Week 6: Too matchy matchy means no matchy matchy... except here!

Hello everyone! 

Another great week has passed rapidly here at the MTC. Its the last week for 4 people in our district going to Africa. 3 more for me and the other Tahiti missionaries though! 

I might as well be famous now. On every Tuesday devotional we sing in the choir and they have cameras on the jumbo screen. I sat front row with Pugh and literally got on camera 4 different times for more than half the song total. I kept looking a laughing. I also did a cheeky eyebrow raise which Sis. Clement even noticed! 

Speaking of Sis. Clement, I see her all the time! We have an exercise time together, have had some dinners and caf exchanges, choir and then just some encounters around campus. So fun.Apparently she talked about it in her email, so its common cutesy for me to do the same. I also accidentally matched her one day super well, and pretty well another. Dont worry, we got photos.

I also Matched Elder Pugh! But really well, since we bought matching ties! They were meant to be 17, but the lady blessed us and charged us 11 saying they weren't floral enough, despite it being floral. So we got to match too. All this matching explains the subject! Wow! The part before the ... is one of my original sayings, in case you were wondering. 

I reached an all time low (or high??) for cheapness. I had been using shampoo someone gave me as to not waste mine. I unfortunately lost it and was gonna have to use my own! Luckily  I found shampoo left in the bathroom and squirted some into my hand. I then walked into the shower holding loose shampoo I had found and used that. I then went to the lost and found t find my free lost shampoo and found out that they have a free section for lost and found if its been there longer than 10 weeks! So I got body wash, shampoo, and a tie! Never again will I buy shampoo here. Thats a pro MTC tip by the way. 

Lastly, I got a free haircut and she was RECKLESS. All caps on purpose. She only used a razor. Took 5 minutes. People keep laughing at me cause its so short too. 

Ive been using my study times a lot more diligently and have been studying commandments a lot more cause thats the lesson weve been focusing on a lot more. I used to look at them as a set of rules only, and never really looked at the blessings we are promised if we follow them. Like looking at a job description but not pay. Ive come to realize how great these "restrictions" truly are by looking at what is promised, even if some are harder. That there are clear blessings and rewards promised, and that is why we follow them. 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. This time next week ill know some Tahitian!

Love,

Elder Fiore

1. Me and clement matching (tie with dress) and following pg 33 well

2. Me and Pugh matching. Clement kind of.

3. Me and Pugh actually matching

4. Birthday Boy Tracy!

5. Still Tracys birthday but less attention on him!

********** Mom notes:

Oh my gosh this child of mine makes me laugh so hard. Where does he get this "frugalness" (I'll be nice and call it this???!!) I am known to be more on the frugal side and there is definitely some frugal in his Busing genes (My Mom's side of the family), but this is too much!!!  Background story is that he has limited room to take shampoo to Tahiti - it is heavy and his bags are weighed down but they suggested bringing as much as possible. So he did not want to use what he brought all up in the MTC. I told him to buy some stuff at the MTC and just use that there - but he seems to have found his own way, lol.

We had a nice FaceTime call with him. He told us it was a very long trip back to the MTC last week after he flew home to Toronto for the day. When he arrived at the airport he had to wait for a shuttle and then the shuttle took others home first so it took him a few hours to get back to the MTC. 

He said his French is coming along but it's hard to tell exactly how far. He had a good base going in so he said he hasn't seen the drastic improvements that others have seen coming in with no French. But he knows once he gets to Tahiti there will be a huge learning curve speaking with native speakers! They start Tahitian this week and he is super nervous. He has been self studying and sees it's pretty challenging. He'll do great though. His biggest challenge will be not getting to perfection - he has a tendency to want things to be the best they can be - he will have to learn to take risks and go for things even when he's not completely sure. He aims for A+ work always but will have to learn to start with B work and just keep going from there. It will be a great experience for him to just have to trust the Lord!

Funny how he mentioned in his last paragraph about following the rules. Over at our family blog, Raising Flowers and Skids,  I'm talking about rules and why they have so many. I love that he talks about the commandments (I don't  specifically talk about them in my post) and how following those kind of rules can bring great blessings . So they act as protection, as well as provide blessings. 

Here are a few extra photos - showing his short haircut, lol, as well as ties that he found in the lost and found. I think the lost and found is his new favourite place. And he LOVES ties. LOL

***If you have questions about what a mission even is - then you might want to check out 

some Q&A's at our family blog Raising Flowers and Skids

Week 5: Had to go Home:(

Hello everyone. 

