Christmas in the Islands

Christmas!

Hey Everybody!

So Christmas is next week. That's super weird. Also this has been the fastest 9 months of my life haha. 

This week was a ride. We talked to so many people. We found some Tahitian mamis too so we got to use our Tahitian as well. Elder Meyer and I are killing it here in Tefana. (Don't worry we were humbled during the week too haha). The biggest thing of the week was the ward activity. We had an activity at Papara which is about 30 minutes but if you ask Tahitians they think it's the longest thing in the world. You tell them that it takes 10 hours to drive to utah from california and the lose their minds haha. It was really fun. We ate maa tahiti. (Tahitian food) there was chicken, po'e, fafaru(raw fish that's put in fermented sea water. It's just gross and yes i ate it because I love my members). It was just a blast. We had our investigator Zéphora there. She's awesome and she's totally ready to get baptized. She's one of the most ready people I've met so far on my mission. Basically, I love my mission and my new area. Everything is going great. I couldn't be happier with Elder Meyer. He's just awesome and a great District Leader. Our investigators are awesome. Christmas is awesome. Our Savior loves us and I invite you all to take a few moments alone and thank our father in heaven that he gave us his son. I love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas. Joyeux Noël. Ia oaoa teie nei Noela.

Love, Elder Christensen

You Should Probably Unplug the Fan Before Trying to Rewire It....

Ia ora na tatou! 

Wow what a tiring week. Elder Meyer and I hit the pavement...with our wheels. But we did some awesome stuff. Basically we started the week by doing some splits with the Elders that used to have our sector in their sector. That was really helpful. Then we did lots of porte à porte (door to door contacting) We found quite a lot of people that way. We then met with the Bishop and he's just awesome. We're so stoked to work with him. He's just a great man who wants to work with us at least once a week. That's super exciting. Then we had our first ward council yesterday. that was awesome. We also met with our ward mission leader too. He's old and just awesome:)

We met so many people in our new ward and just in the neighbourhoods of our sector. Our sector is actually the whole stake of Faa'a so that means its our entire zone too but its all oceanside. If you look at the road its just all the house on the oceanside. It's huge and awesome. 

Yeah I tried to fix the fan in our house and left the plug in. I got shocked and my flesh got burned a little but it was kinda cool to be honest. I miss that kinda stuff. Tinkering with electronics. I ended up fixing it which is cool. 

Experience of this week/miracle. We were doing door to door and I looked at Elder Meyer and told him that I was tired of doing door to door but then the thought came into my head that Satan didn't want me to go into the neighbourhood that we were about to go into. So we went to the very back and we found Poema. She had all her kids outside and was super busy washing her clothes but we shared our message and then asked if we could come back another time. She said she's in the middle of moving but then we offered to say a prayer with her and she said yes. So we said the prayer and after she started to cry and told us thank you and that she was touched by our prayer. It was just a testimony builder to know that when we listen to the spirit miracles happen. She needed to feel Heavenly Father's love and because we listened to the spirit, we were able to be the messengers who passed it to her. I love this Gospel and I love being able to help people feel our Father in Heaven's love for us. I love you all and I'll talk to you next week! 

-Elder Christensen

Week 28: Transfer to Tefana (on Tahiti)

Ia ora na tatou. Eaha to outou huru?

So it'll be nine months for me this week on the 9th. It's pretty darn weird. But also awesome. Time flies by when you're serving a mission. 

FIRST BIG NEWS

I'm getting transferred...again...Marvelous. I just got in this sector and I'm getting moved again haha. This will be my fourth sector in less than 9 months. That just doesn't happen here haha. Starting tomorrow I will have done more sectors than my trainer. He's been out for 15 months haha. But anyway I'm going to open a new area in the stake of Faa'a called Tefana with Elder Meyer. He's from Blanding, Utah. He's been out for 18 months. He was my district leader when I was in Outumaoro 2. But as of tomorrow, we're companions. I'm going to miss Elder Murdock. He's going to the Zone of Paea. We're closing Outumaoro 2 and giving it all to Elder Barfuss. Basically it's super complicated haha but our new sector is huge and on bike and far away but we're stoked to start fresh. 

