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