from May 31 received June 7, 2015

Hello Everybody!
Well, right now the internet doesn’t work, and the government office
that we are in (also the only place on the island with internet) just
lost power. So I am writing this letter in a Word document… This has
been another week of hard work, rough times, and rewarding fun times.

I want to tell the story of a lady named Eema (A may, so basically Amy
or maybe Emma). She was baptized forever ago and when she was younger
and still starting a family she had one of her children adopted by a
LDS family in Saint George Utah. Unfortunately, since then she has
fallen away from the truth. She has let the influence of her Catholic
family and friends to pull her away from church attendance. Elder
Smith started working with her son before I got here. One day he asked
her if she would be willing to join in on the lesson. She refused, but
over time, little by little she started reluctantly listening in. One
day she told us about her son that she hasn’t seen since he was just
born 20 years ago. She gave us his name and the names of his new
parents that she had been remembering for years for us to try to find.

Embarrassingly, each week at our internet time we forgot. Then one
week a member was sitting at her computer using Facebook (somehow a
couple of people have and use Facebook on this tiny detached island).
We remembered Eema and asked if the member would try to find that son.
With the miracle of modern technology we found her son in a few
minutes and sent him a friend request with a message. The member was
able to connect with him after we left and chatted for a bit. Eema’s
son had prayed on Mother’s Day for the ability to contact or hear from
his mother. Miraculously (because of the Lord’s infinite goodness) our
communication to him through a member’s Facebook was on and American
Tuesday (our Wednesday), just 2 days after his prayer. His and his
mother’s prayer was answered. As soon as we could we told Eema that
her son was alive and well. Still living in St George with a good
family. She happily accepted the news, and to our delight, as time
went on we saw a change. We saw the visible difference of a change of
countenance, the light of Christ coming back into her life. She
started being the first one to lessons. She started her prayers again
and actually progressing. Today we promised her that we would help her
to see his picture and write him a letter, but you know the internet
is struggling… I wish I could say that yesterday she came to church,
she still isn’t there yet (plus there was a funeral yesterday) but I
am so grateful to have been allowed to help a mother find her son and
all of the glorious changes that have followed.

On a fun note, every P-Day Elder Smith and I try to schedule a fun
activity. We’ve gone fishing a few times. A few weeks ago we went over
to our Kiribati Grandma’s house and she made us food, told us stories,
taught us a fun dance, and even did our wash (after we left). Side
note: we actually have 3 or 4 Kiribati grandmas. Today, we were late
to doing internet because we were dancing with a guy named Ioane
(John). It is a super active, fast cultural dance. It was lots of fun
and with a little more practice I’ll be a pro. I love doing fun
activities with the people here. Our activities are always simple, but
the people her make it always lots of fun.
I love my time and work here in Nonouti!
Love,
Elder Morley
Hey Pops and Mommy-O!