8/6/18 Puurai Week 4 - H_'s Baptism, Sister Training Leader

Iaorana tatou!

This week was super awesome, but if I'm being honest I forgot most of it... apologies  to my family, friends, and future posterity. 

For pday we watched a church movie with our district which would have been awesome, but the computer kept starting the movie over... oh well. We got to see everyone when they're at their worst, so it was a good time. 

We got to go to the temple this week! It's such a privilege to go, and we really enjoyed it! We tried to take pictures at the end on self timer... it kind of worked, but there are some epic fails coming your way. ;) 

I had my first STL split as the STL ( sister training leader), and it was so fun! It's always a party to get to see how other people teach and work. We might have gotten lost a couple times, and I might have said a few utterly stupid things, but life goes on. We ended up getting pizza at the end and celebrating. Good times. 

Ok, Best for last: the baptism. We had H_'s baptism this week and it was so awesome! Pretty much her whole family was there and her mom (who at first didn't really like the church) was really touched by all the love shown from the ward! At the end we had some refreshments, and we had over four cakes, a big bag of firifiri (tahitian scones), and so much fruit. I think that did it for the mom-- to see all the love and sacrifices the ward members made for her daughter. She even asked her family when we came for the lessons so she could come too. Honestly, such a miracle! 

Sunday we had a brother ask us to come and teach like a two minute lesson for his class... in English. I swear, that was the biggest struggle of my life. I can get along fine joking and speaking normally in English, but talking about the gospel in English? Luckily the goal was for no one to understand because I don't even know if anything I said made sense. Soeur Randriantsoa spoke in English too and it was so good! Honestly her English is really good for someone who didn't grow up speaking it. Anyway, the teacher's goal was to show his students that when they're in any teaching situation (giving advice, in their work environment, on a mission, etc.) that they need to be speaking the same language as the other person for them to understand. We need to LISTEN and understand where they're coming from in order to help and teach them. I've seen this apply in every situation, but especially on the mission. If we can't understand the ami we can't help them. On a much bigger scale this is why Jesus Christ suffered for not only our sins, but our trials, sicknesses, and weaknesses. He is the only one who can help us perfectly because he's the only one who understands us perfectly. If ever we are in a situation where we think no one can understand, there's always someone who understands perfectly, and with his love we can find the love and strength we need to overcome. 

Anyway, just a couple thoughts for y'all. I love you and hope you have an awesome week!!!!