Infected Face Tunnels - The weekly email

So, I went in to the doctor last week. I've been having a lot of sinus pain and headaches recently, I decided that at this point it's interfering with my being able to work as a missionary. We've been trying a few different things, but they've only been treating the symptoms. The doctor says that because there are so many things constantly in bloom here that it can really aggravate any sinus problems I may have had from before, and he thinks I have sinusitis. I'll be getting a CT scan of my sinuses next week, so we'll see what happens. Nothing can stop the work though!

This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster, some investigators have made some amazing progress while some others, haven't... We haven't seen Ana in probably a week or more now, and we are really not sure why. It doesn't look like her baptism is going to work out for next week... However, we have one new investigator named Patrice who is making amazing progress. He has been reading the Book of Mormon at an amazing rate. There are some things about the Church and his old church that he's still working through, but after a long in-depth conversation about the priesthood and restoration he's much more inclined to accept what we have to say. He asks so many questions, and our discussions are always awesome. 

I can't really think of anything else big and important. Next week will bring a zone conference and transfer news, so expect a bigger email then I guess.

Love you all!

Elder Miner

PACKAGE!!!

Exchange! That's Elder Tauotaha, one of our Zone Leaders here in the South. We had a great exchange a couple days ago.

When roundabouts are the norm here, you need a stop sign WITH the red light.

Referrals? We don't need no stinkin' referrals - the weekly email

The reason I say that is because we've been having some odd success with tracting recently. Between people who we've taught quick lessons too at the door with a return appointment that went through, to one lady inviting us in because she'd seen us walking around so much and wanted to talk to us. It's been awesome. 

With tracting comes my quick story for the week about our investigator Patrice. This is a story of tracting with the Holy Ghost working with you too. Whenever we tract in the Tours de Magenta, we always pray in the morning beforehand, study our homemade map, and choose a tower or two to work during the day when we have lessons fall through or a little time there or whatever. I felt directed to one specific floor in a building. We knocked the first three doors, nothing. Then the last one, and Patrice opened up. We introduced ourselves and our message, gave him a Book of Mormon and made a return appointment. The first time we went by we had a great lesson and he asked tons of questions, and it's been like that ever since. He's progressing well, and all through tracting.

In other news Ana is doing, OK. The father of her two oldest kids, who want to be baptized, didn't give his permission for them to be baptized, so now we wait. We'll still teach them, but they can't be baptized until they have the ok from their father... Ana has been down about it too we think and we haven't seen her in a while, wish us luck.

On a happier note we're working better with the members now since we made a list for people to sign up on with what days and times they're available, which has helped us quite a bit. Things are picking up a bit out here, especially since a school vacation just finished up. Hopefully we'll have some great news to share soon!

Love you all!

Elder Miner

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Ouémo cannons pique-nique last p-day

*Quick explanation on the cannons, there are still a number of old WWII cannon emplacements that the Americans and Australians stuck here scattered around the island, now they're just lookout points for the most part, pretty cool though. 

 

The local supermarket. It's really not too different here sometimes.

I'm beginning to run out of clever titles - the weekly email

I really am though, I need more funny things to happen. Or at least funny things I remember when I sit down to right emails. Especially funny things that non-missionaries will understand. Oh well. I'll do better next week. Maybe.

Anyway, not much has changed in terms of the work here, Ana is still on for the 10th of September, and it looks like she'll be ready, along with her two older kids who want to get baptized as well. I'm going to call this a birthday present for my Mom since it'll still be the 9th, her birthday, in the States when they get baptized, so happy birthday Mom. We've also been trying to get back in contact with some investigators that we haven't seen in a while, they always seem to be getting sick and so it can take a while to have another lesson with them, but we really don't want anyone to slip through the cracks. 

We did have our ward conference this past weekend which was really good, Ana came and said she felt like some of the talks were just for her. I know I talk about Ana a lot, but she's just so golden and ready to be baptized, and I'm so grateful that I've been able to teach her. 

Just to let everyone know, apparently there was a fairly strong earthquake here in the Pacific not too long ago, but we didn't feel a thing here in Noumea, so we're all safe and sound. 

