ngke, internet is slow here in Kiritimati and I don't have much time, so I'll try and explain as much as I can.
So Tarawa was really cool, Pigs, Dogs and Cats everywhere, Kids running around naked turning anything they see into toys, everyone stares and smiles at you. Can see ocean on both sides of the island its so skinny, its very crowded living, houses are built with what ever they can find. Rubbish everywhere, very busy but I love it so much. Its so different from any place I've ever been.
For the couple of days that I was in Tarawa, I went on splits for teaching mainly with Elder Smith and Elder Afatasi. First full day I went with Elder Afatasi (my Trainer/companion/dad) to teach some lessons. The Kiribati people are some of the coolest people I've ever met, they always smile, always offering food and drink and laugh at everything.
Elder Afatasi is from Utah but his heritage is Samoan and he's been out for 21 months. He is a really good teacher and we are going to work really well together. I'll tell you more about that later as I have a lot to say. Second day I went with Elder Smith to teach lessons, (btw, we were teaching in Eita 1st branch) and it went really well. Elder Smith, from Utah, is really cool, he loves film and television as well so we talked a lot about how good the church videos are getting. Have you seen the addiction recovery series by the church? They are really good. Oh, and he was actually the guy from the bullying video the church made.
On Saturday, Elders Afatasi and Smith had 5 baptism which was really cool so the whole day was pretty much organizing that. Sunday was church, Elders Osborne (also came to Christmas), Larsen and I were asked to get up and say something because none of the speakers showed up which apparently happens a lot. Caught me off guard but didn't go to badly. On Monday I spent the day helping Elder Openshaw drive Elders going to Outer Islands to the airport. I didn't know at the time but it Awkwardly came up in a conversation that he was the Elder mentioned in Elder Andersons talk in General Conference, he's a really good Elder.
Monday afternoon Elder Peeti (kain New Zealand), Osborne (kain USA), Afatasi (kain USA) and I flew to FIJI! We landed in FIJI around 9 pm, checked into the hotel, showered in a WARM shower (Afatasi and Peeti were in awe of everything because they'd been in Kiribati for so long) and slept. Woke up the next day, our flight wasn't until 11:55 pm so we decided to catch the bus to an internet cafe and then to the only Maccas in Fiji.
The Bus in Fiji didn't have doors or windows and had party music always playing so that was fun. The internet cafe was sketchy, emailed for 2 hrs then caught the bus to Maccas which was amazing! Hadn't had a Big Mac in for ever, however, it made me sick. The Kiribati food was fine with my body but maccas just gave me the runs.
Fun fact: the word for Diarrhoea is "BEKA NAKO" which directly translates to "poop that goes".
Anyway, so I didnt feel so good for a couple of days. We finally landed in Kiritimati on Wednesday morning. Kiritimati is beautiful, its a lot less crowded, cleaner, bigger, hotter, people talk faster and its just an awesome place.
Because there isn't any senior couples on the island any more, there isn't any sisters, so Elder Afatasi and I got the sisters house and Elders Peeti and Osborne got the stick which I'm kinda jealous about. But I cant complain about having a mattress. I'm serving in Tabekea 1st, and we are white washing the area. To help Elder Afatasi get situated with area we went on splits with Elder Dinsdale and Elder Hungai. Afatasi went with Hungai because he had served in Tabakea before and I went with Dinsdale and worked in Bwanana. It was interesting teaching lessons because Dinsdale has only been in Kiribati for 7 weeks so our language was pretty limited. But it was good to see how he used his limited language so I learnt a lot from him.
On Friday I finally got to work in my area, the day was just spent visiting area investigators and getting to know them. The same happened on Saturday. Rooti, Tatonga and Margret are a family that we are teaching. We first started teaching Rooti, who is 10 years old and she is already progressing so much. We have had 2 lessons with her and on Sunday she brought her Mum and Dad to church and there we organized to have a lesson with the whole family. So after church we went to their home to teach and before we even started Margaret asked when are we getting baptised which was a shock. We set the date for end of November but Margaret and Tatonga just need to get there marriage papers done. Fred is 16 I think and he is also taking lessons, we committed him to baptism but we haven't set a date yet. Earaitabeta (Elizabeth) is 30 something, she's married with kids. The Husband doesn't really stick around for lesson but one of the kids who is 10ish loves the gospel and he is always asking questions. Elizabeth is also progressing so much, she has a baptismal date for end of November as well. Rete and Kobururu are 15 and 16 girls, and we have taught them once and they already have a baptismal date. Aokotino, 16, is the same, he has a baptismal date.
And last but not least we have Reewi, who we haven't managed to have a lesson yet. On Saturday we went to his house and in a hammock we see a Big 100% naked man, Passed out and smelling of Alcohol pretty bad. I just remember thinking " I hope that's not our investigator". We ask who ever is in the house where we could find Reewi. He laughs and points at the Naked man in the Hammock... So I think we might need to teach him the Word of Wisdom and maybe Modesty. Anyway, I love Tabekea so much and im so excited get to know the area teach more people. Its so amazing seeing people feel the spirit and wanting to change there lives. I'm sorry I haven't being answering your questions mum, but once I get settled I'll be able to answer them and share more spiritual experiences. Also don't send anything to Kiritimati. it'll get lost. If you want to send me stuff now, send it Tarawa but I wont get until I get back there. I'll write everyone individually next week, Love you all so much,
Love Elder Berends.
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