As the subject says I unfortunately had to go back home, to Toronto. I'll give details later though and talk about about what happened this week before first.

Schedule is pretty normal. Study french and gospel. That's set. But one thing was unique about this week's study... Tahitian! We haven't started formally learning it, But Davis and I have started self teaching. It is hard. I've been trying to memorize "dear heavenly father" for like 2 days to start prayers. Its "E to matou Metua Here i te Ao ra". I'm getting pretty stressed, but I know that through God we can recive tamahanahana (comfort) and help. As we were practicing our pronunciation was corrected by a couple of really nice tahitians who overheard. One is serving in... Toronto!!!! The second tahitian going to toronto. What a life we are in. 

Music is very limited here. Thankfully my mom sent an ipod with lit religious music. Like really good Christian stuff. It's making life better. We also chant French phrases while trying to memorize and moshed to "le livre de Mormon temoigne de Jésus-Christ" (the book of mormon testifies of Jesus Christ). Talk about rejoicing in a message! It was poppin though to be honest. 

We also held our first sandal day! As tahitian missionaries we get to sport stylish, breathable and comfy sandals! It's fun flexing on the other missionaries with them. I got so many jealous stares.

So now for Toronto. I had to return home today due to passport issues. It's a long story. I was sad to leave and say goodbye to the people I've become so close to. Thankfully it was only for a day and I'm on my way back to Utah right now! I took an overnight flight through New York arriving in toronto 9 am today (friday), went to a consulate, ate shawarma and shawarma poutine, packed a carryon full of snacks, warmer clothes, stuff for sister Clement and  other fun items. We then headed to the airport for 3. What a tiring adventure. I've had so many conversations thanks to the handy missionary tag I got to wear though. I also waited at the gate going back to utah with a missionary flying home from his misison in Winnipeg, and a girl from brampton heading to the MTC! New friends.

I now have my visa though so The trip was worth it. One step closer to TAHITI!

I hope I tricked some people that I went home for good

Back to MTC business. We have weekly devotionals with keynote speakers and then reviews afterwords. This weeks was about missionary work, as most are, and the feelings have really stuck with me. After the meeting and review I was just so so happy and full of the spirit. The feeling where   you're holding back a laugh and are constantly smiling. Like excitement but with no event specifically to be excited for. Just literally the best mood. Missionary work is truly a joyous work. We can bring joy to others and get the same pure joy in return. The gospel is a source for lasting powerful joy. I've felt it countless times. No matter what difficult time we're in, we can always look forward to that happiness. I find so much joy here. 

Go do something that makes you truly happy this week, enjoy the feeling, and remember it when times are tough. 

Love,

Elder Fiore 

1. Tahitian going to Toronto pt 2

2. Sandal gang

3. Us holding THE MOON

4. Lunch with SIs Clement and Thais

5. Me at home

6. Me with my mom saying goodbye again

*******

So as Zach said, he had to come home. He needed to return the temporary passport that he had to get to get to the MTC in August as his real passport was inaccessible because it was with the French Consulate getting his French Visa for Tahiti. After multiple discussions with people at Passport Canada and Canadian consulates, it became apparent that the only way he could hand in his temp passport and get his real passport (that I had picked up at the Toronto French consulate office last week when it was ready) re-activated was to return to the exact office where his temp one had been issued. And that was that, he had to come home for the day. I picked him up, we drove straight to the office and a couple of nice women put him in the "urgent line" and we were in and out in 15 min! All that travel for 15 min! We got too spend a nice few hours together - I just listened to his stories, how much his French has improved and we creatively packed a bunch of Canadian Snacks for him to bring back to the MTC. It was easier saying good bye to him at the airport because he was excited to go back!! He missed his buddies and routine. It makes it so much easier to say good bye when you see how happy they are!!! One more moth before he heads to Tahiti. 

Here are some extra pics of the MTC life and a few from his visit:

The Canadians:

Heading out on his adventure back home!

Many hours later, but safe and sound:

The drive into the city

Heading to the office hoping for no lines!

The passport office - making it all official :

As we were pulling onto our street, we heard the Prime Minister was on the Danforth close to us so we went to go see if we could see him. We juts missed him but saw our good friend and neighbour and she took a picture of us!

I made him stop for the traditional "back to school photos!" before coming into the house, lol:

What was he craving? Schwarma and schwarma poutine!

He was amused by our countdown calendar for him and got to complete the circle for today!

I did lots of this:

Then time for goodbyes:

The security woman saw me (and the other missionary mom that was standing beside me ) all teary and hovering by the door trying snap pics and take a video so she asked us if our kids were going away for a long time?? I smiled through my tears - two years.... That's not so long in the grand scheme of things.... Godspeed my boy....

