Hi Mom!
I miss and love you so much! I hope all at home is well. I imagine by now you've probably talked to Jacob now and I'm super excited that you'll be getting to see him soon! My week of missionary service in Eita has gone well. I am constantly experiencing new opportunities to develop my character and testimony and am trying as best I know how to serve God with all my heart, might, mind and strength. This past week I have come to more fully realize my appreciation for Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation. Aatiera Enota- one of our recent converts and active member of the ward I attend-passed away a few days ago as a result of an unexpected heart attack. Two days before his original baptismal date in April he had a similar heart attack that caused his heart to stop for over an hour before being re-stimulated by a priesthood blessing we gave and AED treatment at the hospital. When the doctors cleared him to go home he was baptized the Saturday thereafter and endured faithfully until his unexpected end. He was sustained in church to receive the Aaronic Priesthood the last sacrament before his passing away. Aatiera had a wife and four young children, all of which were sad to lose him, but blessed with the reassurance that they would all be re-united through the power of Christ's Atonement. I was blessed to feel an immensely powerful spirit as Aatiera's wife and four children humbly sang "We Are One Big Happy Family" during his funeral service and bore testimony that families are truly forever. I'm so grateful for Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation made available to each and every one of his children through Jesus Christ, our savior and redeemer. The privilege to serve and stand as a witness of Jesus Christ is an honor of which I will forever cherish. As always, please send my love to the family! Elder Morphonios Hey Mom!
Sounds like you guys had a fun Fathers day! I miss and love you so much! It's crazy to me that Jacob is finishing his time! I've been thinking about him a lot recently and wishing the very best for him. I usually have a chance to email him, but you'll have to tell him I said hello! The work in my area continues to go well and remain productive. Two of our investigators were baptized this past week. Their names are Christina and Amiina- both young teenage girls. We found their parents to be less active while tracting and reactivated them during the process of teaching their children and preparing them for baptism. The family unit is in many ways similar to that of families at home. Culture dictates that the wife cooks, cleans, washes, etc. while the man does manly-stuff like fishing and cutting coconuts to sell. The difference however is that there are a lot more broken families, largely because of a lack of emphasis on the significance of marriage. I've had lots of opportunities to testify of the significance of families and see how families are truly blessed by the gospel. Because of a general lack of family structure, a lot of kids don't grow up understanding righteous principles. An analogy that I try to teach to many fathers and mothers is similar to President Hinckely's story about his backyard tree. I relate children to coconut trees and try to explain that children, just like coconut trees, have to be nurtured in their youth if they are going to grow up right. I also share Proverbs 22:6 "Reireia te tei aroarona a riai, Ao ngana e a unim'ane ao e bon akikitanna."-in English I guess something along the lines of "teach children what things they must do, and when they are old they will not leave it." I love being able to watch and experience the positive effect the gospel has on families. I don't really have many crazy stories from this past week to share. We went crab hunting and a crab latched on to the finger of one of our recent converts named Katoi and probably would have broken it, had Katoi not reacted in respone by biting the crabs pincer off its arm. We went tracting this past week and were brought into a house with a dead guy laying in the middle of the room starting to rot. Turns out he murdered his wife and was quite the lunatic. Needless to say we got out of that house pretty fast. Sorry my letter is going to be short this week as well, I'm running a little low on time. Know Mom that I love you so much and look forward to emailing each and every week. Please tell the family that I miss and love them so much! Elder Morphonios Hi Mom!
Thank you so much for your letters and constant unyielding support! I love you so much. I love hearing from you and seeing all the awesome pictures you sent. You are forever in my prayers and thoughts along with the rest of the family. This week has been much more normal than the previous week. We've mostly just stayed super busy with good old fashioned missionary work- lots of tracting, teaching, meetings, etc. Three of our investigators were baptized this past weekend. Their names are Eretia, Boutu and Tabuia. Eretia is 20 years old and daughter of a Catholic missionary. It was a humbling and awesome experience to see her gain a testimony of Joseph smith and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Boutu is 10 years old and recently adopted into a family from the church. Tabuia is 44 years old and has changed his life around more thatn any other investigator I have met thus far. At the time we started teaching him his wife had just left him because he would get drunk and beat her all the time. He smoked 15-20 times a day and struggled badly with several other addictions. Despite all these things he was able to gain a testimony that he was a divine son of a loving Heavenly Father and has a divine potential. We experienced one miracle after another through praying and fasting together as he was persecuted by his friends and family, worked to overcome addictions and bad habbits and summoned the courage to repeatedly come to church. He's super extremely smart. He reads out of his English encyclopedia for fun and knows more about Utah and church history than any of us missionaries. Eretia was baptized by our recent convert Naeke. Boutu and Tabuia were baptized by Merika, our ward's Elders Quorum President. We had four other investigators that were going to be baptized this past Saturday but have now postponed their dates until this upcoming week. The hope is that these four with a few others will be baptized this upcoming Saturday along with several others, which should be exciting. Being able to witness these people in Eita and elsewhere be baptized and take upon themselves the name of Christ has been a very special blessing to me for which I will be forever grateful. As always please send my love to the family. I don't really have any needs. If you are sending something though I would love to get some letters from the family! Also something I think would be way cool is if you could print out and send some of the pictures I've emailed home from my mission but more importantly pictures from you guys at home. Ever since coming to Tarawa I've been able to see the pictures you send, but only get to see them ever so briefly on the computer. Having tangible pictures of you guys would be great! I love you so much Mom! Please send my thanks and appreciation to everyone at church and my love to the family! Elder Morphonios So grateful for Elder HerrHi Mom!
Thank you so much for the email. I really look forward to reading how the family is doing and what all is going on at home each week. I think about the family at home all the time and pray for you all with all of my heart. This week ended up being a lot different than I expected it to be. Two Elders that I feel very close to are now in the process of receiving medical releases. Elder Lega is a really big and fun Samoan Elder that has been living in the same house as me for about two months. Last night we had a really emotional farewell dinner with him. Today he is flying from Tarawa to Fiji and form there to Australia where his family lives. Elder Herr, my MTC companion, will also be receiving a medical release. He got pretty sick on Kiritimati Island and when he wasn't getting any better he was flown to Tarawa and taken to the "hospital." I got to spend a pretty substantial amount of time acting as his primary caretaker in the absence of senior couples. A lot of times that just meant making sure he was drinking and eating and also pestering forgetful nurses to do their job. At one point it meant holding his weakened body down to his bed with him screaming in pain as the doctor administered to him, which was a really hard thing to do. Our mission president President Larkin came to the hospital while I was with Elder Herr and told him that he would be released as a missionary and taken to the Hawaii hospital as soon as possible so the doctors there can try to figure out what exactly is wrong with him. After President left Elder Herr and I were taken from the hospital to a future senior couple home on the Moroni High School campus. We had some really meaningful and spiritual conversations together in the time that I got to stay with him that I have made sure to record in my journal. I have come to love Elder Herr so much. I'm so grateful for his friendship and Christ-like example and want to be more like him every day. The work this week has gone well. Bobai(I spelled his name wrong the past two weeks) and his family are committed to being baptized. We have several people who are to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, so I'll be excited to report on how that goes next week. I love you so much Mom! Please send the family my love! Elder Morphonios MOM I LOVE YOU!
I miss you!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I hope you're having a super super great day! I'm so excited to talk to you this upcoming week! Dad set up my Skype account so I think we're good to go with that. I think it should be around 3 O' Clock your time when I call, or something like that. I'll write at the bottom of this letter what time I am going to send it and that can hopefully help you tell the time difference. If I am allowed to call a few minutes before seven I most certainly will! This week has been pretty good for me here in Kiribati. The highlight of my week was getting to witness one of my favorite investigators named Tenanora be baptized by Merika, our Elder's Quorum President and chief bodyguard of the President of Kiribati. Tenanora is sixteen years old, and recently moved to our area from a town called Banana in Kiritimati Island. Tenanora has been a super awesome friend to me. It's been awesome to watch him develop and feel greater happiness as he has come to learn and apply the principles of the gospel. Yesterday he was confirmed and passed his interview to receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained to the office of a Priest. This week we are going to try to get him enrolled at Moroni High School and signed up for some temple and mission prep classes. He's got a bright future ahead of him! I've been influenced greatly by his character and example and am super happy for the changes in his life he is making in order to keep the commandments and follow Christ. Since I'll be Skyping next week I guess I'll go ahead and mention that an an investigator of ours named Katoi is going to be baptized next week. We've been teaching him ever since I arrived in Tarawa, but had been struggling for a while to overcome his addiction to smoking. What helped him to stop smoking you might ask? The candy from the Christmas package you sent me! Anytime he felt the urge to smoke, he would eat the candy canes or chew on the bubble gum you sent instead. He is going to be baptized by his brother-in-law named Bwarii, a member who my previous companion Elder Hunter and I arranged to receive the Aaronic Priesthood. I'll be excited to let you know how that turns out. Not much out of the ordinary has really happened recently. We stay pretty busy and are doing our best to stay anxiously engaged in missionary work. My companion says the last three or four nights I have been speaking Kiribati in my sleep. My companion said last night I was explaining to our Bishop the need to increase the home teaching rates of the Elders Quorum and the night before I was asking our Ward Mission Leader for a less-active list. That has kind of summed up my week: lots of great missionary work! I sent you a short clip of ara katekaraoi nakoim(our "good luck") to you. Hopefully you'll be able to open it. I don't know... I'll try to send again sometime if you can't open it due to formatting issues or whatever... I LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH MOM HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND MOTHERS DAY I LOVE YOU!!! Elder Morphonios "Pressing through Trials and Hardships with Faith"Hi Mom!
