Tuesday, June 28, 2016

This is Major Tom to ground control...

It has been quite a while since the last time. The reason I didn't email last week is just because there wasn't any internet. However, yes, I did get transferred and I'm still recovering from that. We got the call and they told me I was being transferred back to Tahiti into the city of Aru'e (basically Pape'ete) and I would be district leader AGAIN, and my new companion is Elder Frazer from vanuatu. Well I got on the plane on Wednesday after getting an absolutely amazing sendoff paumotu style. Pictures to come...

Nana Takaroa! (left to right, E Lewis, Mami teroro(top), President George and Terava his deughter(bottom), DMB Rautiare(top), ENelson, ME, Edouard and his wife and daughter. at the airport

     On the flight I actually rode the whole way with the pilots to pass the time. THAT was cool. We talked about tons of flying stuff and I even tried to convert them lol. The landing was the best part. Anyway, here I am in the secteur of Pare, trying to get used to streets and having hot water for showers and AC in the house, that's cool and all but it's not Takaroa. I miss the people over there SO much. I've never had a secteur like that that's like my family. Oh well. I actually fixed Kahaia's baptizm the day I left!!! 

Elder Nelson,  Kahaia, and Me 
And yesterday I heard that Edouard's Baptizm is fixed too!!!!!!! YESSSSSSS!!! Even more good news, I saw Elder Hanson the other day and, remember Puai? The man in the woods we found? He just got baptized a couple weeks ago!!!! It's been a great week for all of my investigators! Well I've kind of got to go know because the other computer doesn't work and my companion needs to email still before we go play football( soccer). Elder Frazer's awesome! He's NUTS too but he's awesome. He scared me a little when he started talking about evil spirits and good spirits in vanuatu but I guess that's just culture... coool. That's all for now folks. I love you all a lot and I hope you weren't too worried about me for that two weeks. kiaora ia koutou.
-Elder Clements

Rostin a pig like any other Saturday

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

I will make thee fishers of...fish


     So we went fishing today with Edouard! As I write this my head is still spinning from being on a boat all day, and also my hand is pretty sore. It turns out  that the fish I was un-hooking had poisonous sharp barbs on it's back and stomach (welcome to the ocean) and when it decided to flip out of my hand I just got a hand full of those.


The little devil that poisoned my hand (tai'a)
 It's better now though. Fishing was so awesome!! Never in america would it be possible to catch as many fish as we did in that time period. We caught about thirty fish in just a couple hours. Some of them were pretty big like the o'iri and the...other one.




 We went with Edouard and Jackson who are probably the coolest guys to go fishing with. We were also not blessed with good weather. It has been raining cats and dogs for hours now. I've never seen this much water I think. Also the lightning report from padre was correct. I've never actually seen lightening since america so it's been pretty cool to watch again. So ya fish and rain has been today. 

    left to right: President George (the branch president), President Taumata (district president, it's like a stake), and Hiro an awesome new convert that just got the Melchizedek priesthood yesterday. We found them all out there doing the same thing as us.

 The rest of the week was a little slower. We did the usual lessons but we really need to find some more investigators. So ya...I'm pretty tired and we still have to go up to family home evening in this sweet storm. There should be a transfer this week, most likely Elder Nelson will be replaced by someone else and I'll stay here. So sweet, I don't want to leave. 
     Well there you have it, 
-Elder Clements

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

boats n' stoves

     For p-day today we found burgers and cooked them and made onion rings from scratch. It was pretty good for what you can find on this little island. Also I got the package on the blue boat this week on which also the robber that stole all of our stuff escaped. It was probably better for him. The stores no longer accepted him and multiple people had beat him up pretty good. The package was awesome! Dr pepper jelly beans and chips were an awesome treat. There's no Dr pepper here  The guitar strings are enough to tide me over for a while. 
     Our investigators are finally close to baptism. Michel is kind of on hold for a moment but still doing well. We did a fast with Edouard Saturday until yesterday for him to follow the word of wisdom. That was cool and has worked. Kahaia is our next baptism. She told us this week that she knows the church is true and she has already told her parents that she's going to be baptized but we haven't fixed a date yet. She came to church yesterday too. All our other investigators are a bit further down the road but it'll come.
     Yesterday we had a bunch of great testimonies born at fast and testimony meeting. One was an older lady that has been inactive for the last ten years and looked finally truly happy to be back. The other was a nine year old girl, Raihere, who gave one of the most sincere testimonies I've ever heard from a kid that age. That among many other awesome testimonies. Other highlights of the week include having a dance-off with Michel and me catching conjunctivitis that's been going around. great stuff. pics to come...maybe. I guess not...My SD card is messed up! I can see pictures on the camera but I can no longer send them. I try my micro SD card next week.
-Elder Clements 

Friday, June 3, 2016

HUMP DAAAYYY has come and gone

     I'm coming home in less than a year! Time flies like crazy and it'll all be over before I know it. More than a year ago I got into the MTC and started my mission. I have become an entirely different person and also not changed at all. In this time, I've: Gained a testimony that God lives and that following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ with exactness is the ONLY way that we can live together as a family for eternity, I've gained love for my brothers and sisters and a desire for their salvation, I've doubled or tripled my capacity to accomplish things efficiently, learned to speak french fluently with the gift of tongues, learned to love and understand the holy scriptures, gained an appreciation for this life and everything within, I've had plenty of troubles and mistakes but have learned from them (and am still learning), and many many many other glorious blessings. 
     As for this week, It was pretty good. I'm finally not sick as of today but I spent all week getting over it. It's starting to get slightly colder here and starting to feel a little like fall and spring at the same time which is pretty cool. I'm short on time today, gotta go.
-Elder Clements


Chillin on mothers day (May 29th for France and here). front to back: Elder Terry, Nelson, Lewis, me. Other side: Gabbin, Michel's wife, Michel and his baby.