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

-----

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

Don't Let The Bedbugs Bite

Kuraora

This week was really great.   We have really been picking up our activities because I don’t think this island has had a branch activity all year.  So this week was English class, Sports day and Karaoke night! Most of our activities turn into primary activities as the kids on the island love us, and they are at every one of our activities!

I was worried that karaoke would be lame  but we had a really good turn out! We set up a TV out side our house and had a neighbor bring over his speakers, got a flash drive of the most funny, old, and random music I have ever seen and sang the night away. Who knew that Abba and the Bee Gees made it all the way out here! The fan favorite was "I Had the Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing! Hands down! 

Church was good, and  I learned last minute that I had to conduct and it felt funny saying "we want to thank you for the prayer, for the talk, and for the blessing of the sacrament" when it was me doing it all haha! It was really good!

The only down side to this week were the late night attacks! Thursday night a centipede stung me in the ear lobe.  It was like three in the morning when I jump out of bed telling my companion to turn the lights on.  Then I seaw the little bugger crawl into my pillow! So my companion got the knife and chopped it up while I tried to get the poison out. I was so freaked out I had to read for an hour or so.

Then Saturday night my companion got stung on his shoulder, but that centipede got away, hit and run. Needless to say I don’t sleep with a pillow anymore and I wake up randomly in the night and have to do centipede scans. Nowhere is safe.

On the bright side we fixed a baptism this week for December. We have to really plan ahead with preparing people, because we don’t know if the missionaries will still be here after December! But all is well and we have so many friends here and so many things to do.

Sometimes when God calls you to work, there is not much physical support, but regardless the work still works and blessings still come if you are diligent, obedient, and love God and the people you serve. 

I love my mission and the weeks go by so fast here! In two moths I’ll be home!

I love you all so much and I pray for you. Happy Halloween, I got my scare this week, and every night that I go to bed so don’t worry about me!

This work is true and it changes lives, especially the lives of those who teach it!

Love you all

 Elder Moller!

Rain, Rain,Come Here

This week was fantastic on little Raroia! The village takes maybe five minutes to walk though but it’s so great! Lessons are going well and I am happy to say that we had 14 people at church yesterday, which takes the load off a little because last week we, directed, prayed, blessed and passed the sacrament, gave the talks, and taught combined priesthood and RS. This week was a little better.

So basically when we don’t have a lesson we walk around the village looking for service or that rare person we don’t know. And this week as we were walking we saw this massive pig in a inactive lady’s house.  So I B lined it to her house to get a better view and "Grissly" the pig was taking up half the house while the lady was feeding her rotten chicken bones.  I had a good time, feeling like I was at the fair, when I guess a chicken leg fell deathly close to this little puppy. Then the fair of horrors pursued. Grissly mistakes the puppy for a chicken leg and oh my goodness Grissly was a big mean puppy munching machine. My companion and me regretted that visit. I’m pretty sure the puppy is still alive but I’m not patting Grissly on the head anymore. But other than that we were able to help people put their boat in the water. What joy.

So at the house (chapel) we have solar panels, so sometimes (everyday) we run out of power! I love sleeping with my fan on and sometimes at 10:00 at night it turns off and it is so sad. It’s basically the same for water.  I’m always scared it’s going to run out, but this week it rained so hard, so we took advantage and washed all our dishes and filled up our water bottles and washed our clothes from the water coming out of the gutter! It was great!  

So yeah, the work is great, and we have some good potential! People here are so nice and loving! I know God loves all his children no matter where they are on this planet, I know this Gospel is for everyone and si tu veut, tu peut. If you have the desire, you have the ability!

Raroia is great

If I want to snack on something I have to make IPO

So yes when I’m hungry I boil flour in water and eat it, it’s so good.

I love sleeping on chairs, sooooo much.

I love my mission

Love you all

Elder Moller

Cockroaches, centipedes and scorpions

This week has been so great! We started to do some cleaning this week because there are big random boxes taking up our much needed space, and we killed maybe around 15 to 20 cockroaches and two scorpions (which i didn't even know exsisted here) and the biggest centipede I have ever seen. My poor companion saw it first and he couldn't even get words out of his mouth. He ran to the front door and struggled to get the door open for a few seconds.  I loved it, but he did end up finishing our cleaning while standing on chairs and pushing stuff around with sticks hahaha. 

This week we contacted almost the whole island and have met some awesome people who are really ready for the gospel. We did some service this week.  Cut coconuts and gathered shells.  hahaha I love service. 

The only hard thing  on this island is the children, they are crazy.   They want to play all the time and they come knocking on our doors wanting to play while we are studying.  And if we stay silent or don't open the doors they start chanting and sticking fake money in the windows hoping  we will grab it.  And if we don't they start throwing dead centipedes though the little holes in the windows. Its kinda scary. Those kids are relentless! 

This week while we did a service project I learned how to ride a trike which is a little embarrassing to say the least but these trikes here are really hard.  You keep thinking you're going to lose your balance so you "correct" yourself and you end up in a pile of trash next to the road. You just have to try it. 

But I am excited for this week as we are starting our english classes and our sports activities! We are having a ton of film nights where we watch Meet the Mormons or another church movie and they love it. 

I'm getting used to the daily bucket. I normaly dread it but the faster the bucket the better! And by some miracle a member dropped off a washing machine but we don't have an iron.  Best thing Ever! I dont have to iron anything! 

So that's pretty much it.  Boosting the work here is a blast.  I had a coconut for breakfast and like three naps today because we have nothing to do for p-day, but its totaly worth it.  I love my mission, I love Raroia I love our little branch! 

At church we had two active members other than us, but its growing.  Already we had an investigater there with us!  Such a miracle and such faith! I spent some time thinking this week of the faith and dedication of all the members of the little braches all over the world.  We can learn so much about how to live the gospel from them! Love you all so much and have a good week

Thanks for the prayers and the love

 

Elder Moller