E ho'i au i te fare

1 hebedoma toe no te tavini i te Fatu e i ta'na mau tamarii i Tahiti

1 week left to serve the Lord and his children in Tahiti

So yeah. I'm filled with different emotions and I still don't really know how to take it all in that I'm going home in a week. I just try not to think about it to be honest. 

This week we're reallyy going to focus on finding and getting new investigators because we lost a lot and a lot just don't want to progress really so we went through the area book to find people and found quite a few names that we're going to find this week. In any case, T - our investigator,  is doing really well. He told us that he had a afeeling that he needs to just stop asking so many questions and read the Book of Mormon already. We were really happy and impressed with his motivation to follow that prompting. He's a great guy and I'll really miss him a lot. But I still have one more week and I ain't finished yet;).

I don't have too much to say other than THANK YOU!

I'd like to thank everyone who helped me out during this 2 year period that I had to serve the Lord here in Tahiti. I've learned so much about the Gospel, the Saviour and really just about the mercy that God has for each and every one of us. I know that he loves us and that he'll never abandon us. 

I'd like to leave you all with one of my favorite scriptures that helped me out before I left for the mission. it's in Alma 42:31

31 And now, O my son, ye are called of God to preach the word unto this people. And now, my son, go thy way, declare the word with truth and soberness, that thou mayest bring souls unto repentance, that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them. And may God grant unto you even according to my words. Amen. 

I know that God has a plan of mercy and of love for all of his children. He'll always have his arms outstrechted to welcome us, but its on us to show our love and faith. If we do so, we will find the peace in this life that we need and we will inherit God's kingdom after this life. 

I love you all!
Elder Christensen

tei nia iho to te Fatu arofa mau ia tatou

(God's love/mercy is upon us)

This was a great week! I had my last Conseil de Dirigeants which is MLC in English I guess. It was great. I bore my testimony in front of everyone and it was weird to finally be in that position. Time flies mes chèrs frères et soeurs. 

I also got two calls this week from missionaries in my old area Tefana telling me that one of my old investiagtors wants to see me before I go. His name is Maico. He is truly a great guy. Super loving of the Bible and teaching him was great.

then later in the week I got another call saying that Maico's son is getting baptized and he wants me to baptize him the 10 of March. So I got permission from the assistants to go to Faa'a for my last saturday and go to the baptism and then go see people from my two sectors in Faa'a. I'm so stoked. Pure tender mercies. 

Everything is going well. I love our area. Our members and our investigators are just awesome. 

Tavai came to church and stayed all three hours. He had lots of things to share too. I seriously love him and his family so much. I lent him my english scriptures so that he could read the Joseph Smith translation because he was really curious. 

I read the 18 chapter of 1 Nephi this week in one of my studies and I really love the part where Nephi is released by his brothers after being attached to the boat and what's the first thing that he did? He prayed and did not murmur. Pretty impressive honestly. I think that we need to ask ourselves how often that happens to us. After afflictions or trials, even during trials. Do we murmur? I know I do. Do we thank God once they are over? I really love the example of Nephi and if only I could have that kind of patience and thankfulness(i don't know if that's a word). But I know that we can acquire those attributes of Christ through prayer and study and practice. 

Je vous aime tous!

-- 

Elder Christensen

E mea puai roa te varua maita'i

So this week was just great!!

We found 4 new investigators through contacting and it was really rewarding. One family even welcomed us in and we hadn't even explained who we were yet. That was pretty nice haha. 

Also this week our ward mission leader's son got baptized. His name is Manutea and he's just awesome. I love our ward mission leader's family. At the baptism his wife came and it was really just good to see her at the chapel again. After Manutea was baptized our Bishop's wife asked me and my comp to sing a duo as a prelude thing and we were both really shocked and kind of caught off guard so my excuse was not knowing the words in french. SO then she said, " c'est pas grave, chante en anglais alors." Which means, "that's okay, sing in english then" so i told myself that we are missionaries and are here to serve people and pretty much put ourselves in whatever situation whether we are at ease or not. So I sang, "I'm trying to be like Jesus" in English of course and I was singing at the pulpit and see our ward missionary leader and his wife crying. Normally I don't sing in situations like that but let me tell you -the Lord was with me for sure because I don't sing like that usually. So I said some prayers of thanks for allowing me to witness the spirit touching people.  

