Upon the Isles of the Sea

11:58 AM

I Have Kept the Faith

Fireworks at the Braves baseball game. I think they're trying to say I'M BACK

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith - 2 Timothy 4:8

Iaorana tatou pauroa!

I occasionally put my hand to my chest, right above my heart, looking for that familiar black nametag - but I took it off for good a week ago! It may now have found a spot on the shelf in my room, but it left behind it's imprint on my heart, along with all the new knowledge in my head, and the tan of hard work on my skin, and the desire to testify of Christ on my lips, and of course a huge pile of shells from people I love in my room.

Sorry, now I'm getting sappy.

I arrived safely back from Tahiti on June 13 and my family was there to greet me at the airport. My mom brought me a 'lei' of Georgia flowers, which matched perfectly with my woven hat, tahitian dress, and bright red ukulele case. I'm not sure I fit in at the Atlanta, Georgia airport, but that didn't matter because I was home! (One of my homes, at least - I have several, Tahiti included.)

Cool coincidences on the way home - at the airport in Los Angeles I spotted a polynesian-looking couple with a Tahiti bag, turns out they are members from Oregon (origin Tongan) and their daughter comes back from her mission in Brazil in a few months! Then another couple headed to Atlanta recognized my ukulele case (from a popular Tahitian brand) and I ended up talking to them for a while. She grew up in the church but is no longer active. They had also been on the same flight as me coming from Tahiti, where they'd been for vacation. It made waiting to board less lonely to find some kind souls!

After getting home, I was able to see lots of family throughout the week and weekend! Grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings and new siblings (in-law) all passed through. Roosters and stray dogs were replaced with squirrels and toads and birds. I have not yet had the guts to try an american banana yet, but we have been feasting on all the american food that I missed. (not to forget the austrian spaetzle and goulasch) Thursday night we fed the sister missionaries of our ward, and we made them shepherd's pie, my favorite comfort food. My mom made her special brownies, twice. And on monday night, we went to a fish restaurant - and we even tried tuna poke, which is the hawaiian version of poisson cru (raw fish) which I ate often in Tahiti.

I've been to 3 baseball games now, the offical Ladd Favorite Sport. It was also fun to get back to institute class on Wednesday night. I love learning about the scriptures! And also teaching - yesterday I taught my dad's mission prep class during Sunday School, and I've volunteered myself to teach gospel principles this coming Sunday.

Last night, actually, I was reading my scriptures before going to sleep. I read in 1 Thessalonians, which is a letter from Paul to converts in Thessalonica. (I couldn't help think of my friends back in Tahiti) Paul really wanted to go back to Thessalonica, from which he had been kicked out by some angry Jews, but despite his efforts was not able to, and therefore sent Timothy in his place. Timothy returned with the good news that the converts were still strong in the faith. He then sent the epistle in 1 Thessalonians, rejoicing that they had kept the faith. "For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God." (chap 3 verse 9)

As I was reading this, I got a Facebook message from a member in Tahiti, who was at the missionary concert with T, who I taught in Pirae and was baptized on Saturday. We talked back and forth a bit and I couldn't help agree with Paul, "For what thanks can we render to God again for you!" and for the fact that I don't need to send Timothy to Tahiti for me, but I can text, call, videocall, facebook, email people halfway around the world and get pictures like these:

(T's baptism on Saturday)

I mean how coincidental, right? Reading about Paul not being to see his friends a few hundred miles away, and mine call me up from thousands of miles away. #Blessed

Fight the good fight, finish your course, keep the faith.

I love you all.

Soeur Ladd

1:43 PM

Je Vous Guiderai le Long du Chemin

Picture sent by a former missionary's family visiting Tahiti - THANK YOU!

Iaorana tatou pauroa!

Voilà mon dernier mail en mission! (peut être, je ne sais pas si j'écrirai la semaine prochaine)

To- is doing well, we had several lessons with him this week and he's progressing! He's reading, he's praying, he's repenting. It was cute, we did a practice baptism interview with him and for every question he gave great answers and shared his testimony. And when we asked what repentance means to him and if he feels he's fully repented he said "Yes. Well, mostly. There's just (counting in his head) ... two things left and then I'm ready." It was just funny the way he knew what he'd overcome and what he still needed to work on, he had a plan and he could see himself progressing.

So I lost my voice after the concert last Sunday and it made things a bit comical, especially when I attempted (and quickly abandonned) singing or yelling "Iaorana" at houses we're trying to tract. Soeur Ni- compared me to the poor tenors when they have to sing some really high notes in some of our songs at the concerts. Up until Saturday I was still in what I call "dying cat mode" but through lots of prayer and hot water with lemon and honey I was able to regain it enough to sing my duet at the concert last night, and even carefully join in some of the other songs. I think if I wasn't a missionary and didn't have to constantly use my voice to teach and preach and work as missionaries do, it wouldn't have lasted so long, but I don't mind because opening my mouth to share the gospel is most important.

