Office insanity

     I don't have much time. The branch of Takaroa is here going to the temple this week and today we did "tour-de-l'île" with them and it was awesome to be able to spend time with everybody I know from Takaroa!! So happy to have done that but now I'm sunburned and don't have much time but it's worth it. 

     The baptism went so great! He's doing really well and his parents who were not alright with the baptism before have even changed their minds and almost came to his confirmation!! It's one of the greatest blessings in the world seeing a change like this in a person. 

     We have another baptism this week!!! She had her interview yesterday and it's good. SO cool!! 

     I've had an insane week this week at the office, everyday was a nightmare of things to do and some days I would be so stressed I dream about the things we have to do and don't sleep well at all. I think it's all calmed down now but this last week was INSANE!! 

     As for Christmas, if all goes well I should be online at 12:00 my time. NOON. I forget what time that is there because of the whole daylight savings thing. Talk to you soon!

-Elder Clements

You wrecked the truck?!?!

    Ya I wrecked the truck. Well... not the whole truck, just the bumper. It wasn't my fault either. I was stopped in traffic when all of the sudden BANG!!! we got rear ended by a guy whose foot got stuck under the pedal and couldn't brake. No ones hurt except the truck. But the Lord has blessed us with insurance so all is well.

     Other big news is we have a baptism on Saturday!! SO pumped. The Lord has really blessed him and has helped him gain a testimony and overcome trials in his life to be able to get to this point. I'm excited to see him enter into the waters of baptism and all the blessings he'll receive after.

      

     Other than that this week we were super busy and could barely get it all done. Last Monday I got home at 1:00 in the morning from picking up and dropping off missionaries at the airport and slept in for the first time in a year and a half. It was really insane. Last Monday was one of the craziest days of my life I think. 

     Another worldly pleasure is that we got a new phone. There's a myth that missionaries can't have smartphones well ya right. Our new phone is the Samsung Galaxy J1 which is 2legit and makes the million calls a day we have smoother than silk. Thanks President!!

     Other than that y'all I don't have much time. Just know that every day my testimony grows that God lives and that His plan is real and that Jesus Christ is our Savior. It's simple but it's so wonderful. I'm one of the most blessed people on earth to be able to be a servant of the Lord! Love you all, have a great week!

-Elder Clements

This is how the Mormon's buy bikes!

     

Busiest day ever!

So ya today was one of the busiest days I've ever had. Today is transfers and 9 missionaries are leaving and 12 are coming in.

At the airport...shipping and receiving ;) 

     I, Elder Clements, being born of goodly parents, woke up this morning and was mis-led enough to think I would have a P-day today. After cleaning the house and getting ready we set out for the mission office. Upon entering this establishment I found a scene not unlike that of the New York stock market!! All the missionaries that were leaving needed their things treated for sending back to america, about 20 other transferred missionaries and their baggage cluttered every room and hall, and we needed to get it all there before 11:00am My companion disappeared with Elder Boyd to go run a favor and so I was left to deal with this mess alone! By some miracle, I got every one to get their things all in one place, wrap it up and fill out their papers and get it all to the fumigation by 11:00am. Then we had about a million pieces of luggage to drop off at the boats, move some bikes around but we finally have a break. It'll recommence at 8:00pm tonight to take the returning missionaries to the airport with the assistants and president, and pick up the new missionaries from Provo. We should be back home by about 1:00 in the morning. Tomorrow will be the first time I sleep in, since a very long time ago. (approved by president, don't worry)

    

    OTHER THAN THAT, I had a pretty calm week. Yesterday we fixed 2 BAPTISMS!!! The first time in my mission I've fixed two baptisms in a day. One will be baptized the 17 December at 9:00 AM. This guy has really seen the hand of the Lord reach out to him this last couple months. He's had a great welcome from the members into the ward and really has felt the love of God through them and now really wants to get baptized. He doesn't understand everything but enough to get him started. SUPER pumped about that! He doesn't miss a Sunday or a church activity. The other one is getting baptized the 31 December. He still has to start coming to church before then but other than that, he's good. He stopped drinking coffee and he's getting married on Friday. 

     Well I don't know what else to say, my brain's pretty fried for today. And with that I make an end of my speaking, amen. 

