Loving the Mission

Helloooo Whoville!

Ok so I am LOVING my mission right now. I cant even tell you how tough it is sometimes but Soeur Taylor and I are very loved here so that makes a huge difference. It is also very wonderful that Tahitian people show their love by giving food, so many bananas.

Morning run with Soeur Weller this morning was 4km and we visited the black sand beach on the return route. "The cure for anything is saltwater: sweat, tears, or the sea." SO TRUE. Sometimes sister missionaries just need a few minutes of watching waves to really refocus on all of the important things about life. (cheesy but true)

We have 6 baptism dates fixed before the end of the year, working like crazy to get them prepared and full of gospel knowledge. It is absolutely incredible how much people's demeanor can change when they finally have a purpose to their life.

Ami de l'Eglise ("Investigator", lit translation "friend of the church") highlight: Nuihau

Nuihau is a 24-year-old university student who is undergoing training to become a police officer. He came to church one day with his friend, a freshly-returned missionary. After church we were walking through the parking lot and the RM mouthed "AMI" and subtly pointed to his friend so we did a secret agent head nod & maneuver to approach them from the other side and introduced ourselves as missionaries. Last week we committed him to be baptized for the 6th of December and he accepted! He asks very thoughtful questions, wants to be married in the temple, and comes to church every Sunday. He's so committed to this Church and I know miracles happen when the Holy Ghost touches people's hearts.

If You Want to Serve a Mission:

Re-watch/re-read the General Conference talks and read the Book of Mormon. There is no secret to missionary preparation: develop good habits of living the gospel so when youre faced with challenges, you know exactly what you need to do to succeed. I love this work because it is Heavenly Father's work and there is nothing better to do with your time than serve a mission, if possible. I love everyone who has the desire to serve a mission and I encourage you to make it a priority in your life.

1. A full rainbow, could see everything but the pot of gold.

2. A fireside where we answered questions and took a virtual driving test. Passed!

3. Soeur Taylor and I picked up a coconut on our morning run and tried to open it during breakfast time. We blame it on the fact that we dont have a proper machete.

4. Waterfalls after a heavy rainstorm, view from the road.

5. Might surprise you, (surprised me) but this is a real pineapple plant.

6. We did a little "OLB" (knocking on doors) and this was the road we walked!

Ok time's up, if you didn't hear from me I am either writing you a hand-written letter today or I am mentally composing an email for you next week! Have a happy Halloween, be sure to eat candy corn for me.

love, Soeur Carter

Baptisms, teaching English, and Green Beans

Hey!

Ok so right now I can look to my left and see the multiple-shades-of-green-covered mountains/a huge waterfall and on my right is the gray-blue, fast-moving ocean and the surf off in the distance. One could say that Tahiti is easy on the eyes.

Local news: the other week a mama whale and her baby swam into the lagoon and hung out for a little bit before heading back out to deeper water.

President Sinjioux set a mission goal on August 15 to accomplish 20 baptisms before the end of the year, a true test of our faith and work. Numbers matter when they represent people. Since then, we have accomplished 3 baptisms, have 6 baptisms planned, and 17 people with potential that we're going to engage for the baptism in the coming 2 weeks. Prayers are bienvenue (welcome).

I'm teaching a few English classes here, the next one is tomorrow morning at 745. I understand and speak French, but not as eloquently as I would like. I love, love, love teaching in Tahitian, comprehension is still pretty low but that's when you can feel the gift of comprehension helping you big time. 

1. Ocean-side restaurant, one of the closest moments I've ever been able to get to the water!

2. Sketch that my former comp Sr Hopuu drew for me, girl's got talent!

3. Tahitian green beans are approximately 4x bigger than American green beans. They're also free if you are friends with the gardeners. They thought it was hilarious when I ate one raw. (Try it!)
 

 

 

 

Family, each one of you is so special to me and I am so outrageously blessed by your love and support. Friends, I love your life stories and observations, I am replying as fast as humanly possible. Bloggers, check out www.mormon.org for a little bit of an explanation about my church, the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Pretty please.

I love you all, genuinely. Everyone take good care of yourself and pursue worthy interests.

Soeur Carter

Temple Trip

Ok people, I hope you're all doing swell and getting your jack-o-lanterns prepped (you cant leave that type of thing until the last minute).

