Howdy!!
So, this was a great week. We had great lessons. So, in companionship inventory, Elder Veresoni mentioned that I could be more enthusiastic in lessons. He was right. I have literally almost fallen asleep in a couple of lessons.... Yeah... Oops... Anyway, not anymore. So, we added more enthusiasm to our lessons and it has been amazing! I mean we are teaching the gospel of peace, the gospel of joy, the gospel of Christ, what is there to not be enthusiastic about? So, might as well teach with the voice of a trump. Anyway, we had good lessons.
One investigator is ten Tetoa. He is in his twenties. His mom is a less active. She sat in on one of our lessons and it was great. She committed to come back to church! Whoot! We are excited for her to come back.
We had a lesson with ten Toabo. He invited his family to have lessons, only a couple of the kids agreed to take lessons, but at least he shared the gospel. That is one thing that I love: as our faith in the gospel increases, so does our desire to share it! Yep. It is awesome! I am glad to see him share the gospel with those around him. Ten Timon also did the same thing with his family and his son came to church, before we even had any lessons with him! It was amazing! I am so happy to see the growth of people's faith, and my faith!
Life is good! The gospel is real and true! We are living in the dispensation of the fullness of times. What a great time to live. We have so much to share -- the gospel. We have absolutely no reason not to!
It makes me happy to see the spreading of the Gospel of Christ and seeing the joy that it brings to people's lives. I am grateful to live in this time, this blessed latter days. There is more light than ever before. We just need to look at it! Look to the Light! Look to Him!
Love you all! Thank you for y'alls examples!
Love you!
Share the Light!
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Monday, October 23, 2017
Zone Conference
Howdy!
Hope you all are doing great! I am doing just dandy. We had Zone Conference this past week which is always accompanied with transfers. I am staying and so is my companion, Elder Veresoni. It is great. I am excited for this coming transfer. It is will be amazing, Elder Versoni is amazing! He said to me on the way home one day, "By the end of the transfer, let's have 60 people in our teaching pool" (teaching pool: how many people we teach). I am excited!! I love having a companion that is driven and motivated! I hope I can be more like that -- optimistic, pleasant, and motivated.
So, Zone Conference was amazing! We had great trainings. Elder Murri from the East Zone gave a training on tracting and good first impressions. It was great! He started with the classic "Sorry I was sick this past week and so I didn't have much time to prepare, but we will see how this goes...." and you could see the attention in the room drop by a good 200 percent. Then he clapped his hands nice and loudly -- giving several people heart attacks and pointed out that saying that is a horrible first impression. He then restarted by doing a rap about tracting, and everyone paid attention very well in his training and we all loved it! It was amazing! Moral of the story: First impressions are extremely important and even if you don't have much time to prepare, don't demean your talk or training or speech or whatever it is that you do by pointing out the fact that it may not be very well prepared or that it may not be of worth. Because the moment we say that, people don't listen. Yep. Be creative and enthusiastic when giving talks or, more importantly, when sharing the gospel. It was a good lesson for missionaries and for everyone else as well. We also had a great training from Sister Moungatonga-Fowler (from the West Zone -- the zone I am in) on opening our mouths. We need to try to talk to everyone. Even those people that seem hopeless and even if people reject us, our goal is to at least leave them with a good impression of the church. We need to smile more, make people laugh more, and share the gospel more (we is an all inclusive pronoun being used here to imply all those that are members of the church, not just missionaries.). I found their trainings to be amazing and inspiring! Zone conference is amazing! We also had Stake Conference. It was good. Elder Sinjoux of the Seventy came to speak to us.
