Pictures of Nikunau

Elder Farley was able to send a few pictures from Nikunau to his mom and she graciously shared them with me!  Dallin is in two, but you can only see his smiling face in one. There is also a picture of their chapel and their house to give a better idea of how life is on this tiny island.

This is before the first baptism ever on Nikunau!

Dallin and a big group ready to study together.  

Elder Farley in their house.

I think this is after a Sunday meeting in their chapel.

Hi mom and dad! I'm online but I'm not sure how much time I have because we may have to split our time on one laptop. The other one is broken for some reason. How are you all?

Crazy that the end of the year is already happening! Guess what today is... June 1st.... 6 month mark! Woooooooo! The week was exhausting, speaking Kiribati 24/7 is draining. It was nice to plan and study in English with Farley. We had heaps of work this week. I did 11 baptismal interviews, so this week we should have about 10 or 11 baptisms. Way fun. New comp is fine, he's a good kid. He's very new, for sure. 

Best thing of the week; sacrament meeting in the north. I gave a talk almost the EXACT SAME as yours! (We had ward conference and Ed was telling Dallin about his talk.) I talked about foundations of faith, and read from Matthew 8 on the houses, and Helaman 5:12. Way cool that we were thinking the same thing!

I really was getting into testimonies for these people. There is a difference between knowing the lessons and actually believing and wanting to live them. Most of our people are really ready. There are 1 or 2 I'm worried about, we're going to re-interview later this week. A highlight was a kid named Bwarenaba who talked about repenting meaning really changing and growing up. He's like 11, so it was deep for him.

(I told him how a couple missionary moms in our group who live in Utah dropped off a care package at the MTC for four Kiribati missionaries with BYU shirts and American junk food.) I'm sure they will love it. Members in Kiribati TREASURE BYU gear. Its like a way to say, I'm a Mormon and it's so cool to everyone.  Dads talk came through, I'll read it. It really is crazy, we always think about the same things! I just finished the BOM again (third time since January) and I love in Moroni where he puts the letter from his dad in there - tender.

Love you all! I have to bounce, Tiaon needs some time on. I'll talk to you all next week! love you all, see you soon! (6 months, whattttt)

love dal

Sneaky Transfer Confirmed

Hi mom and dad! Whats up? Farley is leaving to Beru tomorrow... sad day.  We had our baptism finally, 9 baptized 9 confirmed. It was so awesome!

It's way sad to see  Farley go, I love the kid. He is the man. We're going to see if Sion and Maisey will build us into their room at BYU, it would be a powerhouse haha. I am training, but I'm training someone I know! His name is Elder Tiaon, and he is one of our YSA from London! I love this kid, its going to be way fun actually, and he'll be my first native companion. Way exciting. 

Yup, 9 baptisms! It was sweet. We baptized 3/4 of a family, Bill and his two kids Charlie and Wanro. His wife was sick and she has to wait until she is better to be baptized, but she will soon. We baptized one of Maisey's investigators from Tarawa who moved here, a KPC deacon lady named Temantio, two girls that live with one of our members Tanentoa, named Teebora and Teboia. We also baptized 2 girls from the south, Tearinoko and Loana. They're all super solid. We think in two more weeks we can have possibly 11 more. 

I'll look forward to the package and I'll have Sion get it to me soon. Beru is way close. Pres joked that we (Farley and Dallin) could throw paper airplanes to each other if we missed each other haha. Sometimes boats go there and back, but there is a plane that goes from here to there, so usually people fly.

Training last time was hard because I was so new and Pulufana was brand new and struggled with speaking. So both of those problems are gone now. It should be fun. I imagine i will lose my English haha. Pres was sad to split us up. We have a ridiculous track record. Essentially between our time on Betio, our "vacation" to Abaiang and here we have been together 3 months, and we've put together like 25 baptisms. That's a companionship.

Our new converts are all solid. Bill is the guy who walked in on the skype, and he is also a KPC deacon. Hes the man. He just totally accepted the gospel and he's fully on board. Temantion went to Moroni way back in the day, so she was willing to let us in. We essentially had one shot, so we taught the entire restoration all at once and it was so crisp she really felt something. So she let us come back and over time she really accepted the gospel.

