Moorea!

We got an email from Jordan today!!

And - we got to video chat!!! He had to find a church member who has a computer, who will let him come over and use it to email and video chat on his P-day. Apparently I wasn't getting notified that he was trying to call, so he ended up calling Jared! Jared answered on his computer at work, and then Face-timed me so I could be a part of it! (I am so grateful for technology!) I guess we need to get Google Hangouts figured out, haha.  It was a bit fuzzy and would freeze sometimes, but it was so good to see him and talk to him! Even if it was through Jared's phone looking at his computer screen at work :)

 He told us that he was assigned to the island of Moorea!! And he was in fact part of a trio, and he absolutely loves his two companions!! He said that usually they get put with a Trainer who has been to the place you are assigned, and knows it and the people, but this time they are doing a "white wash" and they are all new to Moorea! One companion, the trainer, has been out for a while, and the other companion came to Tahiti with Jordan! So two "greenies" and a more experienced missionary, all in a new place together. 

Of course when I found out he was in Moorea I had to look it up and find out more about it! I already knew that it was the "gecko foot" shaped island right off of Tahiti. 

but I wanted to google search images of Moorea too...and Oh My Goodness!! Jordan is in a beautiful place!! Check out these pictures of Moorea:

Jordan said there is just one main road that goes around the whole island, and that's where the city part is. Inland is pretty much just jungle. He heard there is good hiking trails in there, and hopes to explore those on some of his P-days!

I am relieved to know he is on an island close to Tahiti for his first area! That means it's more of a city and more civilized and populated. He told us he is in  Afareaitu, which you can see on this map:

He said he can see Tahiti from where he is! And at night it looks cool to see all the city lights across the water on Tahiti. It was only a 30 minute Ferry ride to get there from Papeete.  

Before he left, Jordan was able to meet some other missionaries online that were called to serve in Tahiti with him, through Facebook, and I have become good "Facebook Messenger Friends" with the mother of one of those missionaries. He is from Toronto Canada, and I receive his weekly emails too! I love reading things from his perspective as well as Jordan's. Well, he was assigned to Fa'aa in Tahiti (you can see on the map above that it's directly across from where Jordan is Afareaitu in Moorea!) In his email this week he shared a picture showing the beautiful view from his porch, and you can see perfectly the island of Moorea so close to Tahiti! And based on the map above, it must be Afareaitu where Jordan is too! What a fun glimpse to see where Jordan is!

Jordan wasn't able to send us any pictures this week, so this picture I got from the other missionary's email was even more meaningful to me. Jordan promised to send us double the pictures next week!

Jordan said he lives in a house that has all the amenities that we have, and he purchased a bike which is how he and his companions get around there. He said it's so neat to be riding so close to the ocean all the time.  The people there have been really nice, and almost everyone will stop to talk with them. It's true that it's custom there to go up to someone's house and yell "Iaorana!" (Hello!) and someone will come out to greet you,  Haha!  Apparently there are a lot of dogs there. Guard dogs and stray dogs. He hasn't been bit, but he's heard stories! And speaking of being bit - he says he only has a few mosquito bites :) He loves everything he has eaten so far! (Maybe that will change once he has to eat Fafaru - the fermented fish he explained to us last week) He has eaten Poisson Cru once so far (raw fish cut up into pieces and mixed with coconut milk & lime juice - a Tahitian staple) and said it was actually really good! He had stir fry once and he's eaten mango, pineapple, banana (really small and extra sweet), and he tried papaya for the first time! He said they have really delicious sandwiches there, like panini style and also they'll take a French baguette and cut it lengthwise, and put meats and french fries and all kinds of yummy stuff inside of it! But mostly he eats in people's homes. And mostly they eat rice - lot's of rice! Usually with different kinds of lentils on top. Thankfully, he says it's really good :) He's never been a huge fan of rice, so I'm glad he's enjoying it there!

Jordan said that because he has to go to a members home to use their computer, he only gets an hour and a half on P-days now to read his emails and reply to them, write his group email, and call home. It's an ok amount of time, but it is more restricted than he's used to. He'll get the timing figured out I'm sure. He and his companions were heading to the grocery store after we talked. How neat it would be to see what kinds of new and different things they have there!

Here is Jordan's email this week!

Moorea!

Iaorana!!! What a week, this is such an adventure haha. After I sent
my last email from President Fox's house, we received our trainers and
our sector assignments. My trainer is Elder Bennett, he is absolutely
INCREDIBLE! I am so so so blessed to have him. And we're in a trio
which is fun! Elder Davis, who was in the other Tahitian district at
the MTC, is my companion as well! It's been a lot of fun, they are
really great. We got assigned to the island of Moorea, and left
immediately on a big ferry to get to work! It was about a 30 minute
ride to Moorea from Papeete. In our house there are 7 missionaries
total which is really fun! All 7 of the elders on Moorea are in a
house in Afareaitu and the 4 sisters are somewhere else. My sector is
Haapiti, it's on the west side of the island and it's beautiful! The
people are very, very poor, but for the most part they're happy and so
kind. And the food is soooooo good, I haven't had a single thing I
haven't loved! Tons of rice every meal-- rice with lentils on top is a
staple, I have it basically every single day, but I like it a lot!

C'est tous pour cette semaine, je vous aime beaucoup et je vous
remercie pour vos prières! Prièz pour les gens de Moorea!

(translated: It's all for this week, I love you so much and I'll thank you for your prayers! Pray for the people of Moorea!)

à bientot!
Elder King/Elder Roi

IAORANA FROM TAHITI

Jordan's in Tahiti!!!

He left early Monday morning, Oct. 21, and got there late Monday night. I found a flight tracker app so I could watch his plane go across the Pacific Ocean, to the tiny little dot that said Papeete. It was comforting to see the little plane on my screen move a little tiny bit every time I checked it.

It was getting late, and I finally fell asleep (I wasn't sure if I would be able to!) and woke up at 3am, and when I checked it they had landed!! And - President and Sister Fox (the Mission Presidents) had already posted a group pic saying they arrived and that they would share more pictures tomorrow! It was the BEST THING EVER to see my boy in that picture!! Safe in Tahiti and wearing a lei! 

I had to zoom in to make sure it was him. It was!! Of course I had to post this on FB and Insta immediately and share my excitement with everyone! Haha Thanks to so many of you who follow me and shared a heart or thumbs up for support <3

 I checked back on the Tahiti mission Facebook page throughout the whole day on Tuesday, looking for more pictures that were promised. Tahiti is 3 hours before California, so I had to keep counting back and thinking about what they would be doing, and realizing it was probably too early for more pictures to be posted yet. But then -  I GOT AN EMAIL FROM JORDAN!!!   I literally gasped, then squealed with surprise and joy when I saw his email come through!! I was SO excited to hear from him!! Here is his email:

IAORANA FROM TAHITI

I made it!!! We got in at about 9:30pm local time (1:30am MDT - in Utah where he's been) and stayed in apartments right next to the temple! The temple is beautiful! We are now at President and Sister Fox's house, we just ate breakfast, had interviews, and are about to have an orientation and find out our trainers and where our first assignment is! It is SO HUMID here, I feel like I'm in a sauna! Haha but it'll be fun, I'm so excited to get to work! I love you all so much, thank you for your prayers and support!

A bientot!

Elder King/Elder Roi/Elder Arii

I was so happy to hear from him! I have so many questions...hahaha, but I wasn't sure when I would get to hear from him, so I was ecstatic for this quick email he sent! Bless his heart! 

Then, later that evening a bunch of pictures were uploaded to the Tahiti Mission Facebook page, including several of Jordan!! 

Here's a group shot of all the Missionaries who had just arrived together at the Tahiti airport. You can tell they're all so tired after such a long day, but also so excited!

These pictures look like they're at the Mission Presidents house, where they're having  orientation. 

And these pictures must be when Jordan met his trainer!! Looks like he will be in a trio! Two new missionaries, together with the same trainer! 

I love how it looks like Jordan practically leaped up to hug his trainer, being so excited to meet him! 

