Texan in Tahiti

Bonjour tout le monde!

So I don’t have a lot of time so this will be a short email.

Here's what happened this past week:

A couple of weeks ago, there was a story on the news channel about Soeur Taylor (who was in the accident last December) and the miracle of her story (Did I ever tell you guys that she came back and is finishing her mission?) Well anyways, EVERYBODY thinks that I’m her when they first meet me and I think it’s hilarious to see people's reactions but one of the best ones was this past Sunday. This lady comes up to me and she's like, "Hello." I say “hello” back. She says very seriously and not super loud, "You are very courageous."Ha ha ha I was like, "Yes, thank you, but I’m not the same Soeur Taylor that was in the accident." She was like, "Oh." Aaaannndddd she walked away. HA HA HA.

Lots of biking and LOTS of sun. I literally was so drained every day last week because I was sun burned and we were in the sun all day. Even if I put on a ton of sun screen, I sweated it all off because it was HOT.

We did a lot more contacting this week and usually when we go to a house and the dogs bark and bark, nobody comes out. So we came to this house and yelled- "Ia Ora Na!!" but nobody came out. There was just a TON of dogs that were barking. So we started walking away and this couple comes out and yells out to us to come back!! We were like what? That's literally the first time that’s happened on my mission. We talked to them, they were interested, and we came back yesterday to see them! Only the wife was there, but it was a good lesson and she has a lot of potential!!

We saw a whole bunch of miracles this past week and we are still working hard to find new investigators. The members are great and there is a whole lot of potential, but we still have a lot of work to do.

One goal that I've set (not sure if I’ve already mentioned it) is to read the Book of Mormon by the time I finish my mission. I've been loving it because I've been learning SO much in 1st Nephi alone. One thing that I have loved is that fact that despite everything that happens in Nephi's family and in his life, he NEVER loses faith. He always keeps this strong faith and he is so quick to forgive his brother's wickedness. I love the example that Nephi gives of faith because I’m sure that we can all say that our lives and trials do not even compare to Nephi's so despite everything in our life, we need to keep the faith.

I hope y'all are doing well and never forget to strengthen y'all’s faith in the one person that will never leave us alone.