Small set back

Just a quick update.  Morg had a small set back last night.  They will wait until tomorrow to start decreasing her medicine.  We will arrive in Tahiti tomorrow at 6:00 am Tahitian time which is 9:00 am here in Utah.  On a side note for those who don't know me, I am a positive, the cup is half full type a person.  I just had to vent a little on the last post and I feel better now:) but not apologizing for it.  Morg was telling us when she was struggling a couple months ago people need to speak about the good and the bad of serving a mission so that we can learn and grow from all experiences.  last week in sacrament I gave a talk on honesty and spoke about being honest with ourselfs.  And speaking honestly now, I know there is a plan and miracles happen and have happened.  And I will be updating the good and the bad. But always, always looking at the good.  Until tomorrow...

A moment on my soapbox

Okay, I am going there....if you are looking for a uplifting nice post this will not be it.  You might want to stop reading now. But, I am mad!  I am so angry!  I know I said in the last update that I would not "go there" but I am.  I can not believe my beautiful, creative, smart, loving, civic minded, helpful, non judgemental daughter is laying in a  bed in intesive care because of a drunk driver. Are you kidding me? Someone has to be kidding me!  Her whole life is changing because of you? Someone who decided to drink alcohol and then drive?  Your making her nine year old sister ask me, her mother, about every two hours if we know what parts of her brain won't work yet.  If we know what she won't remember, if she will remember us, her family who would do anything for her, who love her more than anything.  Someone has to be kidding me....but they are not.  Because of you we will pick ourselves up and pick up the pieces and help our sweet Morgan through this horrific trial. We will do it because we love her and know that the girl who could concour the world will still concour the world. We will forgive because living a bitter, mean, angry life is not how i choose to live.  My family does not want to live everyday with hatred.  But, any of you who do drink please please please do not drive.  It is not worth it. It's simply not worth it.  My daughter or anyone does not deserve to suffer the consequences of your actions.

Update #2

Last night I was speaking with Morgan's mission president.  He is a great man.  He was telling us that he and his wife were praying at Morgans side and Morgans heart rate went up.  When they went to leave and got to the door her heart rate went back down.  He said "she knows we are there" He also was commenting on Morgan and her "great character" and how great of a missionary she is because of it.  I was telling him how Morgan is going to be so upset when she has to leave and he immediately said "yes she will!" I can't say enough about all the love, prayers, texts and visits.  It is truly amazing and there is no way to explain the feeling.  We were able to speak with Sister Moli family.  They are awesome.  We didn't know any details of the accident and they were able to explain it to us.  They were at the church and were leaving to go home to get ready for the ward Christmas party.  That is when they were hit from behind from a drunk driver.  It would be so easy to be angry right now but I refuse to go there.  That won't help anyone, especially Morgan.   Sister Moli was hit first.  She landed on her neck.  She had her hair in a low bun and thinks that helped cushion her fall.  Morgan was hit next.  The ward members witnessed the accident and helped them immediately.  They moved quickly and we know Morgan will benefit from that.  We are anxious to get to Morgan. Troy and I fly out tomorrow.  Grams is coming to hold down the fort and many other family members, neighbors and friends to help.  Thank you all again for your prayers and kind words.  We are so grateful!!

Update on Morgan

As many of you know our sweet Morgan and her companion were hit while riding there bikes yesterday.  It has been a crazy and unbelievable night and day.  I feel a need to post an update.  She has , and our a family has,  amazingly wonderful friends and family who are concerned about her.  We so appreciate all of the calls, visits and prayers.  Please keep praying for her.  We were relieved to hear that her sweet companion was released from the hospital.  We pray for her and her recovery.  Morgan loves her.  She has been an amazing companion and a great friend.  We are so grateful!  Morgan had emergency surgery to relieve pressure on her brain early this morning.  We just spoke with a Doctor in Salt Lake who is working with the Doctor in Tahiti.  He feels she is getting great care and is getting the same kind of treatment she would here in the states.  We are so glad to hear that.  They plan on tapering off her medically induced coma on Monday.  We are praying for more miracles in addition to the ones she has received.  They do not plan to try and transport her back to the states for 10 days. It would be to dangerous for her at this time.  We will be updated again with the Doctor Monday night or Tuesday morning. Until then please continue to pray for her.  She has a long road ahead for her.  We do want to express our thanks to her mission president and his wife.  They are watching over her.  We are again grateful.  The things that make me so sad right now is how Morgan is going to feel when she realizes she has to leave her mission and the great people of Tahiti. She has many friends and loves them so much.  She will not be happy with this goodbye.  So, we will get her healthy and will return with her to thank these good people and to see the sealing of the couples that are being baptized next week.  I can't wait to hug my beautiful daughter.  She is truly amazing and will overcome the trials ahead.  I have no question.  Thank you all again!  I will update when more information is given to us.

When You Wake Up and Find Someone In Bed With You....

The rain was pounding on the roof. I was sleeping away, dreaming in french, and enjoying the precious hours of sleep I have. That when I heard it. I, groggily, woke up wondering what the sound could be. As I turned my head to the left, nothing. As I turned my head to the right. BAM!

Mouth full of fur.

Cat fur.

Pananche, our favorite feline friend, was purring away, feeling pretty sneaky for jumping through my window and sleeping on my pillow all night long.

*sigh* This cat. I found it sleeping on our table. Our washing machine. In our Attic. And basically everywhere. It's the most annoying animal in the world.

