The Holy Ghost Testifies Clearly and Perfectly

Howdy,

This week has been great!  Having another set of missionaries on the island is great! Our week has been crazy because we have gone on splits to show them around the island and whatnot.  They will work on the south end of the island and we will work on the north end. We all still live in the same house, which is in the south, until ours is built in the north, so it is very crowded.:)  Also, Elder Kennedy went on a split with Elder Jubeck to Abatiku. (the small island off of Abemama) .  Apparently the entire island wants lessons over there.  It is awesome!!!  I am very glad that all is well over there.  I worked with Elder Johnson. He was great to work with.  It was fun to see his style of teaching.  It is very different from Elder Kennedy's.  It was cool to see the differences and combined them into my own teaching. :)

I was able to go on a split with Elder Jubeck for a day. He is as new as I am, so we had to rely completely on the Spirit.   A lot of our lessons fell through, but our final one was the most amazing thing ever!!!  It was with Tebetikai, a woman that has been cold to lessons in the past. But we were able to teach her and she loved it. She said she had had lessons before, but had not understood them.  But that she understood our lesson. She cried at the end of the lesson and was so happy. :) That is how I know that the Holy Spirit was there. Because she said it was very well explained - but only the Holy Ghost can testify clearly and perfectly to everyone.  He gave her the needed understanding.  I am grateful for that.  It was a wonderful experience.

Another highlight of the week is that we received a pan sent out from Tarawa!  Now we can cook if we don't have a meal provided. Whoot!! We almost always have meals, but it is nice to have the back up. :)

Our investigators are doing well.  A couple, Karabeia (teenage girl) and Tui (middle-age man) are progressing towards baptism.  There are a few that will follow closely after them.  I am happy for them. :)

Thank you for everything! I love you so much and pray for you daily! Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!

THANK YOU AND LOVE YOU!!!!

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,
Elder Weenig

Return to Abemama

Howdy!

I am back in Abemama!  With two new elders. Our house is very busy now.  Elder Jubeck and Elder Johnson. Elder Jubeck is from my MTC intake and Elder Johnson is one intake behind Elder Kennedy (about a year and a half).  They are both amazing and are truly consecrated missionaries.  I am so happy they will work on Abemama with Elder Kennedy and I.  It is going to be great!

Tarawa was great, but it is great to be back in Abemama and to have Abemamaian food.  In Tarawa, we only had three or four actual meals.  The rest was just bread.  The day we returned we were fed dinner at our first, second, and third lessons. :) The only two foods that I need to learn to like are:  sea worm and octopus.  I like the rest.  My favorite is fried breadfruit.

I am glad to be back to work. We should be able to teach more lessons now that our area is smaller -- less biking. :)  I hope and pray to improve and that the Holy Ghost will be my constant companion.  One thing that I have found, as I study in the morning is that a lot of the scriptures are addressed purely to the members of the church and to all people.  I read them as a missionary and see how very important they are, but I wish I had seen that before.  Every single scripture and every single word of every prophet applies to us personally.  To me personally.  I am so extremely glad for this time on my mission to learn the word of the Lord and learn to apply into my life by serving others and living the pure words of Christ.  His gospel is simple:  Faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, Baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.  I think we all make that too complicated. We just need to believe in Christ and obey His commandments.... And in return we receive eternal happiness and life.  It is a pretty good trade.  I like it. :)

Well, in news. Our branch president left, so we will get a new one soon.  My companion is the branch president until that time.  To correct something I said in a previous letter :  the fuel did not come from Fiji, the mission president had nothing to do with getting the fuel.... We asked and that is what we were told, but they told us over text message and the sarcasm did not come through with the text message.... So, I accidentally lied to you all. Sorry.  Anyway.  Life here is great!  Kiribati is amazing!  The people are so kind and loving and faithful.  They believe with every fiber of their being. It is amazing.

I love you all!  The Lord has given us a great work to do!  I know that through the Lord we can accomplish His work!   It is amazing to be in the service of God!  He provides me with so much peace, joy, and support.  I know that He supports me and will help me do all things. I know that the Lord is real.  He lives.  He helps us each and every day.  He is truly all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful!  I testify that we can ask for His help and He will grant us the needed strength.  I believe in Christ.  He truly is our King - the king of His kingdom, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Let's go save some souls - either through the temple or through inviting someone to church.  Either way we are saving a brother or sister. We got this!

Love you all!  Keep the faith!!!
Hurrah for Israel!!!!
Love you!!!
Elder Weenig

Elder Kennedy and I with the Branch President and his family.

Our transportation from Tarawa to Abemama.  The plane holds about 18 people.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Howdy!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

I hope that you all have had a wonderful holiday season.  I did.  I came to Tarawa, the main island.  We had Christmas as a mission and I was able to Skype home to the world's best family!!!  I love them so much!!!  They are fantastic.  Also, prayers are answered.  I prayed for the Skype call to work -- it usually doesn't for my mission.  And it did!!!  I am soo happy!!!  It was great!!!  I love Christmas.

The best part about Christmas is that we are able to refocus on what is truly important in life.  CHRIST!!! He is our light and our life. It is through Him that we can do all things.  We can feel joy, we can overcome all things, we can feel peace.  I know that He lives, and that He loves us!!!  He is our Lord and our Savior!!!  I hope that y'all remembered the most essential part of CHRISTmas, because it makes the season so much more joyful.  Because He is born for us!  He is born to save us from our sins.  He lives now.  He leads us through His prophet, Thomas S. Monson.  Christ is alive.  Truly.  He was born for us, He died for us, and He arose again for us!!!  I love  Him and know with all of the fibers of my being -- my heart, my soul, my mind, my body -- that He loves me and He loves all of you!!!  I am grateful for Christ and for Christmas.

For New Year's Eve, our mission ate dinner with the President of Kiribati.  It was amazing. They had traditional Kiribati dancers and singers.  A traditional Kiribati feast -- the whole pig and everything.  We all received flower crowns and whatnot.  It was an enjoyable experience.  I am grateful for the New Year and for the president's recognition of how beneficial the church is for his country and for his people.  Wherever the church goes, the country is blessed.  I believe that.  The gospel uplifts not only those who hear its message, but also uplifts those that they come in contact with and their country.

We received training from our mission president and the president of the Pacific Region of the Church.  We learned that we must set goals and work to achieve them -- fitting for the New Year.  And that we must declare the gospel with a voice of rejoicing!  The gospel is joyous and happy!!!  I am glad that I have been blessed with it in my life!!!  I know that it is real!  It is true!!!  It leads to true happiness and peace.  I invite you all to enjoy the power the gospel brings through striving to increase your faith everyday, every minute.  I have seen it work on my mission.  I know that it is real and true and that it truly works.

Also, I learned something amazing!  One, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is actually and truly is God's kingdom on the earth today!!!  It is His kingdom!  Like His kingdom is established in these days!!!!  How amazing is that?!  Also,  I learned that the name of the City of Enoch was Zion.  So, if we are building Zion, we are striving to be like the City of Enoch!  How amazing?!  How great a responsibility!  That is awesome!!  I hope and pray that I fulfill my part in preparing God's children for the Second Coming of His Son.

Keep the faith!!!  Lets go save souls (missionary work, temple work, fellowshipping, etc)!!! We got this!  We cannot lose, the Lord is on our side!!!!  Love you all!!!

Let's build up Zion!
Hurrah for Israel!!!

Love,
Elder Weenig

Our Christmas tree with Elder Kennedy (Evansville, Indiana)

I love the bananas.  They are small but tasty

P-day -- boat ride with the members

Island sunset

Cutting coconuts

Shower hut and shower bucket

Weaving roof pieces

World War II wreckage

Dinner with the president of Kiribati.  We are wearing the crowns we were given as guests.

Christmas dinner

Marshall Islands Kiribati Region missionaries
with President and Sister Halecks (President of the Pacific Region of the church) and President and Sister Larkin

Skypeing with the family

Abemama -- Frog Island

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

Abemama

Howdy!!  So, I only have like five minutes, so this will be brief.

I am on Abemama.  It is the best!!!  We have fans in our house - which is half of a cinder block hut.

We have a bucket for a shower.... And we get to filter our water, which is great. :)

Food: water (actually sugar water, they put in sugar to hide the taste), rice, noodles, and fish.  I did have bread for one meal.  The food is pretty good.  Except the canned ham.  That is evil....

We run three different sacrament meetings. (About 85 people came this Sunday) So, that is our entire Sunday.  It is awesome here.  I love it.

Sorry that this is so short, the internet is down except in a building... We are borrowing a worker's computer for a bit.

Thank you for everything. Tell everyone that I love them so much!!!!

I LOVE YOU!!!!

Elder Weenig

Waiting to board the plane in Salt Lake City

Grateful to receive an email from President Larkin along with this picture which includes President and Sister Larkin "... Elder Weenig, arrived safely in Tarawa...Elder Weenig has been assigned to his trainer, Elder Kennedy, and they will serve on an outer island called Abemama which is located in the central islands of Kiribati...." 

Week Six - Final Week at the MTC

HOWDY,

Wow!!! It is going by sooo fast here in the MTC.  I will be leaving for Kiribati next Tuesday.  So I am getting ready for that.  It is all coming up so quickly.  I am excited to go out and serve!

Soup box moment:  Our new President of the U. S. is a touch (more than a touch) ... different ... but that does not mean that we should not support him.  Remember that it is the people of the nation, not the president that dictates that future of our country.  "government BY the people, FOR the people, and OF the people"  Lots of peoples in that statement!  Food for thought.

I know that this gospel is true and real!!  Jenny Oaks Baker came to speak to us on Sunday!  It was great!!!!  She spoke on the power of prayer and how if we seek to be more exactly obedient to the will of the Lord, He will bless us.  The Lord has given us everything!  The only thing we can give to Him that He hadn't already is our agency.  Give our will to His will.  I know that He will lead us to do right!!!

I love you all!!!  I hope you are loving life!  Keep the faith and let's build Zion!

Hurrah for Israel!

Elder Weenig

Brother and Sister Heward - Sister Heward is the seminary secretary at Timpanogos. They are in my branch presidency at the MTC.

Week 5 -- Let's Build Zion

Howdy!!!!

I hope that you are all doing well!  So this week.. It has been great!!!

Okay, down to business.  The gospel is true! 

The MTC is crazy.  I am learning a lot.  We had a Skype TRC (where we teach real people as opposed to role playing people)  It went well.  I mostly understood what was going on, and I think that the person we were talking to understood us....  It was great!!!

Guess who came to the MTC!!!!  You were close. Nice guess.  It was PRESIDENT NELSON!!!! (Sorry to all of those that read ahead, so the surprise was ruined for you....)  Anyway, it was great to hear from him.  He is amazing!!!  He talked about how the Lord is hastening the work, and so we must keep the pace.  We have much to do - missionaries and members.  He said to make sure that we had written the new and everlasting covenant on our hearts - keep it with us always and hold true to it.  

Along with that, at a bishop's training conference, Elder Christofferson said that while the world is wicked enough for the Lord to come again (I agree on this point, I mean, just look at this year's election candidates.... :)  ), the members of the church are not committed enough to their covenants for Him to come.  I really liked that thought.  We can become better and as we become more committed to our promises with God, we will be preparing the way for the Lord to come to earth.  So, my challenge to you (and to myself as well)  is to go and be more committed to the promises that we have already made.  

We've got this, we can be the change that corrects the wrongs of the world.  All we have to do is change our hearts! 

Let's all go out and build Zion!!!!  I love you all!!!  Keep on being awesome!

Hurrah for Israel!!!

Love,

Elder Weenig

With Elder Sagapolu on a field trip to the doctor's office.

P-day sandcastle with Elder Shurtleff