Yahoué 2

Well Christmas has come and gone and now it's back to reality. This week focused a lot on finding the members and inactives in our sector and sharing a Christmas message. We have one member who is in a retirement home so we asked the director there if we could come sing for them in Christmas Eve. That was probably one of the highlights of the week. Thanks to a Christmas package from my family we were able to give each of them a little snowflake ornament and the smiles on their faces were priceless. 

Christmas Eve was spent with the Mocellin family. Dinner consisted of lobster, crab, fish, shrimp, and all things YUMMY! Christmas here is a little different than Christmas in America. Everyone opens their presents at midnight and then celebrate all through the night and then sleep the 25th. I'd have to say that I like the way we celebrate in America. 

Christmas Day I got to Skype my family and I was a nervous wreck. The anticipation killed me, but I couldn't have been happier to see them. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. It was a great way to start the day, and then the whole mission in New Caledonia got together for the rest of the day to celebrate with games, food, and small gifts. As the New Year is about to start and everyone will be making New Years Resolutions, I encourage you to pray to know what goals to set and to have them focused on Christ. Because your Father in Heaven knows you better than you know yourself, He will help you improve in ways that maybe you never even thought about. With goals centered on Christ and the will of God, I can promise you that your relationship with the two most important people in your life will grow, their presence will be stronger, and their blessings more abundant. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Big Hugs, 
Sœur Stahura

Somewhere over the rainbow (:

Yahoué 1 pictures

Soeur Casuga!

Baby Blue (:

Trio for the week

Yahoué 1

Talk about a busy week! Like I said last week, we were in a trio until Friday and had to work in both the sectors of Paita and Tontouta, and pack our bags, and say goodbye to those in our sector to get ready for the transfer. But, we did it and we are still alive haha. 

So Friday was the big day! My "baby blue" is Soeur Casuga. She's 19, from Hawaii, and is the cutest, happiest, most optimistic person ever. I'm really excited to work with her and I'm grateful that I get to be her trainer. Our new sector is MUCH smaller than Tontouta but I like it a lot because it'll be easy to find our way around and white washing won't be such a daunting task. I am also excited that we kind of get to make this sector our own since we are both new here and we will be able to start fresh and work together. 

I also LOVE my new ward! Every one is so nice and just loves the missionaries. Friday night was the ward Christmas party and of course the missionaries were "voluntold" to do the nativity scene, but it was fun. They also sang some of their cultural songs for those who are from the islands and the young women did cultural dances. I really enjoyed it (:

Christmas just kind of snuck up on me. Can't believe it's this week! I happened to read the birth of Christ recently and I love Mary's experience. I imagine she was scared and probably didn't feel worthy for the task. I know I have felt this way before as I'm sure we all have, but I love the counsel she received from the angel: "For with God nothing shall be impossible" and her response, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to they word" (Luke 1:37-38). She said "okay, here I am, weaknesses and all, I'll do it". Sometimes making the first step to just say "okay, I'll do it" is the hardest but He will "guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 1:79). And yes, sometimes it's a daily, even hourly decision, but He will help us get through if we, like Mary, submit to His will.

I'm thankful for My Savior and I pray that we will remember the reason for the season. He is the gift.

With all my love this Christmas Season,

Soeur Stahura 

Tontouta 10

Story time! Well, first I apologize for not doing a weekly email last week, but I'm back!

Okay... so it was Saturday night, December 5. We went to have a lesson with Jesabelle. She is ten years old and has been taking the lessons for a while but the elders before us kept saying she likes to "play around". She'll say she wants to get baptized but then change her mind and didn't really pay attention to the lessons. So we picked up where they left off and to me she seemed so sweet and she retained everything that she had been taught. So, that night she asked, "is it usually you who pick the date for the baptism?" So we explained that we pray and pick the date, but that she is more than welcome to pick the date if she feels ready. So I asked her "do you want to do it in December, January, Feburary...?" She said, "I think December". So she will be getting baptized this Friday, December 18 at 5pm. She said that when she was at Madeline's baptism and Madeline came out of the water she thought "I need to get baptized, too!"

Here's the thing... I don't get to go to the baptism... because.. I'm getting transferred! The transfer meeting is the morning of her baptism. That's okay, I'm still really happy for her. So I will be white washing (again) and training in the sector of Yahoué. I don't know my companion's name yet, but I now that she is from Hawaii. I'm currently in the north zone and  Yahoué is in the south zone so all new everything this transfer! Prayers would be greatly appreciated haha. 

Other news: the departing missionaries leave before the new missionaries come so for this week I am in a random trio and we have to do two sectors at one time, so that's fun! This week is going to be busy, but I'm sure it will fly by!

This week I studied the life of Job. I think we all know the story of Job so I won't go into great detail but what stood out to me the most was that the Lord is the one that actually gave Satan permission to test and try Job. The Lord wanted to prove to Satan that Job would remain faithful. I imagine it was hard for the Lord to sit on the sidelines and watch and He may have even been a little scared that Job would fall but He had confidence in Job just as He has confidence in us. To apply this to our own lives, we need to remember that the Lord is on our side. He's cheering us on saying "let's prove Satan wrong". Ultimately we are stronger and have power over Satan and with the Lord's help we can remain faithful. Is it always easy? No. Is it worth it? Yes. 

It is my testimony that He lives and loves us more than we can imagine. Each trial and tempatation we face is not to punish us or make us fall, but to make us stronger and become the person He needs and wants us to be and to use our experiences to help others do the same. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Yours Truly,

Soeur Stahura 

Tontouta 9 pictures

You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words... I think this is priceless

Madeline's mom filling out the baptismal record

She's ready!

