November 3, 2014 - Eating Dog

So, officially I will be coming home Feb 16... if you didnt know.  I am so blessed to be serving here right now.  All of the missionaries want to serve in the islands and so I just keep remembering how blessed I am to serve here right now.  It has been such a building and good experience;  It really has taught me to be independent; And how to rely on the Lord and trust him.  In the end His will is always done and we just have to accept and do everything we can to be on His side.

This week has been a week of miracles because of fasting; sometimes it seems like we fast and fast and pray and nothing happens but I know the Lord is doing everything He can to soften hearts and prepare people.

 We had a really good lesson with a couple yesterday; they are really young and have a baby but they aren't married.  The girl is a member, but the boy Hauani isn't.  Before it seemed like he wasn't really paying attention that much during lessons and didn't really care, but we fasted for him as a branch with the other amis. When we taught the restoration yesterday he really understood.  It is those moments that are the most incredible.  When you see investigators understanding.  After they asked the question " so you mean the LDS church is the same church that exsisted since the beginning", and we were like " yyyeess".  I never had realized how hard teaching was until I started my mission;  It is so important to teach by the spirit to help people see.  I love teaching now, and I keep trying to improve my techniques of teaching.

Our branch discovered that I have the gift of imitating animals and various things, so for halloween they made me imitate a mummy and everything in front of everyone. It was so funny and I am pretty sure everybody thinks I am crazy here.  When we teach english I act super dramatic to make them retain what they learned and they laugh a lot;

Oh, and speaking of animals and stuff, Guess WHAT?  Monday for our family home evening we always eat at the end and there was this pot of meat in it, but I have learned to not ask questions and just eat what is in the pots. I put it on my plate and every body was looking at us really suspiciously. Almost none of the kids ate it, so we were like " what it this?" and they told us what it was in Puamatu which I don't understand.  Then our ami Moana lied to us and said it was goat, so I was like " this is not the first time I have eaten suspicious meat" and then I ate it.
Four days later a member was like " so I heard you guys ate dog Monday"!!!

You guys I ate a dog, and it wasn't just a random dog. It was the families pet dog.  I started panicking when they told us.  haha;  It was kind of good but I was just too disturbed.  It would be like if I was eating Oreo.  If you want to know how they made the dog die you can ask me after my mission;
so there you go, and so I will be careful with what I am eating at the member house now.  Haha.  I am so blessed.  I got over every picky eating habit I had before.

And even better is that our investigator Pierre is having his baptismal interview this week;  please pray for him. Satan is so vicious. At church, after the meetings, the family member of Pierre came and criticized him in front of everybody telling him that she was really not happy to see him in the Mormon church. She was so mad, and it wasn't the frist attack. Whenever we have an ami that starts reading the Book of Mormon some member of their family comes and critisizes them.  It is like the end of the world if they change churches., but Pierre is so strong. It barely even phased him. He just keeps talking about how happy he is since he has read the Book of Mormon.  When we taught him the tithing he said he wanted to pay 50 percent of his money;

I just loved the talk this week by Elder Utchdorf " Lord is it I"  I hope you can all read it. I am so happy to be here and I know that living the gospel is possible anywhere in the world.  It is written in our hearts.  I love serving the Lord.
Love Soeur Kimball

October 27 2014 - Gone Fishing

Today we got up and went fishing with a couple in our ward and some amis.  It was a really neat experience and we found a random beach after to cook the fish by burning it on leaves and then rinsing it in the water.  It was really good and to drink we found coconuts and cut them open.  You guys will have to try it.  I don't think I will ever be able to eat fish at home again because the fish is sooo much better here; I was just sitting there thinking of how grateful I am to have been so blessed to serve here, not for the fish, but for the people and the love that our Savior has for them.  I am so grateful to be part of the gathering of Israel.

We lost a lot of lessons this week but it was still a very incredible week.  I think that every week is just incredible because every week my testimony grows and my vision of the gospel gets bigger.  I would just like to share an experience.  Members here are so faithful; I know they are so blesesd of the Lord.

This week something happened where a leader in our branch got offended;  Actually, it kind of happens a lot, but it was to the point where he said he was never coming back to church, and in a branch of 40 people we can't afford to lose any one.  Every person brings so much into the branch.
Saturday the DMB had proposed to do a fast as a branch together for the missionary work.  We fixed it for 12 o clock and hoped that all the members would come. Almost everyone came to support and we wrote a list of names of amis to fast for that really had potential to be baptized. Then, after thinking, our members decided to add the name of the brother that had been offended.  I am sure it would have been easy to have thought that it was his fault that he was offended and that we should just leave him, but everyone agreed to add his name;  The moment we all got on our knees and startted to pray to start the fast the spirit was soo strong. I have never felt the spirit so strong for a fast. Unity has been something we have been searching for and as the Love of God entered in the little room we felt so much for unified.

Because of the fast the sister who had offended him felt that she needed to see him to repare anyting she had done wrong.  I am not even sure who was really at fault but all I know is that it didn't matter. Through the fast the spirit was able to communicate with her to apologize and his heart was softened. Sunday he came back to church and we ended our fast.  It was such an incredible experience for everyone and I was so grateful to be a part of it.

