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 

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

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

Iaorana tatou!

I have no time left, but yet another good week in the field. He- is ready for his baptism this Saturday. Turns out his mysterious problem was just rowing competitions that would prevent him from coming to church on Sundays, such as for his confirmation. Which would leave him with only half a baptism, because baptism is not finished without the confirmation and gift of the Holy Ghost. But he's got it figured out now so that he will only row during the week. Yay for the Sabbath Day!

We visited Hi- again this week and taught him the Restoration. It was funny because he was trying so hard to listen instead of just talk - he recognizes that we have something important to share - but we had to be careful what we said because if we said the wrong word he would go off on a long tangent about pride or who is really responsible for Christ's death and things like that. And then he would apologize and we would continue with the lesson as planned. As we spoke he would close his eyes to better think through what we said and analyze the sincerity of our voice (I told you he's Sherlock Holmes). It took us almost two hours, but we got through all of it and committed him to read some passages from the Book of Mormon. I'm excited to see what he thought. Highlight of the week was our Multizone Conference on Wednesday. We focused on our purpose as a missionary and we had some great trainings on teaching with authority and power, how to be a 'successful' missionary and teaching the Restoration of the gospel. My testimony has grown recently as I've noticed how important the message of the Restoration is. I firmly believe that we have a special understanding of the gospel, the good news, the Atonement of Jesus Christ and God's plan for us. There's no other message like this. At the end, President Bize asked each of us to write and present a 45-second talk on our purpose as a missionary. The textbook answer is "Invite others to come unto Christ through helping them to receive the restored gospel through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." But he asked us to share our personal purpose as a missionary. In all of the responses, it came out as a mix of why we decided to serve a mission, the parts of missionary work that are most important to us, our goals for however much of our mission we have left. If you're wondering, my reply was something only the lines of "My purpose is to help myself and othesr better come to know Heavenly Father and our Saviour, teach through the scriptures and help others to receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon, and to share important truths about the family, the plan of salvation, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ." What is your purpose as a member-missionary? How can you use your strengths to share the gospel?

Love you all,
Soeur Ladd  

pictures to make up for short email!

never did send a picture of my ukulele, huh? From our family night last Friday.

'tracting' in Mahina. Gotta love them 7ft gates and walls.

Where I'm writing this email

Hi family! (And friends!)

We started out this week with a split with the sisters of Pirae 1, so I was with Soeur Du-, a wonderful sister from Canada! We had a lot of great lessons that day, such as a lesson with He- about the priesthood (and the member that was there made us all laugh during the opening song, he sings very loud and very jazzy) and with Ca- we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and she asked a lot of great questions about repentance and we were able to share our testimonies that she can be forgiven of her past mistakes. It was funny because her two year old son, who is super cute and one of my best friends, but can also be rather disruptive, was especially disruptive but I decided that it was just the adversary trying to stop us from having this all so important lesson, and in the end we could still feel the Spirit very strongly!

Our poor roommate Soeur Me- has been sick with a bad case of the dengue fever, one of the mosquito sicknesses, so she's been home all week and we've been helping her companion work in their secteur as well as covering ours. She's still sick so pray that she'll be doing better enough to work soon! That made it so that we weren't in the secteur quite as much as normal, but we handled it all right. Only news is that He- decided to push his baptism back again but we're not yet sure why, he just told us through a message. He said he will definitely be baptized soon, but this Saturday is too soon. So please pray for him tomorrow! Oh and we also had a great lesson with Hi-, a new investigator we found the other week. Hi- is very smart and pragmatic (it's kind of like teaching Sherlock Holmes, actually) and the first time we met him he just talked for a long time and we couldn't get a word in edgewise. Then last Thursday we told him about the Book of Mormon, and that got his attention. Unfortunately we then had to leave, but he's excited to hear more about the history of our church.

