When God decides you need to explode with joy. 3/27/17

hey everyone, sorry im a little early this week!! we have to bust our butts to do email time sometimes since libraries or cyber cafes dont exist :) but all is well on this side of the pacific, oh my gosh we saw so many miracles yesterday!!!! this week was so rough on the old body and emotions of sr durrant but i think heavenly father just laughed and laughed cause of all the crazy things that he made go well for the first time yesterday! so so many members brought their friends to church and so we had like 7 amis a la chapelle! also the ward started to take pity on us when they saw our activities going down the drain and so they planned activities and family nights for like every week for US! for missionary work! yesterday also we gave talks and sang in church (they ask us to sing like every sunday) and bishop engaged all the members to invite people to take the lessons. then last night we got two phone calls and another reference of investigators.

and like 3 random people we barely know did their homework and practically ran towards us when they saw us because they were so pumped to talk to us again!!! they were like "can we see each other again on tuesday? i dont know what this brochure thing is you gave me but it changed my life!!" this kid we met named Chico who speaks marquisian started the lessons yesterday and he had all the perfect questions. "have you guys ever felt like heavenly father was next to you? how do you pray? whats the spirit? how do i feel it? why are there so many religions and only one God?" and then at the end he prayed for us in his language and i dont understand marquisian but MAN that prayer was sincere. and it put a little life in his eyes.

i love seeing that.

noarii and leslie got married saturday

i got to go see one of my old amis from papeari get baptised on saturday also. he thanked me in his testimony. interesting, hes one of the amis i felt like i didnt penetrate when i was over there. good old papi Tchang.

simon, noarii, and etau should also be baptised the 15 april

micails old convert is officially no longer at home every sunday. she comes to church again

general conf is coming up!!! that also means ive almost been out a year. ZOOTILO! I HAVE MISSED ONE

really thats weird

man i love you people i wish you could see the light god is shining on oremu faaa right now.

we use all of that floam you guys sent me (lol by the way good move) as a stress relief and also to make our faces look pretty. ill send some pics next week of that adventure hahaha

snoopy and woodstock are sitting pretty on our dining table

ian and his compass are next to my study area to remind me to not go down distracted paths

i read all your letters more often than you know and dont write you as often as i need to

i dont know how i deserved whatever the heck happened lately, or all of you. youre all such a rock to me, all i have to do is remember every single memory ever to feel better when im "fiu" (tahitian for sick of everything) and i use dad citations more often than i should in lessons. and i think ive become more insane so sorry. there was an ami who gave me the tahitian name "ataroa" which means "laughs a lot." they are kind of like native americans here with their names

example

teahumanu (coat of birds)

fanautahi (born first)

faatiarau (to make stand)

i havent hear "stands with fist" or "dances with wolves" but ill let you know mom when i get that too hahaha

sr weyland quote of the week:

"oh my gosh!! that member is like our fairy godmother missionary!!!"

i pray all the time for all of ya.

signing out Apetahi (my recent tahitian name) and my companion Roti (means pink cause sr weyland gets burned lol)

these photos are papi tchangs baptism and some other friends i refound at papeari this week when i went over there!! yay papi tchang

beaucoup de here pour all yall nana have a happy week ​

Bible trees 3/20/17

hhahahaha she swoons? oh my gosh faaa is so so so awesome. i didnt know these things were a possibility here in tahiti. its almost like this ward is.. normal!!! wow ;) the old bishop was released literally just 2 months before i got here so now new bishop feels a little inferior (cause old bishop was just so so so great) but its ok. we are working with both of them and thats going well. theres so many investigators here!! too much work to be able to do in the short time we have 