In any case the baptism was just a really spiritual experience. 

We also got to talk to the Young Men and Women about preparing for a mission which was fun. I love the youth of our ward.

I love this ward. I'm doing great. Keep praying for me. I love you all so much and look forward to seeing you!

Our ward mission leader and his three sons.

here is your typical tahitian neighbourhood
​

--

Elder Christensen

ua fati roa te mori a faaafaro ai au i te reira

translation: the light broke while I was fixing it.

It's a great story. 

So this morning while cleaning the house, I decided to try to change the light bulbs in the fan because they were really dim. One ended up being fine but another was really tiny and we had bigger bulbs so I took it out and put the big one in. it worked but the cover was too small so I changed my mind and wanted to put the tiny one back. (Keep in mind i'm on a really sketchy ladder that's held up by a little pin thing. So I start to put the old bulb in and get shocked like I've never been shocked before haha. It went up my whole left arm and then I freaked out and the ladder collapsed from under me and I fell and hit the ground with the glass light cover and the light bulb. Cut myself a little but really little baby cuts so I'm good. Just got a little shaken up. I think to it now and it makes me chuckle honestly. Apparently I yelled pretty loud too. Anyway. I learned from this experience that we need to be careful when handling electrical equipement. But also that after this life, none of that will happen thank goodness thanks to the ressurection. No more pain, no more cuts, no more electricutions. That'll be a great day.

Anyway. This week was pretty great. I finished the Book of Mormon for the second time in Tahitian and I restarted it this last week. I love the Book of Mormon and all the new things that we learn reading it another time the book is true. It brings me such joy:)

I also decided to read the new testament in tahitian with english next to it because *cough cough* the tahitian translation is pretty bad *cough cough* But there are lots of great miracles that I want to be able to reference in tahitian because we're currently teaching a mami who speaks not a lick of french. She's the best. She read the Book of Mormon a little bit and didn't understand at first but the second chapter that she read, she started with a prayer and understood very well. prayer is essential!

Our other amis are doing well. I'm happy to be able to serve the Lord here in Temarua.
Love you all. Pray for me please:)

Elder Jordan and I before a lesson

                                   

our ward mission leader's daughter Hanalei. She speaks English a little bit and it's adorable.

No clever name this time

Hiya!!!

This week was great! Well. sorta haha. 

Was suuuuper sick with the stomach flu at the beginning of the week

But I'm doing well now.

We had a baptism too! Her name is Channel and she is the coolest 12 year old ever. She's super sweet and a genius too. We teach her father too who speaks english as well so its always fun to talk in english with him. 

We have lots of potential here in Temarua. We also have the best DMP(ward mission leader). He's really a hard worker and wants to try everything that he can to help the ward and the investigators. I love him and his family so much. 

I've been reading in Ether and the chapter 12 is all about faith. Basically it says that faith comes first, not miracles. I really like that because we have to first believe and then God can manifest his power unto us. My favorite is verse 18

18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God.

I know that this is true. Sometimes it's hard to have faith, but if we keep pushing on and believe, we will see miracles in our lives and in the lives of others. 

I love you all!

Ua hohonihia vau e te hoê uri!

Translation:I got bit by a dog!

Ill explain but don't worry all is well!

So this week we did a split with the Assistants and I got to be with Elder Donadier again.  It was so great to be back with him to be honest.

Anyway. I had decided to go see someone that we had taken with a few weeks ago to just do a little follow up. And I had remembered that In the neighbourhood, there were lots lots lots of dogs. Just as I remembered that a car started rolling up and I had the thought, "I bet this lady pulling up lives In the house that we contacted" she pulls up and says to us, "vous cherchez quelqu'un?" Or "you looking for someone?" I start to talk and they she starts to yell telling me to look out for the dog. Well a flash of black and white and the next thing I know a dog is chewing on my leg. Man did it hurt. So I gave it a nice kick and it ran away. The lady apologize and I'm trying to stay cool and not show too much pain. She then felt pity for me and I started to ask if she had talked to the missionaries before and she said yeah. Long story short she said that we could come back. Basically I learned from this that there are no coincidences haha. And on top of that. The dog didn't even pierce my skin. I just have a bruise that looks like a smiley face haha. God protects his missionaries!

Little spiritual thought.  Been reading in 3 Néphi in the Book of Mormon and In this part Christ comes to the Americas and teaches and calls apostles and it's just really great:). It's really touching and it really brings me peace when i read these things. Life stinks but Christ understands our pain and suffering. He loves us and can make us better if we let him in. 

Love you all!

-Orometua Christensen

: Ua paapaa to'u iri 'uo'uo

Translation:my white skin is burned)

This week was great! We found 4 New investigators this week! Finally people are starting to show up! 

They're all great.  One is a guy married to an inactive member. We asked him what his goal In life is. He said it's to go to the temple and get sealed to his family.:D his name is Marcial and he's a great guy! Seriously a miracle that happened

This week we did a free car wash to find some New investigators and also to do some service to the community.  That's why I'm a tomato right now haha. I also have a gnarly Jesus' sandals burn too. But it was really fun though. Tiring too.  I got to talk to the sweetest Tahitian mami in Tahitian. Her daughter actually proposed that we go teach her later in the week. Unfortunately it's not in the zone so we passed the reference. 

I'm loving it here! Things are going well. Happy to be in this ward. I love you all!

Elder Christensen

Aita te hoê taata i Temarua

there is no one in Temarua

This week was alright. Everyone is still on vacation so that's lovely. But we will not lose hope!!

So as a result, we do lots of contacting. It's actually been kinda fun lately. It's something that I dread(cause I'm a scaredy cat) but I know it's really important anyway to just talk to everyone that I see!!

We're currently working with a member who just decided to drop his old life and become active again. He wants to bring his whole family with him. He's a real great guy named Gilbert. We teach his son and his grandson. We hope that his wife will accept us as well. Currently she's not too interested. 

Anyway. Love you all!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The other night, we all found out that I can kick a cup off of the head of Elder Lerohl(another missionary in the house). apparently I have hops.  So as for New Year goals, there's another goal that I don't have to set haha. 

This is Elder Coxhead, from New Zealand. 

​

Ia ora na i teie matahiti api!

Ia ora na tatou

SO I'm going to attach some photos from the baptism of Roméo and Tini and of Gervais. 

This week was great!! I got to skype my family and that was such a treat. Other than that this week was hard haha. Everyone was either drunk or gone. We ended up visiting lots of members and studying a lot too. 

However we're not giving up. We will find people to teach and we will see miracles!!!

We launched lanterns as a zone last night(don't worry we got home in time) for new years. The first one I launched dropped directly into the ocean. What a great encouragement for 2018. Hope my future won't be looking like that lantern haha. It's okay though, because someone gave me a second one so thatI could retry and that one flew just fine. 

NOt much else to report. Things are great with Elder Heckmann. He's really funny. I've been continuing our 3 month BOM challenge and it's amazing how much can be accomplished when we put our trust in God. Seeing all of the BOM heroes put their faith in God is inspiring. It helps me realize that I need to do the same. We all do. Faith + Works = MIRACLES!!!

I love you all. Have a great new years. 

-Elder Christensen

ua ma'ihia to'u hoa misionare te hebedoma i ma'iri a'enei

my comp was sick this last week)

As you can imagine, not much was accomplished this week, because he had the new flu that's going around, and about half of our zone was sick so we had a real effective district meeting too... 

We also had zone conference. Super fun stuff. I learned a lot too. There was the Graham couple that came and they talked about keeping a good mental health on the mission. It was really helplful and they talked a lot about stress and how to manage and control stress. 

We almost had to push back Gervais' baptism, again. But we worked it all out and it's all good for this Saturday.:) I love him. 

