Hello, Family!
I love you. Family, this week I was teaching a lady who is having a very very hard time accepting the gospel. She is Protestant and her husband is a member, and she is very grounded in the belief that Mormonism cannot offer her anything that her religion doesn't already give her. She was sitting there across from her husband and her two little kids were running around in the background. She is such a good wife and she is one of the nicest mothers I've met here. We talked and talked about all sorts of things, especially the Book of Mormon, but the final thing I could think to tell her was this: If I was not a member of the church, I would be looking for one thing: Who can bind me to my family forever?
I don't know if it really set into her what I was trying to say, but I just want you to know that the Temple, and the authority we have in this church to bind families together forever in the name and by the power of Jesus Christ, keeps me going every single day here. We are sealed forever. Think about that. Our family will live and progress together forever. Is there anything better than that? No, there is nothing, nothing better than that.
Mamma, I didnt even tell you happy birhtday last week! Happy birthday, Mamma Girl! I am sending you a present next month! And that present is going to drive himself right to our house sometime in February. Ha ha! Elder Saxton, from Franklin, ID is going home next month, and he has promised to pay you all a visit and drop off some letters (if i ever have time to write them!), and best of all- you can ask him ALL the Tahiti questions you want! Im going to give him our number and address, and he will get in touch with you guys. Its so, so weird that he is here with me. Here I am. In the middle of the ocean. Speakin French. Except Im not speakin French. Im speaking English. And Im talking about the Preston Rodeo and Big Js. I absolutely love, love my Friday district reunion. It is really a tender mercy from the Lord to put someone who has eaten Gosner cheese in my district. So comforting. Two Cache Valley kids preaching the gospel in Tahiti! It is honestly such a small world!
In response to some of your other questions- my tan is coming along pretty good. Its kinda fading cuz of the rain lately, but its still better than my usual tan, which is usually nonexistant. My hair is also getting some rather radiant highlights. When I wake up in the morning, my hair is big and curly. You heard me! Curly!
Also, I would just like to say that if you have never fallen asleep to the sound of the ocean, you're missing out. I think I will miss that forever once I leave.
My companion leaves in 3 weeks and finishes her mission. Everyone say no less than 1000 prayers for me as I approach this moment. I often think about the day in Heaven when I will see my sweet Tahitian sister again and we will speak the same language, and I can really tell her exactly how much I love her. What an incredible experience it is to work with her, a girl who grew up on an island that you can walk the perimeter of in a day. We have had such different lives, but we both love the gospel, and that makes everything work out in the end.
As you all know, I've been pretty razzled up and frankly stressed out of my mind for the majority of the time I've been here. I ask myself constantly if I'm doing enough, how can I know If I'm trying my real best, why cant I speak fluent French, yada yada. Dad, this thought is especially for you, Bishop. Here is an insight I re-received this week. (It seems like that's how we learn the gospel, huh? Re-learn and re-learn and re-learn).
There is no actual check list for being a good person. There is no actual check list for being a good bishop or missionary or wife or mailman or whatever you you may be. Its not like you will get to the Judgement Bar and hear, "Oooh... I'm so sorry, but if you would have raked leaves for your neighbor one more time, you would have made it. See ya. Terrestrial Kingdom."
Sometimes I get real, real caught up in what I can do to prove myself and how hard I have to work in order to be worthy of acceptance.
If you are living in such a way that you are miserable, stressed out, and never satisfied, you are forgetting some stuff. You are forgetting that Father created us "that we might have joy" And you are forgetting that Christ is our Redeemer.
Family, I really have a testimony of the Atonement. I know that Christ is the Son of God, that He lives, and that He actually accomplished the miracle of the Atonement. That means that we are not alone in this. That means that we have an infinitely loving Savior that makes up for our weakness. When I say my prayers at night in His name, I am recognizing that although I wasnt perfect today, I have a Partner who was perfect and Who loves me, and Who accepts my efforts.
Like I say all the time, the only real hard thing about life is realizing and accepting how good it is. Its not always immediately evident, because we are humans, and we get distracted and sidetracked and blinded. But the reality is that we have a Savior. The reality is that yes, we are good enough, thanks to our infinitely loving and merciful Partner, Jesus Christ. We can be happy and hopeful because Christ performed His Atonement, and we are saved. We will live in Heaven with our families after this life.
I love Jesus Christ. I know that He lives, and I know that He loves me. As long as I'm just striving and desiring and loving every day, I'm enough.
Life is so, so beautiful.
All my love, Soeur Mann