-Elder Clements

18 Months

   

    I'm officially on the six month count down!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the heck happened?! That last six months felt like a week. The sisters that I started with are going home next week! I'm just gonna keep truckin for this last 6 and ramp up my efforts and faith even more than before.

     It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Everyday the mailbox is crammed full of letters and "go get your package cuz it's too big to fit in this box" slips. About 20 packages a day!!  This causes no problems getting the packages to the missionaries of Tahiti but for the elders in the marquises and the Australes, and the Tuamotus, the only way to get their load of packages to them is by boat. So ya we spent hours this week whipping our Hilux around the docks on Papeete throwing boxes of all shapes and sizes into various storage containers to be shipped off. Next week is transfers so It'll be even busier.

Cleanin' the truck

     Friday was good too. We did a split with the zone leaders just like bro. It was also black Friday which sadly has seeped into Tahiti this year. The split went well. I got super sick for about an hour which was excruciating but passed miraculously fast. It really was a miracle so that was cool. After that I was able to completely enjoy the split and get rid of the stress I'd had all week. Elder Paxman who I was with goes home next week! 

      Yesterday was our primary program and it was awesome! Everybody felt the spirit and we had tons of investigators at church. One comes every week now and is most likely getting baptized very soon but we STILL don't have a date.  I've gotta go now, we're going shopping in Papeete with E Paxman because he's going home next week. See y'all!!

-Elder Clements

The arm of the Lord

The Zone

     This week went pretty well. Nothing too big happened except for our zone conference with a member of the 70, Elder Cardon. We had a big meeting on Thursday with our zone, Mahina, Papeete, and faaa, and he, his wife, president and sister Bize gave us some really edifying training that was also fairly humbling.

     Elder Cardon was talking about faith. He told us all that he would call a few of us to talk briefly about what the Lord has taught us about listening to the Holy Ghost. He asked those who were alright doing that to stand up in faith to volunteer. About 7 people stood up not including me, I figured that was pretty good. The thing was that Elder Cardon looked shocked at the turn out. He proceeded (in a fairly chastising manner) "Help me understand why no one is standing up!!" "You are the arm of the Lord, telling people every day to act on their faith to keep commitments! But you don't have enough faith to stand up in a zone conference?!" It was complete shock to everybody there but everyone realized that it was absolutely true. Even Elder Cardon was shocked and he didn't even finish the rest of his planned talk but instead talked about faith and WHY we don't act on impressions from the spirit. It was a REALLY good reminder how important it is to act in faith. It's true that as missionaries we ARE the arm of the Lord reaching out to bless the families of the earth as promised to Abraham. We need to be instruments in his hands. 

     So other than that, this week was pretty slow as far as missionary work and busy @theoffice. Saturday was extremely stressful because we had ended up with multiple things to do at the same time which is physically...very hard to do. Somebody needs to add another hour to the day! I did another baptismal interview this week and we had all the Elders from Moorea (the island next door) sleep at our house because they were there for the big zone conference. Those guys are nuts!! But ya that's pretty much it. We still haven't seen any snow fly yet. I'll let you all know when it hits. I've found a new hobby, I'm taking a drive around Utah via google earth. They've really improved their technology lately. So ya that's about all. 

-Elder Clements

playing Petanque

One year older and wiser too

     

     So ya this week was fairly eventful seeing as how I started writing down what I did this week so I can remember when it comes time to send emails. I don't know how many other things are lost in history because of a lack of doing so. I turned TWENTY this week! How weird. For my birthday it was a pretty good day for missionary work: 6 lessons and some investigators that are practically begging to be baptized. It was really hot and humid too because it's been raining like crazy and it's summer now.  We celebrated my birthday with the Atiu family that night because they found out it was my birthday. It was really great.  They even made me a cake and poisson cru which I thought was super thoughtful!

The Atiu Family

     OH MY MY! OH HEY HEY! HERE HE COMES, THE PRESIDENT!! That's a lumineers song I've been singing all week cuz we've got a new president!!! Messieur Donald Trump!! Trump in french is pronounced like "trompe" which means to deceive. That's literally all I have to say about that. Even in Tahiti that's all everybody is talking about is the fact that Donald Trompe is the president. LOL!!