Well, my thought for today is to be happy. Be positive. Be optimistic. From Gordon B. Hinckley's life, we see that he was an optimist. One thing I noticed is that he said he was an optimist. It was not only said about him, but he said it himself. To me, this means that he CHOSE to be an optimist. Just as one chooses the choices that lead them to say "I am a doctor" or "I am a teacher", one also chooses the choices that lead them to say "I am an optimist." I know that people are born good. People are by nature good (any one wants to argue that? Because you'll lose -- we are children of God and we chose to follow Him in our life before we were born, and are therefore good), but life is not quite so good (due to a not so pleasant fellow named Satan). So, we are put in a position to choose whether or not we will be happy in this life. It is all up to us. We can look at a day and say : "Today is going to be a great day" and it likely will, so long as we continue to say that even with Satan whispering just the opposite in our mortal ears. My point is this, we choose to be positive. We choose to be happy. We choose to be optimistic. That is what is so great about agency. It is all up to us. I know that we can choose. I know that we can always choose to be happy because the Lord Christ died and rose for us. He loves us and supports us and blesses us and is our greatest, truest friend. I know He lives! He is real! He is true! He is fact! He has a Gospel for us -- the Gospel of Peace, the Gospel of Joy, and a Gospel of Happiness. I know this and hope to hold true to it. I hope we all continually remember to choose to be happy (choose the right - choose to be happy.).
I love you all! Hope you are all well! Keep on being amazing! I look up to you all and you all make me happy. Thank you so much! I love you!
Choose the Right!
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
Hope you all are doing great! I am doing just dandy. We had Zone Conference this past week which is always accompanied with transfers. I am staying and so is my companion, Elder Veresoni. It is great. I am excited for this coming transfer. It is will be amazing, Elder Versoni is amazing! He said to me on the way home one day, "By the end of the transfer, let's have 60 people in our teaching pool" (teaching pool: how many people we teach). I am excited!! I love having a companion that is driven and motivated! I hope I can be more like that -- optimistic, pleasant, and motivated.
So, Zone Conference was amazing! We had great trainings. Elder Murri from the East Zone gave a training on tracting and good first impressions. It was great! He started with the classic "Sorry I was sick this past week and so I didn't have much time to prepare, but we will see how this goes...." and you could see the attention in the room drop by a good 200 percent. Then he clapped his hands nice and loudly -- giving several people heart attacks and pointed out that saying that is a horrible first impression. He then restarted by doing a rap about tracting, and everyone paid attention very well in his training and we all loved it! It was amazing! Moral of the story: First impressions are extremely important and even if you don't have much time to prepare, don't demean your talk or training or speech or whatever it is that you do by pointing out the fact that it may not be very well prepared or that it may not be of worth. Because the moment we say that, people don't listen. Yep. Be creative and enthusiastic when giving talks or, more importantly, when sharing the gospel. It was a good lesson for missionaries and for everyone else as well. We also had a great training from Sister Moungatonga-Fowler (from the West Zone -- the zone I am in) on opening our mouths. We need to try to talk to everyone. Even those people that seem hopeless and even if people reject us, our goal is to at least leave them with a good impression of the church. We need to smile more, make people laugh more, and share the gospel more (we is an all inclusive pronoun being used here to imply all those that are members of the church, not just missionaries.). I found their trainings to be amazing and inspiring! Zone conference is amazing! We also had Stake Conference. It was good. Elder Sinjoux of the Seventy came to speak to us.
Well, my thought for today is to be happy. Be positive. Be optimistic. From Gordon B. Hinckley's life, we see that he was an optimist. One thing I noticed is that he said he was an optimist. It was not only said about him, but he said it himself. To me, this means that he CHOSE to be an optimist. Just as one chooses the choices that lead them to say "I am a doctor" or "I am a teacher", one also chooses the choices that lead them to say "I am an optimist." I know that people are born good. People are by nature good (any one wants to argue that? Because you'll lose -- we are children of God and we chose to follow Him in our life before we were born, and are therefore good), but life is not quite so good (due to a not so pleasant fellow named Satan). So, we are put in a position to choose whether or not we will be happy in this life. It is all up to us. We can look at a day and say : "Today is going to be a great day" and it likely will, so long as we continue to say that even with Satan whispering just the opposite in our mortal ears. My point is this, we choose to be positive. We choose to be happy. We choose to be optimistic. That is what is so great about agency. It is all up to us. I know that we can choose. I know that we can always choose to be happy because the Lord Christ died and rose for us. He loves us and supports us and blesses us and is our greatest, truest friend. I know He lives! He is real! He is true! He is fact! He has a Gospel for us -- the Gospel of Peace, the Gospel of Joy, and a Gospel of Happiness. I know this and hope to hold true to it. I hope we all continually remember to choose to be happy (choose the right - choose to be happy.).
