In the Islands continued part 2: Bora Bora

so for starters my keyboard ls a litle messed up so lf there are L's when there should be i's, don't worry about lt.  

great week. we had stake conference. The stake that we're part of ls on the lsland of tahiti which is called punaauia. ( l was ln that stake/zone when l was ln outumaoro) anyway the stake presldency took a plane wlth a 70 from tonga(for those who don't know, he's an authority of our church who's assigned over the polynesian lsland. that was awesome. Also president Bize came( Peretiteni Pite in Tahitian).update: there ls a cat on me rlght now l love him. anyway, we just drove around with pres for the day because we're the only missionaries with a car on Bora Bora. lt was great. (also apparently l drive a little too fast. Sorry President...)  

anyway we have lots of lnvestlgators here ln Anau. We teach qulte a few klds and they all want to get baptlzed, but their parents need to be okay wlth lt. so we're worklng wlth that. we also just have a lot of new lnvestlgators too. For the moment, our most progresslng lnvestlgators are Linda(married but her husband still isn too happy about the whole baptism thing, dylan( 9 years old)hes getting baptized the 27 may. , teara and avaora(twins of 10 years old), haii(boy of 9 years old), Vairea who just started the lessons. her aunt and uncle just got baptized. l love all of them. 

also this week at a store i found something called and its-it(delicious lce cream thlng from san franclsco) lt was 8 dollars. l bought lt. Worth lt. 

thls week we went a visited a lady who lsnt a member but shes also not really investigating the church either. But her son and husband just passed away so we went and visited her with some of our ward missionaries to let her know that we love her. we talked for about an hour and a half. She then asked me why l was on a mission. l said because the Book of Mormon changed my life and l wanted everyone to feel the same way that l felt after l read lt and prayed to know lf it was true. lt was a feeling of hope, love, peace, and comfort all at the same time. She thanked me then we started just kinda talking again and l was about to put my Book of Mormon away that we give to investigators. i opened up my bag but then a voice told me,"keep that book out" so l did. At the end l offered her the Book of Mormon ln french and tahitian. She seemed pretty grateful. 

l love that book. l know that lt's true. lve read lt and prayed to God to know lf lt's true and he answered me. l lnvlte you all to do the same so you can have the same feelings of joy, comfort, and love that l received through the spirit.

l love you all. Have a great week!

-Elder Christensen

In the Islands Part 2: Bora Bora

Ia ora na from Bora Bora. 

First off. Happy Easter. I hope you all took some moments to think about the Saviour and his ministry and his sacrifice but most importantly his resurection. It's one of the greatest gifts that God has given us: his son. I know that he suffered and died for us, but most importantly, he was resurected for us and I know that he lives. 

Yes this place is beautiful. I'm still trying to soak it all in. 

SO this week was great. We saw about every investigator in the sector. We teach quite a few people and that's pretty good for the islands(any island other than Tahiti). We teach a kid named Dylan who wants to get baptized. his date is already set for the end of next month. he's just a great kid with a lot of knowledge. He actually lives not on the principal island of Bora Bora. He lives on one of the little islands surrounding Bora Bora(look at google maps, you'll know what I'm talking about) there are actually a lot of people who do that because they work for the hotels on those islands. I told my self when I showed up that we need a boat for the missionaries here in Bora haha. 

Also this week, Beyoncé was here. There are apparently a looooot of stars that come here because they're swimming in money and don't know what to do with it haha. 

The tahitian language is very strong here in Bora Bora so I'll be speaking Tahitian about as much as I speak French. I'm stoked. On the island there are 6 missionaries. 3 english speakers and 1 tahitian and 2 french. there is an english speaker in each companionship. It's pretty cool. the other english speakers were my old zone leaders. It's pretty cool to see them again. 

Our secteur is half the island, that's why we have the car. I drive a cute little white toyota avanza. It's manual and I don't think that it exists in America haha. 

Overall this place is just great. I love you all. I love the Savior and I love my mission.

-Elder Christensen

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Bora Bora Transfer!

BIG news. today I take the plane for Bora Bora. I'll be in the secteur that my trainer Elder Sovereign started in called Anau. It's the only of 3 secteurs on Bora Bora with a car so I'll be driving; Elder McLoughlin got sent to Rangiroa(the biggest island in the Tuamotu islands. It's like 100 times bigger than Hikueru) They're whitewashing our secteur with sisters and the sisters will come into the secteur with 4 baptisms fixed that will all happen within the next three weeks. I'll be serving with Elder Sylvestre who's from France and I don't know him at all haha. But I'm stoked. I'll arrive there tonight at 6ish. 

I was really sad to leave Tefana but I know the sisters will kill it. I have a huge confidence in sister missionaries. They don't do dumb things and I like it haha. But yeah. New adventure waits for me in Bora Bora. I saw president today and he told me that there will be a new stake in Bora. I think it'll happen within the next few weeks so that'll be cool. I'll also be there for the Heiva which is a huge monthlong dance festival in July. Apparently it's a party in Bora Bora during that time. But unfortunately I'll miss the missionary concert that I got to go to when I started my mission in Hitia'a. But all in all, I'm honored that the Lord wants me in Bora Bora. I'm stoked and ready to work. 

Love you all. 

-Elder Christensen

Spiritual Smackdown

hiya everyone who reads these emails. 

this week was fantastic. Truly fantastic. 

We had a zone conference on thursday and then general conference on saturday and sunday. For those of you who don't know what that is. 2 times every year, the prophet and the apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ talk to the everyone in a worldwide conference and they give us counsel and its truly an experience that's just amazing. I invite all of you to go to lds.org and find out more;) you won't regret it. 

yeah it was just a great week. felt the spirit a lot. there is a lot that I can do to improve as a missionary and as a person just in general too. The conference really helped me to realize what I needed to change/start doing. and on top of that it was in english too:D 

a quote from one of the 12 Apostles, Jeffrey R. Holland who quoted a hymn called there is sunshine in my soul today

(Jesus listening can hear the songs I cannot sing)

Parau mau tera!(that is true)

He talked about how the church of Jesus Christ is one big choir and even if one voice drops out, the choir weakens(I'm putting what he said in my own words by the way). Something along those lines. The point is that everyone is important and we need to have hope and patience for the future. That's my life principle. Look on the bright side and hope for the good times, because they will come. We just have to be patient. I invite us all this week to look on the brighter side of things and try to recognize the blessings that we have been given. I know that there are loads of them. 

Know that I love you all and that I know this church is true and that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer and that he loves us and knows us and what we're going through. Always remember that not only when things get hard, but when things are going well too. there is never a time that we don't need our older brother, the son of God, in our life. 

Bonne semaine!

-Elder Christensen

all the bikes at the chapel

squad at the chapelle watching conference

did a split with one of the old assistants. He's so awesome

you could say my mission is beautiful

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