18 January 2017 - Staying in Koutio!!

Hi family!

So we got transfers and I'm staying in Koutio with Soeur Davis! #stillstl

We're excited though 'cuz we have an ami [investigator] that is SO READY to be baptized and we're gonna set a date with her this week (hopefully!). We had an awesome lesson with her last week, and ah it was just great. I don't even know how to explain it! The Spirit was there and she just understands and knows it's all true! So that's why we’re gonna push for a baptismal date next time!

Other than that, lots of contacting! This year we're flooding the mission with the Book of Mormon and on Saturday, Soeur Davis and I gave out 6 Books of Mormon in just an hour and a half! It's so easy to do if you're just bold about it. For zone meetings yesterday we talked about that and we challenged all the missionaries to give out 3 LDMs per day to really FLOOD THE MISSION! haha we're excited and our training about that went really well BTW :) We went to both zone meetings in one day! And we're pros at giving trainings now. Haha, yesterday Soeur Davis said, "We've done more trainings together than lessons!" Not exactly true, but pretty close, hahaha :)

With the transfer, they closed the secteur next to ours. It's a secteur without a lot of work but all the members there LOVE feeding the missionaries. We asked the ZLs to see if we could go to members' homes and visit the recent convert in that area (it's still in our ward) and they said yes! So we're probz gonna have more soirees woo hoo!! Kinda feel like we're taking advantage of the situation, but hey, we got permission. So now Yahoue is ours! haha

It was kind of a shock to get on email today and have so much news about housing and BYU. The end is coming soon, and it's very bittersweet! But I still don't know my exact release date yet. I'm thinking it'll be end of May. But I asked President in my email today so hopefully he'll let me know! Stay tuned!

Not a lot to say this week, but JE VOUS AIME!!

Bonne semaine!
Tata!
Soeur Matheson

elder estall's last district mtg

bowling with the district

us with the cutest dog ever

Soeur Matheson, Jacqueline, and Soeur Davis

flooding the mission

raw cerf (deer) on crackers that our neighbor Freddy gave us

random gendarmes [policemen] on horses

me and soeur davis from zone meeting yesterday

me and soeur davis from zone meeting yesterday

11 January 2017 - Miracles in Koutio!

Bonjour ma famille!

This week was a good week! We had our exchanges with Paita/Dumbea and Dumbea Sur Mer. I got to go to Paita with Soeur Tatahio and we had a good day even though it was really hot and humid. It's been really humid and rainy the past couple of days. Earlier this week it was SO HOT but now it's finally cooled a little. With Soeur Pahio here in Koutio we did a lot of contacting in the rain and gave away 4 Livres de Mormon!! I really enjoyed going out working in the rain. It wasn't pouring rain but just a steady light rain, so it wasn't too bad. We also found an inactive sister (miracle!) and set a lesson for the next morning, buuutttt she wasn't there... C'est la vie missionnaire et on va reessayer plus tard! [That's missionary life and we'll try again later!]

Also this week, Soeur Davis and I went out porte-a-porte-ing and on the 3rd door, a man  named Jacques opened up and came out to talk to us. He kept saying how crazy it was that we were the first people to come knocking on his door talking about religion. He's Wallisian and Christian (apparently not Catholic like all the other Wallisians) and he's asking alllll the right questions! We gave him a Book of Mormon and we're going back Saturday for a lesson! Miracle!

