Week.....who knows anymore!

Ia orana! E aha to'oe huru? Maitai?

 

First: Happy Father's Day!! It's a day late.. sorry. But. Happy Father's Day!

 

Second: Can you believe I'm going to be sitting on an island, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in four litle weeks?  I can't. I feel like I'm not a missionary yet, i feel like i'm at a very long summer camp where they speak to you in strange languages and feed you as equally strange of food. BUT. They've been pulling out the watermelon for us on Monday's. That is THE BEST.  The honeydew is also delicious, the grapes are acceptable, and the green jello salad stuff.... well... don't touch it with a 10-foot pole. Sister Urling told Elder Lovelock he could only take her tray for her if he ate the salad (because she loves it). He ate it. His expression was priceless.

 

Tahitian is coming along. The grammar is strange, so I've been working on studying that, but now I've gotten to the point where I understand the grammar, but have no idea of any words to plug into the grammar sequence. Oops. I guess that's going to be my goal for the week -- learn words! I know a good handful of words. Sister Bradshaw and I have been working on contacting each other in Tahitian, just so we can get the hang of it before we're thrown into the field. My go-to job is "fare moni" which means money house, which we think means a bank. We aren't completely sure... But hey, we're going with it.

 

We are teaching our first lesson in Tahitian tonight. It's going to be a very nice, short lesson. We're shooting for the ability to say all the the bullet points in PMG and sharing our testimony. Wish us luck!

 

Yesterday in Relief Society we had Neill Marriott, she's in the new YW Presidency, came and spoke to us. First of all, her hint of a southern accent is awesome, we love. Second, she's so fun. She's going to be incredible in her calling, I'm slightly jealous of all the young women. ;) She spoke to us about staying focused, the priesthood, and then she shared her conversion story--which is fantastic. She grew up in the deep south going to the methodist church every week of her life. Her friends and her decided to move up to Cambridge, Mass. A few days after they moved there they met some boys who told her they were Mormon. She asked, "What's a Mormon?" Their response is my favorite... They said, "Well, can we have two of our friends come tell you a little more about us?" And she and her friends said yes.  The next day the boys came over with the missionaries and taught all the girls the first lesson. They continued to take the lessons, and Sister Marriott was dead set on not joining the Church. It came to a point where a few weeks after she was going to leaving the country for a few weeks, one of the missionaries was going to go home, and she was going to be able to leave the country still as a methodist. One of the last lessons the boy she had met spoke up and asked her (something powerful that I forgot. Dang it!). BUT. It inspired her to sincerly pray about whether the church is true. She knelt down, prayed, and heard a voice say, "It's true." She then promptly stood up and yelled, "It's true!" without closing her prayer, called the mission president and told him she wanted to be baptized.  What I learned: There is extreme power is asking a well thought, well phrased question.  Just, remember the question. . .

 

Then, last night for our devotional, Elder Allen spoke to us again. Which is a good thing, because we really like him. She showed us some commercials he produced, and they're all better than the cheesy, "Family, isn't it about. . . time?" ones you can watch on Mormon Channel. (Believe me, we have watched all of them. We get a lot of movie watching in when our minds are going to explode with gooey tahitian overwhelmingness.) I'll just share the lovely taglines he shared with us:

It's not about what you aren't, it's about what you are.

When everything says you can't, believe in the part of you that says you can.

It's often life's small moments that bring the greatest joy.

If you love them, let them know.

What ever you do, just do your best.

 

Lately Sister Bradshaw and I have been ridiculiously busy. I wish the days had 30 hours in them, that would make all things better.  Depending on the day, we usually have 3-4 hours of study time. Lately, we've been interviewing other sisters for a very large chunk of that time, and I've been feeling overwhelmed with learning all that I need to in a one hour study session.

 

Our French sisters, whom we love, are leaving next week! Which makes me cry every time I think about it. So, we've been doing exit interviews, helping them understand they have to clean up their room... (jk, they're clean) and just spending as much time with them as we can. I love them. I'm going to miss them a lot!

 

Last Tuesday/Wednesday we had new missionaries put into our zone! We have a Sister Rubio from Mexico, Sister Castaillo, Sister Morris, Sister Gordon, Sister Flores. All are from Utah, except one Idaho-ian and a real southern Georgian. :) They are headed to Paris and Montreal. We also have an Elder going to Benin, Africa. So, our zone covers the following missions

 

Paris, France

Lyon, France

Tahiti, Papeete

Benin, Africa

West Indies

New Calodonia

Congo, Africa

 

We're pretty legit if I do say so myself.

 

Anywho, on Tuesday we were able to show Sister Rubio around early along with 5 other sisters. 2 were from Finland, and the rest were from Scotland, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. It was so much fun! We had the Finnish sisters talk to us in Finnish, which is crazy. I give Uncle Todd props for learning it... ;) 

 

We went on a field trip this week! Sister Bradshaw has a strange rash appear on her face every now and then, so we walked over to the clinic to see if she was allergic to anything. The doctors didn't have much news for us, but gave her suggestions on how to make it better, and off to Rite-Aid we went. That was strange. Right next door was the Macy's where Madi, Erin and I went and got food, and where Kortnie, Kobe, Chandler and I ate giant ice cream cones. It was just a strange place to be while I'm in the MTC.

 

This week is going to be a good one! Choir is still going strong! I think I'll be wearing my teal shirt on Sunday, so keep an eye out for me!  I love you all!

 

Love,
Sister Taylor