I love you all! Hope you are all well! Keep on being amazing! I look up to you all and you all make me happy. Thank you so much! I love you!
Choose the Right!
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
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| Zone Conference |
Monday, October 16, 2017
Happy Fiji Day
Mauri!
Happy Fiji Day! October 10th is Fiji Day. It is like Independence Day, but for Fiji, cool, right? My companion, Elder Veresoni is from Fiji. It was a good day. We made a fancy dinner at home - courtesy of the "Just add boiling water" mashed potatoes that came from America (thank you family!). It was fun. :) Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic Fiji day.
This week was great! I am grateful for it. A couple rough days where we did not get very much done and motivation was not at its peak... But it was great, because the past couple of days have been amazing -- great lessons, new people, all that good stuff. This week is a proof that even though the sun doesn't shine super bright every moment of every day, it will always come back out. I like that lesson -- yep, the knowledge that even though life can seem hard, the sun will come out tomorrow. :) (the song from Annie begins to play in the background.) Love you all! :)
I love being a missionary. I love knowing that the Christ is my Lord and my Savior. I hope and pray not to lose sight of the knowledge of Christ and His Atonement and His Gospel. Satan attempts continually to chip away at that knowledge and faith. I hope to keep it strong through increased faith in Christ -- prayer and study and fasting, a brighter hope, and truer charity. Please don't lose sight of that bright and glorious light, which is Christ, our friend, our brother, our all.
Love you all!
Keep the Faith!
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
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| One year mark party with my MTC intake (We had burgers and fries... Expensive, but yummy. :) ) |
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| Happy Fiji Day Meal (It was also Elder Schoeny's and Elder Rowsell's one year mark in Kiribati) |
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| Haircut -- done by the one, the only, Elder Veresoni. He is amazing! |
Monday, October 9, 2017
General Conference
Mauri!
And yep, I recognize that the title of my email is probably the exact same as 70,000 other missionaries.... :) But creativity requires effort. If anyone wants a cool name for it, use Maungatabu -- that is the Kiribati word for General Conference.
Well, love you all! This week was remarkable. I will get down to explaining why it was such a great week: GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!
Aren't we so lucky that we get to hear the words of the Lord through His prophets each six months?! I hope that we are more like the pioneers who accepted the words of the Lord to the fullest of their understanding. I hope that we don't act as other peoples in the past (Nephites, Lamanites, or Jews) that had the prophets among them, but did not hear their words. I know that General Conference is real. Their words are real. Their talks are real. Their testimonies are real. Their promises are real! They are real, because they are not theirs, they are His. I am coming to understand what it means when people say that the Lord will speak to us through the mouths of His holy prophets -- it means that He will. If we come with a sincere heart, and a desire to be learned of God, we will be able to receive more light from on high. I am grateful for the light that was poured out and illuminated the area around me so that I could see the answers to my questions. I know that the Lord will answer our questions if we ask in faith. I have asked Him questions before, but now I am learning to ask of Him with faith NOTHING wavering. In the Infinite Atonement book by Tad R. Callister (the nice fellow, who gave a remarkable proof and testimony for the validity and absolute truthfulness of the Book of Mormon in the Sunday afternoon session of conference), it says that for us to understand the Atonement of Christ we must become like Joseph Smith -- master askers! I believe that for us to receive answers to our personal questions, we need to learn to ask questions and act on what we are told. I want to work on this. Ask and he shall receive.
I have had a great week! We are working to get new investigators. We are teaching a man named Iotebwa. He is great! He is an old man. He even came to General Conference. We didn't see him, because he went to the other building which is way far away...(he didn't know where our church building was.... which is understandable, but also a bit funny seeing as there is only one road on the island, so just so long as you go in the direction of the building you are looking for, you cannot miss it....) But anyway, the moral of the story is that we are very glad that he came to General Conference, we have only been lessoning with him for a little over a week.
Love you all! I want to write more, but my time is up! Keep on being amazing! The church is true. It is real. I know these things are real! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
And yep, I recognize that the title of my email is probably the exact same as 70,000 other missionaries.... :) But creativity requires effort. If anyone wants a cool name for it, use Maungatabu -- that is the Kiribati word for General Conference.
