Sunday, August 23, 2015

08/23/2015


I just had the thought that maybe some of my letters haven't made it
with the poor internet.
Whenever the internet dies I start a letter in Word and save it, then
finish it on line here are the 2 partial letters I have from this
month:
August  17
¬¬¬¬¬Hello Everybody,
This has been another wonderful week. The work is progressing and all
is well my companion and I get along well. I’m happy and healthy as
usual. The week last week started off with the adventure of Elder
Vaai’s bike. Monday night the pedal completely snapped off. It’s an
easy fix, if you have the right tools, which unfortunately we didn’t.
Tokarerei is a super strong member that lives close to the airport so
whenever an Elder’s bike breaks he holds it for spare parts. So the
pedal broke, the next day we went to visit Tokarerei. When none of our
tools was the right size to take the pedal off to put on a new one he
said, ‘Well here’s an old bike frame, let’s just switch everything!’
So we proceeded to take everything off of his current bike to put on
to the old one. Unfortunately everything was so rusty that it made the
simple project a little more interesting. Long story short, after lots
of random tools used and parts taken off of an even older bike we got
Elder Vaai a working bicycle again. He was left with an old red bike
with a green mud guard and a chain that broke 8 miles later. I had a
blast, I miss working with tools and making things work. When the
chain broke it miraculously snapped in front of an old man’s house
with lots of tools. He had the whole thing fixed in less than 10
minutes. Potential investigator!

August 11 - With this one I sent a picture, but it took ages to load
and when it did, internet for the whole office died for the rest of
the day. Sorry no pics from here
This was another Wonderful (and wet) Week!
The internet was down yesterday, so I don't have much time today, but
I do want to share that we had a baptism last Saturday. If the Picture
works you will see Etuati's (Edward's) family. In the back there is
Edward next to me, then Wiinaba, his wife, and Miire, his Aunt. In the
front (from right to left) his children Bibi, Taokai, Max, and
Tamariti, and his neice Muamua. He is a Melchezidek Priesthood holder,
but has been inactive for the past 5-10 years. It was a long process,
but his whole family is now active and baptized. We have spent a lot
of time at their house trying to help them to come back to the Truth
and now all of his kids feel like brothers and sisters to me. When he
asked me to baptize his children I happily accepted and as I stood in
the ocean with Max I felt like it was with a little brother. He was
funny. He has never seen a baptism before, so when I put my arm to the
square to say the Prayer, he thought I was going for a high five. We
did it twice before I was able to convince him that that is how the
prayer works. His family is completed and they and I feel so much joy
because of it. I have been so blessed to be able to watch the Holy
Ghost work this great change in their lives. I know that change is
possible, for with God and with Faith ALL things can come to pass. I
love you all and wish you the best in all of your endeavors. I keep
you all in my prayers often.
Love,
Elder Morley


K I've got to go now. I love you all so much. Today we're going to go
to service Killing a dog that bites passerbys (Elder Vaai is actually
pretty talented at it). Then service at a recently reactivated
member's house. Then Dance practice, then FHE at the same person's
house. Mwaaia and Teraita. More about them later.
Love you guys both so much!
Elder Morley


(David just told his that on his authority card it says that he is coming home on Aug. 9.  When we asked him what an authority card was, he sent this email.
It is the card that says that I have the authority to be a
representative of the church. I forget the official name.
Woah, I did visit you guys while sleeping this week. I dream every
night, but I never ever remember my dreams. This week, my Friday night
I dreamed that I was in my house in America. I immediately did the
math and found that I still had 12 months left and started sobbing, I
didn't want to be home. You guys tried to feed me my favorite Kiribati
food: fish and bread fruit, but I was so distraught I didn't want to
eat. I love America, but it was another reminder that I love it here
too much to leave just yet, We'll look forward to next year!)

 

Elder Morley performs a wedding and has a healing 8/23/2015

This has been another great week full of miracles. The first cool note
of notice is that I Elder Morley, performed my first marriage. A few
weeks ago we were asking the Clerk in the government office here if
she was available to do Edward's (the guy whose kids were baptized a
few weeks ago) marriage. She said she was, but why don't I do it
myself. I asked what she meant and she said, ' didn't you know, a
notice just came in that you have the authority to do marriages on
this island.'


