God Loves Us

Iaorana to'u utuafare!

Thank you so much for the emails this week!  I loved reading them!  The tropical activity (a Relief Society activity in Fielding) sounds super fun!  I'm glad you got to use the leis and the hat, too!  What tropical food did you eat?  I hope it wasn't fafaroo haha (the rotten  fish).  But, it sounds like you all had a good Easter weekend!  I didn't even know it was Easter until Saturday night haha.  I heard a lot of people talking about le pac (Easter), but I thought they were saying le bac (the huge test at the end of high school haha).  Just a little bit off.  They were talking about the Catholics walking up into the mountains for the weekend and I had no idea why they did that for the test.  Maybe meditate and be close to nature helps right before big tests, I dont know haha.  But, it was good for me as well.  A family gave my companion and I some chocolate eggs that were super good!  And, it was an amazing time to think about all the many blessings we have as members.  We are so blessed!  I am eternally thankful for you!  I love you all so much!  I'm so thankful that we can be an eternal family thanks to our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ!  

Elder Moller and I love the matching ties!

This week, we met a new couple named Marama and Hinaia.  They are both super young and are going to college.  Marama is an inactive member and Hinaia is Catholic.  It was so amazing talking to them!  They are awesome!  I got to see a little glimpse of how much God loves us all with the experiences they told us!  I could really see how much God has been preparing them to have an eternal family.  Like I said, Hinaia is Catholic with all of her family, but she got to the point where she didn't know if it was true or if another church was true.  So, she started praying.  Right after she started praying, God started answering her prayers.  She went to Arue, another town like a half hour away, with Marama to go surfing.  That day, the members of that ward went out to invite people to conference.  They came to her and invited her at the beach that day.  Then, she went to conference and started to build her little testimony.  By the time that we had our first lesson, she had read 14 chapters in the Book of Mormon (sometimes it's really hard to get people to read 1 chapter here ha).  Two days later, we had another lesson and between that time she read and changed her prayers to ask if the Book of Mormon was true.  She didn't think she had received an answer.  Then, we asked her if she felt anything after her prayer.  She smiled really big and said that she felt peace, a big peace.  She realized that her Heavenly Father really did answer her prayer and wants her to get baptized.  We then just briefly explained that, for the baptism, they can't be living together.  We asked them if they had talked about marriage and she said, "Oh, we aren't getting married until after his mission" ha.  We started Tuesday with two people who really weren't sure about God or religion and ended Thursday making preparations to help one get baptized and them both to serve missions.  If you fast forward the story a little, we can see the love God has for them, for their children, all the people they are going to help on their missions, their children and families and people they are going to help, and so on.  The work of God is so incredibly intricate!  It's insane!  This really is a marvelous work!  I am so happy and blessed to be the littlest part of it!  

I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father, for His love for me, and for this opportunity to serve Him and show my love for Him!  I really love Him so much!  And, I love you so much!  I know that we can be an eternal family through Him and His gospel!  I'm so thankful for that!  Thanks so much for all you do!  I love you and pray for you always!

Ua here au ia outou!

Elder Jessop