It's Christmastime now and I encourage you all to get in the Christmas spirit and invite others to come unto Christ. There's an awesome new video out that I'm sure you have all seen. #lighttheworld. Watch it. Share it. Love it. 

I had the opportunity to teach the second hour of church with Elder Murdock for the investigators. We taught the plan of Salvation. It was just awesome. I've never taught like that before. I found myself saying several times that The whole plan focuses on Jesus Christ. Without him, we'd be lost completely. Because of him we can repent and overcome death. He truly is our Savior and Redeemer. I love this opportunity that we have to celebrate his Birth. I love him and I hope we all can find time to really reflect and see the blessings that are in our lives thanks to the Savior. I love you all. Faaitoitoi!!

Ia oaoa na teie noela!

-Orometua Christensen

I Can't Count Anymore

Ia ora na tatou. 

I hope you are all catching the Christmas spirit back home because it's 86 degrees here. With 80 percent humidity. That might be a lie but I can drink the air here and it's awesome haha. 

to be honest I completely forgot it was Thanksgiving until carrefour( the local supermarket) had a "black friday sale" we saw signs everywhere for it. Then I realized that I missed Thanksgiving. Ah well. I won't miss Christmas that's for sure. 

Basically this week was good and kinda slow. Not too much to report. We fixed a baptism and that's super exciting but we'll see if that happens. We love our investigator (Tahéna) but she's just a little scared. Which is normal. I don't blame her. She's just afraid that she'll fall again once she's a member of the church. She'll be okay though. 

I also did a split with our district leader. He's just the best. Elder Meyer is his name. I love him. 

I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Tahitian and it was chapter 15. Just a great chapter. It talks about how we need to listen to the prophet. I'd like to bear my testimony that in listening to the prophet, and putting into practice his words, we will inherit the kingdom of God. It's so simple! He is called by God to guide us and lead us so that we can find the correct path, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In doing those things, I know that we can obtain all that which our Heavenly Father has in store for us. I love you all. And I know this church is true. And I leave these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Bonne semaine:)

-Elder Christensen

Week 26

Ia ora na tatou 

Eaha to'outou huru teie mahana?

That means how are you all doing today in Tahitian. I can sort of speak the language I was half called to speak. 

It's hot here. 

Anyway this week was full of just interesting things. To start Elder Murdock and I found out that we teach a drug dealer:) We still love her to death we were just kinda shocked. Also last week we found this Papi (a papi is a very old Tahitian man) who only speaks Tahitian and let me tell you all that teaching a papi in tahitian is already hard and my tahitian is getting there but there's a lot to work on still especially concerning comprehension but also this papi is convinced that there were only three prophets who ever lived. Amos, Isaiah, and Joel. He reads out of the Tahitian Bible only. I'm not going to say that the Tahitian Bible is an abomination, but it's just been changed so so so so so much. It's made by Jehovah's Witnesses and it's just not the same bible we have. But anyway there's that trial. Jk this papi is super nice. 

It's mango season.....(mangos are his favourite)

Also yesterday at the chapel the sacrament bread was banana bread...Apparently they do that every fast sunday. All I'm going to say is that they broke it into the biggest pieces I have ever seen for sacrament bread. 

Our investigators are doing great. We think she will get baptized if she keeps doing the things she's doing. The people we teach are just great.

Spiritual thought for the week. We had a zone meeting and our zone leaders gave the training and talked about the little things in our lives as missionaries. I thought it was funny because I say all the time to investigators that they need to recognize the little blessings in their lives and also they need to do the little things to grow their r faith. It was only until friday that I finally realized how important that is. I definitely felt that I needed to put that into practice as a missionary here in French Polynesia. But it's true. It's all the little things that matter. Little blessings and little actions that we do that augment our faith are so so so important for our mortal progression.

So that's pretty much it. 

I love you all so much. 

-Elder Christensen

I'm Bad at Counting Weeks

SOOOOo

Awesome week. We started it off with a multi zone conference with the newest member of the 70 for the pacific area. (For those of you who have no clue what that is, he's a leader of our church specifically assigned to the pacific area with two other leaders. They visit here often and talk to the missionaries and the church leaders here in Tahiti.)

His name is Elder Cardon. He visited us and we had a big conference thing that lasted all day long. What he talked about was so awesome. Basically what I learned is that I need to be more bold when extending commitments. We teach a message that saves lives!! Why shouldn't I be bold? It was awesome.

Then the next day we went to the Temple. I took lots of pics outside and it was just an awesome morning. Something I really needed. I know that the Temple is the house of God. And I know that the work we do inside is truly necessary for those who didn't have a chance in this life to accept this gospel. 

I'll share two experiences of this week. 

1. We thought that one of our investigators Here(which means love) didn't go to church. We talked to him. It turns out he did but he came late and only ended up staying for the second our with the old papi's in Tahitian. He told us that He absolutely loved it and wants to go back. Things are looking up for him. We fixed his baptism for the 10 December.

2. We just started teaching this lady named Venise. Her sister is a member and she used to take the lessons a long time ago. As soon as we started the lesson right after the prayer, she just started to cry. She told us that she felt this heat in her chest. Basically we explained to her that it's the Holy Ghost testifying that what she's doing is the right thing. She's awesome.

also with her, during the lesson she told us that she just started her new job and that a week before when we passed by the first time, the minute we left(after we had fixed a lesson) she got a call that she got accepted for the new job. Basically miracles are flowing like sweat. (That's a lot because it's super hot here)

So yeah the mission is awesome. 

Just finished 3 nephi in French. 

Payed 14 dollars for mcdonalds. 

The dogs here only respond to tahitian when you tell them to sit. I said A parahi to Here's dog and he sat. I love that dog. He chassed chickens away from us. 

The Gospel is true. The Book of Mormon is true. I love it here. I love you all.

-Elder Christensen 

Week 24

Ia ora na tatou pau roa

Soooooo this week was awesome. It's weird teaching progressing investigators again haha. But it's just great to be here. The members here are just amazing. Our ward missionary is killer. He works so hard with us. And his conversion story is so strong. He's just raw power in a tiny little tahitan man. My old companion is training a half american half tahitian. He's from California. Our house is a party. Sometimes a little too much...haha. But it's good. We have a blast together. I got my suitcases from the boat. (We put them on the boat when we left Hikueru as well as our bikes) I finally have all my shirts and ties. It's pretty great. 

But story for the week. We've been teaching this girl named Tahina. She's pretty interested in the church. She just has lots of questions and it's hard for her to stay focused haha but that's good. That means she's curious. So we were teaching her after church yesterday and our ward missionary invited her to go to the young adults ward. They were having a sacrament meeting with a 70 from tonga. he spoke english and had a translator. But anyway Siona(our ward missionary prounounced tiona) invited her and she said yes!!! it was at the end of our lesson and we only had 30 minutes until sacrament meeting. So she got ready and Siona called someone to pick us up and we went together. It was awesome. Then we showed her the baptismal font and she said she really liked it. I also had the privelege to explain to her that we get baptised also for the remission of our sins. She looked at me and said, "really? Are you sure?" I just laughed and said YES!:) I'm positive. It was just a great day. Today we are going to play ping pong. I bought my own paddle at carrefour, (the local supermarket), so I can destroy everyone haha. It's going to be good stuff. Love you all.

Oh also. Shout out to my friend and practically my brother Ryan Reiswig. It was his bday this week and I know he's doing great work.

Love you all:)

-Elder Christensen

Week 23: Transfer to Outumaoro 2, back on Tahiti

So. New area. Place called Punaauia. (on Tahiti) Im with elder Murdock. He câme out with elder Barfuss. Basically we took the plane Thursday and slept in our new place. Now we're staying here! My sector is Outumaoro 2 and Elder Barfuss is going to train/whitewash in Outumaoro 1.  we'ré in thé same house.  It's pretty cool. It's a two.story appartement. NeXT week ill tell you all about how we finished out in Hikueru. Right now Im E mailing from a phone and it's super hard. But all is well. Our secteur is only walking and it's all up hill. But again. I'll update you all à lot more next week. Love you lotS! 

