Families Can Be Together Forever!

I took a couple months off from writing this blog...though not from working.😊 The end of June was a time for celebration. Our son, Chance, was married to his beautiful bride, Jayci Haynie here in Tahiti on June 27th. All five of our children, and 3 of our grandchildren, were able to come for the wedding, which was wonderful! We also reached a milestone on June 30th...one year on the mission.

Before the wedding we spent time with the families both having fun (shopping at the Marché, eating at the food trucks, a little beach time) and preparing for the festivities. Many hands went into helping Rachel make the gorgeous cake (hard to do with a lame hand mixer as your only mixing tool.)

The day of the wedding was wonderful. We walked down to the Temple for the ceremony. We took pictures outside the Temple afterwards. Then we had a little reception for some of our Tahitian friends at the church behind the Temple. We walked up to our house for a luncheon with the family after that. (Notice how we walked to everything? where else could you do that?) We were able to share stories and thoughts about the newlyweds during the luncheon. We then went to a beautiful hotel for some Tahitian looking photos (our neighborhood isn't very picturesque). It was a truly beautiful day in all ways.

We were able to spend a few more days doing family activities...hiking, shopping, pool activities.

We have since had to say goodbye to all of our family...the last to leave was my mom and Hans, who stayed three weeks! 😍 What a boost to us here in Tahiti, to have so much of our family come and visit. It often feels very far away down here. Now all of our children know where we live and what it looks like.

We are back to doing our regular mission schedule. It seems easier, though, because of that time with the family. Truly, our reason for being here on a mission is to help people find joy in coming to Christ and thus being together as families for eternity. The most important thing, really the only thing that truly matters in this life, is our relationships. Our relationship with God and with our families and with our other loved ones. Everything else is temporary... our stuff, our positions, our worldly pleasures.

I am so grateful for my family. I am so grateful for Christ and His atonement for all of our sins, sorrows, and pains. I can't thank Him enough for giving me the chance to be together again with my family after this life. Life would be unbearable if I thought this would be the end of family relationships. Thanks be to God that it isn't...and thankfully I can testify of that truth.

I love you all!

A Transfer Cycle

We measure our lives by transfer cycles here on the mission. Every 6 weeks we have missionaries departing and arriving. We have different things happen each of those weeks between transfers. One week is dedicated to Zone Conferences; one is transfer preparation; two are interview weeks; one is usually travel somewhere; and one is actual transfers. We also fit in leadership council, staff meeting, and"free time" (hahahahaha!!😆).

For example:

Week one: April 23-25 was transfers...Monday started about 9 am with interviews and lunch for those leaving; seeing them off at the airport that night and welcoming the new ones about 11pm. Tuesday began with breakfast, a visit to the commissariat, then interviews and training of the new missionaries, and getting them connected to their first companions. Sometimes transfers last two days and sometimes three.

April 26th we held leadership council with our zone leaders and sister training leaders. This is a full day of training...interspersed with lunch of course.

The rest of that week was attending a wedding and baptism; speaking in church; and preparing for a trip.

Week two: April 30-May 5 was our semi-annual Mission Presidents' Seminar in New Zealand. Due to flight schedules we arrived a day early and left a day late. So we actually got a day to relax! (Auckland is beautiful!)

Auckland, New Zealand...not used to wearing sweaters and coats!

Devonport, New Zealand

Week three and four: May 8-11 and May15-18 are mostly interviews. Steven interviews each of the 150 missionaries face to face (unless they are on the islands, then it is by phone) every 6 weeks. This takes about 7 days...split over two weeks. I spend that time talking with the missionaries who are waiting for their interviews. Steven says I do the "real" interviewing. We drive to different parts of the island for the day and a zone or two (14-20) missionaries come to the church for their interviews.

We will be doing a mini transfer May 14 (one sister missionary is going home). May 16th is our staff meeting. We will be doing another leadership council on May 17.

Week five: May 22, 23, and 25 are zone conferences on Tahiti and Raiatea (we fly out to Raiatea usually just for the day). A zone conference is a day of training for four zones of missionaries (two in the morning and two in the afternoon...with lunch of course!) We have a total of 9 zones of missionaries.

Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27th we are staying in Raiatea for a Stake Conference and will be speaking in church that weekend.

Week six: May 28 to 31 we will be doing transfer preparation. Our two assistants, Steven and I  spend 2 to 3 hours at a time for about 4 days matching up new companionships. There are so many variables to take into consideration...a few being where the missionary has served before, how long they have served in their current area, their obedience level, how new they are, who can train a new missionary, who can be leaders, if Tahitian...where their families live, how well they speak French, who they have served with before, etc. The missionaries will be called with their new assignments Friday, May 1st.

Then, June 4-5th are transfers and the whole cycle starts over again.

Steven always has the 150 emails (one from each missionary) to read each week which takes him 8-12 hours (many in French.) We also do grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, and other regular life things. I do the meals for the transfers and leadership councils so there is that planning as well. (Zone conferences are catered.) There are usually illnesses or issues that arise every week with the missionaries as well so we seem to fill in the "extra" days very quickly.

So this is our life for now. Very different from regular life. It has become easier as time has passed, though. We are more used to the schedule and know the needs of most of our missionaries pretty well. They are truly amazing young adults!

