Texan in Tahiti

Ia Ora Na Utuafare e Mau Hoa!

Désolée for not sending an email yesterday- Soeur Carter had food poisoning and so we just took it easy at the house.

This past week was great! All the weeks start meshing together but its good because I’m really adjusting well and enjoying life here in good ol Papara. First of all though- MERCI BEAUCOUP famille et friends for all the mail! I got a whole stack of mail on Sunday because it turns out that Soeur Taylor in Maraa accidentally got a bunch of my mail. It was so fun to read updates on the fam (thanks for sending that mom!) and to hear about the outside world. It was pretty interesting though because I realized just how different the outside world is. I was laughing about it with Soeur Weller because mission life and mission worries are just so different than normal life. Even normal life in Tahiti is SOO different than in America so yeah- it’s pretty funny to read about life in america because I definitely haven’t been around that in awhile. But nonetheless- I LOVE being a missionary here and so I know its best that I’m here :) (just a side note though- Thank you family for planning every trip possible without me! Haha I hope yall have fun though!)

Oookaayyy so this email I want to talk about a famille very close to my heart- Famille Tufariua! They were the family where I had my first Soirée Familiale the first night in Papara. That was our first contact with them and ever since then they have progressed SO much. No baptism dates yet- but they are definitely on their way. One of my favorite parts about being a missionary is being able to see people not as they are now, but for the potential for what they can become. I imagine that’s how Heavenly Father sees each and every one of us so it’s definitely something I love, love, love about being a missionary. This is how I look at this family. We teach Mami, Tepoe, and Carole. They're all at different levels of progression, but we always have SUCH great lessons with them.

Mami is just about the funniest Mami you'll ever meet and I LOVE being around here. She's from Les Australes and so she speaks a Tahitian where you take all of the Rs and change them to Gs. So instead of Mauruuru roa! It’s Mauguugu goa! I always try and speak Tahitian with her accent and she LOVES its. It’s so funny. I can’t speak very much, but she always has me repeat stuff when I say it with the Gs because she loves it so much. We have fun with her.

Carole is really smart and ALWAYS has soooo many good questions. We always end up just answering her questions the whole lesson because they are always parts of each of the 5 missionary lessons. She's definitely the furthest along on her progression because she has the most desire to know. She's really funny too and so we are always dying of laughter with this family.

Tepoe is the second oldest daughter and she's a little bit slower with her progression, but she has a LOT of potential as well. She’s more quiet than Carole but I know she listens and loves the missionary lessons as well.

Last Tuesday, after our lesson, Tepoe says she wants to show us something and comes back with a bucket of like 3 of these crabs. They had showed us some smaller ones before that they eat with coconut, but this time they brought out these huge crabs!!

Of course we wanted to get a picture but it was like super terrifying because their claws were going crazy! Haha I was soooo scared they were going to pinch me!

This picture is HILARIOUS because Mami just like grabbed one without a shell and it didn’t pinch her! She’s the best. That’s Tepoe on the left!

This picture is the BESTTTTT. Soeur Carter held one without a shell and I caught this picture RIGHT before she dropped it. That, my friends, is the face of PURE terror. Hahahaha it is not staged, I promise. hahahaha

Haha we see this famille every Tuesday and Saturday and so I'm excited to see them today.

Other than that, I don’t have much else to report besides that the work is going well. I'm not getting sick anymore, and the languages are going! I still have SOOO much more to learn (especially with Tahitian) but it's definitely coming! Tahitian is the hardest because I can’t understand ANYONE. Nobody speaks clearly or slow enough for me to follow. lol. But that will come with time. On a brighter note though- I FOUND MY TAHITIAN PAPI. His name is Papi Pupure. I need to get a picture with him and so I’ll have to talk about him more later, but he loves to teach me Tahitian and we are always laughing because I can’t understand him and he totally knows it. Tahitian Mamis and Papis are the BEST.

Thanks for all of your prayers and letters!

Vous me manquez!

Beaucoup d'amour,

Soeur Taylor