Iaorana tatou!

Happy 4th of July! We celebrate that here too. Or at least, 7 American missionaries do with their French, Tahitian, and Kiwi companions. Our district is having a barbecue later ;) It's been a long week! But that's okay because I live on Raiatea. (Ra'i means heavens or sky, atea means far away.)

As I guessed, we did a lot of tracting this week. Soeur K and I are learning a lot about OLB - ouvrir la bouche, our mission's codeword for tracting and street contacting.

For example, Friday I was really trying to focus on "forget yourself and go to work." We were both pretty exhausted from a week of OLB and mediocre success, but since we didn't have any lessons fixed, we decided to just go out again and talk to whoever we could. We walked a ways down the road, and picked a street to do porte-à-porte. We started at the top so we could work our way down. When we got to the top though, we almost skipped the last house. Not sure why, but it just seemed rich and standoffish. Finally though, we looked at it and hesitantly yelled "IAORANA!" (Door to door tracting here doesn't actually include knocking. We stand at the gate and yell until someone comes out.) A dog came out to greet us/bark at us, but after a moment we heard someone. Long story short, the man invited us onto the terrace, and after talking to him for a bit, we find out he's inactive and his wife isn't a member. We shared a short message about the Book of Mormon and asked if we could come back another time and teach his family; he said sure, but he wasn't sure if his wife would be interested. So we just gave him our number and said to call us if they needed anything. As we were leaving, I felt like I should say something to his wife, who had been folding clothes on the other side of the terrace. Again I almost didn't, but I walked over to say goodbye and after the customary kiss by the cheek I told her that we'd talked to her husband for a bit but wondered if we could come by another evening. She said no problem! We'll visit them for family home evening next week and see how it goes.

Anyway, that pretty much sums up our week, biking around town and talking to whoever might listen. We do have a few potential investigators, the only problem is that everyone is busy with Heiva! It's a month-long festival every July. Traditional dancers, a carnival, sports. Apparently more important than listening to the missionaries and finding eternal life ;D

I was thinking a few days ago about Doctrine and Covenants 4. As a missionary, we recite this short chapter every morning as part of companionship study. In verse three it says, "Therefore, if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work." I used to think that that line just meant, if you want to be a missionary, be a missionary. Simple as that. But what it actually says is if you want to serve God, you have to do missionary work. See the difference? I didn't. If we want to serve God - as a priesthood leader, as a teacher, as ward pianist, as a Latter-Day Saint, as a human being - then we are all called to the work. We are obligated to share the gospel. The good news! Maybe that's obvious, but I hadn't thought about that wording before. Before that, in the second verse it says "Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." Let me tell you, serving with ALL your heart, might, mind, and strength, is not as easy as it might sound. But I'm convinced that if we do, we will find ourselves with more heart, more might, more mind, and more strength than before. When you feel like you have no strength left, stick to that promise. 



Love y'all,
Soeur Ladd

Nice view of a motu (mini island close to the shore)

Flying past Moorea

A street in my secteur

Iaorana tatou!

So this transfer was a little complicated, but it made for an interesting week!

Last weekend I packed all of my things and sent my big suitcase and my bike to the mission office to be sent by boat to Raiatea. On Monday, there was a big group of missionaries that finished their missions, including my former STLs Soeur A and Soeur R. They're both amazing and I miss them already.

On Tuesday we headed to Papeete to pick up Soeur T's "daughter"! She will be training Soeur A from New Caledonia, who is waiting for her visa for the Provo, Utah mission. The APs had told be I would probably be leaving Tuesday or Wednesday, so I was all ready to go... come to find out my flight wasn't until Saturday morning!

So, since Soeur A had left and her replacement, Soeur P, had to wait for her replacement, Soeur L, to arrive from Raiatea on Saturday, long story short Soeur G, Soeur A's companion, was left companionless. And Soeur T had her new companion so I was too! Confusing? Yes. But it meant that I got to work with Soeur G for a few days in the secteur of Mahina! Mahina is Matavai's classy big sister; it covers all of Mahina, à côté montagne (the mountain side) (whereas Matavai is the beach side). But as for missionary work it's a little bit tough at the moment. On Thursday, every lesson we had planned cancelled, so we ended up contacting pretty much all day. While it was tiring, we had some good experiences and met some cool people. Like A., who is from the Marquises where he lives in the mountains, hunts to support his family, and avoids people. That's what I understood at least. Now he's in Mahina though because he met a girl. He said he doesn't know much about God (as a result of living in the mountains) but he's interested in learning. He didn't want to take a Book of Mormon then, because he would have to hide it from his girlfriend, but he said that next time he would bring a backpack so that he could take it and read it in secret. Anyway... he as cool.