So Last Wednesday Edward and his wife were finally
married by yours truly. It was fun. I felt so official reading the
marriage prayer put out by the church in Handbook #1. Marriage is such
a beautiful thing, it was cool to see how they tried to make it
similar to the temple sealing which is the most beautiful thing on
earth. It was simple and nice. I was so pleased to be able to first
baptize his children, then marry him and his wife. I am greatful that
I have been able to work so closely with this family that I love.

 The biggest miracle of this week happened last Friday. Mom sent me
some oatmeal, so I planned to make it for breakfast. But I spent the
morning writing in my journal catching up, so ran out of time to make
a fire to boil the water. I saw our neighbor cooking and asked her to
help me out. Pretty quick she had a nice pot of happily boiling water
for my sugary American breakfast. I brought over a big bowl to carry
the water back, but as I was walking back to my 'house' I got stupid.
My thoughts were occupied with the nice treat I was about to have. I
walked fast and the water spilled a little on my left hand. Now, I
know the proper thing to do is to freeze and the water will calm and
no harm will come. But as  I said I was distracted. I jerked my hand
so it splashed on my right hand, so I dropped the bowl and boiling
water splashed all over my face. Ooops... Man it hurt. I felt like 2
face, one half fine, the other half quickly turned bright red with
burns. I quickly dunked my head in cold water and left it there for 20
minutes. When ever it wasn't in the water it hurt so bad and I could
just imagine the long term effects of having a burn over my right eye,
cheek, and nose. Long story short, I asked Elder Vaai for a blessing
and in his infinite wisdom and love Heavenly Father saw fit to answer
my prayer sooner than later. By noon my face was completely healed. No
pain, hardly a remnant. I testify that Heavenly Father loves and cares
for each of us and will bless us in our times of trouble and peace. I
love this work.
Love ,
Elder Morley

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Aug. 10, 2015



Internet died yesterday... We'll try another Tuesday morning this
week.

 All's well here. Love!
You've been asking for what I could use for a package. I know you
won't like it, but I'm just a little too practical. As for what would
be nice (as usual all wants not needs):
Screwdriver (Phillips and flat)
Lectures on Faith by Joseph Smith
Beef Jerky for Elder Vaai
Gospel Art Book (mine is deteriorated after the rain and the mission is out)
Calendar book Planner like Elder Smith's
Pictures of Temples and Jesus  to give away so that members can have pictures in their homes
Tooth brush and tooth paste
One of the captain Moroni figurines in my room (I believe they belong
to nate, but he hasn't taken them yet I think)
Battery Powered alarm clock, my watch is quiet. My body is pretty well
trained, but wake up still varies   so a little more
precision would be nice

Did you know that you raised a missionary. The entire way of life is
entirely lived in our home. Bed time, work ethic, scripture study,
music, and more are completely natural and fun to me.  
Elder Vaai is also a  hard worker. He came from Betio where
he was getting 40-50 lessons a week and want to achieve it here. He is
a good leader and we will do great work together.


(It seems that the internet wasn't doing well this week either, because this is all we received.  But enough to know that he is well.)

Aug. 3, 2015

Sorry I didn't get on for internet yesterday. Apparently it was Youth
Day which is a national holiday and they didn't tell anyone. Even the
parents didn't know that there was no school. I don't have much time
now, but I wanted to tell you both that I love you. Thank you for
giving me your weekly updates. The School Reunion sounds awesome. 
Mom you are the best cook ever, I envy those present. Whenever people ask
what my favorite food is or my favorite restaurant I tell them that I
just miss mommy's cookin! Dad, I think I'm maturing enough to be able
to enjoy the tractor pull with you next year (actually probably the
year after). Too bad the power went out in the whole county, but it
sounds like it was worth it.

