Howdy!!!!
That is right, I live. Contrary to popular belief, a tsunami did not hit Kiribati and destroy all the missionaries there. We are all doing great! No tsunami, only the death of the internet. So that is good. Things like that apparently happen regularly. For example, the entire country ran out of fuel last week. Luckily our mission president was able to pull a few strings in Fiji and made it so Kiribati has fuel again. Yep. Life is good. The work is great! I have an amazing companion, Elder Kennedy. He is from Evansville, Indiana. And is the best trainer ever! Yep, all the members love him and he works super hard! It is great to learn from him!!! I am grateful for his example. He is tons of fun!
To satisfy curiosity: I am serving on the island of Abemama. Which is called "Frog Island" because it is the only island with frogs. It is also a very large outer island and is very developed (for an outer island). There are a good number of refrigerators, and there is a store that sells apples and ice-cream. Yep. Apparently, this is all luxury. I don't have any other island to compare it to, I just take what my trainer says as true. But moral of this story is: Be grateful for fruit that is readily accessible. Also, be grateful for ice-cream, but that moral need not be said, because who isn't grateful for ice-cream? :)
I have adjusted to eating most of the food. However, Sea worms are my one weakness. :) The bananas are great here. They are like the fourth the size of an American bananas and very flavorful.
We have several people progressing towards baptism: Maritati, Tui, and Karabeia are the most likely to be baptized first. Maritati is a younger tween. He has great support from those that he lives with. It is cool because he was separated from his twin when he was little, and my companion actually taught and baptized his twin on the island of Lanos. Cool, right? Tui is a middle aged man and is always so engaged in the lessons. It is awesome how he will repeat things that he thinks are important and interesting. He is amazing! He is very kind and patient with me as I try to say things to him in Kiribati. Karabeia is a teenager. She is progressing well, but might be moving to Tarawa soon. There are so many awesome people here that I wish I could tell you about!!! They are all so friendly and welcoming. Tikaua, a returned missionary who speaks English - so I actually understand what he is saying, said that Kiribati lives a Zion-like community. Which is true in the sense that they are giving, helpful and respectful. It of course has its own short comings, but it is an amazing place. Any place can be an amazing place, we just have to decide that it is.
We hold a temple class to get people to come to the temple. My favorite couple that attends, Temwakin and Folau (and their child with special needs), get so excited to talk about the temple. We stopped to pick up the computers we use to email from their house, and as we spoke to them, Folau started eagerly asking questions in regards to our last temple class. It was so great to see how excited they are about the temple and the knowledge of the gospel. I think everyone should have that enthusiasm. Especially in relation to temples. I have taken knowledge of the Plan of Salvation for granted, but as President Uchtdorf said in last General Conference, "how great the plan of our Redeemer" and "we walk a path of diamonds, but we scarcely can distinguish them from common stones" (give or take a few words). The gospel is full of diamonds and I think that sometimes we take those diamonds for granted. They are truly beautiful and glorious to behold. I hope we all can develop a greater appreciation for temples, for the words of God, and His beautiful Plan of Salvation.
We also teach on a small island called Abatiku, an island right next to Abemama. In order to get there we ride in a small motorboat. One morning, we thought they were coming an hour later than they did. So we woke up to them honking the horn. We hurriedly packed and changed, and then sprinted to the boat. Another experience on the island of Abatiku is that a minister got mad at us and kicked us out of a person's house. Apparently the person got very mad at the minister and turned the whole island against him (the island has less than 100 people on it). We were accepted very readily after that. :)
For service opportunities, we cut open coconuts and cut down trees with machetes. It is great. Very interesting.:)
Also, one more thought. I recently read, or heard, a talk/scripture/something that went something like this: Faith is either decreasing or it is increasing. It is sooooo true!!! Faith is not stagnant. It is like a plant (some might even say "a little seed"). We must continually water it and care for it. If we don't, it will die. We feed it through service, church, temple work, scriptures, General Conference, kindness, and so much more. I have come to realize how important is to always be feeding my faith to keep it good and strong. That is my invitation to you all. Nurture y'alls faith. It is what I am trying to do in Kiribati. I love you all!
Hope you all have an amazing Christmas, and that we all remember that it is CHRISTmas. I hope we remember the reason for the season; and that while gift giving is great, I hope we remember that the greatest gift of all was already given - Christ. I love you all. I love this season. I love Christ. I hope and pray that Christ is in all of our lives in this Christmas time and every time. :)
Love you all!
Hurrah for Israel!
Merry Christmas!!!!
Elder Weenig
