Nov. 2, 2014 Kukurei Halloween!

(On This day, we were very lucky and were able to ask and answer many questions before his time was up.  I will include them for others that will have the same questions.)

(David) There are lots of kids here that their eyes wiggle. It looks kind of like  when you try to go cross eyed, but can't do it all the way so they just shake. Do you know of any sort of medicine that could help that. It's kind of a scary problem. I thought that people's eyes would be great here because of the Fish, but bad eyes in one form or another is very common.

          (We googled it and found info on  Nystagmus. Mostly in their case a lack of Vitamin B12)

Do you see scurvy?  That would be sores on their arms and comes from a lack of vitamin C

On kids I see a bunch of dark spots with rings around them, but I just thought that they were bug bites. 

 Thanks for giving me some tools to stay healthy. I took the Oil pills in the MTC and only got mildly sick for like 2 days. And here with mom's pills even though every other member of my intake group has gotten sick to whatever degree I am still completely healthy with solid poop. Thank you both so much for your help! I will use the oils, but they aren't my first response yet, so I usually only remember to use them after a problem is past... But I will do better!
Thanks!

Have you seen Elder Carrington?  He must be closeby isn't he?

He is sitting right next to me, so you could say that...

Are you taking the vitamins now or the mineral drink?

Vitamins, I just remembered about the drink, so I may start that. I take the minerals (minus the radish) everyday almost.

The radish is good for the innards but just take it a different part of the day than the minerals.

So happy to hear that you haven't been sick.

Tell me about the Elder who lost his hearing??

Oh, sorry. Brother Birrell who taught me in the MTC went swimming in one of his first months and got a parasite that made him deaf in his right ear. He is still deaf, It's permanent for now, but it's just a very good example of why missionaries don't go swimming here. That rule for whatever reason has very physical easy to see consequences. The other rules have more subtle spiritual consequenses so people can ignore those easier. He's fine and it only put him out of work for 2 days.

David,I still think that I want to get you 2-3 sets of garments to have in reserve for special times when you want to feel totally clean.  Please send the name of the fabric and the size in this email session.

OK-----Google Betio in Tarawa, and see how small it is. Then know that there are almost 20000 people living there. I am only responsible for a 3rd of it

There must not be much space between huts or much privacy.  Can you send pictures yet? 

Yeah, privacy is not a priority here. Every one is pretty much family anyways. Plus lots of the time they don't have walls so it's pretty close. Often people will have a central gathering place that they will spend a lot of their time instead of being in their house (often the size of our green bathroom, or if they are a little bit more wealthy the size of your bedroom)

  Yeah it's sorta like a campground, but closer. As you get closer to the ocean it's more like that. Next to the road everyone has concrete houses, then it slowly morphs to woodenish tents.

My companion is from all over, his parents moved around a lot. But he went to school at Moroni. He has a older sister. I don't think he's ever been to america, just a couple weeks at New Zealand probably for the temple.   Companions are moved around a lot here. I wouldn't be suprised if I got a new one since president is in town. So I have no idea who I will be with a Christmas time. He does have family support. They lived in Betio for my first couple of weeks here, but now they went to visit Marshall Islands, but didn't have a proper visa so they are in trouble there (that's all I know, but he's pretty upset about it)

 My down times are less frequent now. I guess you could call them culture shock. They are mainly a result of the cultural difference between my companion and I and our vastly different personalities. Mainly when I'm down I read the BoM and it helps. When you read my mass email about the BoM think of Scott Anderson. His personality is what I try to convey when teaching investigators and members ('Commandments make me HAPPY!!!' I want more!) also my companion, but I have to be less direct with him.

People get transfered here all the time, not necesarily associated with the 6 weeks being up, so we'll see when it happens.

Sure, just know that I don't wear socks either, it's too hot, I think that I might have more problems from wearing socks than from not. (moldy feet) But that may just be an excuse, so I don't know. 

Nothing from Elder Buhler, but he's probably having a great time. He has the personality to have a great time wherever he is.  We have a washing machine then hang up our clothes on the line they dry really fast.  

 

Dear Family and Friends,

This has been another great week! The favorite part of my day is still reading the Book Of Mormon. Even though I have read it before, this time is so much more interesting and great for my life. Maybe it's just because I'm novel deprived, but when I read, I'm sad when I get to the end of a chapter, because it means that I will have to move on to some other study. The scriptures have become more 3D. Even the Isaiah chapters are more exciting than usual. They are still hard, but I can always find a meaning and usually apply it to me.

For example Yesterday (sunday) I was reading in 2 Nephi. I got so excited about a verse (2 Nephi 6:11) that talked about how God would remember his covenant to the Jews and in the last days they will be gathered again. Even though they have been hated for most of all history they will be given their gift of a homeland again. Yeah, there's definitely something wrong with me... Then in church we were studying in Jeremiah and how Isreal will be scattered then gathered. They were just summarizing a couple of chapters when I couldn't hold it in. I tried to give some of Mom's Seminary teaching or dad's sunday school teaching fire and summarized all of their chapters.  I in scattered Kiribati and English talked about God's covenant to abraham, missionary work, God's love for us, etc. while talking about the scattering of Isreal. But for some reason I have been so excited about it. I also love when the Lord talks about the Isles of the Sea, because I know where that is !

Tarawa is more of a string of tiny islands connected by a road (they call it a cause way) than one long island. I live in Betio (Bay-Sew) which has one main road that goes all the way around it (in a circle).

The Betio Bus

The main form of transportation here (other than walking) is what we call the Betio Bus. There are these really sketchy (in American standards) white vans that drive that loop all day long. You can signal them, or usually they signal you by someone shouting 'Betio!" out the window, and then ride anywhere in the island for 60 cents. They only go clockwise though, so we can get to the area where most of our investigators live in like 2-5 minutes (we only do that when we are running late) but to get back to our house it takes 15 - 40 minutes depending on how many people want to ride the betio bus at that time. 

Today I had a new record. I was in a bus, where if it had seat belts there would be 10, but there was 19 people in the bus. 10 adults and 9 kids scattered on top of people and wherever they would fit. My previous record was 18 people with 2 children. I don't know how they fit so many people. I love it so much though. One reason is that a bus like this would never happen in america. People would see that and say, 'oh that's sketchy, only druggy people would drive a car like that.' but here it is so chill. Even though most of the time you can see through the floor, or the door wont be able to close (they will just tie it shut with a homemade strap), every one rides the betio bus. One time the door fell off and they just put it back on again and kept  on driving. It is not a problem here. Kiribati is so great that way. The quality doesn't matter, just the fact that the job gets done.

The language is coming really well. It feels really slow most of the time but when I look back I realize how many times that I have been able to have most of a conversation with people or given a lesson. The previous missionary was really shy in using the language so he progressed really slowly. So every one is full of praise for me when they realize that I have only been here for 3 weeks. I have a small pocket notebook where I write down my new words of the day. Usually I'll get 2-5 words a day and will then try to apply them every other day. I can't memorize them that fast, but it comes. It really is a miracle.

I love this gospel so much and the joy that it brings me and others. I love being able to shere my testimony every day. Have a wonderful week!

--

Elder Morii (Morley)