This has been a great week. I was slightly disapointed to find out
that I will again be the Junior Companion, I really look forward to
the day that I get to lead.  read the scripture (D&C 31) written to
 David Whitmer telling him to
fear God more than Man. So I looked for more scriptures to David
Whitmer, I believe in D&C 14 it says that David is called to assist,
and that if he does well in that calling he will receive Eternal Life.
It seems that I have been called to assist. to lead from the sidelines
and to be a counselor. To help the leaders. It's not the place that I
necesarily hoped for but it is the place that the Lord wants me to be
in so I am happy to be here!
I love you both and pray for you often. Keep up the good work!

It's been a great week. Elder Vaai is great and we are all healthy. I
started dance lessons yesterday with one of the best dancers/teacers
in the country! Lots of rain, thanks for the rain coats, they help
every day. Lots of love from here.
Love
Elder Morley 

Hey Folks,
This has been a great week getting to know Elder Vaai and showing him
around the island. He's Samoan by heritage, but grew up in Australia,
but his family used Samoan culture, so he' s got a fun mix in him. He
played rugby and apparently was super good, he's also a great story
teller. He started his mission in an island (Tabiteuea North) where
they still are super strong in using the old culture (not many islands
still have that). So he has kept it and uses the old kiribati culture
with people that have lost a lot of their culture, it's interesting to
see and learn from. It's like going in someones house and using
manners that you would only use in front of a king.

Yesterday was one of he best fast sundays I've had in this country.
The rain was falling so for anyone to get to church they had to get in
the back of a truck with no roof on a super rough road (the truck
doesn't have shocks either). also half of the people rode in a car
that died 4 times. So we were just chilling in the rain waiting for
the driver to fix it (I think the carberator was broken, or something
like that). But because it was so hard, only the most faithful saints
came, and lots of them bore pure testimony. The Spirit was so strong
and I loved seeing the growth in my small group of saints.
I know this church is the only true and living church on the earth. I
love the work here and sharing my testimony to all of the people on
this island. I love you all!
Love,
Elder Morley

July 26, 2015 A little more time than usual for email.

Part 1 written to us.

This past week Elder Smith celebrated his 1 year mark. So as a gift I
made him a small table that he can use to write on. Basically a desk
for sitting crosslegged (our house doesn't have chairs). It made me
miss our garage/tools. I used wood and nails that I found around. I
cut the wood with a dull and rusty hand saw and pounded all the nails.
If I had our chop saw and screw gun it would've been done in a half
hour, but as it was I used 3 days of exercise time to make it happen.
But it'll be nice. He got all teary when I gave it to him.  We just found out he's
getting transferred in a week or 2. Life is always full of adventure
and surprise!


Elder Vaai will be my new comp. I don't know anything about him or if I'll be
senior companion or not. I got a cool compliment
the other day that dad'll like. I was tying up my mosquito net for the
night and found that one of the strings to tie it had fallen off. So I
found a new one and started tying it on. I used what I'm pretty sure
is a clove hitch, the one with the 2 loops that is easy to tie but
stays well. I Kiribati guy was watching and as soon as I finished he
said (roughly translated) 'Wow you are truly Kiribati now. That is the
same know that we use to tie the coconut tree for karewe!' I told him
that my dad taught me and he was impressed.

Sorry the internet died last week and refused to resurrect. Have you
sent that package yet? I bought bleach for the shower and well, I've
used it on and off throughout my mission, ,whenever my body starts
getting a strange rash or something I use it. The stores here are
pretty good, I can get almost anything I want. I take vitamins a few
times a week. The thieves took some food, but most of my food they
didn't know what it was so they left (like the oatmeal!) However the
only thing that I haven't gotten back yet is my sd card with the my
mission up till I arrived here in nonouti on it. Elder Smith has mixed
feelings about leaving.

(Did the thieves get punished?)
Naw, they just knew that it was a memory card and that it has value.
The thieves were underage so nothing really happened other than them
getting beaten in their own homes. Also 2 of them ran off for Tarawa,
so I don't know what will happen there. In Abaiang we had a mini dvd
player that we used for thumb drives, so it had speakers, but here we
don't have anything yet, we just borrow. So flashes (thumb drives) are the most
effective tool, I just can't use it yet.