Other than that our nights have been pretty uneventful. Thankfully. We live in a very safe, very quiet neighborhood. Right next door to the Protestant Church. I'll probably only be staying here for another 3 weeks. Which, as happy as I am to get out of here, is slightly depressing. 6 months is a long time. You get really close to families and investigators in that amount of time, but we move on. And I'll be coming back.

Why will I be coming back? Well. We have three INCREDIBLE couples we're teaching. 2 of which will be baptized Christmas day. The only is still working on the Word of Wisdom. And... Sœur Moli and I promised them this week we'll be at their temple sealing. So. TAHITI HERE I COME! Again. Later on. For a wedding. And to tear up those waves.

Speaking of waves. Sœur Moli and I hit up the end of Tahiti for our last p-day. We were able to see a nice bit of Papeari and went down to the beach where they have the national surfing compétitions. Unfortunately those are in July... But it was still pretty cool. The black sand, and McDonalds run made it even better. ;)

I got mail this week! I'd love to know why I can get mail from Japan, before America. (Elder Rogers is the best! Japanese mail!)

AND!! WE GOT REESES PEANUT BUTTER CUPS! I can't explain how long it's been since i've eaten one of those little babies. :)  Yes, I know I looke really tired. Let me explain myself. We had a 6 hour long weekly planning session last night. It was fantastic. I loved it. Sœur Moli and I are going to be friends for a very long time. And yes, my eye looks a tad swollen. I almost poked it out with a metal pole. But there's no damage to the eye, just the eye lid. And yes. That is a helmet tan line for my hair. And Yes. I love Utah State. And yes. I've gained weight. But guess what? I LOVE MY MISSION! And that's all that matters!

V and J. Are our best friends. We're with them everyday, and they are so READY to get married and baptized. Want to know a secret? The gospel changes families. It changes couples. The 2nd lesson with V was terrible. Why? Well we got there and she was crying. J had left the house after an argument with their baby and wouldn't answer his phone. She was worried sick. We talked to her a little bit and then we asked her if she had prayed for him to come back. She hadn't. She asked me to say the pray for us. Right as we finished the pray his car pulled up. The next day, he finally accepted the lessons. And now, I've never seen a more unified couple here in Tahiti. They read the Book of Mormon everyday. They pray everyday. And they are incredible. I am going to miss them. 

We had another miracle this week. We're teaching another couple. T and L. T is a member inactive, and L is SUPER catholic. We started heading over to teach T and see if he needed anything. Each time we'd come over he would have to BEG L to come listen to us. She was not interested at all. We invited them to come to the temple with us.

The lesson after.

She's getting baptized. December 25. She never listened to our lessons. But she wants to go to the temple.

Moral of these stories? The spirit changes hearts. Prayer changed J.  And the incredible feeling in the garden of the temple changed L immediately. It's nothing we did. We're here to help them understand what they feel, but we ABSOLUTELY can not change a person. We can't make them have the desire to pray or to read or to get baptized. BUT. The spirit can, if they're open enough to listen. That is what is incredible about this work. It's not our work. It is really, truly, the Lord's work.

I love it.

XXo,

Sœur Taylor

p.s.

GOODBYE BIKES! WE HAVE A CAR

p.s.s. the internet is slow... and I don't have time to upload more pictures. :) NEEEXT week!

ZIKA....Our Best Friend

Hello 7 month mark!

 

 

Okay, who believes I've been out for 7 months? Not me! Time is going very, very quickly.

 

This week Sœur Moli caught the lovely mosquito disease that's going around ZIKA, so we've been locked in the house. It was a nice adventure, I spent a lot of time on the telephone talking to our investigators. We were doing phone lessons. That's solid missionary work right there...

 

We fixed 2 baptisms by phone. Really. No joke. There's a couple here named Josue and Vaihere. WE ADORE them. Josue is 21 and Vaihere is 25, and we just feel like a huge group of friends. This last week, after one of our lessons, he went and got us pizza. We ran and Grabbed ice cream, and we had our Tuesday night party with them. It was pretty fun.

 

They have 2 kids and are going to get married, wait for it, the 21st December. We have 3 weeks to plan a wedding, and we're all kind of stressing, but it's going to go well. :) They're going to be baptised Christmas morning. Sœur Moli and I are extremely excited.

 

We also had Thanksgiving at home. We treated ourselves to hamburgers. And then I made baby caramelized pear tarts. They were delicious. That was our Thanksgiving...

 

WE HAD BAPTISMS this week! We had 4.

 

 

Ryan and his little brother Mattias.

 

 

Tuterai

 

 

and Christian

 

Those kids, we love them to death. They are so solid and fun to be around. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, they're my favorite people to teach. They are so smart and it just helps them for the rest of their lives.

 

Yep. That's been our week, it wasn't too exciting. :)

 

 

We have Advent Calenders.

 

Love,

Morgan

--

 

 

 

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

 

The Blog

That One Place Called....The Elusive McDonalds

It's never good to wake up and find tons of very poisonous baby centipeds (Wow, I can't spell anymore...) all over your kitchen floor. In Tahiti, we don't have snakes, we don't have large sister missionary eating cats, we have super poisonous centipeds. And they're chillin in our house. *sigh*

 

 

This week was stressful, in a lovely way. Sœur Moli and our Ward Mission Leader planned an activity this week for our new converts, investigators, and inactive members. What was the activity? Well. We rented a bus, and we were going en ville to the temple! So everyone could go walk around and see it. We were hoping to get 20 people to come. That was our goal, we spent all week inviting people, then all friday night and saturday morning reminding everyone. As we pulled up to the parking lot Saturday morning, we saw the bus and about 6 people. Wow, I was pretty devestated. We had prayed and fasted to have a big turn out.

