Christmas in Tahiti!

 For Christmas, Jordan's Mission Zone had an all day Zone Conference/Christmas party on Tahiti! They did skits and sang songs, and of course ate lots of yummy food! The Mission Presidents wife posted these pictures on the private Tahiti Mission Facebook page:

Jordan said it was a lot of fun, and it was good to see his friends he had made in the MTC!

  I am so humbled and grateful for how willingly the people on Moorea welcome the missionaries into their home, especially for Christmas. Jordan and his companions were invited to join a family with young kids for dinner on Christmas eve. Then on Christmas morning, an older couple with no kids at home invited them over for breakfast! They said it would just be the two of them at home for Christmas morning, so they were happy to have the missionaries over to join them :) So sweet!! They let them all use their phone and computer to call their families! And - we got to video chat with Jordan for over an hour while he was at their house on Christmas morning!! It was awesome! He told us about opening the package we sent him first thing on Christmas morning, and that was fun! I'm so glad it made it to him in time!! And he got to "join us" while we finished opening presents, which I could tell he really enjoyed. The man of the house came over by him and said hi to us and Jordan translated a little conversation for us - I loved that! I was able to thank him for having my boy over and letting him talk with us :) It was also great because Jared's mom and aunt Linda were with us for Christmas, so they got to talk to Jordan too! I loved how we had so much time with him, we were able to pass the phone around to everyone, and they could all visit with him and laugh, and just "hang out"! It was *almost* like having him with us. 

SO happy he could video chat with us on Christmas morning!!!

Nicole hadn't been able to talk with Jordan since he had gotten to Tahiti, so she was so excited to talk with him! I loved how they laughed and laughed and told inside jokes and quotes, just like when he was home <3

He got to talk with Tyson and Ashley too, and just be a part of our Christmas morning

"hanging out" with us while we opened presents. He asked us to continue so he could watch and

 "be a pat of it" 

Getting to talk with Grandma Diane and Linda!

I love that the man of the house (I don't know his name!) came and said hi to us and we got to talk for a little bit!(translated through Jordan) But I know a little french and greeted him with Bonjour! He was excited when we said that! And he knew a little English and ended it with "Have a nice day!" which he said in such a thick accent I couldn't understand until Jordan told me that's what he said - haha! Then I got it! So fun :)

After that he and his companions were invited over to another family's home to have lunch with them! It touched my heart so much to know that they had so many invitations to join families for their Christmas meals. Jordan said it didn't feel like Christmas though because it was hot and the people there don't decorate too much, not like here at least. And Christmas morning breakfast was thinly sliced raw fish over rice - haha! He said he would probably be given the same thing at lunch with the other family too. They don't really have "breakfast foods" much there like we eat. It's just another meal for them and they eat what they do for lunch or dinner. I am learning that "breakfast foods" are very American. But Jordan wasn't complaining. He said it was still a pretty special Christmas. 

At one point I was feeling sad because one of the gifts we got for the family was a vacation, and it was hard knowing that Jordan wouldn't be going with us. He was on video chat when the kids opened that gift, and he was so happy for them! I told him sorry he couldn't join us, and that we would definitely go again when he is home...and his response was so sweet and made my heart swell and my eyes well up. He said," It's ok. I'm doing pretty good here in Tahiti!" What an awesome thing to say. What an awesome attitude! Yes he is in an incredibly beautiful place...but he is NOT on vacation. In fact, he is working harder than he ever has in his life. Physically, mentally, spiritually...And he's away from his family. Jordan has got to be one of the most selfless people I know. 

So it was a pretty great Christmas, for him and for us! 

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas too :)

New companions!

 This is Jordan's email from last Monday. He was able to take a tour of a pineapple farm and do a little more sight seeing on his P-day! He is doing well with his new companions, and has joined two other Elders, since his companion finished his mission and went home. These Elders serve a part of the island that is farther away, so they have a car! Jordan says it's nice to be able to get places so fast! Haha He's used to riding his bike everywhere. It has been hard to make and keep appointments with anyone since it's the week before Christmas and everyone is partying all day every day! He still gets invited to dinner with members a lot though and he was finally offered Fafaru - the fermented raw fish they make there by letting raw fish sit in a jar of coconut water out in the sun for weeks or months.... He had been dreading it! But I think he also feels like he has officially been initiated into Tahitian culture, haha! He said it was so pungent and strong, and the smell alone was so strong and rancid that it pretty much made everything else on his plate taste like it too! But he ate it respectfully and now he can say he's had it, haha.

During our video chat with Jordan, Jared was able to look up where he is on Google Earth, and let Jordan show us around a little! We were able to see where the church building is that he's assigned to, where his house is, where the store is and where the area he serves is! It was so neat!! I am so grateful for technology that makes it feel like our boy isn't quite as far away, and we can actually see live images of where he is! It really is a small island, with only one paved road that goes around it, and dirt roads leading off from that to everyone's houses and everything else. And it's beautiful.

Here are some screenshots from our video chat:

The Island of Moorea is shaped like a Gecko foot! Jordan's church building is the red spot on the bottom left, and his area he serves is to the left of that. He lives over above the smaller red spot on the lower right side. 

