Iaorana!

We didn't get to talk with Jordan this week, as his time was needed elsewhere. I am so grateful that he was willing to be where he was needed, even if it meant not calling home. He wasn't able to send pictures this time either, but has been taking some to send when he gets the chance!

We did get a short email though! I know what he is doing is hard, and I admire him for the positive outlook he has. I know his strong faith, combined with the love he has for his Savior and his desire to do good in His sight, as well as the understanding he has that we are all God's children, and the love he has for the people he is serving, is what gives him strength and helps him to stay positive. He knows that blessings come through obedience too. Maybe not right away, but they do come. 

Here is Jordan's email:

Iaorana! (Hello!) 

This has been a bit of a tougher week, most of our lessons were cancelled, amis (investigators) asked to stop taking the lessons altogether because they're too busy, and overall people were just not very interested. But it's always darkest before the dawn, we're working with the président des anciens (Elders Quorum President) to get the ward more involved because members are so incredibly important in this work, especially in this sector as we've come to realize. Missionary work is not possible without the help of members.As for me, I'm doing well, the languages are getting better as I keep just trying to listen and pick out what I can. Speaking is getting more fluid too. Miracle: toward the end of the day yesterday, we prayed to know where we should go and who we needed to visit before going home for the night, and I felt a really strong impression to visit a house down the road from where we were that we had never seen or visited before. So we went, and they said they had never talked to the missionaries before, we were the first ones to ever go by their house! They have no idea how much their lives are about to change if they will let the Spirit work in them. People have absolutely no idea what they're missing. Our message is so indescribably important!

Study your scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon) everyday, pray multiple times a day, and go to church every week. Don't let yourself ever be too busy for those three things.

Je vous aime beaucoup! (I love you a lot!) 

Elder King

Haere Manu Haere Papu

Another week, another p-day! And guess what?! We got pictures!!!!

Jordan was able to send us pictures this week, and I am so happy! They are mostly pictures of sunsets and scenery. I love that he notices beauty:

He also sent some pictures of his travels. Here's the plane he took from L.A. to Tahiti. 

It's painted so fun for Tahiti!

Looks like Jordan was tracking his flight too, but his in in French! Kinda fun to see :)

The Papeete,Tahiti Temple:

Jordan with his first two companions when they were in a trio (the one on the left has been transferred) Looks like they are getting ready to head to Moorea after their first night there!

On the ferry boat from Tahiti to Moorea

Jordan took some pictures of a house and what looks like a back yard. 

I don't know if they're where he's living or if it's a members house, or just a random house! But I love seeing what houses are like there:

And he sent some pictures of the inside of his house. 

Looks pretty bright and like it's a decent size! I hope so with 6 Elders living there. 

I'm guessing one of the Elders is from Canada ...

  It was pretty fuzzy and broken up for our video chat again - which I'm assuming it will be from now on. But I am so grateful to be able to hear his voice and see his face each week!

Jordan is doing well. He says they are teaching a few families. It's hard to get too much information from our video chats because it's so broken up. But he did say again that the food is good, and that people keep giving them pineapples! Haha 

Here is his letter this week:

Haere Manu Haere Papu

(translation: slowly but surely) hahaha Tahitians say this all the time.

Iaorana ia outou! This has been another great week! I got a bit more frustrated with the language this week, I feel like I want to help these people so much but I don't have the words to do it. So I'm going to take this opportunity while I can't always understand everything people say to really focus on what the Spirit is telling me and just testify with all my heart when I teach and say what I can. This work is truly a work of joy, and the harder you work, the greater will be your joy! Attitude and diligence are absolutely everything. Miracle: 4 amis de l'èglise (friends of the Church, aka investigators, aka people we are teaching) came to church, 3 of which were completely unexpected! It was so wonderful to see them taking steps to prepare for making covenants with God. One of the amis has a baptism date fixed for 7 December, I am so excited and happy for him. Making covenants, or promises, with God, including baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, are such incredible blessings in this life and eternally. They are essential for salvation and exaltation! This is not just another church, another religion. It is the literal church of Jesus Christ led by Him through a prophet just as it always has been with His authority to make sacred covenants with God. I love being a part of this church and having the knowledge and incredible blessings that I do :)

Ua here au ia outou! Je vous aime beaucoup! à beintot!

Elder King/Roi/Arii

Deuxième semaine!

 We heard from Jordan again on Monday!!

 How is it already Friday and I'm just now posting this?! I'm so sorry. This week slipped away from me! I'll get next weeks out sooner.

