No Entry So Far This Week

We haven't heard anything from Elder Molinari today.

New Assignment: Tiapa Paea, Tahiti

10 March 2014 Tiapa Paea, Tahiti 

Well, the transfer finally came. I was ready to go but at the same time not ready. I left Elder Demuynck, hopefully I showed him enough to get him started there. HE's not really a fan of the outer islands. He was on Makaemo before, and he absolutely detested it because everything is so slow in the islands. 

  

Frere Guillan et moi (mon pere faaamu) at the airport on Raiatea

My New sector, Tiapa, Paea, is really small. It’s the quartier that sits in a little valley. It actually reminds me a lot of Raiatea. It’s not the city, so most of the people are actually from the other islands, but are just living there because they can find work in Tahiti. So, still lots of Tahitian to speak :)

This is the view of the valley from our house. That is looking into the island.

In fact there are lots of people from the Tuamotus, so sometimes I try to understand what they’re saying then I realize I didn’t understand anything because they are speaking Puamotu. Either way the people here still have that islander feel, and they are super nice. So I’m not complaining.

It will be interesting to see what happens this next transfer, in 2 weeks all the new Americans are coming close to 30, and it will interesting to see if Elder Lovelock stays with me or if I get transferred again. Transfers are really weird here, 3 week transfers are not uncommon. The reason I got transferred was because the Elder that replaced me was serving in his own stake. Normally I think I would have stayed with Elder Demuynck until the end of March.

This is my new house. There's no air conditioning, but it doesn't matter too much.
I'm so used to the weather at this point it doesn't really faze me.

Living with the Zone leaders is awesome, but we are always late for things in the morning because there are 4 of us and only one bathroom! So it’s a little bit like home. We have hot water-but I have no idea why anyone would use it!

This is my bedroom. We sleep with everything open like that.

My bed is a looooooot better. I am now not sleeping in a giant hole, my back actually had to get used to a normal mattress again. We sleep with all the windows and doors wide open, so I just pray every night for protection from mosquitoes and miraculously, I haven’t had a single bite during the night yet and I don’t even sleep completely covered. So that’s really nice. Even after it rained they were not coming to bite me at night. What a miracle. Well it’s that or the fact the mosquito bites tend to swell up and disappear really fast for me now. It’s really nice.

I got the package, it was awesome! Thank you so much. The black pair of shoes are really comfortable. And I got the sandals and everything that was on the list. So no worries. 

My bike came as well, but I’m currently using the bike of the other zone leader in the house since it is infinitely better and they have a car. The roads in the qaurtier that we are in are not really roads but more of paths and there are rocks everywhere; large, oddly shaped, in-the-way rocks. It may be the bumpiest excuse for a road I've ever been on. The other Elders bike is light. My bike is heavy, and the difference is enormous. In my old sectuer I always had my bike on the highest gear possible; here it’s always next to the lowest. The roads and the quartier are like a labyrinth. I kind of feel like I’m in a large hamster cage. The first day when I didn't know where we were going, I was amazed how every road seemed to bring us to the same spot :|  .  After 1 day I now know the sectuer, it’s one of the smallest in the mission! Let's see how ill survive.

This is Elder Tahiata on the left and my companion, Elder Lovelock 

Elder Lovelock is Australian, and he arrived in the MTC group before mine. He's awesome and we get along very well. I think he’s from the south of Australia. We are doing more lessons in Tahitian now (because of me ;) ) and the language is progressing well. Hopefully by the 8 month mark in Tahiti, I’ll have it down, “e mea papu”, as they would say. 

This Sunday, I played the piano for sacrament meeting. Wow, that was stressful. I really need to stop playing that tiny excerpt of Chopin that I can play from memory. It makes people think I know how to sight read music. It wasn't terrible however, since I had some time to practice the night before. So that's a first. The chorister told me she was praying to send an elder that could play piano. So she is the reason I'm here! 

I’m getting transferred tomorrow.

3 March 2014 Uturoa, Raiatea

Hello!

I'm getting transferred tomorrow. I will miss Raiatea, but it gets a little tiring when you teach the same people for half a year with no progression. I’ve left the ward better than when I came, with the spirits help, and I’m going to be on Tahiti. Just outside out of the city – Paea. I guess you can call it the county and the city is Tiapa. My companion is Elder Lovelock an Australian. 

I literally know nothing about the zone, other than it's mostly sisters. There are the zone leaders, the district leaders then it's all companionships of sisters, about 6, I think? So it's a little different than your average mission zone.

Raiatea was awesome, but I'm looking forward to the change. I know I will miss here when I'm there. That's for sure. I think the missionary I'm switching with is currently serving in his home stake. That's the problem. But this transfer is enormous as well. Transfers here are weird. It's not like a normal mission.

Ariipaea et moi

This is my favorite investigator, he's a little bit handicapped and I'm gonna miss him a ton! He's got this weird condition with his skin as well where he can't really sweat. I think I'm the first missionary that's actually taught him and taken him seriously. He has all the 10 commandments memorized and he has memorized "I will go and do the things the Lord commands!" It's great!

Souer Guillan and Elder Purdy

We went on a hike to the 3 waterfalls of Raiatea, there are a lot more but theses are the 3 waterfalls everyone visits. It was a hike really similar to when we go to Letchworth or Stoney Brook.

Bamboo thicket

The jungle is pretty thick. We need bamboo like this in our yard.

 This is a Mapae tree or in Tahitian - tumu mapae

Big waterfall. In Tahitian - he'e pape (slip water)

This is 2. I didn't get to see 3. We didn't have enough time,
but apparently, it is bigger than this one.

In my new assignment I'll be in a house with the zone leaders. It's the 4 of us. Everyone says that's a blast. It's interesting; the general consensus here is the outer islands are awesome, but Tahiti is a little more fun because the work is faster and you get to see all the other elders and live in a house with other people. 

I'm not in the CITY city, just outside in what we would call Tahitian suburbs? We are on bikes . The zone leaders are in a car. 

I can speak in Tahitian now, kind of. It’s good enough that I can basically make it through a lesson, or first contact without getting too lost. I can have conversations with the mamis and papis and teach now. So the Tahitian is good enough that I’ll be able to progress at Tahiti. If you don’t speak any at all, it’s difficult to learn there. But if you already speak a decent amount you can find people that speak and get better. That’s what I plan to do. I kind of feel like a rebel missionary right now, because I’m not exactly on board with the new vision. 

The new missionaries arrive the end of March. I have a feeling I'm going to be there for 3 weeks and then train there.

Cargo ship that sails between Tahiti and Raiatea.
My luggage and bike will go to Tahiti on this.

I'll finally get my package from home when I get to Tahiti, I think.

Elder Demuyck is staying and he doesn't know everything he needs to. He has only been here two weeks and one of those we spent on Tahiti. I wrote everything down on a paper for him: all our investigators, all our contacts, all the numbers and all the families that work with us. The last few days I have been giving him a tour of our sector. 

I'm pretty sure they  have AC in Tahiti. All the houses in Tahiti have AC pretty much. My face is red because we spent a lot of time on our bikes this week and ONE day I forgot to put on sunscreen. GAH! Oh well, the second coming will happen before I can suffer from skin cancer at a good old age. 

It's a bummer I only served with Elder Demuynck a couple weeks. We have almost exactly the same mind set and vision. And almost all the same interests. He will actually come out with me and look at the stars. Last night it was incredible, you could see the arm of the Milky Way galaxy! The camera can't quite capture it though. It's sad. Things like that you can only see to experience it.

Ok, well I have to go! 

Love you all! I'll email you again from Tahiti xD

A Week On Tahiti

24 February 2014, Uturoa, Raiatea

OK, this week I wasn't in Raiatea at all. We left Tuesday and we got back Saturday. It was AWESOME!

It has been a while since I left my sectuer. We stayed at the house in Faripiti, I think, with the assistants and the zone leaders of Papeete. It was super fun. I'm not sure why it was so fun, it just was.

Anyways, the reason we all went to Tahiti, "tous la monde" (ed. note: all the world or the whole world went), was because Elder Nelson came to visit us. He is one of the 12 Apostles. We had a special meeting with him as well as President Callister and Elder Pearson. Their wives were there as well. They all gave talks. They were pretty powerful. 

Sister Nelson talked about the premortal life, and talked about how when we study certain topics that resonate with us, that may have been one of your specialties in the premortal world. Also, she cited a quote from Joseph Smith that said, "If you could look into heaven for 5 minutes, you could learn more about a subject than studying it your entire life."

Elder Nelson said some pretty awesome stuff too. He said, "If people don't accept our message, it's because they aren't from the House of Israel." It was pretty interesting, but kind of harsh at the same time. He also told us to read 1 Nephi 15. He cited a few scriptures in it pertaining to the Abrahamic Covenant. He said all of the prophets have prophesied about this generation. We are the generation that has the opportunity to FULFILL THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. Then he kind of hopped on the podium and threw his hands up. It was pretty funny.

Yeah, so read 1 Nephi 15 carefully. I don't remember much else right now. I'm really tired. 

In Tahiti, the traffic is craaazy! We ate at McDonalds too much; they call McDonalds "Macdo". When you eat there you have no regrets, except later, when you recreate the Hoover dam in your intestinal track. 

Well, I don't really want to end the email with that thought. What else? 

Oh, I'll be getting transferred next transfer (ed. note: end of March), but I don't know where. We'll see. 

I love you all!!!!

Wish I could watch the Olympics!!!

Love, Elder Molinari

We had a baptism this week!

17 February 2014 Uturoa, Raiatea

We had a baptism this week! Woooooooooooooooooooo

It's been a while.

Alice et moi. Her son, who baptized her is to the left.

