Transfers

Hey everybody! Hows it goin! Its goin good here in paradise! 

 

Elder White left yesterday for Papeete. He'll be home in Provo by Wednesday. My new comp is Elder Palombo from Spansih Fork Utah. He's awesome and he will be finishing in August and then going home. This week was awesome! We taught a good amount of lessons and we have some really cool investigators! 

 

Firstly, we had Manutea's baptism Saturday. It was amazing! The Spirit was really strong and his family is interested in the lessons now. They said is was so much better than the baptisms they've gone to before for people of other  religions. Elder White got to baptize him in the ocean. Lucky dog! 

 

We fixed a baptism with Moerava one of our other investigators. She's getting married in july so her baptism will be in august. She's become a really smart and hardworking investigator. She reads everything she can get a hold of on the gospel Library app. She even read a little bit of Preach My Gospel. 

 

Everything's going really good here. It's really cool to see people recognize the different spirit and atmosphere of this Church. Its sometimes hard for us to recognize the Spirit cause we are so used to it but people who have rarely felt it get hit with extreme amounts of joy and peace. It testifys to them that this is the true Church. 

On a different note, some of the things my family was asking about when we skyped on Mother's Day were: 

Where do you live on the island? 

We live in a little house on the more populated side of the island. We don't have air conditioning and we have to keep all the doors and windows shut tight because people like to look into our home and for security reasons. It makes our home extremely hot and humid inside! We don't have a shower inside the home so we shower outside with a hose. There's and old Chinese man that watches us, but whatever! 

How big are the branches on the island?

There are two branches, the Avatoru branch and the Tiputa branch. We have to take a boat to the Tiputa part of the island everytime we go over there. The Avatoru branch has about 100 members, but only 40 attend church. The Tiputa branch has about 20 members and 10 attend church. When we're at the Tiputa branch it's like the "LDS elders show". We bless and pass the sacrament and then we give the talks in sacrament. Oh, and I also play the piano for all the hymns. We're going to ask President Bize to send some "senior couple missionaries" to that branch to help build up the priesthood leadership.

Are you always sweaty?

YES! We are constantly wet and sweaty!! There's no avoiding it. It rains everyday and it's hot and we're in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 

What language do you speak the most of on the island of Rangiroa?

We mostly speak French, but we also speak Tahitian to a few people. The younger generation of French Polynesia doesn't know how to speak Tahitian as well as the older generation. What you'll find in a family is that the children only speak French, the parents speak mostly French, but also Tahitian, and the grandparents mostly (or only) speak Tahitian, with a little French. 

Those are just a few of the questions I've been asked. 

 

I love you all! Talk to you next week!!!

Love,

Elder Porter

   Me and Elder White at the airport saying goodbye as Elder White flies home to Utah!