Pictures!!

These pictures are from Elder Farley. Many are from the first day they arrived on the island and others are from when President Weir and the APs came to visit.  You can see copra drying by their house, the one truck on the island they rent to pick up people for church, and how they prepare for sacrament meeting. The video at the end is my favorite. It's from about 10 minutes after they landed on Nikunau. They had arrived not knowing where they would live or if they would be welcome. They were sent by the sister they met at the airport to find her family. Dallin just looks so happy and ready for adventure. I love it.

Taco Tuesday

I'm doing good. We had a pretty good week, we had an investigator pass his baptismal interview and one of our marriage candidates just got back from Tarawa, so we're looking to get a marriage done before I leave here. (Dallin will actually get to marry them!) I hope it all works out. Today is a strange day for me, because I have as many days left on Nikunau as I will have left on Tarawa. So it's kind of split in half, which will let me see just how fast it is. Seems crazy!

I'm sure I will be training a new kid on Tarawa. I just wrote an email to Ian and I re-read it and my English is garbage hahaha My poor kid I'm training, he's in for a treat with me! I'll be sure to make the most of it. Even when I get to Tarawa I have a huge bunch of work for here, I need to get all the records set and certificates and everything all organized.

I was just thinking about the Hopkins. We should visit them again one time while I'm around before school, a home teaching reunion. They are awesome. They are so supportive and nice, and Bro Hopkins one email about my patriarchal blessing was instrumental in surviving my last month on Christmas.

UNRELATED BUT IMPORTANT:
The first Tuesday I am home, I would love for it to be Taco Tuesday, and the first Saturday I would like to participate in chores and cleaning things. I mean like cleaning the house, vacuuming and windexing things.
I'm freaking out about having things clean and tidy and I am so excited. That is all.
(Ed told him about a friend of ours who is currently helping in the translation of the Doctrine and Covenants into Yapese. He was saying that if Dallin is interested he could see about getting him in the group to help with the Kiribati translation.)
Are you serious???? I would LOVE that! I just finished the Book of Mormon in Kiribati and the translation is not cohesive at all. I feel like I have a unique grammar understanding for this language, I would love love love to work on translation, especially because Kiribati also has no doctrine and covenants! I would seriously love to work on that, it would be so fun! Here is an example:
In Alma 43, where Moroni gathers the armies for the first time and they encircle the Lamanites, he gives them an oath and says if they keep it they will be free. But the Lamanite leader refuses, and Moroni returns his weapons to him and says, "I cannot recall my words, therefore we will end the conflict." Sadly, the Kiribati translation takes "recall" and renders it "remember" so it's like Moroni has amnesia or something and he forgets what he just said, and as a result decides to kill people. Not the intended message at alllllllllll from one word that is horrifically mistranslated.

I am so ingrained in Kiribati right now, it's hard to speak English. Tiaon has been a huge blessing, I am way crisp right now. The only downside is that if I do real voice translation, people will make fun of me on Tarawa when they hear it because I have inherited such a thick Nikunau accent haha! It's like an Irish or a Scottish accent on top of my normal Kiribati. It's all about the inflections, impossible to explain hahaha.

I'm leaving on October 31st according to Davis. I told all the members and they're hurrying to get a special kie mat done on time so I can take it home when I leave. I love them. They already made dad a special scripture case, because i told them you were the bishop, and ALL the ministers/ bishops here have these special scripture cases. so you'll love it when you see it!

I plan on sending them (the family he has lived with) a box of things when I get home. Specifically crocs. They were amazed at how well my crocs hold up, because they burn through pair after pair of flip flops. They would love crocs and it would be really useful to them.

We've gotta go! Catch you guys next week!
love, 
dal

New Apostles!

Hi mom! Three new apostles! I actually shook Elder Stevenson's hand! He came to see us in the MTC, because his son was there while we. Lo and behold, Elder Davis is best friends with Elder Stevenson the younger, so we got to go shake the presiding bishop's hand while he said hi to his son and friends. Cool stuff huh? He is a super soft-spoken guy. His son is serving in Japan, if I remember correctly. Davis is probably freaking out haha I also love Rasband! I could never in a million years have called Renlund though. That is out of the blue, but he seems cool too.

(We told him we had gone to see his old companion Winston Farley who just returned home.) Farley is a legend himself.  I hope you guys are proud to hear about Nikunau. Only Farley really understands this I think. I miss Farley too, seriously. We worked so well together it was a blast. It was so sad when he left. Especially since he went to Beru, that was tough.

(He's been feeling very alone and isolated lately. He has spent a huge portion of his mission on outers and often its just he and his companion keeping the church going. He has only had a matter of weeks on Tarawa. On Nikunau he has been feeling the weight of getting the church established amid a lot of persecution, serving as the branch president, and not having anyone to really relate to or get advice from. He loves his companion, but he is Kiribati, so he doesn't speak English or really understand American culture either. He has been trying to finish strong even though he is just thoroughly worn out emotionally and physically.) I just have been trying really hard to think about charity and putting it all on the line. No external circumstances are different, but I studied like crazy, (I finished 3 Nephi to the end in Kiribati, restarted and I'll read king Benjamin tomorrow) and I'm praying really hard to be able to choose to be happy. I think its helping a lot. Pres told me I will be coming in this October transfer. I have 2-3 weeks left here, the rest I'll finish in Tarawa before I bounce.

We're teaching a great guy named Tebaoa. He's like 57, and he is a golden convert. The only problem is he hasn't married his wife. He comes to church and quit smoking and everything. We love him. We're just waiting for his wife to come back from Tarawa (she had an emergency where she had to fly to go visit their son who was sick in the hospital). When she comes back they'll get married and he'll get baptized.

Love you all! Catch you next week!

love, dal