Sister Kofford in Tahiti: Every Missionary is a Miracle!

11/30/15

Bonjour friends and family!

I hope that your Thanksgiving was splendid and that you all enjoyed family time together enjoying the many blessings that come from our Heavenly Father! Everything that is good comes from him and we will be eternally grateful! We also had a great Thanksgiving, except for nobody knows about this holiday here in Tahiti and we were so busy and focused all day long and totally forgot it was Thanksgiving until we showed up at our faatamaraa (or dinner appointment) where the Taie family had prepared a beautiful Thanksgiving feast for us both! Soeur Cromar and I were so happy and so blessed! Life is great! Our week was great! Full of happy moments, laughing and of course, miracles! One story is of a girl named Ani! My last day with Soeur Stastny we were stood up by one of our lessons and were walking back down the mountain from his house when we saw a girl in a red shirt. I remember this moment vividly, she stuck out from everything else in view and right as we saw her, we knew we had to talk to "the red shirt girl." I have never met anyone like Ani. After getting to know her, in the middle of our little message we were sharing with her she told us that she would like to serve a mission one day. She then proceeded to ask us how she could become a member of the church. I loved these questions and we were smiling ear to ear when we responded.We set up her first real lesson for the next day she was free, which was at the beginning of last week. Soeur Cromar and I taught her about the restoration and then committed her to be baptized on December 5th! She accepted and now is preparing to be baptized and wants to eventually go on a mission.

This gospel truly is amazing! It is the good news of a lifetime that literally changes a life! A cool realization that I had this week is that, EVERY MISSIONARY IS A MIRACLE! This is so true! Missions are not easy. It takes a lot to prepare mentally, physically, temporally, financially, and in every other way possible! Missionaries are set up to such high expectations and have to be worthy to take the name of Christ upon them and act as his representatives each and every day! Missionaries have to preach about commandments, obedience, and Christlike attributes hourly when they themselves are not perfect at these things. They have to give up the things they knew and loved in normal life to be able to know and love our Heavenly Father on a deeper level! Missionaries have to be refined and polished to have the spirit constantly with them in order to be the person Heavenly Father needs them to be. Each missionary has their own story, and each of these stories is truly a miraculous thing! It has been a blast getting to know other amazing missionaries in the mission of Papeete, Tahiti. One elder from France went to the library one day and found a Book of Mormon sitting on one of the shelves. Of all the other books he could have picked to read, it was the simple blue book with gold letters that changed his life. He is the only member in his family and went through a lot to get where he is today, here as a trainer in this mission. Another sister missionary just got here from Vanuatu. We have had the privilege of having her in our house. She was converted with her mother only a couple years ago. She worked and sacrificed so much to get where she is today, a noble daughter of our Heavenly Father here in Tahiti!

God loves His missionaries! He knows us. He calls us, He chooses us, and qualifies us! He allows each and every one of us to use the wonderful gift of the atonement to grow and progress, to become something better and to continue to be a miracle in the lives of others! Missions are truly something that could never be described in human words. I am excited for the miracle I am and to have made it this far! I am thankful for my Heavenly Father and his love for me! I am thankful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and his sacrifice he gave us so that we could progress and improve! I am thankful for my fellow missionaries, the noble and great ones called from on high! The stories of Ani and these two missionaries that are close to me are only a couple of the million missionary stories in the world! So now, when you see the missionaries, remember who and what they are. They are representatives of Christ, called as miracles to be miracles in countless lives! When you see the missionaries, take a minute and ask them their story! Maybe they will even help you to find that you are a walking miracle as well!

Well, know that I love and miss you all! You will all be in my thoughts and prayers especially during this holiday season! Thanks for all of your love and support! Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Soeur Kofford