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Sometimes.. You walk into your house after a long day and just find a MASSIVE spider... UGH!

If you ever doubt.. Just look up.. 

This is my Zone after Zone Meeting last week.. Trying to do timed photos is an adventure haha

Chopsticks are not that easy to use... Haha we had a good laugh out of this

Lunch at a members house(:

The Nau Family.. Love them to death! They are a family of recent converts we teach. The little boy, Sinisio, is such a rockstar!

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Hi... Don't hate me... But there is no weekly email this week because I have personal emails that I want to write.. But this week I cannot even tell you how many miracles we saw!! 

Lots of love for all!

Soeur Stahura 

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On Thursday October 15th I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I closed the book and went into the other room to pray alone and to ask Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon is true. Is it really the word of God?

My answer: How could it not be? But then again, I can't remember ever doubting. I encourage everyone to read and pray with a sincere heart and an open mind. He will tell you even if you already know it. I can add my testimony to Joseph Smith's by saying that "a man (or woman) would get closer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book". If all you can do is read one verse a day, then do that. There is so much power in the pages and if you study with real intenet you will find so many things that will strengthen you personally. The Book of Mormon is the truly for us. You read all the stories about how the sacred records were passed down from prophet to prophet, hidden up unto the Lord, and even when Joseph Smith had the records he had to be careful about who saw them. But today..You can get a Book of Mormon in a variety of languages, sizes, colors, etc. It is for US! And Heavenly Father has given us access to His holy words. In short, I know for myself that the Book of Mormon is true and I invite you to find the truth for yourself, too. 

I love my sector and I love the people! We taught the little girls from the picture last week again, the Secken Family, and they are just too cute! We have only been to their house twice, but they are so full of love for us! When we saw them at church they came running to us and it made my heart smile(: I now understand why I had callings in primary and nursery before my mission. It has also shown me the power of simplicity and the meaning of being as a little child. They are so humble and so quick to love and that is how we all should be. 

We also teach the Nau Family who are recent converts. They are so incredible! Their faith and simple testimonies are so strong! It reminds me that we must never lose that spark, never lose that excitement for the gospel.

I love you all so much. Thank you for all of your love and support. Everything is going well over here on the other side of the world. This country is so beautiful. The weather has been a little weird lately, but I'm used to bi-polar weather.. Thanks Florida haha.. I love being surrounded by mountains and I love the beautiful beaches. There are so many different cultures here and it is so fun to hear everyone's story. Also something that kind of makes me laugh...when we go running for our exercise time in the morning we run by a field of cows and you can hear them mooing and I just kind of laugh and think "that's not something that happens at home" haha.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Lots of love,

Soeur Stahura  

Just to make sure everyone has the correct address:

Soeur Stahura

Bureau de la Mission

98804 Nouméa Cedex

Nouvelle Calédonie

New Caledonia 

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This is Maheata! I just love her (:

Soeur Maleb! She returned with honor yesterday to her home in Vanuatu!

Selfie after conference!

This was fun (: we were all singing together after conference

Some of the little girls we teach!

Sometimes Elders take your camera and take random pictures and you end up with cute ones like this one of me and my companion (:

Pascal and Oscar

These little girls loved my hair! PS there is another one behind me playing with my hair, too haha 

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General Conference this past weekend was SO good! Before conference I wrote down questions I had and I received an answer to every single question! So amazing! The general authorites of the church are no doubt called of God and serve the purpose of directing and building the kingdom of God on earth. 

One thing that I want to share is from the talk given by Dieter F Uchtdorf. He talked about stepping back, looking at our life from a higher plain, simplify, and start where you are. We each have a great plan for our life and we need to make sure we aren't making it harder on ourselves. He said, "if we only see ourselves with mortal eyes we will not see us the way He (Heavenly Father) sees us". Let us always remember our divine potential and always look forward to the eternity that is promised to us if we are faithful and enjoy the journey along the way! It doesn't matter what has happened in the past.. Leave it there and move forward! Start where you are right now. Take small steps. Change one thing at a time and always remeber how blessed you are. I love what Quentin L Cook said: "we have a long way to go but a wonderful beginning". That wonderful beginning comes because we made a choice to follow Christ even before we came to this earth. Now what we have to do is make that decision again! He is the way! And like Jeffrey R Holland said, "be peaceful, believe in God and yourself. You are doing better than you think". 

Miracle for the week: we had a lesson on Wednesday afternoon, but it got cancelled so we were just walking down the road to do porte-a-porte and we stopped on the side of the road to talk to a lady that was out in her garden. She wasn't too interested but we wanted to leave her with a prayer. It was my turn to pray so I asked her if there was anything I could say or ask for in my prayer (which I usually forget to ask) and she went on a rant after that haha. So we were listenting to her rant and as we were standing there another woman drove by and saw us standing there and she said "I want you to come to my house! I've been waiting for sisters to come to this area! I want you to come study the Bible with me!" So, had our lesson not cancelled, had I not asked that question, and had she not gone on a rant we probably would have been in the middle of the prayer and Malia probably would have driven right past us. What's even cooler is that after that we were able to have our lesson with the person that cancelled. Well... Maybe it's not cooler but it was a bunch of little miracles added up to make one huge miracle. 

