Week 6

Hi everybody!!! 

So first some great news. My trainer is staying! I get to finish my training with him and I can't be more excited. 

Okay for those who have the time, I want you all to look up the island of Makemo on google or something. I have a friend who is getting transferred there with one of the assistants. the assisstant is finishing his mission out there and they're white washing that area. All those islands above Tahiti are called the Tuamotus. There are only ever two missionaries on there at one time. It's pretty crazy. This mission is just nuts:) and I love it. 

A few hours ago we dropped off Elder Zundel at the mission home. He leaves today to go back to Orem, Utah. He was a great friend and missionary. He will definitely be missed in our house.

We taught a lot of lessons this week but unfortunately in three weeks our ward will be split and we will lose almost all of our progressing investigators. That will be super hard for Elder Sovereign and me, but we will work hard all the same. 

A bird pooped on my shirt today in Carrefour which is the french equivalent of super target. That was lovely. It's interesting because there are a total of maybe three ceiling type window things in Carrefour and I happened to be under it when a bird wanted to do its business. It's strange how Satan works sometimes...haha

So during one of our lessons this week, our investigator pointed out that we get baptized the same way Jesus did. She had watched a film somewhere and saw that. It was a Catholic film too. Anyway she remarked that it makes sense to be baptized the same way he was. Needless to say she said she would get baptized but she's afraid her family won't accept her anymore because they are all catholic. 

But the point I'm trying to make is that Jesus was the perfect example and if we follow in his footsteps and always try to be like him and always remember him, we will be blessed in more ways than we can imagine. It's amazing how faithful these Tahitians are. It really humbles me each day. I love it here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world. I love you all! 

-Elder Christensen

 

Week 4 in Tahiti

Sorry I didn't send an email last week. I was skyping my family and didn't have time to send an email.

This week not much happened honestly. We contacted a looooot of people in our sector because most of our lessons that were scheduled fell through. That was pretty hard. However, the area we did get to contact is interesting because on the 15th of June they are separating the stake and our ward will be split and we will be put into the next stake over. The really hard part about that is that all of our current or very potential amis live in the area that will be taken away from us. So basically we will have to work extra hard with those people for the next month.  Oh i forgot to say that I got super sick and couldn't really work half of one day. I think it was some raw fish that I ate haha. They eat a lot of that here...but at the end of the day i think it was wednesday, i got a blessing from Elder Sovereign and the Zone leaders and immediately after the blessing, i ran outside and needless to say, I felt better haha. Won't go in to details with that. 

Welp thats about it from me for this week. Can't believe its going by this fast!! Love you all!

-Elder Christensen

Week 5 in Tahiti

Ia orana tatou!

So another great week!!!

We had another baptism this last saturday. That's the end of the baptisms that were already fixed before I got here. haha. Okay so first I might get a new companion after this first transfer because he hurt his knee and he's not supposed to ride a bike. there are a few things that could happen with that.

1. I might get an adopted father (new trainer)

2. Our sector might get a car(that would be seriously so nice)

3. who knows I might finish my training 6 Weeks early and just receive a regular companion rather than a new trainer. (this mission is sometimes known for missionaries not finishing their training)

Whatever happens I'm excited and eager to face it. It's been a great 5 weeks so far. I do love it here:)

So for those who would like to know. I hardly ever speak tahitian because I'm on (the island)
​Tahiti which is a lot more French than Tahitian. They do speak frahitian a lot though. If it's easier to say the Tahitian word in the sentence they do it. 

for example:

maa-food

tamaa-eat

faatamaaraa-dinner appointment

ia orana-hello

there are a few others but you get the idea.

even though I don't speak Tahitian very much, my french is seriously so much better than I thought It would be. I can understand mostly everything. That's super cool. Also not having to translate into English in my head is nice. It's at a point where I just know what the word means. Its hard to explain. those who can speak another language will understand.  Also we live in one of the nicest houses in our sector and one of the nicest mission houses too. We live with the zone leaders. The house is pretty nice but definitely nothing like any house in America. People live pretty humble lives here. They have tin roof houses and the houses are made out of mostly concrete brick things. No one really has doors. just curtains really.  Sometimes I think I'm not in Tahiti because there aren't a lot of people with very nice stuff. I really have a lot of respect for these people. The way we eat is by the members every single night. We only really have to prepare lunch. Sometimes. Because sometimes after lessons people will want to feed us. It's awesome! The way we find people is usually by members honestly. Every single person in our sector has been contacted at least 10 times because this is an old mission and the sectors are small. I really can witness that the power of members is real and is so important to missionary work. I'll tell a story and they let you all go.