i dont know what it even is about this place either. from the moment i stepped in it felt different, like theres just an excitememnt in the air. its super interesting, i wish i had a good picture of it. imagine a gigantic ghetto one floor apartement complex... all strewn about and in the sides of a little mountain? it reminds me of how i think of suburb san francisco but less busy and more natury. and not flat. the view from the top of the mountain, in our sector, is SO BEAUTIFUL. you can see all of the city and all of the ocean everywhere, and moorea the other island next to us. the people here are like all tahitians but more... humble? its almost as if the influence of city life and drugs had the opposite effect on them than in america. they search for something more meaningful, and when we bring it to them, you see really the light and the change in them. its so so cool. in my other sectors its more of a 'paradise' and they dont think they need anything else. they dont even have to work for a living sometimes cause its never cold, you have fruit and fish at your will, and you can live with your parents until they die and then you inherit their house. here its less like that so they arent so lazy hahaha :) 

hey kids 

i literally dont know what to say this week. usually i can credit myself for having pretty good emails but i dont know if ive got it in me this week

heres a scripture i like 

alma 19:6 

Now, this was what Ammon desired, for he knew that king Lamoni was under the power of God; he knew that the dark veil of unbelief was being cast away from his mind, and the light which did light up his mind, which was the light of the glory of God, which was a marvelous light of his goodness—yea, this light had infused such joy into his soul, the cloud of darkness having been dispelled, and that the light of everlasting life was lit up in his soul, yea, he knew that this had overcome his natural frame, and he was carried away in God—

the truth and the peace of the gospel- the knowledge of who we are and who we can become is just that. a light that infuses itself into our souls and chases all sorts of darkness. 

God is so good. 

funny quotes of sr weyland

"well yeah thats true but... just stop talking" 

and "the Bible doesn't just grow on trees!" 

When in doubt, sing an hymn, or use the scotch! 3/13/17

everything that will be said in this email is true.

so howdy howdy howdy. another day another life in oremu faaa! no one knows what faaa means in tahitian or maybe they know and just wont tell me. the dictionary will tell me later. ill let you all know next week unless its inappropriate which has been known to happen.

sr WEYLAND is SLAYIN (give me a break it kind of rhymed) oh my gosh i LOVE this sister!!! shes pretty darn great, we laugh and walk around in the hot hot sun and it feels like a vacation full of preaching the gospel. im shot! we have too much work to do here to have time for! but sr w is very very talented. she makes me lot of good and healthy food (which is nice cause i almost abandonned that part of my life), shes learned exactly 7 songs on the guitar since she began her apprenticeship with me last monday. WHAT?? also shes so good at the piano and we are going to sing a special musical number for the ward concert in april. the conductor said its the crowning accomplishment of his life to have us two white girls sing this for everyone. also he wants me to hit a high D when i sing it and i told him AITA. that means no very strongly. so much for crowning accomplishment, sorry frere techauffeax.

my birthday was bomb!!! i cant believe im finally 16 years old! just kiddin but thats what i feel like. mixed in with 67 cause i feel as if my body is deteriorating before my eyes. im so beat but thats t beauty of being a misionary. but anyway sister albert in our house hit her year mark, then sr sanchez had her 21st bday the 11th, then the 12th was my 20th and so... voila. we partied. oaoa. much music much smiling

i received exactly 3 cakes. clem and frere laborde drove all the way from papeari to come say hi to me on my bday :) so nice. and i got sang to a lot. many many kisses on my face. yuck i dont know if ill ever get used to that one but its good to feel the love.

we also managed to fix 2 baptisms this week! one is with a young man named simon pierre who has followed the lessons for 6 years now.. we have faith it is the time for him. he also has faith :) the other one is noarii who just turned 18 and his girlfriend also just turned 18 and they are having a baby soon!! and getting married. yay for eternal families :)

what else happened... oh yeah i had a funny thing.

reasons why audrey durrant loves tahitians 101:

-we were sitting by some members in church yesterday who have two very energetic young boys. the boys started chattering a LOT and the parents very calmy and naturally pull out this huge roll of tape, rip off a hunk, and stick it SMACK on the kids' mouths. who continue to talk and make noise without being phased. the parents just smile at us.