Thanks for your prayers. I had an interesting experience with
president when he was here. To close our interview he said the prayer
in which he prayed for me and the missionary work here. I just got
such a warm feeling inside thinking of someone praying for me. The
instant that thought appeared, another arrived in my brain. It
reminded me that I am prayed for by so many people every single day. I
have access to that light and love every single hour of every day.
Ever since then I have been even more greatful for all the prayers
said for me. Thank you so much.

Part 2 written for a mass email:
Hello!
So, crazy news. After working with Elder Smith for 3 months he is
getting Transferred. He will be Zone Leader on Tarawa, and will be
replaced by Elder Vaai. I don't know Elder Vaai at all but mom tells
me he is Samoan but from Australia and older than me in the mission.
Beyond that I don't know much, but I trust in the Lord for and know
that this transfer is happening at the right time to do the most good.
I am excited for the new adventures this brings.

The coolest miracle of this week we found out about yesterday. Last
Monday when we went up north to sleep up in Tebuange with our family
there, they told us that an older man just moved in that they heard was
LDS. But we were short on time both when we left town and when we came
back last Saturday. So sunday morning the family asks us if we have
invited him to church and they tell us how much he wants to come.
Sunday mornings are hard because we have to wake up, prepare talks,
prepare for the day, eat a breakfast provided for us, and catch the
car for church at 8. So we didn't have time to tell him then either,
and we figured it was late enough notice he wouldn't want to come. So
we biked past his house, but the next thing we know he is jumping on
the car 10 minutes later. Apparently he found out about church and
made sure to come him self. Turns out he has been a member since the
70s but has lived Arorae, an island where it is illegal to have
anyother religion than the Protestant, for the past really long time.
He is like an answer to prayer. He is a faithful member who has the
Melchezidek Priesthood, and he is old and experienced. He may be a
part of the Lord's plan for a Branch on this island. I still don't
know him yet, but I know that he has the potential to be a huge
influence for good among these members. I love watching the Lord do
his work, and trying my best to keep up.

I also got a hair cut this week. The only person available to do it
was a 12 year old boy. He is really talented and trustworthy, so I
asked him to cut my hair. The plan was for him to cut it all one
length and then let someone finish it and make it look pretty. He did
that, but then he asked if he could trim the back for me and make it a
little closer. I said sure, because that is what I wanted anyways.
Before I knew it however my missionary haircut was trimmed down to a
short flat top cut. The sides are super short and the top is quite
short and there is a sharp line in between. I was tricked! Luckily
style has almost no importance here, so I'm not really embarrassed I
just don't like my new look very much. That's the last time I trust a
Deacon!
Tia bo for now,
Love
Elder Morley

Written July 19, received July 26 Independance Day

Sorry, the internet died last week, here is my mass email that I wrote then.

Hello!
On July 12th, 36 years ago Kiribati received its independence from
England and became a democratic country. So now every year they have a
huge celebration and a government holiday for the whole week. Luckily
for us, the 12th was Sunday, so they shifted the majority of the
celebration to Monday, so everyone could go to church (not joking,
Church is important here). So I got to take part in all of the
festivities on P-Day. Since we are religious leaders Elder Smith and I
were invited to watch the festivities under a nice tent and then go to
a party thrown by the government. The day started off with the 'March'
basically a parade. All of the schools on the island made homemade
uniforms and stood in a big field and marched in front of the special
guests and the chief policeman. It was a competition as well to see
which primary school marched in step the best and performed the best.
They all marched then stopped in front of our tent and danced or sang
as a group then marched back to their place in the line. It was really
fun to watch. Unfortunately no one threw candy. But we found out that
there are special hats made out of coconut fronds that we gathered as
many as we could. Mine is turning into a classy brown bowler hat.