 

Little did I know, there were more people Inside.

 

How many more? Well....

 

We had over 95 people at the temple.

 

Over 35 investigators.

 

And no, our bus wasn't big enough. All the members who had cars squeezed people in, it was a miracle we all got there. I can't believe we had that many people come. I was so grateful. We had worked so hard, and to see that work pay off, wow. I love it.

 

 

We also have two baptisms this week. Tuterai! His parents told us last week they're going to let him get baptised. Sœur Moli and I had a party when we heard that. He's been working so hard, and he is so excited for Saturday. We also have one more investigator. He's been waiting for his girlfriend to marry him, but she won't. So... They broke up, she's moving out, and he's getting baptised Saturday too! It's been a week of miracles.

 

Oh, and my big little miracle of the week. So, I have a really hard time with the food here sometimes. I have these days where I just can't eat any more chicken and rice... I had one of those days this week. And I said a prayer. And I asked for a bit of mercy, and to be able to eat lentille that night without chicken... I know! It's such a dumb thing to ask for, but I needed it. We taught our lesson, and when our investigator brought out dinner what was it? Lentille with corned beef. #miracle I was EXTREMELY grateful right then.  So was my stomach.

 

 

Sœur Moli and I are great. We have joint-custody with the Elders of two of the cutest little boys in the world. Ryan and Mattias. I told Elder Cannon yesterday we want to file for full custody.. but he wasn't too keen on that idea. Why joint-custody? Because they live in Maraa the weekdays, and the other secteur the weekends. But. They're getting baptised this Satuday too!

 

Mami Wong got baptised this Saturday! We were at the temple so we didn't get to go.. but she got baptised! I'm so excited to see the pictures. I'll show y'all when I get them. :) 

 

We're doing good! We're loving it, and we're making the last month count! Christmas is almost here! Noel is almost here! (French.... :) )

 

Oh. I had my first Big Mac ever this week. Our ward missionaries love us. They brought us real, live McDonalds. Soeur Moli was shocked I'd never eaten a big mac before.... AH! I've never liked McDonalds but now... mana from heaven.... *drool*

 

 

 We love you! Have a happy Thanksgiving! I think we're going to try to find some McDonalds again.... Maybe it'll be ramen. Who know! Fafaroo?

 

LOVE!

Sœur Taylor

 

--

 

 

 

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

 

The Blog

Sometimes All the Pictures are of the Sunset

Bonjour a le monde!

This week flew by. It's crazy how time is moving here. Sœur Moli and I have been together for one transfer. One down, one to go. We're going to be able to spend Christmas here in Maraa. The next group of missionaries are going to be coming the 30th of December. We heard there's 17, with 11 sisters coming in. I'm hoping to be sent to an island, or train again... We'll see in a few weeks what's going to happen!

We met the meanest lady in all of Polynésie Français. Wow. So, we have a "baptism" this week for the nicest couple (Jacques and Marquerite). They live in a shack up on the mountain, with a HUGE garden. They grow their own vegetables and sell them, and they always give us some when we go visit them.  Anyway, the land is owned by their grandma. Who is HUGE into the protestant Church. This week she told the couple if they get baptised they can't live on the land anymore. And... they have no where else to go. So we went and talked to their grandma. She said no. So we're going back this week. And we'll go back until she says yes.

It's also been the week of "Marry off Sœur Taylor." For some odd reason... Everyone has been trying to get me to marry someone in their family this week.... Nope. Can't. And... I'm not interested.

My stomach is iron. Before my mission, I couldn't eat sea food without gagging. At the beginning of my mission, I couldn't eat sea food without gagging. What did I eat this week? Imagine with me.. You have delicious batter. You scoop a large handful of live, baby fish. You put that handful into the batter, and then you fry the batter just a little bit. Then. You eat it. The worst is when the fish were sticking out after you took a bit... And. It was delicious. (I just had to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Enjoy the journal pictures.)

The most interesting quote of the week. It came from a 88 year old lady, and it sounds better in Tahitian, but, "Don't give the Bible to the cockroaches! You have to use it."  She was talking about how most people have a bible, but they never read it, they just let it get dusty in the corner. That was a pretty fun conversation. We teach a lot of old ladies... They're funny.

Speaking of Mamis... Mami Wong is getting baptised this weekend!! It's been a long time coming. I've taught her since July, the only slight problem is, she's not getting baptised into our ward. So, we don't know if we're going to be able to go to her baptism! Hopefully. Hopefully. I love that lady to death. :)  

What did I learn this week? Well. I can only do my best. And always take members to your lessons.

We taught a témoigne Jéhovah investigator this week. The last lesson was AWESOME. He was open, he was Learning, and this week that drastically changed.  He had talked to some of the leaders of his Church, and told him some very crazy, anti-mormon stories. He gave us no time to explain, he was just ranting and yelling for 45 minutes. I just stopped him and told him he wasn't open to our message, and he has to ask God if the things he's heard are true or not. It's as simple as that. When I said that he had this crazy look in his eyes, and started yelling at us. Thankfully, our members stopped him and told him to chill out.

I tried to help him. But he has his free agency. I can only do my part, he has to do the rest.

I was so sad after that lesson. Why is it so hard just to ask God so you can know for yourself? I will never take anyone's word for anything, especially the important things like our salvation (yeah, it's slightly a big deal.) Why not pray and ask if it's real? Why not?