     On Friday we took a trip to the exact opposite side of Tahiti to Taravao. I swear everything that goes wrong, goes wrong over there. Turns out the sisters locked their bikes in a storage unit and then lost the keys to the storage unit...so of course we had to go down there to get them out. Driving down there took forever because it was a standard tropical rainstorm and even with the wipers on all the way we had to slow down to about 20 because I couldn't see anything!! We finally got there and the sisters showed us the storage unit. I tried to use nonexistent lock-picking skills to open it but clearly that didn't work. We ended up having to take off the sheet metal walls on the side and slide the bikes out the slot. All this in the pouring rain BUT it worked and the sisters can stop walking to all their lessons. We had some other stuff to do on that side of the island and took the other way to get home so we drove around the entire island and spent about 3 hours total in the car.

On Thursday I had another opportunity to do a baptism interview for a young man. This kid was way cool and ready to be baptized and it turns out he has the same birthday as me!! The day after I went to his baptism and it was one of my favorite baptisms ever. His testimony was very powerful and showed that God really helped him get to this point. 

     We found a couple really potential investigators this week too. One is the girlfriend of an inactive member in our ward who is really interested in this church and why it's here, what the missionaries do, etc. She even talked about baptism. The other one is a girl that has been taught before but seems to have changed a bit since the last time. She lives in a house that is pretty much Babylon itself. It's only her brothers and sisters but because the parents have basically left these kids alone (they don't even live in the same city) most of these kids from 15 to 25 ish participate in about everything they shouldn't. They even have a small marijuana plantation behind their house.  However she is the most level-headed of them all and doesn't participate in any of that stuff and instead would like to come to church and will go to France next year for school. super cool!

     A sad piece of news is that I had an allergic reaction to mangoes this week! SO not cool although the symptoms aren't too severe and I think It's only one type of mango. My lips just itch and burn and my eyes too but that's nothing benadryl can't kill right? So there's my week. I heard bro's story. THAT was something. I've heard some good possessed stories but that takes the cake! Have a good week love you all!

-Elder Clements

                         Still at the office...

More Pizza?!?!

     
     Well hello everybody from the mission office in Papeete, French Polynesia! I had a fairly good week though mighty stressful as well with all that we have to do. We went all the way to the other side of the island again this week to deliver stuff and inspect a potential new house (more like a mansion!) for the sisters. We went countless times to the boat docks to deliver stuff to the islands, went with president to get mail, etc.

Boat dock, my second home

     So this week I had the opportunity to attend "conseil des dirigeants" (leadership counsel?) at presidents house with all the zone leaders and such. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about being a leader and it was very spiritually edifying. AFTER the first part of this meeting, president asked us to go get pizzas. Little did we know he had already ordered the pizzas and had sent us with the money just to pick them up. We thought we were supposed to order them as well. SO! When we got to the pizza joint we ordered 9 pizzas and payed for it with the money president gave us and later picked it up and took it to presidents house. Upon arrival we brought the pizzas and president said "Elder Clements! this isn't the order I made! hurry take them back!" Me: "uuuhhh, no these are the ones we ordered." President: "What?! You ordered pizzas?!" and so on. President thought it was funny but sister Bize got after us pretty good but forgave us. All in all, we ended up spending $240 in pizza and had 19 pizzas hahaha!!! Oh la la!!! We had a pretty good laugh and are now famous so there's some good that comes from everything.

     A really cool quote that president shared with us in our meeting that I'll try and translate: "The capacity of a man to lead depends on the number of decisions that he will have taken in his life." And thus, even if its a bad decision it helps us grow. Ok well that's about all the time I have today due to all the missionaries shuffling in and out of the office asking for things. We had an investigator come to church for the first time, the fast went well, and I get along pretty well with my companion. Keep it up, proud of you all, love you all! have a good one!

-Elder Clements

Guess who's truck the black one is

Getting to use the iPhone 7...surprise of my life!

Halloween

     Hi family and happy halloween!! We don't have much planned for the day actually. The most halloween-ish thing I'm doing today is wearing a black and orange local tie... mais bon. 

     This week passed really well actually. I really felt a strong desire to share the gospel and the true urgency of the message we share. I read the article that grandma sent me, about Standing as True Millennials.  It WAS super powerful and really inspired me to improve this week.