Well, love you all! This week was remarkable. I will get down to explaining why it was such a great week: GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!
Aren't we so lucky that we get to hear the words of the Lord through His prophets each six months?! I hope that we are more like the pioneers who accepted the words of the Lord to the fullest of their understanding. I hope that we don't act as other peoples in the past (Nephites, Lamanites, or Jews) that had the prophets among them, but did not hear their words. I know that General Conference is real. Their words are real. Their talks are real. Their testimonies are real. Their promises are real! They are real, because they are not theirs, they are His. I am coming to understand what it means when people say that the Lord will speak to us through the mouths of His holy prophets -- it means that He will. If we come with a sincere heart, and a desire to be learned of God, we will be able to receive more light from on high. I am grateful for the light that was poured out and illuminated the area around me so that I could see the answers to my questions. I know that the Lord will answer our questions if we ask in faith. I have asked Him questions before, but now I am learning to ask of Him with faith NOTHING wavering. In the Infinite Atonement book by Tad R. Callister (the nice fellow, who gave a remarkable proof and testimony for the validity and absolute truthfulness of the Book of Mormon in the Sunday afternoon session of conference), it says that for us to understand the Atonement of Christ we must become like Joseph Smith -- master askers! I believe that for us to receive answers to our personal questions, we need to learn to ask questions and act on what we are told. I want to work on this. Ask and he shall receive.
I have had a great week! We are working to get new investigators. We are teaching a man named Iotebwa. He is great! He is an old man. He even came to General Conference. We didn't see him, because he went to the other building which is way far away...(he didn't know where our church building was.... which is understandable, but also a bit funny seeing as there is only one road on the island, so just so long as you go in the direction of the building you are looking for, you cannot miss it....) But anyway, the moral of the story is that we are very glad that he came to General Conference, we have only been lessoning with him for a little over a week.
Love you all! I want to write more, but my time is up! Keep on being amazing! The church is true. It is real. I know these things are real! In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
Monday, October 2, 2017
State of Mind
Howdy y'all!
Our mission has a high baptismal goal and for us to reach it, we all need to get a high number of people to baptism before the end of the year. It has seemed out of reach, but I have come to realize that it is all in the state of mind. If I believe that I will be able to do it, I will be able to. There is a poem that says: "If you think
you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't.... For out of the world we find, success begins with a fellow's will, it is all in the state of mind...." (I tried to do it from memory,..... Dear poet, forgive me for slaughtering your poem!) Anyway, the moral of the story is that if we dream big and work big we achieve big, if we dream small and work small we will reap small rewards.... And as a disciple of Christ it is always great to remember that in the Lord we can do all things through the Lord who strengthens us. Anyway, I am learning to shoot for the stars and then learning how to pack enough rocket fuel to make it there.
This week has been great. I am learning the area and the people. We are working on finding new people.
Being a zone leader, we get to do baptismal interviews for the district leaders. I love doing those interviews. I feel the Spirit so much, and the people are so determined to be baptized. I feel the gift of tongues come into effect more, as they all seem to more fully understand me when I speak. It makes me happy. I am glad to
have that opportunity.
For my study on Sunday, I did the Christlike Attribute survey at the back of PMG Chapter 6, Christlike Attributes. It was great. It helped me see where I need to improve. If any of you have a spare five minutes or so, it is definitely worth it. It was super helpful to me. I am grateful to have that as a resource.
Love you all so much! Keep on being amazing! You are all the greatest! I am so lucky to have family and friends like all you all! Press forward with faith. Hope for a better world. Smile today and tomorrow. That is the lesson I learned this week -- smiling is a choice. Smile. I am glad for it.
Love you!
This is the place - whatever place we happen to be in is the place.
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
Our mission has a high baptismal goal and for us to reach it, we all need to get a high number of people to baptism before the end of the year. It has seemed out of reach, but I have come to realize that it is all in the state of mind. If I believe that I will be able to do it, I will be able to. There is a poem that says: "If you think
you are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you don't.... For out of the world we find, success begins with a fellow's will, it is all in the state of mind...." (I tried to do it from memory,..... Dear poet, forgive me for slaughtering your poem!) Anyway, the moral of the story is that if we dream big and work big we achieve big, if we dream small and work small we will reap small rewards.... And as a disciple of Christ it is always great to remember that in the Lord we can do all things through the Lord who strengthens us. Anyway, I am learning to shoot for the stars and then learning how to pack enough rocket fuel to make it there.
This week has been great. I am learning the area and the people. We are working on finding new people.
Being a zone leader, we get to do baptismal interviews for the district leaders. I love doing those interviews. I feel the Spirit so much, and the people are so determined to be baptized. I feel the gift of tongues come into effect more, as they all seem to more fully understand me when I speak. It makes me happy. I am glad to
have that opportunity.
For my study on Sunday, I did the Christlike Attribute survey at the back of PMG Chapter 6, Christlike Attributes. It was great. It helped me see where I need to improve. If any of you have a spare five minutes or so, it is definitely worth it. It was super helpful to me. I am grateful to have that as a resource.
Love you all so much! Keep on being amazing! You are all the greatest! I am so lucky to have family and friends like all you all! Press forward with faith. Hope for a better world. Smile today and tomorrow. That is the lesson I learned this week -- smiling is a choice. Smile. I am glad for it.
Love you!
This is the place - whatever place we happen to be in is the place.
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
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| Lesson on the beach with Elder Veresoni |
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| Elder Peterson and I in Tab South. ... Rain storm |
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| Canoe across from Takuu with ten Baretoka |
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| Fishing with ten Biita - he is a less active in Tab South |
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| Dramatic fallen coconut tree... :) |
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| Tab South - Hurrah for Israel Jump ... :) |
Monday, September 25, 2017
Teaoraereke
Howdy y'all!
I live. :) So, life is great. Where there is life, it is great. :)
I am very happy. So, I returned back from Tab South a couple weeks ago, but I have not been able to email due to time of preparation day. But today I have the time. Whoot! :) So, I hope that you are all well! I want you all to know that I love you all and that you are all the greatest! Thank you for all you do.
I am serving in the Teaoraereke 2nd Ward on the island of Tarawa. There are three companionships in our ward. Impressive right? It is a great ward with an awesome bishop. We have all of our ward meetings and even meet with the bishop weekly! It is awesome! I am happy to see so many people fulfilling their callings. Note to future self.... and to everyone.... If you have a calling, fulfill it, no matter how small. Even if it seems small, all the callings are essential. The calling of bishop is no more important that the calling of primary teacher or whatever. If everyone does their callings well, everything runs so smoothly... If not, then it is craziness.... Anyway, the ward here is great - they fulfill their callings. :)
Anyway, I get to work with Elder Veresoni. He is the greatest! He is from Fiji and is the only member in his strong Catholic family. He is solid. I look up to him. He is training me on how to be a Zone Leader. It is great. I am happy to be able to work with him.
We have been receiving a lot of training on setting goals and following through with them. Setting a goal automatically stimulates something in our mind that makes it so we strive to fulfill that goal. Cool, right? The very act of writing down a goal is a huge step to achieving the goal. Yep. I think that is amazing. Write down goals with the intent to achieve them.
Well, I am doing well. We get to lesson with people -- but not as much as I would like.... Lessons are the greatest. Being a zone leader is great because I am learning a lot! Learning how to help people without sounding preachy and how to stand strong in the rules and commands of the Lord (whether they came from the mouth of the Lord, the prophet, or our mission president) even when it is clearly the unpopular thing to do. I am grateful for the opportunity. It has shown me that I need to treasure every moment of teaching and finding. I am glad to be a missionary.
I read a quote by President Ezra Taft Benson this week and it told us that there are tons of "potential spiritual giants" that are not putting their all into the work. I like that thought. There are tons of spiritual giants in the world, they (or, I feel justified in saying we) just need to show it, work at it, and become the spiritual giants that Heavenly Father needs them (us) to be. We are all spiritual giants, whether we realize it or not. I hope that we can all work harder to be able to the spiritual giants that will help lift up those that have fallen or are falling. I know that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can become spiritual giants. If we try, fall, try again, repent and strive continually for excellence with a "perfect brightness of hope and a love of God and of all man" (2 Nephi 31:20), we can be gigantic supports for others without even realizing it.