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, Mom asked me to share a message about the Book of Mormon. Yesterday we talked about it during Relief Society. It made me think about the strongest converts and the strongest testimonies I know are built on the Book of Mormon. We call it the "key stone" of our religion. It's logical: the Book of Mormon is either true or it's false. If it's false, then Joseph Smith was a false prophet, and the Church he claimed to (re)establish is false too. But if it's true, it could only be brought about by a true prophet, and Joseph Smith must truly have been called of God to restore the true Church of Jesus Christ. If it's false, everything we claim is false. If it's true, everything we claim is true. It all depends on that. As for myself, I've never really doubted it being true. And that's where I draw a large part of my testimony. (He-, Na-, Th-, and Ab- all gained a testimony through it too). The stories and scripture inside are a great strength to me. Such as the promise, "I will be your light in the wilderness, and I will prepare the way before you, if it so be that ye shall keep my commandments."

I love you!
Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou pauroa!

Let's get right to it.

Tuesday we saw several investigators, and it was just an all around good day because we were in an all around good attitude all day. I think the new transfer gave us a good kick of motivation and hope. Amazing what a good attitude can do right? Especially when both my companion and I are feeling it at the same time. Even that evening when we did some tracting in an upper class neighborhood for a few hours, talked to literally no one (well like two people finally, but they were not at all interested) but you know what? We had fun. We laughed it off.

Wednesday and Thursday were kind of the same, just trying to keep our spirits up and find anyone that would receive us. My favorite was probably Hi-, a nice man who invited us right in. He talked to us about his beliefs and unbeliefs, and a lot of things he said tied right into our message. Unfortunately he just kept talking so we couldn't get a word in edgewise, but that's okay. We'll do better next time, I think he's really cool and really needs the gospel.

He-'s been keeping us laughing all week. Half the time, he says stuff that's just random and funny, and then half the time he'll say something unexpected but very intelligent.

For example:

1. As we're about to leave, he calls out "Hey, my baptism's the 22nd!" then, pointing one by one to the 5 or so dogs and a pig "And he's the 23rd, he's the 24th, the 25th, the 26th, and the 27th!" And we reply, "Ok, you can baptize them. You'll have the Aaronic priesthood by then."
2. Every time we ask him "So who's going to baptize you?" "Me." "How are you going to baptize yourself?" "I'll just jump in the water."
3. Lesson on the Sabbath Day. "So on the Sabbath Day, everything you do for God, is good to do. Whatever you do only for yourself, is not good to do. For example, read the scriptures. That's for God. So should I do that?" "Yeah." "Exactly. What about going surfing? For you or for God?" "For God" "Um... yeah right. Try again!" "Hey, you have to show that you're grateful for the waves He gives us by not letting them go to waste!"
4. "So we talked about several commandments today. Will you keep these commandments? Will you try your best?" "Hey, God didn't say to do our best. He said to do it." (That's a yes in my book)
5. So he wasn't really giving us a straight final answer about if he feels ready to be baptized this Saturday. During a lesson on Wednesday, Soeur Ke- asked something like "So what are your doubts, what's keeping you from knowing right now if you're ready or not?" to which he just replied "... Well, it's important to think about it first." Fair enough, my friend. Anyway, we did end up pushing it back a week, Soeur Ke- and I both felt he needed just a little more time and finally he admitted yesterday that he felt the same. He's definitely going to be baptized, but needs a little more time to prepare. He has no major blocks, he doesn't smoke or drink, his family is okay with it, he has a testimony, and everything is going well, but this week just felt too rushed.

Anyway, that's the pretty much the week. Friday we went to the homecoming of our former Assistant to the President, who is from our ward. It was kinda weird because we're used to seeing him as a missionary but now he's released! We're not sure if we should call him by his first name or Brother Fa- (like his dad?) so we usually just go with Fa-. Saturday we visited inactives and new converts and helped out with a fireside about Joseph Smith and the Restoration. Sunday was Easter! It was lovely, everything at church was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection.

I love the words of the primary song, "He Sent His Son"

How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.
How could the Father show the world the pathway we should go?
He sent his Son to walk with men on earth, that we may know.
How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.
What does the Father ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like his Son, help others on their way.
What does he ask? Live like his Son.

For God so loved the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son. I know that's true and that God loves you too! My go-to message this week was Alma 7:11-13 as well as Hebrews 4:15-16. Go look it up! Christ took on everything for us, for me, for you, so that he can help us overcome everything!

I love you too,
Soeur Ladd

Matavai Bay at sunset

Hello!

