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