Kuraora

status report: exploration failed, conditions too harsh, will return with proper vehicles.

     This week went pretty well. We did try and find an investigator way up on top of the island that everybody said was really far. Well we rode in a straight line for two hours and did not find a single soul, a few houses but empty houses. We got decently sunburned and ran out of water but got back safely. This week we'll try again with someone that has a car or a boat. It was a pretty cool experience though. 

     Our investigators here are way cool and super ready for baptism, it's just the little things now. Tera really wants to be baptized but she's not married and her partner does not want to get married so we're trying to soften his heart. Kuraigna, just a few more cigarettes. Esther/ Vanaa, marriage again like so many people. Kahaia, just waiting for the answer to her prayers, etc. 

     This week Elder Terry, one of the others here, got a super bad virus and we had to take care of him for a bit. Thing is he was hallucinating super bad. It was pretty fun. His companion took some video. "I don't wanna ask anything weird but...you need to rub my calfs." "just put some coke in a glass and then shake it up, that'll heal me." and also he kept telling the lizards to be quiet. He's better now though. 

    So ya, that was basically my week. It goes. don't have much time today but oh well. K, Piku Viru! 

-Elder Clements

Stardate 703-2016

Captains log: The Island is habitable but human lifeforms are few. Moral is high thanks to locals. Will begin exploration soon.

     So ya it's been another awesome week here in the middle of the ocean. We found a lot of the old investigators from the other Elders and even some new ones which was a great surprise because there aren't very many people here honsetly. We did some exploring found some crazy stuff but not very many people.

     So yesterday Président Bize was actually here  for 'stake conference' which was slightly weird since it's such a small island to see him here right after I get here. The conference was really great and I learned a lot from it, also I was in the choir and sang the song I sung in the MTC which was much better in a real Tahitian choir. That night we were actually invited to eat dinner with president and soeur Bize, President Tarati (the temple president), the branch president, the district (stake) president, among others. It was quite the evening. It was nice to talk to president Bize for once,  eat excellent food on the beach and feeding the sharks with our leftovers. In fact my companion had just broken his bike (fixed now) and president helped us try and fix it himself even though he was extremely tired and got grease all over doing it. Thanks president!

     Did I ever talk about Michael? He's the guy that I found in Outumaoro and had the super powerful lesson with but then moved to apataki. Well apataki is now in my district and when I got the report for this week from Apataki, I looked and saw his name under baptisms fixed!! I checked with them to see if it was true and sure enough, It's the same one. SO COOL! So ya, that was a cool miracle that gave me a faith boost.
 Oh ya, for the package, I'm not sure if it's possible at all, but if so, I would love some contacts. The sand is way too bright here to wear anything but sunglasses here and I kind of...lost my two boxes of other ones a few months ago. I have no idea how that's possible but it's me so...
-Elder Clements

Goodbye Tahiti, hello real Island life

      So. I'm not on Tahiti anymore! I got a call Tuesday night from the assistants. 'Elder Clements, There's an emergency transfer. You're going to Takaroa. The Elder there got injured and has to come  back to Tahiti. You'll take the next plane but your things have to be packed tonight so they can be on the boat tomorrow." So there you have it. I'm finally in the little ring islands that Dad wanted me to go to. After waiting for the plane for the next few days (an AWESOME little plane by the way) I headed to the airport and took off. It was about an hour and a half flight to get here and I arrived in a orange alert for a hurricane which I think has passed.

    Life is definitely a lot different here. Tahiti is basically like living in orem or provo. Here is like living in hideaway valley with no access to orem or provo or even fairview. I just went to the biggest store here and it's the size of our living room. I asked If I could just find a baguette here but they said no because the baker left (note the singular use of baker). Also you really actually have to be careful here I've already found out. Saturday night we went to cross the bridge that goes between a couple of the biggest islands and just before we crossed, a giant surge of water completely submerged the bridge for about thirty seconds and did that randomly a few times while we sat and tried to figure out what to do. We saw this old guy a ways away watching us and then he signals "go!" to us. We took a leap of faith and hauled it across the bridge and got there just as another wave hit the bridge. wow. So it's a little harder core than I'm used but I'm diggin it. Also I got made district leader over, I think, the largest district, by sqaure footage, in the world. It covers the four areas here, Ahe, Manihi, Takapoto, and Apataki which is roughly 1000 square miles of ocean and little Islands.

Elder Nelson  my new companion

      And also I'm "whitewashing" which means that my new companion got here the same time so he doesn't know what's going on either. All that combined with plenty of other things have made for a very different couple of days and I'm sure it's just starting. However with the Lord it's all gonna work out. So ya, not that much happened this week, a little plane ride, some water and Walmart Takaroa went broke. K, ke hoki vau i taku fare i roto i toku kaigna, my new language I'll be learning. -Elder Clements