A UNIQUE AND REMARKABLE YEAR DRAWS TO A CLOSE

WE'VE BEEN MISSIONARIES ALMOST A YEAR!

Our first year serving a full-time mission together is quickly ending.  We've seen some rough waters and still are striving for smoother sailing. Not many days are uneventful.

We are making a list of things we still are hoping to accomplish before we finish our time here  in order to make sure we get them done.  


There were only two minor car accidents last week, a car window that had to be replaced, doctor and dental appointments, missionaries coming to and leaving the island, transfers, funding missionaries, paying bills, closing an apartment, getting another set up. . .

We are now on the third missionary couple who are helping us here.  The first two couples were local, church service missionaries.  The last of the local couples was serving a family history mission when they were asked to spend part of their missionary hours helping us.  I don't know how we would have managed without them, but now we have been blessed with a full-time couple from Tahiti who will be in charge of apartments and cars.  We are hoping to be able to get all of the apartments in even better shape, have regular inspections, and update first aid kits.  Things that have been on our list for a long time.

  

Having our daughter Annaka come visit for a week was a real highlight. She is the third daughter to come.  We have loved being able to share the beauties of the island and the people with them and share a few memorable adventures.

We (mostly Elder Glade because my French is good enough to say very much) are temporary institute teachers.  I am teaching English and temporarily (I think) playing for Sacrament meeting and Relief Society.  I don't know which hymns we'll be singing, ahead of time.  When I turn to the page the title is in French and not a direct translation from the English.  I'm always interested to discover, after I begin, what hymn I am actually playing. Sometimes the page number isn't written anywhere;  a couple of times I heard the number wrong and played the introduction to the wrong hymn. Children often stand around me when I play prelude or postlude music. Some actually play along with me. One very petite little girl, about 4, noticed the fan was blowing my music closed and stood by me patiently holding the book open throughout the entire hymn. One boy (about 10) asked me to play "As Sisters in Zion" for him.  I wish I had time to teach piano lessons.  The new missionary couple want to improve their English, and, as we go about our day, are helping me with my French.  I may improve more with them in the office.



We love associating with the members here and are so inspired by their stories.  It is amazing how quickly and deeply we have come to love the members, the investigators, and 
the other missionaries. 

Most of all we love being able to witness people being baptized as members of the church.
There have been several lately which is unusual for the New Caledonia area of the Vanuatu Mission.

Giselle found the missionaries at a bus stop and got up the courage to tell them she wanted to be baptized.  Through studying the Bible she knew the baptism she received as a child wasn't the same as the Savior's and that she needed to be baptized by immersion as He was.  She had learned that our church baptizes by immersion.  As the missionaries taught her she was convinced she had found the truth she had been searching for.

A nephew was taught and baptized after he saw the changes in and happiness of his uncle who was baptized last fall.  A mother was baptized because of the example of her 11 year-old son.  In the opening prayer at the baptism he thanked Heavenly Father that his mother was joining the church. His father was a member, but he died a year or so ago.  A wife was lovingly baptized by her husband.  Their young son (about 4 yrs old) was surprised when they walked down the stairs into the water.  When his mother came up out of the water the little boy exclaimed, “Mama tu as plongé… Mouille pas moi!”   (Mommy you dove in the water.  Don’t get me wet!)  Another woman was baptized by her father-in-law.  She has been married for 3 years.  She talked about her journey dealing with her own mom’s (a Jehovah’s Witness) opposition and paid such a beautiful tribute to her in-laws.

At one baptismal service the bishop commented with tears in his eyes that 2017 was the year of making eternal families.  “We need to be patient when sharing the gospel.  The door is always open towards God. God knows how to help each of us.” His own wife had patiently waited for him to join the church.  Four spouses of those baptized this year had waited 3-17 years.  The stake Relief Society president's husband was also baptized this year after 17 years. The last baptism was the father of one of our institute students—more than 17 years of waiting for that family, too.  His 6 year old son exclaimed, "I have waited a long time for Papa to get baptized."  The dad is the nephew of the stake patriarch's wife.  She is thrilled to have another member besides herself in her extended family. We are still amazed at how many of the people being baptized in Nouméa have connections to the island of Lifou.

One morning as I was studying I came across this scripture that describes how I feel as we attend church each Sabbath and as we witness these joyful baptisms.

"Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy."  Mosiah 4:20

Even on gray, rainy days tiny drops of water cling to these needles and sparkle with light.