We were tracting in a cartier (dirt road with lots of houses in it) everyone in this cartier told us to leave. That was hard. The next day we had a member reference and they took us to the same cartier and lo and behold the reference was happy to see us and welcomed us in even though they sent us away the day before. I love this work so much. It is so hard sometimes but I feel real joy when I teach others the truths of the gospel.

Love you all!!

-Elder Christensen

 

Love, 

Renée

"I remember those who are on the isles of the sea....

 and I bring forth my work unto the children of men, yea, even upon all nations of the earth."  2 Nephi 29:7

Week 2 in Tahiti: Explaining to people that there is such a better place than McDonald's.

Bonjour! 

Okay so first off my keyboard is very broken and it's french so there will be lots of erors because they have a different keyboard layout and its frustrating haha.

This week was a blast! we had three baptisms and one of our amis(hes 10) asked if i would confirm him. I said yes of course but that wqs the most stressful sunday of my life haha. But a truly humbling and spiritual experience nonetheless. I forgot to say that I get fed by members almost every night and its always great. I never thought Id enjoy cow heart:) haha. also sending pictures here is realy hqrd so i hope i can send some today. We had lots of lesons and we found some new amis too. overall q good week; president Bize cqlled my companion and i alma and amulek (im amulek) that was so cool to hear from the president. from what ive heard hes sometimes a no nonsense person and i realy like that actually. Also i only get warm showers if its sunny. notice how i said warm and not hot. our roof has a solar panel that heats up the water sort of. I can count on one hand how many hot showers Ive had. Makes me feel like i took the mtc showers for granted.  No one here has lawn mowers except for one man ive seen. they al use weed wackers to mow their huge lawn type things. I will never complain again about using a lawn mower. one of our &amis got married friday night and then she was baptized right after by her husband which was the coolest thing ever. their names are Alma and Ruths. We then ate lots of food after the weding:) and po'e which for those who were at my farewell my mom made some but the stuff here was totally different ONLY because the ingredients they use here just don't realy exist in the states. we have the same stuff but like everything here is natural and awesome. 

Because i don't have much time left, i will sign of with my spiritual thought! 

When i was talking with president bize and he caled us alma and amulek, my companion said that its not us dolnig the work, its the spirit. I realy liked that because its so true. Missionaires can work and work, but without the spirit, we're all just young adults bearing testimony and hoping people want to listen. but with the spirit, mirqcles can be acomplished. Ive already sen plenty of litle ones. the spirit is the most important part of this work. 

thats all for this week. Love you all lots

-Elder Christensen

Week 1 in Tahiti

I'm just going to say that whatever I did in the pre-existence was good because I got put in the best sector ever. All the members are awesome and so are our amis (investigators) 

So my first sector is called Hitia'a. It's sorta second world honestly. It's not very close to Papeete and I'm pretty happy about that actually. Faa'a and Papeete remind me a lot of Mexico and the city. My area is on the other side of Tahiti. You can look up a picture somewhere and get a better idea of where I'm at. My companion is Elder Sovereign and he's awesome!! He's been out for about 8 months now. He started his mission in Bora Bora and this is his second sector. He'll train me for 12 weeks then probably get transfered out somewhere. He's from Gilbert, Arizona and he came on his mission right after high school. 

My sector was actually one of the hardest sectors here until about 6 weeks ago when Elder Sovereign came in. Currently we have 9 baptisms fixed and we just got three new investigators last week so that's super exciting. (currently I'm emailing from a church building that's in the sector next to us. We live with the two zone leaders and they're so cool. 

Some fun facts. Everyone here loves to eat dog but they don't eat it that often but I was told to choose which puppy I wanted to eat and I just laughed/cried on the inside. All the kids here speak terrible french apparently. I only know that because my companion told me. They all call me peter parker/ spiderman and they call my comp superman. I also got called hulk yesterday and I was really confused because I don't at all resemble the jolly green giant on steroids. It's rained every single day here so I've been soaked every single day. 

The other night I ate sashimi and it was amazing. I thought I would hate it but it's pretty darn good. I ate this amazing fruit called a rambuton(i think that's how it's spelled) and its unlike any other fruit ive ever had. I'll send a picture. 

Last week an investigator that I've never met asked If I would baptize her. I said yes of of course but I was really confused as to why she asked me. 

Also some people can't say my name because it's either too long or too hard. Some people call me Elder Christ... 

This weekend we have a marriage between Alma and Ruths and then our investigator (Ruths) will get baptized that same day. 

  

For the next 6 sundays we will be traveling the around all of the stakes in Tahiti to sing for a concert thing and yesterday I got to see all my MTC buddies. That was super fun. 

I was reading in PMG the section about Christlike attributes and I decided I would try to be more diligent. It's important to work hard as a missionary but diligence is harder. For Christ, he never stopped being diligent especially when things got hard. I really think we can all apply that into our lives. Basically the lesson I learned and am still learning is that we need to try our best to be like Jesus Christ. Love you all!!!

Elder Christensen (peter parker)

Final Week MTC

Iaorana!! 

Okay so I have a crazy story for you all. So a few weeks ago the mission president on my MTC portal changed to a mission president in Texas and I thought nothing of it. I thought it was just a glitch. It happened to Elder Crandall and me and another Elder in our zone, Elder Conley who's from Canada (his said a mission president in Halifax, Canada which is Eastern Canada). Anyway we were doing in field orientation yesterday which is an all day thing for departing missionaries. I really loved it. Well during in field yesterday Sœur Mitchell told me that she met someone who's missionary portal changed and that person received a temporary mission because of visa problems. So I start to freak out and Elder Conley and I decide to go to the travel office and ask them what's going on. After a few minutes a man walks out and tells me I've been assigned a temporary mission to the Texas McAllen mission and that Elder Conley's visa hasn't come through yet so he might have to go to Halifax for a transfer. Needless to say I'm freaking out in this moment and don't really know what to think. So Elder Conley and I go to lunch and tell our zone what's happened. Well the travel office guy told me that I would get new travel plans for Texas. So I check the mail and there's nothing. I decide to talk to the mail people and they say they don't have anything for me. I then decide to talk to the travel office again and he does some searching and finds an email that says that my visa came in yesterday and to tell Elder Conley that his visa came in 20 minutes prior to me showing up. So Elder Crandall and I run to try to find Elder Conley and we tell him he's going to France and he won't be delayed. All of this happened in a span of about 90 minutes too. What I have to say about that is that the Lord is looking out for us and sometimes things get crazy but if we keep a level head and have a positive attitude about our trial, we will be blessed and we'll be more grateful for what we have been given. So yeah that's it. Not going to Texas. I leave for Tahiti on Monday!!!

Love you all.

-Orometua Christensen

Week 8 MTC.

Iaorana Outou!

So nothing too exciting happened this week honestly. Other than Dallin H. Oaks visited and spoke to us. That was awesome. I got to sing in the choir for that Devotional and I felt honored to do so. The Tahitian is coming along great. We've taught The Restoration and Plan of Salvation in Tahitian. 

That was a blast. It's sort of hard to believe that I'm out of here in 10 days. I'll be teaching the people of French Polynesia and I can't wait to do so. Every P day we get to go to the temple and that definitely brightens my day no matter how tired or stressed I am. The Temple is without a doubt the House of the Lord. 

It's been hard sometimes but I know that Heavenly Father is looking out for us even if sometimes we feel alone. I guess that's my spiritual thought for this week. We're never alone. Even if we feel it sometimes it's not true. Our Father in Heaven is always there for us and he wants to help us and talk to us. All we have to do is ask. It requires some faith, but I know if we exercise a particle of faith, we can reap the blessings. I think of the Hymn "Be Still My Soul" and the first line. "Be Still My Soul, the Lord is on my side" That's important to remember always. I know that's so true. I love you all and hope you're all doing well. 

Love, Orometua Christensen

Week 7 MTC

Io rana!!!!  Okay to start, there are 14 words in Tahitian that mean banana and I intend to learn all 14. But also there is only one word for bad/wicked/evil. That oughta tell you what things are prioritized in Tahiti and I love it. Also there's no actual word for sorry which is pretty cool. So yes this week we started Tahitian and it is a blast. It's totally different from French. The word for book is buka but pronounced poo-ta. There are only 13 or 14 total letters in the alphabet and any other letter that isn't in that alphabet for the most part make a t sound. Needless to say it's the coolest language ever. It's simple and fun and I couldn't be happier with the call I've been given as a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ. The second day of Tahitian (Tuesday), we taught a lesson and it went better than I expected but it's still really hard to comprehend sometimes because there's no verb (to be) in Tahitian or (to have). Also ia ite means to see/know. 

We had to say goodbye to part of our district Monday morning because they left for Africa. They're awesome elders. That's pretty much it. I know we're excited to leave for Tahiti in a little more than two weeks. 

Spiritual thought for the week: It's really easy to turn inward in times of hardship and it's human to want to do that, but I know that when things get hard, and we turn outward and focus on others, we will be comforted. If we have the character of Christ and try our hardest to worry about others more than ourselves, then Heavenly Father will make up the difference and give us the comfort and peace we need. 

Until next week! Love you all!

Orometua Christensen

Week 5 MTC

Hello my lovely friends and family. It's been a fantastic week here in the MTC. General Conference was so cool here. If I could take one thing from conference it would be humility. I heard that so much probably because I'm a missionary and that's pretty darn important if I want to be successful. So yeah. Humility is key. You have to put others first and think of yourself last. For those that aren't members, those talks from general conference are on lds.org. Or if you just want to know what general conference is all about go to that same website. I wrote down some language goals for the end of the MTC, 1 year in, and the end of my mission. Basically my total end goal is to have an accent with my English. I've already started to notice how hard it is to bear my testimony in English and I honestly don't like speaking English in class. 

Another cool thing that happened this week was that the area seventy from the Democratic Republic of Congo showed up randomly and he knows like no English and he was just made a Seventy. He went from being a Sunday School teacher to being a Seventy. Him and his wife were so much fun to have in our classroom. 

Also they're putting one of the final beams on the new MTC building and they let everyone here sign their name and mission on it. Upon hearing I could let everyone know how cool I was by permanently defacing an MTC beam, naturally I seized the opportunity. In the top picture my teacher Frère Vanderholm is standing next to me. He's sorta my idol right now. He served in Tahiti and was an assistant to the president for like a year. He's a great example to all of us and I love being taught by him. 

Well that's about it. Je vous aime ( I love you all)

Love, Elder Christensen

Week 4 MTC

Bonjour ma famille et mes amis!!

So this week was crazy. Lots of exciting stuff happened. To start, the ambassador for the United States from the European Union visited our class/district. He was super nice and his wife was there. It was pretty scary before he came because we didn't know if he was going to speak only french the whole time. He ended up speaking mostly english to us so that was a relief. 

Almost all of our zone left like I said they would and they're all safe and sound in France and Tahiti. But the good news is that we got 11 new elders and sœurs and Elder Crandall and I were made the zone leaders! I'm super excited to help these new elders with anything they need. It's nice to have more around. 

Easter Sunday was amazing. M. Russell Ballard spoke to us and pretty much just talked about the story of Christ on the earth. I loved it! We're all getting really excited for conference I think. It'll be a unique experience. I don't think I've ever been this excited for conference haha. Other than that, nothing to report. If you lovely people have any pictures to send me, I'd be happy to see how you all are doing:). Thanks for all your prayers and love. 

I may have already sent this scripture, but John 14:26 is still my favorite as of now. It's all about how the Holy Ghost is the comforter. It's definitely the truth. When we have hard times, it's completely okay to ask God for comfort and I know that he will help and the Holy Ghost will comfort us in times of trial. 

Love you all!!

Elder Christensen

Week 3 MTC

Hiya everybody! So this week was pretty standard. We started teaching two new investigators so that's exciting. For those of you who don't know, our "investigators" are our teachers who act as someone they know of that they either taught on their mission or someone else. So we're teaching real people played by our teachers. Our first investigator was really easy and eager. These next two are definitely pushing us to work hard which is excellent. 

So I'm kind of sad because everyone in our 30+ missionary zone is leaving for the field on monday which includes Lyon and Paris, France, Tahiti, and Vanuatu. So for two days there will be 7 people in our zone until we get 11 more missionaries on Wednesday so it will be an emotional next few days. 

My French is still improving more than I ever thought it could. Heavenly Father is definitely looking out for me. I now subconsciously write french words when I'm either taking notes or writing in my journal and it's really fun to notice it. I'm already pretty bored here to be honest. From here on out, it's just practice practice practice the lessons and learn new French grammar. 

Well this Sunday is Easter.  I think It's really important to remember why we celebrate this holiday. Notre Sauveur, Jésus-Christ a souffri pour tous les gens. Sans L'Expiation, nous ne ressentions pas la paix and la joie. Je suis reconnaissant pour Dieu and son fils, Jéus-Christ. 

Translation: Our savior, Jesus Christ had suffered for everyone. Without the Atonement, we couldn't feel peace and happiness in our lives. I am thankful for God and his son Jesus Christ. 

This Easter is a time to remember him and the sacrifice he made so that all of us could return to live with our Heavenly Father in immorality forever with our families. 

Well that's about it for this week. 

Scripture for the Week. John 14:26. I don't have my scriptures on me but it's a great scripture about the Holy Ghost.

I love you all!!!

Week 2 MTC

Hi ya everybody!! So things are going so great here in the Provo MTC. Once Monday hit I felt happy and excited and ready to learn and teach. The first few days here were super brutal but I feel so much better now. I'm positive and my French is seriously better than I could've imagined. This week and last week my companion Elder Crandall, (he's from Spanish Fork btw for those that asked) Sœur Mitchell and I taught more lessons in French and it was awesome!! I asked our investigator if he would be baptized and he said yes and it was just an amazing feeling knowing what I was saying and understanding his questions. French is going great. We're always speaking it to each other. Our zone is amazing! There are about 30ish people now because the Canadians left for Montreal. (Depending on the mission you get a different nickname haha. Elder Crandall and I are Tahitians and we have some going to Lyon, France, Paris, France, two Elders just left for Vanuatu. It's crazy how much fun I'm having here. We all get along and no one is crazy. This Sunday the Provo City Temple dedication is happening so that's super exciting. We get to watch the dedication and get special Temple recommends for one of our buildings on the campus that will hold the broadcast for the dedication. Our district gets to host missionaries next Wednesday so that's exciting. It'll be fun to welcome new elders especially since most of our zone leaves in 10 days. Once they're gone, I think our district will be really sad because I really do love our zone. During the week we talked a lot about the Doctrine of Christ and how simple everything is in the Gospel. It made me think about Alma 30 when Korihor is asking for a sign and Alma tells him that he knows the Gospel is true. And that scripture made me think about 1 Nephi 17:41 which refers to the simple things the Lord asks of us. Anyway that's about it. I love you all so much!!