That's what we teach. Find out for yourself. Don't take our word for it, because we're imperfect. We have our own testimony. We KNOW this is the true Church. But you have to ask God so you can KNOW also.  

Ua ite au e ekalesia mau i teie ekalesia. E peropheta mau O Iosepha Semita. No te aha? Mai te mea ua pure au e ua farii au i te pahonoraa no te Atua. E mea haamaruru no i teie taime ua rave to'u misioni e ia parau no i te mau tamarii o te Atua na roto  i te fenua i Tahiti. Ua here au ia outou!!

Have a good week!

Love,

Sœur Taylor

--

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

The Blog

We'll Start With a Picture of a Cat

Hello World!

(and also the family of Sœur Carter who reads this. Yes, we talked about you.)

This is has been one of those weeks where you just sit there and think, "what did I do this week," And all you've done is work. And work. And made a delicious chocolate pie.

Really though. We taught 40 lessons and met 35 new people this week. It's very safe to say we are exhausted. Hooray for p-day. Hooray for 20 minute naps! We've been sitting in a chapel all day long... So I don't have very much time to go into the lovely détails of the week, but I'll give you a nice nugget.

It's hard to watch your investigators choose to go drinking instead of coming to their lesson, or listen to the grandma of a couple that wants to get baptized tell them she'll kick them off their land if they do and then watching the couple struggle to decided to have a home, or get baptized.

That's the beauty of life though. We get to choose.

I could choose to come home tomorrow if I wanted. I can do anything I want to. I just have to pay the conséquences. Or, if i'm obedient I can enjoy the blessings. That's the plan for our life. That's our job as missionaries. We teach everyone about the blessings, the conséquences, and then we ask them obey.  It's their choice. It hurts when they choose not to obey, but they're still our friends. We're not going to stop talking to our friend who skipped the lesson to go drinking. Nope. He's still our friend. He's still a good person. He's just missing out on some supa sick blessings. (Sœur Moli is wearing off...)

Really. I would choose eternal life over a beer any day. Wouldn't you?

Who's with me in chillin the rest of our next life in paradise instead of skipping out on Church Sunday?

And let's get hitched in the temple instead of chilling unmarried in the same apartment. I'd rather get married than have that lovely fire and brimstone to come.

(turn your head sideways for this one.... and admire my present around my neck)

It takes effort. It's not easy, but it gets easier. It's like running. If you've never ran before in your whole life the first mile is... awful. But each day after that it gets a little bit better, until eventually it's second nature. Obedience is the same way. It gets easier. The blessings come quicker. And life overall gets better.

And I love you all and have to run!

MWUAH!

XXo,

Sœur Taylor

--

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

The Blog

I'm a Piano Teacher, Personal Trainer, a Missionary and I Am a Mormon

I'm a pastry chef, piano teacher, make up artist, personal trainer, and I'm a Mormon.

Oh, and I was NONE of these things before my mission.

 

The things you do for people you love... Like, making wedding cakes, teaching piano lessons, face painting 15 kids for Halloween, and helping your 15 year old neighbor get in shape every morning (I promise he's 15). Um. I am so NOT qualified to be doing any of those things, but hey, "ASK THE MISSIONARIES, THEY CAN HELP YOU." With everything.  Take that literally world, I'm here to serve. As long as I get some of that wedding cake I make you.

This week was awesome. My favorite holiday is Halloween. Because I love horror movies. But. That doesn't really mesh well with the mission, the most horror I've seen in 6 months is 17 Miracles (which is so good, we watch it every week; because it's the only movie we own, but it's so good!) This Halloween was the best Halloween ever thought. We were invited to two HUGE parties. They were both at member's homes, but anyone was invited to come, so we met a ton of new potential investigators. :)

On of the parties was at the dock. I know I talk a lot about they dock, but hey, they're my Tahitian family. At this party they had a bunch of stations with games to play. One of the stations required the kids to run into the ocean and try to catch the hanging prizes over the water. Well, we had to pause that game because there were sting rays in their path! Only in Tahiti... It was so good, we didn't get a very good picture though... Next time.

The ocean here is crazy. This lovely photo was taken right from the edge of the dock. It's a literal aquarium down there. :)

This week Soeur Moli and I caught crab to eat later this month.

This is also the cutest child ever. Her name is Juanita. She's the granddaughter of my Tahitian mother, Vero. (At the dock, where else of course?)

We met a man this week named OtiOti (which means finishfinish). 

Which is a problem for me. He doesn't speak french. He speaks English. And my English... is ridiculously awful. Thankfully Soeur Moli can still teach in English for us. Hello grammar out the window. (It takes a lot of effort to write these lovely emails in English....) Anyway, he has done an incredible amount of his family history. He's travelled to New Zealand, Australia, and all the outer islands gathering what he can on his family. So, naturally we were going to explain that he needs to do more than look has those names. We started talking about the Restoration of the authority a faire le bapteme pour le mort. (I can't speak English...)  Well. Then he throws out that his great great grandpa was the God Rangiroa (guessing on the spelling again...) and his ancestors are all demi-gods. Well. What do we do with that one? At that moment his wife came out of the house and literally chased us away. So. Next week we'll explain there's only one God, and there's only one literal child of that God...

How is my companion? Um. Incredible. Soeur Moli is so, so good. We're having so much fun, and we're teaching a crazy amount of lessons during the week and talking to more new people than I've ever done before. I can't explain how important it is to be obedient to ALL the rules of the mission. Even the little ones that don't seem that important. When you do that, miracles start to happen.

