Iaorana tatou!

First highlight of the week: we went to the temple last Tuesday! We get to go every few months or so, and it's awesome. There's just a special spirit there, and you can carry it with you the rest of the day and the week! For those of you with temples nearby, take advantage of it! Go as often as you can! I promise it's worth it. Other than that, it's been a pretty chill, normal week. I ate some really good fish yesterday, and Saturday. I was kinda nervous the first time they just handed me a whole fish, eyes fins and all, and said "eat this" but once they showed me how to take the bones out it was delicious! Anyway, that was fun. I've learned and been thinking a lot about trusting in the Lord this week. Let me tell you a story that might clarify.

Remember T and C? I talked about them a bit last week. Anyway, ever since they came back in town we've been trying to help them fix a new goal for their baptism. Sr D was finally able to do that on Wednesday, while we were on a split with some members so I was in another lesson. Basically, at the beginning of the lesson, C was ready to give up completely, but after the member that Sr D was working with shared her powerful testimony about eternal marriage, C looked at T and asked "so, May 7?" (Members! Work with the missionaries!!)

However. Thursday rolls around, and as we are headed to our lesson with them we see C walking in the wrong direction. Apparently he was busy that night so we went ahead and just had a lesson with T. And she told us some interesting news. After they had returned home the night before it was obvious that C was starting to regret his impulsive decision. And now he doesn't want to get married, be baptized, or even take the lessons with us anymore. We are pretty sure his block is that he knows the Church is true, but he's afraid that he'll go inactive later. That's a rant for another time though. The point of me telling this story was that as we talked with T, the three of us had to muster up as much faith as we could that he would soon change his mind and feel better about his decision. I was sure that if we could just convince him to have one more lesson with him, and we followed the Spirit, then everything would work out. We scheduled a lesson for Friday, and Sr D and I prayed and fasted so that he would be there and we would be able to help him. But... On Friday they cancelled. Honestly, I was confused. I was relying on this lesson and had mustered up all of my faith that it would go through. But it became clear that Heavenly Father has other plans in mind, so since then we've been mustering up as much TRUST in the Lord that it will still work out, but on His timeline. The scripture comes to mind "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5-6)

[editor's note: the title, Confie-toi en l'Eternel, is "Trust in the Lord"]

This weekend was our stake conference, also awesome. I love this quote from President Monson that someone shared: "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." Take for example the story I just shared. If C is a problem to be solved and we try to fix it logically, he will never feel the peace he needs to take this first step of baptism. But if we love him and follow the Spirit, he will feel most importantly Heavenly Father's love for him and perhaps soon he will find his courage.

Lots of love!

Soeur Ladd