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