We did the baptisms in the ocean, we hired the car and had all the members and baptizees get on and we went out to a picnic place and did it on the ocean it was AWESOME. Farley did 5 and I did 4. We confirmed them in sacrament. It was way cool. Oh also, when I become senior companion tomorrow I become the acting Branch President on Nikunau.

(Having a Native companion) my language will be able to become very precise right now. Its a huge opportunity. There is only one other Kiribati elder in the mission right now. Tiaon is a champion. His real name is Koubwere, and he was our go to guy for splits or anything like that (back on Christmas Island). Way cool. He went to Moroni High, but I don't think he's a convert. I think his dad was branch pres on Tabiteuea. 

It was a way fun baptism. We did have a small feast, then we played games and had fun. We did have investigators at the baptism, lots actually. We are looking for 11 more in two weeks. 

Tiaon arrives tomorrow, but we have no idea what time yet. We have a family home evening tonight and I'm sure it will be a big party for Farley leaving. I'm excited too. We've got lots of work and lots of busyness here, we can keep things going well for a while still. We'll keep our eyes open for the packages soon. We have some seriously awesome converts. We'll see when President wants to make a branch. I'm sure they'll (the new converts) be involved as counselors at least. They're great. 

I'm leaving now, talk to you soon!

love dal

The Mission Fan

Hi mom and dad! I'm online now! Happy pday. Whats up?

This week we were teaching this lesson and after we opened in prayer but before we actually started teaching, a minister from another church walks up and he's like, "What are these guys doing here?" to our investigator. Then, he sits down and listens to our lesson. We talked about faith - hard to argue about. It went well, he didn't like cause a ruckus or anything mid lesson. But at the end he WOULD NOT stop accusing us of not being Christians. He was so rude I was on the edge. But I didn't retaliate. I just said, thanks for your input, we recognize that some of our views are different from yours, but we are definitely Christians and we love you anyways. We left and then
later that afternoon we went back to that investigator to apologize for what happened. He was so mad at his minister. He said we can come back whenever we want. So in the end it was okay, but it was good I had Farley to help calm things down.

Things (with their investigators) are fine. Baptisms next week, we're looking for like 10+. It's going well. We actually broke 50 at church this week, so we're still creeping up slowly. We are so excited! Hopefully things go well (this week). Its always a big deal for our investigators to ask for name removal from their churches. Like, huge. They are essentially asking to be shunned. But we have had 2 couples do just that, and they're all in now. Essentially it just comes down to lessons and getting ready. 

Church was good. We had one speaker go this week. It was so funny, but touching. He just read straight out of the gospel principles book for like 15 minutes hahaha little by little he'll get there. It was a really good experience. We're going to work on getting people to rely on themselves instead of the elders as much. It'll be good down the road.

The north is making big strides, the south is inching along. We're working with them all really closely. Its going well. We made a goal already to visit every member/ investigator once a week, even after baptism. We want to keep tabs on everyone and keep things on the upswing. We have our most solid investigators in the North, complete families. We have two couples getting ready, plus their kids. No part-member families, just total converts. They're solid as can be, deacons from another church, so they know their stuff. I think that the North will be so much stronger because it has such a strong base of families to rely on, and we're really making progress there. The South is okay, and there are heaps of people who come and are taking lessons, but we can't get a
lot of men to church. Last week we only had one. We have 3 others we teach, but they're not quite all in yet.
Pres gave us a challenge to have 3 Melchizedek priesthood holders ready by the next time he comes,  potentially in August/September, so we're looking to have these men ready. Everyone is Christian. The island is like 70% Protestant, and 30% Catholic. Most people like (the idea of modern day) prophets, and priesthood authority, AND the Book of Mormon. There are never enough Book of Mormons, Pres brought 12 when he came (which is 1/4 of the box they received for all the missionaries - sorry to everyone else hahaha) and we have 3 left. Seriously, The Book of Mormon is a huge deal here. We do a Sunday school class up North out of the Book of Mormon Sunday School manual and I taught about Nephi's Ship last week. Farley talked about 2 Ne: 2 this week and it went well.