    Actually President Bize just sent an email about that also. We are all supposed to fast this coming week with the question of how can I be a better instrument in the hands of the Lord. It shows that, that man is inspired because I too have sensed a weirdness among the missionaries lately. There are too many that don't seem to be focused nearly enough on the work and even act in ways that does not at all portray a representative of Jesus Christ. So I'm glad that president said something because it is getting a little worry-some when a fair part of the missionaries have an air of still being in high school. SO ya.  

     On a more optimistic note, I got to translate sacrament meeting for a Hawaiian yesterday! That was cool but so much harder than I thought. I can think in french and I can think in English but thinking in two languages at the same time is extremely difficult but I think he was able to understand a little. I really felt the gift of tongues kicking in an extra gear, It was great. 

     As for "les affaires au bureau" we have been super busy with all that this week. On Wednesday we had to take an all day trip to Papara to replace Elder Packer's bike and another one that got stolen. taking note that it was Elder Packers birthday when he got his bike stolen :(

     Ok y'all that'll be the end of it today, I also can't send pictures because I forgot my converter at the house :( Next week hopefully. Glad I got to send a decent mail today. Ok alors, je vous aime. Dieu soit avec vous jusqu'au revoir!

-Elder Clements

Au Bureau

    

     Well this week was...busy. I've been driving around so much that I've got the low rumble of diesel engine stuck in my ears. Tuesday started with a day long training with president which included going to the post office, taking things to the boats for transfers, organizing the office, verifying phones receipts, etc. Wednesday was about the same. Actually I guess the whole week was about the same. We were super busy with all this stuff and our secteur on top. 

    

     My companion is cool. He's REALLLY Tahitian. He's super nice and all that, he's even fairly obedient I guess. He's just really Tahitian. His accent is really thick. It's like someone with a really thick southern accent (compared to English). Nah, he's super cool. We get along really well. I'm just learning to be more humble and patient. 

     Ok so, I just had a hoard of missionaries come into the office asking for things and such, I don't really have any time any more....well see you all next week. Je vous aime

-Elder Clements

The Office: Episode 1

     This week was mighty interesting. So there was a transfer and I thought I would be transferred but I was wrong. Actually I'm staying and that's more exciting than you'd think. So on Thursday, Elder Packer and I were talking to this Marqueisan guy at about 10:00 in the morning (nothing unusual) when I get a call. I can't explain the panic attack that one has when he looks at the phone and sees "PDT BIZE" on the screen! So I answered and all he says is that he needs to talk to me ASAP and so we fixed a time for noon and went our way. Noon arrives and president shows up and tells me to get in his car. I do so and he says as he takes off his glasses "Elder Clements, we are about to do something in this mission that we've never done before." "Seeing as how the Hauata couple has left we have no one to do their job and I thought you would be perfect for this." So ya, the news is that I'm taking over the task of the Hauata's which includes the reception and sending of packages and baggage, fumigation (don't know what that is in English but it has to do with sending items home), proselyting literature, portable phones, bikes, help with transfers, and the arrivals and departs of new missionaries. Plus we stay in this secteur to do regular missionary work!! Crazy right? Oh also I get a new companion, his names Elder Heiata, from Raiatea. I don't know him yet. Elder Packer is going to Papara, right next to my first secteur. Oh ya!! AND I get a truck!! I get to drive the Grey Toyota Hilux, turbo diesel that the Hauata's used to drive!!! So pumped!! I might go pick it up today or Wednesday, when I go to work (at the office haha). This is going to be so weird working in an office all the time and having mission wide responsibilities but I guess the work of the Lord comes in many forms. I'm pretty stoked actually.

My District

     As for the missionary work this week we had a great week! We started teaching two new families and have seen a lot of progress in our other investigators. One of these new investigators is T*** and his family. His wife is an inactive member and he has already been taught but when the floods in Papenoo happened last year, their rental house got swept away and they lost contact with the missionaries...until now. He's a giant man with a giant heart and he has the goal to get baptized. He made the goal this week to quit coffee and to fix a day for his marriage and baptism!! SO cool. Our other new investigators are still very new but also seem to be very potential as well. 

     I got to go to the temple this week too. That was cool. So that was pretty much my week. I got the office job, I got new investigators, and I went to the temple. Today we're going to venus point in Mahina to play some beach soccer. I'll send pictures, have a good one!! Love you all!

-Elder Clements

Met a man this week named John Siao, he's one of the best Tahitian painters, he even has paintings in Hollywood and books and such

No time

     

The impossible happened! I got to eat real See's chocolates last night. The wife of President Varney brought them back from the US and GAVE US A BOX!!!!

     No time today. Our gamer guy bailed on us and we couldn't find Nephi to open the church so we're leeching the zone leaders computers. I saw bro's email and my stomach did a back-flip because that was the trippiest thing I've ever seen to see another Elder Clements name tag! Glad he's doing well, I wrote him too.

     This week was tough...and good. We found some new investigators but had 0 lessons on Wednesday. It was awful!!! We did a split though on Friday and got to be in the truck with Boyd over in their secteur. That was cool. We're having leadership issues in our ward. Oh well. Ok y'all that's about it.
     A thing I learn this week is the importance of keeping the holy ghost with us. The ONE thing that all the prophets and apostles pray for is the spirit to be with them. Pray for the spirit to be with you and to be able to discern it's promptings and to be able to have the courage and faith to act upon those impressions. 
-Elder Clements

This is Elder Clements...#1

                                                                            MACDO as we call it here

  Well I've been freaking out to get a letter from bro all week and now he doesn't have a P-day for the week. That's alright I'm patient.  It's a little daunting to think that MY two years of not seeing the boy starts now and its already been a year and some. That's alright too, God's in the cockpit and he's a perfect pilot. 

     I had an excellent week this week. General conference was super inspiring. What I do now so I can get more out of it is I show up with a couple specific questions in mind. After that I take notes which helps me stay focused, which is necessary when watching it in french. It's not that I don't understand it's just that it's...not the powerful voice of Elder Holland, It's the nasally voice of brother Jean-Pierre or something. Even in french though, the spirit was able to confirm eternal truths and answer the questions that I had to help me work even more efficiently as a missionary and to continue even after. There was a big theme of prayer and repentance I noticed but also a big focus on missionary work (hint hint just because there's two missionaries outside the home doesn't exclude those there from this opportunity and obligation) What a wonderful blessing it is to have the chance to be in the true church of Christ; the way back to live with God. May we all continue to advance by the little things, reading the scriptures and praying, etc, but also by helping others to know the enormous blessings of the one true church. Prepare those around you to take the missionary lessons. Have courage to know what to say and when to say it. PRAY for opportunities to share the gospel.  

     We fixed yet another baptism this week! A girl named Tamara that is going to get married to an RM decided to take the lessons and has already received a testimony of the truth and wants to be baptized the day of her marriage which is way in December but that's alright. Things are looking up in Pare! 

    

Hospital in Pare

     I received yet another article of good news this week! i saw Tati Liline (from way back in Papara) whilst doing visits at the hospital and she told me that Poerani, the woman we baptized last September just got her endowment in the temple!! I'm super proud of her because she was living in a rough environment and I didn't know how well she was doing but there you go. God protected her even through those situations. 

     I got a letter from grandma this week dated the 27th of July. It also has a stamp that says it was missent somewhere else. I think I've gotten all of the other ones.  Tell grandma thanks for the encouragement and love. I love getting letters and I apologize for not responding to them. love you grandma!

   Ok ïa, have a good week. Work hard and ayez de la joie!

-Elder Clements

Monday 9/26 On my mind...

     

I wish I could describe how good this mango was!

     Well the single thing I think on all your minds today is that bro goes on a mission tomorrow at 5 am!!! I can say as well that that has been in the back of my mind (or the not so back) this week. I'm also just baffled at how close bro was on his pilot licence!!! What a last minute miracle. I guess God has his way of doing things. Wow. I remember how weird it was when I went to the MTC a year and a quarter ago. The very numb feeling that happens for that couple days before going in and then the warm strong welcome from God on the other side. All I've got to say is just that it's going to take some submitting of our personal wills to the Father. Eternal perspective brings about happiness in all situations. 

     Well, as far as this week for me it was great. We had stake conference yesterday and an area seventy, Elder Coward, came down from new Zealand to talk to us and it was absolutely awesome. Such a powerful talk that for a bit was focused on how an RM should act and that was a good reminder for me. Plus his accent was just gright. lol. The choir was full of angels too. I couldn't believe how powerful that little Tahitian choir was but It was like the Mormon tabernacle choir! Very cool.

