Hey everyone,

It’s been a while since the last blog post but I will try to cover all the important things that have happened since the last post. First off, Elder Tematahotoa got transferred and I am with Elder Palombo right now. We were in the MTC at the same time but he was in the other district that was going to Tahiti. He is great, we are having a blast serving together and it’s nice to be able to speak English again to my companion.

The missionary work here at Paopao has really taken off in the past couple of weeks. Within the last two weeks we set/reset 6 baptismal dates. So we have 6 investigators with baptism dates right now. It’s just so interesting how within the past couple weeks we have been finding so many investigators who progress and want to be baptized. I know that all of these blessings are thanks to our obedience. We will also do a fireside with the members to help them learn how they can do missionary work as members. Overall, we are making some good progression here.

Now for the food. The normal dinner here consists of chicken and rice and maybe some vegetables. But since I have arrived here I have eaten pretty much every variety of raw and cooked fish, chickens that were probably road kill, duck, many species of exotic fruits (mangos), cow heart, dog (tastes like weird chicken), and my least favorite... fafaru. Fafaru is fish that is left out in seawater for anywhere from 1 day to 3 weeks until it is fermented (nonalcoholic). It smells like excrement and it tastes like used baby diapers. I haven't eaten baby diapers but I am sure if I were to eat a used Huggies diaper it would taste exactly the same. Moral of the story, I didn't sleep very well that night. 

And I don't know if it was a big deal in other countries but everyone freaked out about the lunar eclipse. A lot of different religions had big meetings saying that the end of the world is close and stuff like that. Last I remember that happens often? Every couple years. It was cool just to see it here at Tahiti though.

I have had many experiences over the past couple weeks but I will sum them all up by saying that I know  that in the same amount that we put our faith in God, He will always be there to support us according to our level of faith. Alma 38:5.  And I know that the Priesthood is a real power from God given to men who are worthy. I know that the baptism must be done by this Priesthood in order to be valid. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the same church that Jesus established while he was on the Earth. I know that Jesus himself re-established this church through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know these things are true.

Thanks for everyone who reads this. I will try to start writing more regularly. And I hope everyone had a good Easter! Until next time, faaitoito

Elder Rose

A nice boat ride from Tahiti. Check out those muscles. 

P-day activity. Touch the water. I got so many blessings for my obedience that day (I did not go swimming)

Did you know the French government set off a nuclear bomb in the tuamatu islands in 1976?

This is the coolest dog ever. Brings this rock back to your feet every time you kick it.

Send letters to:

Elder Cody Tiler Rose

Tahiti Papeete Mission

The Church of Latter Day Saints

B.P. 93 Mormon Mission

Papeete, Tahiti 98714

French Polynesia

Letters take 6-8 weeks (use 3-4stamps)

Packages take 12 weeks

Elder Rose's e-mail address: cody.rose@myldsmail.net

Hey, so crazy stuff this week. Everything worked out with my companion and he left on Monday and now I am with Elder Palombo. We got here at the same time; we were in the MTC together so we already knew each other. Yesterday we went to Tahiti to do a missionary concert thing. All the missionaries that serve on Tahiti get to sing in a missionary concert and someone on Moorea asked president if we could go to the concert and he said yes So that as why we went to Tahiti yesterday. 

I am glad I am serving out in the islands. The good thing about being out here is that there are not a lot of other missionaries that I can compare myself with. Also there are tons of opportunities to use Tahitian which is awesome. Elder Palombo is a really cool guy too so I am happy to be serving with him. He is super easy-going and just a happy guy so that will help to make this a good transfer. 

The first picture is our district here at Moorea. Coolest district in French Polynesia I would have to say.

Me and Elder Palombo. 

 Parahi,

Elder Rose

Ia Orana everyone,

Sorry to make this short but I only have a few minutes to write.

 I got a call that my companion is getting transferred. But the elder he is supposed to switch with is on a really far out island and won't be able to come back to Tahiti until April 3rd, and since the house is small where my companion is supposed to go he can't just fly out there and make the companionship a trio. So he will stay here and the other companion that is supposed to come tomorrow will just stay with us to make it a trio.  Also something kind of cool that happened this week; we taught an investigator who wants to be baptized immediately, so I set his baptism date for April 9th. The work is starting to progress here. We teach about 14 lessons a week right now. At Rurutu we were teaching 10-12 lessons a week. I hope to get that number up into the 20s. 

