February 25, 2013

the gift of tongues (in real life.)

Ma chere famille!!

Je suis toujours a Paita. But! I´m gonna déménager sois a la fin de cette semaine ou sois au commencement de la semaine prochaine!  I'm still in Paita.  But I will be moving at the end of this week or the beginning of next week!  And I´m stoked. But I´m happy to be here in Paita for one more week. I love Paita. Il va me manquer.I will miss it.  But I gotta talk to Soeur Lamb for a bit last night and she´s as stoked as I am, even though we both fully admitted that we´re still n00bs, we know that we´re gonna work hard, be obedient, and the Lord will guide us towards the people that are prepared to hear His gospel. So yah, we´re stoked!! I cannot wait. Apparently there are four member families in my sector, so the first thing I want to do when I get there is go talk to them, introduce ourselves, and see how we can assist them in doing the work in Sixieme.(literally, means "sixth".  But that must be the name of an area there...?) Cause, I´ve come to a conclusion. This work is really the members. We are the teachers. But I believe that this work belongs to the members first and foremost. So yah, I´m stoked! hopefully I´ll be emailing from Sixieme next week. On verra.We'll see.

This week was good! Numbers wise, not so hot, but we worked hard and! We found great people to teach in the upcoming weeks! So, a successful week in my book. This week was a little exciting, cause Soeur Kailiponi was kind of very ill for a couple days, so we cooled it for one day. We did some teaching, but we stayed home in the morning for a bit. She´s crazy. Tuesday night, she´s like about to pass out she is so sick, and finally she says something. I was not very nice that night, mostly cause I was frustrated with her. And, actually, that´s the night that I cracked open my quote book. (Thanks mom! And friends that wrote in it! It was a little ray of extreme sunshine during the week! You all are the best!) but yah, so that´s how the week started out. By Thursday she was starting to feel better and Friday she was recovered. So, I´m glad she´s feeling better now, the little crazy.

Also, miracle of the week, there were several, but this one was the biggest. Yvonne, our investigator in Dumbea, has been taking the lessons for a couple years. She´s had all the lessons at least twice, maybe three times. And we´ve been trying to work with her for a baptism date. The issue is, she is not very confident in her testimony. She has one, that is for sure, but she thinks she doesn´t know enough and is just not very confident. And the issue of late has been that she needs to talk to her husband to get his consent. We´ve been inviting her and praying night and day for her to do this for about a month now, but she has been a bit scared, because she asked once in the past, and he said no. However, this week, as she was taking a nap, she had a dream, an out of body experience that she was like a baby, she felt joyful and clean and just happy! And someone said to her, "You have been baptized," or something like that. And she said she felt so much joy and just happiness! And when she woke up, she said she heard the Spirit say to her, "Go talk to your husband." So, she obeyed and she went and said that she needed to talk to him. And she said that the words that she said after were not hers. And I can testify that they weren´t. Because Yvonne is very gentle, sweet, shy. But when she spoke to him, she spoke with power and authority. She said that she needed to get baptized. That she would get baptized. Because she knows that it is the truth and she needs to go to the temple to do her work for her family. It was incredible when she told us this! The Spirit was there. And I wish I could have seen her say this, but I know that the Spirit gave her the strength and the words to utter. Because she couldn´t have done that by herself. I´m so happy! And her husband was speechless. He didn´t answer her, but we´ll see what happens. I´m excited for her! She´s so great! I will miss her when I leave.

We´ve been serving the members and trying to build confidence with them this week too, and that´s been going well! I love these members! They are fantastic, and Sunday, after church, I was talking to some amis(literally- "friends"; in English they say investigators)  and recent convertis, and I was looking around and I just had this feeling that the work is starting to pick up! Specifically with the members. They are helping and doing their part, and with that I know that we will have much success here in Paita. Oh I love this place. I will miss these people! They meet in the chapel of Tontouta, and I´ll be at Rivière Salée again after this week, so I won´t be able to see them much, but they are incredible! There are 4 families here that feed us EVERY WEEK. That is unheard of chez nous, I think. It´s incredible!