(I felt like changing it up a bit)

So transfers came around again, but Soeur Ke- and I will be staying together again! She is now officially my longest companion (one transfer in Raiatea, two transfers in Mahina) The only change in our house is that our roomate Soeur Ji- finishes her mission this week, and will be replaced by Soeur Te- (my mission niece, kindof, she's Soeur Sa-'s daughter.) However we did get a new automatic car so that's fun. It's all shiny and clean and smells like new car.

Tuesday we had a temple trip, wonderful. That evening we presented a fireside that we've been preparing for awhile, and it turned out well. Our zone prepared some funny sketches and short trainings to show our members the difference they can make instead of just telling them. We were a bit overdramatic but everyone laughed and they got the point. For example: Two elders knock on a house, are answered by a little girl. "Is your mom there?" "Yeah, just a minute." Little girl talks to mom, comes back. "Mom said that she's not here." (Elders later return to the same house, with a member, are received warmly by the mom.)

Wednesday we took a vaccine for one of the mosquito borne diseases, and were super tired for the rest of the day. Whoops. But hey, now we're protected so c'est bon. It was a good day anyway, we were able to see several investigators and inactives. Thursday was mission leadership council with President and Soeur Bize, which is always great! We set a mission goal for this month that will definitely push us all - fix three new baptisms in every secteur by the end of the month. We also talked about charity and unity, and like Elder Holland's talk that I mentioned, I was reminded of the importance of unity in our companionships, our wards and all other relationships. But I was also reminded that unity doesn't mean uniformity. We don't need to have the same ideas or opinions or personalities. Quite the opposite; true unity is harmony. Just like in music or art, there can be many instruments and colors, highs and lows, louds and softs, brights and darks, and all of that is what makes it more interesting! "Now, this is not to say that everyone in this divine chorus can simply start shouting his or her own personal oratorio! Diversity is not cacophony, and choirs do require discipline—for our purpose today, I would say discipleship—but once we have accepted divinely revealed lyrics and harmonious orchestration composed before the world was, then our Heavenly Father delights to have us sing in our own voice, not someone else’s. Believe in yourself, and believe in Him. Don’t demean your worth or denigrate your contribution. Above all, don’t abandon your role in the chorus. Why? Because you are unique; you are irreplaceable. The loss of even one voice diminishes every other singer in this great mortal choir of ours." -Elder Holland ;)

Awkward family photo of the Mahina Zone March 2017

Friday we followed up with a zone meeting and discussed our plans to attain the challenge previously mentioned. And we helped Na- with genealogy, so that Saturday we could go to the temple together for her to participate in proxy baptisms for the dead for the first time! It was lovely, I'm so proud of this girl and her testimony. 

Na- at her baptism

Na- at the temple

After the temple trip on Saturday we felt rather spoiled. (Let me remind you that Mahina has some very rich neighborhoods) First of all, our friend Ma-, that inactive woman we meet a few weeks ago, had invited us to crash a birthday party she was hosting for her friend's 4-year-old. I'm sure the (also rich) parents of the children were a little confused when we showed up, but Ma- pulled us right in and introduced us ("These are the Mormons, yeah us three we're all mormons!") and handed us some cake so we took advantage of the situation and got talking! Unfortunately we had missed the clown. Anyway, that evening, a member took us out for dinner. First stop, a beautiful hotel on the beach at sunset for non-alcoholic cocktails, followed by a nice Chinese restaurant, and a quick stop at McDonalds for dessert on our way home. Kinda makes me grateful I get to stay in Mahina :)

Tahiti Pearl Beach Resort

Matavai Bay at sunset

And to end the week, our ward's Primary organized a beautiful Easter/Passover fireside last night. Highlights were the music, three young future Celine Dion's singing "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt, Soeur Si- sang "O Lord, My Redeemer", and Soeur Me- played "I Stand All Amazed" on the violin. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter and remember the true meaning of Easter. It's as if not more important than Christmas. I know that our Redeemer lives and loves us, He suffered and died so that we can become someone better, and rose again the third day so that we can as well and so that we can be with our families forever.

