Week 24 - Kiritimati, Tabakaia 1st (Companion: Elder Beacham)

Email Dated: 29 February 2016

Hey Fam.

That's sweet mum! Glad you got what you wanted (New Job)! Parcel hasn't come yet... probs because planes are messed up. 

So, things have really changed here in Kiritimati. No my companion, Elder Miller, did not come neither did anyone Else's. So right now there is only 4 elder on this Island and its still not confirmed if the 4 replacements are coming this week. So for this week I have be working Ronton and Tabwakea 1st with Elder Beacham, who by the way is such a cool Elder. 

So we spent one day working in Ronton and the other in Tabwakea 1st. Its not practical because there is so much work to be done in both areas and we are also performing senior couple duties. However, its really fun getting to know Ronton's investigators and introducing Tabwakea 1st investigators to Elder Beacham.

On Tuesday we had a baptism for Kanoo Bitauea, he was going to be baptized this Saturday but he really wanted to be Baptized before Elder Afatasi left.

It was really nice service and almost a perfect way to end his time. Working with out Elder Afatasi has been really different but since him being gone I have got a lot closer with our investigators because before hand, Elder Afatasi was the person to go to for questions because obviously he is really good at the language. 

So yeah this week has been a lot of growth for me, being more independent... having to lead lessons, contact referrals, etc. also on Sunday, so that every Elder could be at their own sacrament meeting, we all went on splits with YSA. I went with Tateroti, he's preparing to serve a mission right now. It was really good day, speak nothing but Kiribati, teaching the whole of lessons, it really gave me confidence that I can be a missionary with out training wheels. Oh, and in this week alone I picked up 5 new investigators.

I'll have to tell you all about them and all the other great experiences another time or wait until I get back and you can read my journal.

I love y'all

Love Elder Berends.

Week 23 - Kiritimati, Tabakaia 1st (Companion: Elder Afatasi)

Email Dated: 22 February 2016

Kam na mauri moa kain au utu!

Tell  anyone who has been saying hi that I say hi back.

How's school with the boys? School here is interrupting with some of our lessons but its been raining here a lot which means no school here in Kiribati...

Cyclone Winston is only affecting the flights here in Kiritimati, we just heard that Elder Miller's flight from Tarawa is cancelled so Elder Afatasi's might be as well so I'm not sure how things are gonna work out next week.

This week has been super busy as always, but I did get to go on another split with Elder Darm which was really fun. We just taught lessons all day, and did not have to worry about anything but the investigators. Banana is really pretty, we had to undertake several river crossings to access villages, some of the villages are just 100% pure Kiribati I just wish I had a camera, it was killing me, haha.

Also on Saturday there was a huge buotaki (party) for the opening of a new Mwaneaba  (meeting house) for sacrament meeting in Banana. So it's very exciting time for the Banana Branch at the moment because before they met in a sketchy small shed.

In Tabwakea 1st things are also going very good, we had 3 baptisms for the mission and then 3 other children who needed baptizing. Our 3 for the mission were Teriime, Iokiri and Kairoro. I'll talk about them a little bit.

Teriime is 12 years old and started taking lesson with us because her mum wanted her to, even though she's from the KUC (Kiribati United Church). Teriime's mum said she would take lessons too when her husband gets out of jail. So we are hoping that seeing her daughter grow in the church will build that desire to have her whole family to be in the church.

Iokiri, is a funny kid, he's 15 years old and we first saw him at church in youth and we had never seen him before  so we asked if he wanted lessons and he said yes. He's funny because he tried so hard in every lesson, I remember in our first lesson we taught him how to pray then asked him to close us in prayer. He got stuck a little so to help him we whispered to him to help him out and right after he felt so bad he kept saying sorry. So yeah he is a really cool kid so much fun to teach and he really wants to do what's right.

