They have had a lot of mechanical problems this week. The solar power in their house quit charging as well as the water pump. When they report problems, the office expects them to try to work on it themselves and be very sure about what parts they need to send. It is really hard to get repairmen/parts out to the islands, so the missionaries learn to figure it out on their own. Thank goodness we sent him the mini-panel - it has been keeping things charged. Here's what he said:
"Solar is great! It charges awesomely. I love that little battery pack and fan, the best thing ever. The panel is great. Speaking of solar, I became an electrical engineer last week, I took apart our entire house solar/electrical system and put it all back together. It wasn't charging, but now it's all fixed. So that's fun. I did it all with just that leatherman you set me haha!"
We then expressed concern that he might electrocute himself... "I won't, I took physics e/m I know what I'm doing with circuits. I might bless or pump though, well water sucks."... so I guess an email to his old physics teacher is in order! Teachers like to hear how their students use the material in real life, right?!
We asked about his investigators and baptisms:
"Tabon te bike has a new Branch President, and he is so awesome! He did less active visits with us all day Saturday. We had 3 baptisms these last two weeks. One in each area. It's awesome. I'm making Pulu teach lessons on his own. He hated it at first, like a lot, haha but he finally is teaching and it's working."
"One of our baptized is Riimwa. He's been coming to church for like several years, we just helped him to overcome a smoking problem. He got baptized, and the same Sunday he was confirmed, he got called to be the new 2nd counselor in the branch presidency under our new Branch Pres in Tabon te Bike. He's the man, and he's definitely ready to help with the work. I'm glad he was willing to change, he just needed a small push and then he was ready to do the rest on his own. Great guy."
We asked him how much he biked in the last 2 weeks:
"212 miles. My legs are always sore, just mostly from tiredness. They're toned though."
We asked him how the language was coming and he said he had kind of plateaued because there is just not a lot of material to study. The Kiribati language was only written in the late 1800's by a protestant missionary using the Latin alphabet and it wasn't until 1970 that a language board was established to standardize the language.
"I'm thinking of starting the bible in Kiribati. It's hard, it's written in like old language, but I think it might be a good way to get new vocabulary, even if it's not as commonly used. I think I'll try and do a chapter a day or something."
We asked him about music in his congregations. There are obviously no pianos and we were wondering if there were favorite hymns. I had read that singing was a big part of their culture:
"One person sings the first couple notes and says 1, 2 , sing and then everyone just goes. We have hymn books, but most people only sing like 3 songs. Redeemer of Israel, We Thank Thee o God for a Prophet, Count Your Many Blessings, God be with you til we meet again, and How great the wisdom and the love for sacrament. Some wards are really bad at singing. Betio was terrible. Here they're pretty good. They do love to sing. They sing all the time, but never well, they just like to make noise I think hahaha it's so funny. We'll look up Kiribati music when I get home, you'll laugh."
We asked him about p-day and shopping on this island:
"P days are not much fun. We wake up, Pulu does wash for about 2 hours, we come email (which is fun - unless Internet is down), then we go home and I wash for 2+ hours, then we usually have one lesson and a family home evening. Not enough time to do anything fun. We do have stores, we can get a lot of things from Tarawa too. It's just not very nice things haha like, canned food mostly. It's alright though, we manage. Money comes into the council monthly, we just show up sign and it's done."
We asked about his health:
"DO NOT freak out, everything has settled now, and I am 100% fine. Last week though, I had two severe infections. One on my eye, from that wasp sting I told you about. From the last time we emailed til that Saturday it just got bigger and bigger, and my eye swelled shut. So embarrassing to teach lessons. But finally it just was enough of hurting and being huge so I cut I open with a sanitized pocket knife and drained it all. Right now, you can't even tell it happened. Other one was on my left shin, it hurt for walking and sitting and it was the biggest in history. I did the same thing, cut it open and stuff. It's equally healed now, no worries. Just a scab. Other than that, my gums are done bleeding, I have no stomach problems, I'm fine! Our water pump is burned out, so we're showering in well water again, so that's gross. But hopefully he service center will fix that soon.
I am mostly happy. Last two weeks were just really hard, I hate being sick and it was awful being so embarrassed about my eye. Then I was just not happy to not have email last week. But I'm trying to be happy, and I know I'm helping people so that's good. I don't really love the culture yet, I'm trying. I get so irritated when church starts an hour and a half late or when people set a time and then go fishing; the entire culture is just inconvenient. I'm praying for charity, because I need it, and I really am trying to focus on the good.
Thank you really. I love you guys! Have fun watching football, I have to go wash :( talk to you all next week!
Love Dal
Oh my goodness! He never fails to impress. I have newfound respect for him with every email. He is certainly acquiring a lot of skills - medical, electrical, survival..... More prayers going out for him.
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