Lots of love,
Soeur Ladd

#PRINCEdelaPAIX

Iaorana tatou pauroa,

We had a great, busy, and spiritual week this week with multizone conference, stake family week, a split, lessons, and general conference! General Conferences are my favorite weekends. It's like a second Christmas with the best gifts ever - the word of God straight from His Prophet and Apostles! But more on that later.

So Tuesday was multizone conference. I led a discussion on teaching clearly for understanding, and Soeur Ke- led a discussion about helping investigators overcome their preoccupations. There was also a helpful discussion about commitments, and I, as usual, concluded that I still need to be more bold! President Bize also shared the Church's Easter video #PRINCEdelaPAIX (www.mormon.org) and talked about peace and unity. The assistants to the President also talked about unity, and both of those messages reinforced my understanding that all tension or disunity results as a lack of understanding. As we learn more about, get to know, and try to understand other people, we will be more easily filled with love and can overcome hatred. That's why God loves us so perfectly - because he knows and understands us each perfectly. I can recall several occasions where I've been short on patience or frustrated with certain people or their actions, but then when I find out their side of the story- maybe they'd had a rough day, or were going through a certain trial, or were simply oblivious to my feelings - I realize that my patience was completely ungrounded, and it goes away, and we forgive, and we feel better and are filled with more love. "Learn principles of peace from the Prince of Peace." Our split with the sisters of Tuauru on Thursday was wonderful - Wednesday, we looked at our schedule for Thursday and realized that we had no lessons planned and weren't sure what else we should do. But throughout the day (Wednesday) we fixed lessons for almost every hour the next day, and then even when lessons cancelled we still had something to do. AND during that first lesson He- accepted a date for baptism! He's got a good testimony of the Book of Mormon and he loves Joseph Smith. Actually it was pretty funny - during the soirée cinema a week before, when we watched Meet the Mormons, one of his friends who has already taken the lessons told him that there was a Joseph Smith movie, and He- asked if we could watch that for the next soirée. We said we weren't sure when there would be another soirée but that perhaps we could watch it together during a lesson. So when we showed up for the lesson, before he even said hi, he just asked "Do you have the movie?" We didn't have a computer to watch it on, so we let him borrow the movie, and throughout the lesson he was anxious to finish the lesson so he could go watch it. So of course when we came back Thursday, naturally the first thing we asked was if he liked it, and he said "nah, it was too fast. The book is better." That works for me. Keep reading, my friend. But yeah, then we had a great lesson and engaged him to baptism and he said yes! Friday we had a great training in our district meeting about goals and plans, and it was based on math, which made me think of Mom ;) It went something like:

So xa+xb= x(a+b) for example 2x5+2x10= 2(5+10) 
Well: Goal + Plan + Action = Result. But what is the x? 
Jesus Christ (Goal+Plan+Action) = infinite results.

If we set goals that are in line with His will, if we plan as directed by His Spirit, and if we act relying and His power, we will have results with an infinite potential. "If Christ can multiply loaves and fishes, imagine what He could do with our lives." (This training was wonderfully supported by Elder Ballard's talk on Saturday about goals and planning)

Which brings me to GENERAL CONFERENCE!

What a wonderful weekend! We were able to go to our Ward Mission Leader's home, because they are so so nice and also speak fluent Englsih so they watch confrence in English (our chapel only does it in French). Plus they made pancakes. But more important than eating was feasting spiritually! Lots of talks stood out to me:

-Elder Holland - everyone has a place in the choir. Also reminded me of Mom ;) and also reminded me of the MTC - My dear Soeur Sa- had the courage to join the MTC choir with me even though she had never sung in a choir before. And she loved to sit by the Polynesians because they sang loud and always on pitch! Elder Holland explained that we should always stand as close to the Saviour as possible - "He always has perfect pitch." And that everyone is welcome in our choir! I also thought of the quote I shared a few weeks ago "The woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best."

-I noticed throughout all the sessions that the scripture "For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son" was repeated several times. If it's repeated, must mean it's really important! There were also many talks about the Holy Ghost, citing Doctrine and Covenants 130.

- So many other talks too but I don't have time for them all! Just one last one: Elder S. Mark Palmer talked about the need to teach with love, citing the story of the rich young ruler and the quote "Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him." True teaching always comes from love, not frustration, not fear as President Uchtdorf reminded us, but simply loving.

- And don't forget President Monson's invitation (reminder) to read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY!

What did you learn this conference? I love you all so so much.

Soeur Ladd

[Editor's note: You can find all of the talks from General Conference HERE]

Iaorana tatou,

Not much to report on this week! The work goes on.

Tuesday we had several lessons as usual, Wednesday I had a split with the wonderful Soeur No-. She served in Tuauru ( the other secteur of Mahina ) while I was in Matavai, and we reunited for a day in Mahina. It was lots of fun! She has a habit of doing the dishes after members feed us, whether they like it or not, and they always get very flustered which is funny. She said that people have even hid the dirty dishes in their fridge or stood in front of her with a knife but it doesn't phase her and she always wins out of pure stubbornness.

Thursday we watched Meet the Mormons for a neighborhood family home evening, and Friday we visited inactives. Saturday we were tracting in a richer neighborhood and found Ma-, an inactive woman who wants to come back to church! She's been inactive for a long time, so long that I'm not sure the ward even knows about her, but now she think's she's ready to try and come back. She has lots of questions and has probably forgotten a lot, but I'm so excited to help her!

Sunday we had a stake fireside, the same fireside that helped Br- from Matavai decide to be baptized a little over a year ago. It was a huge success last year so they decided to bring it back. It's a play about genealogy: in short, spirits in the spirit world ask if anyone has found their name to take to the temple to be baptized or sealed to their family. The actors represent their actual ancestors that they've found while doing family history work. It's hard to explain but let's just say everyone was crying. Side note: one of the character's middle name was Ladd! Maybe we're family!!

For my spiritual thought, I want to share a quote from a talk called the Fourth Missionary, about giving our will to God. "Trust Him that He will make of you, immeasurably more than what you will ever, ever, in all eternity, make of yourself. He will create of you a masterpiece. You will create of you only a smudge. You will create of you an ordinary man. He will create a god." That's one thing I've learned on my mission! We of ourselves probably won't ever be enough, but with him we'll always be enough!

That's pretty much my week!

Are y'all ready for General Conference? I am!!!

Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou pauroa!

Na- is officially a member! Woohoo! Her baptism was Saturday morning, it was absolutely perfect! Her dad and brother came to support her, as well as lots of members. Two sisters in the ward gave the talks, and Frère H- did the baptism (as my companion described it, the most graceful and professional dip ever.) Then we sang for her, all 14 of us missionaries - our whole zone, plus Soeur Je- and her companion, with Soeur Me- on the violin: "Lead, Kindly Light." Then Na- bore her testimony, which was super powerful. It was raining really hard, but then it stopped all suddenly and dramatically right as she finished by saying "I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true." And then there was a sweet moment after as her dad (not a member) hugged her. He came to church yesterday for her confirmation and stayed the whole three hours. We hope to maybe teach him too one day.

On Saturday we also had the opportunity to go back to Mahaiatea for the baptism of Sh-, an investigator that I knew. I didn't teach her extensively, but we were friends with her because her dad is a convert and she always came to our regular family home evenings. We were really surprised when we found out she would be baptized! She was pretty much against the Church and Joseph Smith. But hearts can change! Miracles can happen Plus, it was nice to see everyone again. We picked up Soeur Lu- on our way. It was a real party ;)

That's the most important parts of our week! Things are moving along. I've got to go pick my classes for next semester now. Yikes! Less than three months left, can you believe it? Hoping that these will be the best three months of my mission yet.

Love you all!

D&C 112:10 "Be thou humble, and the Lord thy God will lead thee by the hand and give thee answer to thy prayers"

Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou pauroa!

Miracle #1: N- chose this coming Saturday for her baptism! I'm so proud of her, she's very brave. She'll be the only member of her family, she hardly knows anyone at Church, her parents aren't even that okay with it. But she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that it teaches the correct path for us to return to our Heavenly Father, so she's going forward. An amazing example of faith. Salvation is personal so don't let anyone stand in your way.

Miracle #1.5: The members are doing an excellent job of welcoming her into the ward, even though she can be a bit shy.