BUT THE GREATEST MIRACLE OF THIS WEEK WAS JACQUELINE!!! Jacqueline is friends with la famille Guidi and started coming to church in November. The sisters were teaching her a lot (2-3 times a week) and she was progressing really well. But then she started working more and had other things come up and we didn't get to see her for like a month. But Thursdaynight she called us and said she wants to see us!! We went on Friday morning and here's the story: Moise, being the amazing member missionary that he is, had gone to visit Jacqueline with another ami and really encouraged her to take the lessons again. That and the fact that she finally found the cookies and note we'd left in her mailbox on New Years led her to call us! The lesson was really great (Moise was there too as a member present and I loved seeing the progress he's made) and she's remotivated to keep coming to church. She came on Sunday, was fasting, and they let her bear her testimony! Isn't that crazy? We're going to see her again tomorrow and hopefully set a baptismal date with her. The only problem is that she's been going to the Dumbea ward because that's where the Guidis are, but she lives in the Riviere Salee ward boundary. So we'd need to figure out how that would work. Honestly here, they don't always go to the ward they're supposed to but we baptize them anyway because we need to build up the church, haha, and they're willing, donc voila quoi! So we'll see about that!

On Sunday, Soeur Vagner invited us for lunch and it was great to be invited and spend some time with a member. She's also been struggling a little and we're able to support her spiritually and help her to reactivate her daughter. We might be going over on Friday to help clean a little and she wants to invite her daughter just so we're all in the same place at the same time and create a relationship with her to start off. So we'll see!

This week we should be getting the transfer news so next week I'll let you know if I'm still in Koutio or not!

JE VOUS AIME BEAUCOUP!!! 

Tata nana bisous!

Soeur Matheson

4 January 2017 - It’s 2017!!

Happy New Year!

Bonjour!

It's 2017 and so weird to think that I spent allllll of 2016 here in New Cal!

This week was really chill and quiet because a lot of people are gone or just with family, so we couldn't see many people. But for New Years we baked some cookies that turned out really good and went out contacting! We gave people cookies and wished them "bonne annee!"  We got a few good contacts out of it! So that's exciting!

We also had two exchanges. One with Magenta where I went to Magenta with Soeur Chard and the other with Paita where Soeur Decady came to Koutio with me. In Magenta, we focused a lot on making sure their baptism would happen on the 31st. There was a little drama, but honestly I feel like that's to be expected here in New Cal. Baptisms are never super easy to make happen. But in the end everything worked out, and their ami was baptized! Hers is a miracle story and it HAD to happen on the 31st so we were super happy that it worked out! :) Soeur Chard and Soeur Decady are both awesome missionaries, and I loved getting to work with them during the exchanges! We just have two more exchanges for this transfer and they're both this coming week, so I'll tell y'all about them next time!

I made banana bread this week, and it was delicious. I think I ate most of it by myself... haha but that recipe book we got from Soeur Granger is really great and we're loving it so far.

For New Years we went to bed at 10:30 planning to get up at midnight to celebrate a little, but when the time came around neither of us could wake up hahaha. But there were lots of parties going on all around us--loud music and loud fireworks that we couldn't see because of all the trees around the house. But we had a good new years, and the next day we celebrated a little and popped the confetti things and played with the confetti haha.

OH YEAH I got to try green coconut--the water and the fruit inside! We went to see a returning inactive family. They had gone to Plum earlier in the day, and the dad had climbed the cocotiers [coconut trees] to get the coconuts! It was pretty good! I've definitely come to like coconut since being here! And the family was telling us all the things you can make out of coconuts and coconut trees. In the islands, people make everything out of what they have, and they use every bit they can. You can make mats, tables, chairs, oils, etc. all from coconuts or the trees. The family was getting really excited about it and it was just fun to see their love for their culture and way of life :)

I'm loving New Cal! Maybe not how hot it is right now, but c'est la vie ici!

Je vous aime et je vous souhaite une bonne annee et une bonne semaine!

Tata nana bisous!

Soeur Matheson

27 December 2016 - Joyeuses Fetes et Bonne Annee!!

I can't figure out how to do the right accent for "Fete"... laisse tomber!

BONJOUR ma famille!

It's funny 'cuz I just SAW all of you and now we get to email! Woo hoo! I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas and that the start of the New Year will be amazing!

Guess what! Our mission reached our goal of 1000 baptisms in 2016!!! It's a Christmas miracle!!