It's also so important just to talk and have fun. That's how you become friends, and I firmly believe if you're friends with your companion and you want to help her/him do better, that's when you're going to find success.

Why? Because we do everything because of Love. We love the work we're doing. We love helping everyone we meet, and we always want to do more. This gospel is centered on love and the family. One of the first things God created was the mariage de Adam et Eve, and he gave them the first commandment to have a family. It's centered on progression. That's what the Plan of Salvation IS. The progression of our life. And we do all of that within our families, because we love them, and because we have a loving God.

Granted, Soeur Moli and I are thousands of miles away from our families, but we're trying to help the families of Tahiti make it to the temple. We don't teach to baptise people. We teach because we truly love each investigator, and we want to help them live with their families after this life. We don't want anyone left out.

No Soul Left Behind.

(Hehe, see what we did there? We decided that was our new slogan. Thank you US Department of Education.)

But really. That why we're here. That's why we're members. That's why missionary work is a commandment. Nobody gets left behind. (No toy gets left behind!... name that movie!)

I love you all. We all have people that are looking up to us, so spread the love.

Love,

Soeur Taylor

--

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

The Blog

I'm Still obsessed with Miracles

Meet my Rollercoaster Week.

 

We lost a lot of investigators this week. They just weren't ready. Normally I'd stress over it, but I've decided, "Hey, I've done all I've could, they're just not ready." And I didn't stress. What did we do? We got to work, and holy cow we've seen miracles.

 

**INSERT PICTURE HERE; yep I did it again, I forgot to lower the setting on the camera... but the shells look really cool. Take my word for it.**

 

It's been the Torka (we're guessing on the spelling here people) harvest. They're giant snails in pink and white sea shells. They taste gross. But it's been pretty cool to see the shells. They harvest them because that's how buttons are made! The pretty shiny silvery kind of sea shell buttons? Yep, they're actually giant snail shells. :)

 

CHRISTMAS IS COMING SOON! I'm so excited. Anywho, for those who were wondering what I want/need: LETTERS! I HEART MAIL! And also .5 G2 pens. I'm down to my last one. I can't write in my journal with an unworthy pen. Also, Polaroid film! The Fujifilm Instax mini. :) But mostly all I want are letters. :) Thanks.You're the best.

 

 

This is Mamie Wong. I love her to death. She's 80 years old and tells us every lesson she wished she would have had the gospel sooner. Her husband died in February, he was the one that started taking the lessons, and now all she wants to do is get sealed to him in the temple. I'm going to miss her so much when I get transferred.

 

 

Hello to miracle number one. We've been praying to find a new family to teach. It's easier for the families to progress and learn,

because you're doing everything together. And we found them. We asked everyone one of them if they wanted to be baptised the second lesson, and every single person said yes. We're going to fix a date this week. Holy cow, they are a miracle.

 

 

Tuterai. He's a mess. I've never laughed more in lessons in my life than I have with him. Every time. Last week, we tried really hard to explain the Resurrection to him. So, I used the kitten as an example. I told him when the kitten died his body was going to stay here and his spirit was going to go to the Spirit world, then after the spirit and body will go back together and it can live again. I probably shouldn't have used the kitten as an example... When we asked him what The Resurrection was, what did he say? "Ummmm... Un Chatton?" Nope... It's not a kitten. Soeur Moli and I just burst out laughing with him. I love him. He wants to get baptised in December, we're just waiting for his parents to sign the authorization....

 

 

We have 26 investigators come to our Open House this week! Woo! We taught about the Plan of Salvation, The Family: A Proclamation to the World, and the Temples. It was so good. And our Plan of Salvation was too pretty to erase.... :)

 

My little, huge miracle.

3 weeks ago I realized I lost one of my memory cards. It didn't have very many pictures on it, but the pictures that were on it were super important. It had all my last days in the MTC and the first day in Tahiti. (Kind of a big deal) I tore my suitcases apart, I tore the bedroom apart, and then I put it all back together. Nothing. Then I prayed. Nothing again. I've been just sick for the last 2 weeks thinking about where in the world my card could be. And of course, I said a little prayer everyday, hoping I could find it.  Last night I was thinking a lot about miracles and prayer, and I showed Soeur Moli a story in the Ensign from June about prayer. Fast forward to this morning. I was sweeping one of the bedrooms when I looked down and right in the middle of the floor was a memory card. It was not there last night. My first thought is it was Soeur Moli's. Then I realized it was my missing memory card. I have no idea how it got there. There's no way to explain that, at all. But I am so thankful I had that tender mercy today. God really does answer our prayers, even for the little things.

 

 

We have a new investigator this week. I think he's one of my favorites (nope, I don't have favorites.) Why? Because I have no idea how to teach him. His name is Yorik. And He knows everything in the bible. And believes none of it. He refuses to believe in God. How in the world are we teaching him you may wonder. Well, let me tell you. Yorik is homeless. Our DMP met him one day on the beach. He hadn't eaten for a few days and was trying to find a job. What did DMP do? He called us. And we taught him a lesson. (Come on, we'll feed him spiritually.) Then DMP told him if he ever needed anything he should go to DMP's house. The next week we saw Yorik outside the grocery store asking people for money. I walked up and started talking to him, and then asked him if he'd talked to DMP. He said no. So we gave him some food, and then said if he needed anything again he needed to go find DMP. Flash forward to this week. Yorik is living with DMP's family. DMP told us he and his wife have been praying for a new person to teach to show up on their doorstep. Well, be careful what you pray for, don't be too literal. :) It's awesome. Yorik is so grateful and extremely humble. He's come to our open house, church, the missionary training institute class, and a fireside (all in 2 days). And last night he told me he's starting to believe.

