 2 huge cockroaches on our rafter things and Elder Punu wantd to take a picture, so we decided to take a picture that made it look like I was licking them.  When the camera flashed,  a cockroach from somewhere else got offended and attacked me and flew into my mouth and then crawled down my tie.   I almost died.

  One last request:  If you could send me some cool Texas stuff that would be great!  My Tahitians would love it!


By the way, I just looked at Mom's blog and the boardwalk she has a picture of is the exact boardwalk that we ride down every day if you want a visual.

Love,
Elder Cosby

PRUNING BANANA TREES/TEACHING BY CANDLELIGHT: June 9, 2010

Dear Family,
Everything is going good.  This morning we cleaned our house super good (I don't think that the house had ever been cleaned before), and pruned our banana trees.   Elder Villierm used a machete; Elder Punu had a butcher knife;  I was using a tiny knife (I dont know what to call it.)   After we finished cleaning everything, me and Elder Punu found out that we will be moving to a new house for some reason.  So now Elder Villierm and Elder Crump will have a super clean, 3 bedroom house with living room thing and kitchen and bathroom all to themselves.  We went to go see our new house with some guy that works with President Smith and it has brand new floors and a brand new washer and fridge.  It's pretty cool.  Also the shower is incredibly huge.  You could fit probably 16 people in it.  When I get home we should get a shower like that so we can all hang out in it. 

Last Friday, we taught a lesson to my favorite family that has no lights in their house (so we do everything with candles.)   Afterwards, they fed us pies. After 3 pieces of pie and some chocolate crussant things i was just about full from the end of me to my adams apple, but they insisted that I continue to eat.  Usually when I say I'm full people continue to insist,  so I had to keep telling them, "No, really, I can't."  But for some reason they really wanted me to eat, so I ate a third of the next piece and was almost dead.   Then we had a dinner appointment right after, but luckily the family cancelled and just dropped the food off at our house.   I have never been so thankful in my life.  


I have been having problems with mosquitos, so I bought a mosquito racket thing. and since then I've only gotten bit a few times.  I've been keeping track of the mosquitos I kill and I've killed 296. 

  


Also, if you are struggling to think of things you might want to send me for special or not special occasions, here are some awesome ideas:  I need some more grill mate steak seasoning. a lot of goldfish. ties, and black socks. Love Y'all!
Love,   Elder Cosby