And here are the pictures he sent!

The lady in the background is a member of the church who makes these hats for all of the Missionaries! She actually hand weaves them!

The husband of the lady who made them hats, holding a giant fish. This is the one who offered them the Fafaru.... ;)

Same guy...holding a pig head...!! I'm sure it'll become some kind of yummy dinner...

He didn't explain this pic...looks like maybe a wedding?

Pineapple farm! Fields of pineapple plants

This is so cool!! Its the blossoms of a pineapple that is just starting to grow! So pretty!

At the pineapple farm

 Sight seeing....

And I got my missionary name tag pictures! It's kind of a tradition to send pics of your name tag to your mom from wherever you are... and Jordan sent these!! I love them :)

Here is Jordan's email!

New companions!

Iaorana! This has been a good week, it was really sad to see Elder Bennett go, I'll miss him a lot, but this next phase will be a great learning experience as I have more responsibility. Im now in a trio with Elder Harker from Canada and Elder Mozos from France! It's going to help my French a lot haha :D A chapter I have been thinking a lot about is Alma 7 in the Book of Mormon, which is a great chapter for Christmas! A prophet named Alma prophecies of the birth and mission of the Savior, as well as things that we need to do in order to become more like Him. I invite each of you to read it and choose something that you are going to apply to your life. The scriptures are worth nothing if we do not apply what we learn into our lives. They are our greatest resources to learn what we need to do to return to live with our Father in Heaven again and become like Him. You will find more joy in them than you thought you could. I've seen that so much in my life and I know you will too :)

I love you all! Je vous aime beaucoup! Ua here au ia outou!

Elder King

L'amour du Christ

I'm two weeks behind on Jordan's letters! I really wanted to stay on top of this, but with Christmas here it got away from me. I am happy I could soak up time with family and loved ones though. Here is Jordan's email from Dec 16! 

L'amour du Christ

(The Love of Christ)

Iaorana toute la monde! (Hello everybody!) This has been quite a week, it started out pretty difficult with not a lot of people interested and a TON of cancelled lessons, but it turned out to be a week of miracles and we fixed a lot of lessons for next week, so Im excited about that. I'm doing really well, I'm understanding the vast majority of the French that people speak and am starting to pick out words in Tahitian when locals speak. I can understand Elder Bennett pretty well when he speaks Tahitian, at least get the main idea :) It's going to be really sad to see Elder Bennett leave on Thursday as he finishes his two years, he is such an incredible missionary, trainer, and disciple of Christ, and I have learned so much from him.

I have really felt the love of Christ this week, especially as I read the account of Christ coming to the Americas in the Book of Mormon in 3 Nephi, specifically chapter 17 verses 18-24. Christ loves each one of us so much. He weeps with us when we are sad and rejoices with us when we rejoice. He knows what it feels like to be frustrated or to feel forgotten or forsaken or rejected or unable to succeed or go on any further. He knows exactly what you are going through. Read that passage of scripture and feel His love, and then say just a prayer of gratitude and love in return. He is always there. He loves you.

Remember that this week.

Elder King

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

It's P-day!!

No call from Jordan this week, but he sent tons of pictures!!! He sent a really great email too!

 Last I talked with him, he hadn't been feeling well, but he said it wasn't too bad. I guess it turned out that it was the beginning of the Dengue fever :(  I was really hoping he would avoid getting that, but I guess it's pretty inevitable, darn it. I'm so glad he has a kind, compassionate companion who was good to him while he was sick, and that he's already feeling better. And I'm so happy he got a tour of the island the week before when he was healthy! Check out these pictures he was able to send today:

I love being able to get an idea of what it's like where he is - and wow it's beautiful!!

And here's the pic in the car of the church member who drove them around, 

with all of the pineapples! Haha!

Last week Jordan said they were always randomly given fruit and they had so much that their kitchen counter was full of it! Here's the picture:

Here is Jordan's email this week:

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

Iaorana! This week has been more on the tough side, I was in bed for a good portion of the week with the Dengue (it's official). But I used that time to study a lot, and I really learned a lot and grew spiritually, so it really wasn't too bad. But now Im excited to be back in full health and in the sector, Ive felt great the past couple days and expect that to continue. Elder Bennett has been very patient with me this week in helping me to feel better. He kept working as hard as ever and accomplished a lot, so Im really grateful for that. Wilfrid's baptism on Saturday was amazing!!! It was such a special experience. I know that he is converted to the Lord Jesus Christ and that he will continue in his conversion for the rest of his life. Now it's up to us and the ward to help him and give him everything he needs to be successful in this new phase of his life. Im SO excited for him! After he got out of the water and got changed and everyone else had gone into the chapel, it was just us waiting to go into the chapel, and he just looked at me in the eyes with the sweetest smile and said "Super!" :) Then he said to me "Je suis membre! Je suis membre!" He was so incredibly excited to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Christ's Church on the earth led by a prophet who receives revelation to lead and guide us through these latter days. I LOVE this church and the gospel of Jesus SO much. I know without a shadow of a doubt that it is true, and every single person who gives the Book of Mormon a try finds that out for themselves, too. Every single person! If you read in the Book of Mormon every single day and really pray with sincerity and humility to ask God if it is true, He will answer you, and your life will never be the same. There is more joy and peace and knowledge and direction awaiting you than you ever thought possible. Whether you're a member of the Church or not, read it! The scriptures open the door of revelation. God will answer you. 

