Tender Mercies of the Lord

May 28, 2018

Dear Friends and Family,

Famille TOA- Our wonderful family of 3.  The daughter, 11yrs, works hard in her lessons and commitments to read the Book of Mormon.  She prays sincerely that her dad will get married to her mom and that he'll let her get baptized. She is preparing for the 23 Juin!       The mom got the answer to her prayers, asking which church she should go to, and become a member of.  The spirit brought peace to her heart, as she arrived at the Mormon church.  She rides the bus to church each Sunday, voila, the 3rd time this Sunday. She waits for her husband's okay for their marriage.      The Dad is blunt and is from Nouvelle Caledonie.  He has changed since the first lesson but he can be very stubborn in the lessons.  We invited them to be married the 22 of June, and yesterday the daughter whispered in my ear that her Dad accepted to get married!!! He was reticent, he said, because they don't have enough money to buy rings.  Well just to testify how involved God is, in the little details of our lives,  later that day, a Member Came UP TO US, asking if they could pay for the rings.  He was not aware of their situation.  Sweet Tender Mercies.  In walking across the village, back to our house, we saw all the right amis, that we needed to talk to.  We literally flopped on our beds, overcome by how many little tender mercies we saw all day long.  

Maeva- Is a Jehovah's Witness.  She is a wonderful woman who serves as many people as she can, and usually with her incredible cooking skills. She comes to church and likes sitting up in the very front, so she can catch what's going on. During the last lesson, we talking the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and watched the Video of Christ's baptism. Yesterday she told us that she had seen good changes in her life and in her family's life, and she felt that her mom who passed away a long time ago, was happy to see her daughter taking the lessons with the Mormons. She accepted to be baptized and we are working on the date with her!!

Tilda-  Our Mission President said we need to work harder on inviting people to be baptized.  in fact, that we need to invite everyone to be baptized Unless the spirit tells us otherwise.  Our first lesson with Tilda, meant that we taught the Restoration of the Gospel and invited her to be baptized if she gets an answer.  Sr. kendall and I went back over how to teach using the Brochure Pictures, and had a short, powerful lesson.  The spirit of able to testify during the lesson and Thilda accepted the soft baptismal invitation. 

Service Project, where everyone went hard.  It was very hot and sweaty but the Tamaa at the End makes it all worth it haha.

Wonderful FHE by the members.  We had new amis there, even the Policeman who stays here for 2 months, from France.  Big Carnival Tent set up on the beach, with some hilarious skits (by the Famille Cary), and of course a feast.  

Not everything is perfect, even on this little island.  But I can personally tesify that the Savior is surely working in the field beside us. I have no doubt. We have seen the continued, genuine efforts of members all this week. Several pray, personally, to know who they need to see and who they can invite to activities and lessons. We have seen the Spirit working in the lessons to help multiple people accept soft and hard baptismal invitations. And oh, the power of the spirit!!  Jacob 5:71-72.   

Ward Activity at the Beach (Nairoa)

We made mermaid tails for all those that wanted them

And we took an excursion to the Grottos on the island, some crazy cannibal stories to go along with them, they used to have war meetings in this grotto.