Bonjour et bonne annee!
I love you, love you, love you!
I have some thank you's to say this week!
First of all, Mamma, I forgot to tell you that I 100% love the necklace you gave me for Christmas. I wear it every single day, and when I feel a little blue, I hold on to the three little keys and think about you and it makes me feel better. Plus, there is a little seven year old sweetie here named Mimi who absolutely loves the fact that I have the three "keys to heaven" with me all the time, because I explained to her that the three charms, faith, hope, and charity, are the keys to heaven. So every time she sees me, we pretend to open the door to heaven with our tiny keys.
And Grandma Mann, I got your package today! Oh, Grandma! Thank you, thank you, thank you! It was so wonderful to see a package with "Harold Mann" written on the return address! I shared the cowtails with my companion and a lady in our ward, and they loved the American candy. Thank you for the card and everything!That last picture with all the kids is of New Year's Eve, which we spent with the Bishop. ( Don't worry, we went to bed on time!) Okay, Christmas here is not the hugest deal like it is for us, but New Year's Eve? It is actually New Year's Week. It is a huge, huge deal, and everyone is just barbequeing and playin their ukuleles, and drinkin' a whole lot of alcohol But we passed a fun evening with our Bishop's family, and the thing in my hand is a coconut, and yes, I am drinking coconut milk right out of it! Amazing, huh? And the kids danced their little hearts out.
So, something I really, really need to tell you is that we've had three baptisms. Ha ha! I have been meaning to write about it, but the thing is that these baptisms deserve a big long letter, because each one has been miraculous, truly miraculous. This picture is of Kahaia, who is a beautiful, joyful 19 year old convert of one week, and who has already asked the bishop if she can start her mission papers. She came teaching with us the other night, and its so cool to have a brand new convert share their testimony, because she really, really knows what its like to receive that change in her life. I am constantly amazed by the tiny and seemingly infinite amount of miracles that God performs for us every day. Sometimes I feel like 'I'm on the Truman show, like everything is perfectly scripted to work out just how it ought to. 'Cuz that's actually what's happening. And that is thanks to our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose hand is in all things and through all things. It is truly astounding.
There is a big huge tree across the street from us, right in front of the ocean. We call it our Tree of Faith, and it represents our faith just growing and growing up to the sky. This week is has rained and rained and rained, and that tree is sittin' there, soaking it all in. I had a thought this week- that tree requires both sunshine and rain in order to grow. Without one or the other, it dies. Just like in second Nephi 2, everything requires opposition. Ya gotta take some rain with some sunshine if you want the tree to grow.
Loved ones, Jesus Christ is really our Savior. I love Him. Despite my weakness and sometimes pathetic bouts of idiocy, He really is there. God is answering my prayers, and He listens to all of us. Hallelujah! God listens to us!
I love you with all my heart,
Soeur Mann