Je vous aime beaucoup! Ua here au ia outou!

Elder King

Pictures:

There is a picture of a bunch of cereal and applesauce, thats what happens when you go to the store with 6 missionaries and get there only to realize its Black Friday

GIANT moth

Wilfrid at his baptism

6 weeks!

 We finally got to talk to Jordan this week!!!

We hadn't been able to talk to him on his last two P-days, and it didn't work out to talk to him on Thanksgiving either. So I was super happy we could talk to him this past P-day!

He told us that last P-day some locals drove him and his companion around the island of  Moorea and gave them a tour! He was able to see most of the island and some really beautiful sites! He took lots of pictures, and hopefully he will be able to upload those next P-day. I can't wait! I'm so happy that he's getting to see and experience the island!

He also told us that some of the other missionaries that he lives with have been really sick this past week, and a couple of them even had Dengue Fever. They call it The Dengue (pronounced "dang") there, and its an illness that you get from mosquitoes. It makes you very sick with fever, nausea, dizziness, and your joints hurt and you ache all over. You can't eat much or keep much down. It pretty much takes you out for a few days to a week. I have been praying that Jordan doesn't get it. There's no vaccine for it right now, but I heard they are working on one! Jordan said he was sick on Sunday with a fever and feeling really dizzy. But he wasn't nauseated and he was eating okay. He called us later in the day Monday because had still been resting that morning. He said he still had a slight fever, but he was feeling like he was getting better. Pray he can get better soon and it doesn't turn worse!

I asked Jordan what he was eating and if he was getting enough healthy food to stay healthy, and he said that he's eating well and that people give them so much fruit that he has a picture of their kitchen counter full of it and they can't eat it all fast enough! I'm so grateful for that. Jordan LOVES fruit.
He said for breakfast he usually cooks up potatoes and bacon pieces in a pan and then scrambles some eggs with them. For lunch they usually stop at the grocery store and get something to eat. They don't really have places to eat at where he is (the other side of Moorea is more touristy and has restaurants and things. Where he is there's mostly just houses and dirt roads!), but luckily the grocery store there has food they can easily grab. They aren't supposed to go back to their house until nighttime so they find it easier to buy their lunch while they're out, rather than bring some with them. I'm guessing with how hot and wet it is there, food wouldn't stay good for long in their backpacks. Then for dinner they usually eat at someones home, and it's always rice with some kind of meat, and various other things. Seems pretty decent I guess :)

We asked Jordan how much he rides his bike every day, and he said he didn't know, but to get to the area where he serves is 6 miles away from the house where he lives with all the Elders on the island. And then he rides around all day, and back home at the end of the day. Rain or shine! He actually loves the rain, he always has, but he says that there it cools everything down when it rains so he especially likes it! Tahiti is in the Southern Hemisphere, so it is summer there right now. Which means extra hot and extra humid. But it's also the rainy season, so that helps :)

Here's Jordan's email this week!:

Iaorana! 

It has been an interesting week, most of the elders in our house have been very sick, some with the dengue, but we seem to be doing better, so hopefully that will continue. I was really sick yesterday, I'm not sure what it was but I'm feeling a little better today and hopefully can be back to a full schedule tomorrow. The language is really coming along, I'm understanding more and more and am able to say more of what I want to say. We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday, so that is super exciting! It's such an amazing feeling to see someone change their life to be in harmony with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to see how much peace and joy it brings them. I'm really growing to love these people, they are so wonderful. Happy holiday season!

Na na!

Elder King

Zone Conference

In Jordan's last email I posted, he sent a picture of Tahiti from a boat on his way there to go to Zone Conference. Zone Conference is where all of the missionaries in a zone (several areas combined) get together with the Mission President, Brother Fox, and his wife and have a conference.

The Mission Presidents wife, Sister Fox, is really great at taking pictures of all the missionaries at Zone Conferences and posting them on the private Tahiti Mission Facebook page! I didn't even know Jordan was having Zone Conference, but I saw that Sister Fox posted a bunch of pictures, and I found Jordan!! I was so excited! He looks so happy and so good!

 I have to share the pictures with you because I just LOVE them! :)

Glad to see Jordan singing 

I'm always so interested to see what they're eating, haha! 

Jordan's towards the back in this picture

All of the missionaries in the whole zone! Which includes Tahiti and Moorea.

President and Sister Fox are sitting in the middle, and Jordan is 3rd row up towards the right side.

These are the Missionaries serving in Moorea! They had matching ties and dresses made  - so fun!

                            

The Elders from Moorea

Jordan and his companion

And a closer look at that face :)

 It's so good to see him looking so happy! And he has definitely gotten more tan, haha! I just love seeing him doing so well - he's beaming! And I'm so grateful  to Sister Fox for taking good care of the missionaries there, and posting lots of pictures for their moms :)