E HAERE AU I PAPEARI

 Transfer!!

We got an email from Jordan Monday evening telling us he's been transferred!! This will be his first time changing locations while serving, and we were so anxious to hear where he would be transferred to! It could be anywhere in his mission - which boundaries are this:

It's a little blurry and hard to see, but the entire outlined area is Jordan's mission boundaries. The island of Tahiti is labeled in bold letters, and is the center of his mission. But it basically covers all of French Polynesia, from the Cook Islands to the Marquesas.

Here is Jordan's email:

Iaorana tatou! (Hello everyone!) I GOT TRANSFERED TO PAPEARI!!! It was SO incredibly sad to leave Moorea, but I'm so excited to be here. It's so different from Moorea haha. My new companion is Elder Rogers, he's hilarious, I'm pumped to get to work with him. Papeari is on the south-east-ish of Tahiti. And Elder Giles--my 2nd companion at the MTC--is in my district here! So that's gonna be super fun. I miss the people of Moorea so much, they are very special and I've grown to love so many of them. But there are more people to love out there! I know eventually it'll be sad to leave here too--there are people to love no matter where you go. Merci pour tout le soutien que vous me donnez (Thanks for all the support you give me), ua here rahi au ia outou.

Elder King

PS:

We also had two baptisms this Saturday! Two cousins Heia and Maria got baptized together on the same day, they are very close and it was a really special day for them. I got to baptize and confirm Heia, and Elder Ringger got to baptize and confirm Maria. I'm so excited for them, it was so hard to leave, but I'm so happy I got to be there to see them get baptized, I've seen them change so much and it's been such a special experience for me. Now it's time to grow to love the people of Mahaiatea :)

So Jordan is on the island of Tahiti! In an area called Papeari! Of course I had to look it up to see where that is:

I'm happy to know he's on Tahiti, where it's more of a city and there are lots of stores and food options and good technology for keeping in contact! I don't actually know what his area is like though, if it's touristy or more rural. I can't wait to talk with him on Monday (hopefully!) and ask lots of questions! 

It also warms my heart to hear how much he grew to love so many of the people on Moorea where he was. And that he had such a neat experience getting to see someone's life change for the better as they come unto Christ. My heart is so full <3

The Bananas Strike Back

Jordan had a situation with some bananas this week....he was given a big bag of bananas (he said like 30 bananas!), which he was trying to bike home with (haha), and ended up crashing ...twice! He landed on the bananas the first time, squishing all but 4 of them (hahaha) but they cushioned his fall nicely! So he left the squished bananas on the side of the road and continued home with the 4 good bananas in the bag. Then when the bag got caught in his spokes, he flew off his bike, bruising his shoulder and ribs on one side, and scratching the palm of one hand, but nothing major. He's laughing about it now - thankfully!! 

Here's Jordan's email from this week:



A Word of Counsel: Do not bike with an extremely heavy bag of bananas hanging on your handlebar. It's possible that you could lose control and fall off your bike, and then get back on and five minutes later, the bag could theoretically get caught in your wheel and make you fall off your bike again. Theoretically ;)

We've been teaching a lot about the Restoration of the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ this week to help members prepare for the General Conference this April. The prophet has said that each individual and family needs to prepare themselves for this upcoming conference by reading the account of the First Vision found in Joseph Smith--History, as well as by thinking of what your life would be like without the Book of Mormon. I am so incredibly grateful for the knowledge that I have because of Restored Truth through the Book of Mormon and modern-day prophets, and for the joy and peace and direction I have in my life because of it. I hope you will all do what you can to prepare for this next Conference too, including praying to know if the Book of Mormon is true or not, or even praying for a strengthened testimony if you have already received your response. If there are prophets on the earth today, we must know! It is absolutely imperative to know and listen to what they say. Just like Moses for the ancient Israelites, the prophets of today lead the Lord's people out of the hands of destruction and into the promised land. If we listen to them, we will not be led astray. We will find so much more joy and peace in our life and with our family, and we will know how to obtain all of the blessings that God wants for us in this life and in the life to come. Listen to the words of the prophets. God has never closed the heavens. The heavens have only ever been closed by men and their unbelief. God has always been willing to give revelation to those who are willing to receive it. For those who want to listen, there will be a General Conference broadcast on TV and churchofjesuschrist.org the first weekend of April where we will hear the prophets and apostles of God speak to us. What in incredible opportunity--I can't think of anything more important. All of their words from years past are available on churchofjesuschrist.org .