 

DMP's family is incredible. I can't believe how kind they are. And man, are they changing this young man's life. I love the article in the Liahona from October. The best way to do missionary work is to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And you do that by how you act. They are really disciples of Christ. I'm thankful I'm able to serve with them. I'm thankful I'm able to be here, serving.

 

 

Have a lovely week! Think of me! Let's candy until we puke this Thursday! Count our blessings! And Starting November 1st BLAST THAT CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!!

 

Love, Love, Love,

Soeur Taylor

 

 

 

The Week Where I Was Boring

Hello world!

 

This week we were dumped on by buckets and buckets of rain. I felt so terrible walking to the lessons. We were soaked to the bone, and would try to wring out all the water from our clothes before walking in their house but... It didn't work as well as we'd hoped. We're finally hitting the rainy season here. And I'm pretty glad I'll only be here for one of them. :)

 

 

We worked so hard this week. We taught more lessons than I ever have in a week, we have a ton of new investigators, we've been doing so good. I'm so thankful for that. Our ward is getting stronger each week, and more and more people are starting to bring their friends to us to teach. Almost every single dinner appointment this week had a non-member there that we taught a lesson to. We've seen so many miracles here in Maraa I can't even explain how amazing it is.

 

 

We met a new lady Soeur Moli and I are DYING to start teaching. Why are we dying to start teaching her? Because she's one of the coolest people ever. Her name is Lilo. She's German, about 70 years old, and shes an artist. One of the members invited her over for our dinner appointment and we just clicked. We're hoping this week to talk to her again.

 

We've also starting teaching a group of 5 cousins that are the grand-kids of two of our new investigators. We just sit under the uru tree (breadfruit) and talk a little bit, we taught them how to pray last week, and one of the little girls said the closing prayer for us. There's Vaikuahau, Hinivae, Hanivae... and i'm still trying to figure out how to spell the last two names.

 

Well... That's all....

 

Next week I'll be a little more interesting.... I promise. :)

 

LOVE!

Soeur Taylor

 

P.S. Soeur Moli is the best.

 

 

 

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

 

Only the Best Trainers make Crepes

I HAVE A NEW COMPANION!

 

Meet my daughter, Soeur Moli. (I taught her how to make crêpes. Like a good trainer.)

 

And no, she's not Tahitian. Everyone here thinks she is, and they start talking up a storm in french.... And then they realize she's American. And she's awesome. The ward really loves her and I'm super thankful she's a hard worker. We've met a lot of new people this week because of her.

 

 

So we do this thing called OLB "Ouvrir Le Bouche" (Open the mouth) It's just how we say contacting. :) One day we had an extra hour to find some people. We had just finished a lesson, were walking back, stopped and talked to a few people, Anyway. We were walking down the street when a group of surfers call us over to the dock. We just looked at each other and thought, "hmm, why not?" We headed over there, and actually they were there because a group of whales were in the lagoon. So we started watching the whales. Ah. If we could swim we would have been right on top of them. It was crazy. Little by little we had a huge group of people with us, so what did we do? We started teaching. We ended up getting invited to a barbeque, a few phone numbers, invitations to people's houses, and Sister Moli impressed everyone by speaking in Tahitian.

 

 

Georges and Vaite got married! AND BAPTIZED! Whoo.

 

 

They are so awesome. I love it. Georges comes to all 3 sessions of Church, even though he can't hear the speakers or lessons, he comes because he knows it's a commandment. He's incredible. And he let me be the ring bearer in their wedding. ;)

 

This week has been crazy! I'm excited for the next one to come. We have big things planned. Maraa is going to explode. Just wait and see. :)

 

Eating with Mamie Maitui. She's the best. :)

 

Have a good week!

 

XXo,

Sœur Taylor
--

 

 

 

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

 

Here's to Miracles

Hello world!

 

Welcome to the shortest email of my missionary life.

 

I'm doing great! I'm going to be training an American companion for this Transfer. Her name is Sister Moly (I'm not quite sure how to spell it yet) and she's from Salt Lake. I've also been called to be the Sister Training Leader.  I'm scared to death.  But if President thinks I can do it, I know God knows I can do it. This is going to be an incredible transfer. I'm ready to make miracles happen. :)

 

Last night our investigator couple passed their baptism interviews!! It was really fun because I had to translate for the Elders. Georges is deaf. While I was in the MTC and got sick of studying French, I'd walk next door and learn sign language with the missionaries called to "speak" sign. When I came here and realized we have an investigator whose deaf... Wow. There's a miracle right there.

 

I know all things that happen in life isn't a coincidence. We have a plan. Our Heavenly Father is consciencieuse (I can only spell in french now.. sorry) of that plan. And he will give us all the things, which at the time we may not understand, we need to accomplish the plan.

 

Have a great week. I love you all!

 

Love,

Sœur Taylor

 

*****Here are some questions and answers from Morgan today:)******

1.  Avery wants to play with your Polly Pockets, I told her she couldn't but she said to ask you.

      *She can play with them if she picks them up and doesnt break them.:)

2.  Where did you watch Conference

     * At the Stake Center with Soeur Weller and Soeur Carter:)

3.  Are their cool cemeteries  there or do they cremate them. 

     * There are some super epic cemeteries.  Next week I decided we're going to hike to one.  It's literally on the top of a mountain.  I'm pretty excited.

