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