I love you all and think about you and pray for your well being more than you know :)

Elder King

He also said in a separate email:

I also got the Dengue again this week (second time's the charm), but it wasn't too bad. My companions gave me a priesthood blessing and it passed really quickly. Dengue mosquito.

He didn't send an email last week, but we got to have a short chat and he told me he had a bad headache and felt like maybe he had gotten The Dengue (pronounced Dang) Fever again. He told me in our video chat this week that he did end up getting it and he mostly just slept the beginning of the week. He recovered quicker than last time though, and got out on his bike again - and that's when the banana incident happened...

He seems happier than he has in a while when we chatted with him though! It was such a great chat and so good to see him laughing and joking and so happy :) 

I just love that boy of mine so! 

RAIN!

This week we just got a short reply to an email from Jordan. No group email and no phone call. I think he's been busy. And I'm so glad he's making time to have fun on his P-days!
And - he did upload some pictures!!

He replied to an email I had sent him earlier last week, saying,

 "I'm doing well, it rained HARD this week! Everywhere was like flooded! Haha it was insane but really fun too! Now its super hot and humid today, but we're gonna go play some basketball so that'll be fun! Its with all the missionaries on Moorea, 6 elders and 4 sisters. Its not competitive or anything, just shooting around, but its fun. At the chapel of Pao pao. Love you too!"

And then I saw the pictures he sent, and he wasn't kidding! It did rain HARD!
And he does look like he's having fun :)

If you look to the left in the background of this picture you can see the house built up on a mound and up on stilts. I'm guessing flooding must be a regular thing there. I guess it's bound to be on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean! 

They must have been driving around in it...

Crazy! 

Anyway, Jordan had Zone conference on Tahiti last week, and sent some pictures from the boat ride to Tahiti for that. I love that he appreciates the scenic beauty and wants to share it with us in pictures:

And we got a picture of Jordan with his new companion Elder Ringger!! 

On the boat to Tahiti

This must be some of the other missionaries that took the boat together to Tahiti. 

I love seeing Jordan's happy face!

At Zone Conference, the Mission Presidents wife takes some pictures and posts them to the private facebook page. There were only group pics this time where I had to search to spot Jordan. But I found him!! I LOVE having whatever pictures of him I can get! I love being able to get a glimpse of what he's doing and what it's like there:

All of the missionaries in Jordan's zone with the Mission President and his wife

They always feed them well at Zone Conference <3 

I'm so happy Jordan gets to sing there too

Wish I could see some video of the singing so I could hear his voice :)

I'm SO grateful for what technology he has there so we can get pictures and updates so often!

Les miracles

We got a short email from Jordan today, as well as a few pictures!

He was sad to hear about the Kobe Bryant and his daughter, and had actually heard about it there yesterday. News travels around the world fast. He said some people there follow our sports, and it was on the news there too so people knew. So sad.

Here is Jordan's email this week:


Les miracles


Iaorana tatou! It's been a good week, we've had a lot of ups and downs, but overall things are going really well. 1 Nephi 17:1-3. This Saturday we have a baptism planned, and she asked me to be the one to baptize her, I'm really excited. She has read to Helaman already after only a few weeks, and she brings her cousins to our lessons, and now they want to be baptized too! They asked us if they could be baptized before we could invite them! Haha. It's really been a miracle.  

I love you all and hope you're doing well.

A faaitoito!

Elder King

Pictures he sent:

Study Spot 

Tie passed down from Elder Peck (His MTC teacher), to Elder Mozos, to him

poulet citron (lemon chicken)  very, very popular there 

view of Tahiti in the distance

view from an ami's house they visited

Zone conference is this coming Wednesday, so he gets to take a boat to Tahiti and meet up with the other missionaries in his zone as well as the Mission President and his wife! Jordan is looking forward to it. I am looking forward to the Mission Presidents wife posting lots of pictures from it (hopefully!) 

two-fer (two for one deal)

We are catching up on Jordan's emails, so this week you get a two-fer! Last weeks AND this weeks emails!

