Don't Bury Your Talents - 7/21/14

Bonjour à tous!

So this past week was LOADS of work, I'm not gonna lie. We were going going going the whole time, but oh how it paid off. So last Sunday we had a Branch Counsel where Elder Utahia and I proposed a Coin De Feu Musicale "L'Amour de Dieu" (A musical fireside called "The Love of God") The few members of the branch were ecstatic when they heard about it. Some excitement is coming to Aulnay! The members of the counsel unanimously accepted our proposal, and we'll have our fireside on August 16th. I'm so stoked.

Yesterday, after church, we had a choir practice where we practiced the songs for our musical fireside for the first time... I'm not gonna lie, I left that practice feeling so happy and touched. The majority of our branch is Haitian/African so we get some pretty interesting sounds during hymns. At first, when I thought of doing the choir with Elder Utahia, I was apprehensive of this, but it turned out to be the greatest feature of the ensemble. As I stood there directing this group of beautiful people, I was blown away. It was their musical technique or there voices necessarily, but it was there apparent love for each other and for the Gospel. I felt like I was listening to the choir from  Friends The Other Side of Heaven. That was so cool.

This experience really got me thinking. I realized how boring my life as a missionary would be if Elder Utahia didn't try to share our musical talents. We've sung for nearly every single one of our amis (investigators), we've sung at baptisms, and now we're on train to organize a 9 musical number soirée. I'd like to think that our efforts have helped the lives of others, but I must admit that singing for others has ultimately helped me! I've found that as E. Utahia and I have tried to bless others, the Lord blesses us seven fold. I've grown so much spiritually, and I've been touched time and time again through music. I'm so happy that fireside is happening, and I'm optimistic for the results.  This transfer, we're really focusing on bringing inactives back... all 160 of them, and we realized that a musicale fireside is just our forte for starting this great work!

Love you all!

Still waiting for my peanut butter....

Say hello to Chris-Pierre. He was baptized with his family this year, and frankly has one of the strongest testimonies I've ever heard... and he's 11! We were shooting some glammys during FHE.

​

Music...

​

L'Arc de Triomphe, quoi. I asked a Elder Puariot, another Tahitian elder, to take a picture of me holding it... I don't think he understood, haha. 

​