September 29, 2014 - Service Projects

Can you believe it? I have already been here a month.  It has really flown by., but I have already grown so much.  It is interesting but I think it is something that has really help me grow spiritually.  I mean I am kind of really isolated, so it forces me to always turn to my Savior to help me and support me.  

We have seen miracles this week and they always happen by the little things.  I know that service is so key.  We have tried to do at least two service projects every week to open peoples hearts to see why we are really there.  Lots of people are scared to talk to us because they think if they talk to us we are going to try to convert them to Mormonism and they don't like that, but really we just want to talk to them about how much they need Jesus Christ in their lives to progress and to be blessed.  I am developing more love for them.  

I had a trial this week where I felt like I haven't really been following the spirit and it freaked me out but I am so grateful for personal prayer which always calms me and brings me relief and more faith than I had before.  I prayed hard this week to be guided and to know if I was doing the will of God and I just felt the most peaceful feeling today.  I felt like Heavenly Father was telling me that He knows everything that is going on and all the efforts I am doing and that He will not leave me.  I am just so grateful for the personal inspiration we can always recieve to help us feel comforted and to keep going forward, like president Monson said " As we move forward striving to live as we should; we will surely recieve help from the Lord". 

This week we had a new investigator and he is so humble.  His name is Victor and we found him because a ward member invited him to the open house at the chapel Friday. He has had a lot of trials in his life and therefore has turned toward drugs and alcohol for comfort but he is ready to change.  We asked him if he would be baptized and he accepted and then we gave him the date of October 25, the last Saturday in October and it just so happens to be his birthday.  What a miracle.  I am excited to teach him about the plan that God created for him and why he is really here; please pray for him. 

Everytime we get a new ami the first thing that happens is one of their friends tells them they should never talk to the missionaries and that it is a bad decision to learn from us. Satan does everything he can to stop us.  I have never felt and seen the adversary working so strong but I know God is willing and able to help us if we put our confidence in Him.  

PS this morning we did a service project on the other side of the island where there is absolutely nobody it is completely untouched and it is soo beautiful.  We got coconuts and put them in the truck.  It was good and we went with our amis so they can know that we love them.  Because we do.  Here is me and Taohie a girl we teach searching for coconuts in the tree.  Oh and I got so sunburned. 

September 22, 2014 - reactivation night

Hello family!

So things slowed down a bit here in Takapoto this week but it is ok.  Soeur Moli and I have been so blessed.  Our most devoted investigator went back to Tahiti so we can't teach him anymore  but I know the Lord has prepared others.  

Something neat here that all the members do is reactivation night every single Tuesday.  In America we have enrichment or mutual and here it is reactivation, and we go every single Tuesday night to visit the inactives.  It is so good to see how devoted members are to their callings and to the reactivation. There are a lot of families and people that are inactive here, and most of them have a kind of testimony but they are just so under the influence of Satan that they let themselves become slaves to alcohol and drugs. 

 I have never seen and understood how powerful these substances can be to ruin lives and distract us from our eternal progression.  I felt the force of the adversary really strong this week.  One of our favorite young adults became unworthy this week because of one smoke of a cigarette.  Me and Soeur Moli were so devastated that we started crying and when she saw us crying she felt really bad.  We talked to her and explained to her the bad consquences of sins that seem to have no consequence.  We asked her at least to receive a blessing and she agreed, and the spirit was so strong. The brother giving the blessing just said over and over that God loved her. She felt so bad about what she had chosen to do.  

  

The temptation to smoke cigarettes or drugs here is so strong that if youth don't have a solid testimony they have just a small chance to not take them.  It has become something so normal and so habitual and they just don't understand what they are doing to themselves. With every physical choice there is a spiritual consequence. Right now there are three worthy young adults out of about 20 and to stop smoking it is just so hard for them.  I have already seen people place their faith in Christ and stop through prayers and scripture reading and Priesthood power so I know it is possible, so we are just trying to help everyone see the eternal perspective.

 I know that it is just so important that we have testimonies rooted in the gospel so that when temptations come we don't question our faith.  Our conversion in the church is necessary and we need to renew that conversion daily by reading scriptures and praying.  I know Heavenly Father is more powerful than Satan and that he will help whoever has a broken heart and a contrite spirit to become healed of their addictions by faith in His son Jesus Christ. 

 I am not scared or worried.  I love you all and I thank you for your prayers.  Please pray for the people here in Takapoto so that they can have faith.   There are only 400 but they are precious in the eyes of God and they are in need of the spirit.  

Love Soeur Kimball

September 15, 2014 - Pet Crab

The mission goes by so fast.  I can't believe I have already been here for more than 3 weeks.  

At first the week was going well but by the time we got to Saturday almost everyone had canceled their lessons, so we just did a lot of biking.  We biked to someones house and then they canceled the lesson so then we biked to someone elses house.  We had a member with us too, which at least was good.  On Saturdays everyone is either drinking or they go to the airport because the plane only comes once a week.

I was starting to get frustrated with myself and started to ask Heavenly Father to help me feel His love again so that we could keep going.  I prayed so that I could be purified by the Holy Ghost so that I could be a more effective and loving missionary.  I know Heavenly Father answered me because after taking the sacrament I felt such a peace.  I knew God was keeping His promise to give me His spirit to be with me as long as I would be keeping His commandments and being a witness of Him. 

Then something amazing happened; The wife of the branch president had me sing two solos in church which makes me uncomfortable but I did it anyway. We had scheduled a lesson with this couple Litisia and Manutua.  We met them one day at their house and did a lesson with them.  They told us we could come over Sunday but where they live it is only accessible by boat so we had them pick us up at the end of the road to go on the boat.  It was so so pretty.  And then we ate fish, coconut, breadfruit and stuff with our hands. They had this like pet crab that was the size of my torso.   Teriffying.  But after eating we were able to do a lesson with them.  We had planned on doing all of the restoration with them and engaging them to be baptized so we did but we had forgotten a Book of Mormon. Luckily the mom of the member who came with us had been inspired to leave a Book in the car and so we took it with us.  The spirit was so strong and they all accepted to be baptized if they find out it is true. I am so grateful for the knowledge I have, and I know that if a man lacks wisdom he can ask of God and God will answer him. Manutua told us about how he knows God lives because he would pray over and over that his parents would stop beating him when he was 14 and he felt peace and love of our Heavenly Father.  

 I have become closer to Heavenly Father as I have seen how much I need Him.  I felt so peaceful and loved as we were riding back to the village and we could see the sunset and all the stars too. I'm not really sure how it was possible but it was such a good experience for me.  I thank Heavenly Father for the trials He gives us and the love He gives us to support them.