Suprise Transfers, Lucy, and TECHNOLOGY! - the weekly email

Hi everyone! 

So remember how I said that transfers would come this Friday and the changes would happen next week? Well, not so much. Like President Granger is fond of saying "in this mission, be ready for anything." So, last Wednesday night we got a call from the Zone Leaders about transfers, and the transfer actually happened Friday. It's partially because a couple of American missionaries finished and went home last week, but President just went ahead and made all of the changes for next transfer. So, now the big news, I got transfered, as did Elder Estall. He's now in Yahoue, a different sector of Mont Dore that used to be sisters, and I'm now in the sector of Ouemo in the Magenta Ward. The Ouemo Elders are also the office Elders, which mean I'm helping out more now with some of the administrative things that help keep the mission running, things like baptismal records, getting mail, setting up and taking down and running audio/visual needs for zone conferences and other large mettings, along with transporting and taking care of President and Sister Granger when they come and transporting arriving and departing missionaries. My new companion is Elder Kessler from Florida. He played and marched clarinet and played piano in jazz band in high school, and he's a total gamer and Doctor Who nerd and everything. We get along well. He's been here in the office since I got to New Caledonia, so we think he's training me up to replace him, but you never know. I'm sad to have left Elder Estall and Mont Dore, but I like getting to see more and more of this beautiful country. I'm back in towards the center of Noumea now, but we can see the beach and ocean from the office, so there's ups and downs. The Magenta ward is good, seems strong, and hopefully I can help implement some of the things that Mont Dore did that helped so much with missionary work. The Ouemo sector has some great investigators and areas to work in, I'm still learning my way around, but I know it'll come. 

This past week has been a little crazy, saying goodbye to members and investigators in Mont Dore as much as possible to get them ready for the new missionaries, making sure that the new Elders coming in would have everything they needed, packing, moving, it's been a little crazy. I'm definitey a lot busier here in Ouemo, trying to balance office duties with normal proselyting, but it's enjoyable. Already this week I've met some of the main investigators here (I'll talk more about them next week), picked up and returned President and Sister Granger and the AP's to the airport, learned how the computers and supply closets here in the office are set up and work, moved in, and helped with the North Zone Conference. 

But along with all of this change, I'm still a missionary, and I love being a missionary. I want to testify to all of you that God loves each one of us, that he knows each one of us, and he wants each one of us to acheive our full potential, and he will change our circumstances and give us challenges and oppurtunities and responsibilities so that we can become the best we can be.

I love you all, see you soon!

Love,

Elder Miner

Last Soiree in Mont Dore at the Vergoz family's house along with Frere and Soeur Hauata.
(We "met" the couple on the right when we skyped with Elder Miner on Mother's Day.)

Me and Elder Kessler

When you have to cook for yourself now, might as well have some fun.

The new ride, the mission's Hyundai H1. Also known as "the Bus" or "Lucy." And I'm the driver.

Saying goodbye to "Mom" - the weekly email

So, in a mission there's a genealogy that we like to do. At it's simplest level, your "Dad" is your trainer, and your "Mom" is the sister in your first district that's been out the longest. Well, in my case, since my first district was only Elders, my "Mom" is Elder Stubbs, who goes home this week. In all seriousness, he's been a great example to me and has taught me a lot through the conversations we've had. 

This past week was a little rough in terms of statistics, we had a lot of trouble getting together with our investigators, and we've been doing a lot of service. Why have we been doing a lot of service? Because one of our investigators is getting married next week, and her husband-to-be is the Bishop's son. For those of you who don't know, traditional Melanesian weddings are week-long, massive affairs that require lots of preparation, and these are two fairly traditional Melanesian families. So we've been building cooking areas and clearing trees and brush at our Bishop's house. I don't really have any good pictures, but I'll see if I can take some at some point. But we definitely have that to look forward to.
We also had the baptism of someone we've taught named Yolan, but since his mom is a member and he just turned 8 it didn't count as a convert baptism. He's a super awesome kid and we're way proud of him anyway. 

Nothing really new in terms of new investigators; Transfers are coming up soon, next Fridayofficially with some small movements this Friday to account for the Americans flying out who have finished. This is going to be an interesting transfer, New Caledonia is positively buzzing with speculation. Will see what happens. 

See you all soon, keep praying for me, it makes a big difference,

Thanks all,

Elder Miner

Our mission vehicle #lajukeitude

Are you ready for the Eurocup? Everyone here is, even us missionaries. #allezfrance

A beautiful rainy ocean morning

Happy America week!!! - the weekly email

So right now the local supermarket is having an America week. They have all kinds of America-inspired decorations, but more importantly, real American food. We're talking Reese's, Pepperidge farm cookies, Sour Patch, Licorice, AMERICAN MUSTARD, Heinz EVERYTHING, and even Lucky Charms. Sadly, the Lucky Charms were close to $20 a box, so I won't be getting those, but still, some awesome stuff. 

To counter all this American-ness, I finally got to eat bat. That's right, BAT. I won't send much in the way of pictures, since they're kind of gross looking, but it was actually really good. Hard to get a lot of meat, but still really good. 

Today for P-day we went as a district to the Parc Rivière bleue, or the Blue River Park. It's a huge endemic reserve, and it's technically in our area. It was absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately the shuttle into the main part of the park was closed, so they only way to get in was by walking over 10 km (no thanks) or by mountain bike (which we don't have), so we had to content ourselves with the smaller, drivable portion of the park. It was still beautiful, and it was wonderful to just relax in nature with other missionaries. 

Now with all the fun stuff out of the way, let's talk about missionary work a little. This week has been pretty normal, our investigators continue to progress, especially Nicolas. I'm pretty sure I've talked about him before, if not I'm sure my parents will tell me and I'll talk about him more next week. We also worked this week on trying to find a guy who had apparently been taught by the missionaries around 5 or 6 years ago, and found the missionaries here in December and said he wanted to get baptized. It's been a real struggle to get in touch with him, and we only recently found his house. He doesn't really answer his phone, but we've stopped by his house a couple times to try and see him, but he hasn't been there, but we've been able to talk to his family some. We also had a soirée with a member family,the Fat family, who invited some of their nonmember relatives. We had a great discussion and they asked a lot of great questions, so I think they have good potential to become new investigators. 

Hope you all have had a wonderful Memorial Day! Keep being wonderful people!

Love,

Elder Miner

                                          America week haul. :)

To bat or not to bat?

Yes, I did indeed steal my pose from Destiny. ;)

The district at the entrance to the Blue River Park

The moment when you walk out the door of the chapel, only to bump into a member of the Presidency of the 70 and the Area President - the weekly letter

So, we had a wonderful visit this weekend from President Lynn G. Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy, along with President and Sister Halleck, the Area President and his wife, plus our mission president. The headline of this email is true, Elder Estall and I had just finished putting water bottles on the stand for the general authorities, and we decided to avoid the traffic of practically every member of the church in New Caledonia being in the same room by heading out the side door of the chapel, and boom. Got to shake their hands again though, which was cool. Unfortunately I was still in the habit of greeting people in French, and they don't speak French... But I learned a lot from them, President Robinns spoke Sunday about why we have two sacrament emblems and that they represent how Jesus Christ acheived both our Resseruction and Redemption. We also had a missionary meeting with them and I was able to ask a question of President Robbins, and he had a wonderful answer. He also spoke a lot about connecting with people, not just conctacting them, which I really liked and needed. 

A little word about the work, we have a new investigator named Nicolas that we've started teaching, and he's super fantastic. He's the nephew of a former Bishop named Frere Hauata and lives right next door to him and his family too, and he's progressing really really well. And, we've also started teaching his friend Ivan who we met first through some sport activities and who then came to a family home evening. with the Hauata Riaria families and Nicolas and his girlfriend. He was touched by the Spirit and said that he wanted to start learning more with Nicolas. I love the members here, and I love it when people just appear who are ready to be taught. I know that the Lord has prepared people for each and every missionary in each area they serve. 

We also went out to work with Rudy this week as he gets ready to serve his mission. He got baptized around October, and he's already submitting mission papers. 

The mission goes on, it's a little weird having P-day on a Wednesday since weekends are usually the most standout days so it's hard to remember sometimes other events. But we keep working and teaching and talking and learning and growing. This mission has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I'm so glad I get to serve my Savior here in this small patch of his vineyard. 

See you all soon,

Elder Miner

I found chocolate sauce!!! :D

P-day football

Picture with Elder Robbins and the Halecks

Me: "Man I miss American milk..." Elder Kessler: "Try the Anchor full cream milk, you'll still be disappointed, but you'll be less disappointed."

So, European/New Zealand style milk is not my favorite. It tastes really weird, and it's still strange to me that I can put milk in the cupboard until I open it. I really miss milk in the States. One more thing to add to my list of must-do's once I get back. 

This week has been pretty great, I don't have any more baptisms to report, not for another couple of weeks. A missionary from this ward did come home Saturday though. He served his mission in Tahiti, and we've already talked about working together, and he's given us some good advice. He's really a cool guy. 

Our investigators are still doing well, Xavier is going to ask his mom again about getting baptized soon, and we the missionaries, and him and all his family fasted together on Monday for his Mom's heart to be softened. We're really hoping he doesn't have to wait until next year to get baptized. Plus, his brother Rudy is super close to submitting his missionary papers. It's really cool to see how one family's conversion will bring about others. Xavier's uncle is now taking the missionary lessons in Australia, Jil (the sister baptized last week) was introduced to the church through Rudy, and now Rudy and Jil are preparing for missions where they will help bring many more people unto Christ. 

One more fun little story, for the past couple of weeks we've been doing service once a week at a brother's house. He has a gorgeous little beachside house, and he's started a little manioc garden and he has chickens. I'll try and send some pictures over the next couple of weeks, but it's a lot of fun to get to be a farmer for a little bit every now and then. Plus, we're taking care of the chickens while he and his family are on vacation in Australia. So we get free, farm fresh eggs every day this week. It rocks.

All the members and missionaries here are looking forward to this weeked. Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the 70 and Elder Halleck from the Area Presidency will be visiting, more on that next week. 

Life is great! A lot of missionaries are getting sick because it's getting "cold" here. (You know, 70, not 80), but the work still goes on.

Love you all, see you soon!

Elder Miner

The view outside our house.

We made shashimi. It's straight up raw fish in a sauce made of garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce, oil, and some other stuff. Not too bad, not my favorite Tahitian dish though. But hey, when a member gives you a giant fish fillet, what are you supposed to do?


Me:  Ummm, cook it?

A lesson inside a house with Yolan, Ylan, Mathaio and Malawry, a small glimpse of what it's like teaching here.

Bishop: "did you fill the font for this evening?" Us: "........" - the weekly email

So this last weekend we had another baptism. Of the four baptismal services we've had this transfer, not once have we forgotten to fill the font, except this one. We got a call from Bishop about two hours before the service was supposed to start asking if we'd filled the font, so we booked it over to the chapel and started the water. It normally takes about four hours to completely fill the font, and we had about two and a half thanks to the program before the actual ordinance. Elder Estall and I had been asked to give the talks, so we both agreed to try and stretch out as much as we could. Gotta love companionship unity. In the end, the font was maybe only 2/3 full, but luckily Jil is pretty short, so it still went OK. It was a great baptism, and we had a great turn out from the ward and a number of nonmembers there who the ward had brought or were part of Jil's family. It was a very spiritual service, and was very enjoyable. 

Jil marks a total of 8 baptisms in the last transfer that we've had here in Mont Dore. The average Elder in New Caledonia can expect to baptize about 4 people throughout his whole mission, so that gives you an indication of how fast the work moves here in Mont Dore, and it's all thanks to the members. I would encourage all of you to try and share the gospel with your friends, family, and co-workers. We've seen investigators come from all three of those channels, and it doesn't have to be hard, just talk about your callings, or mention something about the last sacrament meeting or Sunday School lesson that you liked when asked about your weekend, just talking about the Gospel naturally will open doors for questions or discussions on religion where you can share your testimony. And the missionaries are greatly helped when the members find people for us who are ready to be taught.

Also, forgot to mention, transfers were announced last Saturday. Elder Estall and I will be staying here in Mont Dore until the 19th of June, which is great because the marriage one of our investigators, Annie, is scheduled for the 17th of June. We're pretty happy about that. 

Finally, I got to Skype home on Monday (Monday 8 AM here is Sunday 3 PM back in Utah, how crazy is that?)  It was fantastic to see my family again, even if they did show me their copy of Star Wars 7. I love my family though, and huge shout out to my Mom for everything she does for me. She has been a rock solid example in the Gospel for as long as I can remember, and she's taught me so much. Love you Mom! 

Hope all is good back home, summer is fast approaching and I hope it's great!

See you soon, 

Elder Miner

Jil's baptism. The other guy in the photo is her boyfriend who was baptized a couple years ago. He's the one who baptized her, and he's also working towards serving a mission soon.

Soeur Gauthier's last day here...

Another beautiful view from the chapel.

French people actually say "Oh la la!" - The weekly email

Although it actually has different connotations than we Americans think, it's more of an "oh my gosh" kind of phrase. But they really do say it. 

This week has been another doozy. We had two baptisms and confiramtions this weekend, along with four priesthood ordinations. The baptisms were for Wata and Robert. Wata is the 16 year old nephew of Bishop, and his Mom was baptized not too long ago. Robert is an older Tahitian who investiagted the church last year, then stopped, then recently decided to get baptized. And they're both fantastic. They were both ordained to the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday, along with Aurélian and Bradley from a few weeks ago. Aurélian actually asked me to ordain him, which was really, really cool. 

I also had an exchange here with Elder Taoutaha, one of the zone leaders. I got to direct the work here in Mont Dore for the day, which was really tough. We only had one fixed appointment, and it's really hard to contact since there's really no one walking around or in parks or anything, and tracting is more like gate-to-gate since everyone has a gate and rarely answers, but it was still good and I learned a lot. 

The work here is still going well, we have another baptism set for this weekend, which will make 8 for this transfer, but after that nothing until June after Annie's marriage. Wish us luck as we try to find! But thanks to the members, it's not super hard. 

Love you all, live true to what you know, follow Christ, and all will be well!

Na-na

Elder Miner

#companionshipunity(make sure Jacob sees this picture please) 

Robert and Wata, and us

Elder Estall, me, Xavier, and the Young Men's President and Bishop's son Enzo after some sport and lunch one P-day. 

(Notice the baguettes. "Always baguettes. Always.")