Elise's mission letters

  Iaorana tout le monde!  I apologize for the depressing email last week. Know that I have had it rough mentally and emotionally the last few weeks, but am now in a place where I feel more peace and safety. God is good  I realized that there were actually some funny experiences from last week that I forgot to include in my email. Because nothing funny happened this week, you will now be blessed (or cursed) with these stories.  1. I am now a television star We were asked to film a music video for Facebook. No biggie, I've made one loads of times back in California. You just whip out a cell phone and press record.  So I thought.  We show up at the church to record and there is our bishop with RECORDING EQUIPMENT (like microphones and sound machines and headphones...). We recorded the audio of "Praise to the Man" in French and then went into the chapel. In the chapel, we lipsynced to the previously recorded audio while being filmed. It was then that we learned...

  Iaorana! Yooo rana! Tchuru! Otiroax.... (I think that's all the Tahitian slang I have picked up on.) Speaking of languages, this email will feature a new segment called "french vocabulary!" The French word for the day:  Fourmis: noun, ants Used in a sentence:  Sister Hatch decided to treat herself to cookies from Carrefour. She put them in an upper cupboard in the apartment and was very sad when she discovered that the FOURMIS had climbed up the wall into the cupboard and into the cookies.  Triste.  But! Life goes on. If I'm going to be honest, this has probably been the hardest week of my mission. I've been intellectually stretched, emotionally drained, and discouraged.  But I do have a testimony that there are moments to find joy in the midst of our trials.  Here are some things that made the week  little less awful:  1. Priesthood blessings 2. Gratitude journals 3. Hugs 4. Doritos 5. Views of the ocean 6. Teaching lessons 7. Lettuce (the...

  On Mon, Feb 14, 2022 at 1:20 PM Elise Hatch < elise.hatch@missionary.org > wrote: With a dream and, quite literally, a cardigan. Iaorana tatou! This week was quite possibly one of the craziest weeks I have experienced (thus far).  We had transfers and I am now serving in.... Faaa! (Pronounced fa-ah-ah).  My first week in Tahiti was both super fun and way challenging, but ça va, because as my Tahitian companion Sœur Naehu says, "it's ok it's ok sister don't worry don't worry it's ok." Here are some notable quotes: "Alrighty aphrodite" -Sister Christensen "Where are we and what does Haiti have to do with any of it???" -Soeur Ware, in an absolute panic (we live in the city of Heiri, which sounds very similar to Haiti, especially if you are an American on their first day in French Polynesia) (in french): "You are weird Sr Naehu" "I am not weird, I am Sr Naehu" "All I have to do right now is eat my mango...