Sister Kofford in Tahiti: 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