We Hiked Again!

Dear Family and good friends,

  I went to my first Tahitian birthday this week. It was for one of the youth in the ward at our dinner Tuesday. We had poisson creu and meat and veggies, and rice. The table was all nicely decorated. We sang Happy Birthday in French, English, and then they have another song for Tahitian. The boy turning 16 gave the prayer and in it just expressed gratitude for all he had been given. It was really simple and not at all anything like the way we consume and celebrate in America. I didn't even see one present there, nor any talk about presents. The focus was clearly on the family and friends who was there. One brother in our ward had his guitar and was playing songs and singing in Tahitian. And to finish, we had a really good mousse cake.

   We started teaching some youth this week. There are two sisters (14 and 15 years old) who are the daughters of one the investigators we already teach. We gave them each a Book of Mormon and started talking about Jesus Christ with them. They were excited to learn and read the book. We also took Valentina, who was just baptized in Feb. It was perfect because they already knew her and she invited them to a church activity and shared her testimony. Working with youth is wonderful. My sister in Japan  was talking about the power of youth and their potential and importance of the gospel. I am convinced it is true. They need the gospel  and the gospel needs them.  I guess it is like that with everyone, but youth are just great.

  The miracle of the week  is that our investigators who fell off the bandwagon to come to church the last couple of weeks came to church this week!! It was the best thing ever, because now the members saw them there and can help them. It also was good because now we can ask them how church went. 

  I am really impressed by the faith of the members here. We had the sweetest 80-year-old mami pull me over yesterday after RS. She pointed at me and said, "Sr. Campbell, come here. " I thought I was in trouble or something. then she proceeded to tell me how she is home all day and that her house is the missionaries house and that if we need anything or a special meal or whatever, that we were to call her. She said it was serious and that she had a daughter serve a mission and that my family and parents worry about me and that she as a member needs to do a   better job of taking care of the missionaries. I was like, "wow, that blows me away, this lady is the one who bends over backward for us and everything and she is still insisting on helping us." Another member who we had dinner with us, is a single mom and works 3 jobs  and has a 15-year-old son, but was telling us how much she loves her son to find time during the vacations to take him to the temple every day of the vacation. She drops him off there to do baptisms and then she goes to work. Incredible and on top of that she goes to every church activity. I am soo blessed to be around these people.

  Tomorrow (Tuesday the 24) I get to go to the temple here in Tahiti for the first time. Last time I went was in November at the MTC. I am soo soo soo excited. Normally we are supposed to go every three months, but we just go with the flow, because the temple here is really small and the mission assigns us when we can go.

  Also, next Monday (the 29'th) is transfers. I don't know if I will change areas, but I think it would make sense if I got transferred because I don't know what more I can do for the people here if I stay, but I guess if I do I can find something. I am kind of torn, though because I feel like I killed the area a bit as well (we used to have a lot more lessons when I fist got here) and I would feel sad thinking I didn't leave it in better condition then I found it. Also, I really like it here and love these people, but we will just leave it at that and see what happens next week.

  Also, we gained two sisters in the house last week. Now we have six here. They are waiting for visas. Sister Tau and Sister Chapman are both going to Australia on a mission and are Tahitian. They are wonderful missionaries and need to learn English. It has been fun talking to them  in English and they have been teaching  me French and Tahitian. Yesterday they taught me how to say "Te vai ra te ma'a i roto i te fa'ato'eto'era'a?" or in the language we all love "exists the food in the fridge (to make cold thing)" Then we reply "aita te ma'a i roto i te fa'ato'eto'era'a" or "no the food in the fridge."

  It rained like almost every day this week, but somehow we managed to stay dry. I think it is all the aftermath storms of Vanuatu. Sunday

was the first time the sun came out in a while. It was soo bright. After having a week's worth of cloudiness that first day of sunshine is just bright. It was pretty and hot.