Even if we cant see the immediate effects of our prayers or fasts I know the Lord counts every effort. Not one effort goes uncounted.  All of those little efforts help us become more like our precious Savior.
Love Soeur Kimball

October 20, 2014 - Lost in Communications

Wow, sorry I didn't get to write you guys last time. The internet and phone access broke for two weeks so we couldn't call anyone or go on the internet. Nobody in our mission was able to contact us. We get this call this morning saying that we were supposed to have a conference this morning but nobody told us, and so we missed hearing Elder Nelson talk to the missionaries. We were supposed to assist over the internet and we missed it! I missed hearing an apostle speak to us! Haha but it is ok because the internet came back this week.

I have so many things to tell you. Our investigator Victor stop taking lessons because he had been lying to us. He hadnt real'ly ever been interested, so we keep praying for him, but if you remember Pierre our other ami who is kind of deaf?

Well we found out he is friends with a member in our branch so we started teaching more lessons with him and we found out that he is really poor. He barely has enough to eat, and his girlfriend left him so he is all alone with his son. He smoked drugs and cigarettes, and we had to talk suuuuper simply because it is hard for him to understand everything but after we engaged him to read the Book of Mormon he read 137 pages in two days. I am not joking. He actually read it all. He told us he doesn't know how to explain what is happening but the hole in his heart is starting to be filled up. Now he has read up to Helaman in two weeks. . He has started to really understand the gospel and has completely stopped all drugs and cigarettes. He came to church and is doing really well. The biggest temtation for him is that he isnt married and so if his girlfriend comes back he intends to live with her. Our next lesson is the Law of  Chastity! I used to think it was so awkward to teach that lesson in the mtc but now I like it.

It is truly so important to stay virtuous and pure. I just have been so blessed to see his progression and so blessed to understand just a little bit of the love our Heavenly Father has for each one of us as individuals. He truly loves us and cares. 

We had a really good lesson with Patrice yesterday. He is a really hard investigator who is married to a member. He never really listens to us he just critiques us and says things that don't make sense in Tahitian. Sometimes I even imagine throwing my flipflop at him, which is super Christlike. Normally he just twists everything we say but I have really been working on charity, and his son-in- law, who is a member, was there and we talked about baptism. We showed him how to be baptized correctly it has to be exactly how Jesus Christ was baptized. I tried really saying everything with love and not just to criticize him. I started talking in Tahitian and then I gave up so I started speaking in French and then both languages, but the moment when I was explaining that baptism represents a new chance to start over and follow Christ I felt the spirit testifying that it was all true what I was saying. It was so neat, and Patrice was just silent. He kind of pretended to not pay attention but he was, and then his son in law at the end asked him if one day he would accept to be baptized and he said maybe with the time. Before the answer would have been " never!". I just know how true christlike love can have an impact on a  Person. It takes so much patience and faith and prayers and love are and the Lord softens hearts. I was so happy. 

I am so grateful for living prophets who guide us and help us become better people; I know the Book of Mormon is true and that if Pierre can read it than anyone can and change their life. 

Love soeur kimball. 

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.  

July 21, 2014 - Mission Leader

iorana. Eaha to outou huru?  hinaaro vau ia faaite tou mau ohipa i tupu i roto i tei nei hepetoma i mairi aenei.  E mea maitai roa i teie hepetoma.  ua faitoito noa vau no te tauturu i te tahi i te haere i mua i roto i tei evanelia.  Te tahi taime e mea fiu roa i teie ohipa no te mea i mairi.  No tou mau hoa o te ekaretia i parau parau aita hinaaro matou e haere i mua et faatupu i te hinaaro a te Atua.  Aita matau i taua.  E mea fifi roa tera peu.  Aue ta oe i haere mai no te tavini i te Atua.

Since you guys are on vacation now I thought you would have a little time to try to translate this.

I don't have a ton of time but I just want to show you guys the cutest thing ever. My mission leader in the ward Br. Parau is the best.  He is this adorable Tahitian man and his wife Leila isn't a member. Sometimes it is really hard for him because his wife doesn't believe in the church, but I really love her too. Monday we did a family home evening with them and we talked about unity in a house and family. It was good and it was so, so sad because at the end Br; Parau shared his thoughts about how he wished his wife loved him as much as she loves their kids, but he said he patientely waits for her to show her love for him.

I haven't been able to charge my camera at the house because I lost the charger in the house in Mahina and I have no idea where it is. So the mission leader found out about it and he told me to give him my camera. I gave it to him and that week during our coordination meeting he showed me that he and another new convert in the ward had made a homemade charger just for my camera with things they found in the garage. It is so so cute and I couldn't believe they spent all that time just to make a charger for my camera so I could take photos here.

Our mission president is changing a lot of things in our mission now and actually it is really good.  He is so so nice but very official at the same time.

Something weird happened in the mission where we had way too many sister leaders called, so now we are going to "release" a lot of us.  I am on the committee for making up the rules for the STLs.  We will see how it goes.

I love you all and I am so grateful for my family.  I am grateful for eternal families and that the Priesthood was restored.  Gospel ordances open the doors for us to fully use the power of the Atonement in our lives.  He lives and He loves.
Soeur Kimball