The Call (and other things that may interest you regarding a mission in Tahiti)

   

      I got my call in the mail on Thursday June 28 in Provo, UT. I kind of surprised my family. They thought that my call was being sent to GA, but they were on vacation in FL. Thursday night I left for the Salt Lake City airport and barely got on the flight to go to Florida. While at the airport, I decided to tell my dad what I was coming with, so he could help me get the family together.  As soon as I landed all I wanted to do was open it with my family. Since they were on vacation Dad and I formed a plan to get everyone down to the beach. It barely worked. No one was really cooperating. We sang a couple of hymns and while doing so I burst out the envelope. They were pretty surprised. Then I  opened it and we were even more surprised. All my family thought I would serve in Europe and I kind of did too. It was just so surreal to know that I am going somewhere that is NOT going to be anything like what I know. My sisters and I went to Guam last month and I left the island thinking, "well, that was nice for a week, but I could NEVER live on an island." And we were staying in one of the nicest parts of the islands.
      After I opened my call I made a bunch of calls. Everyone's reaction was so different. That was fun to do. One person thought I was joking with him. Another was like that is going to be a hard mission. My good friend was like that is great. My uncle thought I was going to France for sure and was super surprised I was going there. Another person was like well aren’t you glad you decided to serve a mission, and then I went on to tell him how I would be at a beach with no beach for 15 months. All my  family was like, “lucky! You are going to have so much fun at the beach,” then I would explain to them how that is not the case.  I think everyone was surprised, including myself.
      I cannot tell you how many times in the past when I have said I was going to serve a mission when people told me, "oh, you'll go somewhere foreign for sure!" I didn't want to set myself on it, but still kind of did. After seeing how hard the missionaries work where I live, I knew that I could go anywhere and have a "refiner's fire" experience.
      I thought I would go foreign, but not middle of nowhere foreign. I was really at the point where if I got called stateside, I would have been fine. I wanted to have a hard experience, like my whole life, but now that I have my call I am just like, “I am going to learn A LOT! Heavenly Father, you are too funny, knowing I LOVE the beach and sending me to an island where I cannot just go relax at the beach.”
Everyone thinks I am going to paradise, but I cannot do whatever I want on a mission. I have heard that the housing can be dirty like people fining rats, birds, and roaches in them. I also heard that some areas don’t even have a grocery store. I will be eating whatever is given to me and rumor has it that, that includes lots of mystery meat. On top of it all, no one speaks english, they all speak French, so I have to learn French, but I was called to speak Tahitian, which is nothing like French. I am going to be learning two languages. Good thing Heavenly Father blesses his missionaries. So overall, I am so excited for this experience, but lets just be honest it is definitely not going to be what people think is an island paradise. I am going to have to adapt, work, and have faith.
I am grateful Heavenly Father trusts me to do his work and that obviously he knows I can go to Tahiti and be successful. I saw this quote that was like, “If your desire is to be successful, then Heavenly Father will help you be so, because He cares about what you want. Going into a mission the only thing I want to do is to do my very best and God knew that before I got my call, so He must know that I can be successful even under some rough circumstances.
      Now for the other things regarding a mission in Tahiti. There is only one mission that covers all of French Polynesia. There are 7 stakes (groups of about 10 congregations) on the island of Tahiti. It is a biking mission. There is a temple in Tahiti. French Polynesia, which is all the islands combined, is owned by France, sooo everyone speaks French, but my call was for Tahitian, so I will learn French and Tahitian in the MTC. I will be in the MTC for 3 months of the 18 month mission learning French and Tahitian (that means living in a one mile radius and never leaving... HELPPPP). Apparently, the Tahitian missionaries get to go on a day trip to San Francisco to get their visas. I am already excited for that! Tahiti has poisonous centipedes and I have read stories about other missionaries coming home to birds and mice in their apartments. One of the girls I know serving there killed a rat in her apartment. The people there eat tons of fish and meats. It is super hot and humid ALL the time (that is one thing I learned in Guam, that GA humidity isn't really that bad). In July there is a huge dance festival throughout all the islands. I hear that I will probably be playing piano a lot and accompanying for church meetings. The best thing of all thought is that the people love missionaries and I already love them too!
      OHHHH, here is something cool, so Bora Bora is in my mission and I have always wanted to go there, but didn't think of it as reality, because it is super expensive and where the rich and famous go to vacation, but now I actually will be there (pretty much).

Why I Want to be a Missionary

One of the missionaries (Sister Christensen) who served in our congregation the summer before I left for BYU.

I just want to write how I came to know I wanted to be a missionary. When we got sister missionaries in our ward (congregation) around when I was 16, I loved going out with them and really just wanted to help with the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and be a missionary. That was the summer before the age change for sister missionaries to serve at 19 instead of 21 was announced. I was super excited when that happened and just wanted to go right then and there. Then I continued to be super involved with the missionaries in Georgia. Then I went to college. I worked in the MTC ( the missionary training center), where missionaries learn to teach the gospel, and really enjoyed my time there, but it wasn’t the same kind of missionary interaction I had back home. After fall semester that excitement I had felt like all my life had died down. I think it was because I was so caught up in school and ward member-missionary interaction in Provo is so small. So winter semester I decided to change my interaction with the missionaries. I got the sister missionaries number and went out with them to teach people about the church. The first time was just soo goood. I was in tears at like every appointment I went to. Then, I knew I had forgotten what I wanted to do. I still prayed about it and never got a super crazy experience, but I decided I just needed to go forward and do what I wanted. I did. Ever since sometimes when people are speaking and everything I can get a prompting of mission. It is awesome.  Also my sister Erin being on a mission in Japan has just made it that much more real to me of wanting to go. Her example of being a missionary makes me want to become better in the efforts I make. This is such an exciting time to be out in the field telling people about Jesus Christ and his gospel. That is what Heavenly Father has asked us as members of the church to do. I want everyone in the world to have the knowledge about faith, Jesus Christ, his suffering, and how they can feel joy. 
The most important reason I want to serve a mission is to serve my Lord and help others come unto him through faith, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. I know that by putting 18 months of life up for him I will grow to love him more. I expect those months will be some of the hardest of my life, but I will come out so much different and better than before. 
I have been called to serve in Tahiti. I want to help the Tahitians know what I know and gain joy because of  the good principles of the gospel.               
I want to show my Father in Heaven that He can trust me with the truth I know. I want to help his children and be a part of the restoration of the same gospel he established in Jesus’s day and the gathering of his people.  
                   

My sister, Erin and I at Cafe Rio before we dropped her off at the Missionary Training Center in January.