Dressed all in white, but it wasn't a wedding - The Weekly Email

Hey everyone, so this past weekend there was a baptism! It was an investigator named Christiana from the Motor Pool area, but after I did her baptismal interview she asked if I could baptize her, which I did. It was an amazing experience, and I'm so grateful to have the priesthood, which gives me the power to help others make covenants with God, what a wonderful, precious thing. The baptismal service was great as well because we had our investigators Fred and Phrasé and another investigator named Tony there. Tony had a great story about he felt like there were two voice the morning before, one telling him not to go and the other to go, and he got up and left, but then couldn't find the chapel, but when he was going to turn around he said it was like someone turned his steering wheel left and then he found the chapel. There can be miracles....

Otherwise the week has been good. Settling in with a new companion, trying to introduce him to the sector still. We've started teaching Patrice again which is really cool. Life is good here, life is good. We're working on finding more, and Elder Chong-Ayou is a great example of talking to everyone. 

Hope all is well back home, love you all!

Elder Miner

Baptism. :) The water was a little cold, I must say. 

Transfer number 9, in which I will reach my year mark - The Weekly Email

Yes, once again ladies and gentlemen it's transfer time. This one's a little early since our mission President has a conference to go to, so the next one will be a little longer, ending the first week of December. Elder Kessler finally got transferred after 10 months in the bureau. My new companion is named Elder Chong Ayou. He's from Tahiti, and he's been in the mission for about 6 months. He's super tall, at least 6' 5", an amazing athlete, guitar and piano player, and a great missionary. This transfer is going to rock. I'm also now the senior companion and district leader here in Magenta, which means I'm in charge of exchanges with the Elders in my district, baptismal interviews, and overseeing the work in the district of Magenta. A little busier now for me, but I've been companions with the district leader since I got here, so not a big change. 

In other news here in the mission, 4 missionaries just went home, and a fifth from here is now one of the Assistants to the President, and we're only getting two missionaries on Friday, so numbers are down a little here, but that's no problem! We'll just keep on working anyway. This past week we've continued to meet with some of our potential investigators that are turning into investigators, I'll keep you posted if any start to really advance. Ana is on again/off again with the lessons, still not sure how to help her most. 

That's about all for now, the last few days have been packed with transfer stuff, so I'm still a little worn out. Hope all is well back home, enjoy your nice fall weather all you people state-side!

Love,

Elder Miner

All I want for my birthday is a baptism... - The Weekly Email

So yes, in the biggest news of recent times, it was my birthday yesterday! I'm officially two decades old! I didn't do anything too special for my birthday though, although I was blessed with some great success talking to a number of people, we found 3 new investigators in one day! God really does answer prayers, and he is right here next to us out in the mission field. 

Aside from my birthday, one of the biggest things also happening out here is that I've been put in charge of helping our mission president organize a missionary quartet to sing in and around Nouméa. We're looking to perform a lot during Christmas time and then to continue to do so throughout the year. I have seriously missed performing at a high level, and I'm super excited to use my musical talents and the experience I have in instrumental and choral music and in directing and conducting to help further the work of God in New Caledonia and to give people amazing experiences. 

As for our investigators, we have one young man named Boris who is the son of a member here that has recently come to stay with his dad. He's already had the missionary lessons before, and as Elder Kessler and I have prayed and meditated on which of our investigators could be baptized in October to contribute to the goal our President has set for us, his name is the one we agreed on. On Sunday we spoke with his dad, and we called his son who was visiting his mom for the weekend and asked if he wanted to prepare to be baptized before the end of the month, and he said yes! I really think he is in a state to accept the Gospel now. Ana has also started taking the lessons again, and is progressing and again cleaning up her life, although not without opposition, because Satan doesn't like it when we change our lives to follow God.

Thanks everyone back home for your prayers and support, smile at a missionary, they need it sometimes.

Love,

Elder Miner

This is us eating pizza on Elder Kessler's birthday, and it only cost $35! (I'm not joking, pizza is so expensive here and still not that good, and the first thing I want when I get home is Pizza Hut).

 Hunting for venues for our quartet. That's an outdoor ampitheatre at the university here.

 My birthday breakfast. :)

Magnums are 150 Francs and no one is wearing ski coats? It must be summer! - The Weekly Email

Summer is officially here! No spring or anything, oh no, just sudden heat and humidity. But that's ok, these delicious ice cream bars called Magnums are on sale for about half price all month, so I'll be ok. And fatter. But oh well. And yes, now the locals are dressed normally again, so it's definitely summer here.

Hello everyone who is tuning in once again to my updates from the South Pacific! October is shaping up to be on par with our month of miracles in July. We've already seen just me and Elder Kessler a lot of things falling into place, lots and lots of little miracles, as well as people coming up to us or us easily finding people who are interested. There are also a lot of things starting to change out here. I won't go too much into detail, but it's gonna be big. We just had our mission President here yesterday for a specialized training, and I feel great. I was translating so I was really able to listen and take notes, and I had a lot of impressions come to me about what I can be doing better. Once some stuff really starts happening, I'll let you all know.

I hope you are all doing great back home! Talk to you next time!

Au revoir,

Elder Miner

Me next to a replica of a traditional Kanak hut, known as a case, pronounced like caz.

Me and Elder Kessler inside the entrance to a case.