4.  It's rainy season now isn't it?  how often does it rain?

     *  It's just starting the rainy season.  We've only had one huge storm

5.  What kind of cars are there?

     *  Um...Not really any cars...:)  Only the rich people have cars.  Our bishop has a hummer and the ym President has 2 hummers...And every weekend they have the "American Car Night" all the people who own an american made car get together and drag the island.  You know, like draggingmain, they drive the circle around the island

***** Here is also Morgan's response to a question I asked her about Chandler getting ready for his mission on what he needs to work on and be ready for.....He has to WANT to be here.  If a missionary wants to be here, they will do anything to stay here and be worthy.  He has to know WHY he's serving.  People just need to talk about their missions more.  The miracles they saw, the experiences they had.  That's what needs to happen*****

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

 

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

 

 

The Blog

Warning....Post may not be appropriate for people who love Sea Turtles...:)

Hello Family. Hello Friends. Hello World.

(Very first: I totally forgot to change my camera setting. I take the best pictures with the highest MP, and the ones for the email with the lower setting... But everything is in super high megapixel gorgeousness, but it's a beast to attach to the email. Sorry for the lack of pictures this week!)

My week was pretty good. :) I'll fill you in on all the détails.

I just want to say CONGRATS to Jordin and Annie! (and Devin and Kory, of course) I wish I could be there! But I can't, but I love you both and I can't wait to see you when I get home!

The FIFA World Beach Soccer Cup was in Tahiti this year. If you thought the BYU/UTAH games were intense, you should see how the Tahitians feel about their "Tiki Toa." It is a BIG DEAL. Big enough when Tahiti Advanced to the quarter-finals the bishop cancelled the ward's family home evening so everyone could watch.  It's pretty cool because one of the bishops of Tahiti is on the world team (he just barely got released a few months ago.) Yeah. Go us. :) We were able to see some of the international teams in our sector (which was pretty cool), and we heard all about the games. Tahiti didn't win... But it was close. :)

What is green, lives on land and sea, the most delicious thing on the planet and is almost extinct?

SEA TURTLE!

 

Yes. It's almost extinct for a reason. It is delicious. I ate turtle this week. While I was putting the delicious morsels into my mouth I could only remember the stories Frere Coulson and Frere Asay told us in the MTC. Sea turtles do not scream in pain when they're being killed.  I could only think of the poor turtle I was devoring crying on the beach.

What could curdle milk in 1.20339842 seconds, kill a small puppy, is stronger than the cockroach and went into my stomach?

FAFAROO!

Yeah... I ate fafaroo. That was not delicious. Ugh. It was terrible. Apparently I ate the "bad" fafaroo. You're supposed to eat the fish that doesn't smell completely terrible and you eat it with coconut milk. Nope. I ate the fish that still had the skin, that the smell alone almost made me puke, without anything. Not even a drink. My goal was to eat 6 pièces... I barely made it to one without puking, as I reached for my second piece, I don't know if it was the still small voice or my common sense telling me there was no way I could eat another one without decorating the table with half digested fafaroo... So I offically made it to ONE whole piece. :) (And yes, it's all on video. when I come home, you can see)

What flys in the air, eats insects, and also went into my stomach?

Um... I don't know.... :)

I ate a bird. That was delicious. But the name is in french. And I'm not quite sure how to spell it, and I forgot to look it up in English before I left their house, and we've forgotten the name...

BUT! It was good. We ate it with my favorite old french retired couple. The wife is a memeber, but her husband is very very catholic. He's super intellegent, it's like speaking to a politican in French. I know, even in Tahiti I manage to find someone who wants to talk politics with me. It's the least to say, we're pretty tight. ;)

Our investigators are doing amazing. We have one sister named Leonne, who I love to death. (I love all our investigators equally......) She litterally lives on a cliff. :) She bulit the house all by her self, and it has a crazy epic view of the ocean. I've noticed lately, not very many people smile. Leonne smiles all the time. That's why I like her, and the fact she really really wants to learn. We've only had 3 lessons with her so far, but I'm super excited to see what happens next.

 

Another new investigator is Giedona. He's taken all the lessons before, and even had a baptism date set, but then he moved and fell very far away from the path. The drinking and who knows what other things, have really changed him. He's probably 28 years old, but he has the mind of a child. He doesn't remember anything from any of the past lessons, but he knows there's something better. After on the of last lessons he said, "Sœur Taylor, pourquoi quand je vas prier je ne veut pas prier? Je juste veut dormir?" (How come when I go to pray I don't want to? I just want to sleep?" We explained that God taught us to pray always, and if we don't want to pray its because something is trying to pull us away from God. The good will always tell us to pray, and the bad will tell us we're too tired to pray and talk to our Heavenly Father. After that lesson he keeps telling us "Je ne veut pas écouter le malin. Je veut écouter la bien." (I don't want to listen to the bad, I want to listen to the good. It makes more sense in french....) He decided he wants to be baptised the 23 November. That's going to be a very good day.

I'm so excited to go to Conference this week. Here in Tahiti it starts at 6am. Except on Sunday it starts at 5:30am. And if you want a seat, you need to get there an hour early. So... Hello to waking up extremely early for this weekend. I remember when 9am Church was hard to get to.... Bah. I look forward to sleeping in until 7am when I get home. :)

Now for my desperate plea for the week. I've thought a lot this week about the "missionary work" I did before I left for my mission. Yeah.... Not much. I wish I would have done more. So, I have a challenge for every person who's reading this (and isn't serving a mission).  Please please please please help your missionaries! Missionary work is impossible to do if you don't have the support of the members. How can you help your missionaries? Well.

