Week 18 (29 Oct.-4 Nov. 2018)
Monday: we are starting the week with some banging on our heads. Yes, they have started replacing the roof of the mission home. I was told the project will last 4 weeks. 🤪. They started at 9:00 am and were leaving at 4:00 pm. It is good that we will be out of the house travelling about 15 days here and there starting this Wednesday.
So I got a good scare tonight. I was washing some lettuce that I bought this afternoon at the mama’s market. There was a centipede in the last big leaf that I was washing. I drop it so fast and got a pair of tongs to grab it but the centipede was not there anymore. I am in a state of total panic by now only it got worst when I saw it going in and out of the holes in the strainer that was in the sink next to the leaf of lettuce. I am still freaking out about it. I got some killing bug spray and sprayed it directly on the strainer. And it disappeared again. I assumed it went in the drain and I sprayed the drain inside like crazy! Then I thought that when I bought that lettuce, I was holding it close to me while I was trying to put 2 in my bag and juggling my other bag and my wallet. If you do not know, those creatures are evil and they are fast like you would not believe. Their bite is painful and their venom makes you swell. I saw our day guard a few weeks ago with a swollen forehead and eye because a centipede bit him during the night. How vicious is that! I am very thankful that I was not bitten. Merci Père céleste! So I am staring at the sink and I can’t bring myself to clean the dishes when papa/grand-papa comes home. He can tell I am not doing well and I tell him what just happened. He hugs me then tells me that he has something that will make me feel better. He had Arianne’s package she sent us ten days ago. Wow it made me feel soooo good! Then I saw Wesley’s craft with his hand on it and I just cried when I read: “The wonder of a miracle from which this life began... There is so much found in the touch of a grandchild’s hand.” I needed that touch even from a print on a piece of paper. Thank you for sending it to us. It is placed on the refrigerator next to Bella’s note.
Tuesday: It was a hard day for the mission president with one frustration after the other. My day was very good and it brought a ray of sunshine to his day. I held a special training with the sister missionaries of Efate(19 sisters) at the mission home. I had sent them President Nelson’s talk given at women’s conference in their native language a week before, asking them to study and ponder it and we discussed what we learned from the prophet and the Holy Ghost. Some amazing experiences were shared. His words were a reminder of who we truly are, the gifts we can share and what an important influence we can be. I feel we are like a fruit salad. We come in a great variety but we are all a fruit (God’s family), sweet, nourishing. When we all come together (unified) we can make such a big difference for good. So I made a huge fruit salad with as many fruits as I could find and at the conclusion of our discussion we shared a delicious fruit salad. I asked the sisters to raise their glass of fruit salad for the picture. I also invited all of us to live up not down, above not below our divine nature.
Wednesday: we are off to Solomon Islands. Upon our arrival, we met with two new senior couples that are serving here. We had already met with the first couple who arrived at the beginning of October. The second couple arrived the day we were leaving for New Zealand. We were happy to finally meet them. Both couples will be such a blessing to the people, members and leaders in the Solomon Islands. We are so very grateful for their help. Blessed are the senior couples. We could not do it all without them.
We like the hotel where we usually stay and we never know the view we will get. This time it’s a good one. A very relaxing ocean view.
Mylène had an exciting day as we read on Facebook. She made an unusual friend.
Thursday: It is always good to be with the missionaries for interviews and the Mission Leadership Council. It was one of the missionary’s birthday so one of the zone leader made 3 chocolate cakes. 😋 and sister Sitake made donut balls. That was our lunch with ice cream. 😩 How can I not gain extra pounds? I have been trying to eat as healthy as is possible here. Then, not wanting to offend, I had to accept the plate that was put in my hands. So I have to be better with exercising even when we are out of town. Otherwise, in 3 years, I will look like a beach ball.🤪
Friday: Zone Conference. I have to admit, that is my favorite part of our mission, right up there with meeting with the missionaries. This time we had them practice preparing a 5 minute lesson to meet the need of this old man ( papa/grand-papa) meeting some missionaries (2 assistants). After they prepared their lesson we had lunch and upon our return they taught to one of the zone leaders their lesson. Then they evaluated how they did and others offered some input. It was a good experience. And even though it is a role play, as the missionaries are teaching the doctrine, we can feel the Spirit. That is because the Spirit testifies of truth.
Saturday: we attended a baptismal service in the morning. 2 young men, 2 young women, 2 mamas and 1 little girl. Her sister was to be baptized but when it was her turn she did not, she was afraid of going in the water. Their mom got baptized at the end of September. That’s fine. Whenever she is ready. We were so happy to be there with them. We had a good meeting with the District President
after. We just love President Sauseru. He is so dedicated and he is also funny. He loves to laugh. It is a pleasure to serve with him. We came back to the hotel room right after.
That is what we got for Halloween. I saw them wear the costume for about 10 minutes while we were having dinner. Luckily we received all your cute Halloween pictures. You all looked amazing!
