Last week President Durrant sent out a letter to all the missionaries in our stake. I love President Durrant so much. Twice I have gotten a letter from him on my mission, and twice it has been completely inspired. He talked about seeking a "spiritual adventure" on our missions. I love this idea. This week I tried to have a spiritual adventure, which meant seeking for opportunities to grow spiritually in the middle of whatever the situation was. It was such a satisfying, lovely experiment. I'm going to keep going with it! Here was my method: When I started to feel distracted, like thinking about home, or just wanting to get out of an awkward or hard moment, I would pray for one of our investigators. And you know what's so cool? All the prayers I've been saying for investigators not only helped me stay focused, they actually brought real results into their lives. Literal miracles popping up! We have one investigator whom I love so much. His name is Charles, and this week we saw a visible change in his countenance. Out of nowhere he just is doing so great- he's been changing his habits and started praying, and you can literally see a difference in him, just by looking at him. Oddly all of that happened in one week where we didn't even see him. But during that week, I'd been praying often that Heavenly Father would help him move forward. And He did. Prayer is real.
And speaking of prayer, here is another insight I found this week. So yesterday I was feeling, as we would say in Tahiti, "fiu." That's Tahitian for, basically sick of everything. Okay, we're just gonna be real here. Sometimes when you are on your mission you get a little fed up with stuff. And for a minute, I was feeling fed up with having to deal with problems. I felt like I was always having to arrange things and fix things and yada yada. Then I had this thought come to me:
John 5:17- But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
I'd read this scripture earlier on my mission and been struck by it, and then yesterday it came back to mind. I realized something- God is working all the time for us! Think of all the prayers He is answering all the time. I realized that when we ask Heavenly Father to help us with our problems, He actually has to do something. Its not like we ask and then He does nothing, and then it happens. Knowing that He does all things by laws of science and intelligence, He must actually have to work pretty hard to answer all these prayers. I think He is probably constantly in a state of arranging things and fixing things and planning things, and yet He always has time to just listen and be kind. God is never "fiu" of us. He is never put-out by our constant requests for help. How incredible. And so I felt pretty humbled and then I tried to just be nice and keep helping and not complain in my head about just having to do what I came here to do. And I felt much happier. I love Heavenly Father so much. I'm so thankful He is constantly kind.
This picture is of our wonderful investigator, Heitiare, and her sister, Tea. This girl is gold. Never have I taught someone so truly open and faith-filled and ready to learn. She's the one I wrote about last week that lives in the little house on stilts with no electricity. She is just so humble and sincere. At our last lesson Tea, the one holding the ukelele, sang us a song in Tahitian, and I just adored that moment. Also, as she was singing, I really wanted to record her song, but lately my camera wont record videos. It keeps saying, "Card Won''t Read" or something. But I wanted to record it so bad, so I said a one-second prayer and just asked Heavenly Father to please fix the camera real fast so I could just get her song. He did.
Well, folks, looks like this week will be my last week in Oremu and Puurai. I saw my mission president today, and he didn't say where I will be going or with whom, but he said I will be transferred next week. What a crazy mix of emotions. I have been in this area since February, and it has truly become a second home. I love Oremu. Some of the people here have truly left an imprint on my heart forever. I am going to miss it desperately. It doesn't seem real that after this week, I will probably never see these people again. I will never walk down the road towards the sunset and look out to the island of Moorea and watch the kids fly their kites by the garages. I won't sit around the table on little broken stools and talk with my sweet bishop, Bishop Tahuhuharagni, about faith and miracles and the Atonement. I won't walk into the chapel and give high fives to all the ridiculous young men that have become my little brothers. Oh, nelly, I am going to miss it. But I am ready for another adventure, too! And I can't believe that I got to be the luckiest girl in the world for seven months and that my little Cache Valley life got to be infused with this beautiful, wonderful place. I am thankful forever and ever that I got to be here.
Now for some more pictures! I will just send them in multiple letters with the descriptions:
1. Group of boys- these little punks are the best. During their two week vacation they worked on this "faapuu"- they are building themselves a little work out station with pull up bars and stuff, just in the property across from the Relief Society President's house. I caught them while they were taking a little break.
2. These guys think they are so cool. They are just our investigators in the hood that we love so much. The one on the left is getting baptized next month!
3. A little family we are teaching that I LOVE! And baby Heiva, the little girl's face cracks me up every time I look at this picture.
Alright, folks, gotta go! I love you forever!
-Soeur Mann
