Elise's mission letters

  Iaorana tatou!!!  1. "Je ne comprend pas anglais" -this old mami listening to me speaking french. We will begin this letter with a quick reo tahiti lesson so strap in!  On Wednesday, a member called the Mahina sisters and started jokingly speaking in Tahitian. She asked if the new sister in Mahina was American or Tahitian. Sister Hatch was the only sister in the companionship who understood this question, so with utmost confidence, she grabbed the phone and proudly declared,  "E taata Marite OE!!!" The member chuckled and Sister Hatch sat back, arms folded with pride, feeling pretty good about herself.  She then realized her mistake. "Oe" means "you." This means that she had loudly and proudly told a Tahitian "YOU are an American!!!"  So now you know.  2. Tuahine Watch, Wong, and Pol There is also this member that cannot learn our names. He took one look at my tag, read it incorrectly, and I will now be forever known as Tuahine Watch....

  Iaorana tatou!  I don't have a lot to say this week but I will try to exaggerate it all into one nice weekly email.  On Tuesday we were at a ward missionary meeting. We mentioned how we had had some struggles contacting Taua and that she hadn't come to church yet. A member who doesn't know her asked for her phone number and then called her right in the middle of the meeting. He ended the call and then said,  "So I'll be taking her to the activity on Saturday and she wants to have a lesson on this day..." The members here are wild.  On Wednesday we went to a faatamaaraa (member meal) with the Imiuras! It was FANCY. We stood on their beautiful porch sipping lemonade out of bamboo straws while watching the sun set over Moorea. It was beautiful and very peaceful. Sr Ware said, "what's wrong with sister Hatch? She's relaxing!" The tamaaraa, a meal featuring poisson cru and sashimi and coconut ice-cream and other delightful foods, was delicious. ...

Iaorana tout le monde!  It's been- yet again surprise surprise- a wild week.  Subject line is a direct quote from a member named Sam. Today we went to his house and learned how to make Tahitian food! Coconuts and fish now fear sister Hatch when she has a knife. In the space of only a few hours I did indeed consume probably every part of a coconut.  I survived Wednesday, which included 3 in person meals with tahitians (wayyyy too much rice) and a spider the size of my fist.   We are continuing to teach our friend Taua! We had 2 miraculous lessons with her. She is so prepared and fun to teach.  On Saturday, we found ourselves in the same area twice. Both times, we walked down a street but didn't walk past the last houses on the street. It was either too hot or we didn't have enough time, but those last few houses were left unvisited. That night, we received a text from a member in Papearii. He told us about his friend in our area who is interested and asked u...

  Iaorana tout le monde!  Eaha to'outou huru? (How are you all doing?) Speaking of Tahitian, many of you have asked me the question: "Sister Hatch, are you actually speaking Tahitian, or is the only tahitian you use what you put in your weekly emails?"  And by many of you I mean just my dad.  But today I want to talk about the Tahitian lessons we taught this week!  I am now serving in the wards of Ruatama (my old ward) and Pamatai (I joined Sr Ware and Teruhia and now we cover both areas). In the Pamatai ward is Mamie Afo, who is a legendary member missionary and pretty much everyone we are teaching is one of her friends. However, she doesn't speak a lot of French, which means that most of her friends are Tahitian speakers. We taught her siblings Clementine and Joseph (or Iosepha if you're feeling extra fancy). The Gift of Tongues was 100% present in our lesson, and I was able to understand a lot of the Tahitian. I shared a scripture and bore my testimony in wha...