First Week as a Trainer!

5/25/15

Iaorana friends and family! Things in the mission life of Soeur Kofford are going well. I still cannot believe that I have been on my mission for a little over eight months. I am now in my second area and training a new missionary! I honestly feel like I got here yesterday and that I am the brand new missionary that has everything to learn. Thinking back on the last eight months, I have learned a lot and I am  so beyond thankful for the choice I made to serve a mission. My new companion is Soeur Shariatmadari and she is from Draper haha. When we tell people that our houses are literally twenty minutes away from each other, they think it is so weird that we did not know each other before the mission. It will be fun getting home from the mission and having her so close! Anyway, like I mentioned in the last weeks letter, my companion was going to be Soeur Gray from Arizona . . .  but in her interview President Bize changed his mind and now I am with Soeur Shariatmadari. So at least we know our companionship is inspired. I truly am trying to be a good trainer for her. I am trying to be exactly obedient, diligent, and nice to everyone. I want her to have a similar experience like I did with my trainer. I know that we are together in this area of Papeari for lots of reasons. Right now, starting out is kind of fun because we get to start our journey together and start to uncover the miracles God has in store for us if we will do our best and learn to rely on Him. We have had some success in this last week! When we were teaching one of the follow up lessons at a new converts house, they had a cute young couple that had moved in with them and will be staying for quite a while. I immediately started talking to them, shared a little message, and committed them to take the missionary discussions! They accepted and even came to church yesterday! Their names are Jiovany and Laura! Please keep them in your prayers! We also received a reference from one of my favorite sisters in the ward. This investigators name is Tepoe. We talked to her one time and shared a message and committed her to the missionary lessons. When we went back for the second lesson, she said that since the day we stopped by and talked to her, everything in her life had been going a lot better. She found out that she is going to have twins and is super happy and also her work is going really well. We also teach two little girls named Chloe and Ravanui. We taught a couple of lessons and they were not really serious. Finally, yesterday we had another lesson, and when we asked if they said their prayers they responded with a yes! Chloe gave the opening prayer for the lesson and it blew my mind! There are all kinds of people with different stories, lives, trials and situations. Everyone whether they know it or not are being prepared for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that God lives and that He loves and knows us. I know that He will willingly give us peace in this life and eternal life in the life to come! All of this is possible through our Savior, Jesus Christ! I am so thankful for the truth that we have and the chance we have to share it! Keep loving life! Let God lead your paths! I love you and He loves you! Thank you again for all of your love and support and just everything!! Have a great week!

Love, Soeur Heather Kofford

Soeur Martin, myself, and Soeur Shariatmadari

Transfers!

5/18/15

Iaorana friends and family! 

I cannot believe that it has already been six weeks since I arrived here at Papeari! Time flies haha even when things are a bit hard. I said goodbye to Soeur Faana this morning which was sad, but good because I am ready to find what the next portion of my mission has in store for me. Change is a good thing, because change equals progress. Soeur Faana and I did find a lot of success together and through the weeks I spent with her, I really came to know God and learned how to better pray. I did my best with her. I did all that I could do and all that I knew how to do and He did grant us with his blessings and miracles! He gave us a wonderful baptism. Morotea was literally waiting to have the gospel in his life and I am so thankful for him and the choice he made to become a member of the true church. We also worked hard and found 15 new investigators! Our days were definitely very different at the end than at the beginning! Soeur Faana learned to be more organized and diligent and I learned how to better go with the flow when the plan did not always go as planned. It was a good 6 weeks, but I can say that I am ready for change!  In fact I have a big change coming my way! My next companion is fresh from the MTC and will be starting her mission here in Tahiti with me! Her name is Soeur Gray and she is from Arizona and I will be training her and that is all I know! I am so excited for this next step of my mission! I was so blessed to be trained by Soeur Hunter who taught me so much and made me want to be the best person I possibly could be! I love her! Then I had the blessing of spending the next transfer with Soeur Martin who I love dearly! She taught me the importance of studying! I now am very familiar with Preach My Gospel, The Book of Mormon, and the Bible.  Soeur Faana and I learned our weaknesses together and I became more patient and humble through our experience together! I know that each one of these companionships was inspired and I am thankful for the person I have become through these amazing Sister missionaries! I hope and pray that now I can apply all of the things that I have learned and be the best trainer I can possibly be for Soeur Gray! I will be honest, I am not perfectly familiar with the area and all of the members. We still have a lot of work to do and baptisms to find. I know that if I do my best, that God will always provide us with the miracles and blessings that He has waiting for us! Through all that I have learned, I have a couple of points that I think are the most important in missionary work. The first of these is obedience. As we know, obedience is the first law of heaven. I have experienced first hand, obedience brings blessings but perfect obedience brings miracles! The next thing is love! Love is the key to happiness in life! I truly have found that the more I love, the better things go! So I will love Soeur Gray and show her how great missionary work is done when you just love! The next thing is to stay positive! Being a missionary is not always easy. . . infact a lot of the time it is really difficult! But in these moments of difficulty, if you stay positive and realize that God is on your side  and that all will be okay, its true . . . everything will be okay! The last thing that I thought about is just how every experience is a blessing! A literal blessing like someone accepting the lessons or seeing the life of an investigator change through our Savior, Jesus Christ . . . or maybe a hard moment giving us the opportunity to choose how to act and respond, or choosing to become the person God knows we can be, or choosing to find our divine potential! I am so thankful for the Church of Jesus Christ! I am thankful for the knowledge that we have that we are children of God and that we have the opportunity to be perfected each and every day through Christ! I love the fact that we can change and improve and progress every minute of every day! We truly are the pieces of coal being refined into the finest diamonds! All we have to do is accept Gods will and learn to rely on Him! I know that all is possible through Him and I will be depending on Him as Soeur Gray and I serve in our area of Papeari! We are not alone! Try to let God help you improve and change! You have an infinite potential in His eyes! It is our responsibility to find it! Make each day count and remember that each experience is a blessing! Thank you for all of your love and support! I love you all! Have an incredible week!

