Its Christmas Time for Missionary!!

!Oaoa noela!

  This week was spent finding people and we had a couple of miracles happen also. So usually we stay in just  our little valley of Tipearui, but this Tuesday we decided to go out, because someone gave us a referral for a person that lived far enough away where we had to take out our bikes. It was my first bike ride in Tahiti and it was nothing like riding a bike on the country roads of GA. People here drive like New Yorkers in NYC, but we aren't really in a huge city. (the first time I got in a car with missionary driving I was stinking scared to death, we had 6 missionaries in it and I was sure that we were going to flip the car, because here you have to take the round abouts to get on the highway, so while you are going on that round about you have to get your speed up and yeah I thought for sure we were on two wheels a couple times) The referral was at the bottom of a really huge huge hill (again I don't know how people get their manual cars up it, let alone a bike). The referral wasn't there, so we set out to share a Christmas message with some of the neighbors and we started up that huge hill, just walking our bikes up there. Well, sure enough, the first person we stopped at let us in and gave us water. They were super kind and receptive to the message and wanted to meet again. It was a cool thing to me because we got out of our comfort zone of Tipearui and like the first person we contacted wanted to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

  Also this week we have been working on asking everybody for referrals. Wednesday we went up to a member's home to return some dishes and asked them for referrals. While we were going up there I felt like Dora the explorer with my sandals and bright blue backpack and knowing just about as much french as Dora knows Spanish. We had to cross over a bridge and like climbing up a mountain and were surrounded by jungle. It really looks like the jungle here. We asked them for referrals and they actually gave us three houses to go to!! It was a Christmas miracle. The rest of the day was spent trying to contact them.

  Being here on a tropical island there are many many bugs and sicknesses that get spread by them. Right now there is a little epidemic going on with chikun gauna. It pretty much is spread by mosquitos and you get really sore joint pains and a fever and kind of like red spots all over you. Out of the 130 missionaries, about 50 of them have gotten it here. So many investigators and members have gotten in too. It only lasts about three days, but everyone has it/has gotten it. Good new, though, my companion and I are still yet to get it! Hopefully, this isn't going to jinx it, but we are still left standing. My companion did though get scabies this week. Scabies is a disease where you et really itchy red rashes on your body. It is spread by bed bugs. It goes away and isn't fatal, but we had to decontaminate everything in the house. We had to wash all the seat covers and she had to rewash all her clothes and spray them down with an insecticide and the bed sheets and everything.That whole washing everything process has to take place in three rounds, as soon as possible, 3 days after that, and then 4 days after that. It is kind of weird how we got it because I have been told we live in the nicest house in the mission. Yeah, it's pretty much us versus the big bad world out here in Tahiti. hahaha. jk, but it isn't anything like America.

  Oh yeah, while we are on it. I encountered my first island spider this week and it was stinking huge!! We ere sitting down at the table just chatting and then this nasty little 6 legged, battle-scarred spider comes walking out. Soeur Richards and I both stinking screamed. We just freaked out for a little while, but then it had to be killed, so I threw my shoe at it, but I didn't get it and it ran off. Yeah, it was about 3 in diameter. So then I hit it with a broom but didn't know if I got it (by this time the other sisters we live with were downstairs thinking something was terribly wrong because we creamed so loud). I was scared it ran off and I was NOT going to sleep well until it was dead, so I looked under the table and sure it enough it was there...DEAD!! VICTORY!!!!! Then it wasn't scary anymore and I took pictures of my success.

   Saturday we taught an English class, and it is pretty funny because I don't even know how to speak french and I sit there and try to speak in French to help the Tahitians learn English. We did a theme of Christmas. It was fun teaching them the vocab.

  I am so happy for our investigators who are making progress. Lelani (who has a baptismal date in Feb) is already sharing the gospel with her friends. She asked us for a Livre de Mormon to give out. She also came to church  on Sunday. Yeah, Sunday was a little miracle, we have been making an extra effort to get investigators to church. Two weeks ago NO ONE came to church and last week we had two (we really had to push for it). This week we had 4 and next week's goal is 7. One of the greatest things about being a missionary is getting to work with people and help them progress and realize who they are and who they can become, because of Jesus Christ.