And finally, the subject line. While porte a porting cette semaine,going door-to-door this week we ran into SO MANY Futuniens and Wallisiens. So, I am now working on My Wallisien and Futunien. I´ll let you know how it goes. We actually spoke some Wallisien with people this week, cause Tomasi, a recent converti gave us a few phrases in Wallisien. And we learned some Futunien from an ami this week too. I LOVE LANGUAGES. And I hope to come home with more than french under my belt. Because I want to be able to share the gospel with these people in THEIR language! Cause in the scriptures, it says that will happen. And I´m a part of that. The best!!

Also, this week, just for random odds and ends, I am wearing a mu'u right now. I bought one last week! It´s purple and flowy and has flowers on it and is beautiful and I´m totes wearing it right now!! bahah. And also, I´ve discovered that I don´t like raking leaves. Cause I´m OCD, and it can never be perfect. Cause there are always leaves that fall again. 

Anyways, I love you family! Merci pour vos prieres! Sachez que vous etes dans mes prieres aussi!! Je t'aime plus que je peux dire!Thank you for your prayers!  Know that you are in my prayers also!  I love you more than I can say!

L'évangile est vrai!!

Love, Soeur Santos

February 17, 2013

that awkward moment when your cover up no longer matches the color of your skin...

Ma chere famille!

Ay Bonjour. I'm still in Paita. Starting to get a taddd bit antsy, but trying to keep my head in the game and working hard here jusqu'a but. (to that end; for that purpose)  It's going good. I dunno why, but ever since I've found out I'm moving I've only been able to think of that and all the great people that are there, just waiting to hear the gospel!! But I do love being here with Soeur Kailiponi and Soeur Tere. We work hard together and it's always fun, even when nobody wants to listen. And that's where my subject line comes in... Lots of porte a porte cette semaine.Lots of door-to-door this week. Actually, not lots, just one day. And we were out in the sun knocking doors all day. And I don't think I've ever been tanner in my life. Which is a perk of porte a porte, though I'd rather have people let us in and not be in the sun, but rather inside teaching lots and lots of lessons! But hey, you win some, you lose some.

But this week was good! We are trying to figure out a problem we have, with transport and getting all our amis to church. But I know that with the Lord's help, we'll be able to find an answer. We were actually just brainstorming one night, after planning, what we could do to get all our amis to church, cause it's about 20/25 mins away in car. Paita to the chapel in Tontouta. But my vote is a bus. Cause we were talking, and Soeur Tere was talking about how in Tahiti in one of the wards at least they have a bus that takes all their amis to church. kray kray. But yah. That's what I got right now. Hah. If you have any ideas shoot them my way! 

This week one of the things I actually got the most out of was my studies. I worked my way through Chapter 8 of PME in french. And I learned lots. I'm trying to learn all the missionary ropes before they throw Soeur Lamb and I together so that we kinda know what we're doing and not just running around like crazies. But this chapter is on how to use your time wisely. And it's sooo good. A lot of the chapter is just for missionaries, the forms we have, the planner, the planning sessions that we do, but there are a couple sections dedans that I would reccommend for everyone. The premier, How to fix goals, and the deuxieme, the section at the end, entitled accountability. Seriously, kinda mind blowing stuff inside these two sections. Read them, study them, love them! They apply to everyday life. 

And that brings me to the challenge of the week. And really quick, to add to Elder Santos', (which by the way, I would like to second and add my testimony. This work NEEDS the members. It is for the MEMBERS of this church. As missionaries, our job is to teach the doctrine. And if the members do their part and talk to their friends, their friends who already know them and trust them, that is when this work is REALLY gonna explode. The world is exploding with missionaries right now, and I know that if the members help with this missionary explosion, we are going to see some amazing things happen.) I know it's kinda scary. I went through it before my mission. But, like all commandments of the Lord, the only way you can have all the blessings of this work is by DOING this work. LIVING this work. And, as a serviteurservant  of the Lord, I promise you that if you open your mouth, having faith in Jesus Christ, He will fill it and you will feel the joy and happiness that comes into your life that comes only from this work, and not only that, but you will not be able to help but to keep doing this work and sharing the gospel with those around you. I know that cause I've lived it. And I want to be a missionary for my whole life now. So even when the plaque (nametag) comes off, I will always be a missionary. I will keep sharing the good news with those around me, because I've felt the joy that it brings and I never want to live without this joy again! Anyways, that was Pup's challenge. Not mine. But I second it! You know, the whole two witness thing :]

