November 18, 2013

DUUUUMBEA.

The name of my new sector.

I'm sad to be leaving Paita. Cause honestly, it's my heart. And I've been there 10 1/2 months now. But. I'm also STOKED to be going to Dumbea because I getta serve with SOEUR TUPAI! Enfinnnn.  At last!  And yes. Dumbea's the Sister Training Leader Sector. Which means I get to serve with Soeur Tupai, and I'm an STL encore. hah. Pretty funny. I didn't know that that was possible. I was pretty sure that I was moving this one since I've been in Paita for so long. But my one thought was, "Oh, not going to Dumbea, cause I've already been STL." And voila. But It's always like that with transfers, the last thing that I expect to happen, but the thing that needs to happen. Oh. Here's the fun part though. So part of me was kind of hoping that I could just sneak out of getting my permit and just get transfered to an a pied sector, but no such luck. Cause Dumbea's got a voiture cause it's huge like Paita and for driving Soeurs. And here's the fun part. Soeur Tupai doesn't have her permit. Sooo. I will be driving. Which means that before Soeur Lamb and I switch, (oh yah. I forgot to say that too, Soeur Lamb is coming to Paita in my place.) I will need to pass my driving test. So pressure's on. But! I know that if the Lord has called me to this sector and position, He will help me do this. Third time's the charm, right? But please pray for me! I dunno when I'm taking the test yet. I'm hoping for this week, but it may be next week. On verra. We'll see.  Anyways, prayers please! And I may or may not be in Dumbea next week.

The musical fireside was FANTASTIC!! And Elder Mackay and Soeur Beagles are already planning the next one for the paroisse ward (congregation) of Tontouta, because me and Elder Hosea are leaving. But yah, it was fantastic! Except we kinda choked on I Stand All Amazed. Mais bon, pas grave.    La prochaine fois. Oh well, not serious (it's okay).  The next time.  And I really like playing violin! It was fun. But I had to pass it off cause there's a Soeur that actually plays that's gonna play for the Christmas concert. So, I guess I'm a cellist sans without an instrument again until I get home. It was awesome though! The members brought their friends and there were lots of members and lots of amis there! It was wonderful! 

This week we had stake conference too. And that was wonderful. It was really interesting. In that everyone that spoke was either a missionary, a pre missionary, like my bff Soeur BLUCKER who's papers are IN, or a recently returned RM. Tallking about missionary work. Except for the Stake Presidency, bien sur. of course.  But it was awesome. That seems to be a theme everywhere lately! And J'aime biennnn.  I love it!

Miracles! miracles this week! But I'm outta time. 

I'm sorry! But I love you all! And I'll read you journal entries when I get home! Now that I'm writing in my journal again and not playing violin like a crazy person. haha.

I love you all! Thank you for your love and prayers and support! You are my inspiration! And I'm so happy to be a missionary. I thank the Lord every day, every prayer, maybs even every second for this opportunity that I have! Oh how I love these people and this work! And the Lord and you!!

Pics! really fast. 1. me playing violin. 2. me, Soeur Beagles, Elder Hosea, and Elder Mackay. Tontouta! 3. And me and Soeur Toyon. My mother here. I LOVE her. she is hilarious. And takes such good care of us! Among many other wonderful members!

Love you!

L'evangile est vraie!

Love, Soeur Santos

November 11, 2013

fat jokes.

So, for all those that have never been to New Caledonia, fat jokes are legit socially acceptable here. And it's hilarious. The members will just walk up to you and be like, "Oh, vous avez pris du poids!" (translation, "wow, so you've put on a little weight, huh?") But! The best one was yesterday. Cause Soeur Beagles and I had just filled up the car at the gas station in Tontouta, and the lady that was at the counter that hadn't seen us for a month, or maybe longer, this is a stranger, by the way, was like, "Wow, vous avez pris du poids! Avant vous etiez mince, mais maintenant... "Wow, you've put on some pounds!  Before you were thin, but now..."  It was super funny. And Soeur Beagles and I did not even know how to react. it was sooo funny. But luckily we bit our tongues and got outta there before we exploded with laughter... Our diet starts tomorrow.

Anyways, as far as the travail ici. work here It's going so great! Qu'est-ce que j'aime cette oeuvre!! How much I love this work!  Time is going waaay too fast. It's crazy. But I love these people and I love seeing how the gospel changes lives!! It's so exciting! And I can't help but think about how this work is ETERNAL every day we are out, teaching, finding, working. It's the best!

