Bonjour tout le monde! 

Well today marks my 7 month mark. WHAT. Where did the time go? 

But so anyways, this past weekend was like the best weekend EVER. It started on Friday when we had our mission conference with RUSSELL M. NELSON! 

It. was. AWESOME. 

Elder Callister, Elder Pearson, and Elder Tarati (part of the 70) came too with their wives and it was so inspiring and uplifting. We were all gathered in the chapel, waiting for them to get there when Soeur Sinjoux was searching for another sister to help put flower leis on the authorities when they came. I happened to be sitting in the most ideal spot and so she picked me! It was kind of last minute because she couldn’t find the other sister who was supposed to do it, so I wasn't really sure who I was supposed to give the lei to. We were standing in a line and the first to arrive is Elder Nelson. Totally shook his hand and greeted him and then we greeted all of the other authorities. I wasn't aware that the sisters were only supposed to give the leis to the wives of the authorities so I accidentally put mine on one of the 70. Haha, Soeur Rima leaned over and told me but because I still needed to give it to Sister Callister, I got to do it twice! Hahaha I think I stole Elder Taylor's opportunity to put it on Elder Callister... whoops! It was still really cool though that I got to do it twice :) 

Our conference was really great and they all talked a lot about the Spirit and also the importance of the first point of Lesson 1 in Chapter 3 of Preach my Gospel- God is our loving Heavenly Father. Elder Pearson talked a lot about how important it is that our amis understand who they are before they can accept any of the higher principles in the gospel. I really liked Sister Nelson's talk also about how we are here to outwit the adversary. She talked about how we are given talents and how we are all capable to outwit the adversary and to help our amis outwit the adversary too. I could go on forever and the conference- it was so good. 

Saturday was like the best ever too because Famille Tauhiro got baptized! Man- Seriously the BEST baptism ever. There is no greater joy than to see a family get baptized and start their progression towards being an eternal family. I was really touched also by their testimonies- especially Denny's testimony (the dad). In one part of his testimony, he said- Je pense que j'ai fait un bon choix. (I think that I made a good choice). It wasn't a Je sais (I know) or even a Je crois (I believe) but a Je pense- I THINK. It made me think back to Jeffrey R Holland’s talk about faith- ("Lord, I believe?" Something like that) Even though he hasn’t received a confirmation for himself that it was the best choice he could ever make in his life- he had enough faith to go forward and ACT and by doing that- his faith will grow and he receive this confirmation by his experiences after making this decision. He is such a great example for all of our other amis and I wish that the rest of them (who are scared to make the decision or feel like they aren’t ready (they’re ready)) would be like family Tauhiro. They're the best. 

 

Don't know who took the photo or what I was doing but I thought it was funny. 

Plus, Heirani is a cutie.

Tauhiro baptism.

Heirani is ready to come with us to lessons.

Big group photo. President Ariipeu is the man on the left who baptized them. He was the member who gave us the reference because he's best friends with Denny. His wife is in the middle.

 

Other than that- the work is going great. We have the baptism of Heipoe and Regis (brother and sister) this week who are 10 and 12. They're the cutest. And we fixed a baptism for one of my new favorite amis- Heilani for the 15th of March! (best day ever.) 

 

Stacey, my favorite little munchkin.

She does not like to smile for pictures soooo I tried to help her out. It didn't work.

Stacey loves, loves, loves my plaque even though her face doesn't show it.

 

Hope yall are doing well, LOVE YALL! 

Soeur Taylor 

 

Howdy Utuafare! 

Life is going really well here in Papara and we have had such a good week! It was rough starting out with Soeur Green going home, but then it really picked up and we definitely saw some miracles this past week! 

First of all- Famille Tauhiro- a family we started teaching in January after our 2nd counselor in the Stake Presidency introduced us to them- is getting baptized on Saturday!!! The first time we met them- we were on splits with the ward. So it was just me and 3 leaders in our ward. Being on a split with members, especially to meet a new family, is hard. To not have your companion with you is weird! The members were so great, but it’s just different. So when we went to go see them, I was really nervous. We had a good lesson about the Restoration and how families can be forever and after that we started with the lessons. This family is just so golden. We taught the dad- Denny, the mom- Titaina, and their oldest- Heirani who is 15. She already asks us so many questions about the mission and was the first out of the 3 to be ready for baptism. 

Famille Tauhiro! It's blurry but oh well.

 

We started the lessons and everything was going really well. We engaged them for the 15th of March and they were thinking about it and praying about it until they came to our activity at the temple on Friday (like we have done before). They were really touched by the spirit and Elder Taylor (what a coincidence eh?) who is one of the assistants, got to talking with them. He engaged them for the 22nd of February- and they accepted! It was totally confirmed until yesterday when Titaina got her answer. We saw them on Saturday and Sunday and last night she recounted her experience- She said she was eating breakfast and they were watching TV before church. A little section came on about the church and at the end, a huge picture of Christ appeared with the words- "Viens, et suis moi!" (Come and follow me) She was so shocked and knew that that was her answer. 

I have to say- I have never been so happy and full of joy than when she was explaining how she got her answer and to see them so happy about their baptism on Saturday. Missions really are the hardest and BEST experiences ever. I know that families really can be eternal and I CAN'T WAIT to watch this family progress and achieve that. 

Cute little kitten at the Pereitai home.

 

Our view recently - RAIN.

STACY, always styling.

Beaucoup d'amour, 

Soeur Taylor

PS. RUSSELL M NELSON comes this week! We have a mission conference on Friday. I'M SO EXCITED :)

Family!

How are yall?

'Life is pretty rainy here and a little sad as well. Soeur Green left us and now it is just me and Soeur Kavera left to figure out how to move this work along in Papara. But it’s good. I just have to keep telling myself that change is good! (We'll see how long that works...)

 

The flag that our cute amis made for Soeur Green.

I love my companions!! :)

 

This past week was pretty up and down with emotions, but we still had a lot of work like normal so that was a blessing. We had a lot more lessons with hard amis and people who didn't accept the gospel, but at the same time, we had a lot of really good lessons with amis who are progressing and who ARE accepting the gospel in their lives!

We teach these two kids- Heipoe and Regis who both have a baptismal date for the 28th of February. Their parents are inactive, but all of their kids are not members. We started talking with their other brother- Nohoarii, and he is so great! We committed him for the same date- February 8th, but we're still waiting on his answer. I'm sure it will be yes :)

We are in the middle of fixing the baptism dates too for a family we started with a few weeks ago. We committed them for the 15th of March (such a great date :)  but we're still waiting on their answer too. It’s exciting teaching a family. They have 3 daughters, but only 1 who is above the age of 8. They already know a lot of members so integration into the ward has been really nice and smooth. They hesitate a little bit, but I know that their daughter- Heirani who is 15 years old will really be the example and get them to commit. I love her.

 

We had a mission conference on Friday will all of the missionaries on Tahiti and the leaders from some of the islands and it was SO good. It was about commitments and about committing people for baptism. It was really inspiring because I realized that there are so many people who are already prepared to receive the gospel and commit to being baptized- but all they have to do is be asked. It was really inspiring and I'm excited to continue to put it into practice. It really just comes down to having faith and no fear. You can’t have fear to talk to someone or to ask them to be baptized. If you have the spirit- you won't fail. That is one of the biggest lessons I learned this past week and I’m still learning. You really can never fail with the spirit.

We had a broadcast yesterday too with all the Pacific area which was really good about hastening the work of the Lord. It’s nice to be a part of this big push for missionary work and to realize how important it is!

Other than that, I'm doing really well! It's been raining for the past like 5 days, so we'll see if that continues. I love the rain (only in the humidity) but what I don't love is all the mosquitoes that it brings with it! But I'm still alive.

Hope yall are well!

Thanks for all the letters and prayers :)

Beaucoup d'amour,

Soeur Taylor

Hinenao and Coco... Love them!

Cute Melody with my plaque!

Starting young :)

These kids are the coolest.  We teach the two girls - Hinenao and Kahaia.