  I am so excited to hear where Jordan and his trio were assigned to! I guess we'll have to wait until Monday when Jordan can email again, and hopefully video chat! I have so many questions to ask him!! And I can't wait to hear how these first few days "out in the mission field" have been :)

LAST WEEK IN THE USA

  We got to video chat with Jordan on Friday for his last P-day at the MTC, which happened to also be....Ashley's birthday!! The last of our 3 October birthdays! He called a little bit after Ash got home from school, so she got first dibs on talking with him :)

 Then I got a turn and he told me all about how his Tahitian teachers, who are recently returned missionaries from Tahiti, have been telling them all about Tahiti and showing them pictures from their missions, and giving them tips. He said it sounds so crazy and so awesome! He said the pictures were so beautiful that it looked like they were in front of a green screen with computer enhanced images behind them! One tip they told him was to spread the food out on his plate and eat very slowly, because if you clean your plate too fast, or it looks like you didn't get enough, then they'll just keep piling the food on! And it's hard to tell them you're too full, haha. There's a funny story about that in his email below. He was told that they eat a lot of rice and fish. Their most popular dish is Poisson Cru, which is raw fish cut up into cubes and mixed with coconut milk and lime juice. Sounds interesting, and not necessarily in a good way - but they all say it's so good and quickly became their favorite! Another thing they eat there a lot is fafaru, which is the raw guts of fish placed in a glass jar full of salt water, and set out in the sun for weeks. I've heard the smell gets so strong that you can smell it just by walking down the streets if someone is making it at their house. When they are ready to eat it, they get fresh raw fish and slice it into strips, and put it in another glass jar of salt water, then pour the aged fish guts, liquid and all,  into that new jar with the fresh raw fish, and set it in the sun for anywhere from 2-3 hours, to 2-3 days. This, he was told, is down right terrible. You hope you get it after it's only been sitting out for a couple of hours, because it's not as awful as when it sits out for days - but in any case it's bad. There's no way around it. The locals will ask you first if you eat it, and of course you say yes! Because eating their homemade fafaru is such an honor and they will love you like family if you do! You just pray they don't put too much of it on your plate, haha! One teacher said his stomach was torn up for the first couple of weeks from all the raw fish, but then his system got used to it and he was fine.  Jordan said they showed him pictures of so many different fruits too, many that he had never seen before and is excited to try! If you don't know, Jordan LOVES fruit. It's his absolute favorite. So that will be great for him!

 Another thing they talked to him about were the coconut trees. They are everywhere, and the coconuts are huge! And they randomly will fall from the trees, so you have to be careful not to get hit by them! He said they have competitions there for cracking open coconuts, and that they will get really good at it! They'll learn how to open them so they can drink the water and eat the inner flesh. Apparently, as soon as a coconut falls from the tree, it starts to plant itself and take root, growing into another coconut tree. If you find one that has fallen recently, and has just started to plant itself, then when you crack it open, there won't be any liquid - but instead it'll be full of white spongy stuff, that has soaked up all of the liquid, and that, his teacher said, is the yummiest thing to eat on earth! I can't wait for Jordan to try all of this and tell us what he thinks!

 Jordan has enjoyed his last week at the MTC. He said they are starting to put up Christmas lights all around! He's been having fun with the friends he's made with some of the other missionaries in his district. I hope they'll get to serve in some of the same areas during their missions.

Jordan has always made good friends with girls :) He thinks they're so fun.

Jordan sent this picture and told me it was taken in Tahitian class when they were practicing sentences on white boards. They had to write one sentence that said something they like and one saying something they don't like. 

Jordan wrote,"I like prayer" and "I don't like leprosy"  - Hahaha!! 

Glad he can be silly and make class fun!