 We got a short email from Jordan this week, and we also got to do a short video chat! It was very fuzzy and hard to hear, and the screen kept going black every few seconds - ha! But I really needed to see him and hear his voice that day, so I am extremely grateful that it worked enough for me to do that. He apologized that he wasn't able to send pictures again this week. The members home he was at didn't have a computer, so he couldn't upload pictures. But thankfully they let him use their cell phone so he could video chat me! And of course I took screen shots :)

Oh how I love that face <3

 He said he would try to go to a members home with a computer next Monday so he can upload pictures. Hopefully that works out! I'm dying to see what it's like where he is!! Because he was on a cell phone when we were chatting, he was able to turn around and show me his surroundings - which I was really excited about! This is the members home he was at:

And this was facing the other direction, towards their dirt driveway and out to the street. It's hard to see, but just past the tress on the other side of the street is the ocean!

 Jordan was able to tell me a story of two miracles that happened to him on Sunday. He was at church, and was just so hot and so hungry, and so tired. It was Fast Sunday, so he hadn't eaten all day - he was fasting. Normally after church they would have an invitation to eat dinner at a members home to break their fast, but that Sunday they didn't.  Which meant that he and his companion would have to ride their bikes back to their apartment, hot and tired, and scrounge up whatever little food they had since it was the last day of the week before P-day when they go grocery shopping. And they didn't have anything he was particularly excited about eating. So he's sitting in class, the second hour of church, super hot and super hungry. And so tired. The first hour of church is Sacrament meeting, and they speak French, and Jordan is able to follow along pretty well. But this week for second hour he  was with all of the older men, and they were speaking Tahitian. And it was much harder for him to follow along. And he was just so hot, and so hungry, and so tired... He said it was pretty brutal, haha. And he knew when it was over that he would have to exert a lot of energy in the humid heat to bike home to eat whatever they had. He was struggling. But being the person he is, I'm sure he endured it well.  So - after church, he and his companion  get on their bikes, and all of a sudden it starts POURING rain!! Jordan said that was the first miracle! Because the rain cooled everything off and was so fun and invigorating! Jordan has always loved the rain :) He said it hadn't rained at all since he got there, and now it was suddenly a downpour! He was so excited!! 

 So - Jordan and his comp. start happily riding their bikes in the rain to their house to find something to eat. Still so hungry, but less hot and a bit rejuvenated. They see the Bishop of their ward drive by, and he stops and randomly hands them a bag of doughnuts! Jordan said that doughnuts there aren't sweet like they are here. They're basically just fried bread, and not really that great, haha - but they were so grateful to have something to eat right then! Their Bishop drove away, and soon drove by again, this time handing them a bag of chicken! Hahaha! Jordan said it was so random, but so awesome!! He said that his Bishop kept leaving and then driving by again and handing them food three times!! Hahaha! I wonder if  the Bishop knew they didn't have a dinner invitation and so he was getting food from members to give them and he was piking it up and would hand it to them as he passed them on the street?! So funny! And so cool! Hahaha! So that was the second miracle - food! He had been sitting in church, so hot and tired, and so hungry... and after enduring it well, Heavenly Father took care of them.

  I am so grateful to know that my boy is being taken care of. That there are people there who are looking out for him, and also that Heavenly Father knows his needs and is helping him too. 

 I asked Jordan if he had eaten the fermented fish dish yet, and he said not yet! But the people ask him all the time if he's had it yet, so he knows it's coming hahaha. He said no one has any made right now, but when they do he's sure they will ask him to taste it...  I asked him what kind of food they eat most and he said rice with lentils, chicken, and either plain spaghetti noodles or spaghetti noodles with mayonnaise - !! Luckily he thinks it's all been good! Another blessing I'm sure. The house he's living in doesn't have any fruit trees, but lots of members have them and they give them fruit all the time! He said it's super good. 

Well here is Jordan's email this week. He was using a members cell phone so it's short and sweet :) 

Deuxième semaine!

(second week!)

 This has been a great week! We taught a lot of lessons that went really well, seeing how much the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can change people's lives is absolutely amazing. I never fully appreciated the knowledge that I have. The fact that families can be together FOREVER through temple sealings, that we have a living prophet on the earth today, the truths that we know from the Book of Mormon, I really have taken it all for granted. I'm slowly but surely getting over the shyness of not wanting to bother people because I realize just how much they need what I know, even if they don't realize it yet. I need to love them enough to not let them get off the hook right away with being "too busy" to read the Book of Mormon or have a short lesson with us, but explain really why it's so important. I love this gospel, I love these people, and I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

P.S. I haven't been in a position to send pictures, hopefully next week! I'm sorry! The sunsets are unbelievable.

À bientôt!

Elder King/Elder Roi/Elder Arii

Tahitian Sunset

Photo credit to Elder Fiore, another missionary in Tahiti that sent this pic in his weekly email this week :)