I miss you so much! I hope you and the rest of the family are doing well! Please send my love to the family!!! I feel like I am learning and progressing from the experiences I have each week. The work continues to go well here in my area. The man that was hospitalized last week as a result of heart failure is named Atiera. He was baptized this past Saturday along with his two sons Niiteru and Tuuaai. Atiera has a burning testimony of the gospel and has served as an example to me of pressing through trials and hardships with faith. This past week my companion Elder Hunter and I had the opportunity to witness a friend of ours named Bwaraii receive the Aaronic Priesthood and be ordained to the office of a Priest. Elder Hunter and I have had lots of opportunities to give priesthood blessings this week. One such opportunity came when we were walking along the road and heard a horrible and unforgettable squeal from a little boy behind us. When we ran to him we found that he had been sitting on the beam of a bike that someone older was pedaling and had gotten his leg caught and twisted between the tire of the bike and a bar running parellel to the tire. We had to take the bike apart as the boy was screaming to get his leg out. We did everything we could to try to help him feel relaxed while finding his parents to help him with his broken leg. I think the boy would actually want to go through the entire experience again just to get a second canned soda, the first of which given really cheered him up. One of the people we teach is named Enteria. He was baptized as a teenager but decided to work as a Seventh-Day Adventists missionary a couple of years later until now. He is extremely educated in the Bible and a strong member of his church, and is worthy of the upmost respect and admiration. After keeping his commitment to pray about the restoration lesson he told Elder Hunter and I that he had a vision of us teaching the same lesson in Heaven. I'm glad to know that we'll have more lessons to teach together because Elder Hunter and I have been assigned new companions. My time with Elder Hunter was short but I feel like I learned a lot from him and have really appreciated his Christ-like example. My new companion is Elder Otto. We had a blast learning to speak Kiribati together in the MTC and are determined to work hard and remain obedient. There will now be six Elders living in our house: Me, Elder Otto, Hunter, Osborne(Otto's previous companion), Lenga and Yosefa. Elder Otto and I are going octopus hunting later today, which should be a fun way to start our companionship. I love you so much Mom! I pray for you and the family all the time and hope you guys have a great week! Elder Morphonios Hey Mom!
I love seeing these pictures thanks you so much!!! What happened to Shane's hand that made him need 17 stitches??? That sounds crazy. He's always been such a hard worker that I can't imagine he'll actually slow down much at all. He's in my prayers! Tarheels won? Of course they did. Blessing from serving a mission come in many more forms than one! I am still in the process of getting used to my new area, so many things continue to feel different, fun and exciting. I am enjoying stronger relationships with members and investigators and am giving my best effort in doing my own little part in building the Lord's kingdom. The work is going well. This week we have done lots of tracting, had a Zone Meeting, witnessed the marriage of one of our investigators, helped ordain a father and his son to the Aaronic Priesthood, had two investigators baptized, watched General Conference, helped a Sister get her Patriarchal blessing, etc. A lot of the focus of this past week has been centered on preparing our two investigators for their baptisms. Their names are Nei Eema and Nei Kaikai. Eema is a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with a strong member family. She loves to read in the Book of Mormon and I often find myself trying to keep up with how fast she reads. Last time we checked she was cruising through the Book of Mosiah while I was learning the vocabulary in Jacob 5 to talk to a Kiribati botanist should such a crucial need ever present itself to me. Kaikai is in her mid-20's and has been very busy. This past week we helped her get divorced from her previous spouse, witnessed her marriage to her current spouse and saw her baptized the day thereafter. Eema and Kaikai were baptized by Ten Toromon, a recent RM from the PHilippines who has been really instrumental in helping us Elders in our missionary work. I am super blessed to have been a witness of their special baptisms and resultant radiating happiness. For our Preparation activity today we are going to walk out on the coral at low tide and use small nets to try and catch some octopus and/or small fish to cook and eat for dinner. I'll be excited to let you know how that goes next week. My mission has been such a great experience in so many ways. Thank you so much Mom for leading me and guiding me to this point in my life. I love you so much and hope you have a great week! Elder Morphonios week 1 in EitaIokwe! Ejet am Mour?!? Hi Mom! I love this letter so much! I'm so happy to hear all that the family is doing and to know that you guys are all doing great! All do my very best to answer all of your questions in this letter. Thanks for the General Conference preview, it makes me excited to get to see it myself! Please sent my warmest love to the family!!! My experiences thus far working in Eita have been great! It seems to me that there is "an unusual excitement on the subject of religion" among many families and their friends here in my area. The LDS church is the fastest growing church in Kiribati, especially in Tarawa. AS a result, I am blessed to stay busy with productive missionary work throughout the entirety of the day. I feel like I am developing a more close and intimate relationship with my Heavenly Father and progressing to become more like the kind of person and missionary he wants me to be. Living conditions here are a lot different than what I have been used to in Nikunau. I now have easy access in our house to utilities such as a toilet, cold shower, sink, propane stove, toaster and fridge along with my own bed and access to all the contents of my suitcases. Along with that I have had more opportunities to stay clean and healthy than any other time I've been in Kiribati. Infected cuts that I've struggled with for months now are already starting to heal. After core exercises and/or running each morning breakfast consists of scrambled eggs dipped in crunchy peanut butter with powdered milk-no questions asked. Lunch might be something like a banana or coconut. Dinners are with members and therefore vary, but it seems like I can usually count on eating salad, a fruit, and whatever meat available- usually some kind of tasty fish, shark or turtle. I am really blessed to have been teamed up with my new companion Elder Hunter. He is a super awesome yet humble guy whose actions speak much louder than his words. This week in Preach My Gospel we read that "goals reflect the desires of our hearts and vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are transformed into action." We have therefore set several goals we hope to accomplish before Elder Hunter finishes his time in July as a missionary. We want to tract each house in our area and document names of each family and their degree of interest in the gospel. We want to focus on families and find and baptize two of them. I want to eat only the most healthy of foods and be productive with my allotted time to exercise each morning. I am trying to stay diligent in developing my ability to speak Kiribati. I am also getting up early to try to learn to speak a little Marshallese, mostly just for fun. More important than all of these things however is my desire to lose my life for Christ's sake and the Gospel's to honor our family and my Heavenly Father! Ij Iokwe eok! Elder Morphonios P.S. I was told that a package for me left the states on March 30th and that I should expect to receive it either later today or on Thursday. P.S.S. Also, you asked me last week about what needs I may have. I hate to ask for it because I'm afraid it might be expensive, but what I really need is a new camera. Mine is almost completely broken and probably won't last more than two more weeks or so. A good brand missionaries use here is called Canon I think. I could also use 2-3 Adult Medium white church shirts but I don't need those as desperately. P.S.S.S. I had letters waiting here in Tarawa from you and Aunt Michelle, Uncle David and Wesley. Thank you so so much! P.S.S.S.S. I love you! when I asked him about the other two Elders, he said:
There names are Elder Otto and Osborne. Both are way funny so we have a ton of fun in our house. Elder Otto was in my MTC intake and sat next to me during our class study time, meetings, etc. He's from Idaho. Elder Osborne is from Washington and has been out for about 19 1/2 months. |
About MeI'm Elder Joseph Morphonios, and I've chosen to serve a 2 year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Join me as I share my adventures about serving the good people of the Marshall Islands, and sharing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Archives
December 2016
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