#28 - Miracles

Hello, dearest loved ones!

I love you!

The picture I'm sending this week is one I took of a tropical calendar hanging in one of the member's homes... oh wait, no it's not.  It's just the view across the street.  Can you believe that?  Luckiest girl alive.

Alright, folks, I'm just going to jump right into my thoughts because this is something I've been thinking about a lot.  And that thing is miracles.

I believe in them.  I believe in miracles with all my heart.  But I have been thinking about how I define them and how I recognize them.

The greatest objective of God is our immortality and eternal life.  His whole purpose is that we become.  We're His children, and our destiny really is to grow up and become like our Heavenly Father.  That's why He created this big plan for us, and that's His sole purpose- to allow us and help us to progress and change and become.

I have been thinking about the miracle of our personal progression.  It is truly the grandest, greatest miracle of all.  Changing water into wine or bread into stones- that's amazing.  But taking a prideful, doubtful, selfish soul and shaping it into a humble, faithful, loving soul- that is a miracle.  It is the most extraordinary, beautiful process in the universe.

Sometimes I think we ask for miracles from God expecting that He will do something quick, fast, and easy.  It’s like that quote- sometimes we ask the Lord to move the mountain, expecting that when we say amen, the mountain will disappear, but instead, we're handed a shovel. And sometimes we are disappointed when the "miracle" doesn't happen; thinking that He didn't listen or that we didn't have enough faith or something.

In reality, if we are obedient and listening and humble, we will see God is always in the process of His greatest miracle- shaping us.  If things take time, if they are hard, if they are frustrating, maybe it is because God is trying to do something much, much more important than the small thing you asked for.

I trust Heavenly Father.  I know the He will always do what is best for us if we are willing to yield to it and look for it.  And you know what's wonderful?  Sometimes, because He is our Father and He loves us, He gives us the tiny miracles, too.  Sometimes he turns the stones into bread or sends us a breathtaking sunset across the street.  Because He knows we need those things, too, and He is kind.

The gospel is true, and life is beautiful.

All my love, 

Soeur Mann

#27 - Heart Beats

Hi, Fam!

Man, I LOVE you.  I love you!  I love you!  I love you!  I'm so happy we are a family!
I am emailing tonight instead of tomorrow because we have zone conference tomorrow and won't have the time.  So surprise!  You are all sleeping in your little beds right now.  Sweet dreams!

I loved, loved, loved the pictures you sent!  Oh, life is good!  Just walk that little Lizzie girl and keep having parties in Millzie's room!

I am sending a beautiful picture.  This is the Pambrun Family.  The man in the middle with the short grayish hair is named Sylvestre, and he is the father of all these crazy kids.  This pictures kind of old, as you can tell me the fact that Soeur Ruaroo is in it, but the news is that this man is now a baptized member of the church and a worthy Priesthood holder, as of this weekend.  It was one of the best moments of my mission.  We found Sylvestre through his wife, Danielle, who has been a member for many years and has been praying and praying for her husband to change all the while.  One day she just stopped us at the bus stop and asked us if we could come by her house and talk to her husband about stopping smoking. She told us straight up that he didn’t want the lessons, just a little message of encouragement to maybe help him stop.  So we stopped by.  Well one little message led to another visit and another, and without every actually inviting him take the lessons, we eventually found ourselves at the baptismal font.  And I just can't tell you what a truly beautiful, rewarding experience it has been. 

Some thoughts:
-When you eat real Tahitian food, "ma'a Tahiti" as it is called, you eat it with your hands.  And some of its goopy and sticky, so you have to slurp it up from your fingers. 
- Lately I have just been thinking and thinking about hearts.  You know how you just go through phases where you think about a certain thing a lot? Right now it is hearts for me.  I love to feel my heart beating.  In the morning I eat my breakfast outside and I like to just sit there against the wall and feel it beat and think about how cool it is that my heart is pumping blood through all these thousands of little veins, and its keeping me alive.  One cycle I've discovered to be true is that the more we are in tune with the Spirit, the more fascinating everything becomes, and the more thankful we become for every single little thing.  And the more we are thankful, the more we invite the Spirit. 
- I love my family here.  I love these people.  I love them. 

I just want to say hi to Donnalou, because I know you are reading these emails.  Hello, Donna!  I love you so much!  I miss you and your jam and the smell of your cleaner!  I hope you are watching the Jazz a lot and being as lovely and delightful as ever!  I truly miss you, and I pray for you every day!  I love you!

And I love all of you.  Oh, I love you so much!  Life is beautiful!
Happy week!
Soeur Mann

#26 - It's Real

Well family, and this includes Courtney Elise King,

 I don’t have one idea how to start this letter.  Oh man, I don’t even know what to say right now.  I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face and my heart is pounding all weird and I feel happy and sad and amazed and surprised and not surprised.  I just read the email that Court’s going on a mission, too.

I really don’t know what to say.  

The gospel's actually true.  Sometimes I will just be going throughout the day and I just get this weird feeling all over me, and I’m seriously stopped in my tracks and I think, "It's real." 

Joseph Smith actually saw God in the Sacred Grove.  He restored the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is actually our Savior.  And He prophesied that a great and marvelous work was about to come forth and that the gospel would be spread to all the world.

And look at what's going on.  

Oh my goodness, look at what's going on!  Amelia, Courtney, all the missionaries who are getting ready to go- we're doing it!  It’s all coming true.  

It's real, real, real.  