Elder Packer with a hoard of children

     Had a classic miracle happen this week. We were...I think tracting is the word in English...in a neighborhood with big dogs and french atheists, (open hearts at every turn right?) when it started to rain. There was an inactive guy nearby that we figured we'd invite to the stake conference and maybe get some shelter. Sure enough, he invited us in and immediately his non-member wife came out and almost directly asked if she could take the lessons because she had taken them a few years back!! Of course the rain immediately stopped and the road even dried up before we finished the lesson. God doesn't even hide his miracles sometimes.

-Elder Clements

Balade ou malade

Street art in progress

     Well how's it going everybody? This week I ended up being super sick with the grippe. Everybody has the grippe lately. It was a mean one that put me out almost all day on Wednesday and a little Thursday and is still leaving. It's basically like a cold on steroids. Other than that we had a pretty good week.

     Last night we had an open house at the church and even président Bize showed up. We had tons of investigators show up from our ward and from other wards. It went really well. Also this week we were able to fix a baptism! It's been kind of a long time since we've fixed a baptism so we've been pretty stoked about this. He still needs some preparation before getting baptized but it'll all work out. Our other investigator is also doing very well in his efforts to quit cigarettes. He really wants to change his life around and he's done good at showing the efforts. This secteur is finally starting to look up!!

     That's all I've got to say about that. Ya I don't have to much to say today.

Message of the week: I actually gave a talk in sacrament yesterday and I don't remember much of what I said but I did pray a lot and prepared well. I felt the spirit guiding me and telling me what I should say and when it was over people said they enjoyed it. Thus if we do all that we can, the Lord will make possible many miracles. Such help comes when we do what he has commanded and not when we sit idly by.

-Elder Clements

Staying

     Good morning everybody, It's another p-day even hotter than the last. Today is a transfer and the news IS.....I'm staying in Pirae. I'm actually pretty happy about that, I like my companion, I like our investigators and our members. The work is a little rough but it's starting to go places. Yesterday was 9/11 as I'm sure you're all aware. Even in Tahiti people recognize it. As for me, I was absolutely flooded with stuff to do starting at 6:00 am till 6:00 pm. No time to sit down. It was great. The rest of the week was a little less like that but still not bad.

     There were a couple weird things that happened this week. One is the the reason everybody here does a blackout every night for about 20 minutes. So there are these bugs. And these bugs have wings and they like light. They don't bite, they don't sting, they just kind of tickle when they land on you. A few of them isn't a problem. The thing is in this season, there are not just a few of them. we were riding up to go eat with a member on Thursday and it looked and felt like a heavy snowstorm of these things!! When we got to our member's, when it was dark, everybody is just sitting in the dark because light would attract even more of them. 

     Another really weird thing was when, on Friday, some homeless dude slept behind our house. A member brought us back (from mcdonalds lol) and upon arrival at the house me and Elder Packer shout "SDF!!!" (homeless person in french) There was some guy just sleeping on the ground behind our house! David (the birdman, as we call him) who we were with didn't really know what to do cuz he's kind of an awkward fellow. On that thought, neither did I so we just let the man sleep there and he was gone in the morning. super weird. 

Tahitian man making a drum

     On a not so weird note, we had some miracles worked on our investigators and soon we may even see some baptism dates. We had a training that the zone leaders gave that talked about being more direct with our investigators. (With salvation at stake, we need to do that better) We have been trying to apply that and really try and get our investigators to progress by reading the BOM and praying, going to church, keeping specific commandments, etc. We had some success. In our lesson with one of our investigators, we engaged (commited?) him cut down on cigarettes to 4 a day. after the lesson he pulled out his cigarettes, rolled one up and said "this is my third, I get one more." That and plenty of other great stories.

     The package that I got really was the package you sent with the pants and everything. Maybe it accidentally got in priority mail but I won't complain. It was an excellent package. I love the pen and now I can wear contacts every day till the end of my mission I believe. I loved everything but the highlight is definitely the pants. They changed my mission and possibly my life! They're so comfortable. So thanks so much.  Also that's super cool that Alaycia's got a job!! nice. 

