Iaorana tatou!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas! How have you lit the world this season?

On Tuesday we decided we were tired of boring old door-to-door contacting so we decided to try singing! It turns out it was a great excuse to talk to or visit people, so whenever we had some free time, we visited our amis, members, inactive members to sing a humble Christmas carol. We even found some new investigators. On Saturday, some brothers in the ward prepared food for us to give to some families in need. And yesterday we had lessons cancel so instead we made cookies for our bishop and a few other familie. Giving is one of my favorite parts of Christmas.

As for the other festivities, I ate clams for the first time on Christmas Eve. We watched Finding Dory at the mission Christmas party. And I skyped with my family! Also at the Christmas party, my zone performed a bluegrass rendition of Silent Night and a skit involving a spot-on rooster impression, a dog who chases the rooster (and the Spirit) in the middle of an important lesson, and a Christmas miracle. Welcome to Tahiti. But as I said, I love Christmas and I love the spirit of giving. Like I shared last week, the real meaning of Christmas is that God gave us His Only Begotten Son because He loves us. And Christ not only died for us,but gave His whole life for us so that wecan return to Them one day. As we think about new goals for this new year, think about what gift we can give to our Heavenly Father, what we cando to 'give back.' "And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever... I say unto you, that there are not any among you, ... but what knoweth that ye are eternally indebted to your heavenly Father, to render to him all that you have and are." (Mosiah 23-24, 34) 

Je vous aime tous, ia oaoa i teie matahiti api! Soeur Ladd