Of Squash and Louse Eggs


 Iaorana! Bonjour! Salut! 


Ok, now that we have gotten the "hellos" all taken care of, I can explain the subject line.
First: Squash
On Monday, my parents and I were going on a walk in our neighborhood. We saw the cutest older woman walking by carrying a squash on her shoulders. 
Woman: "I think I have a boyfriend who is giving me squash!"
Us: "Hello?"
Woman: "My husband's deceased, and I think that I have a boyfriend who is trying to ply me with squash!!!  .... so I am just finding all of my widowed girlfriends to give them some squash. You should see the other ones on my porch!! I would have to drive to carry them!" 
She made my entire week and I sincerely hope that all of her squash-giving-away efforts go well.

Second: Louse Eggs
You may be thinking, "Tuahine Hatch, what a weird thing to say! Who would say louse eggs?"
That is exactly what I was thinking. My mom and I were playing Boggle which gets a little intense in our house. I told her that "nit" was most definitely NOT a word. She sighed and exclaimed, "Come onnn Elise!!! What do you think louse eggs are called?!?" 
As I am writing this, I realize that this exclamation may not be as funny as it was in person. 

I am now officially done with the home MTC! It has been a long 9 weeks. In looking back I am amazed at how much I have learned and grown, spiritually, socially, and intellectually. Te Reo Tahiti et le Français still have a long way to come, but I have learned to celebrate the small victories that have come as I have pushed myself to use a new French conjugation or Tahitian sentence structure. E mea maita'i roa te MTC. The MTC has been wonderful, but it was sad to say goodbye to my Tahitian district. They have been so wonderful and have helped me grow so much through their powerful spirits and testimonies. As we bore our testimonies last night in a wild mix of Frahitian, Franglais and engihian? Tahinglish? Anyways, as we bore our testimonies in whatever language we could, I was amazed at how powerful the Spirit was. I may not be able to understand everything I hear and I may not be able to communicate with my words, but I know that the Spirit transcends ALL language boundaries. As we learn to speak with the Spirit, we will be able to touch the hearts of others, even if our technical language skills are not perfect.

One funny story from my wonderful district this week- 
Our teacher Taea'e Lerohl told us that we could end class early as soon as we were able to translate what Elder Takaio said in Tahitian. Fortunately for us, he forgot that Tuahine Naehu already speaks fantastic Tahitian. Elder Takaio said his thing, and then Sr Naehu promptly translated and like that, class was done. Mauruuru Maitai Tuahine!

Une petite pensée spirituelle: 
"For by my Spirit will I enlighten them, and by my power will I make known unto them the secrets of my will--yea, even those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor yet entered into the heart of man.
"By the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God." 
--D&C 76: 10 & 12
Enlightenment can come from the language of the Spirit. During my MTC experience, I have felt my technical language skills improve a TON, but as I have prayed for the gift of tongues, I have felt words come to my mouth and my eyes open with understanding. God has a great work set out for each of us, but we cannot do it by ourselves. With divine help, we can tap into our divine nature and potential and speak with the power of the Spirit. We can know who and how to help with our light. 

Pictures!
Frère Lerohl's class!

Tuahine Holt's class with a wild Sœur Lunt appearance!

Fun Hats with Sœur Lunt! Don't ask why, just bask in the glory of Sœur Ayer's taco hat.


Love you all! Je vous aime! Ua here au ia outou! 
E hi'o vau i Riverside! I will see you in Riverside!

---your Tuahine who personally thinks that a Tahitian-English mix should be called Tahinglish






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