Sunsets here are my favorite 

Tontouta 9

Miracle 1: Thanks to the help of the senior missionaries, I am able to drive again! That whole process was an adventure, but we were able to do some paper work with the police so I can still drive while I wait for my replacement license.

Miracle 2: The power of repentance (Luke 15:7)

Miracle 3: Baptism! What a powerful experience! Madeline got baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday. It was wonderful! After the baptism, everyone was saying congratulations to her and she started crying. I went up to her to ask her why she was crying and she said "Because I am happy". My heart melted. It was the cutest and most innocent response ever.

Miracle 4: We had an investigator, Malia, that came to the baptism. Malia has met with sister missionaries in the past that she still keeps in contact with and she was SO excited when she met us. She has  a lot of love for us. I invited her to the baptism because I was giving a talk and she said in the past if we ever had to give a talk she would come to support us. She wasn't really progessing, though. At the baptism, I was standing on one side of the font with Malia and my companion was on the other side. When Madeline came up out of the water Malia turned to me and said "if I want to convert, what do I have to do?" Woah! Okay... So we talked and she also had a chance to talk to the bishop and receive a priesthood blessing. Her obstacle right now is that she has to get married. I'm excited to see what will happen. 

Miracle 5: There are A LOT of inactives and we have been working with a few families and a lot of them came to church on Sunday!

Miracle 6: The power of prayer. We engaged one of our less actives, Edna, to pray and ask Heavenly Father what she needs to do with her life right now. She actually did it! And she got an answer! She said she knows she has to start reading the Book of Mormon again. We've been reading a lot with her and you can just see that she is becoming happier and happier and the light is rekindling in her eyes. She is one of the inactives that came to church and she just had a big smile on her face. We saw her later that night and asked her what she thought and she said "I loved it because when I'm there I forget about all the worries at home". 

There are so many more I could tell you, but I think you get the point. Heavenly Father is really watching over us and all of His children. 

Funny story: We were at the Thomas Family's house having our lesson under a mango tree. He was telling us a story about this man who didn't agree with some aspects of God's creation like why there is a big tree with a strong trunk and long, strong branches but all it grew was little fruit. In his mind there should be great big watermelon or pumpkin growing from these strong branches and not from a vine on the ground. One day he was sleeping under this tree and one of the tiny fruits fell right on the middle of his forehead. He woke up, looked over at the little fruit and thought "Okay, maybe God was right". Hahah the funny part, though, is right as Kila said the fruit fell, a mango fell and hit the table and scared us all! Kila said "see, good thing it wasn't a watermelon or pumpkin". Heavenly Father has a little sense of humor, too (:

Lots of love for you all! I hope you enjoyed your thanksgiving! There is LOTS to be thankful for!

Sincerely,

Soeur Stahura 

Address:

Soeur Stahura

Bureau de la Mission

BP 15154

98804 Nouméa Cédex 

Nouvelle Caledonia

Tontouta 8

I bought 12 nights, got 4 free... Spending most of the week at "Hotel Koutio" (the Sister Training Leader's house). We are always here... There is always something... This week I lost my wallet. I was the driver because my companion is in driving school. Here you can use your American driver's license for one year before having to do driving school... But I lucked out because Florida has some sort of agreement with France where I can just change to a French license and then change back before I come home (or something like that), but we haven't done that yet and I was still using my American license. So... lost wallet = no license = I can't drive. Companion in driving school = can't drive. Companionship that can't drive = lost our car and have to do some stuff in Nouméa. So voila... Also our sector is enormous so these last two and a half weeks of the transfer on foot will be quite interesting.

On a brighter note... Madeline had her baptismal interview yesterday and she is SO excited for her baptism! If you could just see the light in her eyes! Each times we see her and teach her the light just keeps getting brighter and brighter. That little girl has a piece of my heart. I love seeing her at church with her big smile, running to give us a hug. She is SO sweet, SO humble, and SO full of love.

This past weekend we had Stake Conference. A story was shared (not sure if it is true or not) that really touched me. A mother and father had a baby girl, but the dad was upset because he wanted a boy. It didn't take long for this little girl to win over her daddy's heart. When this girl was fifteen years old she had serious heart problems and need a heart transplant. Her dad stayed by her side ar the hospital each day. One day they found a heart to do the operation. When the operation was over, the little girl didn't see her dad for fourteen days. When she got home she went searching for her beloved daddy, but all that was to be found was a letter. That letter from her dad explained that he gave her the gift of his life and it was hers to use as she wanted. At the end she said "I learned the importance of saying "I love you"". 

Our Savior gave His life for each one of us and He did it as the ultimate expression of love. I don't want to say much else because I want you to meditate on His sacrifice and what it means to you personally. I will pose the question found in Matthew 22:42- "what think ye of Christ?"

This week I've also seen how powerful being a servant of Christ is. We had a couple experiences this week where people just really opened up to us. It has happen in the past as well, but it just really hit me this week. Here I am, 19 years old, watching adults with tears filling their eyes and barriers falling down. I realize that, that is the trust we should be putting into our Savior. I realize that, that is the softening power of the spirit.

Well.... with all of my scattered thoughts.. and for those who know me know that scattered thoughts are completely normal haha... I guess I will just end by saying I love you.

-Soeur Stahura

P.S. Fun story... forgot my camera at the house so no pictures this week... Sorry