 Wednesday we also had another door to door miracle. We were in the "out of our comfort zone" neighborhood with the huge huge huge hill. We were just going around trying to share the good news of a Christmas message and were about ready to go down the hill to contact the referral we needed to contact, but my companion was like, "lets just try for like 1 or two more." I was like, "ok, why not." Then we found a 21-year-old whose family was like all members of the church and he had a Live de Mormon and everything, but he hadn't been baptized and his parents have been wanting him to go back to church. We shared our little Christmas lesson with him, and he had a ton of questions not really relating to our Christmas message, so we answered some of them and told him about church on Sunday and made an appointment. That was Wednesday. We both left the scene just so stinking happy that God lead us to someone who was like prepared. His mom (who lives out on one of the outer islands) called us like Friday, telling us she was so excited and was like setting up a ride for him to get to church and everything. Awwww. It is soo good. Heavenly Father is just sooooo good. This work is wonderful. I love it. I am so grateful to be a missionary in this season of Christmas. Christmas is all about Christ and we get to actually wear his name by my heart. It is great not having to worry about all the little temporal things during Christmas as a missionary, instead, we get to just focus on Christ and helping others come unto him.

  Christmas in Tahiti is celebrated on like Dec 24. They open presents that night and Santa comes and hands them out. We are getting together with the mission on December 24 and are doing a concert. Our zone has been preparing 2 songs to sing. They are Grandma got Ran Over by a Reindeer, and a medley of more spiritual songs. Grandma got ran over... is fun because half way through we start singing it in French.

   Oh yeah and Christmas day we get to go to a baptism. So Lelani's (the one with a bap date for Feb) cousin is getting baptized. Her cousin is the one Lelani saw how much the gospel was changing her life and that is how Lelani (and her aunt and another cousin) started taking the lessons. Yeah, so we teach Lelani, her aunt (Chantel), and her cousin (Tauhia). There are so many people we are in contact with who love to hear the lessons. It seems like people like to hear the lessons, but don't like to come to church or do the actual stuff as much. 

   So I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and love love love it!!! This is a great time of year!!!

love Tuahine Campbell

Tahiti Week 2

It is almost Christmas!! And you know what that means... CHRISTMAS MIRACLES!! The best part of being a missionary during this time of year is really focusing on the real meaning of Christmas. Soeur Richards and I have seen so many miracles this week and we don't hesitate to label them "Christmas Miracles." So last week I wrote about that one house that is like awesome, and it is. Tuesday, Soeur Richards and I worked really hard and didn't end up having much "success." I think it rained too and we got soaked. So Wednesday morning I woke up and was all like pepped myself up for another awesome day and praying. I walked down stairs and my companion was on the phone, which is pretty normal and then she got off the phone and was like, "that was Lelani and she wants to know more about baptism." I was so stinking happy and almost cried, because 1. God hears prayers and 2. I can't believe this is happening, it is like a real moment. I am actually here and someone is really feeling the power of the message we share about Jesus Christ. That moment was a day changer for me. I didn't really care if we had another day like the day before. That was worth it. 

  Ok, so Christmas as a missionary is simple. We share the real meaning of Christmas, which is awesome. My companion and I have started sharing a Christmas message with people and singing a Christmas song with them. It is such a sweet feeling to go around doing this and just share a little taste of Jesus Christ's gift for them.

 Speaking of taste (see what I did there) there are these things here called casse croutes. They are probably the unhealthiest thing in the worlds, but they are like classic Tahitian. What it a baguette and meat (or an omelet) and fries. They also throw in a little piece of lettuce, but with  all the other carbs and fat it just doesn't do the sandwich any justice. I just think it is funny how unhealthy they are, but everyone LOVES them. I don't know if I already talked about that, but we get one like every p-day.  

 Sunday, we had our fatamaraa (our dinner appt) at a restaurant. It got approved by our zone leaders and everything. haha no jk. Some members in our ward have a restaurant in Papeete and it is closed on Sunday, but we went there and had like a little private dinner. It was really cool and we spoke English like the whole time. It was weird, but I could actually express myself and talk. That was a miracle for me because this was right after church. Church for me in French is a huge brain exercise. Preach My Gospel wants us to actively listen and that take so much brain power and it gets tiring and frustrating. Staying awake in Sacrament meeting is a struggle. I have never ever had such a hard time trying to stay awake, but it is the perfect temperature in the chapel, because we don't have AC and there is a little island breeze going on and it is soo hard to listen and try to comprehend and just way to easy to tune out the French. Then all the members want to talk to us and I don't really know exactly what they are saying and yeah. 

