Sister Kofford in Tahiti: Surprise Miracles!

11/16/15
Iaorana friends and family!

We had a crazy and amazing week! First of all, my comp Soeur Stastny got a call on Friday night saying that she would be transferred for her last four weeks as a missionary! We were not at all expecting this call and it shattered our world a little bit . . . but all is well and eventually the verdict was that she is going to Huahine! The beautiful island where I started my mission! She is going to love it there and I am so happy and excited for her!!

This week, we had a leadership meeting that was super cool! One of my favorite things was a story that our mission president, President Bize shared with us. He said that when he was young and married, with his first couple of kids, he had a nice job. He liked this job and it allowed them to live nicely within their means. This stable life suddenly shifted into something insecure, when his job and career were threatened and eventually he lost his job all together. He was lost and did not know what to think or do. So he turned to the Lord. He fasted and prayed and went to the temple. During all of this he pleaded with our Heavenly Father. In his prayers he expressed that he had been an honest tithe payer for his whole life and that then was the moment that he was in need of Heavenly Fathers grace. A couple days passed and sure enough he received a call saying that since he spoke English from his mission, he was selected for a job offer in California. They took a leap of faith and moved the entire family to California. After time, they learned that this new life was a much better life and that this was the path that Heavenly Father had planned for them. This story is cool because President Bize had already earned this blessing through his previous obedience! Then I thought of a story in the Book of Mormon that has the same ring! In Alma 5, Alma the younger talks about his dad. Alma was a priest for King Noah and was eventually rejected from the kingdom. At this time in the Book of Mormon, it says that Alma and his people were protected because of their faith, their change of heart, their humility, and their trust in God. They were delivered from their afflictions because of the things they had already done to show God their love.

Since we have been here together at Mahina, Soeur Stastny and I have seen lots of potential and lots of success together, but at the same time it has been hard seeing people use their agency in wrong ways and seeing people choose other things before God. When we had the realization that God can bless us for our already existing obedience, we immediately decided to pray like President Bize and to be blessed like Alma and his people! It was a beautiful experience! We shared with God that obviously we are not perfect missionaries, but we do try our best to do his will and that we have experienced the "change of heart" talked about in Alma 5. We had total confidence in God and could honestly feel that good things were coming our way!

On Saturday, we had our third lesson with Tevahine! She is the mother of a darling sister in our ward. Her husband is a hard Catholic and did not want anything to do with us. In fact, she had to take the lessons in secret because her husband was so scary. This week, somehow he found out about her secret lessons and got really mad. But after everything cooled down, he accepted that she could continue with the lessons. When she got to the lesson, we were going to teach about the Plan of Salvation but the spirit changed our minds and we talked about obedience and how we have to put God first in our lives. We committed her to be baptized on Wednesday and she accepted!!! Her program and interview are done and shes good to go! So blessed! I want you all to know that God lives and he loves us! He listens to us and he answers our prayers! I have such a love in my heart even just writing these special sentences!

I love all of Alma 5, but there is one verse that truly is amazing, verse 26. It asks us a question, it talks about those who have already had a change of heart . . . those who were faithful, humble, stripped of pride and envy, those who put their trust in God and acted, those who not only had the light of God's face shine in our countenance, but His image engraved in us through who we are. It asks if we as these people can feel this change of heart right now? As members of this church, we need to seek for that! The church is a happy thing and we should be happy people! Always changing and improving and finding the joy in the progression! And it is through these acts of obedience and dedication that you will be able to call on God at any moment in life because you have already earned his blessings! He is waiting to bless you all! Like he blessed President Bize, Alma and his people, and Soeur Stastny and I this week! So continue to change your hearts and then don't be afraid to ask! It shall be opened unto him who asketh!

Thank you all for everything! I love and miss you all! Keep being good! Have a great week!

Love, Soeur Kofford