A Service of Love: Happy Summer

Bonjour tout le monde,

I hope it is starting to get warm over there in the US. It has been warm here since I came in December and hasn't changed. Anyways if the temperature is starting to heat up... WELCOME TO SUMMMEERRRRR!

This week we had a movie night and watched the Joseph Smith movie. We invited all our amis. One of the people we invited was a man we started talking to earlier that day on the side of the road. We told him about the movie night and invited him to come, and by a miracle he did.

Saturday Leila, Elvina, and Yves got baptized in Tipaerui (my old sector in Tahiti). I am so happy for them. All of the three have had contact with the missionaries for over 2 years, and Saturday they started a new spiritual life.

Ok back to Takapoto. The members here are so wonderful. One family this week was supposed to have us over for dinner but insisted we come over for dinner and lunch. This family works hard for what they have and we so loving and giving to share with us. When we had lunch and dinner, they fed us the best of what the atoll has to offer. Their love towards us was incredible. They made us tart and cake and ice cream (which is super expensive here) and fries and pasta and rice and steak and fish and shrimp. It was a ton of food!!

I found out that our members go spear fishing and swim with the sharks with just a little knife as protection. The members tell us though they are protected because they pray before they go out. After hearing that I really wanted to see a shark, because they said the sharks come close to the coast.

We prayed every day this week with our ward mission leader and branch president. We are praying for miracles and are being blessed to see them daily.

We started teaching a young man who has never wanted the missionary visits before. That was a huge miracle.

Another man we teach has been asking his family for weeks to read the scriptures with him, have a family night, or go to church with him, and they haven't wanted to. A couple weeks ago he told them he was going to church the 24 May and without him even asking his family to go to church with him yesterday, they were all there. He told us it was a blessing because he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying every day. We supported that conclusion.

One of my favorite questions now is to ask "What spiritual experiences have you had since the last visit?" or "What spiritual experiences have you had reading the Book of Mormon this week?" It is great. I don't even ask them if they read this week before I ask those golden question because it sets the expectation that they read or had a spiritual experience.

Today we went fishing again with the family Tehiva. It was super fun and beautiful. This week we cleaned house and did our studies before we went out and we caught 30 fish altogether. That is 2 times the amount of fish them last week when we rushed out the door and didn't prioritize our day. The best fish they say is the tamarae (dance in English). I caught 3 of those. While trying to bring them up on the boat though the sharks ate 2 of them. I was soo sad. I brought up my fishing line and all there was was a fish head. So yeah I got to see the shark I wanted to see, but he ate my fishes! We went to a little paradise spot to eat again and they taught me how to clean the fish using a shell to get all the scales off. Then we cut open the belly of the fish and pulled the guts and heart out with our bare hands. It was a good culture experience. All this was by the bank of the lagoon and then the sharks were right there too, but they were little, like 4 ft long.

Also, I would like to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT and CONGRATS GRAD! to my little sister Kadee who graduated from high school with honors (and a ton of college credit) Friday. I am praying for you out here and am so excited for you to head out to the Polynesian island of HI for school in November!

Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful week and summer for you GA kids and BYU kids who finished your school year. Don't do things you will regret later!

Love,

Soeur Campbell

My companion Soeur Sommers and I. She is from Paea, Tahiti and is wonderful. She helps me speak French better.

Today on the boat with Brother and Sister Tehiva, and our friends Moorea and Teroku.

Pahua, it is calm.. This man is in our ward. He is in his backyard getting the food out of the clam to sell today. When we went on the boat, they had me eat some of the white part plain. It was okay, but really salty.