April 21, 2014 - The Real Tahiti

This week was good but things are getting slow again, but it is ok because it just means I am going to work even harder this week with my companion.  Sometimes here in Tahiti with all the music, the heat, the humidity, the flowers and the fruit it feels so easy to get sucked into the lazy life. We are surrounded by it and so sometimes it is hard to work, work, work, but I love it here.  I can't stop thinking of how grateful I am that the Lord sent me here in Tahiti.  Whatever you guys imagine of Tahiti it is not what it is like.  I guess it is actually kind of ghetto but I don't realize it anymore because I am just used to it.

This week I have not been bold enough.  I don't know what happened but suddenly everything started scaring me this week.  It got to the point where I was scared to talk during lessons and scared to talk to people on the street. Sometimes I have days where everything seems to get harder.  I guess it is just Satan working on me but he is never going to win, but seriously no one likes admiting it but we are all stopped by fear sometimes.  It is better now.  I know that with lots and lots of prayers and fasting and studying the scriptures the Lord can strengthen all of our weaknessess.

We ate dinner at an American's house and it is seriously on the top of the mountain and we could see half of Tahiti.  All of our investigators are doing well but I feel like they have come to the moment where they really need to decide. It is all or nothing.

One afternoon three weeks ago we found a street behind the chapel and we followed it and there were a whole bunch of old scary looking apartements, and a lot of teenagers. Not a good mix, but we started talking to these teenage girls Moerani and Karina and they were open to take the lessons, so this week we continued to visit them and they are super shy.  They don't like to answer questions and they don't like to share experiences, so it is hard to help them because we don't really know them.  It was amazing because we found a cousin of Moerani who had already taken the lessons in the Marquies who invited us to her house to talk with her.  She told us about Moerani  and how her mom just barely died unexpectedly and right now Moerani has started to drink.  She is 15 years old and so that just breaks my heart.  I know that we were lead to talk to her cousin so that we would be able to better help Moerani.  Because there is no way Moerani wouldhave told us those things her self.  Heavenly Father Loves His children.  That is the only thing I have to say.  Now this week we will be better able to help Moerani understand that she can see her mom again and drinking will never help her situation.  It is seriously sad how many kids are wasting their lives here drinking...same for parents. Many people smoke and drink their lives away here and it destroys their family and the future of their kids.

 Sorry for the lecture but decisions determine destiny, and if I can just be an instrument in the Lords hand for helping one girl understand who she is so she can make the right decisions now I would be grateful.  I love you all and I am so grateful for parents who made good decisions in their youth so that I could be where I am today.
Love Soeur Kimball