ISLAND LANGUAGES

French is the language of government/schools and Tahitian the language of the natives of French Polynesia.

ELDER COSBY'S ADDRESS

ELDER SETH LORENZO COSBY
Tahiti Papeete Mission
L'Eglise de Jesus-Christ des Saints des Derniers Jours,
Mission Mormone, BP93
(for pkgs add: Cours de L'Union Sacree)
Papeete Tahiti 98714
Polynesie Francaise
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Unto the Islands of the Sea

Send forth the elders of my church unto the nations which are afar off, unto the islands of the sea; send forth unto foreign lands; call upon all nations . . . -------------------------------------------Doctrine & Covenants 133:8
Bonjour! [bon-ZHOOR]:French-------------------------IaOrana! [ee-ah oh-RAH-na]:Tahitian-------------------------Hello!
Bienvenue! [bee-ahn-vuh-new]:French-----------------------Maeva! [mah-AY-vah]:Tahitian-----------------------Welcome!

26.7.10

I AM HERE IN MY FIRST AREA HAVING AWESOME EXPERIENCES AND EATING MANGOES: July 26, 2010



Dear Family
I am here in my first area trying to type on this crazy keyboard and it is taking me forever. I am in a new sector right next to Papeete called Fariipiti. My trainer is Elder Punu and he doesn't speak English so I never really know what is going on.  But from what I understand we are getting to know our sector and things.  Sorry I did not get to call.  They got mad at our bikes and we had to do a lot of stuff to try to get them to Tahiti and almost missed our flight.


So, my first day we had dinner with President and some training and then I slept on the floor of the assistant's house.  Then the next day we finished up our training and went to work.  Me and Elder Punu are working closely with the other elders in Papeete until all of us are cool with our sectors, so we went first to this one family's house that I didn't find out was our Ward Mission Leader until after they made us teach him a lesson.  He then gave me and Elder Crump some excellent advice which I didn't understand.   (Me and Elder Crump were in the MTC together).  Elder Crump is with Elder Childs from Utah and Elder Viellerm from Tahiti.  Then we went to a members house for dinner and ate some fish and chicken and sat at this little tiny kids table on tiny stools and the huge father sat on a tiny stool with us.


The next day me and Elder Punu rode our bikes down this boardwalk thing right next to the ocean to one of our appointments.  The guy was not there, but what was amazing was  we then got a call from the other elders to hurry over to another house because they were being served lunch.  I have found that if you are hungry, go and preach the gospel because everywhere you go people want to feed the missionaries!  So we ate outside while they fed us and sang to us.


The people of Tahiti are the nicest, most generous people in the world.  We had another dinner appointment where after eating off of plates that were huge (and almost dying I ate so much), they asked if we wanted ice cream.  We said, "Sure," and the daughters left to get the ice cream from the freezer (I thought).  Then it was taking a long time and I saw their car pull up.  The daughters had driven all the way to the store to get us ice cream.   Stuff like that happens all the time.  They just give everything they have.  Some random guy came to our house and gave us a bunch of mangos even though we have a mango tree and like 7 banana trees in our yard.


 Also,  I never really know what's going on.  When people talk directly to me, they usually talk kind of slow if Elder Punu has told them I just got here,  but somtimes they don't talk slow so overall I'm usually just walking around smiling and waving, saying hello and thank you and smiling and nodding when people talk to me, and then I laugh because I have no idea what they are saying.  It's super awesome.


Last night me and Elder Punu did a family home evening in this house where the people didn't have electricity, so we did it by candlelight and people just kept wandering in and we got 7 new investigators from that lesson.  It was pretty cool.   I would keep writing but this keyboard is super frustrating and this internet place is expensive.


So I am alive.  I have an awesome companion, and am already having awesome experiences teaching people in these awesome little shacks and eating mangos all the time.  My only complaint is that my crotch super hurts from riding my bike.  Also if you ever feel like sending me somthing send me some more ties.
Love Elder Cosby






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