-also in sacrament meeting, one woman sang two complete songs during her talk. the other members didnt think it was weird, no, they joined in with harmony and everything.

- an ami told us she dances during the lesson. we jokingly asked her if she wanted to dance for us and she didnt catch the joke. she did take the challenge though. the dance is insane i can never believe it. the phrase "hips dont lie" becomes reborn hahaha.

- mamis. my favorite beings. i got attacked by one of them and kissed right on the lips by another. that was awkward and something i hope never happens again but memorable anyway hahaha

the happiness i have felt lately has been really profound. its like, yes its really hard and terrible and too much is asked of me to be able to do it, but theres this deep and incredible happiness that is inside of me and nothing seems to be able to penetrate it anymore.

they told me that would happen. serving our Lord has its way of magically making everything wonderful, even suffering is so fun. i guess i didnt believe it until it happend

oh man i love you all!!! please stay you and stay true.

this email will self destruct in 4 seconds. but first, heres some pictures!

our chapel

our crew

one of my cakes and the angels who made it

Missionary work in the best WEY possible 3/6/17

Hey champs!! 

Ihave very very little time today but i just wanted to wrtie you guys cause i LOVE you!! And families are forever hoa. 

My new comp is sr weyland from california! She came here at the same time as sr dumouchel so shes a pretty new missionary also. But holy smokes ive never seen this much motivation and fire. Im so so happy to be with her. She served for 7 weeks in california also and therefore shes a little bit pretrained. But her trainer was a little like mine #disobediant and so Shes spent lot of time asking about what SHOULD be done in order to help people progress haha. :) and then, she does it and comes up'with incredible ideas also! She never complains either shrs so so positive! its amazing to be with someone like her, im feeling so so so ready to go and tear this place up. May the force be with us. 

Dude!!!! This place is just so so so so cooooool! I am beginning to feel like even after one week here this is what god has been preparing me for all of my life. I cant even tellyou what a relief it is to be in a. Ward that feels like a REAL LIVE WARD!!! This is not how it is on the islands. EVERYONE moves here for missionary work, even inactivr members have references for us. Everyone knows their job ànd WANTS to magnify it. I feel as if i am standing outside of the boardwalks at yellowstone- that part where you shouldnt go czuse youll end up like tje poor buffalos- and im just waiting for an explosion. We are gonna see miracles soon i know it. 

Whelp. I have so much more to say but know thzt im so happy. I hope all of you are ok in your lives, i pray for you every day. Sorry i dôt have more time to write or the organisation skills to send the letters i want to but there will be a day i will thznk you all personally for your support for mé all yall. Youve done so much more thanyouve all assumed. So infinitely more. 

God is good. Next time i write i will be 20 which feels weird and maybe well have some spiritual rebirth going on here 

"the good gangsters"

How do you love tahitians? 

You just say hello.  

Tatou!!!! You out there, greetings! Guess what, i have no time teie mohànna BUT i will tell you one thing: 

Life is so good. 

So here i plopped into the ghetto of Oremu, Faaa. Its probably the most interesting place ever. Its like a packed little village of city houses and beautiful views and its all built into the side of a mountain.  Since its a mountain we walk everywhere. Each dzy is like a constant hike and i LOVE IT. 

It really is a ghetto- kind of a shock frol the less inhabited island of raiatea but im so astounded by the people here. The kindest gangsters ive ever met. We ran into this guy the other day and he just told us then and there he wanted to stop smoking weed. So we were like "ok youre gonna pray for help. Then youre gonna smoke 5 today, and then 4 tomorrow, then 3 the next day and then you will throw away those nasty thinfs!!!" He stood right up and just prayed without saying another word. It was actually super cool. 

I freaking love it here. We have all these recent converts- single men in their 20s and 30s who decided all at thr same time to chànge their gangster ways. Basically they went from being mean gangsters to nice gangsters. 