Wednesday night last week, we got to go en ville a la Place de Cocotiers [to the city to Coconut Tree Square] with some other sisters and sing Christmas songs! A la Place, they put up a bunch of Christmas lights all over. Just picture a tropical Temple Square, but instead of the temple there's a fountain and a gazebo and a big Christmas tree, haha. There were a lot of people there that night and when we sang, people stop and listened! It was fun to spread the Christmas spirit and we even got a contact of a potential ami who lives in Koutio!! Yay!

And this weekend we did lots of Christmas party prep with Sœur Glade. We made lots of food and decorated together. We had a Luau for the 24th with Hawaiian Haystacks, and we played lots of games and sports. Pretty chill day. Then for Christmas day, we went to Church in the morning and after had our Christmas party with all the missionaries again. We watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional, had a fun, spiritual talent show with lots of singing, had a picnic dinner of sandwiches, sodas, chips, fruit, veggies, and ice cream, and then had our gift exchange. I got a pack of New Cal playing cards and a Twix and President and Sister Granger gave us VPVM t-shirts and a recipe book. Christmas was super fun, and I'll never forget it!

Then Monday was Skype and that was awesome! But afterwards we had the north zone meeting. I feel like everyone was still in Christmas/Skype mode, but it turned out to be a good meeting! But now there's no more zone meetings or anything else to plan, so we can just be "chill" and do normal missionary work, haha.

So that was my week! I loved getting to see you and I still love hearing from you (when y'all email! hint hint!)

JE VOUS AIME!

JOYEUSES FETES ET BONNE ANNEE!!!!! [Happy New Year]

Sœur Matheson

20 December 2016 - Joyeux Noel!!

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope y'all are enjoying this Christmas season!

FOR SKYPE: It'll be at 1pm my time on the 26th, so I think that's 6pm for CA, 8pm for TX, and 9pm for MI on Christmas day. Sorry it's a little on the later side, but at least Rachel won't be up at 2am ;) BE READY! We only have 30 minutes and I don't want to waste it just trying to connect everybody. I want to spend as much time as possible talking to you! IF THE CALL DROPS and it's taking too long to fix, CALL ME.

Here in New Cal it doesn't feel too much like Christmas weather-wise because it's the beginning of summer, but it is fun seeing people try to decorate and make it like Christmas anyway. Last Thursday, I was on exchange with Soeur Sorenson in Vallee des Colons. When we were en ville [in the city], there were Christmas lights set up on the Place de Cocotiers [Coconut Square]. That night was the first night of their version of the Festival of Lights. Sadly, we couldn't stay out after dark to see all the lights, but we saw a few that were already on and they were also playing the Michael Buble Christmas album through speakers set up throughout la Place! haha Can't have Christmas without Michael Buble singing Christmas songs :) 

And here in Koutio they've set up a couple light things on the light posts like they do in small towns, haha. It's cute. Soeur Glade has been decorating the bureau [mission office] and it's super cute. We've been singing Christmas songs at church and for meetings! But the people here don't sing the French ones like Il est ne le Divin Enfant or Noel Nouvelet. It's weird. Maybe they just don't know them... But for Christmas with the missionaries, we're gonna make sure we sing them!

This week like I said earlier, we had an exchange with Vallee des Colons. Soeur Sorenson (from Washington and been out for 6 months) and I did a lot of contacting en ville [in the city]. She likes talking to mamis and telling them she likes their kanak dresses and asks them where they bought it, haha. She's so funny and just loves talking to everyone, so being in VDC and en ville will be great for her!

We had an exchange with Motorpool as well and Soeur Utia came with me in Koutio. She's Tahitian and has been out for about 7 months. She really loves the Qashqai [vehicle] and driving around, which was good because we spend the day driving around Normandie and Auteuil looking for inactives, sadly with little success because we couldn't find the right streets and we had a lame map. We also had a lesson with an ami named Elsa who really loves learning about the gospel, but the application aspect hasn't clicked for her yet. We invited her to baptism, but she said she's not ready yet. We're gonna keep working with her bien sur [for sure]!

