My companion and I are at the approved place where we can send e-mails: a Chinese laundermat Internet cafe. Isn't that neat? I am having a difficult time typing right now because French keyboards are a little different - they moved around some of the letters and the punctuations... Gotta love the French. I now have a whopping one hour to write you all at home, but I think much of it will be spent trying to make sure I spell things correctly. Haha.
So much has happened the last few days! On Saturday my collégue, another soeur from New Cal going to New Cal and I flew to New Cal (how many times can I put that in a sentence)! All the flight attendants were French so Soeur Leavitt and I put our best French to use with them. I said something to the effect of, “I’d like an apple juice, please.”
When we arrived at the airport the senior couple, the Mautzs, picked us up and drove us into the city of Nouméa, where they are living. We meet them at the MTC a month ago, so it was nice to see some familiar faces when we arrived. The drive into la ville (Nouméa) was beautiful! Everything is green and the beaches and views in Nouméa are breathtaking! Oh, by the way, the Mautz's have a blog that they update with pictures and stories from that week in the mission - that way you can see what is going on, even when I can't send pictures. The address is: carlandshirleymautz@blogspot.com
Anyway, when we all arrived in Nouméa all the sisters meet us at the Mautz's (there are 8 of us all together) and we had lunch. Elder Mautz had us new sisters fill out some papers in order to get cartes de séjour (resident cards) and similar things. Then I found out something. Elder Mautz told me that my companion's (Soeur Spencer) driver license was no longer valid and because she didn't have an international driver's license that I would be the companion that drove in our area (I am assigned to the Paita area, near the airport in Tontouta, north of the city). Oh, and then he said that our car was a stick shift and that I would be driving home in two hours. Now, because I don't, well, didn't drive a stick shift at that time and remembering my experience with Mom trying to drive through Cedar Ridge in Dad's Sentra, I became nervous. But, the Lord qualifies who He calls, right? Elder Mautz, my companion and I got into the little French car that I'll be driving and decided that I would learn stick shift on the streets of Nouméa. I was actually not that bad, and in fact Elder Mautz said that I did better than any of his children had when they had learned. He was very encouraging, as was my companion. However, there was this one hill and I completely stalled out and could not budge. Cars honked and went around me and then I built up more courage and tried going again. We literally SQUEALED out of there! We laughed (with uneasiness, on my part), and when we came back around again, there were some major rubber marks. You could say that I left my mark in Nouméa.
After our driving adventure, we went back to the Mautz’s residence (which is located in the Baie de Citrons - look it up; it is the epitome of South Pacific beauty!) and all the soeurs got with their companions, and we went to our different areas. Soeur Leavitt and I said tender farewells. I am very thankful for her, and my new companion is kind and wonderful as well. We drove back to Paita together and arrived at our nice little flat. It is a little house with lots of space. I set up my mosquito net over my bed (thank you Brother Hunter) and we got all settled in. My first missionary meal in New Caledonia (not counting lunch at the Mautz's) was bread, ham, and brie sandwiches. The brie came in a can but it was better than any I had had before. Merci les français! Then we had these cookies called "tim tams." I hopefully will not gain any weight. . . but I hear that the members feed us like crazy, so the odds are against me.
Sunday (yesterday for me) was a wonderful. We drove up to the branch in Tontouta where we met the elders in our district - elders Manarani and Flanagan. They are nice. Then we met the members. The ladies gave us bisous (cheek to cheek kisses - I love it!) and we chatted a little. They found out that I play a little piano and they assigned me to play for sacrament meeting. The songs chosen were not ones I was familiar with so I just right-handed them – very badly too! I ended up just laughing during the songs and so did others (goodheartedly), and the branch president thanked me afterward and said it was good that I got through all the way through the songs. I think next week I will make a list of the songs I can play. Their usual pianist is studying in France but should be home for vacation soon. Hopefully I will hold out okay.
The branch here is very friendly and they like to talk a lot. There are a lot of Tahitians and Wallisians/Futunians in our ward so it will be interesting to see what my accent becomes. They said that my French is good, but I have a lot to learn and hopefully enough time to do it all. After church we came back to the apartment and had some quality studies together and personally. We visited a less-active woman named Marguerite last night and had a nice time talking to her about faith, family and prayer. We read Ether 12:4 together. Then, since it was becoming late we just drove around Paita so I could familiarize myself, and Soeur Spencer gave me another driving lesson. Pray for me – we are driving into Nouméa again today…
Oh, sad news. The iPod is not functioning once again. I tried my charger and my companion’s and there was no reviving that occurred. I will send it home if I can and if it isn’t terribly expensive. It’s a shame that I have no luck with it and I am sorry your hard work didn’t get it to work.
I have to run now – my hour is up. I love you all. Thank you for your e-mails and your love. I am glad that all is well with the family. Mom, don’t kill yourself with all those classes! That’s a lot of work!
You are all wonderful and I wish you a very good week. Keep me in your prayers. You are ever in mine.
Avec amour de la Nouvelle-Calédonie,
Soeur Cummins
email from Fiji:
I’m here in Fiji!
28 mai 2009
I was just given permission by Sister Ostler (the mission president's wife) to write and tell you that we have arrived in Fiji safely!
The flight to Fiji was very good and it went by pretty fast. The airplane we flew in was the biggest aircraft I had EVER seen! It was ten seats wide by a million seats in length and it has two levels. It was very interesting because I actually sat next to this one man and he said hello in a foreign accent and I asked if he was Italian (just a guess). He said he was French so I began speaking French to him and then he told me that he was from New Caledonia. I was so thrilled by that! I tried to talk to him for longer, but he soon went to bed - plus, his French was extremely difficult to understand so conversation was mostly me laughing and shaking my head and saying "oui" even if that wasn't how I should have been responding. This is no longer MTC French.
We arrived in Fiji this morning at 5am local time. There were some missionaries who greeted us there and waited with us while we waited for the bus that would take us to Suva, the capital, where the temple and mission office are. The bus drive was 4 hours long! And, we have to take the same bus ride back tomorrow night (Friday - just remember, we are a day ahead of you) before we fly to New Cal on Saturday morning. Uck. No it wasn't that bad.
The landscape here is amazing! Everything is green green green! And then there is more green growing over that. The ocean sights are, clearly, spectacular, and I found it so funny that every now and again we would drive by a McDonalds. They really are everywhere.Anyway, we finally arrived in Suva and more missionaries picked us up from the bus and we are now at the mission office which is on the other side of the parking lot of the temple. It is a small temple, like Redlands, but it is beautiful. The elders and sisters here just ate lunch and we meet a girl from New Caledonia who is going to be serving in New Caledonia with us. Wooh.
I will write on Monday, which I believe are our P-day, and I think I was only supposed to write you that I am safe. Well, I am safe. It's a bit overwhelming to think where I am in comparison to you and what is up ahead of me, but I am excited.
It was so nice to talk to you last night! I love you all so much!
Love your far away daughter,
Soeur Cummins
see? we are safely arrived in Fiji.
in our final transit : fiji to new caledonia
with my trainer, two other sisters and the Paita car. notice that the keys are in my hand. this should not be too ominous.