We do this because we love the Lord and his children here on earth. And we love you all!

Our Neighborhood

Since we have now officially been here nine months I thought I should show a bit of our neighborhood to you all. We live in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. We live on a hill above the LDS Temple. Sounds very romantic and beautiful...and some areas have charm...but it is a city. And it is the tropics. And the heat and humidity of the tropics can be brutal on buildings and infrastructure. Most of the buildings in Papeete need a good coat of paint 😊. But I thought it would be good to post pictures of our Papeete neighborhood.

Our House:

This is our house.

Looking from our house northwest toward the Temple...can you see the statue of Moroni in the distance?

This is looking southwest from our driveway.

  It isn't the same home that I am used to but it is growing on me. I love the fruit trees in our yard...mango, banana, pomplemousse (which is grapefruit), lime, fig, and some new types of tropical fruits I didn't know about before. Still don't like the lizards but have made my peace with them as long as they stay outside and eat the bugs. And I now miss the chickens and roosters when they leave for a day or two (where they go I don't know).

The Temple:

a couple of photos looking down on the temple from our hill

Looking up the hill. Our house is at the end of this lane.

And here is the Tahiti Temple. Our lane is to the left.

 

The Temple Neighborhood:

Looking northwest from in front of the Temple.

Directly across the street from the Temple...Looking North.

The Mission office is through the fence. It is just a block west from the Temple.

Looking east toward the Temple...can you see Moroni above the auto shop?

Looking from the office toward the Temple (which is behind the auto store.)

So now you have a visual of our little neighborhood. It is an interesting mix of new and old, nice and run down.

And since it is Easter week I can't end without saying how much I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know he lives. I know that because of his sacrifice I can live again. Nothing I can do or say is enough to show my love and gratitude for that magnificent gift. That is the reason I am here...living away from my home and family for three years...in Papeete, Tahiti. He is the reason.

I have loved listening to this song, "Forever", sung by Nathan Pacheco, during this Easter season. I hope you can all sing Hallelujah as well.

Love you all!

Where it all began...

We visited the Australes a few weeks ago. This is the southern archipelago in our mission. It is also the place where the first LDS missionaries arrived in French Polynesia back in April 1844...the island of Tubuai (Too-poo-I) to be exact. This was the first foreign language mission of the LDS Church.

We were able to visit three of the five islands...Raivavae, Tubuai, and Rurutu.

Addison Pratt, first missionary in French Polynesia

Here are some pictures of our visit to Tubuai.

An early church building...see the lettering at the top.

This brother attended church in this building when he was young.

A monument to the early missionaries

An area referred to as "The Sacred Grove" on Tubuai. Prayers were given here by the early saints.

The early saints on Tubuai built this bridge to help them get to church.

Our lunch spot.

Gotta love those missionaries!

Exploring

Often times we end up with extra time on the isles due to the limited flights on and off the islands. So despite the fight we had with mosquitoes we were able to enjoy some of the beauty of the islands...

Just below our pension on Raivavae

Raivavae...a baptism had taken place here just two weeks before

On Rurutu

Exploring Rurutu

A grotte (cave) on Rurutu

The trip was almost a week long and it is always hard to be away from Tahiti for that long, mainly because of the lack of internet connection with our missionaries and all. But it was good to be in this  rich area of church history and meet the people here.

Sorry for the long delay between posts...I'll try to be better at updating this blog.

Love you all

Bonne année!

Happy New Year!

We had very different Christmas and New Years celebrations this year. Just not quite the same when you have a meeting with your assistants on New Years Eve 😄. It was wonderful having our son, Chance, here with us, though. The first of our children to visit. He helped make our house feel like a home 😊. We were also able to take a couple of vacation days and visit Moorea. What a beautiful island. We actually felt like tourists!

Looking across the pool at our hotel on Moorea...no we didn't get to stay in those little huts.

We also intertwined missionary work with touring Tahiti. We went to the south end of the island, Taravao, and had interviews with the zone of missionaries in the morning and toured the Presqu'île ("Almost Island"...that is the name of the small southern peninsula of Tahiti) in the afternoon. It is the first time we've been able to see all of that part of the island and it is beautiful.

The west side of the Presqu'île. This is where the big surfing competitions happen in the summer.

On the east side of the Presqu'île.

Found some waterfalls on the drive up the east coast of Tahiti.

Again along the east coast of Tahiti.

Another adventure we had while Chance was visiting was going on a Jeep tour across the middle of the island of Tahiti. Everyone lives along the outside of the mountain so there is only a rough road across the middle. You can only access it all with a 4x4.We saw a lot of waterfalls and beautiful foliage. It takes 7-8 hours, starting and finishing in Papeete, to traverse the island

Our jeep for the trip across Tahiti.

One of the best waterfalls we saw up close.

Having Chance here gave us the excuse to play tourist. We really enjoyed getting to know our island home more completely.

Chance has left and we are now back to doing missionary work full time. (8 hours of interviews today!) We enjoyed our holiday, learned a lot about our home here and felt the love of family and friends from afar.

We hope you have a wonderful, joyous 2018...filled with God's love.

Love you all!