# 71 - Moorea

People, people!  I have an announcement to make!  I am actually in Paradise at this very moment!  I took a boat this morning on the real, live Pacific Ocean, and I arrived on my sweet island home for the next 6 weeks, the beautiful island of Moorea.  And I LOVE it.  And I love you, too.  We won't forget to say that first thing.  I am just pretty darn stoked to be here.  What a cool blessing to be able to finish my mission in this gorgeous place.  It is totally different from Pirae, where I just was, which is in the city.  Now I am back to true-blue Tahitian living, totally the "island cool" style of life, and I can't wait to put my heart into this area with all I've got until the end.  

The first picture is of where the boat drops you off- on the boat I was excited to be a missionary all by myself, so I tried talking to some people.  The first guy rejected me hard-core.  Shame, because he was from New Zealand, and I thought it would be cool to talk about the gospel in English.  No-go.  But the second man was extremely nice and smiley, and randomly lives right in Pirae, my area I just left.  I bought myself a quiche and ate it with the ocean wind just whippin through my hair and felt 100% happy.

The second photo is of where I actually am in this exact second, and the girl is my wonderful new companion, Soeur Paraurahi, which means "talks a lot."  We get along great so far, and I can see I'm going to love her.

Folks, I would love to write some more things, but I'm a little too excited to be here, and I just want to go explore.  Plus my companion's bike tire just blew up, so we gotta figure that out.  

Family, I was so happy to see you on Christmas, especially Grandma and the Bradleys- good surprise Christmas present!  I love you dearly.  Talking to Mill was especially cool- the one single time we'll both see each other as missionaries. Maybe. Im' pretty sure I'll have a badge on again some day.  Hopefully a couple more times.  Missions are good.

For New Years resolutions, here's my thought- we really can do anything.  Millzie played the piano and sang in Portuguese in front of a billion people in Brazil. (Amelia's Blog) Really, we can do big stuff.  Set cool resolutions this year- life is beautiful!

All my love,
Soeur Mann
(Editor's Note: You can hear about the third picture on February 23rd at 11:00 AM in the Hyde Park 1st Ward.)

#70 - Merry Christmas!

Sorry I didn't write a big letter this week because I'm going to talk to you on Wednesday.  I hope you guys have already watched "It’s a Wonderful Life" - if not, drop everything and do that.  

Jesus Christ is the reason our family is happy and will be together forever.  Our family loves Him so much.  I'm so glad I had these two Christmases away from you, because I will celebrate it differently, at least in my heart, forever.  Have a wonderful Christmas Eve Eve today and a happy, happy day tomorrow.  We have a true reason to celebrate - He lives!

I love you.
Tel

#69 - Peace and Love

Ia ora na, family! For my greeting this week I would like to quote a song I learned on Q92:
"You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiraaaation... you bring feeling to my life, you're the inspiraaaation!"

Yesterday was a happy, happy, blissful day!  In fact, there were many happy moments this week.  Yesterday was particularly fanstastic because it was our mission Christmas get-together, and they actually brought in ALL the missionaries, from all the islands, and we got to see every single pal with a badge in French Polynesia.  It was truly Christmas.  Something swell is that our MTC group has really just gotten more and more unified over time.  Even while some of us have been out roughin' it in the middle of the ocean, we still have a tight-knit little group, and eating mashed potatoes and stuffing (thank you, couple missionaries) and laughing about MTC memories was one of the cheeriest moments I've had in a while.  It was so good to see each other and see that these missionaries really have become better people over this year.  Still the same funny personalities and stuff, still the same people, but definitely a little better.  I love, love the missionaries in my mission.  Another thought from that- stuff that was not funny in the MTC, like little points of contention and friction, is definitely funny now.  Everything's fine after the fact.  Hard to remember in the moment, but it's true.

Also, this week we got to go to the Temple. I can say with no hesitation that I know the Temple is the House of The Lord.  I felt truly like I was in another spot that isn't here in the middle of the world.  It is a sacred place, and the ordinances performed there are real and true.  Interesting too that last year I felt like a was going to die a little bit after leaving because I was still so stressed and worried about this whole being-a-missionary thing, and this year I was happy to get back to work.  Things get better with time.

Mom and Grandma- I got your Christmas packages, they both arrived safe and sound.  Thank you!!  

Now I would just like to let you know about Soeur Morgan Taylor, who was in the bike accident last week.  I know that there must be lots of people where we live that are aching for her and thinking a lot about her.  I don't know enough details about her condition to say anything on that because I don't want to give false information, but I can tell you that this island has been sending up thousands and thousands of prayers for her.  Our mission fasted together for her, and yesterday we all said a kneeling prayer together for her.  The members here love her so much, and everyone asks about her wherever we go.

