Elder Jenkins: IAORANA!!

Hello!! How is everyone! I feel like I just barely wrote to ya'll! I'm convinced that missionary time goes by WAY faster than regular time cause the days are just flying by! I've been in Tahiti for 3 weeks now!!

Me with my companion Elder Tekurio!

Ok so things about Tahiti

It's super duper hot here! I pretty much haven't stopped sweating since I arrived. Which has taken a while to get used to, but now I barely even notice the stickyness or the constant dripping from my forehead. It's pretty hard to stay clean when you're biking through dirt roads in the hot sun! Mostly the humidy is nuts. Which is kinda cool cause I've only really ever lived in Utah where it's always super dry!

It smells like a lot of things. The ocean, sewers, cigarettes and weed, flowers, sweat. Haha it's great.

The music here is awesome!! You hear people with little speakers walking around all the time. Mostly it's American pop songs, but remixed to sound "islandy." Also! People play lots of music here and I've seen people walk around with ukuleles and guitars all over the place. They have lots of little jam sessions playing island Tahitian songs and it sounds so cool! They play not regular ukuleles, but Tahitian ukuleles. They are played the same, but have 8 strings made of fishing line! Weird sound. And they play them so fast!!! holy cow! I'll try to take a video one of these days. But I've been able to play a lot of guitars here just at members houses and that's been a HUGE blessing! I miss so much! We mostly just listen to church music. Tahitians I live with jam hard to Christian Rock. It's pretty awesome lol.

It's super super pretty. At least parts! There's lots of graffiti, sewer smells, dead animals, and all that good stuff. But we get to exercise at a members house right next to the ocean so I get to see that every morning!! But overlooking the different parts of the island is really beautiful. And there are lots of mountains! So it's really not that different from Salt Lake!

Lots of pretty/ common views I see every day

The food here is SOOOOO GOOD. So we mostly eat fish (raw) and chicken! So that's awesome! Probably cause they're pretty cheap. (because the ocean is 3 mins away and there are chickens literally all over the place). And we get fed by members EVERY NIGHT! So to say the least I've eaten a lot here! Definitely much fatter than when I left on the mission. Whenever I complain to anyone about gaining weight they just smile and say "welcome to the mission." They sell French baguettes everywhere you go for 53cents and it's incredible. The best bread ever. So that's always the go-to because we don't have a ton of money for food! But I'm not complaining cause I LOVE.

There's a CREPE STAND IN OUR SECTOR!!!! DO YOU UNDERSTAND. I was so happy when I found that out. So we get crepes there a lot and the lady who runs it is so nice and sometimes gives us free crepes!! The Lord really watches out for us! People here are so so so nice. They just give everything to you. Their way of showing friendship is by giving you food!

The fruit here is unreal. By far better than anything like ever. Pineapples and Mangoes for dayyyzzzz. Also I ate a coconut! Elder Teamo knocked it off a tree for me and bashed it open and I partook of it's blood. It was fizzy like carbonated! I don't even know how that works but it was cool.

Also I finally had the infamous fafaru. For those who don't know what that is, it's raw fish. That is left out in the sun for a while, and is then placed in salt water for about 10 days. Then you eat it. Why? Because you can. It tastes like death. But who am I to judge.

Life here is super fun. Sometimes I just stop and think to myself "what the heck am I doing!?" Cause it's quite a culture shock sometimes! Whenever I meet someone who speaks English I have to pause and adjust back to my native language. I really really hope I remember how to talk when I come home!

We are always doing something. Studying, teaching lessons, biking to lessons, helping with ward activities, trying to find people to teach etc. And I love it! It's super exhausting but I really enjoy having a full day every day. No wasted time. It's lots of work but it really pays for itself. Seeing investigators find the joy of the Gospel is amazing. Love it.

We also do fun stuff here! All the missionaries are super cool and it's fun to talk with them. And we go fishing on occasions! The fish are all super pretty with lots of colors. I just use a pole with a line literally tied onto the end and somehow I still catch lots of fish. I love Tahiti!

"Mon Poisson et Moi" - A love story

Spiritual thought!! So I'm reading the Book of Mormon over again, and I've hit the section in Alma about Ammon, Aaron, Alma etc. And it's super helpful cause they were like the best missionaries of all time! And what I've learned is that success comes through patience and enduring through hardships, and lots and lots of prayer. It's night and day difference when we forget to pray before teaching or contacting. Prayer is the key to success. And I think that's the case with a lot of things too. Because Heavenly Father loves us. That's probably the biggest thing I've come to really know on the mission. He loves us soooo much and will bless us and give us so many things if we let Him. You just gotta ask and have faith. And then be grateful for the blessings you receive.

Thanks again to everyone who writes me, ya'll are literally THE GREATEST!

All the loves,

ELDERRRRRR JENKINSSSSSSSS