No packages. Did you get anything? it takes so long that I
haven't braved writing another yet. My companion is still Elder
Karekataake.
All I know
about Elder Buhler is that his island is known for crabs, so he'll
probably eat those a lot (I haven't yet).
Is the canning/ apples finished. Has the variety show happened yet? Can
you google where the planet mars is in the sky? How is the family, people ask me all the time. Is
everyone all right including the little ones? Is Rachael progressing
towards being a pro teacher? Etc.
Christmas, if you
haven't sent the package yet: I don't know if I'll be able to find the
adapter I'm looking for. Basically something that takes a sd card and
plugs into usb, that way no matter which camera I use I can upload
pictures. Also just some single pictures of the family. One of you and
dad. One of each of my grandparents and great. and one of our whole
family, then maybe me as superman. We are supposed to fill out the My
Family Pamphlet, and I don't have the pictures to do it.Does the mission pres. have the ability to call someone in your area with important information?
What about the outer islands? Senior missionaries or nurses?
Did Jacob get to meet the mission pres. before he left for the island. Did he take a picture with him? Did he or you get any training. Do you consider your companion to be your trainer, or do they not do that on this mission? Do you have senior missionaries or nurses in your area?
Did Jacob get to meet the mission pres. before he left for the island. Did he take a picture with him? Did he or you get any training. Do you consider your companion to be your trainer, or do they not do that on this mission? Do you have senior missionaries or nurses in your area?
I think that Elder Buhler met president, but it is hard to remember
that long ago, and the specifics of when president was here last. My
companion is my trainer. You have a trainer for the first 12 weeks in
the mission. But in our mission it is common to have multiple trainers.
The stars here
are beautiful, but it is the first time in my life that I haven't lived
on a good north south axis. My entire island is not on any direction,
just somewhere in between, so the whole north south is sorta confusing.
Usually I just look up and find the constellations that I know. Sagittarius is the most common (the one that looks like a tea pot). And
I'm pretty sure that mars is right next to it. Since it is so clear
everyday and I look at the same constellation every day I have been
tracking a planet. And it seems like it is moving the wrong
direction,like it is rotating the opposite direction than it should. I
can see the southern constellations, but there are lots of trees that
way at our house, so I don't know those ones yet. I can see the north
star, but it is just over the horizon, which is pretty hazy most of the
time. I cannot see the big dipper though.
There is a nurse on Tarawa and one on Christmas. Zone leaders or
president can call anyone if there is a problem, but only in an
emergency, and most of all of outer islands have a cell phone. On Tarawa
there are a 5-6 senior companions all doing different things with
missionaries, the people and the work.
I think that president is still here and I will see him at the zone conference on Wednesday, but I'm not sure.
Well I have to go. It was nice to be able to talk to you. I
love you both so much. Continue to pray for me, I need all the help that
I can get. I hope that all is going well over there.
Love Dear Family and Friends,
Oh, my. Time here goes so fast. Around thursday my companion and I looked at each other and said, 'Wow tomorrow's friday, but it feels like yesterday was monday. Weird.' Life here is great. I love the islands. The sun always rises around six. I don't know the exact time, it starts getting bright a little before six and I'll wake up and admire the fabulous sunrise with the sky on fire. Then I'll go back to sleep, but I'll be totally ready to wake up at 6:30 because the sun has been waking me up for a good while before that. In the MTC it was a miracle if I got up before 6:30, but here it is so easy.
Also I never need to iron my clothes. Sometimes we'll sleep at the zone leaders house for what ever reason and only have 3 minutes before we go, so I'll bundle up my missionary clothes for the next day and throw them into my backpack. Then the next morning I will remember that that is not the best way to store my nice clothes, because they are full of wrinkles. But after wearing them for a half hour or so they are as straight as can be because of the humidity. (That specific story happened in my 1st week, but there are a bunch like it).
Also it seems like everyone here is a really great cook. I don't know how they do it. I look at their kitchen (basically a campstove) and storage space and preparation room (almost never any counters) and think, 'there is no way that this food came from this house.' The people here usually feed us chicken and often it is mainly just the drumsticks. I don;t know where the rest of the chicken goes, but the part that we eat is really good. Then we also have pork a lot and often some sort of fish. All of it is prepared in some way that makes it really really good, sometimes even better than at home. (But they don't have the variety that is at home). Then there is usually something on the side like chips (made from fried bread fruit, but they taste just like home made chips) or something, it varies. One time they served cucumbers and some sort of squash (they call it a pumpkin, but it's definitly not, but it's really good).
Yeah, life is good. It isn't the rainy season yet, it rained for a couple of days, but it was still really nice. It was like a 10 minute downpour with just sprinkling surrounding it by 30 min or so. And the rest of the time it was sunny. It is easy to tell when it is going to rain because it gets so humid. I will just be sitting and teaching a lesson and notice that I am sweating tons, then a few minutes later it will start to rain. It's cool.
My favorite part of everyday is still the
Book of Mormon. I also have very quality prayers at least once a day,
because Heavenly Father is the only person that I can talk to that not
only understands my language but also my life and problems. There is no
one else that can do that. I try to share that with our investigators
but it is hard. It would be hard in English let alone in a language that
I am still struggling to speak (every one tells me that I am doing
better than most, but it is still hard. Usually I can express my
thoughts, but understanding what others say is an adventure).
Incredibly
even though there is a communication gap I have friends here and the
people are starting to get to know and trust me. For example, one of the
members in our ward invited us to his house for dinner last night.
After dinner we were talking and we were getting to the point where we
would ask for referralls, anyone that he knows that might want to learn
more about the church. But he stopped the conversation and asked if we
are teaching anyone in his house (often there are lots of
people/families in one house) we said no. So he pointed to a bunch of
people in the room (not eating dinner with us, just there) and told us
each of their names and some things that they are struggling with. The
big one was his brother just died, and the new widow is not a member of
the church. And he wants us to teach her the plan of salvation. I had no
idea what to say (and we were on splits, so my companion didn't
either). I have never been given a problem like that. There was just a
tragedy in their family and I am the one that they want to help. I was
honored but froze up a little. We set up an appointment to come back,
and then I will be prepared and ready to go, hopefully. I will help them
the best that I can. I love this gospel and that it can help all people
from all walks of life with all types of problems. I love it so much.
Have a great week!
Love
Elder Morley
p.s. sorry for my bad english, both languages are bad at the moment.
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