Monday, January 15, 2018

Week 32

A WONDERFUL AND AWFUL WEEK
ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

THE WONDERFUL:

This week Mickey sent more photos from her birthday celebration, so naturally we talked about how the rest of her birthday went. She loved her day.
The Thomsen's had her over for breakfast (waffles, ice cream and strawberries!) 
and lunch (tacos!) Mickey's choice! 
(In Tahiti, everything closes in the middle of the day. 
The only restaraunt open for lunch is McDonald's and Mickey didn't want to eat there.)
She was able to have dinner at a "sweet mamie's" house (Sr. Fuller) from her ward.
"She had a party for me, invited all the Young adults in our ward and then they gave me that dress that I'm wearing and a snow globe. I had so much fun with them!" 


^^ Mickey's birthday dinner ^^





^^Isn't Mickey just beautiful?! She looks so happy and filled with the Spirit!^^

^^ Mickey's birthday gifts from the party^^


"The birthday cake (below) made by Elder Cruz. (: hahah  
He burnt it then tried to hide it by scrapping it all off and adding Nutella. (I DIED).
It was awful"





Mickey didn't receive our birthday box in time for her special day - but she did receive it that week.

"I received a call saying that I had to pay a $200 fine because it [the birthday box] was over the price limit. I almost cried and said it better be made of gold!! 
Literally, when I opened the box and saw gold glitter confetti, I about died!"

(In Tahiti, packages are only allowed to be a certain value amount. If it is over that, they charge a fine. This is the first time we have ever gone over that amount. Usually that fee is paid at the time of mailing. If it's not, the missionary gets charged. Ha! 
When we mailed the package, they said it was okay. Oops!) 

TENDER MERCIES HAPPEN!!
"When Sr. Hoffman dropped it [the package] off at the house (she loves me) she told me that she'd pass on the bill and I shouldn't ask about it...if I received a call then I could start worrying. 
But, it's been a few days and no call. So, I might not actually have to pay the fine."
Naturally, I told Mickey if they did end up charging her that I would pay it.
She said "It would be worth it." 
Of the package, she said, "I LOVE IT! I cried. The whole package made me cry.
I actually ended up receiving it on a really hard day, so it helped me out."

^^ The $200 package ^^

On my end, I felt completely saddened on her birthday when she said the package hadn't arrived for her special day. Ahhh. I felt SO bad. 
After finding out she received it on a hard day, everything made perfect sense.
My testimony that the Lord NO DOUBT knows what we need, when we need it is always being strengthened by tender mercies like these. Knowing Mickey received the package on a tough day really made it all okay...like it was meant to be that way the whole time. 





THE AWFUL:
"Well, I was sick again. I think it's just going to be a normal thing for my mission.
I think I'm having digestive problems.
It's awful, it's like I'm bloated while starving all at the same time, and it's painful, then I'll have diarrhea. It happens about every other week for a few hours, but this week it was for three days in a row. A few people have told me that it's normal.
I'm not too stressed about it, the food is just really hard on me."

"Well, missionary work was less than successful this week. Seriously, so many people were drunk and it was just no good. This week, missionary work in Tahiti was AWFUL. We are hoping it gets a little better."

"Jess -You're more of a member missionary than practically anyone else that I know. If anything, you are a missionary for your family, and definitely for me."


Mickey's letter to the President:

Iarana te peretiteni!
It wasn't a wonderful week for me. I have had digestive problems since the beginning of my mission and this week they decided to act up again. On top of that, there wasn't much work a cause de toutes les fetes. I honestly felt like I lost my desire to be a missionary this week. Multiple times I found myself pleading to Heavenly Father to have that desire again and Saturday he reminded me of why I love it here! I am here to show people just a portion of how much God loves them, to make everyone feel important. A quote I love by Mark Twain states that "the two most important days of your life, are when you're born and the day you know why." But I'd like to change it a bit and say that the two most important days of your mission are the day you start and the day you know why! Starting a mission is hard but it shows God our efforts to diligently serve him, and the day we discover for ourselves why we're here just gives us every encouragement to stay. Sr. Colledge and I constantly remind each other to just keep going, no matter how many mistakes we have made in a day. I know I say this all the time, but she's an awesome person, not to mention a GREAT missionary! Thank you for being in tune with the spirit enough to know that we needed to be put together. I assure you that every day I discover a new reason why. The sector is going, slowly and surely. We saw our DMP for the first time in 5 weeks yesterday, and he didn't even talk to us. We have been improving the sector little by little with the help of the Lord.
Thank you for all that you do!

"I'm going to Moorea next week, so I won't have tons of time to email."

"LOVE YOU"

...until next week!

Love - Jess
 
^^ "Tahiti is more beautiful after it rains." ^^


^^ "Snails on our front porch because it rained." ^^

 ^^ "Yep. Rain Season." ^^








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