Splits, Patience, and a Visit From a Friend!

Dear Mom, Dad, Taylor and Cami,

I love you all! I hope that this has been a wonderful week. Looking through the emails I got, it looks like it was! I'm very happy for you all, and thank you for thinking to include me.

Congratulations to Taylor for surviving our family for 17 years, that's a decent accomplishment. Also congratulations on making varsity for lacrosse! That's a really decent accomplishment. Just don't hurt yourself, you obsessive crazy person. And don't let Stella hit you anymore, that's not very friendly of her. (Taylor dislocated her index finger due to a blow from her good friends lacrosse stick :) But really, way to go, you're doing great, and I'm very proud of you. Finish strong through Junior year, it's the most important. Good luck, you're doing great I'm sure!

Also, a round of applause to Cami for her participation in the school play, way to go! I'm glad you were able to have so much fun. You'll be great in all the plays. You're much braver than I am, I would have been far too scared to stand up in front of everyone and sing and act like you did. Way to go. Mom told me that you're doing really well in all of your classes! Congratulations, isn't middle school just the best? You're doing so much, and I'm proud you can handle it all. Growing up never was tough but you're doing a good job adjusting. Thanks for your example. I love both you and Taylor very much!

These past two weeks have been growing weeks for sure. We have worked very, very hard, and I'm still trying to keep my learning pace high. I don't want to plateau, so that means some hard work to keep going. I feel more than comfortable in the language now. I won't say the word fluent, but if there's a synonym that's close, I'm there. The hardest part is still hearing, and working on my accent.

We had plenty of splits opportunities these past two weeks. The first week, we split 4 out of our 6 days, so I hardly even taught with Elder Paora. Tuesday, I worked with Elder Marks, who is the other trainer on the island. He works in Banana, but he came down to Tabwakea (my area) and did a day with me. It was fun to lead every lesson, and be forced to remember and navigate to every investigator's house/shack/tree house (difficult with no addresses/roads). I really had a good day, Marks and I were able to help eachother and learn a lot I feel. The next split, I worked with Elder Davis (my MTC companion) on Thursday. Elder Paora had to conduct baptismal interviews in Banana since he is the District Leader. It felt good that Paora trusted me enough to run the area after 5 weeks, especially since Elder Davis is not able to speak or understand the language. However, it was really good for us to work together again, because it forced me to really step up, and teach almost the entire lesson every lesson. It also forced Elder Davis to really try, because there wasn't a trainer to rely on when things went South. Really enjoyable. After that, we went on splits on Saturday and Sunday with members of the Branch YSA. It was so fun to work with native speakers. We had a great time. I worked with a guy named Tionimoa (So - knee - mow - ah), who has sent his mission papers off already. He's the man. He helped me with the language, and I helped him with how to teach a little bit. It was awesome, and we actually did the same split yesterday as well. We think we'll do YSA splits every Sunday, so we can help them to get ready for their own missions. It was really fun and really rewarding. Tionimoa wanted me to tell all of you back home that he really hopes he gets called to the Philadelphia mission so he can meet you all someday. We'll see how that goes :) (Wouldn't that be awesome to have someone here from Kiribati?)

This week, we had to do a lot of administrative sorting out of problems and things, since Elder Paora is our district leader. It was hard, because we spent two whole days of proselyting time not being able to teach. I was surprised how much not teaching affected me, but it put me in a really in a bad mood. However, Elder Paora knows a teaching moment when he sees one, so he totally set me straight, and really kindof snapped me back to reality. He said that it's not our job to decide how other people act or how their actions affect us, but it is our job to react in the way that a missionary should. It hit me really hard. So I've been working a lot on that. I fasted yesterday for patience and humility (side note, don't do that, because then the internet place will be very busy and you'll have to wait an hour to get online to prove you're learning to be patient). But it's been making a difference. I really want to be better and take advantage of all of the opportunities to grow that I'm given, so I'm doing my best.

We also had the wonderful opportunity on Saturday to baptize Tikataake! He is the best little kid I've ever met. He's 10 years old, and he's kindof grown up in the Church. However, his Dad was crazy, and refused to let him be baptized because his dad was part of the KPC church. So it caused a lot of contention. However, Tikataake had such a powerful testimony he kept reading and praying and talking to the missionaries after school when he could. He and his Mom recently moved to Christmas from Tarawa, and his Mom divorced his crazy dad. So the first thing they did after the Wednesday flight in to Christmas, was come find the missionaries! We taught them Thursday, Friday, and then baptized him on Saturday. He was the definition of prepared, especially since all of his lessons had already been finished on Tarawa. We were so grateful for such a highlight to our week/month/mission so far. He's a great little boy. When he prays, Elder Paora without fail cries. It's so sincere and kind. He always prays form Paora, and me, and for our families. So if you felt a boost this week, it was from 10 year old Tikataake. I'm grateful for his example, and I'm grateful for his genuine love.

Also this week, Elder Paora's family sent him a flash drive with music! However, the music is not playable for some reason. So we borrowed some member computers and pulled random music off of them for us to have.  Speaking of, President Weir is very relaxed about our mission music policy, so if you are feeling really nice my wonderful family, could you maybe get together an iPod or MP3 device of some kind to send me? We're allowed to listen to any music that is not profane, and is not so fast/crazy that it drives the Spirit away. And all church music is acceptable.  You have a pretty good handle on what music I like, and I trust your judgment fully. Thanks so much family!

Another random fun fact, the AP's will be coming to check on Christmas Island at the end of this month! And, lo and behold, who else could the Marshalls-side AP be but Elder Josh Sherman! He sent me an email this week and told us he was coming. So fun! It'll be great to see someone I know, even for a little bit. Very exciting to hear. (The Shermans are good friends of ours from when we lived in Indiana!  Dallin is so excited to see Josh and his mom called me right after she got the news from her son's letter!  Josh is serving IN the Marshall Islands and since they speak different languages they would not cross paths unless a visit like this happened!  Yay for friends!)

Hopefully this email makes up for missing last week! I'm grateful the internet was on for this whole time. I love and miss all of you! It's always great to hear from all of you. I love you so much! Talk to you all next week.

Love Dal