He received his travel plans, and said that every missionary assigned to Tahiti, in both districts, had their travel Visa's approved and are able to go to Tahiti all together! This will be a large group of Missionaries - there will be 17 of them going to Tahiti together! Their travel day is this Monday(!!!), so keep them in your prayers for safe travels that day! They check out of the MTC on Monday morning at 6:15am (Utah time), then head to the Salt Lake City airport where they'll fly to Los Angeles. They have a 4 hour layover in L.A., but I guess they're all excited about having time to eat at Cafe Rio and Chick-fil-A at the airport, haha - Their last American meal! Their plane leaves L.A. at 4:40pm (California time) and they arrive in Papeete, Tahiti at 9:45pm (Tahiti time - 3 hours ahead of California - same as Hawaii time) So it's an 8 hour flight from L.A. to Tahiti.

 When they arrive, they head straight over to the apartments that are next to the Mission Home (where the Mission President and his wife live) which happens to be right next to the Temple there! And they crash for the night. The next day they eat breakfast and lunch at the mission home, and they welcome them and talk to them about things, etc.. and then they meet their Trainer's and get assigned to their areas, and go! They are assigned to anywhere in French Polynesia - and it's a huge area, including many many islands. I am so excited to find out where Jordan will be assigned! Once there, he will serve the people there for several weeks, and then be reassigned to another area. This is called Transfer's and will happen regularly throughout his Mission. So he will get to serve in many different areas. It'll be so exciting to see all of the different areas he goes!


We took one last selfie (missing Ty who was at football) and said our goodbye's since we don't know when we'll be able to talk again. Hopefully he will at least be able to email us when he gets there. And hopefully he'll be assigned to an area where we can video chat. But his new P-day in Tahiti will be Mondays, and since this Monday is his travel day, then we may not hear from him until the following Monday. I'll post anything I hear though :)

Here's Jordan's last email from the MTC!


LAST WEEK IN THE USA

 Iaorana! This has been a crazy week. My teachers have been showing us pictures and telling us stories from their missions in French Polynesia, and it is the craziest thing! I am literally going to be on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean in a few days!!! I'm really nervous, but also excited! They've also been telling us tips for what to expect and some things to prepare for, like how the people (members and non-members alike!) will literally keep feeding you eternally and how you need to eat really slowly so they don't just keep refilling your plate hahaha. Frère Peck said one time, he ate a meal and was SO FULL, and then they gave him a banana to eat so he ate it, but he was like bursting at the seams, and then they just kept giving him bananas until he had eaten SEVEN!!! Hahaha so that'll be fun, but really it's humbling, I'm grateful for people who give all that they have to the missionaries even though they have next to nothing.

We had an amazing devotional on Tuesday by Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He spoke about the process for how the apostles assign missionaries to a certain mission in the world (it is so inspired), and he brought original documents from the Church Archives, including the original manuscript written by Oliver Cowdery himself as dictated by Joseph Smith directly from the Golden Plates for Alma 34 (THE ATONEMENT), printer's manuscripts for Alma 34 and 3 Nephi 16, and an original 1830 copy of the Book of Mormon. While the artifacts were cool to see, what hit me most was 1) the divine origin of the Book of Mormon (Joseph Smith could not have POSSIBLY written this book in 60 working days in a single perfect draft. He was translating by the power of God), and 2) how much Joseph Smith and other saints sacrificed for what they knew to be true. He was willing to be tortured and hunted continuously, watch family members and close friends die, and then die himself. All just for a book. Whether you believe in it or not, there has got to be something really peculiar about it or else the world would not go to such lengths to continuously try to destroy it. "However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise." JSH 1:24 (25 is great as well). I know that his testimony is true and I hope that if such lengths were taken against me to destroy my beliefs I would be able to similarly die proclaiming "O Lord, My God!"

The MTC has been a really wonderful experience and I'm excited to get out into the field to help people come unto Christ through His restored gospel.

À bientôt les États-Unis! Tahiti, here we come.

(See you soon the United States!)

Elder King/Elder Roi/Orometua Arii

 Click this link for a video tour of the Provo MTC where Jordan has been the last 9 weeks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV5bAl549Qc

Reo Tahiti Week 2!!!

 October is in full swing, which means we are in constant birthday party mode at our house :)

We got to video chat with Jordan twice again this week because of Tyson's birthday this time!
Again, Jordan called right as we were singing to Ty, so it worked out perfect for him to join us.

He and Ty got to chat one on one for a while, which made me so happy.

 I got to talk to Jordan longer on his Friday P-day, and he is still as happy as ever. We are cherishing these video chats more and more since we're not sure what to expect once he's in Tahiti. Depending on where he is assigned, he may or may not be able to video chat. But I know it won't be forever, and he will transfer all around to different places during his mission. But for now, we've loved this consistency of being able to video chat every week :)

He said that his district is super musical (perfect for Jordan!) so they like to go to the piano and he will just "play whatever" and they'll all stand around and sing. He said it's so great! I know he was missing that so much, so I am so happy he found a piano to play and his district enjoys it too! He misses his acoustic guitar very much still, but the piano has been so great. 

 Jordan didn't send any pictures with his email this week! So I was able to ask him about that when we talked, and he said he doesn't know what to take pictures of! Haha - He's been at the MTC for 8 weeks and couldn't think of anything new! I'm sure it all just feels like the same ol' thing after that long. I told him to take his camera with him after our chat and just take one picture for me - of anything!! And about an hour or so later, this is what he sent:

Isn't it perfect?! I love that he chose to take a pic of this!

 Now he has a picture to help him remember how much that piano at the MTC meant to him. 

 Jordan is getting very excited about going to Tahiti so soon! He will be getting his travel plans any day, and is expecting to be leaving with his district on Monday Oct 21! That means this coming Friday will be his last P-day at the MTC!! His new P-day in Tahiti will be on Mondays, but since he is traveling there on Monday, I'm not expecting to hear from him until the following Monday. Unless the Mission President there let's them send a quick email to their families. I follow the Tahiti Mission Facebook page, and they are good about posting pictures of the new groups of missionaries when they arrive, so I will definitely be watching that page closely! And I'll share any info about him here. 

 Jordan said this past week they have been learning a lot about Tahiti from their Tahitian teacher, who served a mission in Tahiti so he knows all about it! He's been telling him how incredible the people and culture are there. They have been going over safety and other things as well. It has all been making him so excited!! I read in a news article that Dengue Fever is so bad in Tahiti right now, that they have declared it an epidemic.... this is a sickness you get from mosquitoes, and there is no vaccine for it currently. It feels like severe flu for two weeks. Of course this makes my Mama heart worry!!!  I asked Jordan if they had talked to him about that at all, and he said yes - but he's not worried! He just shrugged his shoulders and said "It's all part of the experience!" He is just so excited to experience it all! The good and the bad. The incredible and the uncomfortable. The 1st world beauty of Papeete Tahiti, Bora Bora, and Moorea, and the more 3rd world conditions of the smaller, outer islands of French Polynesia, such as the Marquesas. He knows The Spirit will be with him and all will be well. His faith is stronger than his fear. And he is just beaming with excitement to get out there and get to it! 

Here is Jordan's letter this week:

Reo Tahiti Week 2!!!

This has been a really great week! Elder Giles and I have learned so much Tahitian, we are feeling much more able to teach and communicate with people even though we still know very little. We're getting there! We taught a practice lesson to our teacher, Tuahine Fegtor, and we were able to completely change our lesson in the moment in order to meet her needs with the questions she asked and the responses she gave to our questions. It felt amazing to be able to actually dig deeper instead of just teaching memorized words and phrases and having to read from our grammar books haha.

 The Tahitian is coming, slowly but surely.

We had an amazing devotional on Tuesday from the Relief Society General President, Jean B. Bingham. Something that came to my mind while I was listening was a quote I heard a long time ago by Abraham Lincoln that says, "We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses." Let us all consciously try each day to see the world through that lens, and we will find more joy and more peace in any circumstance :)

I love you all. I'm incredibly nervous/excited to be going to Tahiti in 10 days. SUPER excited for the work, nervous I guess just because I have no idea what to expect and it's such a huge change. But the Spirit gives me peace and I feel so much joy every single day as I understand more and more how much the restored gospel of Jesus Christ has blessed my life. "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10. Brothers and Sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fullness. Doctrines that have been lost and changed through hundreds of years of political and religious turmoil and government creeds have been restored through the plain and precious truths of the Book of Mormon and modern-day prophets. People have always rejected God's prophets on the Earth. We read about it in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Nothing has changed. There is a prophet on the Earth today. I testify that is true.

