Bonne Fête des Mères

ChristenseIa ora na outou paato'a. 

This week was great! We had a baptism of our 9 year old investigator Dylan. He's awesome. Really smart, but he really loves to punch his grandpa in the stomach too. We're working on that haha. But His grandpa baptized and confirmed him a member of the church. He was pretty nervous because he was inactive for a while and he just received the Melchizedek Priesthood or (Autahu'araa Melehizedeka in tahitian) but it was great! This ward is really moving too. 

Friday night we had an activity for french mothers day which was Sunday. The three wards here on Bora Bora each prepared a either a dance or a haka or a song. It was awesome stuff. I think the moms really liked it. Even us the missionaries sang a song. We sang "how can i be" which is a song about the book of mormon heroes and also Jesus Christ. Elder Dalton, Elder Pedron, and I sang and  played ukulele too while the other three( Elder Rolls, Bayart, and Sylvestre) sang. It was so much fun. By the end of the night we were pooped. 

At church yesterday one of the new converts walked up to us and told us that she has an investigator for us. We were really happy and asked for the details. She told us that her friend already reads the Book of Mormon and is already in Jacob...How's that for a miracle. We're stoked to meet her too.  

This week I was reading in Romans(which is seriously an awesome book. Paul is the best) In the chapitre 8 it talks about the love that God has for us

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

These verses really touched me this week. I hope you all know that God loves you. I know he does. that's why he gave us his son(John 3:16) and nothing can separate that love that he has for us. 

I love you all! Bonne Semaine 

Baptism!

Ia ora na tatou paato'a!

Good week as usual. We had a baptism this last wednesday. Our investigator almost didn't get baptized because she lives on one of the islands surrounding Bora(it's called a motu) and her husband didn't want to take her to the main island because there was too much rain and he still wasn't 100 percent for the baptism, but he had accepted all the same. BUt we managed to get her on the island and then yesterday our Bishop confirmed her. She's just so sweet. 

Also, I got to Skype my family!!!!! It was the shortest hour of my life haha. But that's okay. At least I got to see them. Happy Mother's Day again:)

My thought for the week is from John 3:16-17

16 ¶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his onlybegotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should notperish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn theworld; but that the  world through him might be saved.

I know that because God loves us, He gave us his Son. We need to follow his example and do what is right in order that we may have eternel life. I know this is true. 

I love you all! -Elder Christensen

"For me, Satan is and Idiot..."

hey yall.

My subject comes from a quote from a 7 year old girl in my secteur. Highlight quote of the week. my comp and I lost it when she said that. 

anyway. This week was great!! 

we keep getting references from members that fall from the skies. Its awesome. basically members have a huge power in missionary work in presenting their friends to the missionaries. It makes all the difference. We can really see the progression go even faster when there are members that support our investigators.

This Wednesday, there will be a baptism!! For a lady named Linda who has been talking with the missionaries for yeeeeeears. She finally got married right before I got here, and our Bishop talked to her, and she picked the date with him for her baptism. She's awesome. We were very shocked when her husband said yes for the baptism too. he's not all for the missionaries nor our church. But its a miracle and we're extremely happy. 

Our investigator Dylan(who will soon have 9 years old) is doing great. He's super smart. kids amaze me all the time. the kids that do the lessons with us are just great too. they could be with their friends but they take an hour out of the day to listen to our message. Honestly it's because they're more innocent than us(adults) and they're closer to Christ. I love that in the Bible when Jesus says that the kingdom of God is for those who resemble children. So true. And 

Last Pday we did a crazy hike. We hiked up to a huge cave. the coolest hike in Bora Bora. I took lots of pictures. There were some dogs who followed us the whole way too. 

Everything is going great here in Anau. I absolutely love our Bishop. He reminds me of my dad mixed with someone else who lives in Bakersfield who I worked for. His family is great too. 

Also Happy early Mother's Day. Shout out to all moms everywhere. I don't think I would be who I am today without my mom. She is the epitome of charity and patience. I don't know anyone else who was a love like she does, other than Christ of course, but she's pretty darn close. Love ya Mom. 

I love you all and I hope you're all doing well. 

-Elder Christensen

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

​

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

​

Miracles on Top of Miracles

Ia ora na tatou pau roa. 

This week was just seriously amazing haha. First I'll start with Manarua's confirmation yesterday. His whole family came to church again and they're going to come back next week too! We now teach more members of their family. I absolutely love them to death. I love my sector.

So for those who don't know or for those who decided today to read of my emails haha, I'll give a little summary of where I am and what's going on. 

I'm in the sector of Tefana. It's located in the city of Faa'a on the island of Tahiti. My sector covers all of the city of Faa'a all the houses that are oceanside. In Tahiti there's really only one road that goes around all of Tahiti and all the houses that are oceanside. It's a little complicated to explain but if you really want to know. Go to google earth and look up Faa'a, Tahiti. But yeah I'm in the poorest sector in my zone and every time it rains hard, people get flooded pretty badly(let's just say that there are some people that illegally built there houses too close to the airport which is also in my sector). Anyway this is a relatively new sector and I opened it up with Elder Meyer then he left to an island called Raiatea where he will finish his mission, then I served with Elder Tepuhiarii. After six weeks he was put in a car because he has something called the goutte. It's awful haha. Now I'm here with Elder McLoughlin from Oregon and we're having a blast. We love the people that live here in Tefana. The members in our ward are just extraordinary. I never want to leave this place. It's truly like my second home. Every day gets better and better:) 

Currently we're working with another investigator named Armand. His brother is already a member too and he's just a great guy. He has so much support from his brother and his friend Tehau who's also a member. But Armand is afraid of his grandparents who are catholic. that's a pretty big deal here in Tahiti. If you change religions in your family, there is a pretty good chance that you get exiled and/or kicked out of your house because tahitian families always live together. Anyway. He's truly prepared by our Heavenly Father and he has a lot of faith. He goes to church every sunday and reads the Book of Mormon all the time. He's just truly great. 

Last thing. So Elder McLoughlin and I decided to go do some contacting in some neighbourhoods that we didn't really know(because our sector is huge) and at the first house we go to, we meet a girl who's from Hikueru(the little baby island I was on) her papi(grandpa) ran the super tiny store there at Hikueru. It's kinda crazy because both Elder McLoughlin and I served on Hikueru. We fixed a time to go back too. She has never talked to the missionaries either. Pretty crazy. 

SHout out to my sister Jaime who got married

Shout out to my best bud Andrew Rodriguez who got his mission call to Cincinnati Ohio!

Spiritual thought. 

Mosiah 16:8

But there is a ^aresurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of ^bdeath is swallowed up in Christ.

Love you all:)

-Elder Christensen

​

Rain, Rain, Rain

Ia ora na 

Kaoha nui

Kura ora

Bonjour

That's right. That's hello in the four languages that exist in this mission

In order Tahitian, Marquesian, Pa'umotu, French

This mission is the coolest. 

It rained again a lot this week too

Truly a great week:) Apparently Obama is here in Tahiti on  a little island called Tetiaroa staying in the most expensive hotel ever. It's called the Brando. Y'all can do some research if you want. He'll be there for a month. 

But anyway back to missionary work. Great week. We had a baptism yesterday. I'll send you all pictures. It's for Manarua. He's 10 years old and his whole family came and it was incredible. We fixed the lessons with three more members of his family for this week. I love that family. They're super humble and pretty much live in a shack. Every time it rains hard here in Tefana, their house gets flooded really badly. That was pretty much the highlight of the week. Manarua was so excited that he was counting down the minutes until the baptism. After his baptism his little cousin was just in tears and none of us know why but it was so cute. I'll send a pic of that. 

Shout out to my sister Jaime who gets married this saturday. See you in a year sis and new brother-in-law. 

Honestly I absolutely am loving life. Love my comp, the ward, the investigators. I just feel so much love and joy when I'm here. I love this gospel, I love the Lord and his mercy. I just love life.

I hope you all have a great week. 

-Elder Christensen 

1. Me and the comp(also Manarua's cousin who couldn't stop crying)

3. Manarua, Tinitua and their parents

4. The Rua family

​

ONE YEAR!!

Fastest year of my life. holy smokes. 

But Best year of my life. That's for sure. 

To commemorate this special occasion, I burned a shirt. I'm pretty happy right now. Actually I'm just ecstatic I love this sector so much. I love the members, my comp, the investigators, the bishop. Everyone is just awesome here. Truly the best place here in Faa'a. 

Anyway this week was great. We fixed another baptism for a kid named Teiki. He's 16 and his sister just got baptized in another ward and he was really touched by the baptism so now we teach him and he's awesome! Miracles are just coming like crazy here in Tefana. Our baptism for Manarua is still good. For those of you who don't know(everyone) he was already being taught by other missionaries before us but then our sector was created and he became our investigator. He was being taught by the ZLs of Faa'a(one of them is now our assistant and he's coming to the baptism. He was really happy to hear that Manarua is getting baptized.) but anyway for the longest time, Manarua's dad didn't want him to get baptized but once my comp Elder McLoughlin showed up we talked to his Dad and my comp worked his magic and his dad said yes! so everything is great with his family and now Manarua's little brother Tinitua wants to get baptized too. I'm just stoked for that family.

WE EAT SO MUCH HERE. the other day my comp looked at me and said, "Elder Je suis fiu de manger" translation of that Frahitian (french and tahitian) "Elder I am sick of eating" And it's true. We eat so much ugh. Luckily we bike so far every day. 

I'm loving life. the next year will be great. I love you all. the church is true. Pray lots, Heavenly Father listens to each one of our prayers. I know he does. I know he loves us so much. I love you all so much too. 

1. From left to right Tinitua, Willy, Manarua

2. Me and the Comp

3. Best Mami in the mission

Bonne semaine

-Elder Christensen

​

One year in a few days!

Ia ora na tatou. 

So this week was just great. For starters we fixéd à baptism for a boy who is 10 years old. And he's awesome. We've been doing the lessons for a while and he's wanted to get baptized but his dad didnt want him too. But the other day we talked with his dad and he said that he accepts and says that it's the good path to take. So he's getting baptized in two weeks.  His whole family is going to come too:).

Turns out that à few weeks ago when I was sick, I had something called the dengue. Look it up it's awful. But Im better now haha. 

It rained à lot this week too. It just rainS all the time in Tefana. But it's fun stuff. It's sort of an excusé for people to let us in too. Tahitians are terrifiéd of rain too. Also here in Tahiti the french is not the most éducated french and almost every tahitian doesn't say elles when they're talking about multiple females. That Word (elles) means "them" but when it's only girls. Because him and her doesnt existe in Tahitian, everyone gets called called à guy here haha. 

So Elder McLoughlin is the funniest companion ive had so far. Maybe it's because I've been a missionary for a year on thursday and everything is funny but He's he's also just hilarious. He's from Oregon and he's been out for a year and and a half. We teach so well together honestly. I just love him. 

Our investigators are progressing like crazy. Theyre keeping their engagements and Im so happy now. There were.were . so many people at the chapelle too! Things are looking great here in Tefana. I love you all!

Bonne semaine

-Elder Christensen 

Mon compagnon a la goutte (my companion has the goutte)

Ia ora na tatou. 

What an eventful week. So yeah my comp has a weird thing in his foot. Apparently its only for old people that ate too much pig in the childhood. something like that. Everyone in my ward is shocked that he got it at his age. But yeah. that's real fun. We think that he might get transfered because transfers are next monday and he can't walk...But that's nothing that can stop missionary work here in Tefana!!!!

last tuesday one of the assistants did a split with the our ZL elder Cooley(who is no longer sick after his intestine infection. this mission is filled with just crazy stuff) 

Anyway. He stayed over monday night and tuesday he pulls out his giant french bible(he's a convert since 2 years ago. He was a die hard catholic before. Also he's very french and I love him) anyway hes opens his bible and starts quoting something for when they do marriage ceremonies with me a my comp in the middle of our planning session. I lost it. It was so darn funny. I love the elders here. I've got a video but it's in french. I love this mission. It's very...unique haha.

A few weeks ago I combined the french and tahitian preach my gospel into one giant super preach my gospel. It's one of my most beautifl creations ever. I'm keeping it forever. 

Also apparently there's a word in tahitian for those who mix french and tahitian when they speak. the word is kaina. that's what my comp told me and I trust him haha. So yeah for those who speak french or served in france, speaking to me or a tahitian would be very difficult because we just mix the two languages together. It's kind of the coolest thing ever.

There was crazy flooding again here in Faa'a and because all my sector is oceanside, all of my sector got flooded. The water was up to peoples stomachs. They closed of the road where the floods were really bad. I took a picture. I'll send it to you all. I'm just praying that there won't be a cyclone soon, but I don't know. Our Bishop told us a story about when he was in middle school, he had 7 cyclones in one year and the year after, the temple was built here. He thinks something big is coming again. Maybe a second temple? haha. I'll keep you all up to date. 

We lost our most potential investigator last week.  She was supposed to get baptized tomorrow but she decided that she doesn't want to this week. We were going to move the date anyway because she keeps repushing lessons to other days. She's awesome and she's had so many spiritual experiences, but she just won't act on them:( not much that we can do. She is awesome and I love her to death but it's her choice and not ours. We going to give her a little while to reflect. We've agreed that it needs to be her choice. So my comp and I are going to let her be for a little while. 

But yeah. the mission is awesome. I'm doing great. Recovering from a little sickness I had this week but doing mighty fine right now.   Love you all

-Elder Christensen

Week 11 in Tefana

Ia ora na tatou!

Did you all know that Tefana means the bow?  

story for you all. So my comp is hurt right now. He's got a foot problem and can't really walk. So yesterday before church he called a member in our ward who does massages and asked him if he could give him a massage. So second hour rolls around church and we go take a room and this member starts pulling out this peppermint oil, monoï(oil that comes from the tiare tahiti (a very popular flower here) and coconut oil) anyway he starts just going at it and he takes 2 HOURS haha we ended up doing splits at church because i wanted to go to priesthood. I could see my comp the whole time because of the way the chapels are here. It's hard to explain but don't you worry. we were being obedient. But long story short, the massage did nothing haha. I'm seriously laughing right now because I love this country. It brings a smile to my face all the time.

That makes me think of the prophèt Gordon B. Hinckley, who's whole idea was just the importance of being positive and finding the joy. Things will always work out in the end. I live by that principle too. Keep hanging on, pray, read the scriptures, go to church, show our faith, and tout ira bien(all will go well) I love you all. Keep on keeping on. 

-Elder Christensen 

Time is an Illusion

Bonjour tout le monde. 

Not a whole lot to report to be honest. One of our zone leaders was suuuuuper sick this week. He has a infection in his intestines. So I stayed home with him and my comp went with the other ZL because I'm not yet authorized to drive in the mission. I just did the driving test and I passed, I just have to have an interview with president. Driving stick isn't super fun when you haven't touched a car in 11 months. But nevertheless, I passed. Other than that, this week went by super fast but not much happened honestly. I've been learning a lot about patience lately. The fact that our calendar is not the Lord's calendar which is hard sometimes, but also the Lord knows best.:) Things are going great with the new comp. I'm loving life. Loving the mission. I can now look out the window and see that I live on an island and I'm no longer shocked by it. That's life for me right now. I hope you are all doing well. I love you all. I'll attach some pics today. 

I found the pearl of great price in tahitian. I got to keep it. 
​Me and Elder Teps enjoying a nice casse-croûte(sandwich thing) 

Flooding

Hey everyone! The rain stopped finally. Everyone is ok. Church was cancelled. We were cleaning up all day. I didn't take any pictures, but it was pretty bad. Just lots of mud. All the elders in our zone were scooping mud that was up to our knees and moving it from in front of some stores. Then we went to the church building to eat and an American couple showe'd up cause their flight was canceled. We helped them get back home haha. Because we had no church we were authorized to do thé sacrament in our district. We went to another missionary house (elder sovereign is in that house by the way) we blessed the sacrament and pretty much just spent the afternoon with them because the rain was too strong for us to leave and the ZL had to dô their report. Over all we're fine. It's definitely super différent with my comp. He's very Tahitian. Ill ex plain more in 14 months if I remember haha. He teaches really well and can connect with people that I never could connect with and it's great. I'm doing well.  

Avec beaucoup d'amour

-elder christensen 

I Stopped Counting

This week was awesome. We did lessons with lots of members. which is how missionary work should be haha. Also our mission is going to super change within thé next few weeks. We now get up at 6 instead of 6:30. Not huge but still. They're also going to do a high transfer next Monday . I just wanna stay here Honestly. But we'll find out . Also highlight of the week. We were talking to this guy in his neighbourhood and he told us He wanted the power of god . Then we told him that that power exists. Then he said that he doesn't want to have it like us but that he wants horns and a sword and wings to chase démons . so yeah that was my week . Love you all . 

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