May 30, 2016 - Another week and hitting the one year mark!

Ia ora na te mau hoa no te chez moi,

I hope y'alls weeks were just dandy and Memorial Day was extravagant!

So this week was challenging. It was super hot. My bike broke, and a dirigent in our paroisse told us that we "don't pray as much as we should, we make poor decisions, and are not intelligent missionaries." So that was kind of rough to endure, but hey...C'EST PAS GRAVE!! I am my OWN missionary!! #dontletitgetmedown

Of one story I can think of that stuck out to me was not one of a lecon with an amis, but a story the premier counselor of the stake presidency told of his conversion. His name is President Valenza: 

For 6 years Valenza attended church, participated in other activities, and even went to the church's institute classes, but never got baptized. He wouldn't get baptized...why? Parce que there was something personal that "blocked" him. For 6 years he never prayed, and for those 6 years he didn't want to be baptized until one of his last lecons. At the end of this lecon one of the missionaries asked if Valenza would close with a prayer; naturally he said "non." In his words (translated) Valenza said "this elder was smart and had figured out my block...how? by listening to the Spirit, by discerning my needs. the elder said 'non you can do it,' so we knelt and for 15 minutes we knelt in complete silence, neither of the elders looking up but continually having their heads bowed, eyes closed, and arms folded, until I uttered the first prayer of my life; a week later I was baptized. After that prayer my temoignage grew and I gained a better and firmer knowledge of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ."

Ending Valenza's story I continue to pray to help discern the needs of my amis and others around me. Now that I have a stronger hold on the language I feel more sure of myself when I feel I have a "whisper" from the Spirit. 

Even if we aren't a missionary, we are still able to increase our gifts, be it the gift of tongues, gift of healing, gift of discernment, etc. The list goes on for eternity, but we all have gifts, and Heavenly Father didn't just put us on this earth to twittle our thumbs to pass the time. NO, He put us here to progress and improve and discover our heavenly ordained gifts. 

Like President Valenza, doing something new can be scary, but if we put our trust in Him "all things are possible." Bien sur, the first step back to Him is by having FAITH in Him.

Je vous aime! Maururu roa no to'outou here!

Until next week my fellow famille and friends! #peaceloveandhugs

-Tuahine/Soeur Morrill :)

May 24, 2016 - a week in pictures - we are blessed with beauty all around

May 16, 2016 - Pictures from an active week- mission concert and Mother's Day skype

May 16, 2016 - Another Week - Sometimes Tourists Just Don't Know

Ia ora na tatou!!

J'espere vous avez passe une bonne semaine et weekend.

This week has been great, getting my new companion (fille) moved in, settled, and introduced to the secteur. 

My (second) fille is Soeur Mitchell. Straight out of the Provo MTC last monday night. She's from Sydney, Australia and is super chill! 

Having a companion who is still at the base of learning French is a challenge but continues to be a great learning and service opportunity, though it also allows me to see the improvement that I have made in the language and teaching. 

This week as I stated earlier has been great, but super slow. The secteur I am in is Nuuroa, and a bike secteur, yes...on bike in a skirt ha ha ha. Anyway....It's the perfect size for a bike, but too small of a secteur for a car. We had to rely on membres this week to drive us to lecons, because Soeur Mitchell had yet to receive her bike from the couple missionnaires who opperate the mission bureau en ville in Papeete. And there was no way that I was going to have my fille out on foot her first few days in the secteur...it would pretty much kill her. BUT the membres were so great and considerate and helped us out a TON!! #blessed

Later on this week we said #toutealheure to one of our dirigent zones, Elder Guyaux, who got transfered down to the Australes, an island called Rurutu. Our districte all piled in the car and drove to the airport to say goodbye to him last friday morning. And of course, we ran into a lot of tourists.

Story: This super sweet older couple who had just gotten off a cruze ship were getting ready to take a plane to Bora. And they asked us where to go and where security was. Gladly we helped them out and got to know them in the process. As it was time for them to leave the husband says "Well thank you so much, and I know you guys have YOUR OWN BOOK, but try reading the BIBLE for a change and finding out WHO JESUS CHRIST REALLY IS." Obviously we didn't say anything, but smiled as they walked away. 

