goodbyes are harder than hellos

Tuesday 15 August 2017

We attended the Final Meeting at the end of transfer last night at the MTC.  Can three weeks really have gone by?  We doubted we would love this intake like we did the last but we were wrong.  Each missionary makes their way into our hearts.  You can't help but love them.  We have learned to pronounce all their names and know something about each one.  Their stories are often remarkable.  Their testimonies and faith build our own. They come so humble and vulnerable and are so appreciative for any help and teaching they receive.  They demonstrate every day how gratitude makes a person beautiful and lovable.

Sister Howes is the RS president for the MTC.  Sister Briggs and I are her counselors.  On Sundays for Relief Society we split up and attend the different Relief Society classes.  This intake we have 2 RS classes - the English and the French one.  I went to the French class.  All of these sisters are going to Tahiti where French is spoken.  One is from Switzerland, one from France and three are from French Polynesia.  Sister Basset from France, would try to translate what Sister Maitere was teaching for me. I did pretty well.

She finished her lesson with time to spare so I asked if they would tell me why each had decided to come on their missions.

Sister Maitere told of her love and gratitude for the gospel and her desire to serve her Heavenly Father.

Sister Donnet-Monay said she had never wanted to serve a mission until recently when the thought of serving started to fill her mind at different times.  She asked others who had served about their experiences and started to observe them.  She said the ones who had served seemed to have something different about them - something more - and she wanted to feel what they had felt and be like them.

Sister Matuati told how of her father's death bed he had talked to her and had her promise him that she would serve a mission.  She had forgotten about that until she was applying to go into the army and as she filled out the papers she remembered her promise to her father.  She knew her mother would support her so she decided to keep her promise.  She said, "I loved my father, I am serving this mission for him in part. But I also love my Heavenly Father and I know he would be pleased that i am serving as well."

The time was gone and I hadn't heard the stories of Sister Basset or Sister Taeatua.  I told them I wanted to hear those stories later.  I was so curious about Sister Taeatua. She is quite a bit older than the other Sisters at 28 years old.  She seems more mature and very grounded.  I have grown to love her very much.

Well yesterday was my last chance to see them and hear their stories and it looked like I wouldn't get the chance.  We went to the MTC at lunch time and then stayed for the 1:00 pm live broadcast of the Devotional from the Provo MTC but following that they had classes all afternoon and we had appointments at night with people in the ward and so weren't going to be able to attend the Final Meeting.   When one of those appointments fell through, we headed back to the MTC and spent a wonderful final evening with the missionaries flying out tomorrow.

After the final meeting Sister Howes asked me to come with her to take fruit and chewy bars to the Sisters in their living quarters and to say goodnight to them.  I have always wanted to do this.  Goodnight hugs sound even better than hugs at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Saying goodnight with the Sisters
Sister Howes, S. Taetua, S. Basset, S. Saoloto, S. Motuliki, S. Matuaiti, S. Shan, S, Maitere
in front - S. Tetiitere, S. Savu, S. Oh

Saying goodnight to the Sisters
Front: S. Teriirere, S. Oh   2nd row: myself, S. Taetua, S. Savu, S. Howes, S. Maitere   3rd Row: S. Basset, S. Saoloto , S. Motuliki, S. Shan, S. Matuaiti, S. Donnat-Monay

I got the chance to hear the last two stories.  Sister Taetua told of a marriage proposal she received and was considering.  She went to the temple to seek guidance having just read her Patriarchal Blessing.  She said that everything in her blessing seemed to have been fulfilled. She had followed all it had told her to do except a couple lines about her serving a mission.  She felt that she should serve.  "I loved the Lord more than I loved the man who wanted to marry me." she said, "I owed Him more for all He had done for me."

Sister Matuaiti, Sister Taeatua, Sister Basset

Sister Basset is a darling, young, energetic, Sister with her testimony just flowing out of her.  She told of her parents divorcing when she was 10 years old.  Her father told his 6 children that he would do everything he could to pull them away from the church.  At one time, she was the only one still active in the church.  She told her father that she would never leave the church.

She always wanted to serve a mission but it seemed so far away and then, when she was 19 she couldn't believe the time had come.  Her mother wanted her to wait until she was 21 because her mother collected money from the government until she was 21 if she was home, but Sister Basset said absolutely not!  She would go on her mission now!  She was telling us this with her big smile and bubbly enthusiasm.

She told us she would write to her father often and tell him of her experiences and her love for the truth.   In one of the classes at the MTC they were discussing investigators.  Sister Basset said it was as though the noise in the class stopped and all was still for her.  She felt in her heart that the investigator she cared the most about was her father and she would try to share with him the spirit she felt on her mission.

Sister Basset and Sister Taetua are companions.  They shared these stories with Sister Howes and me in their room and afterwards Sister Taetua said she had gifts for us.  From her drawer she pulled out some jewelry.  She said that her family owned a pearl farm and then she gave us the gift of some black pearls.  Sister Howes received two beautiful black pearls that dangle from a necklace and I was given a bracelet with black pearls with different colored undertones.  It is beautiful!  I'm sure it is very valuable.  If you google Tahitian Black Pearls you will get an idea of their worth.

black pearl bracelet from Sister Taetua

Sister Oh also gave me a gift.  A flower she had made.  I thought Andrew, Will and Steven would enjoy seeing it since they are very good at doing origami too.

Sister Oh's origami flower gift

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19 of the ESL Missionaries will be staying another 3 weeks.  We will enjoy them but all the rest will be off within the next two days.  I'm a little sad but at the same time I am excited for them.  The hour of their mission has come.  They are about to be 'kicked out of the Garden of Eden'.