Now my challenge. In the accountability section of PME, it says that in our nightly prayers we should give an accounting for how we used the Lord's time. And when I read that my brain just about exploded cause I love that so much! But also, cause it makes COMPLETE sense! In the temple, we learn the importance of accountability, or returning and reporting what we've done. This is especially important as a missionary, but I think it applies to all! What have you done with the precious and short time we have on earth today? Have you spent it as the Savior would? Serving others? Loving others? Sharing the good news? There's something powerful in reporting back to the Lord. If we are accountable each and every day I think that we will use our time with more wisdom. We will want to choose the BEST option. Not just good or better. So, with Elder Santos' invite, I would like to lance mine as well. Each and every night, return and report. Tell Heavenly Father what you did with this precious time. Ask Him how He'd like you to fill your time tomorrow! Be accountable. I know that if you do that, you will be blessed. The Lord will see that you are trying to follow Him and are trying your best to use this precious time avec sagesse. wisely

I love you family! I LOVE this gospel. It is incredible. It changes our very nature. Who we are. And it's incredible. I see this change mostly around me, everyday! But I also see it in myself when I take time to ponder. I'm so happy to be a missionary. Sometimes I just want to burst into tears I'm so happy!! To be here, in New Cal, preaching His gospel. The truth! Know that you are in my prayers and that I love you! Thanks for your love and support and your prayers! I love you!

L'evangile est vrai!The Church is true!

Love, Soeur Santos

February 9, 2013

Ma chere famille, My dear family,

 So, I made a list of things that I forgot to tell you last week, so I'll start with that.

 We had a baptism last weekend! For Yvonne and Leila!! Mom and daughter. It was incredible. I don´t know how to send pics from this place, but I´ll try to figure out for next week! Cause I took pics. Also! As of last week, I am officially out of training! Chyeah! There's a new 12 week program here in the field for trainers and the new missionaries. And it´s great. I also finished PMG (Preach my Gospel) last week, in English! Which I was pretty excited about. All the scriptures, little activities, etc. Now I´m gonna do it in French!

 I´ve been working on my free throws with Soeur Kailiponi chaque matin. each morning Mom, Jdawg, Becs, Amber, all my basketball buds would be proud. She taught me thetechnique, like how I´m supposed to shoot. It´s great! And!! last week, during port a port, I got my first door slammed in my face!! Now, obviously it would´ve been better if they had accepted, but I was pretty excited, cause like I described in an earlier email, port a port here is standing on the edge of properties and yelling Bonjour! Like a crazy. And usually people just ignore you. I´m gonna have a complex when I get home... But yah. It was a fun change.

 Now this week. hah. Oh man. How do I even start this. Ok, well. I´m moving again!! Surprise. My third sector in less than 4 months of being in the field. (For those of you that don´t know, that´s strange. Especially for Soeurs, cause when I got here, there were only 3 sectors for us. And a lot of the Soeurs are still in the same sector they´ve been in since long before I got here.) But here´s what happened slash what´s going to happen... So the
 ZL´s called me when we were doing some port a port this Thursday. And they asked to talk to me and they asked me to sit down. hah. That was my first hint. So, I take a seat on the sidewalk, and they ask me if I´d accept the call to open a sector (Sixieme) WITH SOEUR LAMB. My mtc mish field twinsie. It´s crazy! And this never happens. Not only am I on my third sector, but I will have also been comps with both of the Soeurs I was in the MTC with. BAH!! So yes. I´m super stoked. I´m actually still in Paita, and probs will be for the next week, because the ZL´s are finishing furnishing the appartement (French spelling of appartment) and all that jazz, but after that, I´ll be there. CRAZY. I´m stoked, naturally, but please please pray extra hard for me. Cause this is