  One of the best things ever here is Rotui juice. It comes from another island and is like dole fruit juice, but more real. YUMM. Also, I don't know if I have written home about the ice cream here, but it is so soo good. Before the mission, I never really would have tried coconut ice cream, but oh my goodness, it is the best thing ever here. Members feed it to us sometimes and yummy. It is just so refreshing. 

  We were out contacting and sharing our Christmas message this week when we saw a man making coconut milk for the poisson creu (the raw fish). He was scraping out the meat of the coconut on the sides and took the gratings and put them in a linen and squeezed it to get the milk out. It was a really cool culture experience. Of course, they thought nothing of it, but I silently thought"huuhh." 

  The members here are amazing!! One of these days they just handed us like a whole vine of bananas. It was literally like 40 bananas. They are my favorite, so I was super happy. I think between us four sisters in the house we have eaten at least half of them. I probably average like 5 a day. They are super small so it works out great. I also received my first robe local (aka Tahitian moo moo). These people just give and give and they don't judge. It is soo great. 

  So that ice cream I was talking about that I love is like $15 USD for a .5 gallon at the store!! HOLY COW! 

  Also here the church doesn't have hymnbooks. Every family has their own hymnbook that they bring to church everySunday. So I carry a big green hymnbook everywhere I go because they don't have small hymnbooks for Tahitian.  

   Saturday my companion and I went to a funeral. The story is pretty tragic. One of the sisters in our ward, who always goes out with us, brother died suddenly. He was hit by a drunk driver on his street. We were so sad for her, but that funeral was so faith filled. All of the talks were full of hope and the importance of the gospel in our lives. It is amazing to see the hope and joy of the atonement of Jesus Christ in action. They also wore white instead of black. I don't know the symbolism behind it, but I thought it was interesting. 

  Sunday after our dinner appt, we went to a concert de Noel (Christmas concert) put on by the stake Relief society. The choir was made up of all sister and they all wore traditional  bright red Tahitian dresses. They were just so beautiful with their pearls. The Christmas concert was so good. They sang some songs in Tahitian and some songs in French. I think the best part was just feeling what they sang. I couldn't understand many of the words, but when they sang they really meant it. During the program they would have parts for solos/duets and almost every time the singer would just be overcome with joy and emotion where they would start weeping and would try their hardest to sing out their part, but just couldn't. It was the sincerest thing ever. So when the soloist couldn't sing anymore, the choir behind them would just help them out and sing for them. There was so much love in that chapel and I could feel it. I am so grateful I get to be among some of the most loving people in the world for Christmas. They just love and love, and act upon their feelings and impressions more than they act upon what we Americans would call "knowledge." 

  Well, that was probably a long read, but I hope everybody is having a wonderful Christmas and enjoying the wonderful spirit of love that comes with this time of year and especially enjoying the time with your family. "Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person be loved" - Pres. Thomas S. Monson 

  Make it a great week!

  love, Soeur Campbell

                                            this is a cockroach that decided to be our friend last night

 This is that vine of bananas. I look really bad, but its ok. And that is our little tree.

                                                    At a members home. That valley is our area

Tahiti Week 1!!

Oh goodness! I finally made it to Tahiti. 

Right now I am in Tipaeru'i. It is like a little village/suburb of Papeete. My companion (Soeur Richards, who has been on a mission since last Dec) says that technically we are still in Papeete. Our sector (area) is shaped like a pizza slice with the crust being on the coast of the Island. We pretty much proselyte in a little valley and just walk, because that is where most of the people live. If you go more inland there is a Mountain and the houses are really spaced out. If it is high than the houses are bigger. A good rule of thumb here is the higher you live the bigger the house because it takes a car to get up there. We missionaries don't have a car. I live in a house with 3 other sisters. They are my companion, Soeur Richards, and another companionship who is over another ward. I love them all. 

  We teach so much. I love it. People here love to have the missionaries and lessons. We are really trying to get people to come to church. 

 There was one investigator named Lelani. She was a referral from some other elders because her cousin in getting baptized and she saw the difference in her cousin's life as a result of this change. We started having lessons with her and it started out just her, but then her aunt started listening to the lessons, and then her sister. Each lesson just gets better and better. It is amazing because they totally feel of the goodness of the gospel and have strong desires to have it change their lives. In all honestly I can't comprehend 100 percent of the lesson (thankfully my companion does), but I got to testify at the end. The spirit was so present as I told them I don't comprehend French super well but the Spirit does and because of that, I can feel what is going on. 

