A tous, salut!
That's how the apostles sent their salutations to the all the branches of the early church: Salut! Which means, "hey" in modern day French and "salvation" biblically. So, salvation/hey to you all! I hope the week was well passed and that the Sabbath day is one of repose and temporal/spiritual relaxation. It says in Genesis that God rested from His labors (in the creation of the Earth) the seventh day, but I really wonder if the God All-Mighty really needed to rest or if perhaps that "rest" was to be an example for us. In any respect, if God rested then we surely need a day of rest as well.
This week has been a challenging one, but it all goes to the bettering of our character and our deepening our experience. I suppose that it is easy to focus on that which is negative and forget all that is good and all that God has blessed us with, and I refuse to follow that well-beaten path, so here are the joyous moments of the week:
We received some instruction from our district mission leader who served in Tahiti on his mission. His wife also served a mission in Tahiti, and they were able to offer us some new ways to teach the first lesson. We tried them out. One idea was, during the first vision, to hum softly Joseph Smith's First Prayer in the background and then to have our ami close their eyes afterwards as we sang the first and last verses of the song. I know it might sound cheesy to some of you, but it works! We taught our amie Célina (who is a super investigator) using that. Soeur Swapp (who is a vocal performance major at the University of Utah) and I hummed as Soeur Hurst told his story and his vision, and then we had Celina close her eyes as we sang if afterwards. The Spirit became so strong and Celina looked at us afterward and said she felt something powerful. We also tried it on Pako and he started to cry. He needs to strengthen his testimony of Joseph Smith, so it was a good experience for him.
On Thursday we were in this one neighborhood called les "Jardins de la Fontaine" and all our rd-v's had fallen through (which happened all too often this week), and our backup plans were falling through as well. I said a prayer that we would be guided because there had to be a reason why they were all falling through. We remembered that there was an old amie that lived right by where we were and off we went. When we knocked a woman came up and told us that the person we were looking for wasn't there. I asked her if she had ever spoken to the missionaries and asked if we could share an important message with her. She accepted immediately. Her name is Brenda and she is 21 years old. She told us that her mother died many years ago, that her father just died in December and that she lives all alone there in the house with her brother and sisters (who are all older) and their significant others. We shared the Plan of Salut (which you all now know means salvation) and as we talked about our life on earth and the importance of following Christ and the points of his Gospel. She asked if we were baptized and she said that she too wanted to be baptized. I told her that that was perfect because we were representatives for Christ's church to help people come unto Him and prepare to be baptized. We said that we taught lessons in order to prepare people to be baptized and she was receptive to us coming and teaching her more. Her humility was astounding and we feel that she might be a golden amie. But, time will tell. Pray for her.
Saturday, in all frankness, was a very rough day. We had prepared so well for the people we planned to see and we had members to go with us but everything fell through. It was rainy and absolutely miserable outside and everyone we contacted was either high, inebriated, or just not interested. We had a few so-so contacts that we are following-up on, but it was a difficult afternoon. There was a lesson with Anne-Marie that went well. She hasn't smoked, read in the Book of Mormon and plans to see President Kauvautupu (the branch president) on Sunday to be able to take the Sacrament again.
On Sunday Célina came to church. The testimonies in Sacrament meeting were, thankfully, mostly focused on Gospel principles, though we really held our breath when Pako went up to bear his testimony for the first time. It was good, and he only swore once. Don't worry he almost never swears - I think he was just nervous. If you knew Frére Pako Kilama you would laugh - there is nobody quite like him in this world.
Célina was very participatory during Gospel Principles class and Relief Society. She was looking up scriptures in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon with seeming facility and she was interested in what was being said. Her church experience was the silver lining on the week.
Oh, and Aurélie's baptism is this weekend and she asked me to sing. I did a quick translation of a song I brought along that we would sing in Young Women's - "His Image in your Countenance." I love doing translation work, but if only Soeur Swapp were singing...
As for the scriptures, I have been reading in Acts. I have read the Gospels many times and I wanted to start the New Testament this time in Acts. It is probably the most inspiring book for missionaries because it is just that: missionary work in action, done by the best of all teachers - the holy apostles. They are teaching me how to hone and better my skills through their experiences. All I know is that Paul gets a picture in my gospel Hall of Fame.
I love you all. I love the mission, even the moments that call on my dexterity to stretch and my humility to deepen.
Bonne semaine à tous!
Love,
Soeur Cummins