We teach people how to sing, its a good thing I took choir. We have 10 hymn books, so we bring them to church with us and help people get used to the songs. Its fun. Singing is hard. Some songs go better than others hahaha

ALSO, sad sad day, my fan is burning out, it is noticeably slower. I still have batteries and such, but if i could get a new fan? Maybe two, so Farley can have one. We have enough battery packs, so that would be a nice thing for him and for me. I'll keep the broken one as a souvenir of all the hardships of Kiribati life. I just think about that fan and I am filled with gratitude, seriously. Almost unto tears. It just makes a difference so much. Seriously though. when I think hard about sentimental mission things that fan is up there. Its really hard to live on an outer island.
(*I actually threw a tiny battery operated fan into a package a long time ago.  I knew he had re-chargeable batteries with his solar pack and he said the hardest thing about island life was not being able to sleep after a long day because it was just unbearably hot.  That little fan has been an emotional blessing for him and helped him to sleep almost every night.  He just charges the batteries and puts it blowing on his face so he can fall asleep.  I have been so grateful he has had it and now feel an urgency to get a new one to him pronto!)

Last week we had to buy fuel to run the generator at the store so we could use clippers to get a haircut.  Bonus is we got to run the cooler while the generator was on and chilled some drinks. It was great. What a treat.

You are all champions! Love all of you! See you soon! I have to go, talk to you soon! Have a good week!

love dal

Happy Mother's Day!

It was a wonderful day.  I LOVED seeing his face and hearing his voice.  I also loved being able to take a picture with all three kiddos.  He is happy, healthy, and exhausted from the work.  He loves being a missionary and is so grateful for the opportunity to know the wonderful people of Kiribati.  Someday I hope I can thank all the amazing people who take care of him and feed him.  The next time I see his face... it will be in person.  Just over 6 months left!

Miracles

Hi mom and dad! We had a really great week, President came yesterday! We literally had everything go perfectly and had like almost 80 people at church! WHAAAAT! Pres cried and it was so awesome. We also got to give Teiaaba the Melchizedek priesthood, he's the man. Sion didn't get to come, Pres brought AP's instead. So it was Maisey and Price. It was the best day of my mission so far. We also did baptismal interviews in the afternoon, should have 3 or 4 next Saturday. So exciting!

We hired a car, and we told the people in Nikumanu that they needed to be ready by 7:30, because we had to pick them up and get them back up to Muribenua before 8:00 or so, so we could go wait at the airport for Pres to get there. The car came and picked up me and Farley at 7:00, we got down to the south at around 7:30 on time, and there were just heaps of people ready to come. We started picking up from the house furthest south, and then as you looked up the road north you could see there were little groups of people standing next to the road just waiting for the car to drive by allll the way through the village. By the time we finished Nikumanu the car was overflowing and we had probably 50 people in the bed of this truck. It was sick. We dropped them off at the North and got right back in the car to hit the airport at like 8:40. As we pulled up to the airport, the plane had already landed, but its propellers were still spinning, that's how perfectly we timed our arrival. Pres and the APs got out, we got in the car, drove to the house, prepared the sacrament stuff, and started probably within 10 minutes of when Pres showed up. He was SO happy that things went according to schedule! So were we, literally a miracle.

(We asked him how in the world they got that many people to church!) It was so fun! We just asked the people that we had and they brought their families. It was lots of little kids, but it was good because there were lots of parents and families and it was all together going well. During the week we just said, looks there's going to be a car and we're going to have church up North, not here, so you need to all be ready by 7 and they all were! We'll see if it helps and can carry over to next week. We rocketed our outie into the territory of Maiana, which got opened about a year and a half ago, and has about 70/80 coming. Its considered the best outie for work, and is Elder Loe's homeland. We'll see if we can't take things to a whole new level.

Pres delivered a sermon and it was SO awesome. People were like weeping, Maisey bore his testimony, and he's leaving with Sion in just 4 weeks so he was super emotional. Pres also brought this guy Tongoi, who was the seminary teacher at Moroni High, and he delivered a super, super strong address on conversion and facing trials. He's really famous in the church here in Kiribati, and hes actually Pres's 2nd counselor in the mission presidency (the other one is Sharman). It was awesome. A lot of members who were less active were there, probably 15 or 20 members in various stages of activity. We had 30 real investigators, based on age and such. The rest were little kids from the different families. A really solid break down, we had probably 10/11 grown men who could hold the
priesthood. Pres wants us to have 3 more Melch. candidates by the next time he comes, so we'll work on that.