I just want you all to know how much God cares about us. The big things and the little things. This is a silly story but there's a good point:

So here in Tahiti almost every night member families feed us, a huge blessing of serving here. However, last Sunday we noticed that with the new month it seemed like nobody had noticed that our calender had not been filled for the week. But we weren't about to go ask them to feed us, so we just got a bit of extra food at the store on Monday hoping it would last us a week. We did have a "faatamaaraa" (meal) for Tuesday, but the rest of the week was empty (don't think that's ever happened to me). But first of all the member on Tuesday offered to buy us McDonalds because he couldn't invite us to eat with them. Soeur Ni- and I joked all day that this was the perfect opportunity for us to try the new Cookie Butter McFlurry that they're selling here. When the member called us that evening and asked us what we want, we told him burger etc and he said okay, anything else, salad or anything on the side? I was not about to tell him McFlurry when he asked if I wanted salad so we said no, that's all. Then 5 or 10 minutes later he calls back, tender mercy of the day, and says "Hey Soeur ma! I forgot, what about desert?" It was delicious, thank you. I hope they have those in America too. Honestly, it's the silliest thing ever but it felt like Heavenly Father knew we'd had a rough day and were in need of ice cream. And THEN, not even 20 minutes later, the brother who's in charge of our faatamaaraa planning (who we had said nothing too) called us and said, hey, here are your faatamaaraas this week! So we did have food every day and it was so clear that Heavenly Father cared so much about us. And a few days later I read Doctrine and Covenants 84:80 "And any man that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom, and fail not to continue faithful in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in body, limb, nor joint; and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall not go hungry, neither athirst." He cares so much about us, makes me think we ought to care a little more about Him.

Well anyway... see you soon! I need to go now but I'll send you a "final testimony" next week or when I get home. I love you all!

Some of my favorite scriptures: (links:) D&C 68:6, 1 Nephi 17:13, Alma 26:29, D&C 78:18, D&C 6:34

Ua here au ia outou. Ua ite au e, ua here roa to tatou Metua i te ao ra ia outou.
Soeur Ladd

2:00 PM

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

Iaorana tatou!

We had a great week in Pirae. The secteur sometimes just feels like a larger-scale and more crowded version of Mahina: a mix of rich neighborhoods up in the mountains and poorer neighborhoods in the valleys in between. We spent a good part of the week looking for new investigators. President Bize has more or less told both Soeur Ni- and I to avoid straight-up door-to-door tracting because it's not very effective in our area, so we're trying to find other ideas, such as searching for the old investigators that we still have phone numbers or addresses for, like I did my last few weeks in Mahina. We were able to find several new investigators and potential new investigators. Yesterday we had our first concert of our annual island tour! It's become tradition for all ~100 missionaries on Tahiti to come together and put on a concert in each of the stakes of Tahiti. For a rag-tag choir with very different levels of musical experience, it came together really well. I'm excited because the concert the night before I come home will be my good old home stake, Mahina!

My favorite part of this week has been To-. To- is an investigator who lives with some members in the ward, and the sisters started teaching him a few weeks ago. On Wednesday he told us about how he got a testimony of the Book of Mormon. If you haven't tried this trick yet, I suggest you do. He prayed for a question he had and then opened the book and bam, the answer! That experience helped him have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and a desire to be baptized. We had a great lesson with him, about the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance all mixed together. And we invited him to prepare to be baptized on June 24th! He more or less said "I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it, it's a big decision, but I like to play so I'll take the bet." Basically he meant that he knows it won't be easy but he's willing to try. Where there's a will, there's a way. That's something we get to know pretty well as missionaries. When investigators have the desire, when it starts to come from them instead of us pushing them, they truly can progress and will have the courage to overcome the inevitable obstacles. On Saturday he came with us for the baptismal service of another ward, and yesterday at church he told us that he had again tried the pray-and-open-to-a-random-page trick. He's still nervous about the June 24th date which seems a little soon to him I guess, but he prayed about it and opened to many scriptures that comforted and encouraged him.

The scripture from his first experience was Alma 34:17 "Therefore may God grant unto you, my brethren, that ye may begin to exercise your faith unto repentance, that ye begin to call upon his holy name, that he would have mercy upon you." I love the phrase "begin to exercise your faith unto repentance." That means act! That means try! Simply believing isn't enough, because faith without works is dead. Faith needs to be worked on, nourished, and exercised, and that to help us repent, rely on the Saviour and become somebody better than before. We need to do our best. "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." (Doctrine and Covenants 123:17) Where there's a will there's a way, and the best way is to trust in God. Do our best, stay tuned and trust God.

Je vous aime!
Soeur Ladd

6:36 PM

Through Life's Storms

Iaorana tatou,

So yesterday I said the rest of my goodbyes to Mahina! Turns out I'm transferred and will serve my last 3 weeks in the Pirae 2nd ward. That's pretty close to the main city, Papeete. But that's pretty much all I know about it. My companion is Soeur Ni-, from the states! She's already getting ready to kill me in three weeks ;)

But we had a good week for my last week in Mahina. On Tuesday we had lessons and did some tracting. We got a cute call from our less active friend Ma-. She asked us to come help her with a computer problem (I did find it ironic to ask the missionaries for a computer problem). As we guessed, it was a quick fix: She wanted to forward an email but kept trying the reply button. So I just showed her the forward button and the mystery was solved! We also had a lesson with our new investigator, Te-, and he's very potential for baptism!

Wednesday we visited several inactives and had great lessons with them, I really felt the spirit!

Thursday we had a split with the sisters of Tuauru. We waited for the end of the transfer so Soeur Me- could fuller recover from her sickness. It was a lot of fun. After a few lessons in the morning, we did more tracting. We tracted in some apartment buildings so for once we did the old knocking on doors kind of tracting instead of the yelling at gates that we're used to. It was weird but fun.

Friday we also had some really great lessons and then Friday night was transfer calls.

A funny story about transfer calls: So with 6 sisters in a house we make a good bit of noise laughing and talking at night. Two transfers ago, when Soeur Si- and Soeur Ji- found out they were staying together they absolutely squealed. And the neighbor came over to ask if we were ok, was somebody hurt, should she call the ambulance. So last transfer I told the sisters "no screaming this time! I want the silentest transfer calls ever!" because I didn't want the same thing to happen. And we waited all night and... no call! Turns out since the only change was Soeur Ji- going home and being replaced by Soeur Te-, they called directly on Soeur Ji-'s phone instead of our (the STL's) phone like we had expected. But since Soeur Ji- was already on the phone, the assistants couldn't call her! So we were confused but I got my wish for a silent transfer. Last Friday, as we were waiting we were quieter than usual, we were half expecting the neighbor to come ask if we were alright because we weren't making noise! But they did eventually call, and voilà, now I'm in Pirae!

Saturday morning, we helped another stake with a young men and women activity, we went tracting with the young women. It was fun, I'm proud of the young women I worked with! Then in the afternoon, I just visited friends to say goodbye and packed and then we had correlation meeting with our new DMP, who happens to have just come home from his mission - here! Frère Fa-, our old AP! We thought it would be weird but it was cool.

Yesterday we had a multi-stake conference broadcasted for all the Pacific Islands. I really liked Elder Pearson's message about staying strong through life's storms. He talked about storms and hurricanes in the past years and the strength of islanders to just keep going with courage and faith despite natural disasters. He explained that through life's storms, spiritual disasters, we need to have the same courage and strong faith. In staying close to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we can overcome many personal tempests. Through our love for the Saviour, life's storms will be lighter and our rough days brighter.

Je vous aime,

Soeur Ladd

7:03 PM

The Armour of God

Iaorana tatou!

This week was a nice pick me up, because after weeks and weeks of struggling to find people to teach, we finally found quite a few new investigators! We contacted some old investigators, we changed up our normal routine, we went into a neighborhood we rarely go to. It was nice to see new blood and fresh views haha. We also talked to an abnormal number of Jehovah's Witnesses, so that was interesting. But He- was out of town and we didn't see him all week, so that was weird. We finally ran into him yesterday so we'll have a lesson with him tomorrow.

We had success as we took advantage of those "go-for-it" moments. We contacted a reference, and as we were leaving, we saw a woman selling fruit and talked to her. She was hesitant at first but after talking for a while we were laughing like we were best friends. We tried to visit an inactive member, but he wasn't there. Then we heard people next door, so we went for it and turns out it's a couple from Huahine (another island). One is a member, the other a former investigator but since coming to Mahina a year ago, they haven't been to church or taken lessons because they don't know anyone in our ward. They didn't end up coming to church yesterday, but we should be able to meet with them this week. We called up a bunch of former investigators, and one of them when she answered and we said it was the missionaries, she said "oh yes I can tell by your accents" and we asked if she'd like to meet with us and she said why not! She went for it. And turns out since taking the lessons (well, only one lesson actually) a year or two ago, only a few months ago she picked up that Book of Mormon that the sisters gave her and she's been reading and feels the Spirit as she reads it!