We were awaken last night at 1:30 am by a phone call from the couple serving in New Caledonia because of an incident with 4 missionaries acting very foolishly and again at 3:00 am with some details. Since we are in the Solomon Islands until Monday, because there is no flight back to Port Vila before then, the Mission President will have to meet with them sometime this coming Tuesday. I have been praying since then, for him to know how to help them. A scripture that I read this week keeps coming to my mind in the Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 15:24 “whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness,to lead them away to destruction.” What I have been witnessing so far is that it will start with a little disobedience . Nothing major in the eternal scheme of things. Then one will be casual in his prayers and study of the scriptures loosing the protection against falling prey to temptations that overpower unto blindness. The disobedience grows without that protection. Then one finds himself in a mess. If the blessing of true repentance is not applied there are more messes. Ce n’est pas facile de recevoir de telles nouvelles. Puis on a vu le petit vidéo de Leah qui danse.😍😘😄😄😍😘
I loved Elder Renlund's talk last General Conference:" Our Heavenly Father's goal in parenting is not to have His children do what is right; it is to have His children choose to do what is right and ultimately become like Him." God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient "pets" who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room. No God wants His children to grow up spiritually and join Him in the family business."
"When we get off the path, God is saddened because He knows that this eventually, but invariably, leads to diminished happiness and forfeited blessings. In the scriptures, getting off the path is referred to as sin, and the resultant decrease in happiness and forfeited blessings is called punishment. In this sense, God is not punishing us; punishment is a consequence of our own choices, not His."
"Failure to repent means that we choose to disqualify from the blessings God desires to give... our choice, not God's"
"Therefore, exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, receiving help from Him, and being forgiven are not onetime events but lifelong processes, processes that are repetitive and iterative. This is how we 'endure to the end."
"So, choose faith in Christ; choose repentance; choose to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost; choose to conscientiously prepare for and worthily partake of the sacrament; choose to make covenants in the temple; and choose to serve the living God and His children. Our choices determine who we are and who we will become."
Nous vous aimons beaucoup. Faites de bons choix. Put yourselves in blessings ways comme dit papa/grand-papa.
Lavem yu tumas famli blong mifala. wetem lave we I no gat finis. Nous vous aimons , chère famille d'un amour éternel. Love y'all.
So I got a good scare tonight. I was washing some lettuce that I bought this afternoon at the mama’s market. There was a centipede in the last big leaf that I was washing. I drop it so fast and got a pair of tongs to grab it but the centipede was not there anymore. I am in a state of total panic by now only it got worst when I saw it going in and out of the holes in the strainer that was in the sink next to the leaf of lettuce. I am still freaking out about it. I got some killing bug spray and sprayed it directly on the strainer. And it disappeared again. I assumed it went in the drain and I sprayed the drain inside like crazy! Then I thought that when I bought that lettuce, I was holding it close to me while I was trying to put 2 in my bag and juggling my other bag and my wallet. If you do not know, those creatures are evil and they are fast like you would not believe. Their bite is painful and their venom makes you swell. I saw our day guard a few weeks ago with a swollen forehead and eye because a centipede bit him during the night. How vicious is that! I am very thankful that I was not bitten. Merci Père céleste! So I am staring at the sink and I can’t bring myself to clean the dishes when papa/grand-papa comes home. He can tell I am not doing well and I tell him what just happened. He hugs me then tells me that he has something that will make me feel better. He had Arianne’s package she sent us ten days ago. Wow it made me feel soooo good! Then I saw Wesley’s craft with his hand on it and I just cried when I read: “The wonder of a miracle from which this life began... There is so much found in the touch of a grandchild’s hand.” I needed that touch even from a print on a piece of paper. Thank you for sending it to us. It is placed on the refrigerator next to Bella’s note.
Tuesday: It was a hard day for the mission president with one frustration after the other. My day was very good and it brought a ray of sunshine to his day. I held a special training with the sister missionaries of Efate(19 sisters) at the mission home. I had sent them President Nelson’s talk given at women’s conference in their native language a week before, asking them to study and ponder it and we discussed what we learned from the prophet and the Holy Ghost. Some amazing experiences were shared. His words were a reminder of who we truly are, the gifts we can share and what an important influence we can be. I feel we are like a fruit salad. We come in a great variety but we are all a fruit (God’s family), sweet, nourishing. When we all come together (unified) we can make such a big difference for good. So I made a huge fruit salad with as many fruits as I could find and at the conclusion of our discussion we shared a delicious fruit salad. I asked the sisters to raise their glass of fruit salad for the picture. I also invited all of us to live up not down, above not below our divine nature.
Wednesday: we are off to Solomon Islands. Upon our arrival, we met with two new senior couples that are serving here. We had already met with the first couple who arrived at the beginning of October. The second couple arrived the day we were leaving for New Zealand. We were happy to finally meet them. Both couples will be such a blessing to the people, members and leaders in the Solomon Islands. We are so very grateful for their help. Blessed are the senior couples. We could not do it all without them.
We like the hotel where we usually stay and we never know the view we will get. This time it’s a good one. A very relaxing ocean view.
Mylène had an exciting day as we read on Facebook. She made an unusual friend.