It was the cooolest thing i have ever done. We worked so hard to get the little chapel ready. Farley and Teiaaba and Tanentoa and I brought coral gravel in rice bags on our backs from the beach to the house to make a nice clean floor for the building. The coral stuff is called the atama, and its basically the floor of any camp. When its old, it turns kind of gray and dirty, but when you just get it right off the beach its white, with cool coral colors on it, like blue or orange or pink. The house looked really cool because the atama was new, and it was shiny and nice looking.The ladies weaved mats out of palm leaves to go on top, then we had the woven kie mats over that, and it seriously looked so crisp. Then it was just literally overflowing! There was like 2 feet of open space between the sacrament table and the heaps of people sitting on the ground for sacrament. I got to bless, and since we only had 1 tray for cups, we obviously were going to need to refill it at some point because it only holds 36. There's always the game of trying to not waste time filling up too many extra cups, but you don't want to not have enough and then have to refill again, so its tough. I just randomly guessed how many we would need, and i was SHOCKED when Tanentoa brought it back up after he finished with the rest of the congregation and there were exactly two cups left, one for him and one for me. Literally, miracles on miracles yesterday, everything went so perfectly.

I think this mission will lead to lots of good talks someday. I'm so happy i got to come here. I feel like Wilford Woodruff or Lorenzo Snow. We frequently talk about how crazy it is that Pres let us come out here to begin with hahaha! He is the MAN. I love President Weir.

After church was over, we had a DELICIOUS lunch! Everyone was super sensitive to Pres, since they know he cant get sick or there will be problems, so they just got him coconuts to drink (they're the cleanest drink, plus they were in the icebox so they're extra delicious), some bananas (which only grow in the special garden dept here), some kind of scone/cake thing they made with milo (Australian Nesquik, literally the best thing ever), and some fresh tuna they fried. He was so happy he wasn't forced to eat something gross or ill. Everyone else though had heaps of raw fish, and we even killed a pig on Saturday night! It was so fun. Me and Farley helped clean it up and stuff. They burn the hair off, but then you have to shave it of all the rest of the hair, so it was hilarious to see Farley shaving a pig with a razor hahaha! But the pig was SO good, Rutia and Tarawaa are pros. Way good. 

Tongoi was stoked. It was the best kind of Kiribati food, and they hardly get it on Tarawa so he was proud of us. As we were leaving, all Tongoi was saying to me and Farley was "kam nang kangaanga" which is like, you two are a big problem. It was a big compliment. He was proud of the damage we're causing here, its so fun!

It was such a special day. I wrote like a novel in my journal last night. It was so exciting. I remember that letter that Dad sent me from Grandpa, about wellsprings and fountains and things. There's a part that talks about when something really amazing happens, you need to remember and recognize where it comes from and let it fill up your well. It was such a cool experience. I was so happy.

I wish i could fully express what a day here is like. I don't think I fully can, and (not that its your fault at all) I don't think anybody really really understands unless you're here. Its crazy, every second of every day is crazy, but its so amazing.

In our interview with Pres we were talking about transfers, he said, "Elders, I am in a pickle. I have too many areas and not enough elders, and nowhere near enough leaders for these areas, and yet I have two of my best elders together as a companionship right now. I need you both to be in more places, but I feel like after today I can't move either of you. Its a pickle elders." He's too funny, but it means so much to make him proud.

It was honestly the coolest experience ever. Because Pres saw that, he said hes going to try to keep Farley and I together until Farley finishes in September, then have me finish my time here through to December. Way long transfer, but I'm down.

The guy who got the priesthood was Teiaaba, the man who we live with. He is absolutely solid. He gave the closing prayer and he was crying and when we all were done I looked over and Pres was crying too. I think President understands Kiribati sometimes. He's just in tune its crazy.

Today, we will be watching prisethood session of general conference! Maisey and Price burned it to a DVD for us, so we will be excited to see that. Farley wants to snipe a chicken with this slingshot he got in a package. We'll see if we can get dinner from that. 

We actually do have to leave now, the internet place has lunch. Love you all! Skype next week WOOOHOOO!

love dal