Week 7 and Elder Berends has completed his training and has now left the MTC, and arrived in the Kiribati Islands. Prior to leaving the MTC we had arranged for Danien to call us when he arrived at Los Angeles airport (LAX). Felicity and I had finish work early on Wednesday in order to be home for his phone call, several hours later and we were watching his flight progress on the FlightAware app crossing the pacific bound for Fiji and a connecting flight to the main island of Kiribati, Tarawa, no phone call, and one very disappointed mother, especially when she was hearing via Facebook that the other missionaries in Danien's group had spoken to their Moms.
To make the experience even better, we get the following email from our missionary:
Mauri!
Just a quick email to let you know that I'm in KIRIBATI (island of Tarawa)! I'll be serving on Christmas Island (Kirimati). I leave and fly via Fiji on Monday. Sorry I didn't get to call yesterday, i didn't get a chance in LA.
I tanariko am utu!
Love Elder Berends
Well, that email was well worth the wait, we can only hope his writing improves?
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Kam na bane ni Mauri!
Okay, well a lot has happened in the past week. Just so you know I'm currently in Fiji writing this email in this sketchy internet café. So im not yet in Kiritimati (Christmas Island), my flight is midnight tonight so we (Elders Afatasi, Peeti & Osborne) have the whole day just wondering around Nadi, Fiji. Our flight out of Tarawa was yesterday afternoon, so we got to spend the night in a really nice hotel which Elders Afatasi and Peeti were freaking out about because they hadn't seen mountains and a nice bed, etc. for months.
I better start from the beginning though...
The last days at the MTC were nice but I'll skip right to getting on the train in Provo to head to the Airport. MTC buses dropped 14 of us off to the train station and pretty much said, "here are your tickets, good luck". It was a mission coordinating 14 missionaries with 2 suitcases of luggage each, but it was good fun because I love my MTC district. We got to the Airport, checked in bags and got something to eat and all the American Elders and Sisters made their phone calls, I was going to but ya'll would have all been at work and school.
Quick funny story:
Elder Ellis and I were asked by an older couple at the airport where we were off to. We replied with "Marshall Islands serving in Kiribati". Then they said, "Who did we just have go to that Mission?" and then as if it were scripted Elder Christensen comes out of no where yelling, "Uncle Richard!" it was so perfectly timed Elder Ellis and I laughed so hard!
Plane ride from SLC to LAX was nice, LAX international airport is huge! We got through security and that's when I was supposed to call home but there was a bit of trouble. Sister Eubanks got a bit nauseous (it was her first time getting on a plane besides SLC to LAX) and we weren't sure if she was going to be able to fly. So 5 minutes before boarding Elders Ellis, Christensen and I went in to a corner at LAX and gave a blessing of health and comfort. And right after the blessing she stood up shook my hand and got on the plane. She did vomit once right before take off (i was sitting next to her... i lost my apatite for that whole 11 hour plane ride) but other than that she was absolutely fine, eating every meal Fiji airlines gave her. So that's why I did not call home, sorry family.
We landed in Fiji 11 hours later and we were all so jumped that we were almost in Tarawa. While waiting for our flight in Nadi Airport we bumped into Elders who just came from Christmas Island which was really cool. Their pants were really dirty, white shirts were kinda yellow and stained and they were in crocs. They were on the same flight as us to Tarawa so we got some more insight on what to expect.
Flight from Nadi to Tarawa was nice, we were all so excited. I was stuck between Sisters Baldwin and Eubanks again which was super cool got to know them a bunch, we talked a lot about hiking and traveling, etc. Landing in Tarawa was so exciting, Tarawa is so skinny I'm surprised they were able to fit an airstrip. Right after landing the plane did a u turn and we could see how much strip was left and there wasn't even 100m left which was a bit sketchy but it just added to the excitement.
The heat hit us pretty bad, and the arrival part of the airport was a shed with a tin roof with absolutely no facilities and it was soooo hot. The luggage was just handed through a hole in the shed so we had to hunt through a mountain of luggage on the ground to find our luggage. We went through "customs" which didnt consist of anything and we were met by 8 or 10 Elders and President and Sister Weir. There were also atleast 50 Kiribati children waving yelling Eldas! and Ematang! (foreigner) we loaded our language into some Rangers and Hiluxs and off we went, along Tarawa's only road.
We all found out our first areas and Companions/Trainers/dads. I'm serving in Tabakaia 1st and my dad is Elder Afatasi from Utah. I will talk more about him next email but he is sooo cool and I'm super excited to serve with him. Our first dinner appointment was cool. Weird because the family sit and watch you eat and wont eat with you till you leave. But I love the people so much! They are so fun to be around and the my Kiribati is extremely limited but I've got my introductions down and I can share a spiritual thought.
I've been on splits with several Elders so far, I've been on splits with, Elders Smith, Whitehead, Openshaw and of course Afatasi.
I'm sorry I'll have to end the Email there I've got alot more to say but this internet cafe is expensive. I'll finish this email tomorrow hopefully.
Love you fam,
Love Elder Berends
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