On Friday I started the trek to Raiatea. Soeur G dropped me off with the sisters of Erima in the morning, where Soeur S had been waiting since Tuesday. Then they dropped us off at the mission office at Papeete, and my mom picked us up! Haha by mom I mean Soeur D, my trainer. She's an STL in Faaa, so she lives near the airport. We decided that it would be best for us to stay with them since we had to be at the airport early in the morning. "Us" includes me, Soeur S, as well as Soeur M and Soeur T who would be on our same flight. That means that Soeur D and Soeur S had four extra missionaries to babysit that they didn't know what to do with! So they let us loose and we went tracting in their secteur for a few hours. I was a mini-trainer for Soeur M, who arrived from the MTC last week. We spent the night with eight sisters in an apartment meant for four, and finally, Saturday morning we headed to the airport and caught a flight to Raiatea!

So I've only been here two days, but as promised it's really beautiful here. It's a relatively large island, the second largest after Tahiti. But 10 missionaries here compared to over a hundred on Tahiti means that my secteur, Uturoa, is pretty huge. Soeur K and I have a lot of work ahead of us! Big secteur, big potential, right? I'm grateful for this past week where I did more contacting than I'd ever done, because I think that prepared me for Uturoa. We're going to have to be pretty creative to find new investigators and gain the trust of the ward and the community. It's a relatively new secteur for sisters, it used to be elders until they opened it for sisters in January.

This week my favorite scripture has been Helaman 10:4. The prophet and missionary Nephi as feeling discouraged because of the wickedness of the people, but as he was pondering, the Lord told him this: 

 "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments."

I read this story a few days ago during personal study, and replacing Nephi's name with mine, I asked myself: Do I live up to what the Lord told Nephi? Do I declare the word with unwearyingness, even if no one wants to listen? Last week I forgot to mention an awesome conference we had Friday before last, with Elder Pearson of the Seventy, Sister Reeves from the Relief Society presidency, and Sister McConkie from the Young Women presidency. Elder Pearson talked to us about the spirit of this work: urgency! I don't remember if this is his words or if he as quoting Elder Holland at this part, but here are some notes I took: "We are the Church that dreams dreams. When you open your eyes, you should expect to see angels. Live in a way that you can't do it alone anymore. If you have to call down miracles, then do it!  Go to the edge - where miracles happen - and when you are about to fall, ask to fly. Move into the realm of the miraculous." We sang for them one of the songs from the missionary concerts, "J'Irai Où Tu Veux" or "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go." We were all crying (plus, we all knew that transfer calls would be that night) as we sang "J'irai où Tu veux, je dirai Tes mots, ce que Tu voudras je serai." At the end of his talk he said, "He wants you to go where the miracles are, speak with power and authority from on high, and be a disciple of the Lord."

Love y'all!
Soeur Ladd

First things first: In a few days I will be leaving Matavai and flying to the island of Raiatea (Ra'iātea)! 

It's a few islands over from the famous Bora Bora. Not too small of an island, there are 10 missionaries there, but from what I've been told, it's beautiful! My secteur is Ututroa, but I don't know too much about it. My new companion will be Soeur K, who's from New Zealand and adorable. I met her at the MTC, because she is from the district that came in 6 weeks after us. So she just finished her training. Also, turns out that Soeur S is also transferred to Raiatea! So we'll be together again, sort of! 

Anyway, as for my last week in Matavai, we had a great week! Papi A was baptized on Saturday. He had a bit of trouble with cigarettes again, but was able to quit. The ward has been really great about welcoming him in. We had to push back the baptism of J because he didn't feel quite ready, but hopefully it will go through for this Saturday! Soeur T will be training a new missionary and I'm sure they'll take good care of Matavai. I've got to go for now because transfers are a little crazy, but if I have time later I might be able to get back on. 