     Alright then I'll leave you all to it. It's so weird that I'm getting nervous for bro even though I'm not there. I'll bet you're all really weirded out too. you have reason to be but know that God is always just behind him and all you with his army of angels and miracles. Be strong and take up courage and the Lord will bless you all for it. 

-Elder Clements

Fall is in the air...

No it's not, there's one season here: hot. In fact the cooler July days have well passed and it's starting to get hotter here. It's been alright though because we a bit of wind this week from the long arms of a hurricane in Hawaii. I got the package. Sister Hauata told me it's at the bureau, I just need to go pick it up. I feel like that's one of the quickest packages that has ever gotten here. 

     This week was pretty good, we did a lot of stuff. Wednesday and Thursday and Friday we woke up early to escort the zone leaders to the ferry so they could do splits with the elders of Moorea. That's always a change but also consists of a lot of waiting. Another strange week is that we didn't eat at member's houses all week. Every day they dropped off food because they either didn't have time or something. As a result we had food that I'm not really used to like pizza. can you imagine that? pizza, twice! I had so much american food this week, it was so weird. I'm starting to realize how much the main heavily populated part of Tahiti is like america. Also realizing in how little time I'll be in America.

     Just saw the email of bro going to the temple. That reminds me, we went to the temple visitor center this week with one of our investigators. He must be one of the six people in French Polynesia that doesn't believe in God. He loved the trip to the temple and the idea of a temple in general but he still has some doubts about God which is totally fine. I'm not used to teaching people like this actually because there aren't many and the ones that there are don't usually accept us. However he is just so nice and has so many questions. He's the guy whose house we painted a while ago. We explained prayer though and he says he's going to try and pray and make the efforts to know if God exists.

Giant Tiki

     Another interesting and different and kind of cool experience I had (actually last Sunday) was the opportunity to perform a baptismal interview. I've had plenty of interview's but this was the first time I was on the other side of the desk. It was such a strangely humbling experience to get to do that.  She needed further help before being baptized but "I was led by the spirit not knowing beforehand what I should do" (1 nephi 4:6 roughly translated from french) and all turned out well. She just got baptized and married last Friday, a baptism that I went to as well. Nifty ain't it?

     Spiritual thought: 1ne 4:6 is actually a great one. When we act in faith, knowing that God will be there to catch us, our testimony grows. We need to act first, not knowing exactly how it's going to all work out. God is always there and will never let us down when we chose to obey his commandments.
Ok alors, nana.-Elder Clements

Meetings, splits, 'n surfing

So, I'm just going to talk about the Billabong pro from last week for a moment...It was SSOOOOO GNARLY!!!! A little background: Tahiti has the 7th best wave in the world and they do a competition here every year. All the pros including Kelly Slater (who also won first place and the $100,000 prize) were here.

 We shot down there after emails last week which was about an hour and a half drive. When we got there, I thought it was over because there was hardly anybody. after we walked out to the beach we realized why. It's completely useless to watch it from the shore, you can't see a thing. about 30 seconds after that thought, a young Tahitian feller walks up and asks " do you guys need a boat?" After considering that he might be an angel sent from God (still possible) he told us it's $20 a person but that he had a nice boat with a nice view. Our entire district thought that sounded alright since we had already come down here. We paid up and waited around for a moment and looked at the scoreboards, etc. The boat guy found us and it turned out it WAS a nice boat that had a full canopy so we were completely in the shade. We headed out and arrived in his reserved place when we realized that "nice view" was a big understatement. We literally had the best seats of everybody there!!! The only ones in front were the press. Also we were on the end so we could see the surfers ride right past the boat without any obstructions. We saw some amazing surfing happen among the best surfers in the world and I even got a 9.2 (out of 10 of course, and very very rare) on video!! It was SO worth that 20 bucks. Also we were on TV because we were the closest to the cameras!! It was rad.

       So ya, we had a big zone conference this week too. We had a training from Pdt Bize, Soeur Bize, and I can't remember the others but we learned some great stuff that's going to make this secteur a bit more successful. We still have some problems with our bishop but We'll just keep being good examples and do what we can. We had some pretty good success this week although still no baptisms fixed. We found new investigators and had some inactives come back to church! That was great. I did a split with Elder Paxman this week. It was good. I learned a lot from him, he's going home soon so he's had quite a lot of experience. 