I actually had the rare chance to get to visit her in the hospital, which I think was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father so I could let some fellow Cache Valley people know that I have seen her, and that she is being taken care of.  Seeing her was actually a very spiritual experience.  We saw her Sunday afternoon, and she was in a coma while we talked to her, but it was good to be in the room with her and let her know she is loved.  Afterwords Soeur Chytraus and I said a prayer for her, and I felt an enormous peace fill me up.  I'm sending all my love and prayers to her family and all the people in Cache Valley who love her.  What an incredibly hard thing.  I can't imagine how her family must be hurting and worrying.  I do know, and I felt so clearly with her, that it will be okay.  Heavenly Father is in control, He loves her, and He will take care of her and her loved ones.

I love you all dearly.  Thank you for being in my beautiful life.
All my love, 
Soeur Mann

#68 - Salt

Hi, folks!  I love you with all my soul.  

This morning I finally understood a scripture that I think everyone else has understood this whole time, and maybe it wasn't even a correct interpretation, but it gave me a lot of light, so I think it counts no matter what.  I was reading in 3rd Nephi 12:13- "I give unto you to be the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted?"  My whole life I have wondered what Christ was talking about there.  I finally understood thanks to my lunch yesterday, which was an avocado.  Soeur Chytraus kindly shared her avocado with me, and even though it was good plain, it was great with a little salt sprinkled on top.  Today as I read that verse I thought about that salt and how it brought out the delicious flavor of the avocado.

Now I'm going to tell you about another experience I had this week and what that has to do with the salt thing.  Friday after our district meeting, Soeur Chy and I were leaving the chapel to walk back to our house for lunch.  Right as we came out of the chapel gate, I noticed a young girl walking really fast down the sidewalk, and I was so excited to see that it was a cute little girl that I taught in Puurai. I sped over to give her a hug but realized immediately that she was not okay.  She was shaking and crying, and obviously very scared.  I asked her where she was going and she said she was going to walk home to Puurai from Papeete, which is a far too-long distance to walk for a little girl.  I didn't know, but she's been moved to a sort-of foster home now, and that morning a member of her foster family beat her.  They thought she'd stolen a cell-phone, and she hadn't.  She was too scared to go back to the house. It was a literal miracle that I crossed her path right at the moment she was on the sidewalk.  We took her straight in to the chapel, where there is a little self-reliance office and a couple missionary from St. George serving.  We sat with her and held her hand, gave her some water and oranges and got her calmed down.  Our stake president happened to be there, so he came and made some calls and tried to see what he could do.  It was a horrible situation, but I am so thankful that Heavenly Father arranged things so we could take her in.  I felt horrible that there was nothing I could really do because of legal issues, but I promised her that even though she might have some very hard things to go through, Heavenly Father would listen to her prayers and help her like He just had.  Then we had to leave.

As we walked home, I just could not even take it.  I was so burning angry, and so sad.  I went upstairs in our apartment and just cried.  One of the hardest things about my mission has been seeing people hurt.  I hate it.  I was really overcome with how plain sad life is sometimes, and for a moment I felt totally helpless.  But I decided to say a prayer, and that prayer brought filled me up with peace.  I realized that even though the world is a sad place sometimes, the hope of Christ is bigger than that.   A very strange feeling- feeling deeply the need for Christ's atonement and then looking down at your badge and remembering that you are one of His missionaries.  That's a cool feeling.  So we got up and went out and taught one of the best lessons I've ever taught on my mission.  I realized that what I am sharing is the one, the literal only thing, that can make things fully and permanently better.  That's true.  The Savior's Atonement, which completes the beautiful plan of Heavenly Father makes this life make sense.  He is what gives us the hope that we have a reason to live, even when things are hard, and that things will always get better.  For some, and depending on the period of our lives, His love is what pulls us out of the extreme pain of abuse or neglect, and other times it is what pushes us through a stressful day at work.  Either way we need Him.  

So I realize a little better what it means when Christ tells us, His believers, that we are the salt of the earth.  Many people are just trying to get through this life.  It's like a bland avocado- you can do it, you can survive, you can eat and sleep and keep going, because there is no other choice.  But when you know the Savior, you know that this life is so much more than that.  It is rich and deep, and there is a reason we are here.  We are loved.  We belong to God's family, and this experience is to make us more like Him.  

People need to know that.  They need to know that this life is better than they think it is, or at least it's going to get better.  They need to taste the joy of the gospel and get the full vision of this little earth experience.  And we are the salt.  We are there to bring them the message- if we lose our "savor" or our spiritual perspective, we don't serve our purpose.  