Jordan is doing well and loving his new companion. He is from Virginia, but lives about 5 mins from Washington D.C. and the White House! They get along great, as well as the other new Elders who have moved in to the house where he lives. They all get along well and talk 80's music and Harry Potter, hahaha! One of the other Elders is from Paris France, and the other is from Alberta Canada. They've all be out on their missions for close to the same time, give or take a transfer too. Except the Elder from Canada has been out for 16 months. Can you believe that tomorrow marks 5 months for Jordan?! Next month he'll will be 1/4 of the way through!

He is enjoying it on the island of Moorea still, and the people there, but not so much the heat and humidity. The abundance of fruit is always good though! Last month it was pineapples, and today he asked me for Grandma C's best ever banana bread recipe because they have so many bananas they don't know what to do with them all! "And about a thousand Mangoes too" he added as well, haha...
We talked about different ways he could use them up, and he aid he really wants a blender so he can make them into smoothies every day - and I reminded him that he got some Christmas money he could use to get a blender and he said "Oh yeah!" and was excited! So hopefully he can get a blender soon :)

Here is Jordan's email from last week:                                                              Jan 13, 2020


3rd Transfer

Iaorana tatou! I got a new companion today--Elder Ringger! I'm excited to get to work with him. I was pretty sick yesterday, but Im doing better today. It gave me a good opportunity to listen to some talks by prophets and apostles and learn some things that I can do to become better in everything that I do. I stand along with the prophets and apostles in saying that God and His Son Jesus Christ live, they love you personally, and their prophets are on the earth to lead us and guide us through the years leading up to the Second Coming of the Savior. Read, listen to, and act on the words of the prophets, ancient and modern--never, ever take them for granted.

I love you all so much.

Elder King

And his email from today:       

                                                                                                                           Jan 20, 2020

Climbing Mountains

Iaorana! This has been a great week, I absolutely love serving with Elder Ringger. We've been working really hard, we've found a lot of wonderful people who are open to hearing the gospel and changing their lives to receive the blessings that come from keeping all of God's commandments. When you are willing to work hard and climb up mountains that others arent willing to climb, the Lord will show you His hand and you will see miracles.

Je vous aime, à bientôt!

Elder King

Jordan had a sick stomach for a couple of days last week, but is feeling much better now. He thinks it was from some pizza he ate. He said they really don't know how to make pizza...and he doesn't think they even have tomato sauce or mozzarella cheese! He's not quite sure what they put on it...he said maybe goat chhese and honey? Hmmm... anyway, it didn't sit well with him and he paid for it for a couple of days. All the raw fish he's been eating hasn't bothered him at all though! And he's actually grown to really enjoy it! I'm so glad he enjoying the food.  

I asked Jordan to send me a picture of him with his new companion Elder Ringger, so hopefully we will get that next time. He said they were going to travel around the island again today for P-day, so hopefully we'll get more pics of pretty sights there too! Next time :)

Finishing my training

We got to talk with Jordan today!

Jared was back at work, but Tyson & Ashley were home because it's a teacher work day so they're off school, and Nicole is sick today and stayed home from work, so she was home too - so we all got to say "see" Jordan and say hi! We even took a family picture :)

 Jordan is only companions with the missionary from France now that the other one completed his mission and went home. So it's just the two of them, and he is struggling a bit. This Elder speaks French, and so it's hard for them to understand each other sometimes, although it is helping his French to have to understand it and speak it even with his companion! But he said they don't connect like he and Elder Bennett did, and so it's been kind of hard. But he's doing okay, and there's a chance things will change in a week or so when it's transfers. Transfers happen every 6 weeks (after the initial training period of 3 months, or 2 transfers, which just ended for Jordan!) and that's when one or both of the missionaries in a companionship will get moved to another area, with another companion. So Jordan could be moving to another island with another companion! Or he could be staying on Moorea, and his companion could be moving, and he would get a new companion on Moorea. So we will see! 