Love Elder Christensen

Week 1 in MTC

Bonjour mes amis!!!! Well for those of you that don't know how entering the MTC(missionary training center) works, I'll give you a little summary because that's what I've always wanted to hear from missionary emails. My sisters, Mike, my brother-in-law, and my cousin Chloe all dropped me off at the MTC and an elder took my bags and walked me inside. Saying goodbye was a lot harder than I thought it would be. So I walked in and received my MTC id card which I use to get in buildings and stuff. After I got that I received my name tags. Putting that on felt pretty cool because from that point on everyone gets to see that I'm an ambassador for the Lord. I was then escorted to the first class of that day which was language learning. It was pretty simple French but it was still helpful to go over the simple things that I can use all the time. It was there that I met my MTC companion Elder Crandall. Of the missionaries that arrived on Wednesday, three of us are going to Tahiti. Myself, Elder Crandall and Sœur Mitchell. In our district there are five missionaries. The other two elders in my room are Elders Russel and Zobell. They're both going to the Congo and speaking only French so in 6 weeks we'll have to say goodbye to them because I'm speaking Tahitian as well and that's another three weeks of learning. Sœur Mitchell is from Australia and she has no official companion so Elder Crandall and I escort her when we have classes and such. I keep thinking how weird it'll be getting to the mission field and not having a sister missionary with us most of the day haha. But anyway, after I met our district, all of the missionaries who arrived that day met together and listened to the MTC presidency and their wives speak to us. After that, we had dinner I think. Honestly we do so much that I forget what happens during which day and I've only been here three days!! My companion was made district leader for the first three weeks so that means I get to go with him to collect the mail twice a day which is nice because I know someone who works there! Seeing a familiar face will help me a lot I think. Oh I totally forgot! Yesterday morning I received all of my language materials for French and Tahitian. The bag I had was at least 20 pounds. They also gave me a water bottle that filters water from any water source. I'm thankful for that and that also worries me a bit because that means I have to filter my water when I'm in Tahiti. In the bag there was a Tahitian and French version of Preach My Gospel, The Book of Mormon, The Bible, the pamphlets we use, and about four language books for each language. The food here is killing my stomach so that's wonderful...but at least I'm getting fed so yay. There isn't too much to talk about because I've only been here for three days. Our district is the smallest in our zone so that's pretty cool. I think that'll help a lot because that means during language classes, we get more personalized teaching. Well that's about all I have. I'm sure next week I'll have lots more to share. If you want me to email you, please email me first because I actually don't have really anyone's emails by heart. Also If you feel so inclined to send me something in the mail here's my mailing address at the bottom. You're all awesome!

love, Elder Christensen

Elder Dallin James Christensen

MAY10  TAHI-PAP
2005 N 900 E Unit  63
Provo UT 84602

From left to right, Elders Russell, Zobell, and Crandall

Elder Crandall and I

​

And he's Off!

Hi I'm Dallin Christensen.  I grew up in California. I go to Brigham Young University. I'm a mormon.  I chose to serve a two year mission to serve the people of Tahiti and teach them about our Savior, Jesus Christ.  
WHY I AM A MORMON 

I was studying Mechanical Engineering and plan to become an aerospace engineer. I used to pole vault and I love music. I play the french horn and I have played for many years. Music is a huge part of my life. I'm currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Tahiti, Papeete mission.

I'm Mormon because I've seen my Heavenly Father's hand in my crazy life. Having knowledge of my Savior and his sacrifice for not only me, but every single person who has lived on this earth and who ever will live on this earth fills me with gratitude and appreciation. To know that Jesus Christ suffered for my sins is an amazing thing. I've had experiences that haven't made me very happy and no matter how badly I've felt, I've been able to repent of my sins and feel the loving arms of my Heavenly Father wrap around me. We all make mistakes, but we don't all have to dwell on them. The privilege I have to be forgiven of my mistakes is a unique and special one. I know that only through Christ could we be forgiven. Because of the Book of Mormon, I have a true knowledge of what comes after this life and I don't fear death. When my time comes, I look forward to seeing my Father in Heaven. I know that everyone will be resurrected and we all have the opportunity to return to our Heavenly Father because of his plan. I love this gospel and I love the Book of Mormon and the principles it teaches, the testimonies of prophets, and the blessings it has brought to my life.