After there was the championships to see which town on the island had
the best team in Volley Ball, Soccer, and ‘wrestling’ (te bo mwaane).
I don’t usually get excited about sports, but since it was the first
I’ve seen in a while I was having a great time. I especially enjoyed
the wrestling because the man that took 2nd (he was so close to
winning, but there was a bad call by the reff) was baptized the
Saturday before. I would’ve watched the soccer, but it was at the same
time as the party that we were invited to, and we felt that since we
are the only representatives this church has, we should make a good
showing. In this type of party they serve food (kinda like a pot luck,
so there was lots) and then there is a maroro where people are invited
to stand and offer a few thoughts. Going off of people’s advice Elder
Smith gave our speech. He used lots of fancy old language, then we
sang ‘I’ll go where you want me to go’ on the spot, and he closed by
thanking every one and praising the country. Right after he spoke a
really old man stood up who we found out afterwards was the first
president of Kiribati. Yep, going to fancy parties and speaking with
the president. Unfortunately we didn’t find out that he was the
president until after he had already left the island. The rest of the
week we tried to get as many lessons as we could, but the majority of
the population left their homes to stay in the central town with all
of the main activities. So we couldn’t get many of our times with
people.

The Saturday before we threw a picnic for all members of the church
and their friends. At this picnic we had food, volleyball, games,
Elder Smith and I did some traditional dancing, but the very best part
was the baptism. 4 people were baptized that we have been working with
for a long time. Takeiti is a  lady who I call grandma
(I’ve got lots), then Koonono and his Wife Marina, and Monika a
high school student. I’m not supposed to pick favorites, but I was
super happy to see Koonono baptized, his mom is the one that has a
child in Utah that we helped her get contact with. He was too shy to
come to church for ages, but after a lot of personal help and many
changes in his marriage and family life that come from obeying church
principals he was baptized and is now ready to receive the priesthood.
The changes in his life were almost unbelievable, but with the Lords
work anything is possible. He is now much quicker to smile and I take
that as one small sign of the help of the Holy Ghost in his life. I
love this work and I love being able to be a tool for change in the
lives of so many people. Have a great week!
Love
Elder Morley

Written June 16, received July 7, 2015 A week of trials.

Editor's note.  I am 'bleeping' out the names of the individuals who had conflicts in this letter.  That way you can still see the situation and how they work through it, but will not be offensive to those who were in it.


Dear Mom and Dad,
Today is Tuesday June 16.  I have no idea how reliable the mail is on this island and I can’t give it to people because this island is farther away and people don’t travel as much because it is more expensive.  Anyhow,  I’ll get it to you in the Lord’s timing.  I just want to say that yesterday’s email time  was sad.  Not because you guys were busy and at Sarah’s.  But because of Elder Openshaw’s sad news plus it was a hard week and I didn’t feel like email was the right place to talk about it.  That email was really hard to find something positive.  It was still a good week, it was just harder.

The problem with this island is that because it is so much longer and organized differently than Abaiang, if we miss 1 time with an investigator it becomes much harder to meet them again.  We are slightly over scheduled with no time to go back and make up a time in the same day.  If we don’t reschedule then they forget, so we really need to make every appointment.  So it helps if there are no distractions.  Elder Smith is the Branch president or Nonouti.  (I am basically his wife, no calling, but the main advisor.)  So we have a responsibility to strengthen the saints and they are all basically  new and converts.  Also no one has callings and we feel that it is time that the branch got some structure.  So we take time out of our over scheduled day to give interviews, lessons, strengthen and support and callings to our many ward members.  That’s an everyday struggle.

Another one that just came up or just got more involved is with land.  I was going to write this story as a miracle in my mass letter until it took an awful twist.  We are looking for a piece of land to build a church. Now we rent a really run down spot with holes in the roof.  Every one tells us all the time that we need to build a spot because then the church would be more recognized and more people would join.  So we’ve been looking around and asking for a place.  There are no realtors, just people that find and ask.  One family in the branch found us and said that they had a spot for the church.  So we looked at it and saw that it was decent.  The only problem is that it is a little ways of the main road in the forest.  President Weir wants, and we agree, a place on the main road so it will be seen and be more official.  We looked all over and there was nothing.  So we asked President and he said that there is an agreement form that we need to sign with the owners and send in for approval.  So we got the form and went and got it signed, then went to sent it in.  We tried on Monday  but ran out of time, we tried again on Wednesday, but we forgot an envelope and the post office just ran out.  Then that night we went over to our last lesson/fhe with a family and found out that a lady, _____ just arrived from Tarawa.  She saw us and said,  “Elders, I have come for you.  I have come so that the church has a place here in Nonouti!  She then walked out of the house and showed us this beautiful piece of land.  It was in a perfect location, right on the road, in the middle of the main town in Nonouti.  It was big, and clean.  Just right for our needs.  As soon as I saw it, I got that big excited feeling, just like when I got my call. 

Friday we went back over to her house to get the paper resigned.  We prayed about it and felt such peace that we didn’t worry about it.  We tried to talk with the other family, but the husband was at a workshop all day long.  We did tell his wife though.  So we sign it and told ____ that we were going to go send it to Tarawa right then.  She all of a sudden started acting weird and said that maybe we should wait until Monday so she could talk to her brother and her sister.  They all share the land.  We were confused, but said ok.  Then we invited her to the baptism and left. 

Not many people attended the baptism.  Just _____,, Mouaa (being baptized), his sister _____, and 1-2 other people.  This made an unforeseen awkward situation.  _____ and _____ are joint owners of the first piece of land and _____ is the owner of the 2nd and a real talker.  She kept going on about how she was such a good member finding a place or the church here.  We were uncomfortable, but aren’t very good at moving the conversation.  We weren’t even in the conversation.  Also she kept mentioning a different piece of land.

Baptism happened, it was wonderful.  Then Sunday, we had church.  Elder Smith gave a great talk about forgiveness and loving those that hate you and I talked about obedience and tithing.  Right after the closing song ___ stood up and said that she would like to start a group discussion.  This isn’t procedure for church, but very culturally acceptable.  She ranted for 5 min. about how we were such bad people and that she and everyone was wronged about the land.  She said,  “It is true, Elder Smith and Elder Morley are liars!”  I felt like I had been shot by my best friend.  She is one of the nicest members and we go to her house multiple times a week to teach her brother. 

Then after it was said, the whole room was in shock by her breaking culture by speaking so strongly against her religious leaders that are also white so considered to be honored guests.  The only way to be more honored in this culture is to be  white religious leader, old man, or to be the president.  Then when we recovered, it turned into a riot.  Every member stood up and gave their opinion.  _____ was crying, rumors were flying.  It was a mess.  We stood up and clarified things and settle the problem, reminding them of the talk just given and telling them that this is not the way things are done in the church.  Then set up times, (threw the lessons out the window) with anyone who wanted to be talked to more or who was still angry.  We went over to ______ house and got everything settled so she wasn’t mad, nor is her family.  Then we talked to ____, the next day, and she was offended but also told us that there was an even better piece of land for us.  She was a ‘used car salesman’ and was never completely open or honest.  From her and other sources found out that her brother was planning to use the land that she promised to us, to live on with his family when he retires.  The ‘better’ land was bigger, but also full of trees and part of it is taken up by a protestant chapel.  So now our poor group of struggling saints is full of contention and we have no land that is good for a chapel.  

So that was one adventure, one distraction of last week.  Another also started on Wednesday.  We slept in Tebuange with our family, Monday night, then in another house Tuesday night, then worked all day Wednesday and about 6pm we stopped to get something from our house. To our dismay, when we arrived the house was ransacked.  It is a stick house with a lock.  So even though it was locked, the thieves broke the sticks and got inside.  They took 85% of our stuff:  food, presents, exercise stuff, our fishing supplies, the blowgun, the ipod and speaker, camera, memory cards, clothes, my garments, basically if you have sent it, they took it all with the exception of books, medicine and pictures.  Some of what they left they broke.