Week: I don't know

Hello all!! Sooo huge news. We're closing this sector!!! We got a call last week from Président Bize and he told us that we're closing. We take the plane thursday. We have to clean the house completely and get everything ready to leave. It's pretty sad, but The Lord knows what's best for this island. We don't know yet where we're going for our next sector, but we are probably staying on Tahiti. We'll find out haha. I'll let you all know next week the news. 

But other than that, this week was great! I finished Alma in French and 2 Nephi in Tahitian. I'm pretty stoked about that. During our cleaning of the house this week, we had to completely clean the pipes where the sink was. Luckily I did that plenty of times in Bakersfield with my sink. It was actually pretty fun. I unscrewed everything and we just cleaned it all. It was pretty satisfying. Now it's all squeaky clean! Thanks Mom for making me fix the sink before the mission. Also we found lizards living in our water cooler. There were soooo many broken lizard eggs in there. So yeah that was cool. Also it's my Dad's birthday this week. The 13th. Early Birthday shout out to him:) 

But this week will be lots of preparing to go. We're pretty sad but excited to see what our next step in our mission is. I know that the members here will be just great. This sunday we found out that one of our inactives just completely stopped smoking. We invited her to follow the word of wisdom and she stopped just like that. She reads the scriptures when she wants to smoke and prays. We truly have so many tools in our lives that our Heavenly Father gives us to overcome our trials and tribulations. If we invoke him daily in prayer and feast upon the words of Christ, we will be blessed more than we can imagine. Love you all. Talk to you all in Tahiti!!!:D

~Elder Christensen

Week 21

Ia ora na tatou! 

This week was very...interesting. We saw some whales. That was cool. We could hear them in the water when we were by the shore last week. They were awesome. It just got suuuuuuuuuper hot here because now there is no more wind and it's getting into the hotter months. Looks like it's gonna be a warm warm Christmas. It's okay though. I love it here!!! I'm still reading the book of mormon in Tahitian. Just finished 2 Nephi. Ugh that was something just so different. I thought it was hard in French. They pretty much take Isaiah from the Tahitian Bible and put it in the Book of Mormon almost word for word. I now have an appreciation for every other book in the Book of Mormon. We're definitely seeing a change in the inactives that we're teaching. We're helping quite a few to follow the word of wisdom and they're progressing. I know that the spirit is definitely in this work. Without the spirit this would be almost impossible work. But we pray all the time to have the Spirit with us when we teach because that's what touches the hearts of those we teach. I'm so grateful for this Gospel and the Priesthood on the earth again. Basically I'm just super happy to be out here. 

Well that's about it

Love you all!

-Elder Christensen

Week 20? I'm so bad at this

Bonjour tout le monde!

This week was another great one in Hikueru. I'll start by saying what we did for pday last week. We went fishing with a fishing pole and just a little bit of fishing line. We were just on some rocks because the water was too deep but I threw the line in and within like 5 seconds, I caught a fish. It was awesome haha. I thought to myself, "this is going to be eeeeasy." it wasn't. That was the only fish we caught. This week was pretty rewarding because one of our inactives went and talked to our Branch President and he's fully repented. He said that they're going to advance him to Priest pretty soon. All that rests is his wife. She said when he fully comes back to church, she'll follow. I'll definitely pray for that. They're just awesome. We had an open house at the chapel saturday night and the whole island was invited. This place is so small...But there were lots of non members there. The presentation was given by our branch president's brother about the plan of salvation. It was really good. After we were able to fix a lesson with two non members for the next saturday. We're suuuuuper excited. It's been a while since I've done a first lesson with brand new people haha. It'll be like a breath of fresh air. Things are going great here. Elder Barfuss and I work hard out here. It's not always easy but we're here for a reason. The Lord needs us here and knowing that makes it that much more rewarding even when I feel down sometimes. I know that our Savior is always there to help us get back up when we fall. And that's the amazing message that I can share with these people. It's pretty lucky of me. 

Well that's about it for this week. Love you all!!

-Elder Christensen

Week 19

Ia ora na tatou!!