***If you have questions about what a mission even is - then you might want to check out 

some Q&A's at our family blog Raising Flowers and Skids

Week 4: Singing for 6 continents and an apostle!

Hey everyone, 

Hope all is well at home.

The mtc continues to be fun and tiring. Lots of learning, mainly vocab in french and how to begin teaching. We've gone over all the fluff or bread of lessons and haven't really started the meat. I've learned lots still though.

Other than class most of our time is spent trying to meet people. Elder Pugh and I say hi to everyone. It's super fun and a bit awkward.  I met a guy from Tahiti doing it! I said bonjour and he was surprised I spoke french. It sparked a conversation. Turns out he's serving in... Toronto!! We're swapping countries for a couple years. I have random people around the mtc that I know and genuinely say hi to now. Saying hi and talking go everyone is the way to live. I highly recommend it for you guys back home. Makes me and them so much happiness!

We had a few fun big devotionals / meetings this week. We had a huge birthday banger for President Nelsons 95th. Well, we watched a birthday banger. It was still fun and out of routine. Lots of good music that differs from our usual hymns. We also had an apostle speak to us (a guy who is high in the church and wise)! Elder Stevenson (Apostle) came and we sang nearer my God to thee as the choir. I was on camera singing in front of 6 continents (MTCs in other countries around the word) and an apostle. Don't mean to brag. He also gave a good message on using the book of Mormon and it's TRUE powers. jeez that autocorrected to caps, must be true.

I also got to host new missionaries. That means I pulled them away from their family in an underground parking lot and walked them to their room and class. I also got to wave at nervous parents and run beside their car. So fun. Had a couple going to vancouver, one to detroit, and one to Lyon. the Lyon guy is a huge Hull fan (soccer).

And in much sadder news, I cut my bracelet to play ball. I talked to three levels of bosses about it, always getting passed on to the higher and gave up when it came to the head of the mtc in which I needed to schedule an appointment. I'll just burn it back on later smh. 

But back to happier news, Rachael... I mean sister Clement is here. Most reading probably know who she is. She's going to Thailand and we overlap for 6 weeks. I've seen her a couple times around already. It's fun to have some familiar faces around. She also brought a package of some nice stuff from my mom so that was a bonus. 

Warning-- Slightly religious lol:

We've talked and studied a lot about the restoration of the church and the first vision this week, which in a super quick summary is the story of Joseph Smith (14 year old boy) seeking the true church, and eventually praying for answers. He was then being visited by God and Christ and received what he was looking for. If you want more of a summary  than that hit me up or look it up :). I know that when we ask questions, pray for things in faith and seek answers, we will find them. Maybe not as dramatic an answer, but we will receive one. God wants us to reach out and truly wants the best for us. We will receive answers and I have countless times. 

Hope everyone has a fantastic week and say hi to people. you'll be happier and so will they. I've been real life r bombed (ignored) a lot though. Just a heads up. 

Love, 

Elder Fiore

1. Me with Tahiti --> Toronto guy!!!

2. Me, Pugh, Swenson, and Davis pre apostle. We knew someone good was coming!

3. Me and Pugh with two random people we said hi to on our nightly meeting people walk

4. Me and Sister Clement! Us following  Page 33 and other pages in rule book (No touching girls)

5. My district in our actual chairs! We work there everyday!

It was fun talking to Zach today. I got a tour of his room in the MTC and "met" his roommates and his companion. Josh was able to join us for the call and they were able to chat about life and everything in between.... I love how in so many ways I see how he has grown and is growing - and then see how he is classic Zach:) 

Here are a few extra photos he has taken:

His room:

He said more pictures will be going up now that I sent him tape (I put tape into his package that I sent with Rachael)

Their snack bin - lots of packages and lots of snacks!

The sad deed:

Still always looking for sunsets

The Tahitian Book of Mormon:

Bumping into Rachael

Rachael was going to bring Zach's passport to him  - until we found out it was a federal offence to carry someone's passport across the border without the person. If they searched her and found it, she could be detained and his passport cancelled and he would have to reapply for the passport and then his visa. Oops. Who knew?? 

Anyhow, we are now dealing with all the complications of getting his original passport back to him and handing back in his temp passport. It looks like he is going to have to come home to do the 15 min exchange. Crazy, but so may hoops. It will all work out but is a bit of a pain....

***If you have questions about what a mission even is - then you might want to check out 

some Q&A's at our family blog Raising Flowers and Skids