This week, we had a few first lessons with new amis and old amis that we got to recontact, and they were awesome! But my fave was probs the one that we had this morning. There is a lady that works in the one grocery store in Paita, and her name is Malia. And these last couple weeks every time we've walked in there she took interest in us, our whiteness, and our plaques. nametags So Soeur Beagles and I talked to her last week and fixed a lesson for this morning. We had a lesson with her and a member came with and she talked about how she is searching the truth, but she hasn't found it yet. We testified that she's SOOO close to finding it and talked a bit about our message and invited her to be baptized! She said that she's ready to change and she wants to know, and she LOVES reading. So we left her with a LivreBook of Mormon and invited her to read and pray! 

The musical fireside's this FRIDAY!! We're getting pretty stoked about it. We're inviting everyone and their dog and we have repetitions rehearsals tomorrow andThursday night to finalize everything and just to run the program! I'm excited. I love music! And I'm excited to use it bien apres ma mission after my mission also to continue to share the gospel! Pray for us please! And yah, transfers are next week. If I stay for one more transfer I'll have been in Paita for a year! Chyeah. I love this place. 

Other than that, happy birthday Kalei! Hope it's a good one. Sorry, your card's gonna be late, but it's in the mail! And happy one year this Thursday Elder Santos! That's pup's one year and my one year in New Cal. Time flies when you're having fun. But we don't talk about that. Quote from Soeur Beagles this week, "I'm worried about you when you go home..." hahah. Oh no... C'est grave. It's sad.

Anyways! I love you family!! Thank you for your love and support! For Christmas, I think I'm good. I already told dad, but the only thing that's not gonna make it til I get home are my running shoes. Oh, and I need hair bands, the black thick ones. And bronzer! Mais sinon, ceb. But if not, it's ok.  I love you all! Thanks for your love and support! You are in my prayers! I pray for you that you will have the faith and the force to open your mouths and share the gospel with those around you! Because this work is eternal and wonderful!

Love you!

L'evangile est vraie!

Love, Soeur Santos

pics:

1. So Soeur Beagles and I have been hauling this large piano around in the back of our car once a week every week for a month so that we can do repets sur Paita.

2. This one's me being exhausted and looking like a homeless person one night practicing violin cause I need to until Friday. 3 more days!

3. And this ones from a little repet we had just after reunion de district. Supes weird to see me playing that instrument. 

November 4, 2013

guess what I was for Halloween...

(see photo one.)

A VIOLINIST. And actually, I'm still pretending. Until the 15th of November. So prayers please. Also. I would love some helpful hints on how to do vibrato on the violin. Cause I don'ttt think it's the same, malheureusement... unfortunately Mais bon. Oh well.  It's actually going pretty good. Which is a tender mercy I know, cause it's COMPLETELY different. But we'll see. I'm practicing about an hour a day (every night after planning) and sometimes a few minutes in the morning after exercise and before studies. So that's going. I actually like the violin a lot! I mean, I don't plan on switching or anything when I get home, but it's a beautiful instrument, and even more so when someone that knows what they're doing is playing it. Like Sophie. So yah, that was fun. 

So yah, that's been fun. The coin de feu fireside will be Friday the 15th of Novemberand we're pretty excited about it. We would mays (Pono-speak for 'maybe') try and move it back a little bit, but transfers are the week after that, I'm pretty sure that two of the four of us are moving... I'm hoping it's Soeur Beagles. hah. Cause I kinda wanna stay here in Paita til I die. Mais on verra. But we'll see. Ca fait 10 mois It's been 10 months now that I've been here. And I don't wanna leave.

Miracles this week! Yesterday, a man named Robert showed up at church. He's Tahitian and he took the bus early in the morning from Paita all the way to Tontouta. He was living in Tahiti, but he moved here to promener un peu (literally, "walk a little bit, or traipse"...I am guessing from context he was on a trip, and stayed) and then he ended up staying here for work. But he's already had most if not all of the lessons, so we're gonna start teaching him this week, which I'm pretty excited about. 

Also, we were port a porting going door to door this week and we found a few people to teach! A couple of which are amazingly prepared! Dilila (20), and sa mere her mother, Lauria. And Lauria's aunty is a member, so she already knows quite a bit, from discussing with her and the missionaries before. We had our first lesson with them yesterday and it was incredible! And Soeur Beagles invited them to be baptized! It was so great, and we're gonna bring a member with us the next time, cause they want to talk to a converti convert/new member about how they left everything behind to be a member. 

Qu'est-ce que j'aime cette oeuvre! I love this work so much!  It is unlike anything else that I have ever done in my life. It is more rewarding than finishing a ridiculously hard concerto. It makes me more happy than playing cello or singing music. I LOVE IT SO MUCH and I am going to be a missionary for the rest of my life. Because I want to continue to have this eternal joy! 

Family! Be missionaries! It will change your lives for the better! Invite friends over for a family home evening, ask the missionaries for brochures so that you can respond when your friends ask you why you are different. Be an example and open your mouth. Be not ashamed! Because this is eternal life on the line! It's soooo important. And as soon as you start, you will not want to stop.

I love you all! It was so good to see you in your cute halloween costumes!! I think Bels was my fave. I hope that you are all doing well! I finished the Book of Mormon again this week. I love that book! Moroni 10 is like the end of a symphony for me. It's so exciting and it makes me want to practice all the things I just read! Family. Know that I love you! I am so happy and I talk about you often actually with my amis, with the members. You are the reason I am here! And I thank you for your prayers and thoughts and support! I need them and I feel them. 

The last of the pics. 2 is me and Soeur Beagles with the apples and carmel that I made! for halloween this week. and 3 is me with Nathanael, our 11 year old ami. He's crazy, but great! 

I love you all! Until next week!

L'evangile est vraie!!

Love, Soeur Santos

October 28, 2013

autumn-ish.

Ma chere famille,

Bonjour tout le monde! Hello everyone!  And happy halloween! 

So, before I forget, the pics. Number one's me after we had eaten chez un membre with a member, and yes that shirt is stained now... Some things never change :]

Number two is Soeur Beagles, Elder Thebaud, Elder Wilson, and I after zone conference this week. The two in the middle are leaving in three weeks. Weird. 

Number three is autumn! Here. Well, as autumn as it gets. Mais j'm b1. But loving it?

Those are the photos for this week, I'll try and get more out next week. 

This week was zone conference for me as well. My second to last. Mais on ne parle pas de ça But we do not talk about it. It was fun though! I introduced my fille girl and then she bore her testimony, but that was it for this one, which was nice. 

And the most incredible part of this week was my interview with President. It was incredible. Maybe even the best that I've had. I really wish I could take a voice recorder in with me for every interview, but basically what I do is go into the interview, try to absorb as much as I can, and then get out and take notes before I go home and write about it in my journal at night. Because there is so much that he says that is so important. And I love it. 

Zone Conference was on the Book of Mormon, which I will have finished for the second time in 120 days this week. Qu'est-ce que j'aime ce livre. How I love this book. Guys. Read this book EVERYDAY. It's incredible and oh so important. And your desire to live the gospel, to share the gospel, the joy in your life, everything that is good will increase. I know because I've seen it. And I love it!

Still no cello, and sadly I didn't take his number, so I may have to just learn the violin vite fait quickly. Which I will hopefully get this week. the Soeurs of Dumbea are working on it, cause that's where the instrument is. So yah. But The plans for the fireside are going well! We may not do the theatre scenes, which me and Elder Mackay are kinda bummed about, but it'll still be good. And it's gonna be the 15 novembre, we poussed it, cause we need one more week. It's gonna be great though! 

I love being a missionary! And I love inviting people to come unto Christ and seeing the joy that they find in their lives when they do. I used to think that missionary work was only about baptizing. And that is a very important part. But! There is so much more. Its not only that. My goal is to leave Paita with all the members wanting to share this gospel with their friends and family! 

I love you all! I am so grateful for your love and support, because there are hard times when I need them, but really, looking back, I don't remember any of them. The joy outweighs everything else 100000000000000 to 1. Maybe more. I love you! Know that you are in my prayers as well. I pray for your safety and health and also that you will have the courage and faith to live this gospel and to open your mouths and share it with those around you! I know it's hard, but if you do it, you will be blessed! Thanks for your news and wonderful examples for me!! 

L'evangile est vraie!

Love, Soeur Santos