So things are going great here in Hikueru. I won't say a bunch this time. First off the members here talk about me and my companion. they say celui avec les lunettes, Il mange bien!! Mais le petit, Il ne mange pas beaucoup! Which means the one with the glasses. He eats well! But the little one, he doesn't eat a lot haha. So basically I'm known on the island for eating a lot. It's true. I eat a loooot. I gotta be careful. I'm getting kinda tubby haha. It's a good thing I do my sport each morning.  We found another inactive to teach. In Tahitian. we teach in Tahitian a lot now. It's super awesome. I'm so grateful for the gift of tongues. Without Heavenly Father, I would be nowhere. I also figured out that Elder Barfuss and I are the 5th and 6th missionries here since the '90s. I feel very privileged to be here. Last little thing. Our first counselor is super sick and his wife and their oldest son. We visited them last night and we gave them some medicine. The spirit really does direct this work. They said we were heaven sent when we showed up. I love when I get confirmations of promptings we follow. So for this week that's about it. I love this Gospel and I know it's true. Heavenly Father does love each and every one of us and he's always there for us too:)

Love you all

-Elder Christensen

photos:

Traditional six month mark "sock burning" 

Life on the island

Week 18

Hey everybody. Not a whole lot to say. right now we're working with
some less actives to keep the word of wisdom. A family that we teach
said that they would start by stopping coffee. They didn't drink any
all week and said that they didn't even have a desire either. That was
super cool. I know the Lord is on their side 100 percent. We're
teaching even more in Tahitian now. it helps so much. Elder Barfuss
and I are killing it. But that's not a super humble thing to say. Ah
well. We work hard with that language and we're seeing the progress.
Also we tried praying in English the other night for planning, but we
got scared and couldn't bring ourselves to do it so we prayed in
french haha.Also we're probably going to miss general conference. It's
like a 99 percent chance. Things are pretty slow out here in Hikueru.

Also I've been out 6 months???? Suuuuper weird. But awesome.
We found a lizard in our microwave. She was living in the glass
between the door of the microwave. I say she because she also laid
eggs. It's okay though, because we got to clean our microwave and now
it's super clean.
We saw a whale this week too. It's the season for them to be around
here. It was awesome.

We got to teach Luke 15 this week to a few inactives. I love the three
parables in it. Basically. The Lord will never every abandon us and
it's never too late to come back to his fold. He will always welcome
us with open arms:) I know that that's absolutely true. I've felt his
love in my life so many times.

Love you all!!

Week 17

Ia ora na tatou!

So this week was a blast as usual. First off I want to apologize if I
don't email back always. Emails here are a struggle. We do our emails
at the church and the internet runs off the phone service here. It's
pretty slow. Then we go to a member's house to finish our emails and
email President. We can't email President here because it'll crash the
computer. But currently those members that we go to left this island
to go to another motu. So we can't email President and it's just super
slow here.

So I don't have much to say, but this week we taught again in
Tahitian. Elder Barfuss and I are really noticing a change with our
Tahitian because of the reading we do in the Book of Mormon in
Tahitian. So that's actually really fun. The plane came thursday like
usual and the store guy (everyone just calls him papi pronounced like
poppy) he took the plane and will be gone for two weeks. Because of
that we can only drink water at our dinner appointments. The members
feel super bad because of that because Tahitians love their juice.
It's literally just syrup mixed with water and it's going to kill us
not really but it's pretty sugary. I think that's a word. It is in
french. Sugary...

Anyway I found a nacre this week which in English is
a mother of pearl. It's super pretty. I was pretty content when I
found it.

Currently we are working with three different inactives to stop their
addictions. They all want to stop. Yesterday we had a lesson with
Frère and Soeur Pouira and they got super pumped up when we said we
were there to help them keep the word of wisdom. I got pumped. Maybe I
just assumed they did too haha. But the longer I'm here the more I
realize that we're here to fortify the branch. Our objective is to
invite others to come unto Christ. Invite others. Not just members.
Not just non members. Others. Everyone. And that's what Elder Barfuss
and I do. And I love it so much. It's pretty hard sometimes because
it's almost the same routine each week but still it's important that
we're here.