Happy Mother's Day! Skyping my family was lovely, and can't wait to see them face to face very soon ;)

I learned a great lesson this week, which is summed up well in Ephesians 6:11-17: "Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Actually the lesson I learned is quite simple and something we already theoretically know, but I saw it put in practice this week.

One day this week I was just having a rough day. (And no, it's not just because I was hungry) I felt impatient and stressed and I was having a lot of negative thoughts that I knew weren't true but kept coming anyway (which made me feel even worse because as much as I tried they were still there). (It wasn't a completely awful day, we had blessings as well, but still) Anyway, I made it through but it was rough. The next day, however, we still ran in to some of the same problems and trials, the same negative thoughts crossed my mind as the day before but I kept trying and I felt much more patient. The third day and fourth day were even better and situations that normally stress me out didn't bother me as much. It wasn't perfect, but it was better. So what made the difference?

Well looking back, I noticed that the first day, my personal scripture studies that morning, even though I still studied the whole hour, were not very effective or focused. I went through the motions but didn't learn much. And the second day my studies were very uplifting and reminded me of things that I really needed to hear. That first day, amid the negative thoughts, I knew that they weren't true and came from the adversary, but despite my efforts they stuck anyway. But the second day when the same trials and thoughts came, this time I had put on the whole armor of God, the sword of the Spirit: the word of God. My studies of the scriptures (the word of God) had literally equipped me to "stand against the wiles of the devil." I think I recognized this the evening of the second day, so I was ready the days that followed to do everything I could to cherish that time to read the scriptures and, combined with constant efforts to be positive, I was blessed with more strength. Even at church yesterday, I tried to be more attentive, knowing that the lessons and messages at church help me to "more fully keep myself unspotted from the world" (D&C 59:9). I'm sure there will always be rough days, but I learned an important tool to keep myself prepared when those moments come: not just reading the scriptures, but effectively studying them. Try the experiment, it could help you too!

Love you all!

Soeur Ladd

9:30 PM

Stubborn Chickens

Iaorana tatou!

Long story short: Tuesday we had He-'s baptismal interview and we did some tracting. We ended up playing soccer with some kids. Wednesday we had lessons with some investigators and in actives (M- A-'s husband bought and is going to fix up a broken down car- she'll be able to come back to church! Her excuses for not coming were that her husband wouldn't let her borrow his car or be dependent on someone else for a ride. Voila her solution! It a downright miracle to be honest.) and we had English class. Thursday we had mission leadership council, we played soccer with a different group of kids, and visited one of my favorite less actives, Fr-. He is an amazing cook, makes the best poison cru ever, his nonmember wife is hilarious, and while she may be a Farani (French) she can totally back him up when he plays and sings Paumotu songs on his guitar.

Well Friday I woke up stressed because I had a stressful dream about He-'s baptism being cancelled. But I shook it off and we had a great district meeting. Then we had a lesson with He- and the first thing he said was that he wanted to push back his baptism -.- My companion had also felt it coming because that week he had seemed stressed when we saw him. So we were disappointed but not crushed because we had been prepared. We had a good talk with him and he was sure so we agreed it was for the best. We don't want to force him. And he knows how important and serious this is and decided that if he were to be baptized now he wouldn't be fully committed until he can put certain things aside, like rowing competitions on Sundays. So he will still be baptized soon but he wants to take more time... Again.

Saturday we visited Papi Je- and we helped Ma- with her genealogy! It was also the birthday of Soeur Te-, our roommate, so we surprised her with a cake made by Soeur Me-. Who is feeling much better. Sunday we had church, lunch and a meeting with our ward mission leader, weekly planning and dinner again with our ward mission leader!

Yeah, that's pretty much my week!

Recently I've arrived at 3 Nephi in my Book of Mormon reading, and during my mission I've especially come to love these chapters where Christ visits His people and repeats several times "returning unto me" and "come unto me." This morning I read the 10th chapter, which reads, "how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you... how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not...how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart." We are constantly calling on everyone to come, repent, return unto Him. He has been there to receive you in the past, He would have been there every time that you looked, He is still and will always be there. This verse also underlines our personal free agency - He would have gathered them, but they would not. But He still waits anyway. I know He is there for everyone of us but we have to make the effort to go unto Him. He will receive us one by one.

Reminds me of the lost chicks we occasionally save from gutters and canals. Gotta love them Tahitian chickens and roosters. More chickens than Morocco has cats. And they don't respect the missionary sleeping schedule.

Lots of love,
Soeur Ladd