Talk to you all next week!

À bientôt!

Elder King/Elder Roi/Orometua Arii

Iaorana!

We've had a busy weekend, filled with a birthday, no school - 4 day weekend, football, family visiting, General Conference and Women's Conference, and I can't believe it's already Wednesday and I'm just getting this posted!

 We got to video chat with Jordan twice this week!! He gets to video chat us, if he has time, on holidays and family members birthdays too! So we chatted with him on Thursday for Nicole's birthday, and Friday during his P-day!

We weren't sure if he was going to have time to chat on Nicole's birthday, but it worked out perfect because he called us right as we were about to sing Happy Birthday!

We got to meet his new companion Elder Giles! He is from Salt Lake City, Utah - but used to live in Paris France for a little while, so he is fluent in French. He didn't need to come to the MTC until now to learn Tahitian. 

  Jordan misses the missionaries from his district who left already, but he loves the new ones who came too! They also have so much fun together, and are all really excited about learning Tahitian! 

Here's a pic his district took at the Provo Temple before some of them left:

And a picture of Jordan with his new companion at the Temple together on Friday:

 On Friday, Jordan called after being at the temple with his companion, so he was still dressed up instead of being in his casual P-day clothes. I liked seeing him looking like a missionary! I was home doing laundry and Jared was upstairs doing his school work. None of the other kids were home. It was nice because I got to have a one on one chat with him by myself for a while! 

His new Tahitian name tag!

After a while, I went upstairs so Jared could take a break from school and say hi to him too :)

 He is doing really well, and feels so blessed to be with the group of missionaries he is with. They all get along so well, and are having so much fun being there and learning together. This week they started learning Tahitian, and Jordan says it's such a fun language! But so very different from anything he's heard, haha...there are only 13 letters in the Tahitian alphabet, and many of the letters make the same sound! Although he has only been learning the language for 1 week, he can already say several phrases and a simple prayer  - which he said for us and we recorded! 

Click the picture to listen!

  He told us that what he said in his prayer was, "Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the Holy Ghost. Please bless me with the Gift of Tongues. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." He said the phrase "the Gift of Tongues" is such a long and complicated phrase to say in Tahitian, they joke that you have to have the Gift of Tongues just to say it! Haha 

Here is Jordan's letter this week:

Iaorana! (pronounced: yo-rah-nah, and means "Hello!") 

 Iaorana! This week has been INSANE, we started learning Tahitian on Monday and it is SO CRAZY haha, it is nothing at alllllll like English or French, but it is SO fun to learn. We are all so excited and motivated to learn, we study basically 24/7 while we're walking to and fro and standing in line and stuff. It's crazy fun once we've started to understand some things. Elder Giles (my new companion) and I taught a lesson to our teacher pretending to be an "amie de l'église" (investigator) in Tahitian yesterday, and it was really hard to understand what she was saying, but we were able to introduce ourselves, pray, testify, ask questions, and share a scripture, so that was awesome! We have waaaaaayyy far to go, but being able to do all that in 4 days is not bad! God blesses His missionaries. If this work wasn't true, I don't know why I would see so many miracles in my life as I follow this path. It's not a self-fulfilling prophecy, it's not seeing patterns where there are none, and it's not just seeing what I want to see. The God of Israel directs His work.

Ua ite au e e parau mau i te Buka a Moromona, e peropheta mau Iosepha Semita, O te Faaora Iesu Mesia. Je sais que le Livre de Mormon est vrai, Joseph Smith est un vrai prophète, et Jésus-Christ est le Sauveur. (I know that the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith is a true prophet, and Jesus Christ is the Savior.) "I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, nor dared I do so." - Iosepha Semita (Joseph Smith)

I love you all, thank you for everything. Je vous aime beaucoup! (I love you a lot!)

Na na! À bientôt!

Elder King/Elder Roi/Otuafare Arii

And last but not least, Jordan being silly with his companion and some of the sisters.... Hahaha!