The ward rocks. Theres so much motivation here i cant handle it. So much to do cause we have too many references to have time to go see. Shoutout to micail mann cause everyone here worships you :) IM SO HAPPY IM IN YOUR OLD SECTOR write more to ya next week 

I am with Sr Weyland from orange county california! WHOOP this sister is a fireball!!! Shes only been out in the field about 4 months but ive seriously never seén a missionary more motivated and dediczted. We work our little tails off and thzts why i am SO TIRED but i feel amazing and alive!!! I LOVE HERRR she likes makeup and being a vegan and yoga and plauing thr piano and working. Also shes hilariius i feel so good around her. Just radiates positivity. I like my life. 

Gonna have some miracles. 

Ahh im sorry I know lots of you have written me and i must apologise because i havent written back but i shall try next week!!! I lovr you 

2-27-17 Start off with some SWAG

 

quote of the week: "anything is better than a butt crack!" -us 

there. thats a good starting. where shall i begin. well there is a transfer and i am not staying here like i was praying for but sometimes heavenly father answers no, you know? :( it's all good it's what needs to happen but the saddest parts are that: *

im leaving my daughter. sr dumouchel, hasta luego baby. na na. ua here vau ia oe. eaha to oe i hinaaro? I LOVE YOUUUUUU CRYING POHE ROA 

the other sad thing is that SR AUGUSTINE LARSEN IS REPLACING ME FREAK

all i wanted to to was to live with her. and sr dumouchel. that would be rad. but now, shes just gonna come live with all of my favorite people and voila. bye world 

but yeah im going to Faaa in the ward of Oremu! ill be on tahiti again really close to the city. so no more peaceful drives for me hahaha darn 

i will forever be so so so grateful for this time i spent on a little island named Raiatea (which means the bright sky). its fitting and as we can see my poor sunburned skin knew it too. hahaha i wont ever forget all of the funny and crazy and INSANE and hard and best life experiences ive had here. its so hard to leave knowing maybe i wont be able to come back cause, well, pacific ocean and money and such. but i came to know my Savior here. 

funny how that works

i felt like this week took 3 years actually. so many funny things happened, three weeks worth of funny things. and tahitians have the biggest hearts. as soon as they found out i was leaving suddenly we had 5 meal appointments a day and a thousand necklaces... oh man. 

funny things:

- we made (tried to make) a butternut squash soup with the squashes that sr james and i bought at halloween. but butternut squash soup doesnt work when youre using spaghetti squashes (which we found out after we cooked them and were smashing them up with spoons and our hands). it still tasted really good, par contre. 

- got into a flour fight 

- tried to take some pictures with a mami in our ward but instead she ran out of the pic to go and whack a cat off the table

- mcfreakin lost it. 

- made some stinkin cool t shirts  

- mami got trapped in the bathroom while we were singing at maihi's house so we couldnt hear her screaming for help until she said "HEYOOOOO MARIE ANNE" so loud in her little froggy voice 

- sr dumouchel taught mami some english. she can now say "shut up" and "smelly pig!" way to go. teacher of the year award goes to gwen dumouchel. 

im excited to move on to other things but i just cant seem to breathe it all in right now. i wanna just take one day and look at this island and these people again! ah theres no time on the mission. but everything is ok its all recorded in heaven :) i cant wait to see these people again maybe when we all speak the same language fluently. just imagine how happy we will all be :)

love you all i hope everything is well

1. the best picture thats ever been taken on my mission. pic cred: sr dmunch

2. when a dog eats your other sandal 

3. sr dumouchels new boyfriend Randy 

4. the dream team and our matching t shirts. #smellypigs

my favorite family. DMP Maihi (aka dwayne johnson) and his wife mary anne and kids. also mami salome and papi francois.  they wrote me a song to say bye to me.. not ready to leave this place 

MY HEART IS IN FAAROA GOODBYE