I also am loving the  #lighttheworld program. It's really cool to be able to go to members' houses and see that they are already using the program for  Christmas. I invite you all to go online and check it out on mormon.org 

I love you all!! I'll send pictures next week I promise. 

-- 

Elder Christensen

Ua haere matou i te hiero e ua itea ia'u te hoê melo no Hikueru i reira!!

(we went to the temple and I found a member from Hikueru there!!)

A good week. We saw Gervais a lot too. He's such a great guy. Normally his baptism is still good for the 13th. 

 Yeah we went to the temple and it was great. I got to see a member there named Aberahama. (abraham in Tahitian). He's so awesome and we did lessons with him on Hikueru to prepare him for the Melchizedek Priesthood. And seeing him there brought me so much joy. The Lord really placed us there that day because it wasn't the day we were normally supposed to go to the temple. seeing him in all white was the best thing ever. He also gave me the update on Hikueru. Things aren't going so hot to be honest. Lots of prayers please for the saints of Hikueru. 

Nothing much else to report. Me and my comp. are going to soon put a new ward mission plan to get the members super excited for missionary work. I love em lots. Anyway. Love you all. HAve a great week!

--

Elder Christensen

Ua tupu te hoê bapetizoraa e faaipoiporaa i te hebedoma i ma'iri a'enei

translation: a baptism and a mariage happened last week!!!!

Our Investigator Liliokalani got married and then baptized!!! we're so happy for her:) I'll attach some photos too. 

Our investigator J dissapeared the other day from his appartement and then was found in Arue( a city pretty far from Faa'a when you go on foot...He's like 70 as well. Apparently he was really fiu(fed up/annoyed/done/bored in tahitian) with the members he was living with. So he left. He ended up calling them(one of them is his son-in-law) saying that he didn't want to come back. we found this out because we had a lesson fixed and he wasn't there and then the members that he lived with explained us the whole story. I love J so much. I was sad to hear that he left. They also don't have any contact info. for him. all they know is that he is in pamata'i(another area in Faa'a) and he's with his daughter.

G is doing great too!! he decided that he's going to live in a different place than his girlfriend until their mariage so that he can get baptized. He's so great!!! he'll probably get baptized next week or the week after because he's super ready haha. 

The weather here is really interesting haha. When it gets really hot, we all know that it's going to rain, then it rains not long after, then it clears up, then it comes back. In tahitian to say"it's raining" you say "E ua" but it's really funny when they say it. It's probably my favorite phrase in tahitian. 

Also I ate raclette(delicious cheese melted on potatoes) and coconut flan for Thanksgiving with our dinner appointment. They didn't even know it was Thanksgiving haha. 

Other than that, all is well. I love it here. 

I love you all!!

-Elder Christensen

E mea hakata roa te Noela!!!

Christmas is soon!!)

Today in Carrefour(the biggest grocery store in French Polynesia) I heard piano guys christmas music haha. We were with other missionaries in the store and we were all dying haha. 

This week was really great. A lot happened. One of our investigators yelled at us saying he doesn't want to talk to us anymore because he doesn't believe in Joseph Smith. (this is all in tahitian btw and that makes it 500 times more intense) I just asked him calmly if he read the Book of Mormon and if he prayed about it). he said no he didn't read and yes he did pray and doesn't want to hear our false teachings anymore. I was sad but at the end he shook our hands and thanked us for what we had done. (that's not uncommon here) at the end of moments like that, you're likely to get a handshake or a mauruuru. I love these people. Even in anger they love the missionaries haha. 

On saturday we went to the temple(which is right next to our zone) with our Investigator John(this really old papi) and we walked around the temple and talked about the different things that are done inside. Really cool experience because my french companion talked and asked me to translate what he said for him into to tahitian because John doesn't understand the gospel in french. It was great. That same day one of our district leaders called us and said that him and his comp had fixed a baptism that morning for 2 o clock in the afternoon. It was 11 o clock when he called. So we sped back to the zone and I left my comp to do the interview and I took the district leader(Elder Jenkins) and we did a lesson with Gervais and the chapelle and after that we sped back to another chapelle for the baptism. It was crazy and a great experience. Super stressful but the spirit was strong that day. I love this Gospel!!!

Our investigator Liliokalani is getting married on Friday and baptized just after. Her boyfriend is an inactive(soon active) member and I love them so much:)

Spiritual thought

I just read 2 Néphi 24 in the Book of Mormon and it basically bashes on Satan and how much we shouldn't even give him the time of day haha and that after this life we will see him and be shocked at how much power he doesn't have compared to our Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. Yes there are temptations in this life but everything is surmontable with our Savior. I love him and I'm learning to rely on him every day in order to overcome my weaknesses. It's a slow process but it's moving haha. I love you all!!

-Elder Christensen

: Te Buka a Mormona. O te tahi ïa faahou ite no Iesu Mesia ta tatou i hinaaro no te haere i mua i roto i teie oraraa

translation: The Book of Mormon. Another Testament of Jesus Christ that we need to advance in this life.

Ia ora na tatou

THis week was great!!!

We had conseil de dirigeants on wednesday. (I think its mission leadership counsel in English) All the Zone leaders and sister training leaders get together and we talk about things that we can do better and things that we're doing well. It was great. Kinda stressed me out a bit because there is so much to do! But I loved it. 

I'd like to just share an experience with you all. 

We have an investigator whose name is Gervais. He's at university and he's just great. All this week he wanted to see us and we were supposed to see him saturday but his in laws came so he had to go to the other end of the island. But he came to church yesterday and he seemed so happy. We had alesson fixed with him for yesterday at 4 in the afternoon but we showed up and he told us that he was still busy and asked us if we could come back later in the night. So we fixed to come back at 8. First time that I've ever done a lesson that late to be honest. We show up and he showed up at the same time as us. Anyway he then started asking questions about what he read. I'm telling you. Gervais feasts upon the words of Christ. He has so many sticky notes and papers in the Book of Mormon with his questions on it. He uses all the references and is just so awesome. He then started telling us that he had a really hard week and al lhe wanted to do was see us and was afraid that we would no longer want to see him because he kept pushing back the lessons. We assured him that everything was okay. 

Then he started to tear up in explaining that he felt like he couldn't handle it anymore that week and he took his Book of Mormon everywhere and when he opened it, he just felt so touched and looked at a reference that gave him the definition of temptation which is,"A test of a person’s ability to choose good instead of evil; an enticement to sin and follow Satan instead of God. 

He told us that he was ready to just let out his anger on everyone but then he read that and was really touched. When he shared that I felt so much love for him. The spirit was really strong to be honest. It felt like a big hug. I love the BOok of Mormon and our investigators. This gospel is true!!!

Love you all

-Elder Christensen
​my comp is fourth from the right on top. 

Ua tupu faahou i te mau tauiraa e ua riro to'u hoa misionare ei tauturu no te Peresideni !

Translation: There were transfers that happened and my comp became assistant! Currently both of the assistants have been my companions. The other assistant is still Elder Crandall my MTC comp. He's so great haha. It was good to see him today. HE's been assistant for 7 and half months. That poor elder haha.

Anyway. A great week. Not too much to report. My new companion is Elder Alfred from France. He's from the same stake as my other French companion Elder Sylvestre who I was with in Bora. I'm stoked to serve with him. 

Nothing much. The zone is changing a bit with the transfers. But it's all good. A little sad to say goodbye to some missionaries that are going home as well. But that's life I guess.

Our investigators are doing well. Roméo and Tini are just the best. they read the Book of Mormon almost 3 times a day sometimes.  They have changed so much. They help me to have an even stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon. I know that book is true. IT has changed my life and I'm seeing it change the lives of others. I invite you all to read it and pray to God to know if it's true. In doing so you can receive an answer and knowing that that book is true means that the Gospel was restored upon this earth! I love it! 

Time for pictures

Soeur Durrant(I was in the MTC with her)

Elder Donadier

saw Manarua and his family the other day(from Tefana)

​

Soeur Luka (ONe of our Sister Training Leaders who is going out to the islands and Soeur Hemsley -she whitewashed Tefana when I went out to Bora and she's going to Huahine)

​

Elder Dieutre

Elder Langomazino
​

E tai'o te misioni taato'a i te Buka A Mormona na roto i te na ava'e e toru!

Translation:

The whole mission is going to read the Book of Mormon in a span 3 months!!

Ia ora na tatou!!

This week was really short considering the fact that our pday was on wednesday. 

Anyway. During our mission conference President Fox and Soeur Fox challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in 3 months. We're going to do it as a mission starting on the 1 of November. We get to read something like 7 pages a day. We are all soooo stoked!!

I was sick on friday and saturday so saturday We did a split so I could sleep all day. My comp went with Elder Jenkins and they fixed a baptism with our ami Gervais. Our secteur is starting to explode and it's aweeessommmee. We are seeing lots of miracles. 

We have two new amis names Tini and Roméo. Tini was a reference from another ami called Moetu. Anyway. We did a lesson with Tini and she said the prayer at the end and was in tears and said that she felt so great and a burning in her heart. It was awesome. Turns out her boyfriend knows our church and all of the sudden he wants to get married to her cause they live together but he ended up reading one of the chapters that we gave her. and he felt the spirit. They're awesome. Also we had 8 amis at church yesterday. Soooo great. 

I also received a call the other day from a member in Bora Bora. Her husband Etau and her son Etau are getting baptized next weekend. I'm so happy for them. It's sad that I'll miss the baptism. But I'm still super happy all the same.

Sorry no pictures this week. I love you all!!

-Elder Christensen

Ua tae mai te hoê Hitu Ahuru. O Elder Ardern to'na i'oa

(A member of the 70 came to our mission. His name is Elder Ardern. 

It was great. Next week I'll explain more cause we really don't have time. But he came with my comp and I to visit some investigators. And he gave me a hug when we had our mission conference. He's awesome. 

Nothing huge to report other than my comp is a stud. He's seriously so great. I have so much respect for him. I love the mission. i love what I'm doing. Couldn't be happier:)

I love you all!!

-Elder Christensen

Ua tamaa maua i te hoê maa opanihia a na pô ra

translation: we ate forbidden food last night. 

Ia ora na tatou!!

It was a great week. Not much to report. My comp is awesome(see pic attached) and his english is really good too. I love serving with him and I'm learning so much. I love the way that he teaches and he has so much purpose too.!!

things are going great!!

We saw all of our progressing investigators this week and most of them came to church yesterday too!! IT was soooo awesome. We also just made a plan for the ward to be more involved with missionary work and Elder Donadier and I feel like things are going to skyrocket soon. This ward is great. I love the Bishopric as well. Our Bishop has so much love and charity. He's so smiley and really brightens my day when I see him. 

Not much else to report. I love you all!!

-Orometua Christensen

E mea puai roa te Varua Maita'i a hi'o ai au i te Amuiraa Rahi!

Translation( the spirit was strong while I was watching General conference!!)

So this week was great. A little slow to start because all of tuesday I had to wait at the parking lot outside of the mission home to pick up the new of the 30 missionnaires in the mission. Our zone is now 20 missionaries. 5 are being trained which is not too bad actually. the zone next to us, every missionary is training there. There are even missionaries that did 6 weeks of training and they got a new missionary. It's nuts BUT awesome!!!

Got my comp Elder Donadier Wednesday. He's so awesome and French. My accent will be so great by the end of our companionship because we told him to correct us in even the littlest things. 

Anyway. We saw our investigators Jeanne, Moetu, Liliokalani, Tarome, Rava and Tivini this week. they all had some hard moments this week and I just felt sad. Keep them in  your prayers please.

Conference was great as well. I loved the first talk by Dieter F. Uchtdorf and the talk y Russell M. Nelson. After his talk my comp and I just looked at each other and asked ,"did you feel what I just felt" It was so powerful and heartwarming. Wow the spirit was seriously there. Won't ever forget those moments. I know that our apostles are called of God and that they lead us and guide us through revelation. I also know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet living today. We need him. I know that God loves us and I love you all too!!

-Orometua Christensen