Ahh! I am almost at my one month mark out here in the field, but it feels like I have been out here for much, much longer…
I can’t believe that we are becoming one of those families with a herd of cats – that makes me laugh. Mom, I wish you the best of luck with that Masters Programme you are pursuing. Do make sure that you are not going to overwhelm yourself to a point where other important things start to lack – like health? I remember that one of the things that my patriarchal blessing says is that I do not have to do everything in my life, but that I should do the things that I do do to the best of my abilities. That is probably good advice for any over-achiever. Oh, and tell Keeks that I am SO happy that life at BYU is good and that she is so involved with BYUSA. It’s nice to hear that she is doing well, that she is active and is about doing good! And Brian is home? How wonderful! I am glad to hear that his mission was good to him and for him. Being out here in New Caledonia has already taught me so many things about myself and about human nature. I am glad to be speaking a different language because it obliges me to sit and truly listen to people. Many of the people we have met and spoken with have had many interesting and sad things that have happened to them; every life has a story, but every life needs and can be changed by the message of the Gospel.
The work here in Paita is experiencing some growing pains, if you will. I don’t think the people here were well taken care of before, and we are seeing the symptoms of it: investigators that do not desire to progress or do anything that promotes progression (like reading, praying, and the like) and people who generally don’t seem to care about our message. This is a missionary’s life though, I suppose, and we are working hard every day so we can see some change. This week we had Zone Conference down in the city with all the missionaries here in New Caledonia and with our President and his wife. It was great to see everyone and meet everyone in the mission here and also to hear the speakers and be spiritually edified together. On Wednesday we had a lesson with a woman named Virginie, who was first contacted by the elders. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. She was very open and very accepting of the message. She said that that was exactly how she imagined God’s plan to be and that she felt strongly that it was true. The Spirit’s presence was incredible during that time that we spent with her, and we hope that she will read and pray about what we shared with her.
That was a great experience that highlighted our week as well as another meeting that we had with this very sweet Wallisian man named Antonio. Antonio is blind and he lives with his brother and his family. He is very humble and we had a good conversation with him and later on with his brother who came home from work. They are Catholic, like all traditional Wallisians, and we had a good talk on prayer, God, the Bible and a myriad of other Gospel goodness. We are going to go by and teach Antonio next week. Something about his mannerisms was touching to me – I think that many times having an apparent defect makes us humble and reliant on Heavenly Father, and thus makes us receptive to others and to truth.
Despite our success with some people this week, our past few days have been a bit marred by the fact that our one progressing investigator, Aimée, who we have been continuing to teach and who we engaged to be baptized, decided to end contact with us. We called her on Saturday night in order to make sure that she would be coming to church so we could find her a ride and she said that she wouldn’t be able to come. She then called us ten minutes later and said that she didn’t want to be baptized and that she didn’t want us to come by again. At first I was worried if we had said anything to put her off, but in the end, everyone has their own free agency and they ultimately choose whether or whether not they will listen and accept the Gospel and all that goes with that. It was sad for us to have her drop us, and guess what I had to give a talk in Sacrament meeting the next day on: libre arbitre, or, free agency. Another one of our investigators and his son are also not progressing the way we would like them too. This is where the acquisition of Christ-like patience comes in handy,
Let’s see, my talk in Sacrament meeting went well yesterday, although I think my pronunciation goes out the window when I am under stress, so that is something I will have to work on. The language is coming along nicely though. I understand more and talk more, which takes some of the pressure off my companion although she has an ease as a master teacher of the Gospel. I am always amazed at how simply yet effectively she puts things and how well she is able to relate to others. I am thankful for her example and her friendship.
This week has been another full one in New Caledonia! We continue to work hard. I am glad to hear that the family is doing well and that summer has kicked off with a bang! Have fun at all your summer camps, on your Utah trips and the like. Things are changing so much there it seems, and I am sorry to miss it all, but then again, I am not sorry to be where I am and doing what I am doing. I can see daily how Heavenly Father is leading us, and I hope that I can always remain a useful tool in His hands.
Anyway, I hope this was a good email, and that you have some sense of the things I have been up to. The hour I have passes by so quickly, and there is never enough time to tell you all that is happening.
Je vous aime.
Love,
Sœur Cummins
we found this little fella when we came home from conference.