Miracle #2: On Monday night we stopped by to check on a less active family. As we were leaving a young boy came up and said that his grandfather wanted it see us. Turns out the grandfather and his family are members from Bora Bora who were staying with the friend of a friend for a few days. Upon seeing us next door, he started talking to this friend of a friend (who he hardly knew) and asked if he'd like to meet us. He accepted, and we fixed a lesson for the following day. He's very nice and wants to learn more about God. Take every opportunity to open your mouth!

Miracle #3: H-, who we started teaching the other week didn't seem like he was really paying attention as we taught him about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon, but when we ran in to him the next day, he said he had started reading the Book of Mormon and ended up reading until 3 in the morning! Gotta love the power of the Book of Mormon.

Miracle #4: we found C-! Turns out she had been right there in the valley all along. Luck would have it, (more than luck probably) we had parked right in front of their house to try and see someone nearby, and her boyfriend say us and motioned for us to come (I hadn't recognized him). It was a relief to finally see her again.

Miracle #5: A less active mami that we've been visiting for months finally made it back to church. Plus it was Ward Conference, which turned out very well. Coincidentally, they mentioned several times helping less actives come back to church and feel welcome there.

So as you can see, it was a great week! I especially liked our Bishop's message yesterday, about that Little Engine That Could. Unlike the bigger, more capable engines who passed by because they were too busy or tired, the little blue engine, like the Good Samaritan, searched no excuse, but stopped to help with the well known saying "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can" which soon turned into "I knew I could" as he reached the summit of the hill. Let us think we are capable and we will find that we are! Or at least with God's help, we will be. "For I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day" (Alma 36:3) I also read a cute quote yesterday: 


Je vous aime! 
Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou pauroa!

How has your week been? We're doing well here in Tahiti! Soeur K- and I are together again, and Soeur Me- is our new roommate too, so the Raiatea gang is back together!

Not too much to report this week. One highlight was the baptism of L-, who you might remember was a reference from a couple in our ward for the secteur of Matavai. L- and R- came to all of the activities the week before last, and during one of the firesides L- received a direct answer to her prayer, so the next day they fixed her baptism for less than a week later. It was super quick, one of those obvious miracle baptisms. R- is on the path to become fully active again as well. I'm so proud of them, as well as the members who have been with them every step of the way.

Wednesday morning we had a lesson cancelled and while driving to the next one we saw them walking in the opposite direction. It was a fun start to the day. While thinking about what we should do instead, I thought of a potentiel investigator and a few houses nearby that I hadn't talked to yet, but when I saw that the investigator wasn't there it wasn't too encouraging. But we tried the other houses anyway, and after calling "Iaorana" in front of the last one for a few minutes, we were about to leave - but then they came out, pulled up some chairs and we talked for a good hour. Despite me following grudgingly, I know Heavenly Father led us to them.

Thursday was Mission Leadership Council. President Bize focused on faith, specifically what can impede or destroy our faith and what we can do to overcome that (based on a talk by Elder Pearson of the Seventy). Elder Pearson named six destroyers of faith: doubt, discouragement, distractioin, lack of diligence, disobedience, and unbelief or skepticism. We named lots of things that would overcome these blocks, such as gratitude, sincerity in prayer and scripture study, planning, optimism, and a fake it till you make it attitude. But most of all, a correct understanding of why we're here and a correct understanding of the Atonement. As President Uchtdorf said, "doubt you doubts before you doubt your faith."

Lots of love,
Soeur Ladd

Hello,

It´s transfers day again, already! Soeur J- is transferred to Punaauia, and I will miss her so much! My new companion will be... My old companion Soeur K-! Heavenly Father is really determined to send her here, because she was supposed to come in my stead 3 months ago but couldn't because she didn't have a permit. But now that I drive, she can fulfill her destiny in the secteur of Mahina.