I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He has a perfect love for us.  He is there. Let's all go sprinkle salt in the lives of those we love and make their lives a little better.

All my love,
Soeur Mann

#67 - That's The Covenant We Made

I just saw The Coolest Thing.  

Hello to all of you, I love you enormously, and The Coolest Thing was a breath-taking hike we just went on to three waterfalls!  My entire mission I haven’t been on one hike, and finally I got to go, and let me tell ya, it was stunning.  Hiking is good for the soul.  In fact, hiking is necessary for my soul, and a hike through the literal jungle of Tahiti just leaves your heart full.  This world is beautiful.  We were sitting there next to a waterfall and I sat down on a rock and had a few minutes to just think for a couple minutes, and I thought about how I am seriously just a speck.  This huge black wall of rock covered in hundreds of thick lush plants and hundreds of gallons of water spilling over it- that's one waterfall out of thousands.  And waterfalls are just one type of amazing, beautiful thing in this world.  I thought about how all I am is just one little 5'4" of creature- two lungs, one heart, not even a big thing in this gigantic universe.  But that didn't make me feel bad.  It just made me want to be kind, calm, just keep living and appreciating how marvelous this whole earth is.  It was a very nature-lovey moment.  And I liked it.  

I loved Mill's Thanksgiving story- yahoo for rainy Thanksgivings!  I also had a swell day, particularly one moment.  We were hiking (okay, I guess that's not true that I don’t hike, seeing's how I hike all over my area everyday) up a big, fat hill to get to our lesson, and I realized that it was about that exact same time you all would be eating pie. Luckily I had the sense to turn around and take a look at the view behind me- the ocean and a huge valley of homes scattering the mountainside.  Lovely.  It started to rain, and I personally love walking barefoot on wet roads.  So I took off my flip-flops.  I pushed my bike all the way up that hill barefoot in the rain and sang, "Marshmallow World in the Winter" to myself.  And parents, don't worry about the walking barefoot thing.  I already know Dad is telling me how dangerous that is.  But it's okay, just talk to Grandma Mann about it.

This week I got to go teach two lessons with Soeur Green, that absolute pal.  We got to this lesson teaching two little girls that own 11 cats.  We started singing our opening hymn and one of the little girls picked up a kitten, held him in the air, and started waving his lil' paws around like he was conducting the song.  For some reason, this really, really cracked me up.  I don't feel like I actually laugh too much on my mission, like little pleasant chuckles, but never laugh really hard.  But I actually had laughing tears in my eyes.  I think part of it was just that I was so happy to be with my best friend, and we both just lost control in the song.  For those who understand this small reference, think "kitten yoga." 

This morning I read an article from last year's December Ensign that talked all about Christ's birth.  For some reason it really struck me today, the story of the nativity.  Think about Mary actually getting to that inn and realizing that she was going to have to give birth to the Savior in a stable, complete with donkeys and dogs and camels and things.  I mean, this really happened.  He was born in a stable.  One of my favorite names of the Savior is Emmanuel- God with us.  He was here with us, and He is still with us.  How comforting that is!  And what does that mean for us?  I think one of the things He taught us is that we need to be with people.  We need to literally put ourselves next to them, physically, and move through their trials with them.  Earlier this week I was with someone who was feeling very sad about the loss of a loved one she lost years ago.  I didn't know what to say.  She left for a minute, and I had these words come very clearly into my mind- "Mourn with those that mourn, comfort those that stand in need of comfort."  That's the covenant we made. That is truly what The Lord asks us to do, and that is why we love Him so much.  He was here with us, in a global sense as a human being on earth, and each of us personally in Gethsemane.  Sometimes it’s hard to plop ourselves down in the middle of a problem, and sometimes it feels very easy to just say, "Well, I'd rather not get involved."  But sometimes that's what we need to do, because people need people.  The Savior, the most glorious person of all, was born in a stable.  Here, with us, and He let Himself get involved even if it was a burden.  Thank heaven He did.

I have an announcement to make- Mom, I would like you to get out your calendar, flip to February 14th, and write, "Make Valentines' sugar cookies with Cail."  Cuz that's exactly what you'll be doing!  I learned my return date this week, and I will be flying home February 11th, most likely arriving the 12th.  And I feel very, very content.  10 weeks is a perfect amount of time.  I have 10 weeks to love my beautiful island and serve with all of my heart right to the end.  And then I'm going to come home.  And I will be so, so happy to be home, too.

Because I love you.  So very much!  Even though I'm just a little tiny thing in this universe, just two lungs and one heart, pretty much a speck, I have people I love forever, and that means everything.  Life is beautiful!

All my love,
Soeur Mann