Love, Soeur Heather Kofford

Reunited at last! It was great to see my MTC companion Sister Erekson.

Splits with Soeur Tahiata! This is Roiti! She is such a sweetheart!

Morotea's baptism!!!

Our Zone!

Mother's Day!

5/10/15

Skyping Heather was wonderful!

Prayers and Blessings!

5/11/15

God lives and He knows us and He loves us! I had such a great week! Like I have said in the past couple of weeks, this last transfer and the last five weeks have been the hardest days of my mission and my life. Each day I got new opportunities to find my weaknesses and at times to feel lonely and hopeless when things were not perfect with my companion. Ha, I think I was even a little depressed and didn't know it. Through all of this I had found a couple of quotes that really helped me out. The first was on the topic of prayer. It says, “The only way to worry about nothing is to pray for everything." So I did just that. I learned how to really pray and to rely on God. Each day, I witnessed the small blessings and miracles and tender mercies that He granted me. He helped me to be patient with myself and my companion. He helped me to have charity and to love everyone and to see them as he does. He helped me to be brave and confident and to stand up for what was right. I was truly saved by the grace of God. And I even eventually learned to be happy in these times! I knew that God was giving me opportunities to improve, progress, and become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. I love a quote by Thomas S. Monson, "As we strive to place Christ at the center of our lives by learning his words, by following His teachings, and by walking in His path, He has promised to share with us the eternal life that He died to gain. There is no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept His discipline and become His disciples and do His work throughout our lives. Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can."  We have only a potential that He knows and if we will humble ourselves before Him and ask for help through sincere prayer, He will make us into the person He knows we can become! This week God showed me His mercy and love for me! It truly was an amazing week! I got to go through the temple for the first time in the last five months. I got to go on splits with my STL's and take a breath of fresh air! We had the baptism of our investigator, Morotea which was such a special experience! I got to talk to my family on Sunday which made my life! I absolutely love my family! And today all of the missionaries on the island of Tahiti were called together for a song practice, so I got to see my MTC companion and talk with her! Now I get to email and talk to my friends and family and start another week of missionary work! I am so blessed and I know God lives and He knows us perfectly and He loves us and He is always willing to save us with His grace and give us the blessings He has prepared for us if we will follow the example of His son Jesus Christ and do our best to endure well to the end. Like in ether 12:6, sometimes the blessings only come after the trial of our faith! So keep enduring well! Put your trust in God! Pray about everything and He will bless you! I love you and pray for you all! Thanks for all of your love and support and prayers! Have a great week! 

Love, Soeur Heather Kofford 

 

Morotea's baptism!

Learning is Loving (:

5/4/15
We had a good week together ! I truly have grown to love my new area of  Papeari, my companion Soeur Faana, our house that is only reached by a fourth mile long pebble path, the members who do so much for us, our new investigators, and just everything ! I have learned so much here in these past weeks. These have been the hardest three weeks of my life, but I would not take them back for anything ! When I first arrived here I was a little bit discouraged, because we did not have any progressing investigators. We only had 6 lessons my first week, my companion was very different, and things were just hard. But I have found the strengths of  Soeur Faana! She is courageous and direct and a very good missionary ! If she wants something . . .she gets it done ! I have learned to respect, trust, follow her lead, and love her. As I have humbled myself and prayed to have charity, to love as Christ loves, I have found that God will always provide a way ! Last week we had 23 lessons together and found lots of new investigators and Stuka is set for baptism on the 9th! When I talked to our Mission President he told me that he was very happy with our work ! He told me that our area has never seen missionary work like that ! I did not even realize what we had accomplished together until president Bize told me and encouraged me to continue! This was my first face to face interview with him! I know that it was only through the grace of God that we received this success. I know that God loves us and is mindful of us and is always willing to help us if we will ask him sincerely ! I have really come to know my God in the last three weeks and I know he will never leave me alone ! He will always provide the rest if  I do my best ! I am so thankful for his mercy, for the blessings, and the miracles that He gives me each day ! Try to know God.  He lives ! He is there and He loves you ! I love you all ! Thank you for everything, for your thoughts and prayers and everything ! I love you and hope you all have a great week ! 
Love, Sour Heather Kofford