This Week and a Trip to Amanu (an island with only 200 inhabitants)

Last week I received a total of three emails with my travel itinerary to go home, one from mom (she beat the church in sending me my travel plans), one from the church as my official travel plans, and one from my dad. 

I talked to Pres. Bize Monday night and he gave me my ecclesiastical endorsement for BYU!! I just thought to myself how crazy that was, we talked for like 20 seconds on the phone because I am a three-hour flight away from the mission home and then he endorsed me. 

Friday afternoon, Sr. Xowi, Pres. Chong (the district president here), his family, 6 other members here in HAO, and I got in a motor boat to go to the neighboring island of Amanu to have a little district conference there.

     The boat ride was an hour long. It was Sr. Xowi's first and she did a good job, as the ocean was little rough and the boat bounced a little,. We took our seats in the back of the boat sitting on the ground with the kids who also came with us because the back of the boat bounces less. It was really really fun. I LOVEEE boat rides. As soon as the boat started bouncing I felt like it was going to be a fun hour and started laughing. That boat ride had to have been one of the most fun moments of my mission. No one got sick going there. We had 6 adults in the boat and 3 kids. I felt super Tahitian.

There is a little group of members that meet in Amanu, about 10 members on average who attend sacrament meeting each week. They meet in a house that the church rents.

On the island of Amanu, there are about 200 people who live there. They just recently built a road and are in the process of building a hurricane shelter for the community. There are two little concession stand stores there and everyone gets around on foot or bike if you really want to get somewhere fast. Sr. Xowi and I walked through the village in about 20 mins taking our time.   

  For the spiritual side of the trip, we went there and had a fireside Saturday afternoon and a conference Sunday morning. We sang for both of the meetings and I spoke and bore testimony for both of the meetings.

   

Sr. Xowi and I prayed and fasted that we would be able to do the work we needed to do there in the short amount of time we had. Well, we were busy going with the members from HAO and did splits to go see the people and teach the gospel.

We were the first sister missionaries ever to go there. I know why. Hehe. We totally took bucket showers. It was a great experience.

The people were so kind and receptive to us. They killed the pig for us and we had a big Tahitian feast, with food they had cooked in the ground. We ate coconut bread, coconuts, chicken, pig, and cooked banana. They also had a little fareireiraa (party) for us, where they showered us with shell necklaces. It was just perfect and we were really touched by their kindness.

I spoke a lot in Tahitian being there and core testimony about The Book of Mormon and eternal families. It was just a dream to be able to do that. I really felt the spirit as I did so.

We also helped an inactive lady who had forgotten most of the teachings in the church as it has been 30 years. We only had an hour with her and she wanted us to teach her the base of the gospel. There was no way we could do that in an hour!! I felt prompted though to just encourage her to read the Book of Mormon, as all the doctrine and plan of salvation can be found in it. My companion and I passed the hour sharing testimony and experiences of that wonderful book.

The weekend trip to Amanu was super tiring. At night we were just whipped but it was weird to not be in our little house all alone. We shared a house with 14 other members including kids. There was 1 bathroom and no running water. I just felt like we were a part of a nice ward camping trip. It went really well though and a great experience to bond with the members from here in Hao. How do missionaries get to have an experience like that??

Sunday we came back from Amanu and the boat ride was a lot less calm, but one of the little girls sitting next to me did get sea sick.  I stayed clean, though.  

Needless to say last night, Sunday, I had one of the best night's sleep of my mission. It felt so good to be back in my bed and clean.  

Well, love you all so much. I almost want to cry every day knowing that this is coming quickly to an end. Have a great week and I'll see you in a few of those!

Love.

Tuahine Campbell

Our Arrival in amanu. The people were at the boat dock with leis. Here is Pres chong and Sr xowi and me

Here is me and louana, one of the members in amanu, We taught her boyfriend. The yellow building behind in the meeting house there

About to leave amanu, me and sr tamatatoa. she made the necklace I am wearing

that little lagoon has the houses around it and that is pretty much the whole habitation on the island. 

Back on the boat!

 taking a selfie with the pig head

Short and Sweet

Hi

Oh my goodness! The church has sent me travel plans to travel home in an email. WHAT!!???? How is that time already here?!!

This week was a nice humbling week. Sr. Xowi and I worked a lot in the Tuamotu sun talking to people. We talked to them and they would tell us it is hot, and we would just keep talking anyway. I never thought I would become this adapted to heat and humidity. We sweat all the time and it isn't a problem. I even wake up sweaty!!

Oh yeah, so the week was humbling because last week we had miracles and our amis came to church and stayed for the 2nd hour and we taught a beautiful lesson. Then this week there was no one. I think it is because school is out, so many have left on their boats to go to the sector. The sector is another part of the island where there isn't any habitation, but people have little cabins and land there, so they go to collect shells and coconuts to sell. 

Heavenly Father was good to us though because He literally sent people to help us. Saturday, Sr. Xowi and I walked into the church courtyard sweating and there was Sr. Ine, the branch President's wife, waiting to greet us. Then she continued to tell us inspirational stories. Afterward, I was just really really grateful for her time and thoughts to come visit us. 

We had branch council and it went really really well. The branch President was super supportive of missionary work and the members too! We all committed to being more serious about the work here. 

This coming Friday we leave for the littler island of AMANU. There are about 12 members there, and Pres. Chong, the district president, told us that there are amis who want to be baptized there. I am so excited. We are going to go scout it out, AND so I ask for your prayers that we can do the work we need to do there because we are only going for 3 days. 

Well, my dear friends and family. I don't know what else to write. I know it was short, but I still love you all!!  Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

TUAHINE CAMPBELL

Life on Hao

Hello everybody!!

COCONUTS

This week we didn't have much food in the fridge, because we needed to go to the post office to get money. Well, Heavenly Father provided for us. Our amis brought us coconuts!! I was so happy. So we drank and I ate coconut for breakfast almost every morning. yummmm. I have learned the thinner the meat the better, because it is sweeter.

SINGING FOR SERVICE

The oldest man on the island is sick and has been for weeks now. The family is of another faith, but every time we have ridden our bikes past the house I have felt we needed to do something nice for them. I didn't really know how to approach it though, because some had previously warned us not to bother going there. Yesterday, Sr. Xowi and I brought our hymnbooks and just sang for the family in tahitian and for the old Papi. We were outside and Papi was lying on his bed. He looked so weak. I really felt the spirit though as we sang how families can be together forever and that God sent us here to earth with parents kind and dear. The service was so powerful, as we combined with those of another faith during a time of need. Afterwards this family invited my companion and I to eat with them. We ate rice and meat and cabbage and a fried bread. It was so kind of them. I was so grateful for the time we had to share a kind moment.

WHAT I HAVE SEEN IN 5 WEEKS

 I have been here in Hao 5 weeks, and there has been many subtle changes happening with the work here. We have one ami, who used to not like it when we talked about prayer or any gospel subject, but now she calls us to confirm her lessons. It was a miracle, as she said her first prayer out loud with us this week. She was touched and we were touched. It took a lot of courage for her, but she did it. For Sr. Xowi and I, we were super happy for her.

AFTER 17 MONTHS

I started reading Te Buka A Mormon (the Book of Mormon) at the beginning of my mission and wanted to finish it. Well this week I finished it. The entire book in Tahitian.
I cannot even begin to  write how many awesome, quite moments of revelation I had. BUT I spent a lot of time in that book and some of the greatest things I learned on a mission came from reading the Book of Mormon in the mother language of the people.
So yesterday, I bore my testimony in church about it in French and Tahitian and it went well. Public speaking in another language isn't really my thing, but I know that the spirit carried the message into people's hearts.
I know the Book of Mormon is true, because of all the little times I read it, it has helped me, even if I have read it many times, there is always something that applies to me. I have also seen how The Book of Mormon has helped the people here. I just can't even begin to write, but since the beginning of my mission the Book of Mormon has always has a key role in helping our amis.
There is my letter for this week. I hope you all have a wonderful week and turn to Him who knows all when you have something you need to know.

I love you all soo soo much!!

Love, 

TUAHINE CAMPBELL

eating our sandwiches at the lagoon today.... yummm

The boat Kura Ora came on Sunday. We had a package on it. Anyways we saw this image from our house and asked our ami, poekiva, what was up. Then she told us the captain of the boat was drunk at her house and the kids were ceasing the moment to jump off the back of the cargo ship into the lagoon.. hehehe. how fun!!

Here is our friend maimiti and her little pig!!! haha.. I tried to hold it but it tried to bite me and i got really scared!!! They keep the little pig in the backyard and when it grows up they are going to eat it. 

Hello HELLOOO

HELLO HELLOOO

BLUE EYES

Word has gotten around the atoll. Apparently, we have some amis taking lessons because of my blue eyes. Holy cow. So this week we challenged all our amis with challenges. One challenge was to keep the Word of Wisdom and other commandments for a week. Sr. Xowi and I wanted to see how serious our amis were. Well. It worked. We are getting to be pretty direct here. I love the amis anyways. Oh, I just laugh sometimes about these situations. 

ENGLISH CLASS

Thursday we had our first English class for the community. It was super fun, We laughed a lot and our amis came. Having people actually come was a miracle for me, a huge blessing and we had a lot of fun. We learned, "I am a Child of God," and some pronunciation stuff. 

COMING TOGETHER

This week we had branch council. It was wonderful because working with the local leaders is so key in missionary work. We discussed our action plans with the leaders and felt supported. 

Then we have many members who are really starting to help us have lessons with amis. The following story is thanks to one of the members who is trying to work with us. 

PRAYER ANSWERED

This week I prayed to really feel the spirit in a lesson. It happened as we taught in Tatiana's home (a member who is a school teacher here). I was teaching and testifying of a prophet and I felt it. The amis did too as we read in the Bible and Book of Mormon. 

THE BIGGEST THING

Serving on a little island has it's way of missionary work and the biggest thing I am grateful for this week is just the trust of the members that is starting to be there. We are really being blessed with members who want to go out with us or have a family home evening. Last week I was worried about that and prayed to know how we could better work with the members and this week I can see that prayer being answered and things are just changing. 

BLESSING

Last blessing of the week. Our running water in the house changed from salty lagoon water to normal this week. I think one of the members came and did something with it. Boy, I am grateful for that. It is so much easier to clean and to get clean with regular water!!!!!!

LAST BIT

My companion and I admired the ocean today. It is sad we see it all the time, but don't give it enough for how pretty it is. Life is like that a lot we don't see what is really before our eyes. The water here is literally the best in the world, but we are so preoccupied with another thing we set it aside. Voila some food for a thought. 

LOVE YOU LOTTSS AND LOTTSSSS

TUAHINE CAMPBELL

The first green building on the left is the church (its the one before the pink house). I think it's safe to say we go to church on the beach...our house is the other building with the rusty tin roof.

Better picture of the church

Loving my daily fish and riceee..... yuummmm!  I love it when we eat this.... living off the island.  got to love this maa (food)

Voila our flower crowns we made and gave away 

j'ai fait moi même ma couronne de fleurs.J'ai appris a faire avec une jeune fille membre...JOLIE n'est ce pas???? lol 

Today at the boat dock... this is a 2 min walk from our house....... got to love it!