Have a great week!

Nana,

Elder Rose

Tahitian Missionaries have it rough!  I tried to do some contacting from my hammock.

Our new missionary transportation..I wish!

Send letters to:

Elder Cody Tiler Rose

Tahiti Papeete Mission

The Church of Latter Day Saints

B.P. 93 Mormon Mission

Papeete, Tahiti 98714

French Polynesia

Letters take 6-8 weeks (use 3-4stamps)

Packages take 12 weeks

Elder Rose's e-mail address: cody.rose@myldsmail.net

Hi Everyone!

Here is me with Joeslito's family before his baptism. I promise they are all really happy, they just express their happiness inward. 

This view is better than a half-court ground seat at the NBA finals.

This is a picture of me on Moorea. During the day you would normally be able to see Tahiti behind me.

This was our P-Day activity last Monday. We went to a hotel to see some dolphins swimming around. The view is alright.

Faaitotio e maiti i te maitai, e e mea roa to'u here no outou i o ra,

Elder Rose

Hey everyone,

First off if you didn't know already, I got transferred to the island of Moorea. I'm still on an island!! It’s the island just northwest of Tahiti. My new companion is a Tahitian named Elder Tematahotoa and he is awesome. Here is the really cool news. We have a CAR in this sector. There are two wards on the island and one branch. Our ward is the ward of Paopao and we have about 160-180 active members. That’s a lot more than at Rurutu!

My experience here has been great so far. Coming into the sector we already had six baptisms set (already more than we had total at Rurutu). One really cool experience happened after a lesson with an old man named Josélito. His wife and son are already members and a couple weeks ago (before I got here) he decided he wanted to be baptized on the 13 March (this Thursday). So my first lesson with him after the lesson I was asked to baptize him. He said when he heard that an American was coming into the sector he wanted to be baptized by him. So this Thursday I get to do my first baptism. The cool part is that it’s in Tahitian! So that was super cool.

I can already tell we will have some good success here at Moorea. The members are super cool and the people in general just seem to be more open to accepting the gospel.  I will definitely have some interesting stories in the future. Until then, I'm out of time for today. Have a good week everyone!

Elder Rose

          Here is me and Elder Tematahotoa in the car doing missionary work. 

Send letters to:

Elder Cody Tiler Rose

Tahiti Papeete Mission

The Church of Latter Day Saints

B.P. 93 Mormon Mission

Papeete, Tahiti 98714

French Polynesia

Letters take 6-8 weeks (use 3-4stamps)

Packages take 12 weeks

Elder Rose's e-mail address: cody.rose@myldsmail.net

Bonjour everyone!

I got transferred to the island of Moorea. The island right beside Tahiti. My companion is a Tahitian named Elder Tematahotoa and he is super cool. He has been out on his mission 4 months now. He has been here at Moorea his whole mission. There are 6 missionaries total on the island, us two, two sister missionaries, and a senior couple. 

With my companion being Tahitian he doesn't speak a lick of English. That is OK though because I have the Lord on my side. I have already heard "j'ai pas compris" more than I want to hear in my life, but that’s fine. That translates to (I didn't understand). I have already seen a good improvement in my French. He is super motivated to work so that is good. I'm just glad he isn't racist toward Americans haha. Oh and he is 25 and was converted a little over a year and a half ago, so that’s a cool story.

Faaitoito noa e tamaa e tae noa'tu e farii outou i te oaoa. Until next time,

Orametua Rose

This is Alaska Taae. He was baptized Friday and confirmed Sunday. Elder Ollerton and I's only baptism in Rurutu.

Here is a picture of me right before I left Rurutu. I was replaced by the small Tahitian elder on the right his name is Elder Manarani.

           Me and my new companion on Moorea. The island in the background is Tahiti.

Send letters to:

Elder Cody Tiler Rose

Tahiti Papeete Mission

The Church of Latter Day Saints

B.P. 93 Mormon Mission

Papeete, Tahiti 98714

French Polynesia

Letters take 6-8 weeks (use 3-4stamps)

Packages take 12 weeks

Elder Rose's e-mail address: cody.rose@myldsmail.net