Texan in Tahiti

Bonjour tout le monde!!

Oh my do I have a lot to tell y'all!! This past week has been CRAZY!

First of all- GUESS WHAT.

So the Church is in the process of making a film for the Missionary Training Center about the Gift of Tongues. They chose the mission of Tahiti because well, we learn and speak two! For the film, they chose three missionaries- one elder right at the start of his mission at the MTC. The second was SOEUR CARTER who is right in the middle of her mission and the last is another elder who finishes his mission next week.

What does that mean?

Soeur Carter being interviewed.

That means that we have been hanging out with 3 guys from the Church who have been filming us for this film!!! It has obviously mostly been Sœur Carter but I am definitely the luckiest companion in the world because I will definitely be in it!! That's why I couldn't email on Monday because we were busy filming and what not. They came to two of our lessons yesterday- our lesson with Famille Tufariua and the other with Papi Pupure. It was so great because both Mami Tufariua and Papi Pupure were hilarious with all of the Equipment they had to set up and all. It was a lot of fun. But yeah, basically, I get to be a part of this super cool film about the gift of tongues!! Not a big part at all but I'm really excited that they're spotlighting this mission because it really is the BEST mission in the world :)

Besides that, we had the baptism of Nuihau this past Saturday!! That was definitely such a great baptism even though NOBODY showed up. Oh my gosh, that is definitely the worse feeling in the world as a missionary. We called literally everyone in the ward and invited all of the amis we had lessons with and not a single person we invited was there. But it ended up being okay because his family was there, a few of his friends showed up, and then a few other leaders in the ward. His family brought a TON of food so at least there we had enough food and everything. Remember Mautini? Our pumpkin child? Well.... we ended up cooking the pumpkin and we made some pumpkin bars for his baptism and it was quite a hit. Nuihau told me he wanted the recipe. lol

Nuihau's baptism.

DMP baptized Nuihau

Nuihau is pretty much the most golden investigator ever. We thought Charles Willy was pretty golden, but Nuihau is just someone who really just gets it. He has got a really strong testimony and all the desire in the world to do what is right. He's 24 years old and in the middle of training to become a police officer. That's a big deal here because the second part of training is in France. So if he makes it through, he'll move to France and finish the training there to become part of the police force. We have high hopes for him to serve a mission but seeing that he is in the middle of training, we don't know if that will end up happening. Nonetheless, we have really just been blown away by his testimony and the strength he has. That's one of the BEST feelings as a missionary- watching someone change and progress and then to watch them get baptized and become a member of this wonderful Church.

So needless to say, his baptism was a little bit of a rollercoaster of emotions but in the end, it was one of the best baptisms ever. So great.

On Monday morning (before we started filming) we had to head into Papeete to take care of a few errands en ville. On our way up there, we took a wrong turn and stopped for a second to call and get directions. Well, apparently, when I got out to do the back-up, my wallet fell out of the car but I didn't see or realize that it did. When we got to the mission office, I realized that I didn't have my wallet and so we turned my backpack and the car upside down but we couldn't find it. I was kind of freaking out because it has my license, my temple recommend, my personal debit card, and of course some cash as well. When we didn't find it, I figured we would just have to figure something out and I even had Sister Hemming email dad to cancel my card BUUTTTTTT yesterday we got a call and apparently some kind Citizen found my wallet and turned it in and they ended up getting a hold of the mission office and gave it to them!! EVERYTHING is still in it which is definitely a miracle especially since we are going to temple Friday morning for Christmas. My hope in humanity is restored!

Other than that, life is pretty good here. ITS HOT but I love it. I actually feel really bad for all y'all freezing in every other part of the world :)

I got another stack of letters this past week which was super great. Hope all yall are doing well! Love yall!!

Sœur Taylor