I love you all and thank you all for supporting me through example, prayers, and all else. Love you! Keep on being amazing! Keep being lights to the world! Doubt not, fear not (Joshua 1:9) The Lord is on our side, what have we to fear? When we share our truth, we are only trying to help others return to their Heavenly Father. We really have no reason to rudely keep them from the truth by not letting them know where to find it. I hope I can more continually invite others to Christ, because He is real, and so is His atonement, and so is His Father, our Father. I know that the gospel of Christ is real and that if we "doubt our doubts before we doubt our faith", calling on the Lord to keep us from being tempted more that we are able, we will not fall.
Love you all!
Keep the faith!
Hurrah for Israel!
Elder Weenig
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| Tekanebu and her family, in Tab South |
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| Eating sugar cane with Elder Dale and Teaobiti in Tab South |
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| Zone Conference - missionaries from my intake (this is a day after I returned from Tab South) |
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| Splits with Elder Otto (he works in Betio) |
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| Birthday Cake in Tab South |
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
Tabiteuea South
It's been a little over nine weeks since Elder Weenig was transferred to Tabiteuea South. He hasn't had internet but we have been blessed to receive some letters in the mail. Here are a few updates from those letters:
June 26:
Sorry there is no email, but please know that I love you and that I am praying for you all.
Well, this week was my first week in Tabiteuea South. It is awesome! I have the greatest companion. Elder Peterson from Santaquin, Utah. He was transferred over from the Marshall Islands since a lot of Elders are returning home from the Kiribati islands and we needed more elders. He has picked up the language very quickly. The area is great. Apparently we are getting a branch out here soon. I am very happy to work here. We live in a stick house with a tin roof. It is great! There are papaya trees in our yard so we get to eat papaya. Yum! We work in different villages each day. Lots of biking, but I really enjoy it. For the farthest village we bike and then either canoe or walk through the water.
July 3:
This week has been quite the week. I am learning a lot about the area. There are a great deal of people to get to know. I really enjoy it here. Annako, a ten year old girl, is one that is progressing toward baptism. She is so happy to lesson and has support from her extended family.
Today we went with Peter, who lives near us, to dig for shellfish called "Koikoi". We got a lot. After boiling them to open the shells, we fried them. It was an adventure. I am learning how to quickly build a fire out of coconut husks to cook our food. They turn out to be extraodinarily flammable.
I am learning much more of the language. The gift of tongues is real. I am so grateful for it. Without it, the life of a missionary would be a sad one indeed.
PS: If given the option between fish and shellfish, ALWAYS choose the fish!
July 10:
Well, big news -- Elder Peterson is transferring. He will leave tomorrow. Tears. He is awesome. I am very grateful I was able to work with him. I learned much and really enjoyed it. Anyway, this week was great. We started doing a fifth church meeting for people at a school. They are boarding. Only a few people at each service, but a total 41 people this week. Whoot! We should be getting a branch soon. The paperwork for a new branch was turned in about a month or so ago. On the 4th of July, we tried to light a coconut on fire for fireworks ... didn't work as we had hoped. Happy Birthday, America -- it is really a day to celebrate. America is so blessed. I hope we continue to work to keep it that way. "God Bless America" really is a perfect slogan/motto to have. Well, independence Day for Kiribati is coming up in two days. I am dreading it a bit. Everyone and their coconut tree will be there.... Yep, that will be an adventure.
The people are doing great. Annko will be baptized this Saturday. We are very excited for her. Her grandparents and aunt will give her support, which is great.
July 17:
This week had lots of things happen. Most important of all is that Annako was baptized. I had the opportunity to give her the Holy Ghost on Sunday. Her mom was there when she received the Holy Ghost. I am glad she saw it -- her mom is not a member. She just happened to be at the house we had church so we asked her to sit with us. I am very glad Annako was baptized. I gave a talk on baptism. I realized how amazing our promise (covenant) to the Lord is. If we do as Christ would have us do, always remember Christ, and keep His commandments, we are continually clean and pure. We really do become saints and the Holy Ghost can forever be with us. Amazing! Even more amazing is that if we break our half of the promise, we can still repent and regain the promise as we do so every sacrament meeting.
Torai, the Kiribati independence day, made it so we could not schedule lessons for three days this week, but it turned out to be fine because we were able to use that time to find new people and introduce my new companion to the area. I am working with Elder Dale, the same Elder Dale as the one I worked with in Abemama. He is great!
I really like Tab South. We cook our own dinners on a fire. Mostly just rice, papaya, and canned meat (fish or chicken). Life is awesome here. It has rained everyday, so it has been a nice cool week. I am very grateful for it.
July 24:
Happy Pioneer Day! It was not celebrated here. :) I did not see a single wagon.
Members here are amazing. I believe there are 50-60 members. We usually have 40 at church. It is great. They are all very new to the church, but they try hard. I love them. We are under the Tab North branch. It is less developed than the island of Abemama. I absolutely love it. All the people are extremely kind as well. In Kiribati, there are three zones: West Tarawa, East Tarawa, and Kirimati. On the outer islands, there are no district meetings.
This week was great. We had great lessons. We are putting as many people as we can on to date for baptism. The work is great! I enjoy it.
My study today was on charity. It is the most important attribute to develop. I read Moroni 7:42-48 and also President Monson's talk in April conference called "love, Charity, and Kindness." I substituted my name in place of charity in verse 45. That is my goal, that I can say that of myself. I want to become more charitable. As such, I need to be kinder. I think it is interesting that was his address to us, it was short, but must be very important. Charity is real -- it is our goal.
July 31:
It's been a great week. On Sunday, we taught on the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. We were able to talk with Annako's grandma who has a problem with the word of wisdom and help her work on a plan to slowly decrease the amount she is using. It would be great if she can overcome her problem and be a support to Annoko. As I studied and pondered the word of wisdom, I came to more fully understand the importance of obedience and as to why the Lord gives us commandments. It is so He can protect us from danger, so that He can bless us, and so that we can return to Him. If we break those guidelines, Christ has given us His infinite atonement so that we can clean our "garments in His blood". Speaking of that comparison, I had the thought as I was doing wash. When we sin, we put "blood" on our garments; but also clothes get dirty gradually if we don't truly clean them frequently, dirt and whatever gets on them. I compared that to ourselves getting dirty if we do not continually and consciously try to keep ourselves clean and to things to keep us clean: study scriptures, truly praying, partaking of the sacrament, truly going to church to worship Heavenly Father and member the Lord, Jesus Christ all the time. These things are like the soap and the repenting is like the bleach to cleanse us or our sins when we break the Lord's commands.
Love you! Keep pressing on!
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Weenig
June 26:
Sorry there is no email, but please know that I love you and that I am praying for you all.
Well, this week was my first week in Tabiteuea South. It is awesome! I have the greatest companion. Elder Peterson from Santaquin, Utah. He was transferred over from the Marshall Islands since a lot of Elders are returning home from the Kiribati islands and we needed more elders. He has picked up the language very quickly. The area is great. Apparently we are getting a branch out here soon. I am very happy to work here. We live in a stick house with a tin roof. It is great! There are papaya trees in our yard so we get to eat papaya. Yum! We work in different villages each day. Lots of biking, but I really enjoy it. For the farthest village we bike and then either canoe or walk through the water.
July 3:
This week has been quite the week. I am learning a lot about the area. There are a great deal of people to get to know. I really enjoy it here. Annako, a ten year old girl, is one that is progressing toward baptism. She is so happy to lesson and has support from her extended family.
Today we went with Peter, who lives near us, to dig for shellfish called "Koikoi". We got a lot. After boiling them to open the shells, we fried them. It was an adventure. I am learning how to quickly build a fire out of coconut husks to cook our food. They turn out to be extraodinarily flammable.
I am learning much more of the language. The gift of tongues is real. I am so grateful for it. Without it, the life of a missionary would be a sad one indeed.
PS: If given the option between fish and shellfish, ALWAYS choose the fish!