 Today we went on  a hike to a beautiful waterfall hidden deep in this valley of Tipearui. The whole zone went and Noeline (our investigator) took us. She was a great guide and didn't let us complain. Toimato and Kulani (who got baptized in Feb were there too). It was awesome. There got to a point where Noeline had to pull out the machete to clear the way of the trail. Tahiti is so beautiful. The whole trail was just perfect and local, so like no one really knows about it. It took an hour to hike to the waterfall and it was just us on  the trail. Afterward we ate coconuts with lime and papaya and grapefruit and passion fruit that is all grown right there and made sandwiches on banana leaves. I am not joking. We stuck lime juice in our sandwiches. It tasted so gooooddd. The line here isn't the same as in America. Now I am like whipped #6monthsonamissionandoutofshape #itwillbefine ~Sœur Campbell      

  

Good things are happening in Tipaerui

We were at Chantal's house earlier this week for a lesson. She is about 40 years old and has been smoking since she was a kid, but now she is trying to  quit. Last week we gave her a calendar to pace out some goals to eliminate and to keep track of how many cigarettes she smokes a day. We went there this week and she felt so bad because she hadn't filled out the calendar. She told us this time she was really done with smoking that she had had enough and today was her last day. I was amazed by her renewed desires to quit smoking. We had been working with her to stop smoking for like  months, but all the sudden she had a mighty change of heart, where that day was going to be the last day. My day was made with that! It is a huge miracle. We went back the next day and sure enough, Chantal hadn't smoked. She had taken the cigarette she had left and broke them and threw them away!! I am so happy for her. She was so proud of herself. That experience for me was, wow. If someone really wants to do something they will do it and also an answer to our prayers. We had been praying for Chantal to stop smoking for a while. There is nothing that makes a missionary's day more than when they see investigators progressing. 

  Wednesday we were at the church and everyone in the ward here is getting ready for a huge Easter concert the stake will have. We were there for the last part of the practice and found out there is a girl in the ward who was supposed to play a violin part, but she didn't know how to. I offered to help her. They gave me the violin to take home and play it through and the whole house of sister missionaries were so happy to have a violin in the house. I am not great at playing the violin, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to help this girl. The part is just the melody of a primary song but is in the key of F, where the violin is normally played in the key of D. So I got a little musical training in French. They don't use letters to named the notes, but solfege (like do, ray, mi, instead of C D E). We had a lesson for violin on Friday to help me here learn the song. It was really fun. Who ever thought I would be using that skill on a mission. All those years my parents gave me lessons being used for something. Here is French Polynesia, next to no one plays the violin. It is really uncommon, but people love the violin. It is a great missionary tool. So if Vanessa, the girl I am helping learn the song, doesn't feel comfortable playing it still, they asked me if I could play it. I agreed. That is for you family. My long last talent of playing the violin is surfacing again, and I  do feel guilty for not developing that talent more when I was home. 

  Ok, now I want to talk about one of my favorite parts of the day. I am very grateful to have a companion who goes running with me every morning. That is extremely a blessing because there are many missionaries who don't even exercise in the morning. We go to this little track that is just beautiful. It is just  a track, but there is always all these men who get up at like 5 am to play soccer. You can see the ocean and Moorea from this track and the city and the lush green mountains. I really like it. Everyone says the city is not pretty, but I really think it is. We always sprint home when we are done. It feels so good starting a day like that.  

  I was reading this week in the Book of Mormon at the end of Alma of Helaman and thought it was interesting how many verses were spent on the fact that the Nephites kept records. One thing that breaks my heart here is that Tahitians are an oral culture. The people who first settled here never kept records, so we don't really know exactly the history of the people in Tahiti. It breaks my heart that we can't know more about the ancient Tahitians. It would be so interesting to know. So I thought of how we can help our investigators to keep their own records, especially of the spiritual experiences they are having, these experience that have moved them to change. We have started giving them little journals. They don't really have journals you can buy here, so I just decorated a composition notebook I bought at Carrefour (like target). Many of them have never kept one before, but are excited to start. I am excited for them because I know in them keeping a journal they will be blessed and they are breaking the culture of not keeping written records. 

 I have another miracle story to share. Elvina, who has been also smoking for like 40 years, has almost stopped. She used to smoke 50 cigarettes, but in preparation for baptism, we asked her to stop smoking. With her prayer and our prayers and her desires, she is now down to only smoking like 5 a day!! I am so happy for her. That is huge. We have been working with her for a while and she is almost done. When we first committed her not to smoke, she went three days straight without touching a cigarette. We know God is a God of miracles and if you believe you can do something, with Him you can do it. That message is true and the evidence of it is found in the progression investigators have made and also in the Bible and the scriptures. 

  To change a prepare for baptism is not an easy task compared to the world's standards. I was looking back in my MTC journal and found notes from an Elder Holland talk. He says,  "Why is the work of salvation and the road to baptism and keeping commandments so hard?" He concludes, "because salvation is not a cheap experience, it never was for Jesus Christ either."What we are doing is not a temporal work. It is a spiritual work. It is a work that when done right, it will bring blessings that will last forever. It isn't cheap at all. It costs a price. Missionary work is the same. It takes hard effort on our side, the investigator's side, and Christ's side (which he already accomplished when he suffered for us). I know this work is hard but is worth it. It is a lasting work, it brings joy, not fleeting happiness. 

   Love you all!! We made banana pancakes this morning!! Life is great! Faaitotio (good luck) teie hebidomia (this week)! 

Love,

 Soeur Campbell 

Last Week Happenings

Dear friends and family,

  I am so happy  I can write you all this week. I can't believe it is already March. I passed 3 months being in Tahiti this week. March means the semester is half way over at BYU. Wow! Time flies. 

  Monday night I was feeling sick with a sore throat and nasty headache. It was the first symptoms of a cold. I know it. I took a french pill for a cold at night with also some kind of sleeping stuff in it. I was worried I was going to be sick and not be able to work. I prayed right before I went to bed that I would be ok to work. Tuesday morning I woke up and had the best sleep ever. I didn't feel anything like the night before. My head felt clear and we had our studies (each morning we do 2 hours of study, one hour of personal and one hour as a companionship) and I had my best study ever. I felt soo good. Then we worked hard in the sun the rest of the day just like that. My throat is still a little sore, but I can't figure out why.

   My dad was asking me about the religions in the area. People  here are religious. For example, we have people come to church regularly who aren't even baptized. They come because they like church. Everyone here claims their ancestor's religion as their own, even if they don't practice or really know the doctrine the church teaches.  We have Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholic, Protestants, Sanito (RLDS), and 7th Day Adventist and us. It is a pretty diverse Christian island. Most the people are Catholic or Protestant, but I hear to Sainitos and JWs a lot, but haven't come in contact with too many.

   

   Friday we had an activity at the church for the investigators. It was on family history. It felt soo good to think about family history. I miss doing that. The church really has some awesome ways to find out your ancestors through some good sites. They do a good job of that. Sr. Marrett ended up making chocolate chip cookies for this activity. People here don't really eat choc. chip cookies because they don't know how to make them and also baking here is different. Measuring cups or recipes aren't really a thing at all or temperatures in an oven. Needless to say, choc chip cookies are a scarcity and they were eaten fast, even the ones we accidently burnt a little. 

  Also this week our amis, Moearii was eating something from a white mug. She asked us if we wanted any and trying to be nice, I just took some without even seeing it or asking what it was. When I saw it was these yellow looking things it looked like some kind of plant. I tried it and it tasted like strong salty ocean water with a soft texture and was a little fishy tasting. It was really salty. Come to find out it was sea urchine from the island of Huahine. Yeah, she offered it again, but that time I ate it with lime and it was much much better smothered in lime, because the lime disguised the taste. Who ever knew I would find myself eating that. 

   I know this email was a little short this week. Things are still going. The area I am in is great. I love Tahiti. I feel like I am at girls camp at times with the humidity and no AC, but it's cool, because I loved girls camp growing up. Like girls camp, you are there to grow and to feel the spirit and help others and in a mission, I have taken those good things I learned at girls camp and are applying them. I hope all you are doing well and find yourselves safe and warm and loved!!

Love,

Soeur Campbell

Week of Miracles

Hi everybody,

  This week I am going to format this letter a little differently. I spent the week really looking for a miracle that happened each day. So I'll start with Monday.

Monday (23 Feb)- Monday is our preparation day and sometimes we go and play volleyball or basketball with the other missionaries. I was talking with one of the elders from France I was in the MTC within French and it occurred to me how much I have improved because at the mtc I couldn't even understand the French when they spoke. Then that same night we were at a member's house for dinner and I had like a 40 min. conversation with a sister in the ward and understood everything. It truly is a blessing to only have been here 3 months, and to see my progression and the miracle it is. 

Tuesday (24 Feb)- We have been teaching this couple, Elvina, and Yves. They started being serious about the lessons in January when we talked about eternal families with them. Now it is  February. We went to their house and holy cow, there has been a change in the way things feel there. It is incredible. There is more a feeling of peace and warmth in their family. The peace that comes from putting God first in your life and being confident in Him. I am just bloowwwnn away of how far this couple has come. Before they had been living together for 20 years with no plans for marriage, but now they have a marriage date. Their 20-year-old daughter even took out the money she saved to buy them wedding rings because they weren't going to buy them. This family is becoming more unified and loving, because of the gospel. 