Love you lots! Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou!

First of all, PARDON for these last few weeks. Things kept coming up and I kept running out of time. But I've got an improved system I hope so I should be able to write and still read your emails :) Still going strong here on the northern tip of Tahiti! Fun fact, the secteur of Matavai is the northernmost tip of Tahiti and contains the only good old fashioned lighthouse on the island. We haven't had any baptisms since my last update, but the work is really picking up and we have two in plan for this Saturday! Please keep them in your prayers for this last week before their baptism, along with my cousin and her family! I was so happy to hear the news that they've also made the choice to take upon them the name of Christ and be baptized this Friday.

The first is Papi A. He's pretty adorable. He quit smoking with almost no problems and is excited for this Saturday. The members of our ward really made the difference for him - when we first contacted him at the beginning of May, he was closed off and didn't talk much. But ever since he came to church a few weeks later, and met some of the other members, especially our ward mission leader, he's been a lot happier! Members, reach out to the amis de l'eglise in your ward!

The second is J. This kid is a miracle. He's about 19 years old, but he doesn't actually know his birthday so we're not sure. He's had a rough life it sounds, and pretty much lives on the streets. About two and a half weeks ago, we went to visit a Papi, and J was there with the papi's nephew. We talked with them for a while about God and the Restoration, but the nephew was pretty cynical which made things difficult. But we bore our testimonies and when we asked them if they'd be interested in meeting again, J said sure. The nephew laughed and asked why, and J just said, "hey, I was touched okay?" Soeur T met with him again a few days later while we were on exchanges with the sister training leaders, and well we've had lessons almost everyday since! Sour T told him to quit drugs, and he hasn't touched them since the second lesson. Every engagement we give him he accepts. He told us last Saturday that ever since we met him, he was impressed by how happy we seem, and wanted to be like us. One of my favorite experiences with him was when we taught him about the Holy Ghost. We were having difficulty describing it, and it sounded pretty weird to him. (He doesn't have much of a religious background) But after we pointed out to him a few times he probably felt it - like that first lesson when he accepted to meet with us again, or all the times he said "Wooooow" after we read a scripture or bore a testimony - he immediately understood. "That's what you're talking about? It's powerful, huh?"

Yep, c'est puissant.

Je vous aime!
Sœur Ladd

Bonjour!

We're doing well here in little Matavai! I'm feeling better about planning and leading the secteur and the amis are doing lovely!

Once again I haven't got much time to write, and nothing too exciting happened, but I'll leave you with a little thought. I've been thinking about grace and works. We talked to those Christian missionaries again and the main difference between our beliefs and theirs have to do with the age-old question "Have you been saved by grace?" In the end I keep thinking about a scripture and a quote: Moroni 10:32-33*, and from Brad Wilcox, "We aren't earning heaven, we're learning heaven."

I love you all! Sorry for the short e-mail but thanks for all of your news! Selfishly I prefer reading e-mails to writing them.

Mwah!
Sœur Ladd

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Iaorana tatou!

First of all, sorry about last week, it was our last choir practice before the concert last night, so it went long, and plus it was transfers! So by the time I got to my mail, p-day was almost over. Speaking of transfers, I have a lovely new companion, Soeur T! She's Tahitian and awesome, but more on that later.

As for the other week, nothing too big and exciting. We knew that transfers were coming up and Soeur D would soon be leaving since she spent six months in Matavai. We got the official call on Friday night, and she is now Sister Training Leader of Faaa! (not far from Papeete)

Talking to my family on Mother's Day was obviously a main highlight! It's a blessing to see that they're doing well, and plus I got to meet Joe, my future brother-in-law! And I got to say hi to Quigley, even if he didn't say hi to me ;)

As I said Monday we had our last choir practice, at which I met my new companion! Sister T is from Faaa, and she served the beginning of her mission at the St. George Temple Visitor's Center in Utah. She came back after a few months because of health issues, namely her knee, but last September she re-entered the mission field here in Tahiti. As of last week, she was pretty sure she would just finish her mission here in Tahiti, but last Tuesday President Bize called and said that Church Headquarters had approved her to return, but it was up to her to make the final decision. And she had about 6 hours to do it. Finally she called him back that night and said she would return. But she told me later that all of Wednesday she felt confused and worried if she'd made the right choice. Finally, she called President to say that she would stay, and she felt immediately better; that, my friends, is the Holy Ghost. As it explains in the Doctrine and Covenants, "But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right. But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought..."