In any case, Soeur J- had a good last week in Mahina. Things are starting to pick up, the field is ripening for the harvest. This week we kicked off our stake's mission plan, where every fourth week of the month is full of activities for members to invite their friends. Tuesday there wash a fireside about the Atonement, which as I said was supposed to be for investigators but went a little deep doctrine so we were in the end glad that we didn't have too many investigators there. Apparently through the Resurrection, literally everything living thing will be resurrected, including the mosquitoes I kill... And then our newest investigator, AC, who was sitting next to me, asked me what Atonement means... *face palm* (side note, I've noticed that that's one of the most common questions I get. Isn't it funny that the most important thing we can teach in this Church or any is the one thing that nobody outside our church here has ever heard of?) Anyway, we had to leave early because a lovely family in the ward had invited N- to eat with us, even though they hardly knew her! They gave her lots of good encouragement that I think she needed to hear.

Well I'm realizing that I'm very short on time, I need to take Soeur J- to Punaauia. The rest of the week went well also, lots of little miracles and tender mercies. The main highlight was a mission conference with Bishop Caussé, the presiding bishop of the Church. He also talked a lot about the Atonement, and how we need to truly understand it in order to help others receive it in their lives. Sister Caussé invited us to take a step into the void, a leap of faith. All in all a great conference. Oh, and right before our Conference, Bishop Caussé had a meeting with the President of French Polynesia, and asked the President what we as a Church could do to help the people of Tahiti, and he said the best thing we can do is just to teach the Gospel.

Love you all,
Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou,

We had a great week this week, I hope you all did too!

On Monday night we had a nice family home evening with M- and her children. M- has been an investigator for five years and is more active than most of our members, but hasn't been baptized yet because her boyfriend doesn't want to get married yet. We've been encouraging her for weeks to hold family home evening with her family but she says she always forgets, so since her boyfriend is out of town we invited ourselves over!

On Tuesday WE FOUND Na-! Na- is the ami who read the Book of Mormon and told her member friend that she wants to be baptized. She is of course super awesome. We taught her the first lesson and got to know her better. It's interesting to teach her because she has a testimony of the Book of Mormon, but doesn't know very much about the Church. Her parents aren't very religious, and her dad is supportive but her mom less-so. Anyway, she came to church for the first time yesterday and really liked it. I'm excited to help her with her goal to be baptized!

On Wednesday we also had a great first lesson with El-. She took the lessons about 20 years ago in Rurutu but is now interested again, after meeting us and also attending the baptism of her sister in another ward. Her cousins came for the lesson, one a member of our ward, the other was visiting from Moorea. It was interesting because the second member is the missionary that taught her 20 years ago! She said that El- is more sincere this time. El- also came to church yesterday and came to family home evening at her cousins house, which we were invited to.

On Wednesday I also taught an English class at the town hall. They called us a few weeks ago and asked us to help out. I was really nervous but I think it turned out alright.

Thursday we were on exchanges again and I worked with Soeur R-, one of our roommates. We had an interesting day, including running into the man from the Marquises who talks to birds. Apparently the birds said we weren't welcome.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were pretty normal. We had the most investigators at church since I've been in this secteur! #blessed  It's nice to see some fruits of our efforts (and mostly the efforts of members)!

This weekend in my personal study I've arrived at the story of the sons of Mosiah, my favorite story in the Book of Mormon, and not just because I'm a missionary. Every time I read it I learn something new. This time my little epiphany came with the thought "can you imagine what the Nephites must have said when the sons of the king went to preach to the Lamanites?" It's not so different from what we might think about our friends. Well, it's a bit more extreme but there is still a parallel to be made.

"they supposed that great was the work which they had undertaken. And assuredly it was great, for they had undertaken to preach the word of God to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver, and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands. Thus they were a very indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers; notwithstanding the promises of the Lord were extended unto them on the conditions of repentance." (Alma 17:13-15) 

Sometimes we mighty think that our friends are not ready to hear the gospel, perhaps they are too caught up in the things of the world or they have different beliefs or are too hard hearted. But the Lords's promise of eternal life is open to everyone to everyone that repents, even a roughnecked gang of Lamanite bullies. We don't know the heart of others, only God knows who is truly ready. The sons of Mosiah knew that and they were willing to try. "Therefore, this was the cause for which the sons of Mosiah had undertaken the work, that perhaps they might bring them unto repentance; that perhaps they might bring them to know of the plan of redemption." (Alma 17:16) "And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name." (Alma 19:36)

So don't be afraid to try!

Avec amour,
Soeur Ladd