Dear Family,
I apologize for not sending the head's up that we wouldn't be writing until today. Oops. I loved the "hello, are you there?" email. Sorry about that; I hope I didn't cause any worries. There was a 70 here this last weekend for the New Caledonia district conference, and he spoke at our zone conference yesterday before he left for New Zealand this morning. Wow, what an incredible experience it was once again to be taught at the feet of one of the Lord's anointed servants, Elder Hamula. Actually, last Friday after our weekly planning the AP's called us and asked if we had a rendez-vous planned for that afternoon. We did. The elders then told us that Elder Hamula was with them and that they would all be coming to our lesson. Ah! We ended our weekly planning session and ran to our appointment to notify our amis that a leader from the Church would be coming to our lesson. The father of the family, Apiuté (Api, for short), had told us earlier that week that he would like to meet and talk to a branch president or another “big” leader of the Church, and we told him that his wish was about to be granted. They set out large weaved mats and when the elders and Elder Hamula arrived they all presented themselves and we sat down. Api had a lot of questions and Elder Hamula, through Elder Morrill as translator, bore his testimony to Api and Malia on various topics in the first lesson. He spoke simply of Heavenly Father's love for us and the importance of the family. Souer Chugg and I did not end up teaching anything, but we were in fact very well-taught by Elder Hamula and by the end of the visit the Spirit was extremely strong. Malia has a testimony of the Gospel though Api is a bit of a difficult case, but anything is possible with faith, and Elder Hamula gave us some counsel on how we should go about helping them in the future. Wow. We made a new stat for our weekly statistical report: Lesson in the Presence of a General Authority: 1
Later that night we had another appointment with Aurélie, who is progressing beautifully. Her prayers are sincere and she finds peace in reading the Book of Mormon. During our lesson we asked if she had prayed about the things that we have been teaching and if she had received answers. She said she was being patient, and I felt impressed to tell her how I came to know of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel. I told her that I prayed about it just like she had, but that for me the feelings in my heart told me that I already knew it was true; it was as though Heavenly Father said to me, "You are asking me, but you already know in your heart that this is true." That was my answer. Aurélie then said that she had been waiting to have a dream or some sort of sign like that (like our member Marie had when she gained her testimony, which she had shared with Aurélie), but that the experience I had was exactly how she felt in her heart as well. We explained that the Spirit manifests of truth differently for each individual. We asked if this was the road that she wanted to take and she responded and said "Why are you asking me that? Of course this is what I want. Ever since I have been coming to church I feel so good. I feel stronger and more confident and more capable of controlling my life." However, despite the willingness of her soul, there are a few problems. One of them came out as we left from that lesson. Her mother, visiting from the loyalty island of Maré, saw us walking out the door and said to Aurélie, "Didn't you tell them that we are Protestant here?", and then later on Aurélie told us that her mother was angry because we did not do "customs" with her. What that means is that we did not present her a gift or a gesture of respect (usually in the form of fabric and money) for allowing us into her home. We had no idea that we would need to do that, and I was reminded, as I am every now and again here, that this is not America and there are certain traditions that people follow that are not of my native culture. They are usually okay here on the mainland when it comes to customs, but those from the islands are strictly traditional and, thus, easily offended if such traditions are not followed. The next day we bought a nice loaf of fabric (not a real loaf, but you understand the image), and we tried to go over there later that night after the Saturday night adult district conference (which was AMAZING), but her mother was already sleeping. However, I knew we had to present her the fabric because I had had a dream about it the night before (where I made the gesture to her and excused ourselves) and later Marie told me that she had had a similar dream as well. So, that will need to be done, especially once Aurélie decides to be baptized so that we are on somewhat good ground with her family.
On Friday night another wonderful thing happened; the first time in my mission actually. We arrived home after the Aurélie's mother thing and we received a text message on our cell phone from a Charles that we had contacted earlier that morning. He said he had read the brochure and that he had really enjoyed it. We asked him if he wanted to know more, and he said that he did. We set up an appointment for the next day and we meet him at the church building and talked about what he had read. I was a little too hasty in explaining the entire first lesson to him, when it is clear, though he claims Catholicism, that he doesn't have much religious background. We left him with the engagement to read the intro of the Book of Mormon and to pray. Next time we will go a little slower with him, and I will be more sensitive to his needs. I had a bit of chagrin about it the next morning, and it just showed me how much I need to rely on the Spirit in all things and in all situations.
On Sunday we had district conference and we sang in the district conference choir with the Nouméa II branch. Elder Hamula gave a wonderful talk on the way that we can stay built upon the rock of Christ, especially during these turbulent times. He cited 6 ways: prayer (personal and familial), scripture study (personal and familial), FHE every week, Sabbath day observance, paying a full-tithe, and going to the temple often. He asked "How are you doing with that?" "Are we striving to build ourselves and our families on Christ?"
Yesterday at our zone conference Elder Hamula exhorted us (because it was a true exhortation) to change our vision of the mission here and to have faith in our callings, to have faith that we are TRULY servants to the Most High God, and that with such a calling we have to power to bring many unto Christ. Our mission president gave us the challenge to engage all of the people that we teach a full lesson to to be baptized. I feel that if he received the confirmation of the Spirit to give us that challenge, then it will be necessary for us to do that. I am thrilled by the idea of it and am excited to invite all to truly come unto Christ and follow Him.
Once again, so little time to tell you all the things happening and the swellings of my heart and the knowledge and light that is being distilled upon my soul, but know that I love the Gospel and know without doubt that it is the only way. The kingdom of God is on earth and I, as a missionary, am doing what I prepared myself to do before I ever came to earth. I am fighting in a war, just like the war we all fought in before coming to earth. We won then and we will win now if we have faith in Christ, a testimony, and serve others.
Have a glorious week!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
I apologize for not sending the head's up that we wouldn't be writing until today. Oops. I loved the "hello, are you there?" email. Sorry about that; I hope I didn't cause any worries. There was a 70 here this last weekend for the New Caledonia district conference, and he spoke at our zone conference yesterday before he left for New Zealand this morning. Wow, what an incredible experience it was once again to be taught at the feet of one of the Lord's anointed servants, Elder Hamula. Actually, last Friday after our weekly planning the AP's called us and asked if we had a rendez-vous planned for that afternoon. We did. The elders then told us that Elder Hamula was with them and that they would all be coming to our lesson. Ah! We ended our weekly planning session and ran to our appointment to notify our amis that a leader from the Church would be coming to our lesson. The father of the family, Apiuté (Api, for short), had told us earlier that week that he would like to meet and talk to a branch president or another “big” leader of the Church, and we told him that his wish was about to be granted. They set out large weaved mats and when the elders and Elder Hamula arrived they all presented themselves and we sat down. Api had a lot of questions and Elder Hamula, through Elder Morrill as translator, bore his testimony to Api and Malia on various topics in the first lesson. He spoke simply of Heavenly Father's love for us and the importance of the family. Souer Chugg and I did not end up teaching anything, but we were in fact very well-taught by Elder Hamula and by the end of the visit the Spirit was extremely strong. Malia has a testimony of the Gospel though Api is a bit of a difficult case, but anything is possible with faith, and Elder Hamula gave us some counsel on how we should go about helping them in the future. Wow. We made a new stat for our weekly statistical report: Lesson in the Presence of a General Authority: 1
