Ia Orana! ("Your Ana!")
This time next week I will be in Tahiti and this is my last P-Day at the MTC!!!
I become aware of this reality sporadically. I am in the phase of the MTC experience right now where I really miss my dog/my family/my friends but I have so much enthusiasm for this work and its significance that I mainly want to get there, love people, make them happier, and have the time fly by until I get home.
We recently had a devotional by a Brother Droubay in the Media Department of the MTC who showed us a bunch of things about the promoting of www.mormon.org in London, England and New York City, NY and it made all of us missionaries so proud of our church. So, there is a musical called "The Mormons" ou quelque chose comme ca and apparently it is a comedy and makes fun of the Mormon religion. The Church bought double-decker buses in England with a massive banner across the buses with our website. Apparently there was also a bus campaign for the comedy musical "The Mormons" (anti) that declares, "The Mormons Are Coming!" The speaker solemnly declared that he had captured the best picture of this dispensation when a Mormon.org bus pulled up behind one of those buses that said, "The Mormons Are Coming" and it came across as though the "Mormons" had arrived. The two buses followed each other around the city on their routes. :) There was a campaign going on at Christmas where the Church purchased massive billboards in Times Square promoting the remembrance of Jesus Christ at Christmas. We had billboards all up and down Broadway. An aerial shot was taken and amidst all of the Mormon.org positive campaigns, the Atheists had purchased a little billboard saying "Dump the myth, keep the merry." You could barely see the Atheist billboards for all of the Mormon.org signs. The speaker noted that we "dominated" both major cities.
At this point, we only have about 3 lessons left which brings the grand total of French lessons to around 40 and the grand total of Tahitian lessons to around 25.
I love and appreciate all of the letters and packages, they mean so much every single time! I really do apologize for how long it is taking me to reply to some of you lovely people, there is just so much to do here!
We're going to speak only in Tahitian tomorrow, should be interesting. My district and the other Tahitian district are so fabulous, it's pretty ridiculous how great everyone still is after spending SO much time with each other. We're all really excited to get to Tahiti and one Elder was joking and saying that as soon as he gets off the plane he's going to run all the way to the other end of the island and just live out of a grass hut, forget the mission. We're getting into Tahiti at 10:00 PM at night, which is around 2:00 Utah time so I'm going to get one of the most hours of sleep I have had in almost 3 months SO EXCITED.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned this or not, but the tap water is not drinkable in Tahiti. I'll have a filtered water bottle but it is pretty much standard procedure that everyone is sick for the first 6 months of their mission because the water is used in everything. The way that came across to the Sisters is: don't worry about gaining weight in Tahiti, you'll be riding bikes and being sick.
I don't want anyone to worry about me, I have all the resources I need to succeed. I will continue sending emails while in Tahiti but letters and especially packages will be a super sketchy business so just know ahead of time that it will take about 4 months from the time you write me a letter until I can write you back. But I will include some Tahitian sand in my letter, so it will be worth it. :)
At this point of the MTC my great loves are: watching videos of incredible Mormons on www.mormon.org, I've pretty much watched every single Mormon Message, reading talks, listening to talks in Tahitian/French/Navajo (Navajo only once for fun), reading Jesus the Christ (Chapter 12 if you're following along with me), and falling asleep at each and every opportunity.
So much love for everyone who reads these blogs and if you have the means, tellement love for people who are taking care of my family.
Here/Amour/Love,
Soeur Carter
P.S. I gave the closing prayer in Tahitian for Church last Sunday. I could have given it in French but we all decided it would be cooler in Tahitian. We are in the French district and we just got some new French-speaking missionaries so after I finished the prayer I looked up and saw a few heads bob up after "Amene" with a slightly pained expression that they didn't understand a single word of "French." MTC humor :)
