Week 10 - Sweaty, but Spiritual

I'm sure you've heard the rumors, but Tahiti is truly the best place to be on your mission. I know that already, and it hasn't even been a full week.

Well, I've been assigned to the Papeari district, in the Vaiari ward, and thus far, it's been incredible. My trainer's name is Soeur Guthrie, and she's the absolute best. She's from Arkansas, near Pea Ridge! Her family actually doesn't live there anymore, so nobody try to hunt her down, but that does mean we just get to talk about fun Arkansas stuff and be the only two people who understand.

There's a thousand things I could talk about and truly so little time, so forgive me if this email is scatterbrained. The good news is, I have a list!

So, Tahiti is gorgeous. We live in an area that includes the beach, the jungle, and the mountains, and we conquer it all on foot because it's impossible to ride a bike in a dress and some of the bike lanes are scary here. We came during the hot season, so we're constantly sweaty, and also the wet(ter) season, so there's mosquitos everywhere. My legs from knee down are literally a bug bite for every square inch, and my ankles are bitten even worse. I'm already as tan as I would ever get during the summer at the lake, so it's only upward from here. Every faatamaaraa (meal), the members tell me that I'm so white. So, that's something I've learned about myself.

The members out here are so cool. Everyone waves and says "ia ora ana" to everybody, and the conversational hello between women is kissing cheeks. It's such a cool thing honestly, because it makes me feel so loved. 

The language is SO crazy. It turns out, everybody actually does speak french, and everyone really does mix tahitian into their french. But, I love it. I don't always understand everything that's going on, but I've become a pro at being ignorantly blissful (smile and nod is my anthem).

Lessons are even better, because I can almost always follow what's going on, and I've even been able to add things as the Spirit prompts me to. I am so, so grateful for the gift of tongues, because without it, I wouldn't have dared to get on the plane to Tahiti. 

(I told you this would be scatterbrained, but this is a little worse than I thought.)

Tahitians LOVE singing. They told me this, but I didn't realize what it would mean for the lessons. When we sing together before we teach, the Spirit is there immediately. Soeur Guthrie has a beautiful voice, and we sang after a faatamaaraa my first day. I had been nodding and smiling the whole time, but we sang Abide With Me Tis Eventide at the end to wrap up. It was dark outside, and we were alone with an elderly member couple. As we sang, the Spirit filled the room, and it was the calmest I've felt since I got to Tahiti.

Then that couple asked us to sing on Sunday. So, we started the meeting with the same song. The same silent calm accompanied us, even with tons of little kids in the room. I know for a fact that God works through the power of music. Actually, our testimony meeting on Sunday was half music, because people would just go up and bear their testimony through a hymn. It's so cool!

We spent an entire afternoon walking around one cartier (neighborhood) and contacting. We called out "ia ora ana" over gate after gate, and were able to give three Book of Mormons and set up several lessons with people who had never had the opportunity to meet with the missionaries. Now, I was terrified of this before my mission. But the most amazing thing was, as I testified of the power that was in this book, my fear that I'd been bottling up since the MTC left me. I knew it was true, and I knew they needed it. And they accepted it! God can work through us if we are willing to let him.

I'm sorry this ended up being so long and kind of like brain throw-up, but I hope you were able to feel the Spirit a little as you read.

The pictures below are completely random, and I'm not totally sure what they are because I can't see them anymore. I know one of them is Soeur Guthrie, and one of them is the two of us - one of them is a view on the side of the road that you just happen upon as you're walking. I hope that's good!