Sorry, but i havent been able to post here for a while. Just to let everyone know, yes i do see your comments here, and no i havent forgotten you renabette, and i'm sorry because i've probably forgotten everyone else ;P je blague.

anyways,
alot has been happening lately. theres a bunch of huge groups finishing their missions, and theres not many coming back out, so theres a ton of changes going around. first off, mission president has to close 8 areas, and hes already started. he's closed tahaa, tons of other areas, and opened Rurutu. Lucky Elder Martinson....first transfer. pshhh.

anyways, this is my last P-Day with Elder Horton. He goes home this Friday, and i get my new companion on Thurs. Elder Hales, from my MTC district, will be replacing Elder Maoni, who is going to Faaa again. Hales will be with Temarono, my second companion. My new companion is a Farani (French dude), s'appelle Elder Racio. Sad thing is he doesnt speak too much Tahitian, and neither do i. We have tons of people in my sector who speak only Tahitian, and then tons who only speak a mix of the two, French and Tahitian. Oh well, I guess i will have to learn quickly.

But yeah, I don't know what'll happen now, especially since our car has been taken away again. I dunno. Phew. Love y'all!
~Tama

Tama hasn't had the time to post for a couple of weeks, so here are a few lines from his letters:

i heard an old guy listening to a french [radio] station the other day, and charlie parker came on playing ornithology. oh man, i only heard the head and the solo's intro line, but it almost made me cry.

i heard the new recording of IN A MELLOW TONE. it made me happy all day. phew.

I heard it on the website. one day, i thought, hey wait a sec, theres the choir stuff. so i just hit play and did email with them in the back ground. then i noticed as i scrolled down... whaaaa? mellow tone!!!! so i played it.

awww man, an earthquake. i forgot about those. its all about storms and winds out here. strong strong winds right now. e mea puai roa te matai e teie nei. seriously.

Translation: The winds are very strong right now.

Its interesting the way the world is working these days, and how the moral values work out here. For instance, there is a Brazilian soap opera, translated into French, that is HUGE out here. 'Marina' - How mush i hate that show! You could be talking to someone and as soon as you hear that theme song, the conversation is over. its really hard trying to find people to talk to during those hours. grrr. Anyways, as we were teaching some people about adultery and why it is bad for the familial structure, they, finally grasping the concept behind adultery, said "Oh! Like on Marina!" Oh my goodness, they didn't even know the term adultery, and yet it was all over the things they watch and adore everyday. *sigh*

Took a hot shower last night. It was divine. Truly. Ahhhh the little things that I miss....

This week went by pretty fast. It consisted of the same old stuff, and i am sure that this upcoming week will be the same again. Oh yeah, have another baptism on Saturday! hooray!

~Tama

sorry about not posting last week. i ran out of time ;P

and yesterday, everything was closed. it was a national holiday yesterday, and seriously, our trip to the other side of Raiatea was a total waste, so we had to come out again today. oh well.

right now, things are kida difficult. we have a leader who is somewhat nul. and by somewhat, i mean he is the biggest hypocrite that i have ever seen. Not to mention everyone is busy with the month-long party that is July.

Things are moving slowly, but they are moving. The languages are coming, and we are discovering a little more on how to better our situation out here. other than that, its gorgeous, the people are nice, and the weather is great.

good news and bad news. well, alot of both news, so i'll start out.

We had our zone conference with our mission president, President Tarati. It was his last one ever as our president. It was pretty awesome. Our new president, President Smith, arrived last night with his family.

We got a car! No more riding those hills in the rain! It has already helped alot, it makes contacting alot easier, and now we can make a ton more appointments. Its awesome having a car.... seriously.

But the bad news, Elder Maoni and Elder Temarono came to live with us while their house is being redone. The maintenance guy first said, One week. later he told us 4 months. WHAAAAA???? Its tough being with Elder Temarono, and you'll have to ask me why later ;P no pessimism allowed here on this blog!!

Anyways, things are going great. Were making more contacts, and the languages are finally coming well, but this time of the year here is party time. seriously, all of July is one huge party. phew.

I hope all is well at home! I miss you all!

~Tama

Tama says:

"We live in Hotopuu baie, it's on the northern side, right on the water, and on the inside of the bay. It's really, just as close as you can get the the northern side of the inside."

We take that to mean that they live close to the head of the bay (all the way inside) on the north side.
There is a link to Google Maps in the link section. We don't know his exact house yet, but we'll update if we find out.

How gracious the Lord has been to us. I can hardly count the blessings recieved this week. Its been difficult, but we've had it all end up well. Its truly amazing instilling a sense of drive in these people. especially since they naturally live a simple life, and are simply content with it. Then when you inspire them to come closer to our Savior, they develop a sort of drive, and resolve to become better, to work harder, to develop.

We had a baptism this week. I performed it, and it truly was powerful. She spoke afterwards to us, and she truly felt gratitude to its highest degree. it was powerful.

Anyways, Its been great out here, but i have to go. time is expensive

Things are going good out here. its pretty rough sometimes, especially since im now on a bike, and it likes to rain out here. since, pretty much the only road follows the coastline, you usually get a pretty heavy blast of wind too. its pretty rough when it does that, but oh well. thats life out here.

the people are great here, though. most of them are sooo friendly that even though they wont want to talk to you, because youre wearing a white shirt and tie with a tag that says Jesus Christ on it, they'll talk to you anyways. and lots of them even offer to give you food. tons of times people have just given us some rambutan anyways.

nothing much is going on tho, and im running out of internet time. gotta go!!
~Tama