My district

     Pensée Spirituelle: Speaking spiritually in english is hard by the way. Let your light so shine before men: As members of the Lords church we are lights "that cannot be hid". This means that we need to watch everything we do so as not to offend but to strengthen and inspire. Through our example, others have the opportunity to feel the spirit and become interested in the restored church if we let our light shine forth. I have come in contact with many people who have been prepared to be taught just by the examples of co-workers, family, or friends. It's one of the best ways that we can do missionary work.

     FIN   -Elder Clements

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Surfs up

I'm emailing today on super fast gaming computers with fiber optic today so I'll try and send a lot of pictures. It's a member that owns this place and he's letting us use his computers for free!! so cool. After this, we're going direct to Teahupoo to watch the Billabong pro Tahiti surfing competition!! I'm stoked. All the world champions will be there. We couldn't find a boat though so we'll be watching it from the shore. It's so weird to realize that I was here when that competition happened last year. 

     This week was good. Still a lot of investigators at church, but none of the ones that said they would come. We taught Tehaunui again and invited him to be baptized. He said yes but not right now. So we've got some more work to do. 

     We also taught Joanni this week, who is a great kid but isn't ready to give up the things of the world. He's really humble and loves the lessons but he still wants to take advantage of his youngness (jeunesse? what is that word?). We also taught Tumoe and his cousin Ariihau this week. They're two cousins that have grown up without God in their life but are super interested in what we've got to say. Tumoe has some really good values even if he doesn't know if God is there yet, that helps him accept easily the message of the gospel.

     This week Elder Packer has been super sick which is rough but such is life in the islands. I got something super bad on Thursday too but it only lasted a couple hours strangely. I took some drugs, slept for an hour and it was gone. weird. Elder Packer got the extended edition I guess.

     Lately I've been working a lot on fitness which is hard when members drop off giant plates of brownies sometimes and only feed us good food. As an attack on that I have been running in the morning and doing lots of push ups. I made myself a challenge to do 1000 push ups in a week. It was going alright but I gave up at about 500. Still, It gave me some good aches and burns. So ya, that was pretty much my week. 

Yep, that's a dolphin

Spiritual Thought: (Elder Garff has inspired me to starting giving spiritual thoughts to you all. Seeing how I'm a missionary I don't see why you all shouldn't profit from all this good stuff.) Charity: Moroni 7:45-47 I've been realizing lately that charity is half of the foundation on which all commandments rest.(Love god, Love thy neighbor.) If we have not charity we are nothing because we have no drive to turn outward to our fellow men. Life is meant to prepare us to meet God, and God is love. Us, as the human race have the whole and undivided attention and love of an all powerful father in heaven. let us try and have just a little more charity every day and follow what Moroni asks us to do in MNI 7:48.

That's all for now folks. -Elder Clements

French Navy Ship

August 15th

So hello. I had a great week. I get along with my companion, we have found new investigators, I've seen countless miracles, felt the spirit seemingly more than ever, etc. Oh ya, and I'm just in the best mission on the face of the planet.

     Yesterday was excellent! We had 6 investigators at church! After church, we had a barbecue with an investigator and his cousin and started the lessons with his cousin. after that went and gave a blessing at the hospital and saw a little concert the Catholic young adults put on which was beautiful. Ward counsel was a little annoying because bishop didn't want to give us authorization for an activity we wanted to do but oh well, I've got some other ideas.

     We have a new investigator that has a pretty rough history. He was in the army and was deployed multiple times to Afghanistan. While there, his troop was given orders to wipe out an entire village by flamethrower which was absolutely too much for him. As a result, he refused and punched his commanding officer and was dishonorably discharged. Ever since then he lives with his relatives, gets in lots of fights and does a little work when he can find some. Evidently he's going back to the army next year because he can't find anything else to do. When we found him, he told us that he hates his old life and just wants to change. After our first lesson he agreed to be baptized if he received the answer that the church was true. He's a great guy, super nice and really humble. He knows God lives and that Jesus is the Savior. I'm looking forward to seeing him get to know the gospel.

     I'm sending my pictures home this week (I hope) So there. well all right then crew, that's all. Also cool news, I'm going to finish the book of Mormon in french this week for the first time. SO COOL.

-Elder Clements