Monday, April 24, 2017

Looking up! - Tahaa

First off, a cocroach made it into my laundry and got ripped into peices so I had to sort out cocroach parts for like 10 mins out of my clothes.  And I only found half of it... SO we'll find out this week where all the other parts/legs are!

Things are looking up!! We've been working really hard since January for success, but with little luck.  I'm in what's rumored to be the hardest sector of the mission, (pretty much cause of the biking lol) but the Lord continues to bless us!! We have a lot of potential amis who are so close to baptism!! PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF TAHAA!!

Someone made us pizza <3

We made cookies!!! I'm getting fat.  Help.

Spiritual thought!!
God loves us.  We are His children and He sent us here so we can be happy and be like Him.  BUT in order to become like Him, we have to let Him help us.  And that means giving up all our sins, desires etc nessissary (no spell check I'm sorry plz forgive)  in order to follow His commandments and the path that He has set for us.  If we give Him our hearts, He will turn us into something better that we could ever imagine to be.

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Keep writing I love ur updates

atl

Elder Jenkins

Monday, April 17, 2017

ONE THIRD YO - Tahaa

Today is 8 months on a mission!!! CRAZY!  and 6 months in TAHITI!! HOW NEAT!

Not much this week.  Lots of hard work. Elder Barlow and I are stickin together for at least another 6 weeks, which is good.  

I continue to get fatter despite the biking, which continues to astound me.

It took us like 20 mins to kill one of the giant spiders that made it into our house cause they're so fast and we were almost late for a lesson. Demon spawns, those spiders.

We made cookies this week! From scratch and everything! And we gave them to our amis and they LOVED THEM! Haha in the words of another missionary, "Food has a power here in Polynesia."  And it's so true.  

We taught our English class how to say "awesome possum"  

Spiritual thought!! 
I hope you all had a great Easter!! Being on a mission has made me so grateful for our Savior.  Cause I've been quite humbled and I realize I have A LOT of faults.  But because of Jesus Christ I know that we can change and that one day we will all be resurrected.  DEATH HAS NO VICTORY.  I'm so happy to know that this is true and that I can live with my loved ones and be happy forever.
I encourage you all to take a moment to study the life of the Savior and read the Book of Mormon. It will bless you bless you bless you.

All the loves,

Elder Jenkins

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Tahaa

Another fantastic week!!

We visited the Marae, or ancient human sacrificing grounds last monday with the missionaries at Reiateia- island right next to us. Twas neat.  Had some coconut icecream

We fixed our water heater! Had a hot shower for the first time in 3 months. 

We got to an ami's house a little early last week, and they didn't seem to be there, so we waited about 20 mins for our 3:00 appointment and played with their dog out front.  Then after those 20 mins someone yelled out of the house "NO ONE"S HOME!!"  And we were pretty bummed and left but then we saw our amis down the street haha! So they actually are still interested.  BLESSINGS

We gave a blessing to a little baby who would not keep still haha but she was happy and smiling and just wanted to know why we were placing our hands on her head.  

Spiritual thought!! 
Realizing more and more the importance of following God's will.  Which is actually not the same as our will a lot of the time.  But God loves us.  He knows us better than we know ourselves. And especially more than our friends know us. If we take real effort to follow His plan and keep his commandments He will lead us to real happiness.  I've seen this first and second hand so much here in Polynesia and I know that it's real.  Follow the Prophet's most recent council and read the Book of Mormon.  EVERY DAY JUST DO IT IT"S WORTH IT!!!

atl,

Elder Jenkins

Monday, April 3, 2017

Tout est bien - Tahaa

The body is weak, but the spirit is strong.

Haha crazy week!  So we did splits with the zone leaders on another island, and with General Conference starting at 6am here, I got to wake up before 5 for 5 days in a row haha!  wonderful.  Is my body falling apart? yes.  But also had a super great spiritual week!

There's gonna be a big race this saturday all over the roads/mountains and like everyone is gonna race in it! Haha unfortunately idk if we missionaries are allowed to, but I'm super stoked to see our friends!  And hope no one dies of heat stroke.

The splits with the other missionaries were great! we have to bike like 40 mins to get to the boat dock by 6:30 (hence waking up before 5) and then take the boat to the other island to exchange companions, then take the boat back. But slight problem, when we came back from the other island, the boat took us to the other side of our island! Like 3 hours walking distance from our bikes! Haha so we had an adventure walking all day instead of bike riding.  And that's pretty physically draining. But luckily an awesome member drove us back to our bikes at the end of the day so we could ride back to the boat dock the next morning!

We've had octopus a few times at a member's house and it's pretty good!  Except now I'm pretty scared to eat it, cause someone told us it makes you lose hair haha! Like we can't throw it out to the dogs or they'll lose their fur!

We had a Conference with our mission president and it was awesome!! So spiritual.  
Touched by a verse he shared "For I CAME ON A MISSION to do, not my will, but the will of He who sent me.  That's in John 6 I believe.  And changed words a lil bit. But it's really inspiring and reminds me that I made this decision to serve the Lord, in spite of all the hard times or selfish desires, I need to put Him first.  And I've started stepping up my game and am already seeing blessings.  

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!! Guys.  Do you realize how cool General Conference is.  It's literally the most important 2 days out of your 6 months.  Amazing.  I loved all the talks.  Of course, we watched the live French translated version, so I didn't understand all of it, but I still got a lot out of it and just want to watch it all again!  Conference is amazing because no matter who you are or what sticky situation you're in, there is a message for you hidden in the talks of prophets and disciples. I invite you all to watch conference if you missed it, or reread/watch the talks that you enjoyed. I know with certainty that these men and women are called of God and that the Church of Jesus Christ is on the earth today.

Cool experience! So we've been teaching a lady for a while and she's been doin well, reading the Book of Mormon and trying to stop smoking.  She received an answer from God that the Book of Mormon is true and she was ready to make the decision to get baptized!  But unfortunately a member in our branch went over to visit her and was a bit too direct in her encouragement to get baptized, and she got offended and told us she no longer wanted to join the church or continue the lessons.  But Elder Barlow (companion), being the stud he is just goes "And how are you doing with cigarettes?" haha so basically we just ignored it and once she calmed down we taught her about forgiveness and how we're all imperfect, but also family and we need to love each other.  And we totally saw a miracle cause her heart completely changed and she decided to forgive the lady who offended her so badly and continue reading the Book of Mormon.  I'm sure she'll soon be ready to join Christ's church and experience the wonderful blessings it brings into our lives.

I love you all! have a great week!!
atl
Elder Jenkins