Today has been such a whirlwind of a strange day. It started out nicely, with me eating a starfruit for breakfast out on the veranda, and it's still going nicely. But it got kinda crazy for a minute. Turns out my brand new companion, Soeur Tetoe, whom I LOVE, will not be be companion. We had a little changeroo! And it's sad, cuz I was seriously so, so excited to be with her. But luckily my new companion is absolutely delightful, and we already know each other well because we've been living in the same house for about two months. Her name is Soeur Bradshaw, and she is American, well-educated, refined, and lovely. So happy to be with her! I love all the people in our house so very much. Soeur Outzekhovsky, who is Tahitian but has a Russian name, has become a truly dear friend to me. Its great to live with lots of sisters all together.
Last night we had dinner with some of our investigators, Ranitea and Carlos. We started walking down the street to get into their neighborhood, and were so happy to see that they had invited Moana and two little boys that we're teaching right now, too! They were waiting for us to walk accompany us to Ranitea's house. These two little boys, Emmanuel and Barry, 14 and 10, have totally stolen my heart. I adore them. They are just these happy, good kids, and Im always so excited to teach them. They asked us to sing a song we'd sang in Sacrament meeting earlier, so we did, and they filmed us. We ate a dinner of cooked fish, french fries, raw fish, tomatoes, and delicious nectar stuff. After the meal, I asked if we could just leave a little message, and the second I opened my mouth, my eyes welled up with tears. I was just so happy. I was completely happy to be with them, and completely calm and content. I told them that I felt like we were all a little family, and it was so cool because we all felt it. Everyone was happy. After I finished the boys asked if they could perform a little show they'd prepared. And you know what they're show was? They "douggied" as in "Teach Me How to Dougie." Ha ha! It was so great!
And speaking of dougieing, all the kids here know how to dance, and they're so good at it. Like cool hip hop dance. The other night we were walking up to our car and there were all these kids out on the road dancing, and then Simon yells, "Hey, Soeur Ma! Attend, attend!" Sisters, wait, wait! Next thing you know, "As Sisters in Zion" is blasting through the speakers. Ha ha! So I ballet danced all the way up to the car for them. When we passed by again, they were all back to the dougie. Only in Tahiti. I LOVE THIS PLACE.
Okay, big news- the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is taking place here very soon, and it is in the very park where I run every morning! I'm sure there will be stuff on the internet, videos and pics and stuff, so if you look it up, you will see right where I live! Every morning I go running there while the sun is coming up, and it is just plain wonderful. Today we saw a gigantic ship coming in with the big words "Bali Hai" sprawled across. Amazing. And you know what makes these runs extra fun? The fact that I'm runnin' in my brand new tennie runners that I got in a package this week! Thank you, thank you for the package! My shoes are perfect, and Millzie- I love the shirts. I'm sportin the purple one right now, feelin' like a champ. Thank you!
Here is a truth I have learned - faith is action. Faith is confidence, and its cousin is hope. Hope is believing in good things to come thanks to the things we are faithfully doing. We can really expect happiness if we have faith - if we live and act on what Heavenly Father teaches us through the Spirit. God is our Father, and He is always giving us good things. I love Him.
These two pictures are from behind, so sorry, but they are candid, so I thought it would show you a little bit of my "real life." I love my life. It is beautiful!
I love you all forever!
Soeur Mann
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