Last Monday was awesome. Sr. Richards and I were walking down to the world's only Black Pearl Musee located right in our sector when a lady who was just sitting on a bench stopped us. She had hurt her foot and had walked down from her neighborhood and was exhausted. She waved us over after we told her a casual "bonjour" and we ended up talking. We talked to her about her family, hurt foot, and coming unto Christ. It was awesome. We shared a verse in the Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:32, which talks about being perfected in Christ and ended up giving her the book. That was a little miracle of itself because usually on p-days I empty out my backpack of most the books I carry around, but I thought of how Pres. Harding (p-hardy) has the missionaries in ATL carry a blue Book of Mormon with them everywhere. I thought of that and decided to keep that book in my backpack on p-day. Of course, that good thought came from what we call the Holy Ghost. Anyways, we gave her that book and shared how it has helped us come unto Christ and feel peace in our lives. She was touched and asked us to sign it for her and everything. It was a good start to the week. The only thing I wanted to just top it off would be a letter. Sure enough, at the very end of the day, the elders came bearing glad tidings of good joy. MY FIRST LETTER!!!!! and it was from my mom and I was very very happy. After a month journey, it finally made it safe and sound.
So the rest of the week carried on. It was a little, not the best. We had two days in a row where 3 lessons canceled. Then we had a bunch of concerns come up with investigators we were already working with and things were getting slloooowwww. Friday came around and we had our zone meeting and our 3 baptismal dates had all fell through and I did not want to be in that meeting and report that. When we talked about the progression of our area I didn't even want to look up. I was praying for strength to make it through the day. Right after that meeting I had my first split. I stayed in my area and we worked all day. This is the part where things get good. We took the bikes out and went to our lessons and had some lessons cancel, but that was okay because I just learned that when a lesson cancels it means God wants you to be somewhere else at that moment. We ended up getting to see a lady we have been trying to see since the week I got here and would literally go over there 2-3 times a week and she was never there. Then we had a lesson and the investigator didn't have his Book of Mormon to do his reading we assigned him, but he completed it by calling his grandma and reading with her. We also committed him to be baptized.
After that, we went to Valentina's house whose parent's had died when she was young and she told us she wanted to be baptized because her parents were both members of the church. She had already taken some of the lessons but didn't have a Book of Mormon, so I gave her a Book of Mormon and told her about it and the promises and blessings of reading it. I asked her to read 3 Nephi 11 and pray to know it was true. Then I asked her by chance if she had a date she wanted to be baptized on and she was like, "yeah, my mom's birthday" and we were like, "when is that?" and she said "the 26th" and I said "of January?" and she said "yeah" and I looked down at my watch to see what day it was and it was already the 9th. Then we proceeded to tell her if she really wants that she needs to work with us and if she was willing to work with us we could do that. I asked her to read that chapter in the BoM, pray to know if it was true and if baptism was the right thing, and then ask her aunt about the baptism date. Then we set up an appointment for the next day. Sure enough, I go over there with Sr. Richards on Saturday and she prayed about baptism and read the chapter in the Book of Mormon and she said she had a good feeling about it and then right after that she went to go ask her aunt about the date and she said yes! That was a huge miracle. Things are happening out here. Then we taught her and found out she already knows the Book of Mormon is true. We also got to testify to her about Jesus Christ and how her family can be reunited after this life because of what he did for us. It was the best thing in the world being able to help someone, who needs hope find that hope through Jesus Christ and his gospel. Also, this whole ordeal that went down was just a miracle to me that maybe God was just really pushing me earlier this week so I would just really enjoy these the good moments and be grateful and recognize the miracles He gives.
Saturday we had a lesson that ended up falling through, but we already had the member with us, so we decided to go see Tauhina and Chantal, who are both trying to stop smoking. We are also working with them to come to church. The member with us was the Relief Society president and we didn't even have to say anything to her about what to do. She just was super inviting to Tuahina and Chantal and ready to help them with anything and everything and integrate them into the ward. That was a huge relief to me, to see the support of the ward in that lesson. We talked about fasting and the power of that and Sr. Parker (the RS pres.) was all down for fasting with our investigators. I forgot how much the ward is really behind us.
Then later that day (Saturday) we had a lesson with Moia. She is probably about 40 years old and has a boyfriend who comes down on weekends and he joins in the lessons. We have been working with Moia since we got here, but she wasn't really understanding the lessons and didn't come to church and didn't read and understand the Book of Mormon. The past couple of weeks we have been helping her to read, understand, and apply the BoM. The last week we really focused on church and why it was important to go to church and also asked her to read a chap in the BoM. We found out she doesn't want to go to church because she was afraid of people being two faced and it was looking like she was going to go to church anytime soon. This Saturday, we brought a member with us who is her neighbor, who speaks Tahitian. You have to understand this lesson was in Tahitian, so I really struggled to understand what was going on, but Moia told us she read the chapter we asked her and that is really touched her...a lot. Yay, good new. So then we continued on in the lesson talking about coming unto Christ. I testified how God is a God of justice and mercy and how blessed we are that He is the two. The mercy comes because He loves us, but the justice is where we come in and need to show our love for Him. Then my companion joined in and testified and extended the invitation to come to church saying, "we have already asked you, but we would love to ask you again..." Earlier in the lesson, I couldn't understand the Tahitian, and I started thinking of Moia as a Sunday school teacher and her bf as a Young Men's president and just silently pleaded for God's help to get them to church. Well, to our surprise Moia said yes to go to church and then turned to the member present and asked for a ride to church. That. was. huge! Miracles are happening out here and my prayer was answered. So yesterday she was at church was a member by her side and I asked her how it was and she said she was really touched and that she LOVED it and wants to come back. yes. yes. yesssss!! Then she talked to me in Tahitian and I didn't really understand, so I just smiled and nodded like the penguins in Madagascar when they say, "just smile and wave boys, smile and wave!" haha. I did learn though that she was super excited to come to church and church starts at 7:30 am here and she got up at like 5am or something to make sure she was ready and she was all ready by 6:30 am! Oh is just feels sooo good to see her progress.
