October 9, 2012
First of all, conference was amazing! I wish everyone could watch conference from the MTC- it was so cool! And of course, the very best part: Sisters can leave at 19!!! What do you think 2000 missionaries did when the prophet announced this? I will tell you. We honestly and truly cheered! Ha ha! :) And then I cried and cried. Soeur Green cried too, and she turned to me and said, "Why are we crying?" I know a lot of people were touched because they know that this new announcement will change missionary work- hopefully we will get so many sister missionaries in the field! But when she asked me, all I could say was, "My sister!" I just knew how she was feeling right at that moment, and I was so happy! Hallelujah! Two Sister Manns in the field!!! :)
Tahitian is crazy. The other night we were all prepped to teach our "investigator" in French, had a good little outline, and then we look in the peephole of the room we're supposed to teach in, and our teacher is not our teacher! He is wearing flip flops, board shorts, and a black, curly wig! And we knew exactly what that meant. Dear ol' Frere Coulson decided to play a little trick on us, and we knew that the second he opened the door, he wasn't going to speak French. Just imagine our panic. We tried to remember every possible thing we know in Tahitian, said a prayer, and then knocked on the door! And indeed, he answered with, ""Ia ora na!" So we just went from there. It was absolutely ridiculous. A lot of pointing. A lot of blank looks. And afterword, a lot of laughter. Woohoo! Tahitian!
Here's a little thought I had this week. Everything in the whole world is weird. If you think real hard about anything, it seems bizarre. Think about eating food. We put stuff that grows out of the ground in our mouths, chomp it up, and eat it. And it keeps us alive. How weird is that? The reason I'm saying that is because when it comes to the gospel, sometimes stuff seems weird or too good to be true. But I think the first question you can ask is, "Why not?" Because there's really no reason. And if you start there and then start praying and studying and living it, you'll get the answer: "Of course." The gospel is real life. It really is this good.
Much love to all of you!
Soeur Mann
