Iaorana Tatou!!! Sisters in Leadership Council (with one Elder:) It's really fitting that on my last day of emails the computer bugs and I have no time to write. The only thing that's been keeping me sane is that I'm sitting on an office chair that spins, so I've been putting all of my frustration into that. ;) Other than that this week was super good! Highlights of this week: -Eating at least 2 Faatamaaraas every day, maybe more -My companion getting her blood taken and ME passing out. (Don't ask how that worked. I was staring at the wall minding my own business and then I blacked out.) -We had a FHE with our zone and played Preach my Gospel Jeopardy  Some of Our Zone -MA_'S BAPTISM!!! Ma_'s Baptism by Her Son -Ward activity Soiree Culturelle! (complete with dancing to Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride (from Lilo & Stitch), the Haka, and LOTS of drums) It has been an action packed week and I wish I had tim...

Iaorana Tatou! Baptism of S__ This week has been super awesome, but the past 24 hours have been a nightmare... Story time! Once upon a time, in a land far, far away lived 4 sister missionaries. It was late one night and they were excited to go to sleep and rest themselves after a long hard day of work. Little did they know that TERMITES WITH WINGS WOULD START CRAWLING IN FROM EVERY CRACK IN THE HOUSE. "They're attracted to the light," Soeur Sellers screamed in terror as she watch thousands of bugs crawling through the closed windows. They hurried and turned off every light except for one and thought of their war plans. A couple minutes later they kicked the doors in and ran in screaming battle cries to intimidate their foes while spraying bug spray EVERYWHERE. All of the sisters were armed to the teeth with two cans of bug spray in each hand and Soeur Mortier with her zapping bug racket. It was a massacre, but we are proud to say that the only casualties were...

Iaorana Tatou! So, life is good, I'm loving serving here in Puurai and Tipaerui with Soeur Mortier. The end. Just kidding, but honestly not a ton happened last week. We did see some miracles though! First of all we fasted (went 24 hours without food or water in prayer) to help T__ find out if the baptism date that we gave her (the 20 of October) is a good date for her and her family. We showed up to finish our fast together and she had received her answer. She got the answer that she is ready to be baptized the 20th of October and that she will be sealed in the year 2021 in the temple with her family and her soon to be husband. The most incredible thing though is that she is willing to keep the law of chastity until she and her boyfriend can get married, and that could take quite some time (he's getting out of a messy divorce). I have never seen so much faith in all of my life and God will never cease to amaze me. Other than that not a ton happened. We wen...

Iaorana tatou!!! Stray Dogs and Stray Cars Everywhere!! So this week was pretty awesome! We were able to do an STL split and I went with Soeur Southwick who is officially 2 weeks old! She's so awesome and hilarious so we had a good time. We did have a crazy (and possibly drunk) guy get in our car. So I've talked to him before and he's a super nice guy, so I didn't really think anything of it when he waved us down while we drove by. Anyway, he wanted a ride (which is a big no no) and didn't even let us talk to explain why we can't do that before opening the door and starting to get in. Out of panic I just told him we were going in the opposite direction (which was true), and he finally left us alone. As a completely unrelated side note: I now know how to lock all the doors to our car at a moments notice.    Tahiti, A Most Beautiful Place   MIRACLE OF THE WEEK: So y'all V_ couldn't get baptized because she's not married? Reme...

My Companion Soeur Mortier from France Iaorana Tatou!!! So, This week was actually crazy. It always is the week after transfers. We went to the airport 3 times, drove all over the planet, and went and picked up a new sister from presidents house! Other than that not much happened... Just kidding! Y'all thought you were done hearing about car adventures, but AITA PAHAIA. So throwback to the MTC when Soeur Kendall and I were together! She just got back from being on an island pretty far away, and she was transferred into an area where she would be driving stickshift. Our Church Building, the Prettiest on the Island Anyway, we talked with the Assistants and got permission for her to practice before her test on our car in a church parking lot. Now, I was feeling pretty confident I could help her because I have taught two people how to drive and after a couple minutes we were feeling pretty good about it. And then we stalled on the only hill in the parking l...

Iaorana Tatou!!! So this week was pretty darn incredible. First of all: I saw a man trying to dig a hole with a machete. Could this day get any better??? Second of all: We had zone conference and guess who decided to show up? Elder Haleck from the 70. Before it had even started yours truly was randomly selected from a bunch of other missionaries to be interviewed by him. It was a very cool because I had had a couple questions and by the end when he asked "do you have any questions?" he had single handedly answered them all. We had an incredible zone conference that I'll never forget. I think my favorite quote of the day was "You need to help your investigators make it to the kingdom of God, but you also need to live so that you can join them there." Good stuff! Zone Conference with Elder Haleck This week we also had transfer calls and I'm staying in Puurai, but I had to say goodbye to Soeur Randriantsoa and hello to Soe...

Iaorana tatou!!! So this week was awesome! We had another baptism, members personalized a song for us, got attacked by millions of maggots, met a kid who got bit by a shark, and got asked if we were middle schoolers. Where to begin? Ok, maybe we'll explain the maggots first. I think before my mission I had seen maggots like twice. Here I have become a maggot killing machine and they almost don't gross me out anymore. Almost. Anyway, Here we keep our trash inside the house, and if we throw away anything that smells or that the cats can eat we throw it outside for whatever gets to it first. (Cats, pigeons, cockroaches, etc.) The other night I noticed before I went to bed that our kitchen smelled bad, like REALLY bad, but I was lazy (or as tahitians say hupehupe) and said "I'll do it tomorrow." That was my first mistake. Wake up the next morning to MILLIONS OF MAGGOTS EVERYWHERE. In the kitchen, in the garage, even inside the kitchen cabinets. I...

Iaorana Tatou! So I totally forgot my camera at the house like the punk I am, so I apologize in advance. This week was a week of miracles! First of all we will soon be having 3 baptisms! One this week for M__ who is so ready and has changed so much in his life! I got here almost right at the beginning of teaching him and it has honestly just been amazing. Talk about someone who has been prepared by the Lord. He stopped drinking and smoking even before we talked about the word of wisdom because he knew it wasn't good for him... The 25th we'll be having the baptism of K__, the twin of H__ and we're so excited for her! She's really been inspired by the example of her sister. And the 8th we'll be having the baptism of He__. She's someone who has also been prepared by the Lord and already took the lessons before when she was young, but it never went farther than that. We watched a video about how our bodies are temples and she just said "I ne...

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...

Iaorana Tatou!!! So this week was pretty crazy. We had like 75.5 weddings at our chapel (actually 2, but with how hard these people party it felt like 75.5) and somehow we ended up at both of them and ate more food than either of us needed/wanted. The first wedding we helped decorate for with members (you know, service) and we stopped by later to congratulate the couple, but there were a lot of amis there, so we ended up contacting at a wedding and eating a ton. Good times. The other wedding we weren't even invited to, but we had to drop off Soeur Ma (who were invited), and thought, maybe we can do our weekly planning in a small classroom instead to on the side of the road like normal? So we went in, battled 6 waitresses who were young single adults who tried to give us food (one succeeded by bringing the cream puffs to us), and finally found a room to do our planning in. It was intense. The Wedding Celebration  We should be having the baptism of H__ this...

 Iaorana Tatou!!! This week was super crazy! It's always weird changing sectors and learning names and streets all over again, but it's even weirder after being in the same sector for 6 months... It's like leaving home all over again. Little by little I'm starting to kinda figure out where things are and who all our amis are, and I'm really coming to love Puurai! Our house is GIGANTIC and is more than enough space for all six of us who live there. My only complaints about the house is that we have a spiral staircase (I'm coming to find that I have a slight fear of spiral staircases) that is actually the devil. It is so steep and I think I say a prayer every time I go up or down. My second complaint is that our toilet is in a space made for dwarfs. I am not a very tall human being, but I am certainly not a dwarf. I have bonked my head more than once... There will be photos next week so y'all can appreciate my new home!  This ...

IAORANA TATOU!!! More Moana Ocean This week was crazy! First of all Soeur Fowers got super sick while we did our P-day activity of criving around the island. I thought she was crazy for always turning the AC off because I was DYING, but that night she had a 104 fever. Members came and drugged her up and two days later all was well. We did get some pretty cool photos though. (Not from here being sick but from sightseeing) Soeur Fowers in pain and very cold. She's such a trooper. Ok, So transfers were a thing this week and I GOT TRANSFERED! Not very far away, but now I am in the city of Faaa and it's a party. My new companion is Soeur Randriantsoa and she's from Madagascar. She's super short and cute!!! I'm very excited to serve with her. A few of you might be wondering "What happened to Soeur Fowers?" and LET ME TELL YOU! Drumroll please.... She's training. That's right, my little baby missionary who got here 3 months ag...

Iaorana Tatou! So this week was pretty sweet. We had zone conference, found some new amis, and had some baptisms! So for zone conference we watched an incredible talk by Elder Holland called "Feed my Sheep" that I guess is only in the MTC and for the missionaries. I don't know how I didn't end up watching it while I was there because IT WAS INCREDIBLE. He spoke a lot about how missions aren't just for 18 months or just 2 years, but that they go on for their entire lives. IT WAS SO GOOD!!! I love Elder Holland. We had an amazing this week with a woman named M__ who we had met contacting. She let us come back and to start we sang "Je suis enfant de Dieu" or "I am a Child of God," and opened with a prayer. After we looked up and she was crying so hard she couldn't really speak. After she had composed herself she told us of how her 16 year old daughter had died 3 years ago, and how that song really touched her. We wer...