Villa Agricola 6 - Elder Maatatia

Villa Agricola 6 - Elder Maatatia and Kiribati

Hey everybody!  I hope you all had a fantastic week and that life is good and stress-free for you guys.

 

So reading from all my friends that are serving missions like Elder Arnson, Hassell, Black, Hoopes, and a lot more, I realized that it`s been almost a year since I graduated high school and found out where I was going to be serving my mission. When I thought about that, I almost couldn`t believe it. It feels like it was just last week I got my diploma and found out I was going to the "Dominican Republic" which honestly, at first, I didn`t have the slightest clue where it was in the world hahaha.

It just amazes me how much I`ve come to love this country in these last 7 months. I really feel like I`m becoming more Latino day after day. 

When Elder Alva left early Tuesday morning. Miss that kid a lot.  He said:

"JesuCristo era Peruano. Solamente tiene que cubrir su cara y vas a ver la bandera de Peru."

This week was great. Elder Alva left Tuesday morning and my new companion Elder Maatatia came in that afternoon. He`s already, after one week, one of my best friends out here in the mission. I don't know, it almost feels like we met each other before, which is impossible because he lives on a small island off the coast of Australia. 

He`s the coolest guy and is also one of the most humble missionaries I`ve met. He speaks Kiribati, which is a language that about 10,000 people speak in the entire world. He`s the only missionary serving from his island and also the only member of the Church from his immediate family. But the story in how he came to know about the missionaries is really what I want to share with you today.

 

 Elder Maatatia and I when we ordered pizza his first night here.

 

So Elder Maatatia was living with his aunt and grandparents when he was about 13. He had always heard about the Gospel, but never really received an invitation from anybody to come to church, even his aunt and grandpa (who were members). He told me all about his life before and he was living in hard times. In his broken Spanish, he told me the story about how he came to know the Church.

Basically, his aunt finally talked with the missionaries one Sunday morning and told them that they needed to teach him. The missionaries stopped by during a day in the week and started teaching him. He told me he wasn`t interested at first and really didn`t listen. But when they talked to him about the prophet Joseph Smith, and how he really could pray to find out if what they were saying was true, that hit him. He prayed and felt an impression that he should be baptized and that what the missionaries were preaching was true. He was baptized in 2005 and through a lot of member support and help in his ward, he prepared to serve a mission.

For me, one thing really stands out to me in his story. The reason he came to know about the Church, the reason he`s MILES away from his home right now, learning a language in the street without books in his own language to help him, the reason he works harder and with more love for the people than I`ve seen before in a missionary, is because his aunt finally decided to invite the missionaries over to teach him.

As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we have something that a lot of people are missing. We know about the truthfulness of the Restoration of the Gospel, about the Book of Mormon, a living prophet today, and the importance of families. In my life, everything I have and all I`ve learned I owe to this Gospel. I really didn`t realize it back home and wish I would have seen it earlier. We have a ton of friends, neighbors and people we really care about that don`t know what their missing. Really, just a small conversation with them and an invitation to an FHE, a cool activity at the Church, or to take the discussions from the missionaries, could change their lives and help them live more happily with their families. 

I hope you all can think of someone you can talk to and that we can do a better job of sharing something with our friends that means so much to us. Because really, in missionary work, the members are the key. 

With Eliany when we set up the date for their marriage on the 12 of May. OHHH, I forgot to tell you guys about that!  Frank and Eliany are getting married in 15 days!! They`re so stoked and we`re hopefully going to have a FHE with them and some of the members today.

I miss you all a lot and hope you have a great week!!!!!!! 

Elder Graff 

Galatians 6:9-10 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith."