Christmas in paradise

My Christmas package was awesome. I love it. 

I already have my bike…  I just need to pay back the mission so it’s all good. I’m taking out about 10,000 South Pacific Francs a week until its payed off. It is, in fact, the nicest bike I've ever used. I’ll send pics some week soon. I don’t use it a lot right now, but when I do splits, I use it. (splits=switching with another companionship or member).

Families here aren’t like only a parent and child thing here. Families normally include grandparent, parent, child, and other cousins. Everyone one in Tahiti is related in some way... so you hear people say, "oh yeah that guy is my cousin" all the time.

The work this week was pretty lame. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we had very little planned, so the other Elders in our house all put Santa hats on and went carolling. We ended up singing in a store full of people. Overall ten-outa-ten experience. 

A huge transfer happened in the mission. The other secteur in our house got white washed (whitewashed=completely new missionaries) not because they suck, but because it ended up being a weird transfer. So we will see how the new Elders are. Elder Ruff and I are one of the only companioships that aren’t being changed in our zone. Fun times ahead. Party times are over so now enough for us to go and do contacting. But New Years is just around the corner, so it might not last. Overall good week. 

It was so nice to see you guys. You guys are looking great. And I will have you know that after we hung up, I totally lost it for a minute. Life goes on, and thanks for being such an awesome family.

Iaorana

Elder Goodwin

Mission Christmas party

A few pictures from Mission President Pierre and Sister Brigitte Bize' blog...https://www.facebook.com/Pierre-and-Brigitte-Tahiti-Blog-701349089926480/?fref=ts

Super quick update

In answer to Mom’s questions… yes they decorate trees here. There aren’t many lights and the local customs for Christmas are pretty much the same as in Canada. 

I’m sorry for the rushed email post this week. I’m saving content for my Skype call home Christmas morning. Actually today we had some Sister missionaries take absolutely forever at shopping. So now we have no time to do emails…  

Good to hear life is sweet at home. Can’t wait for Friday. Everything should work smoothly. Remember 8 o’clock in the morning, my time!

Love you guys. I have no photos of me this week... so just imagine me walking on water and drinking coconuts.

Iaorana 

Elder Goodwin

Mataiea sector continues - no transfer!

I have come to the stark realization that I will never wear any of my long sleave shirts. I only need one for going to the temple and for baptizing. It just gets too hot and rains too much here. So maybe is a couple months. a package of 3 to 5 short sleeve shirts would be a dream. But for now I’m doing dandy. (this is in answer to a question from Mom and Dad).

It is weird spending Christmas here... because it doesnt feel like Christmas to me. I look out the window and see green grass and palm trees and no snow.

We have been teaching some Christmas themed lessons lately and it feels strange. Our secter has been pretty quiet lately. but we are slowly bringing our secter back to life. But it is a lot of work. This week Elder Ruff and I did this cool service project for one of our investigators. We cut down this tree and cleaned it all up. And after we were done, we cracked open a couple coconuts and drank up. Pretty sweet. I will send pictures. Real coconut water tastes miles different from the stuff you buy at the store. Real coconut water has a little tingle to it. It is miles better than coke. 

I am not being transferred this week, nor is my companion, which is awesome. But Elder Mclelland in our home is being transfered to one of the Tuamotu's on the 28th. That is awesome! the Tuamotu's are my dream place to serve. When you think of untouched paradise. you are thinking of the Tuamotu's. 

The Tahitian word of the day is “puaahorofenua” which means "horse"... but the direct translation is "pig run land." AND THE BONUS WORD IS "MANUREVA TUTUHA AUAHI," which means "jet"… but the direct translation is "bird spit fire.”  So basically Tahitian is the coolest language ever.

It has been a busy/hot couple weeks. 

All's well in paradise.

Iaorana 

Elder Goodwin

Service project with Lee

Service project sunburn!

Working hard... oh and bugs!

Yes. There is in fact a heat wave here caused by El Nino.  We do have fans but they don’t help that much. They really just keep the mosquitos off during the night. 

I don’t have many photos and I don’t have tons of time today to do emails this week (sorry). Long story short, Mataiea area is struggling right now so we have been doing a lot of contacting. There are transfers next week, and I am not sure if my companion is going to stay, but I am pretty comfortable showing the sector.

The story behind the picture with the spider. I lifted up a spoon one morning and there was a massive spider on the dang spoon. I have never run faster in my life. We hunted the beast for a three days as it was roaming in our home, and when I found it I let out a screach comparable to 20 rubber chickens being squeezed at the same time. I am pretty sure the only goal it had in the life that spider was to scare the living crap out of people. It isnt even poisonous. Just so scary. 

This is how I broke the sound barrier!

The cockroaches here really like to die in really weird places. This is on my bag during my personal study. I feel like the cockroach knew he was going to die, so he thought it would be really funny to die on my bag. Oh and on the bug theme, I just want to put it out there that centipedes here can jump really high, and they are super poisonous and scary… 

A little more tanned and working hard. Oh and Tahitian pineapples are pretty much a drug. All's well in paradise. Tahitian word of the day is "uri taata"  which means monkey but translated directly it means "dog man."

Iaorana

Elder Goodwin