Later that night we had another appointment with Aurélie, who is progressing beautifully. Her prayers are sincere and she finds peace in reading the Book of Mormon. During our lesson we asked if she had prayed about the things that we have been teaching and if she had received answers. She said she was being patient, and I felt impressed to tell her how I came to know of the truthfulness of the restored Gospel. I told her that I prayed about it just like she had, but that for me the feelings in my heart told me that I already knew it was true; it was as though Heavenly Father said to me, "You are asking me, but you already know in your heart that this is true." That was my answer. Aurélie then said that she had been waiting to have a dream or some sort of sign like that (like our member Marie had when she gained her testimony, which she had shared with Aurélie), but that the experience I had was exactly how she felt in her heart as well. We explained that the Spirit manifests of truth differently for each individual. We asked if this was the road that she wanted to take and she responded and said "Why are you asking me that? Of course this is what I want. Ever since I have been coming to church I feel so good. I feel stronger and more confident and more capable of controlling my life." However, despite the willingness of her soul, there are a few problems. One of them came out as we left from that lesson. Her mother, visiting from the loyalty island of Maré, saw us walking out the door and said to Aurélie, "Didn't you tell them that we are Protestant here?", and then later on Aurélie told us that her mother was angry because we did not do "customs" with her. What that means is that we did not present her a gift or a gesture of respect (usually in the form of fabric and money) for allowing us into her home. We had no idea that we would need to do that, and I was reminded, as I am every now and again here, that this is not America and there are certain traditions that people follow that are not of my native culture. They are usually okay here on the mainland when it comes to customs, but those from the islands are strictly traditional and, thus, easily offended if such traditions are not followed. The next day we bought a nice loaf of fabric (not a real loaf, but you understand the image), and we tried to go over there later that night after the Saturday night adult district conference (which was AMAZING), but her mother was already sleeping. However, I knew we had to present her the fabric because I had had a dream about it the night before (where I made the gesture to her and excused ourselves) and later Marie told me that she had had a similar dream as well. So, that will need to be done, especially once Aurélie decides to be baptized so that we are on somewhat good ground with her family.
On Friday night another wonderful thing happened; the first time in my mission actually. We arrived home after the Aurélie's mother thing and we received a text message on our cell phone from a Charles that we had contacted earlier that morning. He said he had read the brochure and that he had really enjoyed it. We asked him if he wanted to know more, and he said that he did. We set up an appointment for the next day and we meet him at the church building and talked about what he had read. I was a little too hasty in explaining the entire first lesson to him, when it is clear, though he claims Catholicism, that he doesn't have much religious background. We left him with the engagement to read the intro of the Book of Mormon and to pray. Next time we will go a little slower with him, and I will be more sensitive to his needs. I had a bit of chagrin about it the next morning, and it just showed me how much I need to rely on the Spirit in all things and in all situations.
On Sunday we had district conference and we sang in the district conference choir with the Nouméa II branch. Elder Hamula gave a wonderful talk on the way that we can stay built upon the rock of Christ, especially during these turbulent times. He cited 6 ways: prayer (personal and familial), scripture study (personal and familial), FHE every week, Sabbath day observance, paying a full-tithe, and going to the temple often. He asked "How are you doing with that?" "Are we striving to build ourselves and our families on Christ?"
Yesterday at our zone conference Elder Hamula exhorted us (because it was a true exhortation) to change our vision of the mission here and to have faith in our callings, to have faith that we are TRULY servants to the Most High God, and that with such a calling we have to power to bring many unto Christ. Our mission president gave us the challenge to engage all of the people that we teach a full lesson to to be baptized. I feel that if he received the confirmation of the Spirit to give us that challenge, then it will be necessary for us to do that. I am thrilled by the idea of it and am excited to invite all to truly come unto Christ and follow Him.
Once again, so little time to tell you all the things happening and the swellings of my heart and the knowledge and light that is being distilled upon my soul, but know that I love the Gospel and know without doubt that it is the only way. The kingdom of God is on earth and I, as a missionary, am doing what I prepared myself to do before I ever came to earth. I am fighting in a war, just like the war we all fought in before coming to earth. We won then and we will win now if we have faith in Christ, a testimony, and serve others.
Have a glorious week!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
