Thursday, March 23, 2017

22 March 2017 - Animals Love Us Here!

Bonjour tout le monde!

So this week I felt like we saw a billion animals! There are dogs everywhere that bark at us, we've had two cats come up to our apartment door to play, there are the horses out in the fields, little fish in the tiny river, and a little pony in Savannah that you can go up and pet! SO many animals! And on Friday, we were walking home from Savannah and all of a sudden this super cute (and surprisingly super clean) golden retriever comes up to us out of nowhere and then follows us ALL THE WAY HOME. We tried to chase it away once we were leaving the neighborhood, but she wouldn't leave us. She followed us through the neighborhood, across the freeway, through the industrial zone, and all the way to our apartment. It was raining and she got all wet and muddy and she kept going into the road. It was a stressful walk home trying to keep this dog from dying as it was following us. And we felt bad about "stealing" someone's dog, so we went to the Voisin's house and asked Frere Voisin to put up a notice online that we found this dog. Then, we couldn't keep or babysit this dog, so we just went into the apartment and let it run around outside. Then one of the gendarmes that live in our building saw her and took her to the vet. We actually saw the dog again on Monday in Savannah! She came running up to us again but luckily her owner saw her get out of the gate and came over. The dog's name is Nala, but we'd been calling it Lassie, haha. At least we know she's safe and sound at home now!

So this week, we decided that we're tired to always being in the same places everyday. We're usually in Nogouta, which is the neighborhood where our apartment is, or in Gadji, the area just around our neighborhood. We didn't want to go to 3 Vallees, so we decided we'd walk to Savannah. We don't really ride our bikes because it hurts and it takes 10x more energy to ride than to walk. So we left the house early on Friday and on Monday and walked 2 hours to Savannah. It's long, but it's so worth it. There's potential in the apartments and small villas over there! Plus, missionaries haven't really contacted in Savannah in years, so it's not overdone. On Friday, we met a Tahitian lady named Maeva who actually has family in Tahiti and here that are members. She says she's baptized Protestant and confirmed (not baptized) Catholic. She let us in a gave us some apple juice and we were just talking and introducing the Book of Mormon and then she said, "Something's telling me I need to read this book. I'm gonna take it!" WOW. We gladly gave her a copy and she's going to read and we're going to come back and talk about it with her. It's just amazing that she was already feeling and listening to the Spirit. It was a great experience and we're praying that she'll be an elect! 

Then on Monday, we were porte-a-porte-ing [knocking on doors] and not having much success, but then we met this Wallisian family. It's a younger couple with 3 kids. They're Catholic, but have family who are members, too! They're not practicing really, but when they saw that our nametags say Jesus Christ, they let us in immediately (they're tired of all of the Jehovah's Witnesses that come by.) We sat and talked with them for a hour and a half! They had so many great questions and both of them are really interested! We gave them a Book of Mormon and we're going to go back again! SO EXCITING! It was definitely a miracle and I'm excited for all this potential in Savannah :) So yeah, the walk is long, but it's SO worth it! Plus, in Savannah there's always a nice breeze coming off the ocean near by. It's glorious. 

It's been good here in Paita/Dumbea. It's hard sometimes but that makes us appreciate the little miracles that Heavenly Father sends us every day. 

Donc, voila quoi! That's my week! I hope y'all have a great week!!!

Je vous aime!

Soeur Matheson

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