We also did a mini hike on Saturday to get so a house that was pretty high up the mountain. We climbed over 200 stairs to get there. What is interesting is that when people live that high up, the way they get their stuff up there is the same way we climbed up, which is by those 200 stairs. I just would NOT want to carry a fridge or a washing machine up 200 stairs. This lesson was good too. It was with a couple who already followed the lessons, but took a break because they had a baby, even though they were super close to being baptized. We just walked up there and they told us they had picked another baptism date. We taught them about the importance of coming to church and how it was something for our soul. It was great and a miracle, because all the 3 baptism dates we had lost earlier this week were made up. God really knew what He was doing and now I really trust that He has prepared people.
We taught an English class to our Saturday night people at the church. It was fun. I just love teaching English.
We also found out we have 2 members in our ward right now in the hospital, so we planned to go visit the Sunday. That was a fun experience. The hospitals here don't look anything like American ones. We just walked right into the room and shared our message.
Sunday after we got done at the hospital we didn't have much time before our dinner appointment. Sr. Richards and I had a list of people we needed to see. We had to prioritize, so we decided it would be best to go see Valentina. We just needed to make an appointment with her, but she lives like a super long walk away and we didn't have our bikes, so we started to make that walk. Then by a miracle we just saw her walking down the street and quickly talked with her and made the appt. Now we had time to go see Lelani. That worked out great. We got to Lelani's and found out she was not having a good day. Her ex-husband's family was blaming her child's sickness on her. We were there for her and shared some Bible verses with her Mat. 11:28-30. She really needed to know that right now, that she could find comfort in Christ. After finding that out, it was clear that God wanted us to be there. She had to quickly leave after our little message, but I am glad we could be there to help.
I also witnessed another miracle yesterday. Sr. Richards and I were walking to an appointment and there were to people on bikes getting ready to exit the neighborhood and get on to the main road, but cars were coming and the girl's breaks didn't work. She wasn't wearing a helmet and totally t-bumped into a car that was going fast on the main road. Literally, she was untouched. She wasn't wearing a helmet either and she was untouched not even a scratch. It was crazy. We got her bike out of the road, but it was a miracle to me how she was fine, her bike was fine. She fell just perfectly. It was a little shocking to see that happen too. You think we would have called the ambulance or something, but the driver just had a huge dent in his car and saw the girl was alright, so he just drove off. No ambulances or anything was called. It was nothing like an American crash at all.
By Sunday we were definitely out of food. No bread. No milk. No cereal. That meant no PB and Js and no cereal and milk... My staples were gone and I ate my last apple for breakfast. It was okay, though, because after our lesson Noeline gave us a huge lunch with poisson creu, and rice, and meat and potatoes. I honestly liked the raw fish the most. Then we had dinner like 3 hours later. I found out the way you know the raw fish is still good is by the flies. If they are still attracted to it. It is still good. Also for dinner, I ate like barracuda. It was grilled and reminded me of like steak. It wasn't exactly barracuda, but a local fish that is like 4 feet long and probably like 6 in diameter. It was soo good. I loved it and I guess it has the most of omega 3 in it.
Today we did a hike near Papeete. Our car got stuck in mud going up to the trailhead, so we had to go like 9 km to get to the trail head, but we only made it 6 km. I was kind of sad we didn't make it to the spot, but some other missionaries in our zone did. It was really pretty, though! I was trying to encourage people, but it just was NOT working. Oh well, sometimes you just got to work through it and enjoy the trail.
I also went to the store and had to buy deodorant. FYI: The girl deodorant here is not the same if you have a mission call to Tahiti and are a girl bring deodorant. I was in the store and only the men's kind was the good stick kind, so I went and put some in my cart and the Tahitian man standing by us, just totally looked at us weird. It was funny. I am going to smell like a man now, but people here really don't care honestly and I'll just sweat it off anyway!!!
Alright, my good friends. Have a great week!! and go get em!!
With soo much love, Soeur Campbell
Me with the Livre de Mormon on the trail; my companion called me crazy I told her why and about the GAM rule!!
Sometimes the members drop-off our dinners and this was hungry me one night with the awesome way they served it; we always have rice; those are fish patties.
Sr Garmin of Bountiful, Utah and I; happy campers are we
Our view from the hike
Old car on the trail; there are old cars like this everywhere in Tahiti; people don't get rid of them
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