Happy third p-day! It has been an amazingly busy week, extra long too because our schedule and our p-day got entirely switched around. Just when we were getting settled into a routine, everything got switched! Thank you so much for your package that you guys did with the Hammonds. It sounds like you guys had a really fun time. I'm jealous. Thanks so much for the watch and the flashlight, they're both great. The watch especially. I was getting very nervous, I really didn't want to ruin the one Kalani gave me.
Special thank you shoutouts to the Olsons, Sister Meise, Grammy, Tom and Heather (& Shelby and Cameron!), Dan and Tricia and Courtney and Carter and Jonah and Izze, and the Nielsons too! Your letters mean so much, thank you again!
This was a very crazy week, more so than usual I think. Our class time is now taught almost exclusively in Kiribati, and I am able to effectively communicate nearly anything I need to (very slowly/brokenly). We are no longer allowed to teach our investigators with notes, and that makes lessons interesting.
Funny story from the Fijian Districts: Elders Parritt and Gunderson were teaching a lesson about prayer. They were attempting to say "When I pray and when you pray, there is no difference, it's the same." But they had forgotten the word for difference. So in an attempt to get their investigator to give them the word "difference", they pointed at their pants, back and forth, because they were different colors. The investigator however did not tell them the word difference from the gesturing, but instead told them the word for pants. So they thanked him and restated their sentence, which now expressed, "When I pray, no pants. When you pray, no pants. When we pray, no pants. Let's pray." Too funny. In an attempt to rebound the lesson, they decided to say God loves his children, but actually declared that bats (like the flying mammal creatures) are the literal children of God created in his image. No notes is really hurting us badly. But it's making us laugh I suppose!
I'm starting to like being able to speak in the language. Pretty fun. Send me something to translate, I'll give it my best shot.
So our zone has two Fijian districts that had been here for three weeks when my group got here, and they all get to leave on Saturday. But since they had all been here, they were all of our Zone's leadership. So since they're leaving, we had to reorganize everything. My district, Kiribati, has 4 elders or two companionships. And Elder McCormick was our district leader. However, him and his companion Elder Mattison were asked to become our Zone Leaders! Which left a vacancy in Kiribati District Leader which I was asked to fill. It's not that big of a deal, but I do have to attend a lot more meetings on Sunday. My only real responsibility is checking the mail, which I'm fine with because I get to go get my own letters now. Still, it's a step and I'm excited to be the district leader and see what it's all about!
Even more random news: So the Fijian Districts are leaving, right? Well one of the Elders going to Fiji recently broke his leg at gym. He's a huge guy named Elder Singh, probably 6'3" and maybe 350-400 pounds. BIG guy. Anyways he got tripped in four square and he fell on his leg and it broke. So he's in a wheelchair right now, and he unfortunately has to stay at the MTC another 6 weeks. BUT his companions are leaving to go to Fiji without him. So President Rogers reassigned Elder Davis and I to be companions with Elder Singh! He's a giant teddy bear, and his voice is super high. I'll be sure to send a picture of the new compadre when I get the chance. Being with a wheelchair companion gives us some extra leeway and things. We have to take him to the clinic every day, and we have to go to all the meals early to get him food and things. So that'll be nice to not have to be in the class as long every day. However it will probably take all of Elder Davis' and my leg muscles to push Singh around, a lot of the walkways are slightly ramped, so that'll be interesting.
I have to go fold laundry, but I'll be back on in an hour or so! I miss you all, hopefully this is enough to keep you busy while I'm on break!
Love Dallin
Send questions I can answer when I get back, that makes my emails more structured :)
He had a little more time after returning from his laundry and answered a few more of our questions:
I'm back! My laundry is all folded. I hate doing laundry. (I reminded him to enjoy having washing machines and dryers... he will be washing by hand and hanging laundry once he gets to Kiribati :)
On to your questions:
(We asked him how they would say his name since many of the letters don't exist in their language.) Name Pronunciation: They'll try and say it American, but it'll be realllllly accented. They don't have s's or g's, so my name in Kiribati would probably end up being written as Tiikuaine. It's obviously not printed like that on my tag, but I think that's how they'll pronounce/think about it. Who knows though!
(We asked him to translate our Family Values so I can get a plaque made in his new language to go next to the English one.) Family Values: Work Hard, Do Your Best, Respect Others. To the best of my knowledge the best way to translate that is the following: Mwakurimwaaka, Karaoia am Kona, Karinerineia. Literally translated what that means is Work Strong, Do all you(r) can, and Respect them. That's as close as it'll get though, I think.
I am a Child of God: I bon natina te Atua. Literal - I am/is his child God.
I did get the Cinnamon Rolls! They were super delicious. We had a birthday party for Elder Mattison last night and we ate them then, it was great.
I have not yet gotten a package with pictures from Zoey and Kaia which included trail mix. I'll certainly be looking forward to that though!
(We were feeling bad for poor Elder Singh being stuck in the MTC for 12 weeks!) Definitely sad for poor Singh. He's very very good-natured about it though. He's taking it all in stride. We were talking about how he'll be like the zone grandpa when the new Tongan Districts get here on Wednesday. I'll find him later tonight to take a picture. Thanks for thinking of him.
(We asked if there were any missionaries in his zone who never got mail or packages from home... we can't have that now can we!) In the zone, we're super lucky that everyone has family support. Most of our zone comes from Polynesian families and they get boxes and letters from everyone, even though it's expensive. It's really happy. Thanks for thinking of them. We all share too, so goodies for me mostly get eaten by others, and so no one really feels left out. It's an interesting setup.
I love you all!
CRAZY language!!!
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