Semaine six!

Ia Ora Na To'u Utuafare! 

First of all- THANK YOU for the packages!! 1 from Mama Jones (that I had to wait like 3 days to get because the mail room was closed early on Saturday and Monday was a holiday) and then the other from Dad! I also should get one today from Briana so I'm way stoked to open that as well :) 

Thank you for all the food!!! Between the 5 other Sœurs in my room and district, we have like a pantry in ou room. We have gotten SO much food from family this past week and it's the BEST. Thank you thank you!!

Other than that this past week was great. HARD, but still a pretty great week. The Tahitian is slowly coming and I'm hoping it will get easier the more I hear and speak it. We taught in the TRC in Tahitian this past Thursday and it was overwhelming but pretty funny at the same time. We hardly know ANY Tahitian so to walk in and try to teach a lesson was difficult, but there were just some moments when we had to look at each other and laugh because we had no idea what to say or how to converse with these volunteers. Luckily, we had two understanding RM's and so that was nice. The first volunteer was the former and famous Elder Gunderson who've we've heard so much about because he was such an incredible missionary and knows Tahitian VERY well. He also taught himself Marquesian because he wanted to go there so bad. So yeah. He was a boss at Tahitian. But he was really nice and he knows Briana, Hillary, and Braxton!! They were all in the same ward so that was cool to realize in the lesson. It was funny because he was talking in Tahitian and I heard Briana and concluded that he knew her and was wondering if we were sisters and I wanted to respond to him so bad but all I could say was "E! E!" (Yes! yes!) "To'u Utuafare!!" (My family!!) Hahaha it was funny but I talked to him afterwards in English and he said he was Briana and Hillary's home teacher. (Briana, I'm supposed to ask if you remember Orange Julius home teaching? Hahaha) But anyways, I just can't wait until the day when I can actually form sentences and be able to have a conversation in Tahitian. Oh what a happy day that will be if it ever comes :) 

Speaking of Tahitian though, I want to share a funny story from class the other day. So Frère Roney was teaching us about Negation and making sentences negative and at the end of the lesson, he told us to practice with our companions and answer the questions in our grammar book. It was SO funny because Sœur Aniel just looks at me with this terrified look and says- "How do you do that??" (I responded by laughing because I was in the same boat lol) And then she says- "People speak to me like I know Tahitian!" (I'm laughing harder) She then proceeds to just throw up her arms, look at me with big eyes, and say, "Overwhelmed." LOL, you have to know Sœur Aniel to fully get a kick out of this because it was hilarious. It pretty much sums up our lives for the past two weeks. Haha one of the best parts was when she looked at me and said "Houston... we have a problem." Lol. She's the best. Sometimes, we have laughing fits which I actually find to be really healthy. It keeps us from completely going crazy. lol. 

Besides that, we had a "FHE" with our new Tahitian investigator - Jean-Claude. He is the father of one of Teiho (Tay-cho) who the other half of the class taught as their French investigator (Remember, we taught Vetea). So anyways, Frère Roney picked Sœur Kimball and Sœur Derrick to teach the lesson both in French AND Tahitian. The reason being because Teiho and his siblings only speak French while Jean-Claude only speaks Tahitian. It was a little taste of how it will be like in Tahiti because that's not uncommon for a Tahitian family (The children understand Tahitian, but don't speak it. I'm sure that's how it is for the parents with French as well but they sometimes prefer to just speak Tahitian). I was REALLY happy that we didn't get picked to teach the lesson because it was definitely a challenge, but Sœur Kimball and Sœur Derrick did so well. The rest of us just played the parts of Teiho's family (because Frère Roney was Jean-Claude) or members of the ward. I was Moira, Jean-Claude's wife. lol. It was kind of weird, but I didn't have to say anything really so that was a relief (because it would've had to have been in Tahitian). 

Overall, a pretty good week. My teachers are seriously the GREATEST so it makes class really enjoyable and they are so helpful in our learning process.

Just 4 more weeks left in the MTC! It's so crazy to think that a month from today I will probably be in Tahiti!! AHHHH!

I love y'all and am always praying for yall! 

Ua here au ia outou! 

(I love y'all!)

Beaucoup d'amour, 

Tuahine Taylor

(Sœur Taylor/ Sister Taylor)

p.s. Mom! I watched this EXCELLENT talk by President Holland yesterday that was about teaching. It was at a worldwide broadcast so try to find it online! I think it's just called "Teaching" by Jeffrey R. Holland. It was so good. I thought about you the whole time I was watching it!!