Now that Jordan is with this companion, the area they are serving is farther away. They were given a car to use since their area is farther away, but one of the sister missionaries hurt her knee, and Jordan and his companion felt bad for her having to ride a bike around with a hurt knee, even though their area is closer, so they gave the sisters the car. So he is back on his bike. He said they are visiting a family tonight that lives about an hour away on bike! Hopefully they can get the car back soon. 

A while back Jordan sent us a bunch of pictures from a tour of the island that he took, and there was one picture that I didn't really know what it was so I didn't think too much of it. But I learned today that it was a picture of Vanilla beans growing!! That's so cool! Tahiti is known for Vanilla, and is one of the few places in the world that grows it! Apparently vanilla is very hard to grow, and needs pretty precise conditions. Each crop takes about 3 years to produce the vanilla beans we can buy from the store! That's why real vanilla is so expensive. Jordan was given some vanilla beans, ready to use, from someone at church and so we were coming up with ideas of how he could use them! I told him he could slit the beans pen and scrape out all the seeds, and/or he could just soak the whole bean in water or milk or something to infuse it with vanilla flavor. He said he wanted to make French Toast with all the eggs and Baguettes they have, and so maybe he would scrape some of the seeds into the egg mixture for those, or try to make some kind of a vanilla syrup for on top. Sounds delish! He said he would try to bring some vanilla beans home with him. I's so excited!! Real Tahitian Vanilla straight from the farm in Tahiti!! So cool! 

Here's that picture of the vanilla bean plant:

Jordan's email was really short this week, and no pictures. He said things were very slow over the holidays, but they have several appointments set up with people this coming week. They have been visiting with a 19 year old girl though, who has been interested in the church, and has been quickly reading through the Book of Mormon! She wants to be baptized on Jan 25 as long as she is ready by then! He thinks she could be ready by then, and she is experiencing changes for the good in her life already. And she even brought a friend to church with her yesterday :)

Here is Jordan's email:

Iaorana tatou! (Hello everybody!) This coming week is my last week of training, you do 12 weeks of learning the ropes and everything and then you are a normal missionary expected to know how to run things without a trainer as a companion! That's crazy! Haha. Not much to report this week, but the French is coming along and the Tahitian very slowly but surely (haere maru, haere papu). Bonne année à tous! (Happy New Year everyone!) Ua here au ia outou!

Elder King

E mea oaoa te mahana noela

Jordan is doing great and learning so much. He sent some pictures with his email this week! Enjoy:

E mea oaoa te mahana noela
(I can't translate Tahitian, sorry! haha)

Iaorana tatou! It's been a great week, I hope you all had a great Christmas! This week, we had the baptism of Wendy, which was a very special experience. I had the opportunity to speak at her baptism and voice her confirmation and give the gift of the Holy Ghost, which I have never done before so I was nervous (especially to do it in French!) but it was really wonderful. Acts 8:14-17. One thing I've been thinking about a lot is the authority and power of the priesthood. My companions and I gave probably over 10 priesthood blessings this week. As missionaries and priesthood holders, we are called on almost everyday--and sometimes many times a day--to give blessings to those who are sick, injured, or in need of comfort. I have blessed people with illnesses that are often deadly to be fully healed and recovered, and they have been. It is really a trial of my faith to put my hands on someone's head and bless them with full health, but when the Spirit confirms to my mind that it's the right thing to say, I have to have enough faith to trust that God knows this person and their situation and needs better than I do, and He has a more complete picture of His power than I do. I know I don't understand everything that the priesthood entails, but I know that with greater personal purity and holiness comes greater power to accompany the authority that we are given by the laying on of hands by those who have been ordained by God down a direct line from Jesus Christ Himself. For all men who are of age, be worthy of the priesthood, and then live your life in such a way that you can have power behind it. That is what God expects of us and needs from us, and your family needs it as well. Doctrine & Covenants 84:19-21.

I love you all.

Elder King

Pictures from Christmas!:

Opening his Christmas package from home!

Christmas breakfast: grilled fish, something I don't recognize haha, French baguettes, 

of course Coke (it's their special drink there)

 and Poisson Cru (raw fish with veggies in coconut milk & lime juice)

They made Yule Log cakes for Jordan and the other Elders!!

Baptism:

Pretty sights around Moorea: