July is hard for missionary work

Ia ora na tatou. 

So sorry last week for not sending a group email. I was just not feeling it to be honest. 

This week was great! Our investigator is doing great. teaching him is one of the hardest things I've done on the mission because he doesn't understand my tahitian which is real humbling...but that's okay because we don't do the lessons without our 2nd counsellor in the bishopric. Luckily for us his tahitian is crazy good. But anyway we talk to his wife a lot and she tells us that she's seeing so much change in him. All those that live near their house have been saying the same thing apparently. He's just great. His wife told us that he almost never smokes weed now which is a miracle. That plant is killer for missionaries in Tahiti. Unfortunately the ground is so fertile that you can literally plant marijuana wherever you want(pakalolo is the street word for weed or just "paka" as they would call it here. I'm pretty sure it's a hawaiian word). anyway. I was really shocked that he's smoking less because we haven't even mentioned that word of wisdom with him. He's such a great guy. 

we also teach a new family. A dad, mom and daughter and they're awesome. We invited them to be baptized and the mom said that she can't because she doesn't know yet, but she said that her and her family will keep reading so that they can know if it's true. We're going to do a family night with them and another family in the ward who live just next to them tonight. 

The Heiva is killing us as usual but we won't lose courage. 

Also President is coming with his wife on thursday and we're all super excited to meet him. He'll pretty much just be chilling with me and Elder Sylvestre in the car all day while we drive around Bora so he can meet the Bishops of the three wards. I've heard only awesome things about him. 

But yeah I'm doing well. It feels soooooo good to read english things and write to people in English. I'm also stoked to talk to another american when President gets here. But other than that. Life is good. 

I'm in Ether right now in the Book of Mormon in Tahitian and Ether is so awesome. I sorta love how the Lord totally chastises the brother of Jared for forgetting to invoke him in prayer. Makes me wonder how the Lord must feel when we forget him. Probably pretty sad. I know it's so important to talk to our Heavenly Father every day and if we do so, he can bless us. I know he loves us and wants us to be happy too. 

Love you all. 

-Elder Christensen

Une Semaine Merveilleuse

Ia ora na outou paato'a

Sooooo this was a great week! We were so busy. We had our last conference with Président Bize. We watched it by internet. That was real fun to watch Président Bize and Soeur Bize say goodbye and we didn't even get to really see them. But I took photos of the computer screen. But also our new Président arrived. Président Fox! We got our first email from him. I'm sure he's just overloaded with things to do. Poor Président. But hopefully i'll get to see him soon. Apparently he started learning tahitian with old missionnaries that served here before he left and at the end of his weekly letter, he said, "Presideni Fox" Président in tahitian. I was pretty stoked haha. Maybe we'll do interviews in tahitian too. But anyway i'm excited to work with him. 

This week we went and did a lesson with our DMP(ward mission leader) to teach one of our investigators. He's the dad of our new convert and he speaks only Tahitian and understands only Tahitian but he's handicapped and can't really enunciate in Tahitian either. Also we can talk with his wife who is a member in only french and he can be right next to us and he doesn't understand a thing. So needless to say, i'm grateful that I was sent to Hikueru. I'm also grateful for a DMP who speaks tahitian better than anyone on this island haha. But otherwise, our recent covert is doing great. He comes to church every Sunday with his family. 

I can't send pictures today unfortunately because it's not working on this computer but next week I will send stuff. 

Also Happy almost Fourth of July. I have the National Anthem on one of the CDs. Shout out to Haley and Mike for giving me all that patriotic music by Motab. I already warned my companion that I will be blasting that stuff tomorrow in the car haha. 

Also Happy late Canada Day. It was the First of July.  

This week I was reading in 3 Nephi in the tahitian Book of Mormon and I read 3 Nephi 27 which is one of the best chapters ever. I love how clear it is. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I invite you all to read it and ask God if it's true. I know that he will answer. 

Things are going great here in Bora Bora. I love you all!!

Have a great week 

-Elder Christensen

President Bize's last week

Ia ora na tatou!!

I'm going to do bullet points today because I don't have lots of time and this computer is having problems. 

-Did my first baptismal interview. I show up and it's a papi. he asked me if I speak tahitian. Luckily I got sent to Hikueru and that's where my tahitian journey began. It was cool being able to talk to this man in tahitian. 

-IT was actually sort of cold this week. Lots of wind and not lots of sun

- Our investigator Régis got baptized. I'll attach some pictures.

- Président Bize goes home this week and Président Fox arrives with his wife Friday I think

-Being the only American on Bora Bora has so far been an experience. It's pretty hard actually haha. Very humbling being the district leader of 5 others missionaries that have spoken this language since birth haha...

Basically this week was great. Not much to report. But I love you all. Keep in touch.

Spiritual thought. Been reading in 3 Néphi lately and in chapter 19 the people that are being instructed by the apostles and by Jesus pray a whole lot. I counted and there are 5 different times when either the apostles or Jesus or the multitude start to pray. At the end of the chapter, Jesus blesses his apostles because they pray with sincerity. I know that prayer is super important and that it works. We just have to be sincere.

​ 

Chickens and Lizards

SOOOOOO Ia ora na outou. I wrote my last email to president Bize today. He leaves next week. i won't get to meet the new president when he gets here because I'll be on Bora Bora. But I'm excited. 

This week was great. The dad of our investigator Regis signed the paper for his son to get baptized and he came to a ward activity on the motu. Also he came to church too!! I've never seen him smile that much. It was awesome. We're going to do a family home evening with them next monday. We're stoked!!

This week two funny things happened. A lizard hopped on my plate and touched ALL of my food then jumped off the table. He did that just to touch all my food. Ugh. Then we went to a members house and i looked to the right and saw a chicken sitting in the front seat of the car outside of his house. This place is awesome. 

So next week we're having a party thing for President Bize because he leaves and it's for all the missionaries on Tahiti. we were instructed to watch it by internet. apparently they're going to eat too. I hope it's not going to be us watching everyone on Tahiti eat with president. that would be pretty sad. 

I'm doing great. I love the work. I love you all. I wish you all the best. 

-Elder Christensen

Johnny Depp is here

So someone told me that Johnny Depp is on Bora. He was on Tahiti and he went to the hospital all dressed up in his pirates costume and gave gifts to the sick kids. There are good people in this world. 

Anyway. Ia ora na outou. 

This week was a great one. We received the transfer calls. We were supposed to get them friday night, but then something happened so we got them on saturday towards noon. I'm staying. My comp is staying, but two other french elders are coming to replace Elder Rolls(australian) and Elder Dalton(american). I got a call from one of the assistants telling me that I'm now the district leader. All that means honestly is that I interview the people that want to get baptized and I decide if they're ready or not. yeah...no pressure. Haha. But I'm actually pretty excited. I will be the only American here. So basically we can say goodbye to english for the next few months because the next transfer is in 9 weeks. I'm sad because I won't get to see President Bize right before he leaves and I won't get to welcome the new President either (President Fox). But i'm happy that I'm staying here. 

Yesterday at church our Bishop's wife's family came and they're from America so I translated sunday school and Elder's quorum for them. Sunday school was in french and priesthood was in tahitian. Needless to say I had a headache after church. Also the fact that people mix french and tahitian here makes it difficult too. But it was an awesome experience all the same. 

The stake president flew down to do temple recommend interviews. It's great to see people prepare themselves to go to the temple. 

On wednesday we had a multi zone conference. We were in the clerk's office all morning because we watched the conference by internet. It was really good. 

Our investigators are doing well. we're waiting for one of our investigator's dad to say yes to his baptism. (our investigator of 10 years old named Regis). Other than that our other investigators are progressing. Slowly but surely. We do our best to give them the best spiritual experience possible. 

Basically I'm learning how imperfect I am and it's helping me to have patience with others too actually. The Lord doesn't expect us to be perfect all the time. He expects us to recognize our faults and do better next time. If we do our best to improve, he's happy. If we do nothing, we don't progress. It's simple. 

Love you all

-Elder Christensen

I Love our Ward

ia ora na outou!!

First off this week was great. We went around and saw a lot of less
active members and even just active members. We left a little message
and then asked for references. We're lacking a little in terms of
progressing investigators but we're not discouraged. We can't really
complain either because apparently this secteur is a hard one but my
comp and I see a lot of potential. And on top of that the members are
awesome. The ward right now is looking for a terrain to build a new
chapelle here on our side of the island because it would be more
convenient for pretty much everyone in our ward. right now everyone
goes to the other side of the island in a bus driven by one of the
members. We rent the bus from the local seventh day adventists
neighbourhood. Yes that exists. Its a neighbourhood built around their
chapelle. Everyone is adventist there. But anyway.

This last week I finished Jesus the Christ. Best Book Ever. Read it.

Our Président goes home in four weeks and it's pretty weird/sad.
there's a pretty good chance that I won't see him before he goes home,
seen that I'm on Bora and probably won't get transfered next
week(there's a transfer next week). It's weird/cool how this mission
works.

Anyway. I'm loving it here. I hope you all are doing great in the USA.
Love you all. Thanks for all of your support
-Elder Christensn

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)