It's beginning to look a lot like.......a little cyclone alert

Hey everyone, Life is great in Rarioa!

We had such a great Thanksgiving.  We made some chicken with some potatoes, and a can of corn and a can of peaches! We made sure everyone knew it was Thanksgiving and by the end of the day we had everyone wishing us happy Thanksgiving! So it was great,

This week we were able to see our mission president.  He was flying to Makemo and the plane landed here for like 20 minutes so they gave us a huge wave and wished us also a very happy Thanksgiving! Then the following day we had our district meeting and oh my goodness it is so hard to give a training over the phone! I had to give a training to the Elders in Makemo and to the sisters in Hau (Who were skypeing the Elders in Makemo) So you just kinda talk and hope they understand and always agree with whatever they say.  But it went all right.

Don’t worry, I have been feeling a lot better this week.  Our handy dandy shower' bucket was our laundry machine today, and oh my gosh, I hate washing clothes in buckets so much.  I started all happy and feeling like a pioneer, and it just ended up with me throwing socks in dirty soapy water swirling it around with my hand and dumping them on chairs. I am thankful for washing machines this year! 

Well anyway yesterday our landlord came to strap down the roof because we got a little tiny cyclone warning! It’s so nice! It’s so cool outside with a ton of leaves on the ground and a little ocean mist.  It basically is like a pleasant autumn afternoon.  But don’t worry we started digging our cooly pokey (Other Side of Heaven reference – Kelly) cyclone protection hole! No I’m kidding about the hole but the weather is so nice!

So in other news, our branch president is leaving this week so it’s just me and my companion who have callings in the branch, with one other active member! It’s so fun! We were about 10 at church yesterday but with the marriage happening at the end of December we should have a lot of members coming in from a lot of different islands.  We are way excited!

All is well at Raroia! I only have four p-days left.  December is going to go by fast.  I love my mission.  I love the gospel.  It’s always worth it! Always!  I’m thankful for the Gospel.  I’m thankful for the choices we have in our lives.  I’m thankful for the happiness that is in this gospel.  I’m thankful for washing machines.  I’m thankful for the two years God had to change my life!

I love you all

Elder Moller

P.s. The population asked me to be Santa for their Christmas party.  I don’t think the kids will have any idea it’s me. White Santa with an American accent with Elder Owens standing next to him...Who could it be?

I have yet to give my answer.

Thanksgiving

Elder Moller returns home on December 29th at 4:06 PM.

His mission report will be on January 10th at 9 AM at our building and we will have a get together at our home after.

As you sit down this week for Thanksgiving please remember 2 sweet servants of the Lord as they sit down and enjoy their canned vegetables, chicken and peaches.  Be grateful for all you have.  We are all so blessed.

Kelly

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I’ve just been sitting here trying to think what to write about, everything just seems so normal. Normal being on a little speck of land in the Pacific. 

Yesterday at church was great. We got a call Saturday telling us the Sunday School teacher would not be able to make it to church because of boat problems, Because I was teaching combined priesthood and Relief Society My companion got the privilege to teach Sunday School, and this week just happened to fall on Revelations. Lucky Lucky.

This week we did a service project with Kaleikau (one of our investigators) and we went to collect coconuts in the woods. As fun as that sounds it was actually kinda hard. You walk into the coconut trees and there are so many coconuts but when you pick them up they’re all rotten or hollow or just a "bad" coconut for no apparent reason. So I would grab by little armful of coconuts and I would have to leave them all behind! I felt like I was playing Where's Waldo but on the page where they’re a billion Waldos and you have to find "the Waldo", it’s something like that. Mixed in with looking for centipedes, making sure coconuts don’t fall on your head and being covered in little pokeies! I liked it!

So I guess we can say that was the excitement of the week, because I was a little under the weather.  My bowels are so clean now, and our shower bucket turned into Elder Moller's throw up bucket, so multifunctional!!

I guess my body is just prepping itself for the feast that is about to happen on Thursday! We bought a can of corn and can of green beans, two chicken legs, some sweet chili sauce, instant potatoes (which I probably won’t eat because that’s what filled our shower bucket when I got sick) a can of peaches and some cream! It’s kinda a big deal! No I’m actually really excited.

So yeah I wish you all a happy thanksgiving.  I’m so thankful for all that God has given me during my life and during these past 2 years! That is what will make Thursday go great, All the things I have to be thankful for!

I love you all so much

 Elder Moller

We also had our first district meeting this week, we were huddled over our phone for two hours! We loved it!

Jinx, you owe me a dollar

Last night I fell asleep to my companion saying how much his back hurts from sleeping on chairs, and how much it is "worth the risk" to take a chance sleeping on the floor. It should be no surprise that he woke me up in the middle of the night yelling that he had been stung and how bad it hurt. "I’m sick of setting up chairs,” he says. "Finally going to get a good nights sleep,” he says. So yeah looks like we will be sleeping on the chairs again tonight. 

Yesterday was good a church day.  I was a little worried because our primary president left for Tahiti for good, leaving only 5 active members in the branch, 2 of which will be leaving in two weeks. This leaves me my companion and Roldolf as the only active members on the island. It’s great!

So today we decided to go to the reef that is on the outer side of the island, and we adventured. It’s just like walking in water that goes up 8 inches, and looking at tide pools. Normally we find just little shells and stuff but today we found this little puffer fish and then I hear my companion yell "an octopus!".  I got so excited and when I walked up to it, it swam right for me!  It scared me so bad! I felt like Jack Sparrow running through the ocean.

But this week was really good we found some new investigators and we did some yard work for an inactive member. The usual.

All is well here at Raroia, so much to do and so little time.

I know the Gospel is true, I know our message is true and simple. I know God loves all of his children and that it is never to late to change. I can honestly say my mission has changed my life, but I have 40 more days to live it up.

Pray for me, and pray for the people here. I love you all.

Elder Moller

Vacation, all I ever wanted

I am so sorry for last week.  We spent our whole day thinking we were so hot going to the airport shooting fire hoses and the "fireman canon" and then we came home to realize "oh yeah school is out all week..." which means there is no email either. So, sorry for that one.  Blame the schooling system! 

So like I said, last week some of our friends invited us to clean and play around with the island’s fire truck.  So we got our fireman merit badge, no big deal! And happy to announce we haven’t seen any bugs in the house, even though last night the curtain from the window brushed up to my face and I had a heart attack.  I think my companion had a bigger one after being woken up to my gasps of terror!

Also, this week I have had some pretty bad stomach cramps.  We think I have something called "rice constipation".   I’m not embarrassed, I’m proud of my Chinese pooping problem! So, we waddled right on over to the clinic and I had a really funny conversation with the nurse as I had to double, triple, and quadruple check where exactly I had to put the creepy clear pill! I was so glad my companion didn’t understand.  He asked why me and the nurse were laughing up a storm, I told him its because constipation is funny! In truth I really didn’t want him to know what was looming in my rear future.

Our "bucket" drain is clogged so we bucket ourselves standing in our neighbor’s dirty laundry water hahaha.  It’s kinda gross when I say it! But it beats having a constant fear of centipedes crawling out of the drain while your showering.

And this week was killer!! We had 23 people at church! I was so happy.  So many inactives and investigators and it was the primary program! The 3 kids did such a good job! We had 30 lessons this week and the numbers just keep going up as the weeks go by! I love my mission and I feel the time slipping though my fingers!

We have a marriage and a baptism fixed for the 2nd of December.  Pray for that family.  They are so great!

All is well here, and we are going to go grill up our fish a guy gave us tonight after our family night! Maybe eat it with some cooked flour yum yum!

I love you all and I know that this work is true and that God provides a way for those who seek him. I am happy to bucket in green water, sleep on plastic chairs, and eat rice for every meal, because I love this work and I love serving my family here at Raroia!

Nothing beats it.

Thanks for all the support

Love you all

Elder Moller