They Call Me Flashlight

September 28, 2015

Bonjour tout le monde!!

A lot of our amis and membres call me Soeur "Mori pata" which means FLASHLIGHT hahaha. And in the Tahitian language you pronounce almost all the letters as they look in the word, so they pronounce my name as Soeur "More Eel" which eventually turned into Soeur "Mori pata" haha.

So...if my math is right then I've been out in the field for 4 months ish now. No lie the time has been flying by!

And today is the day that we get 30 NEW MISSIONARIES from the PROVO MTC. we got 8 I think from the New Zealand MTC last Thursday. So the official training transfer happens tomorrow. President Bize has requested that the Tahiti mission missionaries only stay for  6 weeks now, because he had to close a lot of islands and sectors because there weren't enough missionaries for them all, so he got permission from the First Presidency to shorten the time of the Tahitian missionaries.

This past Sunday I gave my first talk. I spent most of my studies this past week preparing for it...praying and trying to find what the paroisse needs most. I ended basing my talk off of a recent General Conference talk by Brent H. Nielson of the Quorum of the Seventy called "Waiting for the Prodigal." Serving a mission in a different culture, you see that everyone is loving to everyone else around them, and I explained how at one point we are that one sheep lost from the ninety and nine, spiritually lost, and trying to find our way back. We must never lose hope in our loved ones, and continue to pray for them, and show them that we love them.

Hearing about Elder Richard G. Scott's death surprised me. This is the THIRD Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that has passed away since I've been on my mission. It was really eh eh, but I know he's so happy to be reunited with his cute wife again. Soeur Spackman and I watched his funeral earlier this morning. I love how the church focuses on the glory of the Plan du Salut when someone passes away, because this really isn't the end. Our earth life is just a tiny knot on a sewing string that stretches on for eternity.

So it'll be really cool to hear AT CONFERENCE GENERAL THIS WEEKEND!!!!! who the new 3 Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be! I'm so excited to hear our prophet speak and the apostles. Conference is like a little taste of home!!

We had a lesson the other day with the famille Teavae, and it's custom to take your shoes off at the door before you walk in. Well...I somehow forgot, and of course the one time I did a COCKROACH just had to CRAWL into my sandal during the lesson. Granted I have become a master bug killer while I have been here, but Cockroaches are not my cup of tea..no thank you, non merci, Aita maururu!

FUN FACT: I get to be the pianist for the Programme de la Primaire (Primary Program) that is coming up on October 25. So, after our faatamaaraas Soeur Spackman and I go back to the chapelle so that I can practice the songs.

We had a really cool lesson this week with Mami Taina and Papi Pierra. Mami Taina is the really sweet lady who has had a rough life. Bless her heart, she is the sweetest Tahitian mami ever, and dealt with being physically abused by her husband for a really long time. He's a recent convert and has literally turned himself around. We had a lesson about the Loi de Chastete (Law of Chastity) and Le Parole de Sagesse (Word of Wisdom) and after he heard that we were commanded by our Heavenly Father not to drink coffee he was 100% willing to give up coffee, because he found out drinking coffee has lead to heart disease. He said "I know there are some commandments God gives us that I don't know why He gave them to us, BUT if He gave them to us then they've gotta be for our well being some how." YES YES THANK YOU PAPI. THANK YOU!!

This week has been slow, because it's been vacance for the kids in school, so a lot of our amis have been traveling. Hopefully this week will quicken up, because the more comfortable I get with the language the more excited I get to teach our amis than I already am!!

Thank you for the prayers and the emails. Until next week!!

Ua here au ia outou!!

Tuahine/Soeur Morrill :)