I am whole-heartedly loving my mission right now! My companion Soeur Taylor is adorable, smart, and hilarious.

Story time: Our first night we had the experience of backing out of a driveway into a really narrow road right after a family home evening (soiree familialle). One of the sons (with a marriage and baptism date) was helping us out by doing the "back up" and I was driving. I was going ever so slowly and carefully but as I got closer to the wall I had to rely completely on his directions. He overestimated my driving skills and at the last second put his hands up to stop but I ended up pinning him up against the wall!! I quickly advanced the car to release him, made sure he was ok, and that was when I heard the parents laughing. I completely lost it and we were all laughing until we got home to the house that I almost killed one of our favorite investigators.

(No investigators with baptismal dates were harmed in the making of this story.)

1. Last morning with the companion Sœur H and housemate Sœur T.

2. About 40 people attended our missionary activity at the temple!! Not going to lie, one of the most intense things Ive ever organized but it was completely worth it: investigators, inactive members, members, and recent converts were in attendance. :)

Ok, ua here au ia outou!! Tuahine Carter

 

 

Transfers

Greetings to you fine people,

 

Ok normally P-Day is Monday but I'm writing today because on Monday and Tuesday we had TRANSFERS!!!! I am training again and I have also been called to be a Sister Training Leader in the Zone of Paea. :) 

 

Transfers was a crazier experience than last time because we had an unprecedented number of arriving missionaries: 26. Turns out that I was with a stellar MTC district because practically all of us were training so we all got to have a little kum ba yah before the young'uns arrived. It is SUCH a cool experience to see the transformation of missionaries. 

 

So I hope everyone had the absolute joy of watching General Conference this past weekend. If you haven't done so, do. If you can read this blog this means that you have a computer and internet and you can go to www.mormon.org to watch all of the sessions of General Conference. I can promise you that it will be worth your time to hear these inspired talks. 

 

Person highlight: Soeur Weller

Soeur Weller is one of the people I most respect in this mission for her patience, positivity, and adaptation to the Tahitian culture. I live with this awesome person and she is unceasingly up-beat. We run together, discuss gospel doctrine together, and understand each other's jokes. She helped me through a really rough time and she is there for every single person who needs her. She is a powerful missionary because she truly loves everybody and she has a solid testimony that the Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true church. She has taught me so much by her example, she is one of my biggest role models and my goal is to also leave a legacy of love with every person that I know.

 

Ok I love mission life, truly love this Gospel, and love so many Tahitians I cannot even count them. In less than a month is the half-way mark and time hasn't flown by simply because every day is so jam-packed with experiences. Family, I love you all more than ever (absence makes the heart grow fonder?) and good luck with the move. Short letter today because of time constraints. Got to go preach the gospel. 

I have such an awesome new companion, her name is Soeur Taylor and she's from Texas!! She's fun, smart, we get along really well, and her French and Tahitian is fabulous already. We talk in French but oh my heck it is fun to throw in English phrases every once in a while. 

 

That's all, folks!

 

to'u here atoa, Tuahine Carter

 

 

Peaceful Tahiti

 Talofa!!

Here in the islands we're doing pretty well: not involved in any wars, the weather varies from nice to really nice, and the Nutella is not that expensive sometimes.

My mission motto: low-maintenance, high-yield.  I can officially drive stick-shift! That means at this point in my life I can basically drive any type of vehicle now, including golf carts. President and Sister Sinjioux taught a family home evening for the family of one of our recent converts and at the end of the lesson 4 people wanted to get baptized. We're starting the lessons with them this week! And the miracles continue.

I hope everyone is doing really well and recognizing all of the little amazing things in every day. If you want to add a little something to your mornings, take up running. Running in the morning is such a refreshing way to get your day going. If not running, do yoga or facial exercises or something for your health.
 

Person highlight: President Sinjioux

Literally the best Mission President in the world. He is calm, patient, spiritual, and speaks English. With a little breakdown this past week he was right there with me and very understanding. He has so much to do but he genuinely cares about every single person with whom he talks and interacts. He has set a "Standard of Excellence" for us missionaries and he knows we can accomplish it.  I love President Sinjioux!!
 

Little side note: Janani and Lowell, LOVE the letters but no return address information/email doesnt work. Please send. Janani: I want to hear more about your SGB. Lowell: more life observations, please.
 

1. Double rainbow.

2. A nice card someone gave me