We had just cleaned on Monday and now it was all in shambles  They left a note written on the back of a broken oatmeal package.  (they left the oatmeal, didn’t know what it was.)  It said,  “SOA Gang!  We had one clue.  So the following days we set out to find out stuff.  The policeman was busy in the same workshop as_____ husband, so they were no help.  Sidenote:  People here are funny.  I seriously felt like Andy Griffeth trying to calm down Barney and all of Mayberry while calmly solving the case. As much as we could we worked with kids to get our belongings back.  This culminated on Friday.   Lesson fell through, so we followed a lead to a person’s house with some of our stuff.  There we got 3 suspects.  Then on our way to sign that paper with ____ we met Mouaa.  He stopped us, told us his suspects (apparently he had been playing detective too, but he was more of a Barney Fife)  The suspects matched and he said he heard that the thieves were going to run away on the ship that was going to dock in 2 minutes.  So we jumped on our bikes to tell the ship not to let those gang members on.

 As a random note, mouaa was carrying a bag of drinking coconuts and he insisted on giving us one before we left.  So here we are biking as fast as we can down the street carrying a coconut.  That’s police work in the islands!  Well, we found the ship and found out that the people aren’t allowed on until the next day.

That was the craziest hour of my mission.  Lesson falls through, talk to one suspicious lady for our stuff, meet ova, chasing down a ship, then the rain fell super hard, so we went to _____ house where she insisted on cooking us food before signing the paper.  She lives in the back of a store and the owner was busy so all of a sudden I am taking care of the store, buying her things, and helping customers buy their things and watching a baby and helping ____ cook, then getting it signed, eating, finding out she actually isn’t sure about the land that she just signed for, leaving, trying to regain the spirit and going to our next lesson.  I felt like my life was spinning out of control.

Luckilythe next morning the policemen were finally free from workshop  When we gave them a list of missing things and the names and location of our suspects and let them take care of the rest.  By noon they had basically all of our stuff back in good condition and the thieves caught (teenage boys).  Then we went to the baptism.  The problem with being stolen from is it decreases trust.  We didn’t know who did it, so we looked at everyone a little differently and were always minorly distracted by it. 

Then we had a seminary where I single handedly taught primary kids a lesson made up on the spot on forgiveness.  Also all week, Elder Smith has had a boil.  The boils he gets are so bad that it affects his whole body.  He feels sick, dizzy, etc.  But this one was worse.  It was on his back and it felt like it was piercing his heart.  It hurt all week, then climaxed on Friday night.  Saturday he could hardly function.  Along with all the other excitement we had to bike the 2+ hour ride to Tebuange so that church could happen the next morning.  We arrived didn’t teach any lessons, and he collapsed on his bed.  Then there is the general strain and stress of regular work and living in a 3rd world country.  Plus when we aren’t on ‘our top game’ we can’t help investigators or as much, so their progression went down.  Just everything adds up.  That is why last Monday I asked if there was any good news.  I was struggling to think of anything positive from the week before.  

We figured it out the other day.  Everywhere in the world, when you are on a mission you have got district meetings, zone meetings and conferences, Sunday church with classes, devotionals, firesides, stake and general conference.  All of those things, while sometimes annoying, help you to refocus and learn.  But here there is literally only us and a bunch of recent converts running every phase of the work.  We don’t even have the D&C or manuals in our own language!  However, the cool thing is that when life is roughest, Our Heavenly Father is the closest.  “When you are on the Lord’s errand, you are entitled to the Lord’s help!  In the ‘When Thou are Converted’ by Elder Ballard it talks about John Tanner moving from NY to Kirtland to follow the call of the prophet.  It describes how he was the richest church member  but he gave so freely of his money to the church, that by the time he arrived in Missouri,   that he was penniless.  They had to borrow a wagon and beg for food.  His daughter died.  He gave or lost everything for the church.  But if others questioned or criticized him, he just said, “Well, if others have come up easier, they have not learned so much.”  This truly is a time of testing and trying  We are being chosen and refined now.  I am greatful for this time of learning that I have been given

Sorry I was going to write more, but we are running to the post office today to send off the land agreement.  (cross your fingers!)  Everything isn’t set yet or smooth and easy.  But things are improving.  Lots of fasting and prayer help.  I just want to testify that I know that this work is true.  I know that I am where I am now for a reason.   Here is Kiribati, In Nonouti, with Elder Smith.  I love this gospel and how it changes lives.  I love you both and have a great day! 
Love,
Elder Morley
PS  Proverbs 20:7 is true and good.