  Yeah so speaking is a struggle. It is a process that takes patience. All our meetings with missionaries and everything are in French. I get the gist of what is going on and am not completely lost, but sometimes when people direct questions to me, they have to repeat. I do participate in lessons, but I have to really concentrate on what I am saying. My poor trainer. I always am turning to her to help me. She is super awesome and patient, though. 

  The members here treat us like stinkin royalty. Which is really weird because I look like crap. Usually, in Tahiti, you eat on the patio and teach on the patio and everything happens on the patio. Sunday though, I just had a craving not to eat on a patio. We got a ride up the mountain for our dinner and oh my goodness, we were just so spoiled. We didn't eat outside and they had AC. I was so stinking grateful. They also fed us poisson creu aka raw fish with like veggies. I really didn't hesitate. It was really good and my first time eating raw fish. I thought it would be chewy but it wasn't. Oh boy. Yeah really though you are probably thinking "ewwww, I don't know if I could have." Let me tell you "oh yes you could have.!" Because when you haven't really eaten much and have worked really hard in the sun and everything is expensive to buy and you just fasted for 24 hours and you love the members, you just eat. It was so good. Yup. I am in Tahiti, I am a missionary, and I CAN eat raw fish.....with a smile. 

  What else.. well there are a lot of drunk people here. I don't know really what to do when they try to talk to us. I try to ignore, but feel bad, but they know we are missionaries. I am soo stinking green (newbie). My trainer thinks I am so weird the way I get around the drunks. I don't really understand their slurred french either. Then they try to talk in English with us. Just imagine me out here with drunk people trying to talk to us. It is pretty surreal and funny. 

  We did get to go watch the Christmas devotional, but it was in French. I didn't understand a whole bunch but did understand Pres. Eyring's testimony. It was pretty powerful. I loved hearing the motab sing. 

   Church was great. I got up and bore my testimony because every teacher said I had to. I started and ended in French, but threw in a couple of Tahitian phrases. It went ok. I wasn't too scared, but I know there is TONS of room for improvement.

  The mangoes here are stinking awesome. The other sisters in our house get them from members. My trainer showed me that if they aren't ripe you dip them in chinose bonbon (Chinese candy) or red prune powder. I was down for that. It tasted really good. YUMMMMM. Tahiti is a winner for the food. It is like a mash-up of island food and Europe, so they have all the bread and cheese and kinder bueno that we love so much from France, but the awesome fresh fruit just makes it that much greater. They also have really good tomatoes here. They threw some of those in our raw fish meal and yummm. Oh yeah and the green beans here are like two feet long. I took a picture, but the pictures take forever to upload.

  Culture wise we always take off our shoes in the house. It is pretty much a habit for me to keep my shoes on because that was like one of my things back in the states. Now I am in Tahiti. I am quickly getting over that. We also take two showers a day, because Tahitians are very clean people and because you sweat so much it just works out.

-Sœur Campbell

Made it to Tahiti; we arrived on a tarmac just like in the books; it is not as hot or humid as I thought it would be Georgia prepared me well!

19 November 2014- Last Blog Post from the MTC!

Ioaranna!

So I am writing a quick last email from the MTC, because next Tuesday I will be arriving in Tahiti at 5 am and the preparation day will change for me. I will not get to email until that next Monday which is December 8 or something. 

  Elder Oaks came and spoke to us Tuesday for the devotional. It was so cool to be able to hear an apostle speak for our last Tuesday night devotional. Just like every other Tuesday night devo. we sang "Called to Serve." Tuahine Arbuckle and I have joked about how old that song has gotten old singing it so many times, but my heart broke a little knowing it would be the last time I would sing it as a missionary with 100s of other missionaries. We sat like 3 rows back from the podium. It was an amazing experience to be that close to an apostle. We also got to hear his wife speak, which was an awesome experience. We had our last lesson with Alan this week. It was kind of sad. We sure enjoyed teaching him. We all shared our favorite scriptures. I shared Helaman 5:12, which is one of mine. I love it because it pretty much is a guide to life. We are going to have opposition and hard times, but if we build a foundation on Jesus Christ and be converted to him and through him, we don't need to have any fear. 

  The weirdest and best thing ever was Thanksgiving here at the MTC. It was great because the whole day was planned out differently than it had ever been before, but so weird because every missionary in the MTC was like going kind of crazy because we weren't on a schedule. What made it even better was that the MTC presidency was so chill about it. We got to watch Meet the Mormons and they handed out bags of popcorn to like every one of us. It was so not MTC-like. Also, Elder Bednar (another apostle) came and spoke to us in the morning. Again we had really good seats, thanks to Tuahine Arbuckle. He was like super duper cool and brought his family with him and his wife pretty much said, "we are so happy to be your family today." I was like, "well thank you so much Elder and Sister Bednar, I am so glad you said that." Any-who, he handed out like several hundred cell phones and made his "talk" a Q and A session for all the MTCs throughout the world. Wow. My hand was trying to write so fast. One of my favorite things he said was about faith. The question was, "how do we not lose faith when we are going through a challenge or trial?" He explained that through trials you gain faith, so if you want faith, you are going to have trials. The rest of Thanksgiving was filled with lots of singing and service. After the movie, we got the best thing of all. They finally lit up all the Christmas lights that have been up since before Halloween. All of us Tahitians were waiting for that day and it finally came. We had a Thanksgiving lunch and I sat next to some Japanese sisters going to Nagoya, Japan (they will be serving with my sister, Erin) and I explained to them why we celebrate Thanksgiving. We had a sack dinner in our classroom with the other Americans going to Tahiti. It was an awesome experience. We all went around and said a family tradition and something we were grateful for. I was actually surprised how sincere everyone was. It was so nice to have Thanksgiving Day at the end of our stay, because it was such a pleasant surprise, almost like a vacation, in a missionary way. 

  Along with the last week, we had In Field Orientation on Friday, which was another day that we were in class. We spent all day doing role plays and what not. I loved it because that day had finally came for us 11 weekers. We had seen that go on for the past 10 weeks and now it was finally us.

  This week I finished a journal I started while in the MTC. That goes to show how long we have been here. Also if you think about it I have been here longer then a summer term at BYU. I have really enjoyed it, but lets be honest. I am counting down the meals I have left in the cafeteria.  

  Also, I talked to Soeur Stevens yesterday and I ask her if she was still having the pain she was having a couple of weeks ago and she said no. This was a miracle because she had had this ache in her back and by her ribs for like the last 7 weeks. I was happy to hear this. I asked when it stopped hurting. She said after the zone fasted for me. Wow. That was a testimony builder for me. We all had fasted for her and it worked. Surely that is a miracle. 

 On a less serious note, I was joking around with her if she could carry water on her head like you see in documentaries because we were bringing our like 40 lbs off books back to the residence. Sure enough, she could. She put the bag of books on her head and didn't even have to use her hands to balance. She walked up the flight of stairs too without even hesitating once. It was sooooo cool. I took a picture.  

  Today was the last day of classes. It was sad, but not at all. We are all so excited to go to Tahiti. I am sure I will miss the MTC when I am in Tahiti, but right now I am just happy that come Monday I will get to make a phone call home and eat at Cafe Rio in the SLC airport. 

 So yeah you will probs hear from me in like a week and a half. Love life. Remember who you are! 

-Tuahine Campbell

                                                  Us and Alan the gold tag we taught

                                    My companion, Sœur Arbuckle, and I at the Temple

                                                       Sœur Stevens and I at the temple.

 

                                                This is us at the temple on thanksgiving day

           This is our little thanksgiving dinner we had in the other American's classroom

                                                    Doing service. those are the little meals.

                                             All the meals we made are in those boxes

 This is us and sister Hacking. She and her husband are in the MTC presidency. We are wearing our little service caps. We made over 350000 meals for kids to take home after school

 Here is that popcorn for our movie on thanksgiving. too much fun, we couldn't believe that we were in the MTC!

                                    Christmas lights on Thanksgiving night. It is about time!!

 This is us and president and sister Nalley of the MTC on thanksgiving day. we really like them

                               This is us by ben e rich, our first building we were taught in.

 Us in front of the only Christmas tree I have seen in the MTC. We took a field trip to go take a picture by it!

                                                                 District Map Picture

 Our district with brother haparii, our first teacher. He taught us for our last class time today.

                                           Packing up the classroom with all our books!

                                           Sœur Stevens doing the balancing stuff on head thing. 

Thanksgiving at the MTC!

Hello, Everyone! 

So for thanksgiving at the MTC we will get a thanksgiving lunch, a devotional, and watch a movie (think it is Meet The Mormons). We also will put together like 3000 hygiene kits. I think that will be in the news, or so I have heard. After we do all of that, we get to go to our residence, and I think it pretty much means we get to go take a nap. That never happens at the MTC. Also, I kind of counted eating at the temple cafeteria today (Tuesday) as my thanksgiving because they have way better-mashed potatoes and rolls than the MTC. Who knows, I may just PB&J it up for that thanksgiving meal. 

This was probably like the busiest week I had here at the MTC. The week started with some uncertainty. Soeur Stevens and I made a couple of trips to the clinic. We were particularly worried because she was spitting up blood and in a ton of pain. Thankfully, though, the doctor assured us that is was just because of the dryness in the air. That all pretty much happened on Wednesday. That day we also came to the conclusion, that we had done everything we could possibly do medically for Soeur Stevens and beyond it, and there was a possibility she might not be able to make it to Tahiti. I don't think she really understood the seriousness of the situation, but Tuahine Arbuckle and I felt the responsibility of that this whole week because we were the people on the front lines handling the situation. Right now, she is doing pretty well so I was optimistic that she is coming with us, but earlier this week it was stressful. 

 I ended up at TRC twice this week. TRC is when you teach a lesson and practice French with a member of the church. I went once with Soeur Stevens and we  had nothing prepared because we went on splits after lunch and it stayed like that for a while. The lesson ended up going alright. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think Soeur Stevens liked teaching with a sister because she is a solo missionary and doesn't get that too often. The other TRC was with Tuahine Arbuckle. We taught a man over skype who was in Bora Bora. That was super fun. It got us both super excited for Tahiti. 

 After waiting ten and a half weeks We got our travel plans on Friday. Oh boy, was the whole district excited!!! I woke up thinking about them. We all went down to the mail room together before lunch. Tuahine Arbuckle is our travel leader. We are leaving the MTC on Dec 01. We are flying American Airlines to LAX and then from LAX to Tahiti on Ait Tahiti Nui. It is so crazy!! It will be my first flight on an American Airlines operated plane in the US. My heart died a little when it wasn't Delta. Another piece of good news is we have less than 30 meals in the cafeteria here!!! YAYA. No more scavenging!!

 Class time has been more filled with Tahiti stories. Apparently, there are poisonous centipedes and you go to church and bize (the two cheek thing) with like every lady in the congregation before sacrament meeting starts. 

 Sunday I gave a "talk" in French. Talks here at the MTC are different. Everyone prepares a talk and then you find out who is speaking in the meeting. It was a struggle finding time on Saturday to write a talk because Saturday is the last day of the week and that means it is the last study time I have to make the weekly goals I set. We spent a lot of our study time at medical appointments and meet with the Branch President previously during the week, but I quickly came up with something on the Holy Ghost. Sunday, we were in meetings and Brother Markham gave me a real good heads-up that it was going to be me. Boy was I grateful I made that talk! I had it proofread by one of the elders from France in our zone and even practiced it with him. That was above and beyond what I normally prepare for the talk. After all of that President Barker pulled me aside and gave me an out to the talk because he knows it had been a long a busy week. That never ever happens. It was super kind of him. I decided just to get it done with, and I wasn't too worried because I prepared. Moral of the story is- Be prepared. It pays off. 

 By Saturday, Tuahine Arbuckle and I were super stretched. What I mean by that is this week was a growing week, with much we had to get done and take care of. Of course, that was the night we started back teaching lessons in Tahitian when we haven't done that for 6 weeks. We went into that lesson and just going into a lesson at this point was pushing me. I literally went blank. I couldn't think of Tahitian words. I didn't understand what was being said and pretty much was in shock. Yeah, I was offering up some silent prayers. It was the worst thing in the world and didn't help my head was spinning all day. I couldn't think of the words for I don't know, I don't understand, and repeat. Thankfully I did something to help. Half way through the lesson I realized we didn't say a prayer and said "pure tatou" or pray for us. Tuahine Arbuckle did a great job of carrying on the lesson. Good thing she remembered things. 

  Overall, I learned a bunch this week. Mostly that when things get challenging it is an opportunity to grow, so just take it a go with it and rely on God to help you. I have been working on memorizing this scripture for the week. "Confie-toi en l'Elternal dans tout ton coeur, t'appuie pas sur ton sagesse. Reconais-lui en tout tes voies, et il planifa tes sentiers" or "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:5-6).  

Happy Thanksgiving! ~Sœur Campbell

 We kind of coordinated. I am wearing my companion's dress and she is wearing mine. And Soeur Johnson matched too!!

 Tuahine Arbuckle and I waiting for our District leader, Elder Stafford to come and open the mailbox to get flight plans!

                                            Finally, the moment we have been waiting for!!

                                                          Flight plans Friday!! YAY!

                          This is us and the Burnahs. They are in our MTC branch presidency

                                                           Temple Picture this week!

Two months down, two more weeks to go!!

This week has been revolutionary. One reason is because Saturday, the sisters in our district finally did something different for the gym. We went to the 2M gym. OH BOY! was it an upgrade. I can't even to begin. It was actually like taken care of and a gym with real machines and weights and everything. They played church movies so you can plug in and watch them. I have no idea why we waited this long to be adventurous. It was like my favorite thing ever when the Mormon message, "The Will of God" came on. I have watched that so many times, I am starting to memorize it. Donc (so) thanks to they new 2m gym, Tuahine Arbuckle's and my workouts got like 200 times more effective and efficient. I am like actually sore (it doesn't take much these days to do that).

 Last week we were assigned as Sister Training Leaders. Sister Training Leaders help the new sisters coming in to the zone in the MTC and are supposed to set the example. Honestly I didn't write about it, because we don't have any new sisters coming in. Tuahine Arbuckle and I have the privilege of helping the 3 other girls in our zone, which are the other sisters going to Tahiti with us. At first I thought all we were going to do was have meetings, because we already room with the other three sisters and it is great. Well I learned that was not the case. Tuahine Arbuckle and I have taken multiple trips to the hospital this week to get tests done with Soeur Stevens to make sure everything is right before we leave the states. I guess previously no body had really asked, so we just barely found out. We don't really know exactly was is up, but have had a CTA scan on Saturday and an echocardiogram on Monday, and today we are going to see a lung specialist. It is nothing urgent, because they would have alerted us. I just want to make sure if there is anything up we know before we leave this awesome country of America, because I am betting Tahiti will not have all the medical thoroughness we do. Soeur Stevens is from Vanuatu (a small island)  and has never seen medical care as we do it here. Honestly, I am kind of amazed by it. She has been so brave going into all these things like you would think she would get scared by the machines or them taking her blood. We were in the CTA scan with her and she went in laughing. Seriously this whole medical mystery thing was exactly what I needed. It has helped me a lot to not focus on me me me and how I am here an I need, and I want. By serving it has helped this week go by so fast. 

 Monday, November 17, we hit our two-month mark!!!! YAYAY. EVEN BETTER, there are only two weeks left exactly! We are just about going crazy. Saturday we have service each week and set up the chairs for Sunday's devotional. It is literally like 1000 chairs, the stadium bleachers, and the stage that we set up. They always have a ton of missionaries there to help and not enough things to do. The fab five (us sisters going to Tahiti) got stuck in that, "we are here but like everything is being  taken care of." We literally were just laughing and joking around and one of the lady's in charge was  like, "if you have nothing to do you can go" to us. WE  GOT KICKED OUT OF SERVICE!! It was pretty bad and so funny at the same time. After that we went outside in the freezing weather and were trying to give Sister Stevens a group hug, well it ended up that us 4 white girls were trying to catch her and she out ran all of us. It was pretty sad, but she is super strong. Like in Venautu she would use a machete to cut grass in the fields, and I am not making that up. 

 Along with the whole, we have gone crazy thing, yesterday's lesson was une lutte (a struggle). Tuahine Arbuckle and I could NOT stop laughing. Two of our teachers were in their role playing as a "concubine" (yeah that is what they call each other in Tahiti when they are not married) with issues. Good grief. I am pretty sure they play it up just to make us laugh. They were accusing one another of smoking and drinking and we were teaching the Word of Wisdom (Parole de Sagesse) and it was like all the sudden we were marriage counselors, or in this case concubine counselors. I was trying to explain to them they could help one another with this a I couldn't think of the word for girlfriend in French and I turn to Sister Arbuckle and she wanted me to say concubine. I just couldn't, so I had to work around that. Anyways, we ended up just like laughing through the lesson so bad and saying two opening prayers. I am sure our teachers are like, "What is up with them two?" Well after that lesson I feel like we are just more friends then companions at this point. It is super fun like everything we do. At one point during this week we ended up on splits, because we were helping Sister Stevens and we both agreed that we went through withdrawals.

 Erin Solomon got us Chick-fil-a on Friday. That was like the miracle of my life! Not really. haha. It was though sooo good. We stinking loved it and were super grateful for it. Each meal the food gets more and more hard to find. I find myself eating cold food like PBandJs, fruits, and veggies more than the entrees. This week I have been on a little soup spree.  

  Now time for the language update. French is coming along. This week I have made major improvements. In lessons, I would usually let my companion do all the talking because I didn't understand everything that was going on, but now things are shifting. I am able to participate more. Thanks for all the prayers for language help. A grace Dieu (thanks to God), this language is coming. As for Tahitian, I try to keep it up by reading in Te Buka A Mormona. 

  Sunday I played piano in church. I played Come Thou Fount. It was une petite lutte, parceque (a little struggle because) I haven't played piano in a long time.

  Today was a miracle and a half.   At breakfast, my old boss at MTC West Cafeteria, Chris Justice, who is now here at main MTC, introduced me to an elder room Tahiti. I started to talk English to him. That did not wok at all. He only spoke French, so I defaulted to using that language I have been learning for the las our weeks. It was a growing experience. I guess he understood somewhat of what I said. Soeur Stevens (who literally speaks baslama, french, English, and two other dialects from her island) was standing close and told me I did well afterward. Tuahine Arbuckle wasn't there because we have been on splits all day, but I missed relying on her to have french conversations with people. I defiantly was left to fend for myself.

 Sister Stevens and I went to the pulmonary specialist. It was located like right where my ward at BYU always would play football, frisbee, and kickball. Yeah, it was weird being back there. They did some breathing tests on her and they think there is something in her throat. Later this week we are getting a broncosopy (they are putting a camera down her throat) to see what is up. It was good to know the CT scan and the echocardiogram were all normal. It is just hard to know if we are over playing or down playing the situation. I am grateful though it is nothing too urgent, but that we were cautious and there was something. It was way weird being there so close to University Villas. I could literally see the building where I used to live in. 

  While we were sitting at the doctor's office I go Sister Stevens talking about Vanuatu. Come to find our she would catch chickens with her bare hands to eat for dinner. She kept telling me, "you don't believe me sista, but I don't lie, you come to Vanuatu and see." Yeah, she is pretty boss. She told me she would always climb trees in Vanuatu to get the fruit. I believed her. She showed me how here in the MTC. We totally broke our quiet dignity. I don't know how I feel about that, though because it is soo normal to do that for her in her culture, but in America, we like to frown upon it. Also in the hospital today I found signs of Christmas. I  LOVE IT!! We took a picture today by our first Christmas tree sighting this year. 

  After that, we went to the temple and were in the cafeteria and I had only brought ten dollars for both Sister Stevens and I assuming we would spend about 5 dollars a piece. Well, I totally forgot that  dollars in like an average for breakfast, not lunch. I was like hopefully we have enough money and was digging around in my purse for extra. I let Sister Stevens go first so I would make sure I had enough for her meal. Then we were up at the cash register and this super kind old man told the cashier to put ten dollars he gave her to our meal. I worried for nothing. God always provides. It was just a little thing, but evidence that He has our backs. 

Love Sœur Campbell

                                                                     Snow in MTC

 

                                                    

 Super good homemade banana bread from sister giles this week. HUGE THANKS, AND SHOUT OUT

 First time out of the MTC Friday night to get a ct scan for sister stevens. It was some super cool technology

 This is us doing TALL this week. We make a goal to do it every day. It is not our favorite at all, but we push through and do it.

                                       She jumped over all those chairs, yeah no fear at all.

                                                   Yoga pic. Erin wanted me to take this

                                          sister ereckson is an artist. That what i call talent

                     Me and sister stevens with the skirt sister giles sent. She was rocking it

 Me and my companion. we had matching outfits.. kind of with our coats matching and our dresses. love her

 This is the fab five with the Markhams. They are the ones who make homemade grape juice and are super sweet. They are in our branch presidency.

 This was us Monday going to the echocardiogram. We listened to music (aka motab) in the shuttle. It was like heaven for us.

                                           That is the field my ward would play in. Loved it.

 We found Christmas, sadly it wasn't first at the MTC. Well the MTC has the spirit of Christ and that is pretty important.

 It took Sister Stevens 2 seconds to climb this tree! Yeah I was kind of iffy about it, but like that is her culture

                                              This is us in a nutshell. oh boy,  so fun