Texan in Tahiti

Howdy Utuafare!

First of all,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANK!!! I can't believe you're 18! SO old. I keep trying to tell myself that it's not possible that my little brother is EIGHTEEN and then I realize that I'm now 20 and that is just too crazy.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes- My birthday was so great!! I loved, loved every bit of it! In the morning, Soeur Fisher, Sr Kavera and Sr Tamahahe made me breakfast and got me a little cake with candles to blow out too. It was great. Our day started out with Family Maono- remember them? We still see them every Saturday and I love it. We had a really good lesson and Vivian (the Mom) was really excited to tell me that her husband, Jean, finally said he would come to church. After I don’t know how many months with this family, I was so happy to hear that FINALLY he was going to come back to church. And he did! Yesterday was a great day too.

After them, we saw our new investigator- Mihivai! She is so cute even though she doesn't understand me half of the time so Soeur Kavera does a lot of translating. I didn't think my accent was that bad but well, hopefully one day we can get through a whole lesson where she understands every word. Ha ha. She is a little timid but she always has so many good questions so I love our lessons with her. Mathilde made us sandwiches and cookies for after the lesson (we have the lessons at her house).

After Mihivai, we had lunch with a family in our ward- Family Tufariua (not the same as Carole and Teipoe) We had Shrimp Curry ( my favorite) and they made me a huge cake which was so nice.

After lunch, we saw Anita! She's doing well and finally got her answer that she wants to get baptized and that she knows it’s true. Before we had her baptism date for the 15th but I could tell that she wasn't quite sure. So for the moment, we haven’t refixed her baptism date but she is doing well and she was supposed to talk to her Dad yesterday (to get permission) so we'll see tonight if she did that.

After Anita, we did splits with Imihia Tufariua (who is planning to go on a mission next year) and Soeur Mathilde. That was fun and we got a lot of work done.

After the splits, we had our English class at the chapel and then we ate dinner with Family Temahuki! It was their daughter's birthday too so that was fun sharing our birthday. They made us TWO cakes and Frere Temahuki thought it was funny to watch us try to down two large pieces of cake he served us.

So if you didn't count- I ate cake FOUR times on my birthday. And that is a Tahitian serving of cake (a lot like Texas servings too haha). I was SO full at the end of the day and literally have never eaten so much in my life. I was really touched though with what everyone made me and I definitely had a good birthday :)

Last Tuesday, we had our sport activity for reactivation for all our inactives and amis. We played kickball and had our Tahitian snowball fight! We put together all of the snowballs (panty hose filled with flour) and everyone had fun throwing them. Tahitians aren’t as competitive as Texans because we only played for like 15 or so minutes before they started cleaning up. I was like, seriously? But it was fun anyways :)

Transfers are next week and we have been dying, waiting for the call. President made me an STL so I’m pretty sure I’ll be staying in Papara for this next transfer but we never know- Anything goes when it comes to President and transfers ha ha.

The work is going well and I am still loving it here in Papara! We fixed a baptism for the 29th with one of our eternal amis. She is 12 and has taken the lessons for a LONG time. She is friends with Regis and Heipoe and so when she saw that they got baptized, it made her think about it more. She started reading the Book of Mormon and I was so touched when she came up to me and said- "Soeur, soeur! I read the chapter you gave me last night and I felt something that I have never felt before! It was so warm!" I happily responded- "Lanihei, that's the Holy Ghost!" She then told me she was going to read again and pray again so that she could feel it again.

With all of our amis, the best feeling is still to watch them progress and change. Being a missionary definitely the BEST calling in the world.

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

Soeur Taylor

Heilani! I love this girl. Such a great ami.

Cute, cute Kahaia

Alex and Raf! They're getting married in April or May and Raf is getting baptized.

This kid is one of the cutest kids ever! During the concert with all of the missionaries on Tahiti he kept yelling "Soeur, Soeur" and kept waving at me. SO cute.

A lot of the kids that we teach. They're all friends with Regis and Heipoe.

One time, Regis and Heipoe saw a picture of me and Soeur Ariel that I had and then when they saw her at the concert, they HAD to take a picture with her. Ha ha.