Hello, my dearest loved ones!
LIFE IS GOOD.
First of all, I got some letters this week that were just so, so, so lovely! Mom, the picture of Baby Brenner is the sweetest, most adorable little patriotic thing I have ever seen. I just want to pinch his little cheeks and kiss him right on the head! Do that for me next time you see him! Grandma Mann, every time I see an envelope with your handwriting on it, my heart jumps for joy! Your letters are so funny and so comforting. I promise that one of these days I will actually get a letter sent in the mail. Thank you for sending your love clear all the way over here in Tahiti! I love you so much!
This picture is of our dinner the other night. Every single night there is one family scheduled to feed us. Sometimes they just drop off the food, and sometimes we get to eat at their house, which is 1000x more fun, plus then we get to invite them to help us in the missionary work. The meals are called faatamaraas. That means, basically, "The event where you eat" in Tahitian. This particular faatamaraa was waaay above and beyond. Soeur Haoatai wanted to give me a little cultural experience, so she decorated everything with these giant leaves and flowers and made tons of Tahitian food. The decor here, for everything, comes right from their yards. They just go outside and gather up all these amazing tropical plants and put them around, and ta-da! Free. Simple. Natural. And so pretty. It was so sweet of her to go to all the effort and I would just like to tell you about one of the special dishes we ate. It is call faafaaruu. What do you think faafaaruu is? I will tell you. It is raw fish that has been rotting in sea water for a couple of days. Hurrah! Hurrah for comPLETEly overcoming picky eating!
So we all piled in the Vivish's truck, Papi and Andre riding in the bed of the truck, and went to see him. When we showed up, Tuarii's mom went to wake him up from his room. He came to the door with two big, red puffy eyes. My heart just broke. This strong, handsome, confident 22 year old man was totally, completely crushed. And so we grabbed a bench and some chairs and sat outside with him and talked. Soeur Vivish sat next to him and hugged him, and we all took a turn sharing our love and comfort, and every single one of us, even Papi Tahi, had tears in our eyes, because we all felt the pain of this young man sitting there crying over his lost love. It was one of the sweetest experiences of my mission. It was not the regular missionary discussion, but the Spirit was just burning. I thought about our baptismal covenant to "mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort."
We found a lady this week named Sandra, and I just want to write about her because I love her. We've only had one contact with her, but it was pretty special. Sandra is a very serious Protestant, and she has an amazing story. A few years ago she had some terrible sickness that left her paralyzed on her left side and extremely weak. She talked to us about her love for her husband. When she got really sick, she worried that her husband would not want to stay with her because she suddenly depended on him for everything and couldn’t take care of herself. But rather than strain their relationship, they grew in their love as he fed her, bathed her, and carried her where she needed to go. I could feel how much she adored her husband and so we started to talk about the Temple. I was so excited to tell her that she and her husband could be sealed for eternity. We have another lesson with her on Wednesday, and I can’t wait to see how it goes.
Family, I am learning so much. I feel like this experience is taking so many good things I knew in my head and planting them right in my heart, deeper and deeper. My love for the Savior is growing. The reality of His Atonement becomes clearer every day. I am beginning to understand what it means to be His missionary, and my heart is turning towards Him.
The other night I was finishing my prayer and I closed with "in the name of my Savior, Jesus Christ," and it was like a shock went through me. I just sat still for a minute. He is my Savior. Mine, personally. He loves me, personally. As I took the Sacrament yesterday, I thought about that.
I am realizing more and more that missionary work is not just turning people to a good method of living, or a group of nice principles, but to a living Person. It is truly turning people to Christ. And I'm finding that if we open our hearts and have faith, His love and comfort are completely accessible. I love Him.
I love you all so much!
Life is beautiful!
Soeur Mann