So Soeur T will be staying with me until further notice! (i.e. one of us is transferred) She still has her knee problem, so we've had to make some adjustments since she can't ride the bike too much. That along with it being my first time leading the secteur made for a stressful week! It's a good thing I'm surrounded by very patient people, because most of the time I have no idea what I'm doing. I learned a lot though. For example, it's often best to just go out and do something rather than staying home and worrying about how you're going to do it. I'm not saying you don't do your best to plan before hand, but there's a difference between planning and worrying. Personally, I unfortunately do a lot more of the second. I'm working on that.

Take for example last Thursday. We only had two lessons fixed, when on others days we often have lessons almost every hour. So I honestly had no idea what we should do. We did our first lesson that morning, and on our way home to finish our studies, I saw T and C, two of our investigators. I asked if we could meet them later and they seemed a little hesitant, but said that I should call that afternoon. We did our studies, ate, even helped some neighbors rake leaves, and afterwards I tried calling them and some others to fix a lesson but nobody was answering. Finally we decided on my last resort, street contacting. We got ready to go and said a prayer, and as we were saying the prayer, T called back and said that we could meet them at the church for a lesson! For me, it wasn't unlike that one scene in The Best Two Years when the investigator finally calls back in the middle of their prayer.

Last Saturday we ran into the missionaries! Haha we met some non-denominational Christian missionaries on the street, one from New York, one from Atlanta, and one from Switzerland. Apparently there's a whole group of them here for a few weeks for a program. We had a good talk with them, and it was interesting to preach the gospel in English for once! We might talk to them again later this week.

Yesterday we had our first concert! All the missionaries on the island have been practicing for the past few weeks, and now we're doing the island tour of all the stake centers. It's a lot of fun and a great missionary opportunity. The theme of the concert is the Light of Christ. I've got to go now, so all I'll say is that it's pretty fun to hear 60 Elders singing "J'irai, je ferai la volonté du Père!" with all their heart. Go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded!

Love love love you all!

Soeur Ladd

Iaorana tatou!

We had another rainy week last week, and it will continue this week apparently. It's nice in some ways: it's not as hot, and everyone stays home so it's harder for them to avoid us. However, there are a million moustiques when it rains and someone had the brilliant idea to make a solar powered hot water heater, so that we have hot water when it's hot, but cold water when it's cold. ;)

As I was looking back through my planner over what we did this week, I remembered a few times where I've thought about the light in our eyes. The first two times were with investigators that were very close to baptism, but things came into their life, we don't see them for a while or they make certain choices, and when we contact them again it like we don't recognize them. There is something that gets lost between the time when they were sincerely learning about the gospel, studying scriptures, praying, attending church, etc., and the time after they've consciously or unconsciously pushed those things away. The best way to describe it is that the light is gone from their eyes. The third time this idea was mentioned, however, was last Saturday. We were explaining the importance of the Book of Mormon, and after Soeur D had finished explaining and bore her testimony, the investigator smiled and said, "you know, your eyes shine when you talk about these things, like you're about to cry!" She also pointed out that all the Mormon missionaries she sees are always so happy and friendly, rain or shine we're on our bikes just riding along and saying "Iaorana" to everyone we pass. It reminds me of that old story about the BYU Center in Jerusalem. When the Church was getting permission to build the center, they had to promise that the students wouldn't proselyte their religion. One of the city leaders said something like "oh, we know they'll obey the law and won't preach, but what will we do about the light in their eyes?"

Other highlight of this week was our awesome Zone Conference with President Bize. I haven't got much time left to talk about it, but it was awesome and I learned so much! Soeur Bize is very much like our mom out here, throughout the conference, she made comments like, "find something to laugh about every day", "always keep chocolate at the house," and "take your medicine!"

Have a great Mothers Day everyone, especially all you missionaries and families of missionaries!

Ua here au ai outou,
Soeur Ladd