hi everyone,
let's talk about how my fiery raging hate for missionary choir has resurfaced and is now upped a level, because now i have to get up early and take a boat across the ocean to go be annoyed for three hours at choir practice, and then waste my pday having no car in the city because we have to wait for the next boat back which isn't for another 2 hours. guhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. whatever. our last concert is next sunday, and then it will be over and i will SING HALLELUJAH. ok ok. missionary choir is ok. the concerts are cool and people really like them, and i will admit that we have seen success in finding new investigators. so yes, it's a good thing. BUT THE PRACTICES ARE THE WORST EVER AND MAKE ME WANT TO PUNCH MYSELF REPEATEDLY IN THE FACE. ok i'm done now. just needed to get that out of my system. the point is, i'm in an internet cafe right now in Papeete. internet cafes are expensive, apparently.
let's talk about something else. like my new area and my newbie companion. i will clarify on my companion situation, seeing as there was a bit of confusion expressed by readers. my old companion at Faaa, Soeur Teheiura (pronounced "tay-hey-oo-rah") stayed there--i was the only one that moved. and at moorea for the first week, i was with soeur teiho (pronounced "tay-show"--yeah don't try to understand how that works, it makes no phonetic sense.) then my baby, soeur chapman (from here, even though she has an american name) came. so now it's me, soeur teiho, and soeur chapman. soeur teiho finishes in the end of march, so then afterwards it'll just be me and soeur chapman. this situation is interesting, because soeur teiho is the senior companion, and i'm supposed to be the trainer. the liiiittle problem is that soeur teiho is kind of a...how do i put this...welp, she REALLY likes to be in charge. sooo...yeah. it has been an interesting week and will probably continue to be an interesting month. it's just a little frustrating, but i'm doing my best to be patient and humble. both of those virtues seem to be the most painful to acquire. soeur chapman is already a superstar missionary though--she's a trooper and really enthusiastic and hard-working. i feel like SHE is going to train ME, haha.
aside from that though, this week has been pretty good. we're still trying to boost the sector, but we're seeing little by little the fruits of our labors. we did a LOT of door to door this week, which is good but also really not the most result-yielding. our plan for this week is to really get our members involved. that was one of the really awesome things about Faaa--the members in our wards were super into missionary work and did a lot to help us find new investigators. it works so much better when the members help us, because there's an automatic support system there. i'm not saying that door-to-door isn't good, but member references are better. anyway, so we've got some stuff afoot to get them going and motivated. i have a feeling it's going to be like a diesel engine though--maybe take a while to get started, but once it's going it should be good. there is a lot of potential here in the investigators that we have now--one of the main things that's blocking most of them is marriage--they can't get baptized if they're living together unmarried. so we've been working with that a lot.
so we are teaching this guy named coco. coco has some big word of wisdom problems, but he really wants to change. this past week we had a good experience with him--one of our lessons fell through, so we were biking to go see a plan B lesson, and we see coco walking down the side of the road, with a glass of wine in his hand. he sees us, then he like turns around and puts his back to us. and i'm like yeah dude i see you, we're not gonna pretend that you're not there, so i called out to him and i was like "coco! what's up man? how are you!" and he like turned around and started laughing like "ok you caught me" and looked down at his wine, then threw it on the ground and was like "ok let's go, i need a lesson." haha. so we went and did a lesson with him and committed him to come to church on sunday and he said he would. he didn't end up coming because he got drunk instead, but i'm not giving up on this guy. i know he can change. he just needs a lot of support, so we made plans to stop by and see him, even for just a couple minutes, every day this week.
ah! i had my first (and second...and definitely not the last) experience biking in the pouring rain this week. i have now learned the art (and importance) of packing my stuff in a plastic bag and THEN putting it in my backpack, so that when it rains, my stuff doesn't get all wet. only my hymnbook has suffered some battle wounds so far--everything else is intact. the thing about biking in tropical rain--it's ok when you're biking because you're so dang hot that it's actually kind of refreshing. it's just after the freak 15 minute rainstorm for the day, you're soaked for the rest of the day because nothing dries in the humidity. i feel like i'm going to be in various stages of wetness for the rest of my mission, be it from rain or sweat or some gross combination of the two. but whatever. onward, ever onward.
have i mentioned how AWESOME the pineapples are here? seriously. i've never tasted such good pineapple. it's all i want to eat. and there's a guy in our ward that works in the pineapple fields or something and gives us pineapple whenever we ask. which is also awesome. very happy about this. i'm trying to think of what else i can tell you. OH! OHHH! i put my feet in tahitian ocean water for the first time ever on friday. (we are allowed to do this, stop freaking out. we just can't go swimming, feet dipping is allowed.) our DMP here took us out to eat at the Hilton resort before our district meeting on friday, and it's right on the beach. i PROMISE to send pictures next week--i didn't think that we would be doing emails here on the main island, so i didn't bring my camera cord. but seriously, it was so beautiful. white sand, turquoise water. dreamy.
anyway. things are going good. i was reflecting on some things this week, and i came to the realization that most of the frustrations and problems i encounter on my mission are the direct result of my lack of patience--with myself, with our investigators, with God's plan for me. i think to myself sometimes, "man i am REALLY trying my best to teach by the spirit, to teach according to the investigator's needs, to be obedient...etc., why is nothing happening yet?!" and then i start to think what am i doing wrong? and it's this whole vicious cycle. but i realized that i really need to be more patient--success isn't necessarily a reward for being good. it comes in the Lord's time, as all things do. so lately i've been trying to be better about placing my trust and confidence in the Lord and accepting His will in all things. guess what? it's hard! haaa! but, i know he keeps his promises. so, as i said before--onward. that's the motto in our companionship--"arohi!" (ah-row-hee!) which is basically a verbal fist pump in the air to say--yeah let's DO this!! so i say to you all: AROHI! love you alll.
love,
soeur hansen