July 10:
Well, big news -- Elder Peterson is transferring. He will leave tomorrow. Tears. He is awesome. I am very grateful I was able to work with him. I learned much and really enjoyed it. Anyway, this week was great. We started doing a fifth church meeting for people at a school. They are boarding. Only a few people at each service, but a total 41 people this week. Whoot! We should be getting a branch soon. The paperwork for a new branch was turned in about a month or so ago. On the 4th of July, we tried to light a coconut on fire for fireworks ... didn't work as we had hoped. Happy Birthday, America -- it is really a day to celebrate. America is so blessed. I hope we continue to work to keep it that way. "God Bless America" really is a perfect slogan/motto to have. Well, independence Day for Kiribati is coming up in two days. I am dreading it a bit. Everyone and their coconut tree will be there.... Yep, that will be an adventure.
The people are doing great. Annko will be baptized this Saturday. We are very excited for her. Her grandparents and aunt will give her support, which is great.
July 17:
This week had lots of things happen. Most important of all is that Annako was baptized. I had the opportunity to give her the Holy Ghost on Sunday. Her mom was there when she received the Holy Ghost. I am glad she saw it -- her mom is not a member. She just happened to be at the house we had church so we asked her to sit with us. I am very glad Annako was baptized. I gave a talk on baptism. I realized how amazing our promise (covenant) to the Lord is. If we do as Christ would have us do, always remember Christ, and keep His commandments, we are continually clean and pure. We really do become saints and the Holy Ghost can forever be with us. Amazing! Even more amazing is that if we break our half of the promise, we can still repent and regain the promise as we do so every sacrament meeting.
Torai, the Kiribati independence day, made it so we could not schedule lessons for three days this week, but it turned out to be fine because we were able to use that time to find new people and introduce my new companion to the area. I am working with Elder Dale, the same Elder Dale as the one I worked with in Abemama. He is great!
I really like Tab South. We cook our own dinners on a fire. Mostly just rice, papaya, and canned meat (fish or chicken). Life is awesome here. It has rained everyday, so it has been a nice cool week. I am very grateful for it.
July 24:
Happy Pioneer Day! It was not celebrated here. :) I did not see a single wagon.
Members here are amazing. I believe there are 50-60 members. We usually have 40 at church. It is great. They are all very new to the church, but they try hard. I love them. We are under the Tab North branch. It is less developed than the island of Abemama. I absolutely love it. All the people are extremely kind as well. In Kiribati, there are three zones: West Tarawa, East Tarawa, and Kirimati. On the outer islands, there are no district meetings.
This week was great. We had great lessons. We are putting as many people as we can on to date for baptism. The work is great! I enjoy it.
My study today was on charity. It is the most important attribute to develop. I read Moroni 7:42-48 and also President Monson's talk in April conference called "love, Charity, and Kindness." I substituted my name in place of charity in verse 45. That is my goal, that I can say that of myself. I want to become more charitable. As such, I need to be kinder. I think it is interesting that was his address to us, it was short, but must be very important. Charity is real -- it is our goal.
July 31:
It's been a great week. On Sunday, we taught on the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. We were able to talk with Annako's grandma who has a problem with the word of wisdom and help her work on a plan to slowly decrease the amount she is using. It would be great if she can overcome her problem and be a support to Annoko. As I studied and pondered the word of wisdom, I came to more fully understand the importance of obedience and as to why the Lord gives us commandments. It is so He can protect us from danger, so that He can bless us, and so that we can return to Him. If we break those guidelines, Christ has given us His infinite atonement so that we can clean our "garments in His blood". Speaking of that comparison, I had the thought as I was doing wash. When we sin, we put "blood" on our garments; but also clothes get dirty gradually if we don't truly clean them frequently, dirt and whatever gets on them. I compared that to ourselves getting dirty if we do not continually and consciously try to keep ourselves clean and to things to keep us clean: study scriptures, truly praying, partaking of the sacrament, truly going to church to worship Heavenly Father and member the Lord, Jesus Christ all the time. These things are like the soap and the repenting is like the bleach to cleanse us or our sins when we break the Lord's commands.
Love you! Keep pressing on!
Hurrah for Israel!!
Elder Weenig
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