 brand spanking new. We´re gonna be doing LOTS of finding. Which I´m stoked about, but it´s just weird to think that there will not be an area book, with names of anciens amis or recent converts, or any of that. So yah. Prayers please. I´m really excited though! And I know that I can do this with the Lord´s help.Oh I´m stoked. Especially cause Soeur Lamb and I are gonna have waaay too much fun together. She´s the best! Also, pray that I´ll be able to speak french. It´s always so hard with American companions. I love them, but it´s so hard to speak French with them. So yah, I´ll let you know when I get all moved and stuff, might be next week, or the week after

that. On verra.  We'll see.

Anyways! This week has been amazing! We are finding people to teach! And it´s INCREDIBLE! Oh how I love this work. I see literal MIRACLES before my eyes, chaque jour. each day And it´s incredible. Even in this last week, amazing things have happened. I cannot explain how happy I am. So, miracle number one. We were port a porting Tuesday, I believe, and we talked to this young man, he´s probably 20 something, Wallisian, and we just talked to him for a bit, and left him with a brochure. It wasn´t even a legit lesson, and usually that´s how that ends. But he called us the very same night and was like, "I just wanted to let you know, I read the brochure..." And we were all like, what. Cause people never do that. Like ever. Usually when you just leave a brochure and don´t have an invitation to come back that´s the last time you´ll see them. But! He called us back. And he was going to come to church this week, but he couldn´t. But! We had our first lesson with him this week and it was great!! We left him with a Livre, (Livre de Mormon- Book of Mormon) and we´re going back to teach him next week, and hopefully he´ll be at church this week! Miracle number two. So Wednesday night, we had a bit of time before our soiree (evening appointment, probably with dinner) with our member family, so we were gonna go visit this family that we met while port a port ing. But I had to turn around to park close to their house. And, long story short, I ended up having to drive up this hill that I wouldn´t have normally because I can´t stop on hills. So we were at the top of the hill turning around, when this older Futunian mami was closing her gate. Soeur Kailiponi got out of the car to do backup and they started talking. And she invited us in. We had an AMAZING lesson with her. She felt the Spirit. And we´re going back tomorrow. Some would call this a coincidence. But I know better than to think that.

 Miracle number three. Katherine!! So we got her name from a coordinee referral that the Elders in the city gave us. She´s half Wallisian and half French. And she speaks English cause she went to college in Brisbane. So we actually taught her in English. Which, not gonna lie, threw me a little. Because that was actually the first lesson ever that I´ve taught in English. Cause from day one in the MTC all we ever did was teach in French. But oh how I love this lady! She´s 24. And she´s great!! She met the Soeur missionaries actually, when she was in South Korea this summer for something. And she found the missionaries here in Noumea just recently! But yah, she has a strong testimony already. She knows that a lot of gospel principles are true. But she has some doubts. So we´re gonna teach her the lessons again and see if we can find her doubts. Oh she´s great! I love her.

 Ok, well there were plusier several miracles. But, I´m outta time, so I´m just gonna leave this scripture and then it´s time to bounce. Moroni  7 35 to 37. I love you ma famille! Merci pour vos prieres! Thank you for your prayers! Sachez que vous etes dans mes prieres et que je vous aime tous!! Know that you are in my prayers and I love you all!  You´re the best! Have a good week! And until next week! 

 L'évangile est vrai!!  The gospel/church is true!

February 4, 2013

Pono's older sister has graciously to translate Sister Santos' French for us. Yay! I don't know about the rest of you, but I was starting to have a bit of trouble understanding her letters. Hope this helps some of you!

Ma chere famille,

 I love you sooo much! Thanks for the emails this week! I tried to respond personally to some of them, but I'll try and include most of the info in this one.
 So, this week was good! Comme d'hab. As usual (short for comme d'habitude) And I am so happy to be here in Paita with these people, meme s'il n'y a rien de faire ici. Even if there is nothing to do here.  hah. People keep coming out of the woodwork for us to teach. And it's really just a miracle to see how the Lord leads and guides this work. If we are obedient and do this work His way, with His Spirit, we cannot help but be successful. I have a strong testimony of that. Mostly because of this week.