Other than that I love all of the little kids we teach! It is so much fun! I love our area and I love the people. There is a family that lives just down the road from us that we have gotten really close to and the daughter, Maheata (19), has been coming with us to teach just about everyday. She was inactive for a long time and just came back in April. She has SO much light and she has already become a close friend! 

Fun story... We watched conference at the stake center in Noumea so the whole stake was there and there were moments that I found myself actually holding a normal, human conversation with people haha.. My companion would be talking to someone and another person would walk up to me and start talking and I was like well.. I can either stand here awkwardly or I can open my mouth.. It was fun.. I walked away from the experience thinking "did that just happen? did I just hold a conversation without my companion at my side every second of it?" Haha 

I want to leave you with a small testimony... I know that I, Sister Stahura, am a daughter of a Heavenly King and I know YOU are a son or daugther of the most High God, as well. In the name of His Son, Jesus the Christ, amen.

Love,

Soeur Stahura 

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We did a service project and this was the person's back yard! It was a little taste of home.. and Heaven haha

Coconuts!

Have I told you how much I HATE spiders!! All of the bugs are like twenty times bigger here!

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Bonjour tout le monde! 

We are sucessfully moved into our new sector! Our sector is HUGE! We actually live in Tamoa and our sector goes all the way up to Boulouparis if you feel like looking at a map haha. We are in a ward now so it is nice to have the members help. Members! Please help your missionaries!! It makes such a difference in the work! It has been especially helpful since we are white washing because they are able to show us around the sector (: So I am super excited... The Elders who were in the sector before us were teaching a lot of kids 9 and 10 years old so we get to pick up where they left of and I am SO excited!! I love kids!! And I feel like it is easier to speak with them... It's a little less intimidating haha. The language is coming along pretty well.. I've stopped telling people I'm a new missionary and just go for it haha. It helps to just be confident and open your mouth. I still have LOTS to learn. It is still hard but as time goes on I can see more and more progress. Speaking of members... The members love to feed us A LOT... We have five weekly appointments to eat with members.. Sometimes more... It is also rude to deny food when they offer you more sooo.... You might not recognize me when I get home... Hahah kidding.. You just have to spread your food out on your plate, eat slow, and talk a lot haha. 

So this week I was studying the story of the Brother of Jared in Ether and there is so much to be learned so I'm just going to share what I noted:

Chapter 2:

2:17 there is a lot of repetition in this verse. Why? To show that Heavenly Father really pays attention to detail. He wanted to make sure the vessel to carry them was safe and secure according to His instruction. The instructions we have are to carry us through this life back to Him safely and He knows all the finer details of our life that maybe we even overlook. 

2:19 The brother of Jared poses three questions in prayer (Light, steering, air)

2:20 But, the Lord only responds to one question

2:21 The Brother of Jared listens to that ONE answer and does as the Lord commands

2:22 He prays again 

2:24-25 The Lord provides us with some things to help us in our journey, but he also expects us to plan and do our part and then turn to Him to fill in the blanks that we cannot do for ourselves having faith that He will help. Takes a little leap of faith and action on our part first, though. 

Chapter 3:

3:1,4 The Brother of Jared prepared a way so that they could have light THEN he went to the Lord to propse his idea with faith that the Lord would fulfil his desires 

3:6 The Lord did as the Brother of Jared asked and took the time to touch each stone one by one - again, showing attention to detail

Chapter 4 

 4:3 light=Christ great waters = life... Christ gives light to our life so we don't have to travel in darkness and confusion

4:4 They were prepared and set forth always trying to do the will of the Lord. Always have a plan and be ready to work and listen to the Lord to do His will.

4:5-8 They were in the middle of a storm, but all the while the Lord was in control and continually guiding them to the Promised Land. With all of our trials, temptation, and weakness... amidst the great storm of life, Christ is always in control and pushing us toward eternal life.. Remeber, it took a storm to get them to the Promised Land. 

4:9-10 They continually praised the Lord no matter how scared they were and with the protection of the Lord, nothing could harm them

4:12 They made it! We can make it to the end of each day, then month, then year, then to eternal life... One step at a time.. One prayer at a time.. One answer at a time.. But it all requires faith and sometimes a storm.. or two.. or three.. to get us there

4:13 They went to work! 

It is not enough to "just make it through". You HAVE to keep going and keep working hard(: "Walk humbly" and always "remember how great things the Lord [does]". 

This is my testimony that I know the church is true and that this is the way for us to be happy in this life and in the life to come. As a person we contacted once said "it doesn't matter how little you have if you have the Lord". He is everything and then some. I know that each one of us has a plan individually tailored to our lives so that we can grow and become like the Father and His Son. Our trials are there to help us to become better. He loves us the way we are but refuses to let us stay that way. We must continue to grow and change and sometimes that requires a trial and a little humbling, but He is ALWAYS there to help us. He lives! And He wants to help us, so let Him. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and I am so grateful for his diligence in restoring the true gospel so that I can live the life I do and have the happiness that I enjoy each day. I say this in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Yours truly,

Soeur Stahura