You see? The mission is great, and there are so many little miracles and blessings around every corner, but things like that are what stab us to the core. 

Just to clarify to any of you who have questions about the Book of Mormon: The Book of Mormon is ANOTHER TESTAMENT of JESUS CHRIST. It does NOT REPLACE the BIBLE. Yes, the Bible is the WORD of God, and gives us the teachings and revelations from other prophets and disciples of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon does the same thing. It testifies of HIM. Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon teaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. It contains teachings and revelations from prophets as well. As servants of Jesus Christ we teach the gospel throughout the world, and we use BOTH the Holy Bible AND the Book of Mormon. The Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon together contain the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

I AM a missionary but also I am a membre of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints. 

My testimony continues to grow, but I know who my Savior Jesus Christ is. He did more than we could ever ask a normal human being to do:

 Il a pris nos peches, nos tristesse, et nos souffrances sur lui, afin que nous puissions se sentir la joie, la paix, et le bonheur dans nos vies, mais aussi de changer nous-meme par son expiation et le repentir chaque jour afin que nous puissions revenir vers notre Pere-Celeste encore, parce que rien impur peut demeure dans le Royaume de Dieu. 

translation: He took our sins, our sadnesses, our sufferings upon himself, so that we can feel joy, peace, and happiness in our lives again, but to also change ourselves through his Atonement and repentance EACH day so that we can return and live with our Heavenly Father again, because NO UNCLEAN thing can dwell in the Kingdom of God. 

So please, ask a membre of the church or visit the site web if you have any questions www.lds.org. 

Merci cher tous, ua here au ia outou! Passez une bonne semaine!

bisoux,

Soeur/Tuahine Morrill :)

2 Nephi 25: 26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.  

The Book of Mormon

May 10, 2016 - Pictures

May 10, 2016 - Another Week - Transfers and Trainees

Ia ora na chers tous!!

This week was great and super busy!

But wednesday pretty much sums it all up! A day packed full and I mean full of lecons!

One lecon, however, did NOT go as planned what so ever! The week before Sr Andersen did a split with Sr Stositch, q dirigent in the mission, in our secteur while I went to Fataua for the day. We had a lecon scheduled with an ancien amis, Charles, who they recontacted during the split. Charles was married to Flores who is also another big potential amis of ours for bapteme. Charles reaccepted the lecons and told them that he had the desire to change and become better. So...we hauled our bikes up the mtn to their house; when we got there we didnt see Charles, but instead we saw Flora outside talking with a couple who looked to be famille friends.

"Ia ora na"...."vous etes la pour la lecon de Charles?"...."oui" we reply. Flora then proceeds to tell us in Tahitian that Charles had left earlier that day...so we asked where, comme dab.

"en haut; il est decede ce matin a 11h00...." replied one of the famille friends. WHAT??????? we later come to find out that he had suffered from a heart attack and didnt survive.

I was devastated (obviously)...that day was going to be the day that I would officially meet Charles, but we were too late by 4 hours.

We continued to talk to Flora, and are amazed at how well she is holding herself together. We then ask if we can share a message with her and with tears in her eyes says "please."

I shared Helaman 5:47 (from the Book of Mormon)....."Peace peace I give you because of your faith in Him...."  I read that scripture and found great comfort in it as I was going through a rather big trial in the MTC. And I had felt Flora zould feel comforted by it too.

The scripture is simple and short but puissant. Our Heavenly Father wants nothing but for us to feel peace in our lives, but we must go through trials and groz in our life in order to receive greater blessings, but whats comforting is that Heavenly Father will jamais give us an epreve on peut pas surmonter. He has FAITH in us, so il faut qu'on ait la foi en nous aussi. As I read the scripture to her I began to cry, not for her, but with her. I could feel her pain, and i could how hard she was trying to keep herself together for those around her, but in the end she let go and cried. All we could do was be there for her, even though we wanted to do more. At first we thought we hadnt done enough but later received a call from her telling us thank you!

It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences Ive had thus far.

in other news: IM TRAINING......AGAIN!!!!!!

Je vous aime bcp!!

forgive me for this short and big spelling errors....im on a french keyboard today!!!

peace, love, et hugs

Tuahine/Soeur Morrill :)

Friends, beach and street graffiti - April 2016