That brings me to my little thought. We were teaching some inactives
and we read together Luke 15 which is awesome. I won't explain the
whole chapter but it includes The Prodigal Son parable, the 99 sheep
and the 1 lost, and the woman searching for her drachma. Basically
what we taught was that the Lord will never abandon us. Not ever. And
if we search for him he'll always be there too. Basically we have no
excuses haha. Because he's just always there:) I know that's true. And
I get to testify of it every single day. I truly am lucky.

Well yeah that's about it for this week.
Love you lots!
-Elder Christensen

Week 16

First to answer your question Mom, yes my house is the one with the
circle stairs. (see below)


Ia ora na tatou!

So this week was a blast as usual. We started off the week last monday
by cutting our hair. I bought a machine while I was on Tahiti and now
we look pretty again. haha. The reason I'm late for this email is
because today we went in a boat to another tiny little motu which is
just a little island. Don't worry it's allowed I checked haha. We
didn't break any rules. But yeah we went there with our branch
president and his wife and they did some work while we just kinda
walked around. We saw a dead beached whale yay and an octopus too. It
was just absolutely gorgeous. I'm also now pink because of the sun.
Yay for being super white! At around 10:30 the branch president got
his mask, snorkel and spear gun and went fishing. He caught about 8
fish and we cooked them there. Seriously best fish I've ever eaten.
They just threw them in the fire and then peeled off the burnt skin
then we ate it on leaves with coconut milk as a drink. It was awesome!
This last week I started reading the Book of Mormon in Tahitian. (Te
Buka A Moromona). I read with a dictionary right next to me and right
down definitions of words right in the book. I think that will help so
much with learning Tahitian considering we teach in it...haha.
Also during one of our lessons this past week, at the end of the
lesson with the Tavana (mayor, he's a member too just inactive) he
told me my last name in Tahitian means Tane Tahu'a which means healer
man. I first heard it as Tane Toa with means store man but Elder
Barfuss helped me to realize what he actually said.
yesterday we gave a training to the branch after church. Only about 12
members showed up but that's okay because at least people were there
haha. It was about how they can help the missionaries with the work of
the Lord.

Okay last thought. I was reading in Alma 10 this week in the book of
mormon. I actually haven't read the book of mormon in english since I
started. It was so hard at first but now i can actually understand
what I'm reading which is so nice. Anyway it's when Amulek is
testifying of what Alma had just said to the people. After Amulek
spoke, it says the people were étonné which means surprised or amazed
because of the second testimony. I loved that because as missionaries
we testify all the time of the truthfulness of what our companions
say. I know that because we do that, the spirit can touch the hearts
of those we teach. So yeah that's it.
Love you all! Until next week

Love, Elder Christensen

Week 14: There Was a Baptism

Hello everyone!!!

So this week was pretty cool. We taught 8 inactive lessons! That's
usually how it is here actually. Also most of the kids of this island
left for school in Makemo which is another island that's pretty close
to us. So now there are only about 80 people on the island. Mostly
adults and little kids that are still in elementary school. But yeah
that's pretty cool. I hope the subject of this week isn't misleading
too much. There was a baptism, yes, but it was at the catholic chapel
for a baby. We went because we were invited and we didn't want to be
rude and most of the island was at the baptism. The baby was very
cute.

Guess what? It's my sister's Birthday! Happy Birthday Erin!!! I love
you lots:) My sister is awesome.

We're still waiting on the boat for our bikes and suitcases which
might come tuesday. We're not completely sure though haha. It'll
probably get here this week. Elder Barfuss has been without his stuff
for 3 weeks. I can imagine that he can't wait for his stuff. In my
suitcase there are also 30 bags of popcorn that Elder Sovereign and I
put in so that Elder Barfuss and I can have something to look forward
too haha.

I've noticed lately that it's super easy to judge others, especially
when you know that they know what the right thing to do is, but the
only person who has the right to judge any of us is Heavenly Father.
No one here on earth is perfect, we all make mistakes and we can all
work on our weaknesses and that's okay to not be able to do everything
perfectly. Trust me I see every day a weakness that I have being a
missionary. The trick is finding that thing and focusing on improving
it, which is super hard, but I know If we ask our Father in Heaven for
help, he will help us. He is always there for us, all we have to do is
ask:)

So yeah that's about it.

Love you all!!!
-Elder Christensen

Week 13: Goodbye Hitia'a, Hello Hikueru

Yo so this week was absolutely nuts as I'm sure you can imagine. 

I packed up my bags on monday and sent them to the mission office to be put on a huge boat that arrives in Hikueru the 14th. My bike is also on that boat. Elder Barfuss and I are living off of just our tiny carry ons and what we crammed into our backpacks for the flight. 

So yeah I got on a plane Thursday morning and flew about an hour and a half to the tiny island of Hikueru. I replaced Elder Heward who has been out here for 6 months. That's super long haha. But yeah I arrived and took a boat across the lagoon because the village is across from the airport. Our house is  right next to the chapel which is extremely tiny. It's only a branch out here. We have no running water except for a water spicket (absolutely no clue how to spell that). We can't drink that though or we'll get sick. We have water to drink though so don't worry haha(talking to you mom) We take bucket showers. We heat up the water in the microwave haha then put that in a bigger bucket. So showers are interesting. There are about 100 people on  this island which is super cool/super hard  because everyone knows the missionaries which is awesome but also hard because there  are only Members and Catholics. Everyone knows us by name. That's pretty cool. We live in the mayor's sister's house. It's pretty sweet and big. Just Elder Barfuss and I and the tiny island of Hikueru.

Also the ocean is the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen. It blows my mind. I look to the left and there is the ocean and then I look to the right and it's the lagoon. The stars here are amazing too. And the sunsets are the most beautiful sunsets. This place is just unbelievable. Elder Barfuss has only been here for 2 weeks so in a way we're almost white washing. I'm excited for whats to come. If you have any questions let me know! I'll try to respond to them next week. 

I'm definitely feeling the Lord's hand in my life and in the lives of the members here. There is so much love that I've felt from these people. I am for sure blessed and thankful for this gospel in my life. I love being a missionary!!!:)

Love Elder Christensen

Week 12: No one saw this coming. HIKUERU transfer!!

It was a good week. I need to start with a story. 

So we had interviews with Président Bize last week and he asked me if I had any questions. I didn't so he proceeded to tell me about how I'm getting transfered to a tiny island that has only Mormons and Catholics. HE didn't tell me which island it was. But that night we got transfer calls. I will be going to the island of Hikueru in the Tuamotu islands. It's ridiculously small. (less than 100 people) Also there's no shower; Just a bucket. And it'll just be me and my new companion Elder Barfuss. Elder Sovereign is staying in Hitiaa and no one thought that would happen to be honest. I get to spend my birthday on a baby island. I'm stoked. I'm pretty scared too. I take a plane thursday morning and arrive on the island at about 2 I believe. That's all I got time for really. 

I'll send something next week from the island of Hikueru!!!!

Love you all!

Elder Christensen

Week 11

Okay I feel like I should start by saying that our ward got split and there is a new stake. The Taravao stake. Its mostly all of the little part of Tahiti. If Tahiti was an unshelled peanut then Taravao would be the top part of the peanut. I don't know how else to describe it haha. But yeah. Our sector got split and now Elder Sovereign and I are in a different zone too. We have new zone leaders too. Everything is new and its actually pretty refreshing. 

Also I don't ever really talk about our investigators. So I'll do that now. 

OUr most potential family is the Manea family. They are a famlily of four who all are ready to get baptized. They just aren't married. That's one of the biggest problems here in Tahiti is that everyone lives in concubinage (un married) so a lot of weddings are happening in this country. But yeah the Manea family consists of Tony, Nelehia, Uravini, and Hinano. They're awesome. Nelehia (the mom) made my mom a necklace out of shells and pearls and stuff. It's pretty cool. :D

So I'm pianist for the ward and usually I'll pick the hymns during the week because there are lots that I can't play. But sometimes Mami TOA (chorister) changes them as soon as she shows up to the chapel. I've explained to her that I can't play lots of the Hymns but she just does what she wants. Oh well. At least I'll be awesome at the hymns soon. 

That's about it for this week.  

Love you all,

Elder Christensen