Thursday: It is always good to be with the missionaries for interviews and the Mission Leadership Council. It was one of the missionary’s birthday so one of the zone leader made 3 chocolate cakes. 😋 and sister Sitake made donut balls. That was our lunch with ice cream. 😩 How can I not gain extra pounds? I have been trying to eat as healthy as is possible here. Then, not wanting to offend, I had to accept the plate that was put in my hands. So I have to be better with exercising even when we are out of town. Otherwise, in 3 years, I will look like a beach ball.🤪
Friday: Zone Conference. I have to admit, that is my favorite part of our mission, right up there with meeting with the missionaries. This time we had them practice preparing a 5 minute lesson to meet the need of this old man ( papa/grand-papa) meeting some missionaries (2 assistants). After they prepared their lesson we had lunch and upon our return they taught to one of the zone leaders their lesson. Then they evaluated how they did and others offered some input. It was a good experience. And even though it is a role play, as the missionaries are teaching the doctrine, we can feel the Spirit. That is because the Spirit testifies of truth.
Saturday: we attended a baptismal service in the morning. 2 young men, 2 young women, 2 mamas and 1 little girl. Her sister was to be baptized but when it was her turn she did not, she was afraid of going in the water. Their mom got baptized at the end of September. That’s fine. Whenever she is ready. We were so happy to be there with them. We had a good meeting with the District President
after. We just love President Sauseru. He is so dedicated and he is also funny. He loves to laugh. It is a pleasure to serve with him. We came back to the hotel room right after.
We were awaken last night at 1:30 am by a phone call from the couple serving in New Caledonia because of an incident with 4 missionaries acting very foolishly and again at 3:00 am with some details. Since we are in the Solomon Islands until Monday, because there is no flight back to Port Vila before then, the Mission President will have to meet with them sometime this coming Tuesday. I have been praying since then, for him to know how to help them. A scripture that I read this week keeps coming to my mind in the Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 15:24 “whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness,to lead them away to destruction.” What I have been witnessing so far is that it will start with a little disobedience . Nothing major in the eternal scheme of things. Then one will be casual in his prayers and study of the scriptures loosing the protection against falling prey to temptations that overpower unto blindness. The disobedience grows without that protection. Then one finds himself in a mess. If the blessing of true repentance is not applied there are more messes. Ce n’est pas facile de recevoir de telles nouvelles. Puis on a vu le petit vidéo de Leah qui danse.😍😘😄😄😍😘
I loved Elder Renlund's talk last General Conference:" Our Heavenly Father's goal in parenting is not to have His children do what is right; it is to have His children choose to do what is right and ultimately become like Him." God is not interested in His children just becoming trained and obedient "pets" who will not chew on His slippers in the celestial living room. No God wants His children to grow up spiritually and join Him in the family business."
"When we get off the path, God is saddened because He knows that this eventually, but invariably, leads to diminished happiness and forfeited blessings. In the scriptures, getting off the path is referred to as sin, and the resultant decrease in happiness and forfeited blessings is called punishment. In this sense, God is not punishing us; punishment is a consequence of our own choices, not His."
"Failure to repent means that we choose to disqualify from the blessings God desires to give... our choice, not God's"
"Therefore, exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting, receiving help from Him, and being forgiven are not onetime events but lifelong processes, processes that are repetitive and iterative. This is how we 'endure to the end."
"So, choose faith in Christ; choose repentance; choose to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost; choose to conscientiously prepare for and worthily partake of the sacrament; choose to make covenants in the temple; and choose to serve the living God and His children. Our choices determine who we are and who we will become."
Nous vous aimons beaucoup. Faites de bons choix. Put yourselves in blessings ways comme dit papa/grand-papa.
Lavem yu tumas famli blong mifala. wetem lave we I no gat finis. Nous vous aimons , chère famille d'un amour éternel. Love y'all.
Centipèdes... une m'a mordu en Polynésie Française sur l'île de Takapoto. Elle m'a pîqué à la jointure de mon majeur gauche. L'infirmier de l'île ma donné une crème pour soulager la douleur mais l'enflure est restée une semaine. C'est l'équivalent d'une piqûre de guêpe.
ReplyDeleteIl y a quelques jours, Meichi (la fille de Jing de 9 ans) n'arrivait pas à dormir pour des raisons d'histoires de fantômes. Fréquents aux Philippines... ils sont tous tellement superstitieux! Meichi ma demandé de prier pour lui apporter la paix en son âme. Ce que j'ai fait avec toute ma sincérité. Mais avant-hier la télé s'est allumée d'elle-même en pleine nuit. C'est Meichi qui s'en ait apperçu. Elle est venue nous réveiller pour nous le montrer. Ça m'a foutu la trouille! Puis j'ai dit à Dieu que je ne comprennais pas pourquoi Il ne prenait pas les craintes de la petite au sérieux. Au milieu de la nuit, une vision m'a permis de comprendre. Je me revoyais sur le divan du salon devant le télé oú Meichi jouait avec la télécommande. J'ai alors compris qu'elle avait actionné la commande de programmation ce qui allume la télé automatiquement. Dieu nous parle... Il se soucie... peu importe notre allégence!
Oui Il nous parle. Il ne reste qu'à écouter.
ReplyDelete