Yesterday I hit the 18 month mark on mission. I have been serving as a full time set apart missonary for 18 months. What a blessing, and I am so grateful I have the opportunity to serve just a few weeks extra. Just to make sure if I didn't accomplish something I was supposed to accomplish I can get it done.
In preparing to come home I am going to write every convert a letter because I really plan to stay in contact with all of them. That is where facebook comes in handy and emails. I just found out that one of them hadn't been going to church in Tahiti and I became really worried.
This week was really interesting. The good thing about being on a little Island is that we can see our efforts affecting the people at a population level. It is really good to see people being more unified and loving. The bad side is that you really become firsthand witnesses of Satans power and how he tries to stop people from entering and becoming clean in Christ's gospel.
Sunday is always the most spiritual day for us. The talks are always very spiritual and there have been more and more people coming to church. At first when we got here there were around 35 and now there are around 55 to 60. It has been so touching. The spirit was strong yesterday as usual but afterward sitting in relief society across the hall I heard banging of chairs and yelling and i looked over with my companion and there was Firmin ( a young adult in our ward) with blood all over his white shirt dripping everywhere in the chapel and another young adult was behing held back by the preisthood leaders. It was so scary and honestly because of my relationship with everyone I feel very responsable for everything that happens.
Turns out Firmin had been really offended by something two young adults had said and he chose to let his anger out in preisthood meeting by punching one and kicking the other to the ground. He had brought his mouth guard with him with the intention to fight. He is also a little sick and is very sensitive but in defending himself the other one had hit firmin on the head with a chair and broke the skin. It was so evil. I felt so dirty and I cried while cleaning up the blood.
Then later another couple we teach and are planning on getting married fought and got separated. Agnes the girl was desperate and Julio was supposed to get baptized in March but it seemed really serious when they separated. Needless to say I felt really overwhelmed and found myself many times pleading with Heavenly Father to help us fight Satan. I felt peaceful knowing that Heavenly Father will always win.
What is the moral of the story? This is the true church. There is no other church which is true. This is the Lords kingdom on the earth. It can be found even here on this little Island, and with the truth there comes opposition. Moana the father of Mahuta is getting baptized this saturday, and another little boy turning eight is getting baptized Monday. Moana had his interview and passed but is having serious withdrawls from not smoking. He is really suffering, but the we are marching on and surrounding him with support.
I know he can make it but he neeeds every prayer he can get. I love their family so much and would be ready to give anything for them to be sealed in the temple. I know Moana is just at the beginnig of his jouney accepting the gospel. I have seen the biggest miracle in his change in heart. he still has lots of imperfections like us all but he is really so much happier. Please pray for him.
Sorry for the length but I am trying hard to leave this sector the best I can. I love Takapoto. I love the gospel and I love Jesus Christ.
Love Soeur Kimball
In preparing to come home I am going to write every convert a letter because I really plan to stay in contact with all of them. That is where facebook comes in handy and emails. I just found out that one of them hadn't been going to church in Tahiti and I became really worried.
This week was really interesting. The good thing about being on a little Island is that we can see our efforts affecting the people at a population level. It is really good to see people being more unified and loving. The bad side is that you really become firsthand witnesses of Satans power and how he tries to stop people from entering and becoming clean in Christ's gospel.
Sunday is always the most spiritual day for us. The talks are always very spiritual and there have been more and more people coming to church. At first when we got here there were around 35 and now there are around 55 to 60. It has been so touching. The spirit was strong yesterday as usual but afterward sitting in relief society across the hall I heard banging of chairs and yelling and i looked over with my companion and there was Firmin ( a young adult in our ward) with blood all over his white shirt dripping everywhere in the chapel and another young adult was behing held back by the preisthood leaders. It was so scary and honestly because of my relationship with everyone I feel very responsable for everything that happens.
Turns out Firmin had been really offended by something two young adults had said and he chose to let his anger out in preisthood meeting by punching one and kicking the other to the ground. He had brought his mouth guard with him with the intention to fight. He is also a little sick and is very sensitive but in defending himself the other one had hit firmin on the head with a chair and broke the skin. It was so evil. I felt so dirty and I cried while cleaning up the blood.
Then later another couple we teach and are planning on getting married fought and got separated. Agnes the girl was desperate and Julio was supposed to get baptized in March but it seemed really serious when they separated. Needless to say I felt really overwhelmed and found myself many times pleading with Heavenly Father to help us fight Satan. I felt peaceful knowing that Heavenly Father will always win.
What is the moral of the story? This is the true church. There is no other church which is true. This is the Lords kingdom on the earth. It can be found even here on this little Island, and with the truth there comes opposition. Moana the father of Mahuta is getting baptized this saturday, and another little boy turning eight is getting baptized Monday. Moana had his interview and passed but is having serious withdrawls from not smoking. He is really suffering, but the we are marching on and surrounding him with support.
I know he can make it but he neeeds every prayer he can get. I love their family so much and would be ready to give anything for them to be sealed in the temple. I know Moana is just at the beginnig of his jouney accepting the gospel. I have seen the biggest miracle in his change in heart. he still has lots of imperfections like us all but he is really so much happier. Please pray for him.
Sorry for the length but I am trying hard to leave this sector the best I can. I love Takapoto. I love the gospel and I love Jesus Christ.
Love Soeur Kimball
Good morning, how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because through them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately, it is impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are very small countries with very few population, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this, I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from French Polynesia? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in French Polynesia in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Avenida Juan de la Cierva, 44
28902 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally, I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez