Texan in Tahiti

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!

 

I totally wrote this email earlier but right when I finished, the internet cut out!! So anyways, thanks to our wonderful ami Melanie, I can now quickly send this email off!

 

Here are 3 quotes that describe some experiences we had this past week.

 

"Truth is truth! It is not divisible, and any part of it cannot be set aside." - Russell M Nelson

 

“Because I have told you the truth ye are angry with me. … Because I have spoken the word of God ye have judged me that I am mad” (Mosiah 13:4)

"Be strong. Live the gospel faithfully even if others around you don’t live it at all. Defend your beliefs with courtesy and with compassion, but defend them. " -Jeffrey R Holland

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/let-your-faith-show?lang=eng&query=
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2014/04/the-cost-and-blessings-of-discipleship?lang=eng&query=

I'll never forget being in a lesson this past week after teaching a commandment and being attacked by our ami's parents-in-law because they were not okay with what we taught - the truth. It was an attack with words, (don't worry it wasn't that dramatic), and the whole time he was speaking strongly to us, I was confused. I thought to myself, we taught the truth right? Why is he angry? If there is one thing that I know, the truth is the truth. The commandments are the commandments of God and that NEVER changes. It doesn't matter who we are or in what situation we live. I was called of God to be a missionary and commit all to come unto Christ and keep the commandments. Well to be short, we held our ground and testified of the truth. I knew that she (our ami) understood and I knew that she knew why we were there.

This week was another interesting week that wasn't our best but it definitely started to pick up towards the end! We met a new family and fixed a Family Home Evening with them next week. The father is Protestant and the mother is Catholic but they're pretty open to learn more. As we sat in their home, all I could think about was the first time I sat in the home of Family Tauhiro. I smiled and thought to myself, this family will accept the gospel. I just knew it! 

Speaking of Family Tauhiro, I had one of the proudest moments of my whole mission during a lesson with a Young adult named Tiani. Her little sister Mihirangi takes the lessons and her Mom took a few lessons with us but has stopped for the moment. Well, her Mom was there and she shared an experience about how she was on Facebook and one of our old friends messaged her. She had no idea that this friend was now a member and was in the Papara ward. I was like, "Oh! Whats her name??"  Titaina Tauhiro!!

I was like, "Ahhhhhhh, thats my convert! Thats my family! Haha."

She told me how Titaina could not stop talking about all the blessings she's received and how grateful she is to be a member. She told her to tell her when her baptism was going to happen because she wants to come. Rodica (Tianis mom) was so surprised when she said that but it made her think at the same time. I was so happy and so proud of my convert being an incredible missionary :)

We were able to recontact a few old amis and other semi member families so that was really great for us. We've really started focusing on committing the members because we've realized that here in Mahina, the ONLY effective way to do missionary work is to go through the members. It's a gradual process but we have high hopes :)

Other than that, life is pretty great and it's still BEAUTIFUL here in Tahiti.

Love y'all and I hope y'all are doing well!

Soeur Taylor

I have a ton of pictures to send but I can't send them now... next week!!