 We were doing port a port door to door, Tuesday I believe. And, no one wanted this grand message that we have to share. hah. That happens here sometimes, but, I was walking down the road, starting to have a little pity party, making excuses to myself, saying, "Well this is a hard mission." Stuff like that, when all the sudden! Lightning struck my brain! (Well that must have hurt...) But seriously. I realized that I needed to stop and keep on walking and working until I'm past ready to keel over, because this mission is not hard. And because this work is rolling forth. And Heavenly Father is hastening this work across the world right now. Now, when I say this mission is not hard, I mean that it is no harder than any other mission. All missions are hard. Even Brasil, is hard. And I realized that as I was walking that day. So, from now on, this mission is not hard. And when I train, I will not say that this mission is hard to that new missionary, we will simply hit the ground running and find people to teach. Because that is how this work works. It is WORK. But it is marvelous. And the blessings that come are much greater than the daily hardships. Also. We are going to get more missionaries here! And I'm stoked. We're getting 6 more Soeurs before the month of June. And I'm so excited! We need more missionaries here. And It's just thrilling to see the work take off and the army of Helaman grow before my eyes!

 This week, we had our second exchanges, and I got to stay here in Paita and Soeur Marae came here. My first mother! And it was great! We found an ancien ami! (literally: old friend.  I think this means an investigator who was never baptized?  I asked Pono, but didn't get an answer when she wrote me back this week.) Her name is Aimee. And she is an older lady that we found while doing port a port door to door on Thursday. She took the lessons years ago, (When Soeur Cummins was here!) And she already has her testimony! Soeur Marae and I didn't know that though, til she let us and and we started talking. And we were talking when she pulled out a Cantique hymn book and a Livre de Mormon Book of Mormon and we were both like, "what the?" It was super cool! So yah, we talked with her and found out that she took the lessons quite some time ago and she knows that this church is true! And Soeur Marae lanced the invitation to be baptized on Feb 23! So we are going to work with her for hopefully that date! The truc trick/ thing is that her sister is sick, so she's in Noumea a lot. So we kinda just need to stop by and see when she's there. So hopefully that goes well. But yah. She's great! I love her! We also got a coordinee referral this week for a lady named Katherine. So we're gonna start teaching her this week. Stoked!

 And, I think it was Tuesday night, we came back from port a porting going door-to-door and were eating and talking a bit before dinner when the zone leaders called. And! They said that the Tahitian sister was coming here to Paita!! So, we have a new collegue! companion Soeur Tere. But that night, I was super excited, so I was running around like a crazy yelling, "We're getting a baby! A Tahitian baby!" hah. I'm crazy. But yah! She's here! And she's taller than me! By like one or two centimeters. She's super great! I love her! She has that MTC fire under her and asks everyone and their dog for coordinees. referrals Which I love. I gotta be more like that! But yah. We work hard together. So it's good. Plus! She speaks Tahitian like a boss. So, with any luck, I will speak at least three languages when I get back! English, French, and Tahitian. But yah! She's kinda like an answer to prayer. Cause Soeur Kailiponi and I are horrible at speaking French. hah. We set the goal during weekly planning chaque semaine. each week But the second half of this week has been good! Because we finally have a french speaker! So it's good. I'm loving it. Next week we're getting the American Soeur, Soeur Hall? And she's going to Magenta with Soeur Madsen and Lamb. Elder Santos knows her cause they were in the MTC a le meme temps. at the same time But yah. It's great! More Soeurs! And more on the horizon!

 I think that's about all for now. Oh! I think Becs like has a baby... Can someone fb stalk that crazy and tell her to write or email me and send me pics?! I wanna see!! But yah. I love this work! It's the best. I want to be a missionary a jamais! forever Because I have never been happier. I love you family! I miss you! Sache que vous etes dans mes prieres! Know that you are in my prayers! Et que je vous aime tous!  And I love you all! Vous Etes les meilleurs! You are the best! Merci pour vos prieres!  Thank you for your prayers!

 L'evangile est vrai!  The gospel is true!