The baptism was nice. It's always nice to have a baptism every now and then as a missionary. Although, we had to do it twice because her son, who was baptizing her, didn't put his arm that she was holding in the water. Then after, I completely forgot to tell her that the reason we had to do it again was because she wasn't completely submerged. It was a really special moment for her son. 

After, she bore her testimony. It was REALLY short, but powerful. She got up. Thanked everyone. Then said, "aujoudhi, je suis contente." (Today, I am happy.) And that was all. It was a really nice baptism.
  

My new companion, Elder Demuynck. This is the airport in Raiatea. 
Everything you can see is the airport. It's very small. No security checks, nothing. 

My new companion is Elder Demuynck. He is from Paris and he's totally awesome. He's definitely a lot stricter than my other two Tahitian companions, but I think I need a little bit of rigidity in my life right now. In fact, he's actually a lot like me. We have tons of similar interests. However, the problem is, sometimes we go to bed late...cough, cough.

He speaks French really well! I realized the difference between Tahitian French and Parisian French this week. He arrived on Wednesday. He’s been serving for 18 months now, and its been mostly in Tahiti, he did 2 months in the Tuamotus, but other than that its been just Tahiti. So...he doesn’t speak very much Tahitian. Well he doesn’t speak Tahitian. So its been awesome, all the Tahitians speak Tahitian with me. He actually wants to learn it now, since everyone around him speaks it. Its REALLY hard to learn Tahitian if you are on the main island, so he’s going to take advantage of it while he is here. His father is French and his mother is Guadeloupéen. Except for the fact that his eyes are blue/green, he might pass as a native (Well that and maybe gain 100 pounds!).

It's really nice, because he eats breakfast like me, just a little. So we won't be spending tons of money on food. He wants to be a Manga artist when he returns home. So he has an imagination like mine, so we just talk and talk. But we work as well! He is a super hard worker. He's been a zone leader for most of his mission. I think he got transferred here to learn Tahitian;) He teaches really well too. No complaints yet xD 

"Jungle"

I think I'm going to be transferred in March when all the new Americans come. I think maybe I was just here for Alice. I gave her several very powerful, poignant blessings and even her stubborn husband consented to a blessing. Heavenly Father had a lot to say to Him.

The ward attendance has jumped by about 50+. The reactivation night is now set nicely in place with the bishop who presides and leads it - not the missionaries. I think Elder Demuynck will train here when I get transferred. OR I will stay and train. I think it's one of those two options.

Not Going Anywhere

10 February 2014 Uturoa, Raiatea

Transfers are this week. One of us is leaving and it isn’t me. Elder Tumarae will be going to Faa’a which is on the main island of Tahiti, just about in the middle of Papeete. I think I'll be here forever. It was a little surprising, but I'm not going to complain. Our house is the only house outside of the main island that has an air conditioner! And there is still plenty of work for me to do here. Elder Tumarae is sad to go.

My new companion is a Francaise, Elder Demeuoyk. I have no idea how to spell his name but it's something like that. He has been out for a year and doesn’t speak any Tahitian. So it’s good that I’ve been focusing on it for the past few weeks.

We have a baptism scheduled for this Saturday. It is an old mami who has been meeting with the missionaries for a long time. She knows more about the church than many of the members do. Her husband is not a member and refused to give permission for her to be baptized. But miracles happen! He decided to start reading the Book of Mormon with her and after two fasts and lots of prayers, he said yes. She is very excited and we are too.

This is the beach next to the Murae

Last Monday we went on a trip to visit Taputapuatea Marae on Raiatea. We can't go to other islands, but we were going to take a boat with Guillian out to the little motus that surround Raiatea. President said yes, but the Soeurs couldn't come. So we decided to visit the Marae instead. It was a shame, but I guess it would be unfair to leave 'em out. 

These are some of the ancient temple sites overlooking the sea.

Marae are the big stone courtyards and temples the ancient Tahitians built for worship and sacrifice. They are made of volcanic rock. All these sites are relatively close together. You can probably find them on Google maps. These are on the east side of the island, south of where I am in Uturoa. They are the oldest in all Polynesia. Raiatea was the first island to have people on it. 

Super old, eerie, creepy tiki at the site

In fact, the proper name is Ti'i, but I think everyone turns the glottal stop into a "k" 

Here is what it looked like when the explorers first got here. This is on a billboard near it.

This is me in a coconut tree

They are really easy to climb. After climbing, I got us a couple coconuts, which is tricky because you have to change your weight so you are balanced on one hand, and then spin the coconuts with the other without having them drop where you are. 

Here is a stereotypical beach shot. I thought it looked nice. It's a little bit of warmth for everyone that's stuck in the cold right now! 

Elder Molinari

A few Pictures this week

 Rainbow over the chapel

The plateau behind Guillian's (Huahine is in distance)

The cars here are all 2 people wide. 

But of course, there are three of us in the back seat.