January 16, 2012

Yo mom. Happy Birthday! That came up really fast. Since we don't have any calendars in our house and the only ones are those weird Chinese ones I have a hard time knowing where we are in the month. I bought you some stuff last year and I'll be sure to get you some more stuff this year. There is some really cool stuff here. I'll finally get that credit card to use. I can't believe how weak that snow is. I guess I was gone at a good time. For the leaving information I only know what you sent me. I'll call the office couple to get the other details. In Bora there are only two wards and it's in the same building. I never thought it was THAT small.. But most things bigger than a car here seem huge to me. We do Vaitape and the others do Anau. It's pretty much right down the middle. I've done two wards only twice in my first two sectors. After it's just been one or in Rurutu's case less. I've certainly learned and changed my attitude a lot on my mission. The blessing was right. Also speaking of pictures- did I send you guys the ones from when we were on that boat watching surfers in Teahupoo? Because the memory card short-circuits anything I put it in and I don't have the pictures saved on my current USB and the other one with those photos got stollen (I love missiopnaries). Thanks for the doctors appointments, and the Keith one. That way he can interview me phsychologically and I'll be able to ask him some questions of my own. Anyways, this week was amazing. We worked with members every day and got a ton of new investigators. These members are in action and awesome. The go to their friends and just say "when can we come back and teach you?" Simple and direct. We're going to do some great things here in Bora. A lot of which will be before I go home. We have some great investigators now. And normally all of the other ones will be coming back finally from the other islands. We've even had success with the people we have contacted randomly on the road and stuff (that almost never works here). So I am way happy and pushing it until the end. I think that this ward will profit from this work for a very long time. I'm going to miss being a missionary. Also way random. There is a family from here that is coming to America in April and they want us to show there kids a "larger vision" of things. It's kind of a secret though cause they want to surprise their kids. They also don't want to tell them and then not be able to go. I think that would be pretty cool though. Plus everyone says to contact them before we come (for hotels and stuff). I don't know when but it will be pretty sweet. Also I decided what I want to eat when I get home. Home made enchiladas. Possible? I miss Mexican food really bad. Okay I should go; we're going to eat at Bloody Mary's and go see a cannon. Happy Birthday again mom. Talk to you next week.

-Elder Oldroyd

January 9, 2012

Hello from the coldest wettest place on earth. It has been raining like crazy for the past few days. Like all the banana trees on the whole island have been blown over and there is just mud and water everywhere. I feel so bad for the tourists (who represent like a quarter of the population). I'm so stoked for Liz's wedding and Tally's baby. I feel like finally all the things everyone has been worried about have come to an end. Since I left those have been the primary family concerns. And of course the U. Things here have been pretty interesting. We went to Raiatea for two days and it was all for an interview that lasted five minutes. He asked how I was and if I was worthy like four times. We get along great. I just ignore the past and so does he. Raiatea was really fun though. Everyone was there- us, Tahaa, Huahine, and of coarse Raiatea. We did some shopping and some walking around aimlessly. That night a few of us ate and slept over at a members house. It was funny because president didn't even know we had to spend the night until the very day. Anyways, the work here is hard as normal. Contacting in the rain and trying to get out of the rain and crazy wind. Finally Saturday something great happened. We went out with the ward leadership to reactivate inactive members in the morning and then we went out and looked for new investigators the afternoon. It was really successful. The two guys I went with were total clowns and we had a really fun time. We did some great work, saw some miracles, and even got kind of lost in the jungle looking for a house that we never found. It was sweet. Well there you go for this week. I'm way stoked (and kind of nervous) that President Smith will be there at my homecoming. It's gonna be great when I get home. But that doesn't mean that I won't finish strong.. It's cool, the reality of it hasn't hit me yet and I'm pretty sure it won't until I actually am on the plane. Also, can you fix a doctor and a dentist and maybe a psychologist appointment for me as soon as I get home? I'll probably need them all after this crazy place. Thanks and I'll talk to you next week.

January 2, 2012

I'll warn you now I won't be talking a whole lot about Bora today cause this week was lame. The whole island was totally wasted all day and all night blasting music and partying in the streets. People were making bombs in the neighborhood next door and lighting them off almost every 30 minutes. There were tons of tourists and tons of random house parties everywhere. Plus it rained a ton. New Year's Eve the fireworks woke me up and I was able to watch them from my window. People here are crazy though it was kind of fun to see it all but it was destructive to our already lacking sector. Things should get better though. So here's my news - Wednesday we are flying down to Raiatea (a pretty big island not to far away) for interviews and not coming back until Thursday afternoon. Then we're going back down there February 3rd for a Zone Conference. Cool stuff. I'm excited to see what it's like there. Plus Bell will be there. Also transfers are next week and Frischkneckt is going back to his first sector. Redding is going to Moorea for like four weeks. Anyways, I want Liz's room for sure. I guess we'll just figure everything out when I get back. Should be interesting. I've got a lot of decisions to make when I get back. It'll probably work out in the end. I love being in a house of four. And finally President Smith coming to my homecoming would mean the world to me. How freaking cool would that be. Okay, well I'll talk to you next week then four more times...

-Elder Oldroyd

December 26, 2011

Hey mom, bet you didn't think I'd email today. I didn't think so either because a guy took us out to one of the outer ring islands today and we were there all day. The pictures are really cool. It was just nice and relaxing. I'm sorry this will be real short because my companion is waiting on me. I'm just so happy we got to talk yesterday and I know it will be like ten times better in person. I'll keep you informed for the memory cards and pictures. Just real quick- I don't let this distract me but I am realizing when I get back I have to get some stuff organized. School, job, phone, etc. I don't know how any of that is going to work. I'll probably buy an i-phone and school is March 1st? Where will i work? I dunno, It's crossed my mind a bit. I guess we'll see. K Sorry this is short. Thanks for the call yesterday. I'll talk to you next week. Elder Oldroyd

December 19, 2011

Well here I am. Just hanging out. I think we're going to ride our bikes around the whole island today. I think it's smaller than Rururtu actually. But there are a lot of people here. I think it's the most since my first sector. And yes there are tons of tourists. I've talked to a couple. Have fun with Christmas. We were talking about Christmas traditions the other day and I realized that I really prefer Christmas at home. Whatever. It'll work out. Christmas I'll just call you when I can. Don't wait around too much. I'll for sure be calling in the afternoon here (between like 1:00 or 3:00) so that will be four hours different from your time. Good? We'll see. If I don't get a call I'll just call anyways Christmas and we'll try and figure it out. Anyways, this week wasn't all that interesting. We did a lot of looking and not a lot of finding. People just didn't wanna hear it this week. There was good news though. Finally I got my stuff and a much needed piece for my bike. The whole week rode my bike around with the seat all the way down and it was retarded. The other good thing happened yesterday. After all of our searching two people called us over and asked us about family search. We explained it and why we do it and then asked them to take the lessons. Everyone the whole week had said no but they said yes. So we taught them the first lesson right there on the side of the road and they totally accepted it. So that's about it. This is going to be a tough week for the work but I'm sure we'll be fine. Then once January comes the work should get a lot easier. It's weird to think about but the end is quickly coming. It's going to be a fight till the finish though. Okay see you Sunday! Thanks for everything. Enjoy being home and pray for snow. Also if you guys ever see Davey give him a big German hello for me. Talk to you soon!

December 13, 2011

                                                         The Bora Bora Airport Runway

Hello from yesterday. Today president told us we could have a kind of half P-day since yesterday we were on Tahiti. I'll try and be brief. I got here Wednesday with no problems at all. A french lady sat next to e and I guess her job is to go stay at different hotels around the world. That is so cool! I don't think she felt the same way about the gospel.. I was absolutely shocked when I got off the plane. It was quite a site. I saw the other guy off whilst my companion and the other two guys were waiting for me. We took the boat to the main island and it was so beautiful with the sun setting and everything. We got to work the next day and I really like the sector. There's not a whole ton of investigators because it just got split. But we have been handling it pretty well. Me and my companion get along great. He's not crazy like his brother at all. We're pretty tight. The other two guys are Elders Neimela and Mulford. We live in the same house between our sectors and it's pretty cool. Except for every one's sick with the cold I'm getting over. Otherwise, we went back down to Tahiti Sunday morning in order to sing that night. I've never seen more people in my life. The thing was too full and members had to give up their seats for investigators that came because there were so many. We absolutely killed it singing too. People were in tears. The spirit was rockin it there. We all ate and slept by the temple together that night. The next day we had our big P-day all together then ate Turkey. How random, turkey. Later on at the airport I saw my companions parents. They were totally cool and kind of apologized for their son's behavior. I told them it was totally cool. I feel like that whole thing is finally over now since I now know his family.. Anyways, now we're back and I'm excited to go out and work. Wish me luck. I'll talk to you next week and then on Christmas. I'll try and tell you guys when I'll call. Time is going by so fast I can't believe it. See you next week.

December 5, 2011

Family, I am being transferred tomorrow to Bora Bora. That's about as cool as it gets for the last two months. I take the plane tomorrow afternoon. Mo is transferred too. He'll go to Tiperui. So our poor sector will have two new guys - Elder Coulson and the Elder he'll be training. It's the same deal at Taravo. Both Elder Bell and his companion are being transferred. Bell's going to Tahaa. It's a weird transfer but I won't fight it. I'm just so stoked to no longer be with my companion and to go somewhere where I can just work normally and have fun on P-days. It's kinda weird though because I'm going to serve with the brother of that guy who freaked out and hit me. He seems like a nice and not crazy version of his brother. Plus two other missionaries are coming with us. It'll be a riot. This week was like any other. It was really hard to get out and work. As usual our companions just did their thing. Then Hamula came and we all slept in the motel next to the temple. It was sweet. Saturday we had two meeting with him and they were both a lot like the others. Just these life changing, question answering spiritual bombs. Yesterday I got to go and see a bunch of people to say goodbye. I certainly couldn't see them all but I was really happy to see those who I did see. We also had a miracle happen. We were low on gas and because my companion refused to stay in the sector and see people, he wanted to go to Taravo. Okay, whatever. Anyways, while we were going I realized we were almost out of gas but it was Sunday... So my companion gave me a whole speech with a somewhat loud and angry voice about why I should go fill up the car. He told me I was really stupid for thinking it was a bad idea to go on a Sunday. I ignored him and prayed that we wouldn't even get on reserve. Afterwords me and Bell went out to see some people and the very first family we saw (the Tehaavi's) offered us gas.. We took it! They filled us up quite a bit saying that they were the answer to my prayer. I dunno.. Little random miracle. I was so happy. Also we did a baptism for that old grandpa on Saturday. My companion didn't want to come. But it got done anyways. He was really super old and slow moving. I baptised him and despite all the difficulties it worked out. He was so stoked to get baptised. Well that's about it for this week. Finally the nightmare is over. Elder Mo is gone. I'm just going to go kill it out there in Bora. There's lots of work to be done. I'll tell you all how it goes next week. I'll be here on Tahiti actually because we are doing our big singing project. So I'm going, coming back, and going again. Cool stuff. Wish me luck. Also I did get all three packages. Now I just need to stuff them all in my suitcases and send them to Bora. Thanks for everything.

November 28, 2011

I am sorry to say that this week was not a very good one for the work. NOTHING gets done here. It reminds me of being with my friends before the mission. Everyone has to be together. No one wants to be "alone" in their sectors. It was just a big hangout. Any excuse to do so and we were off. I'm pretty close to giving up on my companion. Now that I push less we get along better. The work is pretty much the same though. Cool things did happen though. We had a district thanksgiving with our meeting on Friday. I never thought we could find all the ingredients here but we did. Turkey, real mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and dessert after. That was super fun. Then Saturday president came to our sector to do a baptismal interview for a really old grandpa we taught. The poor old guy has a really hard time understanding but he really wants to get baptised. So we called in the big dog. President did the interview whilst us and the grandma laughed when we heard president trying to yell the baptismal questions to an old man that just didn't get it. I don't think he answered correctly to any of the questions but president let him pass without any question. Even after he prayed to God Jehovah in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of the Holy Ghost amen. I guess it's all good though. That's about all that has happened. I'm sorry I don't have anything great to tell you guys for the moment. Maybe next time I will because tomorrow the transfers will be announced for the next week and Elder Hamula is coming. Maybe he'll save me. For now I'm just trying to hang in there and not give up. Also I did get those packages. But I can't freaking open them yet! Hah it's cool though. I opened Tally and Taylor's and it was great. Welp, I'll see you next time.

November 21, 2011

Things have been more nuts than ever. Our zone has calmed down at least a little bit after last week's threatenings and stuff. This week it was limited to a few sleepovers. But my companion and I get along a lot better. He even wanted to work yesterday. This could be the start of something great. I didn't even drag him around. I think his attitude is changing, it's just a really slow change. I heard him talking the other night and he said it's really because he is in his stake. I know before he did a lot of dumb stuff but at least he worked and stayed with his companion. I've heard from a few higher sources that he will be transferred. So I may be here for a really long time. It's okay though. We are working really hard with the ward leaders right now to have a serious amount of baptisms before the end of the year. There's only one guy from my district that's not really up to par but he's not in anything too serious. I won't give you details but some stuff has been happening for a while now in this mission that's much worse than what happens in my zone. I think finally something will be done. Elder Hamula is coming in a couple weeks too. Maybe things will get better before I leave. Don't try asking me what the stuff is cause I won't tell. It's a little rough on the old testimony. Anyways, this week we had our zone conference. We also got our personel DVD players. Babylon just got swords. Saturday we did our last reactivation thing for the year. We had a whole bunch of people show us and we just killed it. I went with these two guys and we were guided by the spirit for everything. I loved it. I wish I could always have that same spirit. Sunday tons of innactives and nonmembers came to church. We were all so happy. Success. The members invited nine people to take the lessons that day. Go Vairao! That night I gave a little presentation to all the ward mission leaders and ward missionaries with the help of one of the stake presidency councelers and a member of the high council. MY bishop decided we can double the stakes goal for baptisms this year. The goal was twelve and we're at sixteen. Now we're going for 24. It's so cool to work with them. Today we sang early in the morning as usual and I learned something interesting from our president - the international shipping liners are going on stike so there will be no more imports to Tahiti for a while. So we have to make food reserves and stuff before the stores run out of food. We'll see what happens. They're not officially on strike yet but it's coming. So yeah that's about everything. I realized the other day that I have just about the same time left on my mission as I had time in the MTC. Time is flying by. I just have to stay strong untill the end. I'll just keep fighting evil. Wish me luck. Also enjoy Thanksgiving. We're going to try and do one either as a zone of as a district as our district meeting. That's one thing I can support. Thanks for the email. I'll see you next week. Love y'all

November 14, 2011

Anyways here I am again. My life is one eternal round. We had our big meeting with president on Thursday where he challenged us to more than double our baptisms next year. This year was a record year but he wants to go wayyyyyyyyyy higher. I honestly think it's possible but not at the rate things are going right now. We are in the heart of Babylon! I've tried talking to my companion and that's not working either. He told me as soon as I am no longer here to slow him down he's going full out against the rules. He almost punched me in the face the other night in the car but rather he bruised his hand hitting the roof while swearing at me. He apologized after and promised he'd never touch me and I believe him. But come on. He was mad because he didn't hear me earlier that day when I told him president wanted him to call him. President showed up randomly and saw me and Bell sitting their at their house without companions, bikes or phones. I'm happy despite all this madness going on around me things are good. The best thing that happened this week was our welfare missionary thing where we did a little free car wash for random people that came by. We didn't have a lot but at least some people came. The problem was that most of our zone with my companion left because "it was stupid" so no one talked to these random people. I think it still had an effect on them. Also on an even brighter note- Elder Hamula is coming again. I guess we have some other great meeting with him on the third. I'm stoked. He's such a cool guy. Also your guy's vacation sounds totally awesome. I would love to go there sometime. Only in reading Jesus the Christ did I realize that the apostles and church literally covered the entire eastern Hemisphere. Have an awesome vacation. Tell Andrew what up for me if you see him. That's so cool. I'll talk to you next week.