Step one. Locate a family you're friends with that aren't members, or friends of your children (yes Chandler, I'm thinking of you).

Step two call your friendly missionaries and ask if they can prepare a family home evening, and when they can. 

Step three, invite your friendly non memeber friends to your house to eat delicious food, play a game, and hear a small message given by the missionaries. :)

Step four, repeat.

Why do this? Well... Once upon a time, there was an old investigator named Wilson. He was being taught by the missionaries until his mother told him to stop. His mother is named Tapeta (Tahitian for Elizabeth). When I first arrived in Tahiti I met Tapeta, and we gave her a small message. What did I think of her? Well... Just imagine Evil Stepmother from Cinderella. Just Tahitian. She was.... an interesting lady.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago.  Her brother set a date with us to have a soiree familial (FHE) with her. I was stoaked she said yes. We had dinner with her, taught the lesson, and the next Sunday she was at Church. She came to our Fireside, and invited us back for another lesson. This week we taught her and her granddaughter, and her greatgranddaughter. They came to Church again. She told her son she was sorry she told him he couldn't take the lessons anymore, and told him she understands what he was looking for, and why we could help.

Her and her granddaughter want to be baptised. This week we're going to set a date. 

But that's not what's most important. Tapeta has changed. Holy cow it's incredible to see. She smiles and laughs with us, she looks forward to talking to us, and asked if we could stop by more often, and she's changing her family. That's the blesssing the gospel brings. It bring change, the change for the better, for the whole family.

That's what life is about. It's about being better every day. Not being stagnaint, not regressing, moving forward. I know I've said this before, but I think it all the time. The best two years of your life are not the years of your mission; they're the next two years of your life, for all your life.  Thank you for everyone who's been there for me, who's supported me, and who's helped me changed. I can't imagine life without my mission, I will always be greatful for this experience and I'm excited for the next months to come. :)

(The view from our Bishop's house.)

Okay, I know I've talked your ear off. This is the last week of the transfer, I'll let you know next week where I'm living and who's my companion! Here's to progression! And Sea Turtles. :)

XXo,

Sœur Taylor

--

Tahiti Papeete Mission

Soeur Taylor, Morgan

B.P. 93

Papeete, Tahiti

98713

French Polynesia.

www.xoxomorgan.blogspot.com

Sea Urchin for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Cold and Hot:)

Ia Orana from the lovely tropical storm (not really, it's just my first big rain storm) in Tahiti! Don't worry. I'm alive, and miraciously, the internet is working. Whooo!.

 

What is this? Is this a Sunset? Why yes, yes it is. What does that mean?

 

I'M BACK IN MARAA!

 

I decided I'm just keeping my suitcases packed at all times. And the new transfer is in 2 weeks. :) Who knows where I'm going to be heading? Not me... Not yet.

 

Aside from the crazy back and forth between sectors this week it's been a good week. In Orofero, we had crazy miracles again. The first week I was there we had no baptisms fixed and a handful of investigators... I don't know how it happened (hence the miracle) but the day before I left we had 12 lessons scheduled for one day. I love Orofero. Love. Love. Love. It's not about how many investigators you have, it's not about numbers at all. I don't care about numbers at all. It's the people. When you start from scratch and Watch people change and grow, that's the best part of a mission. The new investigators really want to learn, and that's something I love and appreciate so much.

 

(Orofero, imagine Oakley, Utah just tropical. :) )

 

This week has been a week of crafty things. I learned how to make nets. Yep. Fishing nets, call me Tahitian. Then a cool little thing to put the fish it. It floats and lets the water in so the fish can be chillin in there alive, but they can't escape. I made one. But it was too big to fit in my suitcase so.. I gave it to a member. :) And then I became the master coconut husk trinket maker on the planet. I made a keychain this morning. An inactive member taught me, and she made me this ring. Yes. It's legit. I'm making one right now. :)

 

MMM. I ate vana. In English that's sea urchin. It was... not good. :) I had the most delicious fish on the planet the other night. I'd be happy to eat that everyday. I could live off poisson cru and swordfish and guava and bananas. I'd die happy like that.  Speaking of food. I've noticed 3 things about Tahiti this week, that I noticed for the first time:

 

One: You can live in Tahiti without working. There's trees everywhere with fruit and the fish swim right up to the beach. Oh, and the baguettes are only 50 cents. Yep.

 

Two: There's only one paved road. Well, I've only seen one paved road in Mara'a. It never hit me before that all the roads I go on aren't paved...

 

Three: There aren't worms here. Normally when it rains (in Utah) the sidewalks and roads are covered in worms. I haven't seen any here. At all. Just poisionous centipedes.

 

 

I saw another centipede at our house this week. I tried to kill it, but Sœur Li wasn't very happy with me. She wanted to catch it. Ha. There was no way that was going to happen, and I didn't want to get bitten when I run in the morning. So I stomped on it, then cut off it's head. You know, just a normal day in Tahiti.

 

I'm trying to think of anything else I missed. I'm doing well, I'm super excited for the next transfer in 2 weeks! There's a rumour (oh rumours rumours...) That a new island is opening for the sisters. That's much needed, and I want to go. :) So. If you are looking for anything to pray for......... ;)

 

 

 

Have a good week! Love you all!

 

XXo,

Sœur Taylor