We had ANOTHER zone meeting for the South Zone. Now that there's one set of STLs, we go to both the south and north zone meetings. I've literally given a training at a meeting for the past 3 weeks... And we'll probably do another one next week for the north zone... So many things to plan! SO BUSY! But getting pretty good at giving trainings so #skillz

I'm excited for Christmas and to SEE you! JOYEUX NOEL et BONNE FETE!!!

Bisous!

Sœur Matheson

13 December 2016 - This week went by so fast!

Bonjour ma famille!

JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE to Dad and Mom (and early to Rachel just in case I forget!)

[Happy Birthday]

JOYEUX NOEL et BONNE ANNEE!!!!!!!

[Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!]

I hope you're all doing well and not too stressed with school (Megan) or Christmas stuff. Just remember what this season is really about--our Savior, Jesus Christ! Take time to think about His birth and why He came to earth. It was all for us because He loves us! I'm really happy to be spending another Christmas on the mission because I can spend all my time serving Him and helping others come unto Him! So I miss all of you and it's sad not to all be together, but it's just one Christmas in a lifetime of Christmases and I'm happy where I am so don't be sad.

Plus, we can Skype now!!!!! We're allowed to Skype in the bureau [mission office] for 30 minutes. It's the ZLs and STLs who are making the schedule for all of the missionaries and we're gonna get that done before next P-day so that everyone can tell their families. So plan on Skyping and if the call drops, YOU'll just call me on this number XXX. But I'll give you date and time next week!

So this week went by really fast because we were in full-on STL mode all week pretty much! With the transfer, I'm back in Koutio, and I'm with Soeur Davis. She's from Utah--from Murray! She's been out since April, so 9 months. We're the STLs for ALL of the New Cal sisters! We now just have one set of STLs for all of New Cal, not one for each zone. So now I've been STL for the north, STL for the south, and STL for all of New Cal. Voila! So now Koutio is the only STL secteur because it's the most central sister area. So back in Koutio, but it's a little different with the ward boundary changes. Kinda sad because some of my favorite members are now in the other ward, but we'll just have to get to know the others now!

Anyway, Thursday we had the transfer for all the sisters. Pretty much all the missionaries in New Cal were transferred, so we had to split it into one day for the sisters and the other day for the elders. Thursday we drove all the sisters around and helped get luggage where it needed to be. Tiring but not too stressful! Friday, we decided to plan all of our exchanges (now we have to do 6 total so like one a week), so we went to the bureau [office] again and did that and other office stuff and zone conference prep!

Then we had zone conference for the past two days with President and Sister Granger and the APs. It's always stressful around zone conference for the leaders, but a lot of us have been leaders for a while, so it wasn't too bad and things went very smoothly. Soeur Davis and I gave a training about loving your companion. We compared it to Finding Nemo with Marlin and Dory, and everyone loved it. So that was great! And the rest of the training was awesome. I love it when President comes because the motivation level always goes up, haha. Our goal for the year is 1000 baptisms in the mission and we're so close, so we talked a lot about what we can do to make it to 1000 just in time for Christmas and the New Year.

New Caledonia, December Zone Conference (notice Soeur Matheson way over on the left)

This week we start our exchanges and we have Christmas planning to do so we can have an awesome mission Christmas here on the caillou [pebble] we call New Cal! Having 6 sets of sisters and 6 exchanges and planning Christmas is a lot, and we need to balance all that with working in our own secteur [area]. Luckily it's not a whitewash, and I know Koutio already. That'll make is easier to work here! There's two pretty solid amis [investigators] here at the moment and we're praying they'll be some miracle baptisms!

Donc voila quoi! That's my life at the moment! I love getting updates from y'all so keep 'em coming! I'm still patiently waiting to open my Christmas package and to SKYPE! :)

JE VOUS AIME BEAUCOUP!!! Stay safe! Stay awesome!

Tal toul!

Soeur Matheson