We're children of Heavenly Father.  We lived with Him before this life, and now here we are, all in the middle of our big adventure on this beautiful earth, our big chance to become like Father.  And the Savior, Jesus Christ, came here and lived on the earth and performed the Atonement.  He unified His soul with ours and offered to become our truest Friend, to be there for us during this experience, to give us His spirit and love and support at all times when we need it Through the Spirit, which we receive after our baptism in His name, we have His help in the moments when we fail, when we are weak and confused and even bad.  He lifts us up and forgives us and encourages us.  And with His help, and only through His help, we make it through this life.  And after this life, we'll be back with Them.  For the moment, we've got all kinds of help.  We've got an actual prophet, real apostles, scriptures, and incredibly, we have prayer.

The reality of everything is that the distance between us and heaven is pretty much zero.  Life’s so much better than we think it is.  It’s so much bigger and fascinating and important and beautiful than we think it is.  We're literally children of God.  We get to become like Him, and we know how to do it, and we have the Savior to help us.

That’s the gospel!  That’s why we're going on missions. Hallelujah!

A few little thoughts/experiences from this week:
- Remember how grossed out I am by the dogs around here?  Not anymore.  For some reason, my heart is changing.  I love them.  And I feed them leftovers every day.  And they know me, and we are friends.  It feels good to be nice to sick dogs.
- There are some punk teenagers who hang out at the bus stop with a big boom box like they are just the coolest cats in town.  You know, gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways, all that jazz.  And what do they boom from their boom box?  Any Man of Mine by Shania Twain.  I will not deny that this makes me laugh out loud every time, and I absolutely love it.
- Last night I was lying in bed and I realized that I could not remember what anyone wore yesterday at church.  No one.  I didn’t pay attention to a single outfit.  Isn’t that kind of cool?  It just doesn’t cross my mind anymore to pay attention to how people are dressed.  That’s a cool thing.  
- I found some nesquik in our cupboard.  Despite the fact that it is blasted hot and I sleep all sprawled out on my bed without even a sheet to cover me, I drink a cup of hot cocoa before bed.  Because I am still me.
- I prefer to read my scriptures in French than in English.
- The other day I looked out at the ocean and realized that it is not just a bunch of water!  It is full of fish and whales and dolphins and octopuses and crazy creatures!  I thought, I wonder how many times I look at something and think it’s a bunch of water, when really it is full of beautiful, fascinating, cool stuff.

I love you all with all my heart!
Happy week!
-Soeur Mann

#25 - Faaitotio!

Hi, guys!

I am joyful!  I am joyful, people! I just don't even know how to start this letter except to say that I love life.   I know that you guys were probably wondering all week how my first week with a new companion was going.  I will now tell you how it went:  Wonderfully.  I didn't just survive it, but I loved it.  In fact, I just had one of the best weeks of my life. 
Soeur Teriierooieterai (I spell it different every time, I still haven't memorized how it actually goes) is just one of the biggest blessings from heaven that I've ever received.  She just popped into this area and brought in a fresh breath of air.  She is a fantastic missionary.  This has been one of the best weeks because I have not stopped learning and progressing for even one minute, and I love it.  We have had some really, really cool conversations.  She is from the actual island of Tahiti, and she is a basketball player.  Turns out that if you play basketball, you immediately know everyone.  
Beautiful moments of my week:

- Feeling actual, real humility.  

- Teaching a lesson to the prettiest little old lady.  Her name is Vahine, and she speaks Tahitian.  She lives by herself, and she feeds herself from her own garden.  Every time we see her, her clothes are covered in mud because she has been out in the garden working.  She is seventy five years old.  Yesterday we had a powerful moment when we showed her the picture of Christ's baptism and talked to her about being baptized.  Of course I wasn't understanding much of the conversation, but I watched her closely, and she just examined that picture of Christ in the water so closely.  The Spirit was so strong as she just stared at that picture.  I asked her, “Would you like to be baptized like Jesus was baptized?”  And she answered yes with such sincerity.  After her lesson, we got on our bikes and started riding down the road, and what was before us? A big huge rainbow.  It made me think of the primary song, I Like to Look For Rainbows, which I sang with Sarah at our baptism.  Heavenly Father really does give us tender mercies.  He really does create beautiful, perfect moments for us sometimes.  Lots of times.

- This week we visited a man who was just about to die.  His family was at the home digging his grave outside their house.  We went into his little room where he was all hooked up to different IVs and things, and I don't know how to describe the feeling.  I've never really been with someone before they die.  It's a strange feeling.  We just sang him a song and I got to say the prayer.  What a special moment to say a prayer to Heavenly Father, knowing that the person next to you will actually be with Him very soon.  Things get put in perspective.

- Sr. T brought with her some terrific music.  If you haven't listened to the Nashville Tribute album, The Work- you must!  I can't stop singing it!  It's all about missionary work, and it’s so great!  The first song starts with the line, "Children, go where I send thee!"  I love being in my little kitchen, sweeping or washing the dishes, and singing that line and thinking about how we really are His children.  And I love that He just sent me off to a little island to help some of the other children.  
I love being a missionary.  Another Nashville Tribute song says, "My soul just wants to start singing!" and that is how I feel!  I've had moments this week where my heart just wanted to burst because I was just plain happy.  I'm just happy because God is our Father, and the gospel is real.  And every single one of us, for the rest of forever, gets to be happy and share happiness and just keep living and living and living.  

I love you all so much.  Faaitotio!Soeur Mann