Dec. 21, 2014 Merry Christmas Tikiraoi Kiritimati!

So last monday I got to see the President of Kiribati. I forgot my camera but there should be a picture on the Waldron's Blog (supposing they have one). It was cool, but sorta boring. It was just a dinner (do they call it a cocktail dinner?) with The President  and the American Ambassador speaking. He is very passionate about global warming and said that unless they do something Kiribati will be under water in 30 years. Personally I don't know what 'they' could do, and believes that God loves The people here to much to let them drown. After we got to talk to the imatongs (White people). But for a Kiribati party it was pretty lame. No dancing, no pig, not even any cake. It was a good time, but I missed being able to go to dinner with some of my kiribati families (I have 2 and they both had a botaki (party) on the same night). Ah well, it was good all the same.

Here are some funnies from the life of Elder Morley. This week was the first time I cut my self while shaving, but I never guessed that I would cut my finger! I have so little hair on my face that there is never a chance of injury there, but I guess it had to happen somewhere. I was grabbing my razor out of my bag but for whatever reason I tried to slide it out with my finger, right on the blades... Sometimes i'm not very smart. But it is healing quickly and probably won't even scab, it was just funny.

  The food is just so different and not always healthy so diarrhea is common. I've been amazingly healthy, I think the most healthy of anyone in my intake (the group that came in at the same time as me).  This one is more cool then funny.

There are certain words that don't have to be translated over from kiribati to English in my brain. Some examples are hello, how are you, then some words in lessons like life and happiness then some casual words like, oh you're really good at that. It just makes it really interesting when talking with people that speak english.For example in this letter I have had to stop and erase what I was writing because you guys wouldn't be able to understand. Or when I talk to some of the white people that live here I have to be very careful. For example one day I was talking with a guy from Australia and all the things he said translated perfectly to Kiribati. He said 'take care' and so I said 'thanks take care naba' I tried so hard to speak english but I slipped. Naba is like also. So, take care too. It works better in Kiribati. The white elder next to me burst out laughing because couldn't quite stick to one language. Now I'm sorta worried about when I get to talk to my family. When I translated for the mission president I had to translate their words and then my words. It is always an adventure here!

Probably the coolest thing I've learned on my mission is that the lord is always there for me. He always gives me just enough for me to stay happy and well. And it is always when I need it most. The lord's timing is simply miraculous. For example, last friday was super rough for me emotionally. And we'll leave it at that, but on Saturday morning the Zone Leaders came and delivered 5 letters from my mom. I read the first one and it was so perfectly what I needed that I stopped there to spread out the joy. It was so simple to, a taste of mom's day and some of her adventures with the neighbor kids so I got a great taste of home. Then there was a Talk by Elder Holland called Lessons From Liberty Jail that was spot on for what I was feeling. There are too many examples of the Lords tender mercies to count or share here. Sometime it is with a letter, sometimes with a scripture, sometimes with somebody coming and helping me, sometimes it's just somebody to talk to, etc. The lord is always right by our side. For me I always see him in the little things more than the big. Oh, being a missionary is so great!