Aug 21, 2017

Dear Family and Friends,

Training a clever, hard working French sister!  #wontheGreenielottery

Soeur Basset, came very well prepared for this mission. She has worked so hard to be out here, and against the odds, but here she is. She has got lots of mosquito bites but I have not heard a word of complaint about those! She really has not complained since she got here (it is kind of making me nervous ;) haha. I did not adapt as quickly as she is adapting. I am very impressed! She has been handling the stress of lots of walking up the mountain for lots of lessons.  We hope to slowly start learning Tahitian together.

First real day in the sector we pass this cute puppy who runs up to Sr Basset and starts licking her leg.  She pets him and I tell her we'll come back soon. We leave. 

Rated R scene:  Walk back up the road two hours later and that cute puppy's head was all over the road.  Not the best first impression of my sector for my newbie missionary...   And we walked by two other dead dogs that day.  

Baptism for Soon! Wohoo!  AP's called the night before to let us know the President was coming to the baptism.  Probably the best one to come to of our baptisms.  She was so ready!! She let all the temptations and struggles leading up to the baptism, make her stronger.  Hopefully we will get her to the temple this week! 

Yeah I miss that champ trainer Sr Durrant, but loving this new experience to push myself as a trainer.   

I am so grateful for the spirit and the promise that we can always have that gift.  I don't want anyone to be without that guidance and peace.  I hope each of us can be seeking to be worthy of the spirit.  

Ok Me lovin' you (all) #bichelamar 

Sr Spencer 

Pictures: 

1.Eating special Algae that only grows at one of the islands.  Thanks Mino.

2. Soon taking the dive! 

3.And our old house of sisters before everyone left

Aug. 14, 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

Annnd I write too much.  I just bolded stuff that maybe was the conclusion to the rambling.  Faitoito. 

Sunday night, Sr Durrant and I decided we had several families of amis that they needed a little boost.  So Monday we set up an activity for the next day at the temple.  Tuesday came and the members actually came and so did 8 of our amis, Family of Deborah and Family of Maud, and some others.  After explaining the different rooms in the temple on the temple grounds and explaining how our goal is to return to live with our Heavenly Father, we watched a video and ate pizza.  Not too complicated but the spirit was heavy that night.  And Sr Durrant overheard Teva saying to his wife Maud "we need to go to the celestial room and be sealed".  They had very open conversations with us and we were so thankful for member support. 

 

Fast Forward to the next lesson with Maud and Teva.  I was with another sister and not Durrant all day. We found Maud when we were lost one day and asked for directions.  Since then she has taken all the lessons from us and fulfilled all the engagements with her family but she is a Seventh Day Adventist and her view was that her baptism was real.  She wasn't going to move on that point either and it was really hard to feel the spirit because her heart was closed.  For this lesson though, Maud asked a question about the Melchizedek Priesthood and then bore her testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon which was a huge first!  Then her husband came home from work and joined us.  He asked a question about the Celestial Kingdom and how we can get there.  After we had explained that, I asked them if they wanted to have their family sealed forever.  The couple said "yes", and so I engaged them for baptism again, and Maud humbly answered that if she wanted the celestial kingdom, she was going to be baptized again with the authority of God, and that her and Teva were up to the task! So their baptism is for the 3rd of Oct, chyess.  Their family is going to add so much to this ward!!

Soon's parents decided to kick her out of the house and onto the streets because of her decision to get baptized.  How did Soon react?  She cried, found a friend to stay with, came to us and asked to move the date of her baptism up for this week.  That's right, there's our power over Satan.  

Mino Update: Didn't have his baptism two weeks ago because he almost had a cardiac arrest.  

We had a zumba and Heiva activity with our amis.  We actually got to dance with them for the Heiva- their cultural dancing, which was so fun! ... and I would probably be shunned from this society if I had been born here, because I learned first hand,  I can't dance.  

When we try to beat the Jehovah Witness Missionaries to the doors... annnd then end up teaching a lesson at the same as them to two different people in the house. Apparently people are burning with religious zeal!  It's like the time of the Restoration again. 

Transfer Calls came and Mom Durrant and I are splittng up.  She has bigger and better things to do as STL and I got to prepare to train a newbie on Wednesday.  #MTC Fresh  Wish that new missionary luck and shoot a prayer her way, we are in for a "blind leading the blind" journey together! 

A quote I have been leaning on is by Neal A Maxwell 

“God does not begin by asking us about our ability, but only about our availability, and if we then prove our dependability, he will increase our capability.” 

I love this mission and I am excited to see what next week holds in store! 

Had to kick my "mom" out of the house this morning .... I will miss Sr Durrant so much!! 

Sr Spencer

Les pics:

1. Saying "na-na" to Sr Miller who is heading out to the islands.  Good luck getting around your paradise in a stick-shift car

2. A house.

3. Sr Durrant and I trying to take a selfie in a mirror.  Looked at the pictures later that night.  Unsuccessful

4.  Temple Activity!!! Which went really well!!! Did a little film and Q &A

5.  "If you don't eat at an activity, was there really an activity?" I have had multiple ward members explain the necessity of food at activities.  Haha so here is our pizza followup after the temple

6.  Here is Maud and Teva and their kiddies, right after they accepted to get baptized and work to get sealed in the temple

 

 August 7, 2017

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was fast Sunday...

We fasted for 4 specific things.... and one of those was that Jennifer's dad (she is 11) accepts her baptism.  When we went over to her house, the gate was shut and locked which is super rare for the gate to be locked, and we were super put out. Her mom yelled at Jennifer that she couldn't open the gate and so she told us to leave.  And then her dad just walked up from nowhere, opened the gate, put on a shirt and accepted to do a lesson with us right then. This is the same man who never talks to us and kills Jennifer's dogs whenever he needs money.  Well that day he accepted a lesson and said he wants to come back to church so he can baptize Jennifer.  Such a great miracle, ah good things to come for Jennifer who deserves all this happiness!
 We see miracles so often because we pray for others, we pray for things specifically, and we actively work toward those things.   I think that principle can be true for everyone, and I am so thankful that God loves each of his children equally. 

Love you all, have a great week!

Sr Spencer

​Picture: Lesson with our new Ami Emily and our almost baptized Soon.  We don't stop lessons for anything!! Haha should've brought waterproof scriptures. Really cool that our amis go on splits with us to go see other amis haha.

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