Wednesday (Feb. 24)- Today we had two good miracles happen with investigators, and both of them testified of the same thing. Moearii is 21 years old and has a daughter. She just stopped smoking this year to set a good example for her child and started making church and reading scriptures a priority. She told us how much of a difference she has seen since she has been doing those things. She said she sees a change in her boyfriend and daughter even. It is interesting how much these changes we see and they talk about have to do with family. Next Noeline, we went over there in December to share a little message with her and talked about Mat 11:28-30 and how taking the yoke of God upon us doesn't seem easy at first, but it is how we can receive the desperate help and rest we need. Then, she wasn't taking the missionary lessons, because she didn't have time. She was trying to deal with life with a wayward son and a busy work schedule. I don't know how, but since then she found time for the gospel. Wednesday, she told us about how  using the Book of Mormon to help her in her life and how her wayward son is starting to come back, that their relationship has made leaps. I know all that is happening because she exercised her faith and took the yoke of Jesus Christ, by putting him first. Now the things that made here heavy laden are becoming light. 

Thursday (Feb 25) - We went over to Tauhia's house (Tauhia is trying to stop smoking) with a calendar to help her make goals to stop smoking. We pulled it out all already to help her and then she started telling us how she hasn't smoked since yesterday afternoon. That is a huge accomplishment for her! She then told us she said a prayer when she felt like smoking and then took a nap and fell asleep. When she woke up she felt like smoking again, but she was all out of the paper I guess you have to use to roll a cigarette, and by that time the store was closed, so she couldn't smoke. God answered her prayer to help her not smoke. Ok back to the lesson. We were all there ready to make goals with this calendar to diminish little by little and she tells us she is done. I asked, "What day do you want to be completely done with smoking?" She said, "today was the last day Feb 26, 2015, I am done!" Okay, well that took care of that. (quick follow up: She has kept her word this far) What a relief and blessing for us. I am so happy for her. 

Friday (Feb 27)- It was a hard day. We had a lot of lessons cancel and we showed up to one of our lessons and our investigator was drunk. We also were talking to this man, but he was not nice and was all up in my face and calling me a "jolie fille" (pretty girl). He even told me "your in your dreams, baby." not appropriate. I just stood there. I was really praying to be patient in that moment, more like that 40 mins he spent talking to us. By the end of the day, I was happy, because Noeline, who I talked about on Wednesday, told us  on wed. she wasn't going to be able to go to church because she had a thing at work she was in charge of and couldn't tell her boss no. In that moment I didn't say anything. I didn't feel it was right to lecture or something. Well, we were at the church and it was like 8pm at night because we just finished a lesson and she told us she would be at church on Sunday. I guess she talked to her boss or something. Oh, what a miracle that was! She was so happy too. She actually had just got done cleaning the church and they were having a little party. The youth were dancing and they had dinner and it was really simple, but I could see it meant so much for her to be there on a Friday night with her son, having good wholesome fun. 

Saturday (28 Feb) - This was another day of a lot of lessons falling through. We took a trip in a jeep up the mountain in some rough roads to go see a family. They were nice and we shared some verses with them. They didn't really want to receive the missionary lessons, but they gave us mangoes from their mango tree. I love mangoes. That was a little miracle for me because we ran out of mangoes, but now we have some.

(side note: We started talking to one of our invesgator's neighbors and they were kind enough to give us some Monoi oil. It is this oil the Tahitians use to keep off mosquitoes and is made from Tahitian flowers. I had never tried it before. Well, I put a whole bunch of it on and it didn't keep away the mosquitoes. I am pretty sure it attracted them. Now I have more bites than I started with)

Sunday (1 March)- The miracle yesterday was I made it through the week. The week  was hard, I'll be honest. By the end of it, we kind of had a dance party to efy music. Oh, it felt so good. I am glad I live in a house with 3 other awesome sisters. It feels like home for me in a way. 

Today I feel like my outlook on a mission is changing for the better. I am soooooo happy to be here on this island and with these humble happy people.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week and look for the miracles in your life. They are real. God is a loving, powerful, God. We are soo blessed to be His children. Love you all!

 Soeur Campbell