The Sheer Power of Living in The Beach House™
This week has been very good, if not very exhausting. I am now living in Hitiaa, which is absolutely gorgeous. One of the biggest highlights is our house-quite literally ON the beach. The crabs don't get into the house and the view is absolutely beautiful so it is really à win-win situation.
A Story about Service, Answered Prayers, and Learning to Let Go.
Because we live on the other side of the island, and because we had meetings in the city this week, we spent the first half of the week making the tour d'île multiple times. By the time Friday arrived, I was incredibly antsy to work, contact, teach, and find people.
Thursday, while we were making our last trip back from the city to Hitiaa, we got a call from à companionship of sisters telling us they were moving Friday.
I had made à goal to do an act of service every single day this transfer. With my goal in mind, I asked the sisters if they needed help, fully expecting, and frankly wanting, them to say no. They, however, said yes and for à moment, I regretted having asked them. Friday was going to be our first day of actually doing work! I was so excited and antsy and anxious to work, and here I was having accepted a service project that ended taking up THREE HOURS.
I think I came into the beginning of this transfer with the desire to prove myself to others and to God. I wanted to go out with a bang, to teach a million lessons, teach all the lessons in tahitian again, be able to understand more tahitian, speak perfect french, gain the love of my new ward, etc etc etc.
Al Carraway said "what if it's not always about proving yourself or building our character-- what if He is trying to help us discover His character? Are we allowing God to be God? Are we giving Him the opportunity to show us how great He really is?"
On Friday, as I swept the floor of the sisters house and moved their boxes into the car, it all clicked. Yes, God cared and was proud of me for my desire to teach and to find. But He also cared about the other sisters, who needed a lot for help. I wanted to prove myself, to show how great I was, but He gave me the chance to learn from the humility and kindness and understanding of Sr Mapuna, the patience and perseverance of Sr Ozoux, and the optimism and laughter of Sr Tuarau.
Other events from this week:
-There is so much tahitian in Hitiaa! Like more than half of the ward goes to the tahitian relief society! Aaaaahhh it makes my heart happy and I am so excited.
-it rains a lot here.
-we had mlc in Papeete and it's so amazing to see how much the mission has grown since I've been here. The first mlc I went to, way back in February, was essentially just calling all missionaries to repentance and making me feel bad that I didn't speak French even though I had been in the country for a week. This time, it was so uplifting and I was able to participate! Growth.
-we are actually not in a car area so that was a big lie BUT there are no mountains here so the biking/walking won't be bad.
That's all! Je vous aime et bonne semaine! Maitai outou I teie mahana et a la prochaine!
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