Hey Mom! I just had a chance to read the past couple emails you sent me and enjoyed it very much. It's cool to see all the fun things you all have been doing. Elder Morley was super nice to help out with that blog. If you have a chance could you please tell him for me that he is very much loved and respected among the people of Nikunau. I can tell that their hearts have been deeply affected by his care and hard work. I guess what I mean by D&C times is just that people have their faith with challenges over and over. I know that a kind of vague answer still but want you to know that everything is plenty alright. The other churches there are just trying to find ways to suck away all of the money and food, and hence influence, of the Mormons in Nikunau. Just like D&C times however, God will bless and protect them as they develop their faith through facing challenges. The blog looks great. Maybe you could just tag the link to my facebook page or something... I'm not really sure how the best way to do that would be. I'm cool with whatever you think is best. I am currently still in Tarawa, with a flight scheduled to Nikunau this upcoming Wednesday. This week has been pretty exciting and eventful. I got to hear the good news of a previous investigator I taught here in Tarawa being baptized. The Kiribati companion I've been working with a lot and I set two baptismal dates. I gave a blessing and tried to give blood to a woman in critical condition in a hospital outside of my area. My companion Elder Baker and I accidentally ended up teaching about the Plan of Salvation at a Catholic funeral. I met my Mission President and had an important meeting with him about turning Nikunau into a branch. I met President Haleck(Presidency of the Seventy). I met and ate dinner with the President of the Republic of Kiribati on New Years Eve. During my previous stay here in Tarawa I was able to teach a man who saw Jesus Christ in a vision. The guy who talked about giant flaming coconut balls and stuff. That was going to be the last lesson Elders gave him because he wasn't making any progress. After I left however, the zone leaders were able to meet with him again and help him progress towards baptism. A lot of my time here has been spent with a Kiribati missionary named Elder Toaniuea. He has already been set apart to serve in the Spain Trinedad mission but is waiting for his visa. We taught and set a baptismal date with a 40 year old-ish Catholic Priest and a sixteen year old girl named Ueeny. After one of our dinner appointments, the zone leaders called the district leader Elder Baker and I are staying with and asked us to hurry over to the hospital to give a woman a priesthood blessing. She was in pretty terrible condition, suffering from a pretty intense amount of internal bleeding. I gave one part of the priesthood blessing and Elder Baker gave the other. Afterwards the nurse there asked if we would be willing to donate blood. After clearing the transaction with our mission nurse our District Leader Elder Larsen, Elder Baker and I were each tested for our blood type. The AP's in our mission, one of which is the grandson of President Howard W. Hunter, also came to help out. Only Elder Larsen was able to donate blood. Elder Baker and I were A postive, which did not match what the woman needed. After doing all we could the AP's drove us home at about 1:00. We found out later that she survived and is recovering well. Mom, if you could give a special thanks to Sister Jensen and her seminary class. I got a nice card from them a couple days later than the rest of my cards and letters. I got it during the time of which I did not know whether the woman I have blessing to was dead or alive, and it was really instrumental in lifting my spirits. The next day Elder Baker found ourselves tracting with almost no idea of what to do. We walked for a while and I was about to go knock on a house when I turned around and saw two men struggling to push really big blocks of cement in a wagon. Elder Baker went and helped them take it where they were going. We had thought that the big rocks were for building a house, but realized as we walked into a gathering of about 70+ Catholics that they were going to be used as a tombstone. Suprised we tried leaving as soon as we got the rocks where they needed to be, but the people there were extremely persistent, almost forceful, that we stay and get a drink. We were trying to be respectful and leave the entire time they had us, but they said the person who died would have wanted us to stay and share some of our beliefs, even if they decided not to agree. We got several referrals from the occurrence but didn't go visit them because they were out of our area. On Christmas day I was able to briefly meet my Mission President, President Larkin. The next day I had my first personal interview with him. During my personal interview with him I was able to express the need of a branch in Nikunau. The next day Elder Baker and I had a meeting with him and his counselors concerning the manner. After presenting our information about the Unit there they agreed that Nikunau needed a branch and are hoping to send the 1st counselor in the mission presidency to establish it within the next three months, which I am really hoping to witness. The major reason why all the missionaries came into Tarawa was to participate in a training by our authority from the 1st Quorum of the Seventy, President Haleck. I got to meet him personally and had a great experience with his training and am excited to go back to Nikunau to apply the things I have learned. In Honor of President Haleck's arrival, President Mwaomwao, the President of the entire Republic of Kiribati, invited him, our Mission President, their wives and all of the Elders and sisters to eat dinner and celebrate New Year's eve with him in the State Maneaba, the equivalent of the White House in America. There was a really great group of youth dancers and a special needs choir that sang songs to us, in addition to the really good food. President Mwaomwao, in honor of our church, passed a law with his cabinet(who were also attending along with the ambassador of Taiwan to Kiribati) in which no alcoholic beverages or Nangkona would be served during political gatherings or celebrations in the State Maneaba. I got to bear a short testimony to him and shake his hand twice. So many more things have happened here during my stay that I wish I could tell you about but I am running out of time. I miss you guys, I love you guys and I know you all are doing great things. Ma ngkai, ngai I nung kukurei bwa I kona manga oki nakon Nikunau. Tiabo in te wiki ae bo! Elder Morphonios
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |