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!