june 18, 2012

 hey everrryone

this week went by sooo fast, which is good and bad. good because it was kind of a week that made me go "woof." but bad because it's insane how fast time goes by!! gaah. we did some cool stuff this week like a service project out on a pineapple farm that soeur chapman and i are still recovering from. seriously it's kind of pathetic how sore our muscles STILL are, and we did it on thursday! guuh. embarrassinggggg. it was cool though--we went with two of our investigators, a mamie and a papi and we worked with them for a couple hours pulling up plants and weeds to clear the ground so they could plant some more stuff. service projects are always a nice change of pace too. and i especially like them because i can like tangibly see the results of my efforts. it's also so satisfying. aaahhh.

other than that, soeur chapman and i affectionally called this week the "everyone hates the missionaries!" week. weeee! it seemed to us that everyone was kind of just like...blah! some of our investigators pooped out, some of the members are having some tantrums and we have no clue why, and everyone seems to be really into arguing lately. all of our neighbors, even me and soeur chapman (whoops! we still love each other though). oh my gosh there were so many LOUD arguments this week with our neighbors. and the thing with tahitians is, once they are fired up, it's like NUCLEAR. and it doesn't stop. guhh. anyway, so that was kind of like ok enough already! but i guess if i try to see it in a positive way, it's kind of like TV. since we don't have cable (or tv at all for that matter), it's like our daily episode of a reality show. so at least we have some sort of entertainment other than scriptures? maybe i'm stretching it.

ANYWAY. there were some really good things that happened this week, for example: BAPTISM!!! weeee! our investigator frere ebb got baptized on saturday, and now their family is complete and in preparation to go to the temple next year! it was a great day and they are so solid. soeur ebb (who if you forgot already, gosh guys why don't you remember every detail of my life?!!, got baptized in april with their daughter manihiki) just got called to be second counselor in the relief society presidency. so that's also quite solid. she was kind of like "whoa" about the call, but she seems to be adapting nicely. i'm seeing good things for their family happening in the ward. and it was cool too because he invited his younger brother, who is not a member, to his baptism and he came and was pretty impressed by all the changes he saw in his brother. and we went to go visit them yesterday and talked to him about the book of mormon and stuff, and it was really good! he has a lot of questions and is looking for answers. the downside is that he doesn't live on moorea, so we dont' really know when we'll get to have contact with him again. but luckily frere and soeur ebb are there for him.

ok ok. let's talk about how yesterday was like the best sunday everrrrrrr. seriously, we had investigators like coming out of the woodworks to come to church. so unexpected, but so great! 6 of our investigators came to church for the first time yesterday, and they all had a really good chapel experience. and best of all, there was this new couple and their son that we saw sitting towards the back. and i went up to them to talk to them a little bit and find out who they were and the woman was like yeah i used to be a member, this is my husband and my son, we just moved here, what do we need to do to receive the missionary lessons? i believe that it was at that point that i peed a little bit. just kidding. but maybe seriously. like hello golden question that every missionary wants to hear! so we got everything arranged and we're going to see them on tuesday to get things started. but they both seem awesome and i'm excited to get to know them better! aah. it was a miracle, i'm tellin ya.

anyway, i gotta wrap this up because soeur chapman is waiting for the computer. you guys, i just love you. write me letters! i'll send some more pictures next week.

love,
soeur hansen