Thanks for your prayers and thoughts, have a great week,

Elder Miner

P-day pétanque

Elder Kesser and me with the office couple in New Caledonia, Elder and Sister Glade.

7.2-magnitude earthquake hits off New Caledonia

A 7.2-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of New Caledonia today in the tectonically active Pacific region, but there was no tsunami threat, seismologists said.

The quake struck at a depth of about 9km and was 109 kilometres east of Ile Hunter in New Caledonia at 0126 GMT, the United States Geological Survey said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no current warning or advisory in the region.

-TheAustralian.com

6 Little Baby Missionaries - the weekly email

So, the most eventful thing probably this past week was us being able to get the 6 new missionaries who have arrived in New Caledonia. 3 American Sisters, 1 American Elder, and 2 Tahitian Elders. Three of them are being trained in the Mont Dore ward, one for each sector there. They seem fantastic, and I'm excited to get to know them better and I know they'll add a lot to the mission. 

Other than that we did have some lessons with Ana, she's working and fighting amazingly hard to overcome her difficulties with the Word of Wisdom, and she's already come so far. I can't go into details too much, but she is doing amazingly well. We did have to push her baptismal date back to the 10th of September, but hopefully now she and her kids can all get baptized together. We were able to give her a blessing and we've had some other lessons with her, and every single one is amazing. She just seems to know what she needs to do next to come closer to Christ without us telling her anything. Investigators like her make this all worth it. 

We also have been having lessons with an investigator named Thomas. He has lots and lots of questions, and answering them is so fun, but also difficult. Last time we ranged from the pre-earth life to Solomon and Cain and Abel, with other questions inside those subjects, wow. Great though, helps us answer his true needs.

I'm loving this work, I never want my mission to end. Sure there are things and people I miss back home, but I sometimes wish I could be here forever. 

Love you all, keep being amazing,

Elder Miner

I bought a pareo and a nat. Islander status acheived?

We deep fried a chicken. Why do we have a deep fryer? Why did we have a whole chicken? Not important. 

*There must be a story behind this one.

Les Tours de Magenta, we spend a lot of time there, and there are a lot of people there. Sometimes they can be pretty too. 

Missed it by *that* much - The Weekly Email

The baptismal totals for our month of miracles have arrived, and, drum roll please, there were 162 people who were baptized this past month, beginning their journey to become disciples of Christ and enter in to the Celestial Kingdom. Our goal was 170, but we blew the old record for baptisms in once month out of the water (the old record was around 90). Our zone had been given the goal of 10 and we had 8, so not bad either. Shoutout to the "Solomon Warriors," our brothers up in the Solomon Islands who blew WAY past their goal. Next month our mission goal is 130 baptisms, with our zone being responsible for 8. 

Second big piece of news, transfers came in, Elder Kessler and I will be staying here in Ouemo together. By the end of this transfer he will have been here for 9 months, which is the longest we know of for one missionary to stay in one area, but he likes it here and has done an amazing job of getting the bureau up and running as amazingly as it is now. We have a lot of good things starting to happen here as well, which is great.

I want to talk a little bit about the hand of God in missionary work. Monday we had been working all day in one area and felt impressed to stay working in one neighborhood until a certain time. We then both agreed that we needed to move on to a different neighborhood. Once there we were in the process of talking to Beatrice and Rebeca when someone came and said to us, in English, "Elders, can you finish quickly? We need to talk to you." We did so, and went to talk to him. He is actually a member from the Ducos Ward, and he was with his cousin. Apparently she had asked him something about who we were or what we were doing, and he brought us over to talk to her. We had a great spiritual discussion about our church and it's Restoration. Had we not been following the promptings of the Spirit, we never would have been in the right place at the right time to encounter someone ready to listen. 

I love this work, I love this Gospel, and I love Jesus Christ. I love you all, and I testify of the love of God for each one of you.

See you soon,

Elder Miner

These are some photos that Elder Kessler sent me that he'd taken with his camera. The first was us at the start of our companionship, then me making cookies and then us at the Riviere Bleue.