Texan in Tahiti

IA ORA NA frommmmm....

RAIATEA!

(Ray-uh-tay-uh)

Raiatea is another island in French Polynesia so it was weird to leave Tahiti but I think I’ll be here until I finish my mission in February so that made it even weirder to leave Tahiti and all of the wonderful investigators and members in there. I didn’t think it would be as hard as it was but needless to say there were tears that were shed.

Soooo I wasn’t expecting the transfer to be one week in advance but the Assistants called us this past Thursday night to tell me that I was going to be transferred to Raiatea and that I would be leaving Sunday night. I was like, “what??” So let’s just say that this past week was CRAZY.

Not only were we on bikes and EVERYWHERE in the sector, but this past weekend we had to see everybody and I got to say a lot of goodbyes. Saturday, we had 3 faatamaraas. (3 dinner appointments) I felt like I was going to explode. Tahitians love to do big dinners when somebody leaves or for special occasions and they love to see the missionaries eat well so Saturday was a challenging day. My mind is all over the place so I’m not really sure what to write but I promise to send lots of pictures and write better next week :)

My new companion is Soeur Falesii and she's from Samoa! She is super nice and I’m excited to be her companion. Our house is in a neighborhood where there is only members and we have a cute little Mami (elderly woman) that lives with us and sleeps on our porch. Hahaha, that’s not a joke. Last night, in honor of my arrival, we all put our mattress on the porch and slept outside. Ha ha I know that I am going to LOVE it here in Raiatea.

Last night, when I arrived at the airport, practically the whole ward was there to send off Soeur Van Wagenen who finishes her mission tomorrow and so I met a whole lot of members and they were all super nice and welcoming.

Sorry this email is so scatterbrained...