Kairoro, is 9 but lives with a less active family, his mother died and his dad lives in Tarawa and out of everyone in his house he is the only one who comes to church. He walks all by himself every Sunday its crazy. We met him at this less actives house and found out he hadn't been baptized and because none of his parents are members he had to take lessons with us before he could be baptized. He is such an example to everyone. Now when I here excuses why people don't come to church I just think if this 9 year old kid can do it in rain or sun with out any support anyone can sacrifice 3 hrs of their week to remember and learn of Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ.

So yeah those 3 baptisms let us hit our goal of 4 baptisms for the month for the 3rd month in a row. It was a good last Baptism for Elder Afatasi since he has had so much to do being district leader having all these other responsibilities be put on his shoulders.   

Alright that's all I got, have fun next week.

Love Elder Berends

Week 22 - Kiritimati, Tabakaia 1st (Companion: Elder Afatasi)

Email Dated : 15 February 2016

Mauri Family,

...we do know transfers now, I will be staying, already knew that because they wouldn't have Elders white wash Tabwakea 1st again. Elder Miller will be my companion and will replace Afatasi as district leader. Elder Hungai (kain: Vanuatu) will be leaving and Elder Johnson from my intake will be replacing him in Banana.

Elder Dinsdale is leaving and a greeny will replace him in London. And Elder Peeti (kain NZ) will be leaving to become AP and Elder Tekenui (kain Kiribati) will be replacing him in Tabwakea 2nd. So big changes hear in Kiritimati, that will all go down on the 24th February... if the plane comes, which has been a problem for the past couple of weeks.

Now, work this week has been very busy, I think I was telling you last about the senior couples who were meant to come to Kiritimati a couple of weeks ago. The purpose of their trip was to do audit training for all 4 branches and the district. But, because they didn't come that responsibility was handed down to us just like everything else.

So this week we had to set up an appointment with each of the branch presidency and district presidency (which is really difficult because no one ever shows up) go through all their finances (also difficult because things aren't very organized) and check if they are following church policies (which they are so not everything is bad) etc...

So yeah, this, on top of bills for the new month, has been taking up a lot of time doing senior couple duties that could be spent teaching investigators and studying.

It sounds like I'm complaining, but really I do have the coolest mission, I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else. The Lord has blessed us so much, as well, with all this senior couple stuff we still manage to hit our baptism goal every month and I have no idea how. But when we are going about our day the Lord just puts people who are ready to hear the gospel right in front of us. Every responsibility we have, from paying bills to fulfilling our purpose as missionaries, the Lord has prepared a way for us to accomplish it. (1 Nephi 3:7) "... for I know the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

He has also blessed me so much as well. I haven't had time for language study for 2 months now and barely get time for personal and companionship study, but somehow I'm able to still speak this language and teach people in a way that lets the spirit guide. Even though I feel that I still have so far to go in the language, all the time people are shocked to hear that I've only been out for 3 going 4 months in the islands. So yeah, the Lord has really helped me in so many ways.

Anyways, love my area. Oh, by the way, Earitabeta, the investigator I talked about last week got baptized this Saturday! Pictures are up on Google drive. So that's another complete family, and through that we reactivated her husband and our branch mission leader and wife who live in the same house!

Okay, laters.

Love Elder Berends.

Week 21 - Kiritimati, Tabakaia 1st (Companion: Elder Afatasi)

Email Dated: 8 February 2016

Mauri,

In answer to your question about celebrations here, nothing is really big in Kiribati except for Independence day, apparently everyone just gets drunk, so it just makes problems for us.

Still haven't been tracting. To be honest most of our investigators and converts we just stumble upon. Ioriki, one of our new investigators, we met at church and we found out he wasn't even baptized. Most investigators come from members giving us the referral which is a blessing, and others are just people we see around and we end up asking if they want lessons.

Our investigators who are going really good right now is Eretii (baptism next week), Ioriki, Kano, Terima, Kabitouare, Manikoti and Earitabeta.

Earitabeta has been an investigator since the Elder before us, her husband is already baptized but was less active. When we first started teaching everything was going well, she was progressing up until we needed her to come to church. We tried to get her husband to take her but they would never show up on Sunday. Senior couple duties became our duties and we got so busy that we were visiting her less and less. It got to a point that we hadn't visited her in a month, which really sucked. We decided that she would be priority about 2 weeks ago because she was so good except for attending church.

We finally met with her but she straight up said she didn't want to be baptized. She said she saw no point in coming to church or quitting smoking. She told us that she knew we cared about her but she didn't want lessons any more. It sucked but we said we were going to keep visiting, not for lessons but just to be friends.

So a couple days after that day we returned and we just started having fun, playing guitar, singing, played this fun song game and then we left with not even a spiritual thought. Then, to our surprise, with out even asking, her and her husband came to church! with their 3 kids. They stayed for the whole of sacrament meeting but left straight after.

During that week we had a dinner with them, so we were hoping that we could share a spiritual thought because something must have sparked inside her to come to church. However, we get to the dinner and she wouldn't eat with us because she was busy. So we were confused.

But again to our surprise, her whole family came to church yesterday! They sat for the whole of sacrament meeting and again she left straight after, but we caught her before she left and set a time to meet with her after church.

So, after church we go to her house, opened with prayer and asked how her testimony was and asked if something changed because she's been coming to church. And she told us she wants to be baptized now! She said she really can feel something good when she comes to church with her whole family. She gained her testimony of the importance of coming to church! It was such a special moment. It was a blessing to see her go from no faith to wanting to become closer to her Heavenly Father.

So yeah that really was cool to see this week, and she should be baptized this week.

Well, that's it from me, I feel like I just wrote a pretty solid email, but the grammar is probably wack... sorry. (don't worry, we fixed it for him :)

btw, I went on splits with Elder Peeti on Wednesday (kain Gisborn, NZ), such a cool guy, he was the missionary you guess met on skype. Anyways, he's hunted in the same area we hunted in NZ and he and his Dad hunt with dogs! He was telling me stories, it sounds like so much fun. And Elder Peeti has done some solo hunting as well which sounds so sweet. (Oh, and he just found out he's becoming AP so he's heading to Marshall's and will have to learn another language!)

So yeah, some big changes going down in Kiritimati. I'm excited.

Love you all,

love Elder Berends 

Week 20 - Kiritimati, Tabakaia 1st (Companion: Elder Afatasi)

Email dated: 1 February 2016

Hey family,

Te wiki aio... it was alright, I've been studying in only Kiribati including read BoM in Kiribati, and I'm learning and understanding so much, only problem now is using all these new words I know when I am so used to using the vocab I use now.

We had a baptism again this week! We've hit our goals for baptisms 2 months in a row now. This weeks baptism was Nei (kinda like Miss but for all girls) Ana. The first time we met Nei Ana we were at a Dinner at a members house, and Ana lived in the same house. At the end of the dinner we asked if she wanted lessons and she told us she was Seventh Day Adventist. BUT she would listen. So we taught her and she kept taking lessons, her faith grew and grew and it got to the point that she started getting on to us about when she was going to be baptised (because we've been really busy and haven't been able teach as much as we'd like).

So we got her married to her partner this Tuesday and was baptized this Saturday! She is so great, she's one my favorites and what made her extra special for me was I had the opportunity to do her confirmation. It's the first I've ever done, and it was in Kiribati. I quickly learnt the confirmation part before hand but had no idea what I was going to say for the blessing. However, I confirmed her and gave her a blessing I honestly can't remember, I just remember saying stuff until I freaked out, stopped relying on the spirit, and started worrying about what I was going to say. It was bad, Elder Afatasi says he was really impressed, but I can honestly say I was led by the spirit.

Anyway, that's enough about me, I'm so happy for Nei Ana and her testimony was amazing, just like all the converts. Sorry this is just a short email, I tried to email people I haven't emailed in a while this week. Pictures from last weeks and this weeks baptism are on Google Drive. I'll let you know, I'm healthy, loving my area, the people, the culture, the language and the Lord.

Love y'all

Love Elder Berends.