Elise's mission letters

  Bonjour mes amis! Iaorana! This week marked our first week of the beautiful re'o Tahiti, learned through the beautiful Français. Ooof. This week was a wild one, but I got through it thanks to maybe too many Reese's peanut butter cups (what am I saying there is no such thing as too many Reese's peanut butter cups.) On Monday, my district got 4 more lovely wonderful people! These 4 new missionaries are all fluent in French, and 2 of them are Tahitians! Not going to lie, when I joined our first Tahitian class and heard these French speakers rattle off in french, I was WORRIED and quite flustered. I was pretty sure that about 90% of my Tahitian learning journey was just going to be me sitting in silence as the French speakers laugh at what is apparently a hilarious joke. Mais, ça va! Things got better. I love these new district members! We have now one Elder in our district, Elder Takaio! He has only been called Tuahine Takaio (sister takaio) o...

  It has been a very good week! This was our last week en français and Monday marks the first day in TAHITIAN!  Not going to lie, I am pretty anxious about this language shift. I knew a little french going into the MTC, but I know absolutely NO Tahitian, as shown by the fact that I spelled "iaorana" wrong last week in my email. I often wonder if it is even possible for someone like me to learn two languages at the same time. However, this week, Sister Staker shared D&C 42:6 with me.  "Ye shall go forth in the  power  of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two,  in my name ,  lifting  up your voices."  I know that with God, I have the POWER to learn Tahitian, even if I still can't roll my r's and have absolutely no clue about where to start with my studies. God is all powerful and I know that through His Spirit, I will have the power to learn Tahitian and French.  Because it was our last week in French, we had to say goodbye t...

  Hello! Iorana! Bonjour! To explain the subject line, last week I had a conversation with my 4 year old cousin Nora. She can't say her "r"s and replaces the sound with "Oi!" It is pretty hilarious.  Me: "Nora say 'Earth worm'" Nora: "Oith woim. But WHY are they called oith woims? Ahn't ALL woims from the oith? I haven't heard of any SPACE WOIMS!"  Remy, my 7 year old cousin: " I  have heard of space worms."  It has been a long, busy, hard, but blessed 2 weeks. As many of you know, my grandma passed away very unexpectedly on Memorial Day. It was sad and hard but I felt watched over that whole week. I felt like my French improved exponentially last week and I was able to feel a ton of love and support from others. Specific lessons felt tailored to my needs RIGHT THEN. I know that when we look for these tender mercies and little moments where people show they care WE WILL FIND THEM. Last Saturday was her funeral. It wa...

  Bonjour!  Shortly before entering the online MTC I bought a bottle of multivitamin gummies to make getting up at 6:30 more exciting. This week I looked at the number of servings, and if my math is correct, I should run out of gummies right around when I finish the MTC! This week we started FRENCH IMMERSION. On Wednesday, I helped my mom at a primary activity in our ward. The elementary school right by our house does french immersion. (I was never a part of this but many of the primary kids in our ward are.) I mentioned to one group of kids that I am learning French. "Oh yeah?!?" said one girl. "Can you  even  understand what I am  saying ? BonJOUR Comment ça  VA ." (capitals and italics added for  emphasis).  "Ça va BIEN" I responded. I love children.  Back to French! I finally understand what the Tahitian accent is like because one of your teachers who served in French Polynesia has the most Tahitian accent. Every R is rolled. No...

  Hello! Bonjour! Salut! Ia Ora Na! First off Jame got his wisdom teeth taken out and it was WILD.  Do you remember how last week I was talking about missing listening to Dvorak every day? That I was experiencing withdrawals from not being able to listen to his symphonies and quartets in order to get through each day?  Well, this week God delivered and I discovered that DVORAK IS IN THE FRENCH HYMNBOOK.  *screams* The hymn is Souviens-toi, number 179, and is absolutely gorgeous! It is also a hymn that mentions that we have Heavenly Parents (parents is plural!!!!), which I am all about! Dvorak is good but God is better!  Speaking of music, I wanted to say today that I can play Called to Serve on all of my instruments but the harmonica is ROUGH and it sounds terrible. It is just a bunch of parrot-like squawks and squeaks. I did play around on the mandolin today at a music store and am adding it to my long list of desired instruments.  To make learning fr...

Hello! Bonjour!  On Wednesday, I started the MTC live from my basement. Other than a power outage on Friday which moved me to the basement of a store in good old K-town, the online MTC has been running smoothly.  My companions, Soeur Staker and Soeur Livu, are AMAZING!!! Soeur Staker, from Alpine, has the most beautiful long curly blonde hair. It is seriously GORGEOUS. She is so kind and loving and has the sweetest testimony. She is an amazing listener! Soeur Livu is adorable, with the biggest, most radiant smile and the cutest laugh. She is very kind and diligent and is from a small island in Vanuatu. Now, my dear friends, you may be thinking: "Hmmm.... Vanuatu. Isn't that another country? Another country that is very far away from Kaysville?" Congratulations! You thought correctly! Vanuatu is east of Australia, between Papua New Guinea and New Zealand. There is a SEVENTEEN HOUR TIME DIFFERENCE between Soeur Staker and I and Soeur Livu. (Right now as I write this at 10:4...