Texan in Tahiti

Bonjour Tout Le Monde!!

This past week was super great and I've now hit the point where my weeks are starting to mesh together and I can't remember what has happened this past week but I will try my best to remember everything important!

First of all, to answer the question- What have I eaten?

Found a coconut on our morning run and tried to open it but failed. Fr. Wong promised to show us how to open a coconut. Thank goodness!

The food actually hasn't been too bad and I've actually surprised myself at how willing I have been to try everything! A famous Tahitian dish is Poisson Cru which is like raw fish mixed with veggies and what not? I have no idea how to describe it but I've had that a few times in a few different ways and It's actually not too bad! I'm definitely a texture person and I don't love the texture of raw fish but it's not too bad and I'm getting used to it! A lot of people serve like pasta and like a soup sort of dish with meat and cream. It's usually not too bad but its so heavy and so usually I just try my hardest each meal to eat as much as I can (because let me tell you- Tahitian kids really know how to do down some food! Its like they haven't eaten in a week! lol).

Our dog, Zeus, begging for food.

This is what a pineapple plant looks like. So cool, right?

There is always a baguette at every meal which I love. Tahitians are always about different kinds of juice or like water with different syrup flavors. They're usually pretty good so I like to try the different kinds but have gotten a lot more cautious after I poured myself a glass of a bluish green one that tasted like straight up watered down mouth wash. I got so mad at Soeur Carter for letting me pour it but we had a good laugh later because I really could only get like 3 sips before I had to stop to prevent myself from gagging. Soeur Carter is like later- "Some people like it!" Ha ha and I'm just like yeah, who?! Ha ha companions are the best. We really get some good laughs in sometimes.

Other than the food, I've really started to get used to the culture here. There are some things I love about Tahiti and other things I see that really make me grateful for my upbringing and that I came from such a good family in America. I see a LOT of broken families which is hard to see, but it only makes me want to help them so much more. The only difficulty is that since so many people come from broken homes, there is almost no example of what is right and so its just a vicious cycle that never ends. Thank goodness this gospel is true and brings so much joy because it really is the best gift we can bring to people.

Soeur Fisher and I at the fireside (and the photobomb lol)

Soeur Carter and I at the fireside. People just hand out leis at events like firesides. IT'S THE BEST!

I had an interesting experience yesterday when we went to the house of one of our amis for a lesson but he wasn't there. He's a fisherman and is hardly EVER home and so it's hard to catch him at home especially since he doesn't have a phone. So we were pretty sad his appointment fell through, but we just decided we would visit someone else. I had the impression to visit an inactive member, Teina who lives practically at the end of our sector even though she usually works. I couldn't understand why but we went anyways to see if she was home. She ended up not being home buttt on our way back, we decided to stop and set an appointment with another ami that we hadn't planned on seeing that day. We set an appointment and ended up staying for a while talking to our ami and his wife. They were so nice and fed us too so that was an unexpected surprise. As we were sitting there talking to him and his wife, I just couldn't shake the feeling that I felt like I knew this woman. It was so bizarre but I really do feel like she is someone I was meant to meet here. She is a very strong member in one of the break off religions of Mormonism (can't remember the name) so who knows what will happen with her, but I really feel like I need to bring the true gospel into her life. It was a real testimony builder of the plan God has for each of us and how important each person we meet is in our lives.

When it rains a lot, waterfalls appear! So beautiful!

Other than that, things are going well in Papara! Its been VERY humid the past couple of days but today it is perfect island weather so we are happy about that :)